"gremlin" poems
Emerging economies.
What they’re emerging from I don’t know.
My guess, the depths of hell.
From the frying pan, right into the fire, or worse; a well.
A deep hole stronger than gravity, the force.
To be forever under the thumb of remorse.
A modern era of endless acts, policies and bla bla bla.
Shut up with all your platitudes.
I see what’s really going on. Aha!
You speak of sustainable development.
Nice to know that you’ve led by example.
Carried the mantle for all these years.
Centuries of ruthlessness, now veiled in sheep’s clothing.
But you won’t shut up. Because you don’t speak.
You never have. You just do.
Each day that goes by, you carry on anew.
Behind all the talk of hope, equality and more progress,
it seems the wolves are lurking.
Cooking up the next tool to subdue countless.
This time, not behind closed doors. But in plain sight.
It’s scary to imagine such spite.
Each year that goes by it becomes clearer that you never cared.
You sold guns, drugs and all kinds of war.
And each time, you kept coming back for more.
You’ve built up antibodies that ensure your survival.
But sometimes I wonder if you’re alive at all.
But what do I know?
Maybe you’re more alive than ever.
Doing what you do best but always more clever.
That not even the most stable of geniuses can evade your pressure.
A strong enough foundation that each break makes you stronger,
So strong that not even the Gremlin can take you under.
Against this dreary background, foregrounded is nothing short of magical.
Beyond hope, prayers or a thoughtless radical.
Or maybe this is all just fake outrage.
An attempt to evade the boredom of this endless monotony and baggage.
Or maybe, the term is out of date.
Like every other, that makes me increasingly more irate.
In which case, this poem is at least ten years late.
Or maybe there are too many maybes’.
And I’m perfectly suited for this time of vague uneasiness and indifference.
In which case, my imagination probably needs more sociology and less a lesson in rhymes.
Oct 14, 2018
Oct 14, 2018 at 1:44 PM UTC
OLD HOUSE
They retain precious memories,
intimate feelings of inhabitants
passing through its sagging doors.
Romantic are seekers of forgotten times
memories encased in hard wood floors;
as lath plastered walls ooze remnants of a
history while we; when inclined listen.
We don't go very often, to abandon houses,
perhaps on a dare, or at Halloween.
Are we passed enjoying extremes into this
another world, musty energy a curious child.
That was the yesterday
which now waits behind
musty, dusty, derelict halls.
I stand I stand at paint chipped banister,
a faded worn carpet once carried dancing feet,
children playing before they sleep. The
broken coat tree on the floor.
From the third floor murmuring,
a wind storm jars
loose fears, of time
once lost to dreams.
Echos billow from
each room, curtains hanging
yellowed by a sun where
dancing light through holes in damask lace.
Mice gremlin's artful droppings,
tracks of nature on dirt strewn floor.
Broken shards from window
panes, confetti after New Years day.
Branches scratched
etched paths, tracks like graffiti
on sill its unread words, a glif
eerily cast shadows trigger echos from the past.
Jagged memories protrude from every corner
mixing with new, enriching our fantasies
bringing us closer renewed;
these musty memories long forgotten.
Like waves rushing back;
flooding a mind like broken
dikes they crash into our world,
Rembrandt's paintings on canvas fading.
Silent footsteps outside a door,
we hear laughter from bedroom walls;
a smell a whiff of hot butter *** silent
conversation coming our way.
Old Doc Masters listened at my chest, as
I read all by candle light, Sherlock detective stories
or the Tell Tale Heart of Poe or
Othello; all masters in the past.
A Grandfather clock
stands silent, keeping time,
lost its tick yet still striking,
it stands tall, upon a clueless floor.
Knowledge lost to a past
in a house so worn,
births, deaths, wars, wrapped
forgotten, encased by neglect,
I visited a house besotted,
neglected waiting to be
remodeled into another century
moving it to present times.
Ajerry
Archival Jan 5, 2011
Nov 1, 2013
Nov 1, 2013 at 2:46 PM UTC
At first, I was
blown away,
**** I thought, this
girl is cool,
come my way.
A dime in the
eyes of Shayn.
This isn't a game,
you came onto me
now your ex has
messaged so you
up and leave?
**** a Gremlin,
You're a beast.
A savage at
the very least.
You have no
respect for anybody
but yourself.
I'm not the one little
girl i'll make you
life a living hell.
College this,
college that,
blah blah,
It's clear you spoke
our of your ***
I wont lose sleep
over it though, you're
just a glimmer in my past.
May 7, 2018
May 7, 2018 at 12:45 PM UTC
Expensive handbags,
Pensive listening,
Nothing I say is ever worth
Mentioning.
Swing on this
Hinge-- a see-saw of
Heartache
Bruised on the *** by
The frozen snake--
Never to thaw
And never to break.
Exquisite lampshades
Hide the luminous
Color,
Now a dingy
Dim of disrepair
Order.
Visit a fairytale
Where honey flows in
Waterfalls,
The smooth will soothe the
Heartless work and
Falls.
Tangled cloth again today,
Moth eaten and angled,
We ride in the dark
Convinced our little playground could save
A heart.
Jun 12, 2014
Jun 12, 2014 at 8:20 PM UTC
Plunk your Magic Twanger
years ago when I was a tike
back when I could barely even ride my bike
there was this silly show I loved and had to see
on Saturday mornings just for kids
they showed short films and had funny skits
so weird it seemed they were just talking to me
films about this kid they called the Jungle Boy
he rode on an elephant and brought me great joy
always tracking down men doing evil things
then there was always this special guest
a doctor, a scientist, someone who impressed
who would try to demo and explain
their special skills but is was to no avail
along came the gremlin with water spritzer and pail
and on the poor speaker he would make it rain
he was called Froggy the Gremlin a puppet at best
he'd dance like a clown and stick out his chest
and he was always introduced with this silly chant
plunk your magic twanger froggy, oh my dear
and boing in a puff of smoke he would appear
and bedlam would ensue he'd go off in a rant
Hiya kids, Hiya, he'd always say as he danced
on the edge of my seat, I was so entranced
what kind of stunt would he now try to pull
squirt the guest with his seltzer bottle he was so bad
the guest would run away, run away so wet and mad
the gremlin always kept his bottle full
zany comedy, mindless laughter every week
couldn't wait to see who would be the next weeks geek
so innocent then so full of vigor and vim
there is another part to this story someday I will tell
later on in high school before the first morning's bell
Froggy is still alive, no cant forget him
Gomer LePoet...
Nov 1, 2013
Nov 1, 2013 at 7:41 AM UTC
Looking back
years later,
I probably should never
have been on that flight.
Here’s the reasons why……
Shortly after takeoff,
and three cocktails later,
I spied a gremlin hanging out
on Engine Two.
Every time I looked,
smallish with green skin and red lips,
it smiled with an impish grin,
then went about its business
dismantling the cowling.
It seemed like
I was the only one who noticed
the little creature.
Other people were looking out
of the same side of the plane and
nobody was saying or doing anything.
Had they slipped me something?
Was the gin spiked?
Was I hallucinating?
Was God sending me a message?
Needless to say
we landed safely in Bogota
a few hours later.
It was a beautiful vacation!
But on my return flight,
things turned sour.
I was busted
for possession of narcotics,
spent six years in
a Colombian prison,
it wasn’t Heaven.
Like I said,
I probably should have never been on that plane.
Now looking back years later,
I think the gremlin was trying to warn me,
I wished I had taken heed,
given up the thought
of trafficking.
Dec 9, 2013
Dec 9, 2013 at 1:02 PM UTC
I hid under my throw
covering every inch of self
I curled in child's pose position
and clung to my toes
I kissed my shoulder
and whispered a tiny prayer
Patches of quilt protected me,
but your gremlin words kept bouncing
from the walls to the ceiling
to the window to the fan
Under my bed, where you lay
Monologue Monsters
attacked
Those threads within that
colored quilt
disintegrated
and there I was a child
exposed
Feb 12, 2013
Feb 12, 2013 at 2:21 AM UTC
*If I had to write a suicide note,
right now,
what would it say?
I think it would go something like this:*
Dear (No, too cliche. I don't want to put the blame on someone by mentioning them here),
I'm tired. my eyelids are heavy and my toes are dragging below me. I want to run, run far far away as fast as I possibly can. But I won't. I hate running. So I'm going to stop now. Stop running from everything and hiding from everyone and burying my head in books that I don't even care about anymore. So here's what I have to say.
Don't make me a martyr. I was not bullied, except by myself. I'm not the victim of our school system or the government or some political agenda. And I'm no advocate for self-righteousness, either. I'm just a human who got too tired. Too tired from staying up all night studying, writing speeches, researching arguments and arguing with people; living in this day and age is exhausting and I simply couldn't keep up.
To the one who knew me best I say this: When you're flirting with Death (which I'm sure you are as I write this) you don't have to come visit me. I'm still not convinced that I'll be there to be visited, and think of how it would crush the Tree Gremlin to know you could see me and she couldn't. Plus I wouldn't know you. Who knows anyone in the land of the dead?
To Tree Gremlin: Marry your idiot.
To my family I have nothing to say; mine was a battle enacted beneath their noses, under their roof, in the tree behind their house.
To the debate team: Get over your petty **** and write some arguments. I spent the entire weekend writing and researching and collapsing twice from exhaustion and my team STILL lost. Get your **** together and stop ******* around.
42, the Game, sodium hexametaphosphate, elf king, are you an insect, sea turtles, etcetera etcetera you've heard it all before, good bye and good luck.
~Abby
*This is why I'm glad I'm not writing this today;
I really have nothing of value to say.*
Nov 18, 2013
Nov 18, 2013 at 5:13 PM UTC
In the sapphire of the night
Secrets hide in shadows
Untouched by the mortal fight
They come to taunt
A rose on the shoulder
Ivy on the wrist
The brazen fools come calling
Into the frigid mist
Eyes of emerald green
Hair auburn sleek
The eyes pierce the soul
Into the mind they peek
Slender fingers dance
Making knives of feathers
Encrypted words prance
Shimmering in the light
The distance of the fall
Does nothing to the raven
Amidst a mirage of serpents
The shattered truth is taken
Writhing in the tides
Trying to dodge the spears
Flaunting hidden bravery
Masking burnt tears
Trying to forget the shock
Trying to forget the need
Acting like you're powerless
Desperate to ignore the plead
Dreams frozen in lava
Elegance disappears
Release the hidden tiger
Slip into the fears
Dare to steal the gremlin
Dare the beat the drum
Dare to set them trembling
Dare to mock the sun
Oct 16, 2013
Oct 16, 2013 at 8:55 PM UTC
"Come on page, where do the words fit?"
In the puzzle that is my brain, i ask as at
The table i sit
My hairs have split, like cheap ****** Remy
But then again maybe my idea bulb isn't lit.
"Come along pen, why can't you write?"
We've been up with this piece since last night
I ask myself again, this is really starting to frighten me, i know i might be pressuring myself too much,
But that's where the best moments come from, in the clutch.
"Come on heart, where's your spark? You usually flutter in the act of creating art!"
But alas no wings flapping, and no adrenaline rushing like a spotted chameleon
Just stone faced cynicism like a gremlin
Mar 22, 2017
Mar 22, 2017 at 11:25 PM UTC
The Art Teacher
for the one whose initials mean morning
"teaching art isn't about teaching art. it's just about letting people be - letting them be them, showing them it's ok. i don't know...that's why i like it. everyone is so scared...i like to try to show them they don't have to be afraid."
~~~~~~~
writ by one woman,
an art teacher
whose young life story
is a chain refrain,
*put it on me,
put it down right on me*
her see
nowadays
is her sea
of nowadays nothing but troubles,
ocean thirteen fathoms deep
what hasn't gone wrong,
just wasn't worth
being put on the list
we all need someone to lean on,
so here I am,
leaning on her,
surprise!
her prize,
a strength so profound
when depths plummeted,
she curses the dark deservedly
then writes me
another poem and
her sinking ship
never goes under,
despite life's repeated
offensive attempts
to play her,
down after down
you see she gets it,
not quite rightly,
she
is an artwork,
momentarily
needy for a frame suitable,
and I,
well,
am in a museum gallery
admiring her,
for she is great
art,
and from great
trouble,
her art grows greater,
her persona painting
simpler and straighter
so here I am thinking
student minoring in art,
think she is an art,
a teacher majoring
in teaching how to be
so here I am laughing,
my pandora gremlin
does it again,
playing games,
first "Lean On Me"
and then
"Let It Be"
so let her be,
so she can teach
the art of letting us
be
Jun 17, 2014
Jun 17, 2014 at 3:49 AM UTC
Nasty.
Things have started
to get nasty, people
have stopped pretending
that they are not evil
the fabric of fake nicety
has been scorched down
and we fight in the face of
a wrinkled green gremlin
whose name is many
whose language is disgust
whose heart is sealed shut
whose pride is gleaming ****
Disgusting.
How did we get here? we
huddled, tired, hungry & poor
standing at her pale jade door
being told we’re a liability
pushed out of homes we own
and families we’ve raised
to the streets, making noise
fighting though we’re so tired
It’s how they want us—
tired from years of fighting,
too tired to keep on.
But we’ll never stop.
Though their name is many,
ours is more. The teeming
multitudes arise to take
his place. We protest. We resist.
Nasty.
The gloves are off,
and we persist.
Jan 31, 2017
Jan 31, 2017 at 5:04 PM UTC
few people are honest enough
to admit the gremlin at the door
clawing at the edge of the door
threatening to escape and reveal the truth
this is the day i dread every year
dad's birthday
easy for others to do the right thing
how to keep showing respect when you get dis-respected regularly
a true test of character
this is the liar my mother fell in love with
that ultimately betrayed her unto death
i wish divorce was possible
May 31, 2013
May 31, 2013 at 12:27 PM UTC
It's not easy speak
or a Speak Easy
when conversing with him,
dark'ling gremlin toothless grin
but he's your friend so I carry on
with Yoda in the corner of my mind
"judgmental you must be not"
and Comicon's collective excitement fading
as the light will do in the west...
We speak easy with the circling
of the communal pipe
crystal peace in mists of glass orbs
oil burner fog horns
piercingly in & between my ears
but its not so easy to ignore
the scent of death in his halitosis
We spoke of Superheroes
their idiosyncratic identities
His secret celebrity crushes
envying Green Lantern’s ring finger
he speculates on Cyclop's orientation,
"Y don’t you make me an X man, professor?"
Informatively encyclopedic volubility,
Mike speaks queerly and toofless
yet well versed on oral
said he rims pacific beach boys
(And I can smell the white lies
wafting from his mouth)
as I color at his studly fairy tales
and his idolatry of prepubescent innocence
the hyper kind of **********
as he verbally recalls the taste of how sweet
the sweet untouched were...
*"The most gorgeous boys I’ve ever seen
in **** or anyplace on the face of the planet
comes from and are probably ******* now
in Europe... Mmm, European boys...
I want to use my life’s savings to go there
enter the war zone and come back wounded..."*
I can't even imagine
Shrapnel jacked backside, points and protrusions
grandiloquent mouths and holes full of
enunciations...
"Fourteen is the age of consent there..." he is smiling
a caricature of a wolf *** fang less
Such a pseudo wanna-be
possibly already
********* friend from the broken rainbow factory,
how I chuckle uncomfortably
shake my head disbelievingly
oh the humorous horror of it...
(I'm grinding my teeth, until I notice myself
doing so and get an image of him
with a gummy grin,
I preoccupy my thinking
nodding as I half-heartedly half listen)
Jun 11, 2016
Jun 11, 2016 at 12:54 PM UTC
I, mere minion and Russophile gremlin
subversive, Putinista, right-wing stooge
take my orders from God and the Kremlin.
Trust me (in Russian). We're going to be YUGE.
Jun 28, 2017
Jun 28, 2017 at 11:03 PM UTC
HIPPITY HOPPITY BOOP,
THE GREMLIN COMES OUT TO SNOOP AND
YOUR FACE LOOKS LIKE ****
TAKE YOUR HAND AND
SWIPE IT LIKE A CREDIT CARD
THROUGH THE CREASES OF
YOUR *** WHILE YOU SEARCH
FOR SOUNDS
OF A SYMPHONIC
MELODY.
Aug 21, 2021
Aug 21, 2021 at 9:59 PM UTC
I always carry in my pocket a string.
And tied to that string there is a watch,
I like to dangle it above the Funny little creature named sorrow.
Around my neck I keep a chain,
with little picture of family on it.
And I use it to mess with that little gremlin called hate.
I carry also just a small picture,
of some lady I'll never know.
I fold it into an airplane and let that wily lust chase it.
I carry a harmonica in my jacket,
even though I am not skilled.
And use it to SCREECH at that savage beast known as my aspirations.
Pinned to my shirt,
I carry a pin from HRC.
And poke that slithering thing called honesty.
Taped to my boot,
I carry a miniature tombstone.
And let the amphibian called friendship chew on it.
And In another pocket,
I have a flashlight.
And I always shine it right in the eyes of that squirming thing called fear.
I also to carry a Quran,
And use it quite consistently,
to silence love, and teach true hate.
Finally in my back pocket,
I have a the communist manifesto,
And I beat Trust and freedom to near death.
Feb 4, 2017
Feb 4, 2017 at 12:36 AM UTC
Every day, make a pledge
to find something where
you’ve never looked before.
Find a banker fried
on the arc lights of power;
a pair of lacy ******* in
your grandpa’s sock drawer;
come stains you can’t recall
on you best umbrella;
a hundred silver dollars
in the cookie jar;
two used condoms
in your aunt’s jello salad;
Nixon’s missing 18 minutes on
the 8 track of your Gremlin;
The Ark Of the Covenant
behind your broken fridge;
a hit of Owsley acid
in your dad’s bible.
Wonder, wonders, wonderful.
Forget a rebirth of wonder.
The truly marvelous lurks
everywhere around
waiting to be found.
~mce
Mar 7, 2016
Mar 7, 2016 at 11:08 AM UTC
I know how it feels
How it feels when there’s a gremlin gnawing on your side
It sits behind your eyes,
And pushes out tears
It comes from nowhere, and anytime
From the middle of a lecture
To being held in the arms of the one you love
And it’ll push you apart.
And away
Its little claws grasping at invisible threads connected to your mind
While logic cowers in the corner
And you're left alone
There you’ll turn to the one holding you
moments ago
And they’ve turned too
turned away
So you lay in defeat,
letting the gremlin crawl back into your ear
latching back on
this consistency is the only thing coming up clear
draining you more day by day
but you let it
because
control seems better then the inevitability of the water that surrounds you when you take a dip in the deep end
-but othertimes-
when you're feeling braver,
finished submitting to the shallow end
you'll try and settle it down,
or at least help it sleep
meditation
medication
breathing
tea,
but
these start to ring up useless
hope becomes your ploy
so maybe one day
those bite marks in your side will heal
This gremlin is not biased.
it does not care about race,
or status,
or gender
it has no consistency
it may plague you for weeks on end,
no relief
or room to breathe,
and disappear without a trace for a couple weeks more,
but it always knows the way back
it knows you
This gremlin is inconsiderate.
It does not care of your disposition
towards life
or academics
or your career
It does not care of who you are
and at times it will try to define you
use you against yourself
but just as a tree may lose its leaves,
and blooming flowers
you define yourself from your roots
so sleep tight,
and settle in,
because
although your fight is far from won,
you've always got one thing to hold on to,
to cling to
and coddle in the dark
when the gremlin is quiet and still
dance in the solitude
and laugh
because you are you
and beautiful
down
to
each
and
every
root
Jan 15, 2018
Jan 15, 2018 at 8:16 PM UTC
I confess,
I got blitzed on whiskey
& she might have eaten a worm,
but what happened next
was just a blur.
Elbows and derrieres,
the fragrance of lilac,
a taste of succulent waters,
granite & pewter.
A bit of fine red lace,
her smiling face,
traces of smoke lingering
from salty breath,
her sweating sun.
A running fan &
moving crescent moon,
an electric band
crooning, "Ramble On"
with an etched gremlin
smiling,
his arms outstretched,
reciting,
"I Wuv You's"
above the
pretty waxed nest.
I confess,
I got blitzed on whiskey
& I swear she ate the worm.
May 21, 2014
May 21, 2014 at 6:26 AM UTC
this thought,
one texture
old sweatshirt
the roam's grin grows
iknowiknow this home is
****** wasted eaten knifed neatly
how??how!how?
texts to ex's
needy emojis
********** us
the bones are coming now
Oct 5, 2016
Oct 5, 2016 at 3:22 PM UTC
"What is your favorite despicably beautiful thing?"
Two answers: sadness and you.
Both comparable in more ways than one.
You are a million gallons of peppermint tea,
an avalanche of contaminated sunsets,
******* renditions of Gymnopédies.
Remember year 2009? I watched the moon with you.
You wanted to bathe in the half-priced rain shower
and I said sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really ******* sorry,
because I could do anything for you at that moment
but I didn't. I didn't.
The mind is not the heart--
Don't be fooled, my hideous darling gremlin of a self.
The mind. Is not. The. Heart.
And it never will be.
Pitter patter. I hear your calling in every rain drop.
I see your face in every expensive thing I can't afford:
that box of earl grey, those Japanese ******* tea cups--
But I can live with the loss of you.
I can live. I can live.
I am never alone anyway.
Oct 7, 2015
Oct 7, 2015 at 5:37 AM UTC
you laughed in my face
and blamed ME
for your problems
and i took it
and i tried
and i CRIED
and i brought the olive branch
to every family gathering
and i kept the tea
from ******* spilling
and i was never enough
and now
i see
and oh
i hate you
and your lies
and i burned the ******* olive branch
and i upset the family tea
and **** you
i am enough
you vile, insensitive
horrifically, detestable
gremlin
Feb 7, 2020
Feb 7, 2020 at 10:08 PM UTC