Bardo

Apr 2023

Thomas W Case

What's there to say when
your two best friends die a
day apart?

Greg died crossing the street,
smacked by a minivan.
Tibbs, from some strange
brain quirk.
I did C.P.R to no avail.

They're both gone.
They sailed away.
Gone like the last
spider of *****.
Gone like the songs we
sang together.

Sometimes
I still look for you two.
I turn corners and I half
expect to see one of you.
So ******* alive one minute,
so dead the next.

Both of them
fathers,
friends, and men
of valor.
Iowa City is a
******* place without you.
If there's a Brightside,
it's a brutal winter
and you don't have to
suffer through it.

I hope death is treating
you warm and well.
Your hell was
here.
Struggling for that
drink;
to be okay- to get that click,
to carry on, one more
grueling day.

It's over now.
You're gone.
Gone like the last Dodo bird;
gone like your impish smiles.
Gone like the miles we
trod with bags full of
aluminum nickels.

Words can't express the
mess
I am without the two
of you.
I know I'll see you again,
out there beyond the
purple horizon.
#friendship #death

#alcoholism #friendship #death #life

Apr 2023

John Edward Smallshaw

The selection

Slumbering, with a silent S, my way to salvation and realising that getting old is getting old, so, time for something different, time to wake these bones and jiggle,
I used to jiggle when I was little but I grew weary, now, my second childhood just gave me a good kickin' as it kicked in,
so, yes,
so what?
well, laughter isn't too bad a start
and foolish games play some small part
and really,
if you're young at heart,
the sky's the limit.

Apr 2023

Donall Dempsey

SISTER HAMLET

SISTER HAMLET

Oh, I still remember
your Hamlet
(the best production I ever saw)

you home from school
wrapping yourself in the crimson curtain
of our living room

& stabbing yourself
in the arras
& crying: “ a rat...a rat! ”

& how something or other was rotten
& bringing the curtain down
upon your dying

annoying our mother
critical of your over-heated performance
she sending us(like a bad review)scampering

I will remember
your Shakespeare
to my dying day

your eyes wild
your hair flying
and how

with an entire
cast of you
you acted it out

to my open and gasping
mouth drinking you in
with my thirsty mind

Shakespeare come
startlingly alive me peppered
with beauty & spittle

oh, sister Hamlet
I still live in the wonder
of your telling

Apr 2023

Marshal Gebbie

The Fly hath Landed

The demon fly hath landed now intent upon it's task
**** Demon in its valedictory explorations grasp.
Embedded deep in kidneys, to cause me some concern.
A painful path to endgame and a Hellish lesson learned.

I pause a moment, think it out, it's one way or the other
I lost a mate the other day and last month, lost another.
Seems it is the season for the cataclysmic time
I'd rather it be elsewhere but I fear this one... is mine.

I've run a rough and winding track these rugged years of yore
Pulled the Dragons tail in jest and sought, yet, for more.
Rafted mighty rivers and flew the heavens high
And lifted my perception winging vaulting, clear blue sky.

I've known the velvet touch of love, the softness of her lips
The crash of waves on sandy shore caressing fingertips.
The swelling joy of childbirth, the pledge of mothers milk
And rock like bonds of marriage binding all within its ilk.

With thoughts a million miles away I've trudged this country lane
Pondered why, with voids approach, it engenders me no pain?
Wondering why it matters that the children shed a tear
When saddened, glancing passing eyes, are never really near.

Regret I'll never get to see my grove of rhodos bloom
Or sip the soothing whisky as I tap my toe in tune.
Or launch into the crazy surf and splash out to the rock
Nor lie in sun on baking sand admiring talent flock.

Meat pies with sauce at football with a cold beer in the hand
And the repartee with kindred minds in poetry unplanned,
That flash of inspirations' alliteration sprung
Brings the joy to mind of comradeship in Shakespeare's realm, unsung.

.....And then there's all that's left undone, the words, now, left unsaid
The notes of tragic violin hang in the air...unbled
And you there with the swimming eyes, what do I say to you?
It's all been grand, I kiss your hand....Adieu , my friend.... Adieu!

M.
Foxglove, Taranaki
New Zealand
20 October 2020

Apr 2023

Maddy

My body and My Life

Whatever your religious thoughts are
They are respected and understood
As well as your feelings
Please see other side for a moment
If your life is at stake
If you have survived an attack and I speak from my experience only
where my body and life were forever changed
Years of therapy and dealing with Depression was the price and telling my beloved what happened before we embarked to what will be 43 year old marriage this autumn
Wanted children but a ****** took that from me at fourteen
If you acted first and thought better later
If your partner was not prepared for the situation after the fact
If you are not ready financially emotionally ,or whatever the reason
My body, my life, my choice
The medication and right to choice is not a states or judges decision
As for Florida and other states that have banned the choice

There are no words just tears

C@rainbowchaser2023

Apr 2023

Anais Vionet

empty skies

This morning’s sunrise was a tacky and artificial affair.
The sun was played by a weak, 12-watt, refrigerator bulb
that looked wet and heavy as it struggled uphill like a drunk.
The horizon reminded me of a cheap, runny theatrical illusion,
the clouds were old cotton ***** glued to cardboard silhouettes,
the birds sagged like dead puppets from uneven coat hanger wires.

I don’t miss you. Everything’s fine. I hardly noticed you were gone, actually.
Things here are a laugh and a half. We’re doing fun girl things. Anna got new shoes.
I’m hardened by years of inescapable, solitary, covid lockdown. I’m immune to despair.
So go off, interview for that new, far-flung PhD life. Go fawn over Elon Musk for all I care.
I’m definitely not in my room eating spoons of peanut butter and crying to Tom Waits songs.

BLT Marriam Webster word of the day challenge: Fawn: to court favor by groveling or flattery.

#interviewing #careers #artificial #missing #longing

Apr 2023

Frances E McClelland

Daydreams

Watching the sky turn misty and gray,
my thoughts wandering to worlds away;
Where the indigo sky streaked with sunlight,
sends me back to my years of eternal daylight.

As a child of summer the world was mine,
the ocean swirled with colors divine;
The soft, warm sand touched my soul,
and the seagulls perched on the rocks would call.

Swept into a daydream that filled my heart,
with family and friends who have since departed;
My parents packed sandwiches for us to munch,
and the chocolate bars--how much fun to crunch !

Wading in the foam at the edge of the shore,
was bliss to me right down to the core;
Now dad and mom are shadows and clouds,
and my friends have moved away from town.

But I'll never forget those days of delight,
which ended in a sunset so colorful and bright;
The rain now caresses the old maple tree,
as my daydreams are floating out to the sea.