Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
CJ Sutherland Feb 2024
Webster’s Word of the Day, Cupid

If you are Married
Or In Love
Valentine’s Day
Comes from Cupid,
Angels up Above

Deliveries to work are Gifts;
Of Candy and Flowers
Evening plans, A romantic
Candlelit Dinner for hours
Followed By
Hugs and endless Kisses,
Many sweet untold Wishes

However, if you Are
Alone or Single
This Day is an empty Heart
That sadly Tingles

One by One
Your Co-Workers
Receives their Deliveries
Their glances of Pity
Only added to my Miseries

Their words of Sympathies
Only deepened my Pain
Hoping the day will End
Before I Go Insane

Now
Hurtful Memories of
Old versus New
Dinner for One
Instead of Two

No, I do not Like
Valentine’s Day.
I wish it Would
Go Away

There was a time When
I to Receive  my Deliveries
Before the Days of Now
And my Miseries

The Man I Love
Did not come Home
I spent Valentine’s Day,
Staring out the Windows Alone
Waiting by the Phone

I cried myself too Sleep.
I thought Life
Couldn’t be more Bleak
For a New Young Wife

He came Home
After a night at the Bar
He had bought me Flowers
Yet left them in the Car

The next Day
When I Awoke
Not a word between Us
We Spoke

He had Retrieved the
Flowers from the Car
And placed them in a Vase.
You should’ve Seen
The Look upon my Face

The Dozen, once Beautifully
Long Stemmed Roses
Had Wilted
Like our Love
Empty and Jilted

I silently Took
A pair of Scissor
From the Drawer  
By the Bed

Cutting the Roses
One by One
At the Base
Of the Bulb Head

My Husband said Nothing
Only shook his Head
in Shame

I set the Scissors Down
Without Placing Blame

I made it Clear
I NEVER Want
Roses on this Day
We never Spoke of it.
What was the Point Anyway?

Valentine ‘s Day
is a Memory
Rubbed in my Face
Bitter Sadness
Take their place

No, I don’t Like
Valentine’s Day.
I wish it Would
Go Away
2-14-2024 This is a revision from 2018
My hand held tightly and that kiss on the brow
tells me time is leaving me right about now

My eyes are closed tightly and my heart rate so fast
I remember the day I met you, seems like the night before last
We'd party till midnight then party some more
Like lovers we'd walk barefoot on the sandy sea shore

I remember our big day watching you walk down the aisle
your eyes shining brightly over that wicked infectious smile
We made promises for ever our sacred wedding vow
sadly coming to fruition just about now

So don't be sad when I leave you when my hand turns cold
it's the beauty of living that we get to be old
Our life was made whole by that great ebb and flow
I loved you forever, now its time to let go

My hand held tightly and that kiss on the brow
tells me time is leaving me right about now
CJ Sutherland Feb 2024
To market to market to buy a fat pig
home again ,home again Jiggitty jig

Everything Skyrocketing
Taxation, government pocketing

Food cost on the rise
the price of steak and fries
$26 for steak, an outrage
Who sets the price? what is the gage?
That’s not even organic, free range
It’s mysterious , very strange

Gasoline $5.89 a gallon
Which doesn’t last
Longing for the prices of the past

Now Everything 3 Times more expensive.
What use to cost $100  now cost $300..

In the market, I heard families talking. “How much money do we have left “and oh my gosh the meat is $30.
“How much do we have in our budget?”. These  quotes from a family of five and the woman looked panicked,
plus. She was pregnant, one on the way
Her face frantic, she had nothing to say

A list in hand carefully selecting
only what’s on sale.
Frustration, realization, A life tale
Baby crying in the cart
Changing their budget
now they start
Watching broke my heart

These are real observations
at the market today.
It took my breath away

Many Products have gone away.
I asked the butcher
” I don’t see any petite sirloin roasts
had I made a mistake?”
“no” he reply “
nobody buys those anymore. “
I ask “well I’d like to buy one and
cut it up into individual steaks
It’s cheaper” The situation getting Bleeker
His reply” that’s what we do with them.
Ma’am , If you want a whole one,
I’ll be glad to see if we have any left”

Winco is employee stock ownership plan
The employees have a share, so they care
I bought three bags of food; milk, eggs just a few things, no meat, the cost was $96.

Even the cost of a bags
Increased, from $.10 to 12 cents
I know that doesn’t seem like a lot  
but everything adds up. With the limited income, most Americans have got

Now we’re learning there’s poison in everything ;  in bottled water, toilet paper,
in our fruit, in our grain,
pesticides, GMO, GM, Chemical poisons
All these factors can drive one insane

How  do we know what to buy
people just want to cry
Research, research, research.
The CDC tells you
it’s all in the open,
they no longer need to lie

We were told to move away from tap water,
Poisonous chemicals Chlorine and fluoride
The beginning of a long and arduous ride

My friend took a shower
and broke out into a rash
What do you do for itch medicine  
without any cash?

They no longer scream conspiracy theory
Check the Internet, do a query
You will find what I say is true
All the things we are learning,
We never knew
Now, what course changes can we do?

“What now deer”?
As more things are starting to disappear, empty shelves, are what Americans fear
but nobody wants to believe
it’s happening here!

Humanity on the decline
Staying quiet is no longer fine

To market to market to buy a fat pig
Home again home again Jiggitty jig
The phrase if it took a quarter to go around the world, I couldn’t leave the porch is prevalent now
The river of need is overflowing -
The banks of entreaty cannot hold it.
It’s lapping at the very doorsteps
Of everything our hearts hold dear,
Devastating all our efforts to contain it.

The levees we built with fervent prayer
Are weakening and will soon be washed away
Letting floods of anguish and despair
Submerge the truest things we value
In a deluge we cannot possibly survive.
ljm
State of the world
CJ Sutherland Feb 2024
If you took the time
To contemplate a Rhythm
Pondering the story to share
Then why such little care
Untitled

Many ask the preverbal question today
Dose one make the title first than the poem?
Or The poem, than the title
What does it matter anyway!

Your title pulls the reader in
The hock, the draw, the spin

To Captures the reader,
Achievement even sweeter

Reader Stops and gives their full attention
Followed by comments, honorable mention

With successful title achieved
Many reviews will be received

Correction question requests
Is the proper use THEN or THAN for the comparison to poem and title
I list it one way and verbal speaking list it the other way, which is correct?
your thoughts, please
I believed THEN was time and THAN was comparison I am second-guessing, because when I speak into the audio, it give me a different response for that spelling. I am in a cast, with one hand,
so everything is speak and spellcheck.
Honestly I pass on untitled poems. When scrolling down a list of poems to read
it’s what grabs my eye ,my heart, my imagination
CJ Sutherland Jan 2024
Once you post a poem,
it sees the light of day
But quickly time passes
the poem slowly fades away
Lost to obscurity

A poet randomly posted
A poem from 2018
The poem gathered stride
My gracious delight, I did not hide
My joy awoken to take a ride
To walk again on the wild side
A poem brought back to life again
Read click and send

Now here’s a thought
Kindness is easy, no need to pretend
Bring new life to a poem’s end
Deepen A relationship of a poet friend

You read one of my poems, an in-kind
one of your poems, I will read,
this cycle will plant a seed

Turnaround is Fair-play
I appreciate what other poets have to say
Let’s exchange poems, make my day
If you have a poem that you wanted revisited. Invite a fellow poet. To renew the Poem’s life
  Jan 2024 CJ Sutherland
Jack Torrance
Today I’ll ponder,
on these scars.
Tonight I’ll wish,
upon a star.

Tomorrow may bring,
another wound,
but wounds can heal,
if treated soon.

Yesterday,
I thought of death,
and felt the wind,
sigh with his breath.

Not today,
he whispered clear,
perhaps tomorrow,
but do not fear.

In the end,
he comes to all.
The weak, the strong,
the big and small.

He’s timeless and constant,
Death’s always “been”,
and he has no pity,
foe or friend.

He’ll lead me on,
to the unknown,
giving me the thing,
he can never own.

So I will not fear him,
and I shall not fret.
For tomorrow,
has not happened yet.
Death comes to us all.
Next page