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142 · Sep 2021
Famous Men
Do you know these people
  dirt poor with joyful eyes?
  No tears or pity asked they
  work hell's cloudless skies
  every meal fatback and beans  
  sharecropper hands of stone
  Sunday overalls starched go
  to Church praise Jesus, atone.
For Brenda O.
142 · May 2022
Death's Crook
We live the lives we are assigned
  predestined inside God's giant book
  we walk our chapters weak and kind
  hoping to avoid death's horrid crook.
  The only ending is finally dying
  the body surrenders to God's demand
  never mind if only and but for trying
  sleep forever in the clay of our land.
142 · Feb 2021
Nightmare
I'll hear your confession.

I'll tell you how to punish you,
wipe the sin side clean of bits and pieces
left when the corpse is buried.

a knock on my attic walk up
no good reason for a visit

I'm in arrears with child support.
I might join the Army if nothing else.
Maybe I'll believe in God and pray
for a miracle at bedtime on my knees.

I'll drink a 12 pack and smoke Lucky's
and read Peoples Almanac listening
to Beethoven and Holst.
142 · Feb 2021
Burying Jack Daniels
I've known you for years. Grandad introduced us.
    You always made the room glow and laughter flow.
    You forgave me when I betrayed those I promised
    to never betray. You made me smarter than I was
    and clever when I was dull and modest when clever.
    There's always a madness in the air when you grace
    us with your presence.
    I plan your funeral. I bury you in a potter's field.
    I buried you  before.. Like Christ you rise.
    I put a stake in your heart and salt on your grave.
    You refuse to be banished from the lives we live.
    Maybe you'll stay buried inside me in my grave.
142 · Sep 2023
Went All the Way
I screamed insanity
to set myself free
parked the UHaul
in the proper stall
checked in the hotel
in the city of angels
on our way to paradise
dreams are too fragile
she refused to go away
we drove another day.
141 · Mar 2023
Our Lust
Our lust
betrays trust
destroys love
at the cost of
broke children
a mortal sin
nowhere to hide
suicidal bride
****** Mother Mary
suckles us sinners
while we are buried
beneath our married.
141 · Jul 2024
Poem to Siblings
8 Ducklings through Mom
are enough to astound.
6 Alcott Lane, Greenhills.
Winton Woods playground.
Christmas Terry loved a TV
I loved Beach boy record
Kevin loved math books
we shared Umbilical Cord.
Each poem I write always seems less than your poems. Love won't leave me alone.
141 · Mar 2022
Temple Bar Bldg.
9th floor computer center with robots
  tending machines I met rebels like me.
  We were different in ways I never quite
  understood. We were rascals, thief's and
  honor bound to the broken fools we are.
  Benny boo and paper airplane contests
  and pillage the robber candy machine.
  We 3 night shifters kept our purity.
141 · Dec 2021
Quang Duc Burning Monk
If I could set myself on fire
and with a lighted heart tell
about the strangers swallowed
in hate and earth's endless
wars. Thousands dead and
missing and where's my dog?
If I could set my life aflame
and shed light and warmth on
this place and strangers then I
would strike the match and die.
141 · Jun 2023
74
74
My arms are wrinkled linen
muscles betrayed me somehow
I have thin parchment skin
My face felt farmer's plow.
140 · Apr 2022
Scout's Treasure Box
An old cigar box holds treasures
from my childhood. My father's watch,
marbles and crayons fighting for space,
wedding band and Atticus' glasses, Jem
and I carved in wood by Boo Radley  
and my tears for our Mother's death.
Black or white or something within.
To **** a Mockingbird is a mortal sin.
The sky's so clear
  in the atmosphere
  stars perch on a tree
  caged birds set free
  my mind takes flight
  into the cold night
  when I just can't feel
  what's dream or real
  my dogs walk me home
I sleep and dream alone.
140 · Apr 2024
The Poetic Nicole
Just when I think I'm a real poet,
I find my very own poet laureate.
The Poetic Nicole is the blinding
light we'd all do well to emulate.
140 · Jan 2021
Catcher in the Rye
Men all learn to lie
Women learn to cry
shrinks learn why
soldiers learn to die
angels learn to fly
we all say goodbye
140 · Oct 2022
Absolute Truth
Our absolute truth reveals itself
in a pale blue translucent light
in our dreams. We can't see it in
naked light of day. Like staring
at the sun it would blind us and
truth stripped bare is horrible.
140 · Dec 2024
Kiss Me When I Die
I will feel your lips
send me on my way
beyond life's blips
and the day to day.
140 · Nov 2021
Need
It was on a cardboard sign
held by a hobo 5th and Vine.
Shame on the cars waiting
for the green lights hating.
No eye contact made
when I drive off you fade.
Was he in need or a fake?
Jesus heartbreak or a snake.
140 · Apr 2023
Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You
The summer of love broke vows and
choked promises from our throats.
I grew my hair and quit robot jobs.
I wore carpenter jeans and earth shoes.
I ****** and called it love and loved
and called it *******. I always leave.
139 · Apr 2023
The Pretender
I'm riding bulls in bars outside my mind
before I fell in love with the rest
of them everyone these days if only
you knew my heart, the damage I carry in
my psyche like a pouch of Judas silver.
Betray me with just one more kiss.
You're the voice inside my head
that one I'll finally always miss.
139 · Apr 2023
Half Life
I'm a blind man without a sun.
We live in different mirrors.
You have light for everyone.
I am where is what disappears.
139 · Feb 2021
Soros
12 monkeys stole an election
in the greatest country yet!
Soros was richer than God so
he bribed monkeys everywhere
to turn keys and throw feces. He
erased religion. He replaced god with
small jealous men with small *****,
huge egos and armies of useful idiots
      propagandizing for a cause without fully
comprehending the cause's goals  who
is/are* cynically used by the cause's leaders.
Vote for Her ****** to bury Capitalism.

*Which is it? Extra points for correct answer.
Useful idiot
propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically used by the cause's leaders. The term was originally used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regardeIn political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as d as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation.
139 · Sep 2021
Dust to Dust
I'm worried. I heard a crack
   in the universe last night.
   When too much weight is on
   humanity to always do right.
   Our team is losing this fight.
   It is a terrible fright tonight.
139 · Apr 2021
Wildlife
The dogs are playing poker.
Quincy favors one eyed jacks.
The cats are always scheming.
Mice have the best laid plans.
Raccoons rob garbage cans at night.
Bears play Rugby in the clearing.
Pigs grab the grub by the seconds.
Dingoes look for babies to eat.
Nessie in the Loch is very timid.
Sunset Strip wildlife is insane.
139 · Jul 2022
Slow Crawl to Death
The years of youth are
full of low hanging fruit.
We are pampered royals.
Easy nothing is absolute.

I chased my tail forever
looking for a perfect lover
I grew old in dog years
and started raining tears.

Moon and sun wear me down
Time is a wicked assassin
I make a slow crawl to death
arrive with my final breath.
138 · Jan 2024
Crack House
You bought your ticket to
this dark house of waste
lie on the filthy mattress
just one sweet final taste
heaven smile and statistics
tease your last goodnight.
You dream into darkness
then walk into the light.
138 · Aug 2022
Empty Despair
Pour your tears in my eyes
and I will weep for you.
Wrap your despair in a red box
with a satin bow and gift it to
me at Christmas to bear alone.
Shove your sobs down my throat
and I gasp for better times.
I find it kind of our last hope.
138 · Mar 18
'Til Death Parts
Cold beds hot hearts
neglected garden dies
Hot hearts hot beds
Eden's garden thrives.
138 · Jul 2021
Aging in the Light
Now I love low light and shadows.
     Night is my flattering friend who
     understands the ugliness of aging.
     My skin turns purple as my veins
     capture hold on my thinning skin.
     Onion skin. Thin translucent, like
     strong wind could rip it off bones.
     I was a fetching beauty not too long
     ago. Full sun on the beach I had
     men staring agog. I strutted and
     knew they didn't have a chance. I
     decided who would plant their flag.
138 · Apr 14
Anger Simmers
On cool back burner
resentment simmers
love turns to black
hatred for dinners.
138 · May 2021
Aborted Love
I travel forever to the end of time
leave a stop watch inside this rhyme
a second left to create one more life
aborted by mom with a kitchen knife.
138 · Oct 2021
50 Second Hour
I was lying on a shrinks couch
and had a straight jacket moment
when I couldn't find a window or door.
He prescribed ****** for 15 years.
I finally came back from living dead,
staring into the shining sun no fears.
138 · Feb 2022
Armageddon
I set it on fire and burned
it back into hell to sleep
another decade or two
you said something that
was really important.
I never heard you above
the screams and hatred
I'm on the outside again.
Armageddon.
137 · May 2024
Return to Sender
She left me a long time ago.
  I found her ****** in a crack
  under the bed overlooked cargo.
  If I knew where I'd send 'em back.
137 · Jun 2021
6 Alcott Lane
I'm a worn out old man.
I want to go back to Alcott
where the world was in a jar
and we were masters of the
woods. We knew the creeks and
lake and swung on vines Tarzan
like and ran home to supper and
homework and TV and slumber
and dad off to work at 5am hacking
in the bushes and off he went in
the flesh colored rocket ship that
was a a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air.
137 · Jul 2023
Opera Cream
Stay high tonight
under anger's flight
crash by morn's light
bruises seem slight.
My hands just claws
hang from your jaws
dripping my flaws
the crowds applause.
137 · Jul 2021
Perform
There's always talk
in costumes on stage
of innocence and guilt
I'll live in your cage
of my rage you built.
We bow and turn a page.
137 · Mar 2023
Merry Xmas
Church bells are mute this time.
Carols are quiet in a silent night.
Tree lights are dark and children
laugh without mirth. It's a funeral.
Christ was aborted from a womb in
a Hollywood motel on 5th and Main.
Return all the toys and ***** candles
and pour the eggnog down the drain.
Elves work in sweatshops in China.
Burn Santa in effigy slaughter his rides
12 fillets and beers on the house
and slippers of reindeer hides.
Just for the record I'm pro choice but don't love or hate me for it.
136 · Nov 2022
Pompeii Bouquet
My love is not a page
full of pretty poetry
more like fires of rage
atomic bomb imagery
melted hearts boiled tears
I gave you charred flowers
once in many loveless years
a Pompeii Bouquet of hours.
136 · Dec 2020
Fallen Moon
Memories like anorexic hangars
inside the closet out of sight.
The sun inside the Frigidaire
keeps my secrets in the dark.

I knew things changed when
the moon was gently rocking
in the breeze in a creek
since falling from the sky?

Now you know my frailties.
I'm insecure and eaten up
with doubts. I can't even
imagine happily ever after.
136 · May 2021
Revolution
We butchered our oppressors
  became the new suppressors
  we were the elite professors
  punish unwashed confessors
136 · Jul 2022
Nothing Sacred Anymore
I betrayed Jesus Christ with a kiss
and his father God to the atheists
nothing seems to matter anymore
I can finally **** through any door
and drink from any water fountain
love any woman I desire in the rain
makes no difference what her stain
colorless lovers feel couple's pain.
We don't live in black and white.
Can we please stop the fight?
136 · Sep 2022
Chances
You and I aren't that different.
  I'm insecure and missed love's touch
  fighting ghost's dying while I dream.
  Am I breaking my own heart as such?
  I'll be your dancing monkey if you want.
  I promise you I will break every mirror
  too honest with your reflection as it is
  hovering near your worst nightmare fear.
What plays out in the spotlights is all you need to see.
  An extravaganza of what our marriage is each day together.
  As you see we were a perfect match from the beginning. Love
  has blessed us with its fruits, our children, a boy and girl.

  We've had our trials. Behind the big top the clowns drink and
  gamble the paychecks away. The beauties on the trapeze grow
  a little fatter with each decaying year and settle for less.
  The strongman is weaker, the human cannonball almost broken.

  The towns on our circuit seem a little more desperate each season.
  We now have just the one ring for our acts of amazing happiness.
  The kids have joined their own circus and we only have ourselves
  wandering in tattered tents alone at The Greatest Show on Earth.
136 · Aug 2021
Bennie Boo
We were misfits
jokers in the deck
penny drifters in
the upper crust
pick pockets in any
crowd of swells
we went where
the sirens called
and crashed on rocks
but still live on.
136 · Oct 2020
8 Minutes
Anybody ever understand me?
I try to make a point but silent
stares fill me with terror. Do they
hate me or am I on fire naked?
I have equations to prove my point.
Einstein agrees with my logic and
if the sun dies in the blink of an eye
we have 8 minutes to say goodbye.
136 · Dec 2021
I Love You, Joni Mitchell
I could never find you
in the vastness of living.
We never shared a beer
never found a wedding.
You bent chords like I
bent my tiny day to day
shuffling decks forever
without a card to play.
136 · Aug 2023
Night Light
Night defeats the sun,
    hangs a pale imposter
    in its own sky
    to wax and wane
    and woo young lovers
    under the boardwalk.
  
    Lust ebbs and flows.
    Our tide was high.
    Our moon enormous
    balanced on the horizon.
    Reach out and touch it and
    be reborn with me tonight.
135 · Nov 2020
The Caged Bird is Screaming
The caged bird sings!
Such a wonderful song
to wake to begin the day.
She is screaming for her
freedom from the cage.
I scream from my perch
in this zoo of houses and
neighbors and weight on
me to provide and be king
with all the answers for you.
I know why the caged bird sings.
135 · Feb 2023
Eat the Rich
They starve the masses
use the deadly gasses.
Eradicate the smart Jews.
Control main stream news.
Steal our hearth and homes
15 minute approved city zones.
Destroy the cow and chicken
eat the bugs and the vermin
fake eggs and philanthropists
pretending to be scientists
eugenics is their religion
their solution is attrition.
135 · Feb 2022
City Life
Sardines inside a subway car
Pickles packed inside the jar
Soldiers so close in a foxhole
Welfare office for the dole
A billion windows with a story
some of love or hate or glory
huddled masses in a dormitory
overwhelm every inventory.
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