?
I don’t think so…
but I don’t think… so?
Who thinks… or ever did?
If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
You can’t make an omelette
without breaking an egg.
Five will get you ten if you
know how to work it.
But no ‘ticky no shirty’ is
the theme-song for today.
— Ray Laccetti

****-RETENTIVE
(Pea-Brains & *****-Matters)
There’s obvious precautions
For a ditsy-twerk’s ‘bottoming’  
Cleanliness is the foremost-thing
Fore & aft, as a sailor might put-it
Don’t put that ****** away, just yet
When the Fleets in & the play’s the
thing, be smart & cautionary & clean
May end-up with a nasty sphincter
Where anyone would rather-not like
to sit upon, either, ever, & never
An oz. of precaution is worth a lb.
of cure & the cure might-be a worst
disaster than ever it’s antidote
— Ray Laccetti

BERNADETTE
I pray a lot. Always did.
Began that as a kid.
I often speak with Saint
Bernadette, who keeps
me strong & intercedes.
But most of all to Jesus.
Whom I hope has forgiven
me, within his reason.
Worry little, above all,
be strong. Resolve not to
do wrong. To have the
faith of a grain of mustard
seed & nothing will be
impossible for you.
I ask Jesus nightly to take
me, for I sense my time
is at hand. Not afraid at all.
That’s for the faint of heart.
Be brave friends, for there
will be a new start with
no end.
— Ray Laccetti

BROKE

Never intended to put
anyone ‘on-the-spot.’

& the proverb instructs:
“Lean not into thine own
understandIng.”

Understand, I’m broke!

An ephemeral friendship
will abruptly end.

Something I can’t help.

Overdrawn; in the red.
Need a few bucks to put
an end, to the ‘bled’ that
a few Ks will amend.

“The Lord will provide.”
But he let’s me ‘ride.’

Money is ephemeral,
a wise-guy said.

Let me hear that again,
my would-be friend?
— Ray Laccetti

CERTAINTY
Am I crazy? I don’t know.
Nobody should answer
that,  just to ‘crow.’
No-one is certain of
anything.
And everyone, certainly,
are just plain ‘slow.’
Keep opinions inside.
Let no-one know.
Something I can’t do.
Another opinion
I’ll share with you:
“Doubt is not a
pleasant condition,
but certainty is
an absurdity.” (Voltaire)
— Ray Laccetti

DA FASTA, DA BETTA

When the people we’ve put in place to
      uphold our laws
Are the first people to ‘buck’ them
We’re in heap-big-trouble, kemosabe
      No doubt about that f**k-u story
All we get are the shrieks emanating
      from an oval-office
From the ‘beached-whale’ that’s parked
      there, barking orders
Fumigation is the answer; plenty of us
      who’ll do it, pro-bono
It won’t be a rash-disaster, the faster,
      the answer
Don’t throw-in-the-towel,
      but “GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL”
If we fail in removing this coffin-nail
— Ray Laccetti

The more we move forward the more
we go & become backward

Near is the time for me & perhaps for
us all, to get ready to exodus  

From a very insipid & hypocritical world
that we knowingly have spoiled & mired

Soon I’ll lay my body down, for me to
kiss the ground. No more unforgiving-
people-stuff to cosset & propound

Nothing left to justify, to glorify,
to try & figure-out, & to reason why

Perhaps I’ll be remembered for some of
the better-stuff that was me. Maybe not;
little merit nor ever profound

The joy was in the doing, the creating, not
for any applause it might’ve generated

That’s the way it should’ve been & not
the other way around

For the world has grown too old to dream
& other hallucinations have taken-ground

I don’t think I want to be around when
the planet takes it’s final bow & becomes
an even biger-bang slaughter-house grind



— Ray Laccetti

FOSSILS

We’ll all be fossils soon.
Maybe before another new-
   moon.
Before too-long & very-soon.
Surely at our approaching
   doom.
We’ll leave narrow-rooms.
To enter even narrower-
   tombs.
Eternal dark & quiet await.
It’s a dalliance that we just
can’t shake nor even can fake.
   At all those weepy-wakes.

— Ray Laccetti

Hold the door open. On my way out.
Shut it behind me. Close it tight.
Never was here. A cry in the night.
A spark that tried to flash so bright.
I was nothing. I know that now.
Part of a void that mattered not.
Thing I would have avoided, but had
no say. It was hell~to~pay & just okay.
So I acquiesce & take a final bow &
fade to black & break-away.
— Ray Laccetti

HERACLITUS

Heraclitus said
& I quote:
"Corpses are more
fit to be thrown-out
than is Dung.”

Truer words were
never spoken!

I get 'his drift.'
Do you?
Because if you
don't get it, might
as well forget it!

A pox on you
for being the
ultimate armpit!

— Ray Laccetti

ICE-CREAM CASTLES
I often hear folks declare: “We all have to die, my dear.”
I respond: “I know that! But answer me this, if so, why?
Why were we born to start with & why do we get gray-hair?”
Religious gobbledygook is tossed back at me & mumbo-jumbo
out of a delusional-book. It’s a revelation to many that faith
can be stretched just so far, before reality snaps it back.
Painful as it maybe, we believe in nonsense without-foundation,
to avoid or to best life’s many disappointments. We’ve come
to believe there’s a place somewhere we go to, in that ‘great somewhere out-there.’ A place where we’ll all meet again. Nice idea, but totally without merit. There is no great ‘plantation’ in the sky. Hide under your blanket & try not to give into things too deep for us to comprehend. “Eat, drink, & be merry for tomorrow we’ll meet our eventual demise.”  — Ray Laccetti

I’M SPENT
My time grows short.
I’m about done. I’m spent.
Uncertain in an uncertain
world. I call-out his name.
He’s no-longer here. I weep.
I hang my head in grief.
Misery lies beside me thru-
out the nights. A hollow-
ness inside me now, that
pains, more than any pain
allows. My time is spent.
My faith has shrunk. There
are walls that no-one can
climb. Climb one & there’s
another one behind. They
say the best thing comes
last. Only if we can last.
But I am spent.
— Ray Laccetti

Saint Jerome
is quoted as saying,
one day after he was
out praying:

“Jesus was born on a
dungheap because
that’s where he knew
he’d find us.”

It is profound.
Might even astound
or be taken with
a frown.

Wisdom is always
out there to help,
please or confound
us.

Consequences vary,
often run contrary to
human-vanity & our
fear of a cemetery.

— Ray Laccetti

KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
What are we supposed to learn
When our loved-ones become a memory
I only learned heartache, tears & misery
All the pain life likes to inflict & never
skips-a-beat;  but generously doles-out
to all of us, it’s miscreants
I’ve passed-over believing many things
I used to think were so
Since that only only made matters worse
& regrets to fester & grow
For death ends everything & throws away
it’s keys
We’ll never learn to accept this fact, &
it’s hard for us to agree; but that’s the
reality, Kind-Sir, sad as that maybe
— Ray Laccetti

LIVE-WIRE
Many days I’m self-critical,
      of myself, who else
And there’s no-accounting
      for my tastes, either
I’m a creative-yoyo, sitting
      on-my-shelf
Who retreats into a shell,
     wherein I dwell, by myself
& for the peccadilloes of irate,
       but tolerant, creatures
I never wanted to be a so-
      called ‘everyday’ person
Like those who climb church-
steeples to meet other
      funamboulistic people
— Ray Laccetti

MAMA

I awoke this mornin’
calling for Mama,
then I started to cry

I try to be strong
to face tomorrow’s
sorrows that are get-
ing hard to consume

No one can hurt you
in that place out-there,
If only I can make
it soon

To annihilate life’s
ever-present gloom

My troubles be
another bad dream
& my depression all
but consumed

— Ray Laccetti

I think over my time
& I realize that I’m
on the borderline.

Time is fleeting
& we’re creeping
toward oblivion.

We’ll soon kick
the bucket.
So say to yourself,
*****-it.

Can’t win for losin’!

— Ray Laccetti

Mother’s milk is bitter
Tired of this continuance
Pray the Almighty finish it
& give me his admittance

So little is ever appreciated,
except by the very few
& I still feel my love’s arms
around me, holding me tight,
that feeling still lingers thru-
out all my barren nights

Death couldn’t finish it
Ever in my in my heart
Now I yearn to end
This lonely existence,
& depart

All party’s must end,
this one too, all party’s
are meaningless, this
one’s over-due.

I was lucky to find real love
This much I know is true
I never understood why
the Lord giveth, only to
taketh it away. Do you?

— Ray Laccetti

MY LEARNED-FRIEND
Many colors in the stars; a beautiful
canvas it makes. Created by the ultimate
artist, whom I strive to duplicate.
An artist in my own right, I often speak
with him. Gathered-all I could from him,
my learned-friend from afar. I could never
devise without him, my route from start
to finish. I haven’t a clue as to why if my
head & heart weren’t in it. I’ll make no
foolish-attempts to square-this, it would
all be in vain. Don’t ask more about it. I’ll
never know for sure. Except to say, he
might love me somewhat, for reasons I
couldn’t supply. Might as well try to
decipher his star-scapes, how he did
them, & why. — Ray Laccetti

NEFARIOUS
We are in dire-straits
St. Peter’s at our gate
We’ll soon be ‘empty-plates’
Count on a few fingers
For those that really lingered
Won’t folks ever realize
People don’t really sympathize
They’re never on the square
So love ‘em if you dare
Pray for the best
Expect the worst — Get
Ready for the next hearse
& another nefarious-curse
— Ray Laccetti

No accounting for
      the creative mind.
We never can satisfy it.
      Obsessed are we,
To make it all-right,
      Keeps us up all-nite.
So pls., don’t even try it!
— Ray Laccetti

Not everyone 'gets my drift'
But it's just one of my gifts
To knock some sense
into the dense
& maybe they'll get it
hence

NOT LATELY

I haven’t been myself of late,
fast approaching ‘pearly-gates,’
has kept me at ‘loose-ends.’

I frequently ask Lord Jesus,
haven’t I made amends, enuf?
Why then, all this waiting-stuff?

Whom I really yearn to see again
is mom, pop & of course my friend.
But maybe that’s too much, Amen.

Life was often unfair; times too
hard to bear. Never a ‘sleeper.’
I often ‘needed a keeper.’ C’mon
then, ‘Grim-Reaper!’— Ray Laccetti

Logs stacked-up
as Winter approaches.
How swell it would be
to hear them crackling
in a fireplace.
Even now, their beauty
is on display.
All beauty fades; like
youth, never meant to
last long. Otherwise,
it wouldn’t be beautiful.
They say beauty exists
only in the eyes of the
beholders. True. I see
beauty in a wood-pile.
Others see it as a stack
of wood; only as fuel.
“The Lady’s Not For
Burning” (Fry) & neither
am I. — Ray Laccetti

NO YOKE
Had a job where I often began
early, only to quit late, just to
keep a potato on my plate.
Not the only chap to go thru that.
It helped somewhat to complain
of it to those who’d listen. As I
look-back over that “workin’-my-
***-off-crap,” I recall truth might
be stretched thin, but never will
break & often rises above lies, &
like oil, it floats on wine. Hard-
work never hurt & only folks will
complain, of commonplace yokes.
—  Ray Laccetti

Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman
   scorned
What one man sees as “enchantment”
In a woman’s eyes that soon sours into
   “harassment”
Worse if the dude is a Dude, you’ll soon
   be sued
That’s a double-whammy from women
   unglued
When a wishful dream becomes a joke
   & turns into a hoax
You’ll pay the price Palomino
And if a Gay dude shuns a damsel in her
   “distress”
That Gay gent gets the triple-whammy
‘Cause girls grow-up in the misplaced
   baloney
That all men want & need female harmony
Simply because they’re always *****
That becomes a hard dill for some women
   to swallow
When reality sets in & the promise
   of marriage dims to hollow
So Palomino you better look but not
   touch
Or you’ll soon be in dutch
You’ll discover the price was too high
   to pay
And finding yourself wishing you were
   Gay
— Ray Laccetti

ROCK-BOTTOM
• Republicans are for
the inert-status-quo.
While Democrats should
be more ‘go-man-go.’
• Reps. growl: “if it ain’t
broke, why try & fix it?”
Dems. bark-back: “it IS
broke, we must try & fix it!”
• Progress is a stop & go
process, a see-saw action.
Proceed & advance to
achieve it, without all the
fanfare, distractions &
nonsense.
• Or stay stuck-in-the -
middle, no pain & no gain,
that should be verboten.
• Or we’ll hit rock-bottom,
drowned in the ocean, then
be over, all but forgotten!
— Ray Laccetti

RUB-A-DUB-DUB

Three belle-gals in a shower.
They shake, rattle, wiggle & cower.
Something some of us like to see.

I prefer to view three beau-guys
in a tub. Doing their stuff, in-salvo.
The stuff guys want & like to do.

‘Dropping the soap’ in the military
was common. I experienced that
proposition day-one of BMT. Cherry.

Rub-a-dub-dub three men in a tub,
what a site to see. “Hey, one of
them is me!”— Ray Laccetti

SELFISHNESS-SNEEZES
I still say abortion is totally wrong
So I will persist in that honest song
It’s up to folks to deter abomination
     & to learn some consideration
A child doesn’t ASK to be born
All births count & have the right
     to sing songs
How self-centered to think or
     to believe the opposite of that
Ever hear two wrongs don’t
     make it right? Guess not!
Since we’ve let selfishness get in
     the way & ignorance to sneeze
     the day.  — Ray Laccetti

SLEEP
All in the angle of view
All in the beds we sleep
      upon, the night through
The dawn returns too soon
For many, too suddenly
If I had my druthers,
      I would sleep
Long enough & deep enough
No Sun, no Moon, no People
Just the peace & the quiet
      & all the rest
Escaping into the darkness
To circumvent the day’s
      relentless catharsis
The very stuff that makes
      for a somber-artist’s
      contentiousness
        — Ray Laccetti

SOMEDAY

I never avoided anybody
I always met them halfway

As I lie in bed hoping to sleep,
I recall the departed & weep

I pray I may see them again,
if & when is up to the Almighty

Especially Mama, who loved me
as much as any mother, blindly

My buddy is the one I miss most;
really did love above all-else

Lord, how hard it is to try,
not to recall the pain of lost,
it just keeps chipping-away

I never was capable of forget-
ting much sad-business; never
able to get rid of it’s pain

I hear my buddy’s laugh;
I hear him call my name

Okay buddy. I swear someday.
I will find you again. Someday.

— Ray Laccetti

SONG OF THE LOON
Night must fall; who can
forestall it. Like the ocean’s
waves the tide ushers-in.
Only to roll-back again,
into a sea of darkness, deep,
endless & mysterious.
Try not to remember dreams;
nor the very-stuff of
unwanted themes.
The dawn will return
too soon, at the expense
of the song of the loon &
it’s nightly tremolo,
wails & croons. So, close your
eyes & forget your troubles
this very night. Listen to the
sounds of the night; maybe
the call of a loon, the sound
of nightly-wind & peace
you’ll find within.
— Ray Laccetti

CANDIDATES DO A LOT OF TALKIN’

ALSO DID ****-SO, WHEN HE WAS
‘A-STALKIN’

NOW HE’S AN ALSO-RAN, NO-BARGIN,
NON-ENTITY

THIS TIME AROUND, ASK YOURSELF:

‘CAN THESE TALKERS REALLY DO
THE JOB OR JUST CREATE MORE OF A
MESS WHILE THEY’RE IN THE OFFICE.

‘CAUSE I CONFESS, I DON’t KNOW
HOW MUCH MORE OF THIS CRAP
‘WE THE PEOPLE’ CAN INGEST?

OR BE A PATHETIC-SHOVEL TO DIG-
OUT OF ANOTHER’S PERSON’s
FECULENCE!
— Ray Laccetti

ANYONE FOR TEA?
No time for TEA, even a 1/2 TEA!
So don’t impose that on me. B-Z.
(Unless it’s ‘you’ I always want it
to be & ‘you’ I would always want to
see.) Too busy for that kind-of-thing.
My mom always advised against it.
“Ray, too many inconsiderate &
gauche folks are out-there.”
Besides, I don’t care that much
for tea; a ‘coffee-man,’ that’s me!
(Especially if it comes from Hawaii!)
— Ray Laccetti                      gossip-visitation

TELL ME SOMETHING KNEW
Please don’t tell me something
I already know, or believe that I don’t
      already know it.
There is nothing new under the Sun.
And the Sun could die at any moment.
I have yet to encounter anyone possessing
      such an abundance of knowledge
      that it would impress me.
So off on your merry way; I’ll have no
      hamstrings cut on me.
Ain’t got no-strings to hinder me.
All I see is human-ridiculosity & no clear
      way to avoid it’s absurdity.
— Ray Laccetti

The Very Last Day


I re-read the Psalms, most of
Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
The internet helps me around.
The story of Jesus’ life and
teachings, fulfillment abound!
Although some will say ‘Not
so! Fake-o.’ But what do they
know? For I was blind, but now
I see. But then, what I see is
so much more misery, that
should-not-be. In my old-world
there were morals and ethics.
“Someone once told me the
definition of Hell: it’s the last
day you have on earth and
the person you BECAME will
meet the person you could
have BECOME!” — Ray Laccetti

TAKE TWO GUESSES

lie detection for idiots
fist-fights-for-fatties
hosted by *****-old-hosts
whose only concern is the
money they’re pocketing

it only goes to explain
the bottomless-pit-depth
society has sunken into

the only worth these shows
hold for me are the hunky
but amazingly-stupid dudes
who appear there-in, along
with their god-ugly-fat &
equally dumb women-folk,
forever crying ‘he’s cheatin’

to wit, I say to myself:
at least these dude have
some merit

so shoot me if in disagree-
ment but that’s the way I see
it… those dudes should hook-
up with each other & the
women with jenny craig  — Laccetti

“Virtue is it’s own reward.”
Ever hear that one? But I dunno ‘bout
      that & neither anyone else does.
Romember to question everything.
Do it a few times over.
But first learn how to ask a question
      & be sure that you are sober.
It was never easy to get at the truth,
      since folks are such big-time liars.
We do know two things clear enough, how
      to lie & how to ***** someone over.
One doesn’t preclude the other, either,
      folks are no ‘first-time-flyers.’
Ignorance isn’t bliss but just another
      excuse to coast-along in our naïveté &
      blame-game all our others.

— Ray Laccetti