"bowling" poems
my bones stick out
so much
I should feel good
like fat
like privilege
and power
but these things are fleeting
like my body
like the conversion I had
with you
I never meant to bring
up semi truck
cabs
artist’s sketch
tables
I only meant to move you
into the city
like a good friend
like a walk in the park
or a trust fall into
the pool
blues
I say
this is the strife they
sing about
and everyone loves it
and eats it with
peanuts
allergies?
no thank you.
green smoothies?
no thank you.
a good morning text?
well, maybe if I still
like you
if I can still stand
to be in the same room
with myself
to go bowling
to go on hikes
to meditate
all these things
I hate
and my bones
they’re smooth
and splinter when
bitten
and my bones
they glow like
uranium in the
mirror
good morning blow
good morning blush
good morning white boy
good morning,
Andrew
May 21, 2016
May 21, 2016 at 11:20 AM UTC
poetry readings have to be some of the saddest
****** things ever,
the gathering of the clansmen and clanladies,
week after week, month after month, year
after year,
getting old together,
reading on to tiny gatherings,
still hoping their genius will be
discovered,
making tapes together, discs together,
sweating for applause
they read basically to and for
each other,
they can't find a New York publisher
or one
within miles,
but they read on and on
in the poetry holes of America,
never daunted,
never considering the possibility that
their talent might be
thin, almost invisible,
they read on and on
before their mothers, their sisters, their husbands,
their wives, their friends, the other poets
and the handful of idiots who have wandered
in
from nowhere.
I am ashamed for them,
I am ashamed that they have to bolster each other,
I am ashamed for their lisping egos,
their lack of guts.
if these are our creators,
please, please give me something else:
a drunken plumber at a bowling alley,
a prelim boy in a four rounder,
a **** guiding his horse through along the
rail,
a bartender on last call,
a waitress pouring me a coffee,
a drunk sleeping in a deserted doorway,
a dog munching a dry bone,
an elephant's **** in a circus tent,
a 6 p.m. freeway crush,
the mailman telling a ***** joke
anything
anything
but
these.
7.7k
bowling pin serenity
white and controlled
everyone loves the separatism
as it is encouraged and propagated
revolution as a fad
for ****
right to buy, die, fry, and try
skin-color guarantee
Paul Mooney, “complection for protection”
meaning my pigment protects me
from what….
I experience the loss of loved ones to cancer and illness
I suffer years of addiction and the lasting effects of liver damage
I am poor, was raised in poverty
my skin means nothing to the bill collectors
or the tax man
or the capitalist system
do I not suffer the slow poisoning
of industrialization
of globalization
infection
rejection
……
We all sit as slaves in this new America
I just happen to be in the front of the bus
Mar 12, 2014
Mar 12, 2014 at 12:32 PM UTC
Beyond your television
Lies vast hills,
along with many jumps and much thrill
Mario jumps
Zelda swings
As Kirby swallows
Donkey kong beats,
Star fox flies ever so high
While niko goes bowling
Roman started to cry
Meta knight stares ominously
As a goomba cautiously walks
A turtle shell turns blue
While the Mario kart racers get mad too....
We all know sleeping dogs don't lie
We joined a guild during an MMO war
Where we smashed every single one of our keyboards
Oct 28, 2015
Oct 28, 2015 at 11:06 AM UTC
The sensation I miss most about childhood is the blissful freedom
We could have left this town and ran forever
I had my first kiss in a bowling alley snack bar
Within a Christmas morning star
I associate you with the winter: your shining black hair and cold words
We were both numb and it felt so strong
Could I return to the frozen bridge we would walk over every morning to school?
Making our way back to my house in the bleak afternoon
The best memory I had with you was when we tried to install a ceiling fan but it broke and destroyed the floor
Reminders of words, sharp tongues, and broken nails on trial
I go back to the feeling of my head split in two
I love the winter but I love you more
Nov 20, 2017
Nov 20, 2017 at 6:19 PM UTC
I wonder what it is that I will love the most. Maybe it’s the way you say a certain word, or that one defining feature; your one crooked tooth when the rest are straight, or the fact your eyes cross every time you cough after a draw. Maybe it’s because your mouth tastes like rice milk and your hands smell like lavender, maybe it’s the way you hold me and keep me still when the entire world is spinning. Maybe it’s because you sing all the songs you know keep me calm, or maybe it’s the way your laugh seems to roll around in your mouth and then hit everyone in the room like it’s the bowling ball and we’re the pins. I wonder what you have been through. I wonder what walls you have hit in your life, and which of those you battered through and which you sat and waiting for the bricks to crumble and fall. I wonder what you will think about when we sit in silence, is it about me? Is it about the ocean, or our dinner?
I wonder about a lot of things to do with you, but I do not wonder, nor doubt that I will be uncontrollably and unfaltering-ly in love with you.
Oct 19, 2016
Oct 19, 2016 at 8:55 PM UTC
I bowled three games tonight.
Possible paths to victory skipped rocks in my mind,
Until the ball dropped.
I won and lost.
My face flushed.
My skills wavered,
Such a tragic player.
A strike, a ball doomed to the gutter.
What did it matter?
When the lanes burst with laughter?
Friends, arcades, night bowling.
Fingers contorting.
Strange shoes and watching feet behind the line.
No passing it, no crime.
All win in the end.
Bowling alleys- hidden gems.
Jul 12, 2014
Jul 12, 2014 at 2:36 AM UTC
what will it take? 20 years of outright lies
and denied mistakes?
watching you escape on a plane set a thousand miles away
or at home screaming in pain
we're both here, both alone
both sorry, both stubborn
overcome with disappointment
and it'll **** us, we'll die here, we're done
Dec 26, 2012
Dec 26, 2012 at 2:27 PM UTC
Its back,
And I wish I could say
For one night only,
But the forecast shows
A messy week ahead of me.
Every day
The sun will burn bright
And a cool wind will
Bite my cheeks.
Every night
The sun will set
Like God dropped a bowling ball
And storm clouds
Will come rolling in.
The thunder will be deafening
With no lightning
To illuminate the blackness.
The rain will come in
Big, heavy drops
All at once.
No gradual crescendo.
No calming patter on rooftops.
Only a roar at my window
That will ****** me
To open it.
In the rumble
I can hear a whisper
Begging me to open
The floodgates and let the rain
Come rushing into my room.
Let it rise
Up the walls
Until I'm kissing the ceiling
Then sink to my bed,
Feeling content with my efforts.
I wrap the covers
Around me and lay my head down,
Passive to the water
Filling my lungs.
Comfortable in my
Burial at sea.
Don't worry though,
My room is still dry
And the window is closed.
But the latches are loose
And I'm not quick to repair.
Oct 24, 2016
Oct 24, 2016 at 11:12 PM UTC
It was night
There were no clouds in the sky,
Just stars in the black sea.
Noise spilled through the doors of the bar.
Outside the Brass Rail people with alcohol in their system
And the ***** in their lungs crowd the 49 highway.
In the middle of the road,
Where the white and yellow lines run parallel,
A wild smiling girl sets the triangle of bowling pins.
A ways down the highway line, a smiling man with blond dreadlocks
Swings his arms back and forth, ready to threw the ball.
The wild girl moves, the man throws his ball, the crowd cheers, trucks honk,
And the pins are hit!
Everyone jumps in the air, everyone claps and whistles,
And the game starts over again.
Bowling on highway 49 in North San Juan, California.
These wild free spirits are my friends.
Oct 13, 2013
Oct 13, 2013 at 1:36 PM UTC
Ebola has my name on it, the Doctor
Who came back with Ebola
In New York, yes you heard me right
His name is Mr. Spencer, I’m a
Spencer, he rode the subway in the dark
And he went bowling a week after
He came back, and he only went
To the hospital very sick
This is dementia of the public system
And the main stream media
Is being blacked out by the Czar
Appointed by Obama, he’s a lawyer by trade
Are you surprised that Ebola
Can hitch a ride with a Doctor without borders?
There are no borders for a pandemic
It increases exponentially
And peaks sometime in 2017
I’m sorry to be the first to break
The News, but Ebola is running wild
Somewhere in New York, somewhere near you
There could be a city that has it already
And do you think the media would let you know?
Oct 23, 2014
Oct 23, 2014 at 10:45 PM UTC
Zeus who was in control
A powerful god who was bold
He had a son called Hercules
Hercules being the protector for the weak and defense against the strong
His strength beyond mortal men
Hercules was always the victor at the end
But let’s more to a new seen
Follow me and you will see what I mean
Our tail involves ancient Rome
But the task will be defeat Rome’s army
The call is for Hercules to use his strength one last time
But Hercules has become old, but still his might
King plateau has a beef with Hercules
The king himself states, “my army is too powerful for you to defeat”
But that’s what plateau thinks
However, king plateau must remember, Hercules is guided by his father Zeus, who is a god and could make his temple shrink
ZEUS THE ALL POWERFUL GOD
SO KING PLATEAU WANTS TO TEST OLD MAN HERCULES STRENGTH
YET, HERCULES ALWAYS DEMONSTRATED HIS STRENGTH IN THE PASS IN HIS YOUTH
HERCULES IS NOW OLD, BUT CAN STILL DEMONSTRATE A BEHOLD
NOW KING PLATEAU WANTED HERCULES TO BEND A BAR
THE BAR BEND IN STAGES ONE BEND AT A TIME
HE THEN CRUSHED A SMALL ROCK IN HIS BARE HANDS
TRULY, HERCULES HAD NOT LOSS ANY OF HIS HERCULEAN SGRENTH
BUT COULD KING PLATEAU AND HIS ARMY GO THE LENGTH?
SO THE MISSION BECAME CLEAR
MAKE THE WEAK HAVE FEAR
BUT HERCULES WILL ALWAYS BE NEAR
SO LET THE BATTLE BEGIN
KING PLATEAU’S SOLDIERS WERE BATTLING THE WEAK
YET, THE WEAK WEREN’T EXACTLY POWERFUL, BUT WERE MEEK
OLD MAN HERCULES CAME ONTO THE SEEN
LIFTED HEAVY OBJECTS AS IF THEY WERE TOYS AND HEISTED THEM TOWARDS KING PLATEAU’S ARMY
NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN HERCULES
STRENGTH HAVING NO BOUNDARIES
YET A MISSION WAS AT HAND
KING PLATEAU’S ARMY WAS BEING DEFEATED BY HERCULES LIKE BOWLING PINS
KING PLATEAU WAS BECOMING WORRIED AS HE COULD BE DETHRONED
SO HERCULES ENTERED THE TEMPLE AND LIFTED KING PLATEAU IN HE AIR AND THROUGH HIM TO THE GROUND
SUDDENLY, KING PLATEAU GRABBED A SWORD AND STARTED SWINGING,
AND HERCULES ALSO GRABBED A SWORD AND MADE HIS ATTACK ON KING PLATEAU IN A FIGHT TO THE FINISH
BECAUSE OF HERCULES STRENGTH, HE MANGED TO STAB THE SWORD INTO KING PLATEAU’S HEART, AND HE DIED INCIDENTLY
HERCULES RUSHED OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE TO USE HIS STRENGTH ONE LAST TIME, AND DESTROY THE TEMPLE FOR GOOD
THE TEMPLE COULDN’T WITHSTAND THE STRESS OF OLD MAN HERCULES STRENGTH, ANMD IT CRUMBLED INTO DESTRUCTION
AT THAT POINT, THE OLD MAN HERCULES FINALLY DIED, AND THE VICTOR FOR THE WEAK NO MORE
MYTHICAL WAS NOW IN HEAVEN’S HANDS
BUT OLD MAN HERCULES WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED FOR HIS STRENGTH ALWAYS IN DEMAND
The clouds have gathered into darkness
This is a day of sadness
But the weak can contest in being the witness
Strength coming from the skies
Hercules accomplishments having an understanding in being wise
But we must realize
The sunshine is the life of Hercules
The past having a sunset
But Hercules will always be remembered in having full effect.
Apr 12, 2018
Apr 12, 2018 at 4:52 AM UTC
Brackets
Your mum picked you up in daddy’s BMW,
we had to wait an hour while they scrubbed the brains of another son off the roof of the 125
(Why they built a multi storey car park on top of the bus station is a mystery to me.)
You carefully colour coordinated your files and scrutinized your revision schedules,
we watched nicked CCTV footage of two blokes smoking crack and burning down the bowling pavilion next door
(the old boys never did raise enough to repair it.)
You snubbed each other because of different tastes in jumpers,
we watched acid casualties talk politics with football hooligans
(a hastily rolled joint bridged the obvious gap.)
You lounged in the common room in your study periods,
our lesson got cancelled because John had been smashed in the face with a fire extinguisher
(and our tutor used to be a lifeguard.)
You worried about fashion and discussed the injustice of last night’s X Factor result,
we watched Neil’s head crash into his keyboard after he’d scoffed all his methadone in one go
(again.)
Mar 7, 2013
Mar 7, 2013 at 4:56 PM UTC
Motel moons, left of face
In room 12, a thing named Grace
She's missing ***** & he's missing eggs-
Band-Aids on the neck
Royal Hawaiian
Big Ad's A-Flyin' (Bye!)
Cowboys in black dusters
And aliens in track suits
Drinking coffee with the common man
Blue-hooded and faceless, walks by again
Third-reel-real headshot,
Kept as a souvenir by an FBI actor
A man can do a lot with his chin
Uncle Sam's tonic & gin
Not made to be an Earthling
Not fit to be an alien
Stars are flickering lights
On Big Empty nights
Three days in the desert
Minus pie sauce in the sky
What's in the blue suitcase?
Why the blue bowling shoes to get to that place?
"Just get on the bus, Gus...
... And get yourself free"
Blue-sky clouds on black
Whipped cream & jack
The United States of Aliens
And a Person in a circle
Nov 25, 2011
Nov 25, 2011 at 9:19 PM UTC
Bowling *****
Stepping in and smelling fresh diarrhea and cigarettes
Slide your fingers into the heels of over worn shoes
Then your feet- someone has been here before, hundreds of people have
sit in the solid plastic swivel
step up to the dead rack and pick up a germ infested, god-forsaken ball
bowl terribly and pull your glute
repeat.
Ten frames.
Sep 18, 2013
Sep 18, 2013 at 9:54 PM UTC
My sister is a quarterback
I rarely catch a pass
and she can run a marathon
I soon run out of gas
she pitches for her baseball team
I pop up on her curve
and she's an ace at tennis
I can't return her serve
My sister dunks the basketball
I dribble like a mule
she swims like a torpedo
I flounder in the pool
she's accurate at archery
I hardly ever score
She wrestles and she boxers
I wind up on the floor
My sister catches lots of fish
I haven't had any luck
she's captain of her hockey team
I can't control the puck
her bowling's are unbelievable
I bowl like a buffoon
she says someday I'll start to win...
I hope someday is soon
Nov 16, 2013
Nov 16, 2013 at 8:11 PM UTC
I think I could know
How you might feel about her.
I can see it,
The way she makes you smile.
But honestly, you arn't the same
Beside her.
Waiting for boy's night out
Ain't ever gonna be my style.
I remember when you were a rebel,
Just a renegade without a plan.
I can see, somehow, she's got you dreaming
Of playing house.
Think of what you're doing, brotherman!
Can't you see beyond her glamour?
She's cast a wicked spell on you.
That thing you feel for which you clamor,
It ain't true love; don't think she loves you, too.
I know it's not my place to tell you that she's posing,
And posting up inside your bed to get Some of your dough.
Who am I but some kind of little tag along?
But I can see the hurt she's going to put you through...
I'm sorry, Dude.
I don't mean to be a blocker.
Not that anything else could stand
Between you and her,
The pixie with her fairy dust.
All your priorities have been re-arranged.
Every time we meet she has to be a part of it.
It's not my business, but I just don't want to see.
When the lies unfurl,
I don't want you to be mad at me,
For having been the one to have tell you all about her scheming ways.
She knows I know.
She's as sly as night is shady.
When she whispers your name after dark
With her lilt,
You don't care a thing about your pride.
You give it all to her.
Everything you've got to give
Before she even ask for it.
You give it all to her,
Everything, Everything,
Everything to her...
So, I'm giving up
The Times we spend together.
I know right now you're chasing after your high.
I'll still love you
As much as any brother.
I'll be here for you whenever you find the time.
I'm sorry, Dude.
I don't aim to be a blocker.
Not that anything else could stand
Between you and her,
The pixie with her fairy dust.
All your priorities have been re-arranged.
I think I could know,
How you might feel about her.
I can't blame you,
But open up your eyes.
A girl like her
Is never going to be faithful.
Not to you, or anyone she knows.
So, I'm giving up
The Times we spend together.
I know right now you're out chasing your high.
When you hurt, just know that I hate it for you.
Maybe, next time, you won't brush everything else aside.
One day I'll be out strolling.
Or maybe pool, or bowling.
There'll come a time
When the binds
Of fruitless love no longer keep.
One day we'll fly
To far off never ever land.
And leave this past behind.
There'll come a day,
And come what may,
We will pick back up where we let it go,
That's how we roll.
I think I could know
How you feel about her.
What made you think
That's something I couldn't know.
Yes, I will miss you,
Don't want to kiss you,
No **** Bro,
I love you.
But for now,
I need to let you go.
I'm sorry, Dude.
I don't aim to be a blocker -
Not that anything else could stand
Between you and her,
The pixie with her fairy dust.
All your priorities have been re-arranged.
Sep 15, 2015
Sep 15, 2015 at 2:02 AM UTC
Today you turn 19,
and I often think about how much things have changed in one year.
These concrete 'remember the date' days make it easier to recall,
like how I felt on Christmas and New Years and Valentines day.
How last year we went out to sushi, I got you that Perma t-shirt, you and your brother took all of us bowling, and you wouldn't hold my hand when there were people around.
Today you turn 19,
And I remember feeling like a surrogate for you to **** your emptiness into.
I remember the constant nagging of not feeling good enough,
the self-loathing that plagued me through our entire relationship.
Hating other people who had never done anything to me just because they meant more to you than I ever would.
A lot has changed in a year.
Today, you turn 19
and I woke up in the arms of another,
and I woke up with a sleepy smile that lasted into morning, afternoon, and night.
I woke up with his name in my mouth and his lips on my shoulders
and I woke happy.
Today you turn 19,
and I can look in mirrors again
and I don't wake up wishing I was someone else
and I don't punish myself for things that aren't my fault
and I don't skip meals trying to look the way you wanted me too
and I don't hate myself anymore.
Today you turn 19,
and I didn't wish you a happy birthday.
I'm better now.
I'm healthy,
and happy,
and loved.
It's almost Spring.
Feb 22, 2015
Feb 22, 2015 at 2:47 PM UTC
Angels bowling in heaven, grandma always said;
I’d nod—it seemed plausible enough for a while,
Til I decided so much bowling sounded more like hell.
Jan 6, 2012
Jan 6, 2012 at 3:02 AM UTC
Roll the ball down the lane
Hit a pin or two
Shoes for rent
Scores are kept
Roll a spare
Three holes feel with fingers
Sometimes a gutter ball
Keep trying for a strike
Get your roll down till it feels right
Play all your frame
Love it so much keep playing the game
Play in teams or do it alone
The scores at the end says it all
Feb 13, 2013
Feb 13, 2013 at 11:49 PM UTC
I don’t know how to tell you
that you make me fall in love
with being alive
so instead I’ll tell you
that since I met you I’ve found
beauty in a rainstorm
and sometimes at night
when I feel so close to giving up
because it would be easier than
missing you
I hold my breath and listen
as rain knocks on my bedroom window
and I’m reminded that the first time
you touched me
lightning coursed through my veins
and brought me back to life
like a kiss in a fairytale
you woke me up when I didn’t know
I was sleeping
I don’t know how to tell you
that before you
I traveled three frames
behind everyone
as the world sped by
and words fell from lovers mouths
after they had already walked away
I struggled to catch up
with jumbled words
that tumbled through my trembling lips
but I was always too late
so I became mute to save myself
the heartache
and when you came along
I had forgotten how to speak
so I stayed silent
instead of admitting how much
you meant to me
I know that if I were lucky enough
to be heard by you again
I would tell you that I want you
in the most mundane ways
like Sunday mornings with iced coffee
and menthol kisses
—like listening to you sing in the shower
and watching your eyes light up as you laugh
I want summer evenings at the beach
bowling dates and early morning hikes—
I’ve never known how to tell you
that I will always take you for who you are
and what you’ve done
so I tried to show you through
good morning texts
and words of affirmation
but I need to stop assuming
you know what I mean
when I speak in metaphors
so I hope someday my words find you
and you’ll understand that for me
you were never a phase
and I can only dream
that you can still see the rainstorm
you unleashed inside of me
all those months ago
Sep 19, 2020
Sep 19, 2020 at 10:01 AM UTC
Like ******* a **** and you can't get hard,
Like rolling a blunt that's full of glass shards,
Like a bowling stunt where the pins are yards,
Away and you must stay put loaded with gin and not on guard,
While there's jaywalkers walking cross the alley and snipers far,
Up both sides, moss covered camouflage dilly dallying,
Falling comets, planets and stars while you ***** black tar out your scars, Sick spurting **** out the pit of your face and tripped on a lace falling down along with Mars.
Faster than my **** grows when I'm hitched, race-cars, bullets, and the suicide of a suicidal emo ***** with a mullet, grab the **** and pull it off and roll it up like the glass when you rolled it in the paper faster than a rapers hips going twitch twitch twitch, ***** you know it, she's on the list.
But you're soft and no fist can fit and what the **** is this about, just **** I coughed up and spout out my mouth, if it makes sense, even a little, I am not dense with my rhymes, raps, and riddles, there's meaning to it all, whether its beaming or dull, but I guarantee it's full and fits and flows when I say it to a T, you say my **** blows, well that's just mean, you say it's great, my confidence ovulates, so use it as bait as I eat off this plate, this 5 star rated treat elevated to six star cuisine meat.
I'll continue later in few poems that are greater and like haters, I won't stop planning and plotting out **** like these lyrics, I'm a creator.
Dec 4, 2018
Dec 4, 2018 at 8:17 PM UTC
*In a few years to come
A calendar is soon to end
The light of day will be suffocated by darkness
Haltering all brand new life
Bringing the Mother Ship to falter at the knees
A destined turmoil caused by catastrophic times
The hands of twisted fate are drawing near
World destruction nearing our footsteps
Along shadowy pathways of smoldering smoke
Billowing inward on plains of existence
Trampling atmospherical empires
Closing out realms of perseverance
Kharma may be ravishing in her ***** like ways
Childs Play in comparison to the putrid behavior of Mother Nature
Her promises of vengeful wrath
Unbearable to withstand her deceitful ways
Typhoons aiming to destroy harbouring lands
Earthquakes swallowing Kingdoms
Her ill fated disease blanketing valleys of bowling greens
The nightmare will embark upon us all
In the year 2012*
May 24, 2010
May 24, 2010 at 6:13 AM UTC