"pensacola" poems
i could not hold on anymore
to the desperate plea of the futile ones
who live off another wallet
so i set out that night for the south
to find the great parking lots
where i might find a space and place to rest my weary head
where i might find a place to be safely reckless
with her potions and instruments
but the violin she played spun a queer note
and i knew that if i did not go on with
whatever she wanted she would be the end of me
the end of poor poor me
gather my slim riches in my carpetbaggers coat
and picked up the threadbare bag
that had all the steam-pipes and tools
for making a new titanic
lets sink it right this time
we ended up just east of Pensacola
in a fairytale land of flea markets
trying to barter our yesterdays
for a bowl of thin soup today
gather my threadbare deadlock hippie chick companion
and counseled her against talking too loud
against the tourqouse monsters
and she told me i was just nervouse
and stripped away the rationalizations
to show that the fat man is only selling tickets
to the free show
so i follow her
having made up my mind that she sees the reality
of this sandy soil wasteland
we ended up leaving Pensacola
and with a quick prayer
we were on the the boat to the Bahama
with our lives intact
maybe next time we will escape
maybe next time you will come back with another woman stead of me
and i said that's a possibility
that wouldn't make either of us happy but
that's the way it should be sometimes
life doesn't always make sense
well most of the time it dont
Oct 8, 2013
Oct 8, 2013 at 6:15 AM UTC
I found my happiness at Ala Moana
I found my happiness getting lost in the pines
I found my happiness with the trains in Pensacola
I found my happiness stepping rhythms in time
I found my happiness with the wind at 6,000 feet
I found my happiness with the grass as my seat
I found my happiness at the seventh bridge
I found my happiness in the music that I dream
I found my happiness and I let out a sigh
I found my happiness getting lost in her eyes
I found my happiness being encumbered with snow
I found my happiness just waiting to go
I found my happiness in the laugh of an infant
I found my happiness in the smiles of old
I found my happiness in a crowded room
I found my happiness simply thinking alone
I found my happiness standing on my head
I found my happiness as the sun sets red
I found my happiness in a broken heart
I found my happiness was here from the start
I found my happiness without an end
I found my happiness surrounded by friends
I found my happiness knowing I am love
I found my happiness knowing I am
I found my happiness through failure and triumph
I found my happiness with every jump
I found my happiness through arduous endeavors
I found my happiness just being a giver
I found my happiness at the thought of forever
I found my happiness floating down the river
I found my happiness with no reason or rhyme
I found my happiness kissing the sunshine
I found my happiness in the awe of the stars
Although sometimes, I forget where to find it
My happiness is there, wherever I go
I just look deep inside, and it is all that I know
Dec 5, 2024
Dec 5, 2024 at 7:06 PM UTC
From Austin on to Pensacola
from there I went to South Dakota
Moved on back to Arizona
Just trying to start a life
Went from Flagstaff to Daytona
then headed out just past Pamona
hung around and hit Sedona
Just trying to start a life
It didn't matter where I was
I had to move on just because
She'd find me in my dreams
I shut my eyes but couldn't sleep
Her image in my mind would creep
She'd find me in my dreams
Spent some time down in L.A.
There she was so I couldn't stay
Went and moved to Spanish Bay
But there she was again
Found a place in Monte Ray
only stayed there for a day
went down south down by Queens Cay
But, she followed me again
I shut my eyes and I did find
Her image burned into my mind
The girl was in my dreams
Although I tried to start anew
There was nothing I could say or do
And you should have heard my screams
I tried again, but had no luck
I even slept inside a truck
I woke up cuddled with a duck
And again her in my dreams
I'd been all 'round this country side
I'd walked, and flew and hitched a ride
It may be better if I died
But, I'm sure she'd find those dreams
I'm sure it didn't matter where
She didn't really care
She would always haunt my dreams
Hair so blonde and eyes of blue
I just can not get rid of you
You'll never leave my dreams
Mar 21, 2014
Mar 21, 2014 at 12:16 AM UTC
I’d give anything to be back
writing our names in the sand
on Pensacola beach
feeling your joy seep itself
into my body as if
it were a sponge, the tide
touching my thighs as if to wish me
a safe flight home
as if it knew that the only real home
I would ever know
would be there,
with you,
as if it knew it would be
half a year before we would be able
to embrace each other again.
There is no one in this city
I can be my whole self around
and I cannot help but feel guilty
for claiming loneliness
because there are a handful
of people I could call right now
that would come over to hold me
if I expressed my emptiness
to them. But none of them
are you and that
is the greatest
tragedy I have ever known and so
I can’t help but stay here as I am,
alone.
I miss you
I miss you
I miss you
I miss you.
Jul 16, 2013
Jul 16, 2013 at 8:35 PM UTC
when i want to talk my best friend
i listen to his music.
thats where he is.
but he is also
in a motel room
in Pensacola
probably
playing
guitar.
Mar 13, 2015
Mar 13, 2015 at 12:58 AM UTC
To Gulf Shore , my temptress , a dying poetic salvo and wish
To be cast into warm waters , whence I first appeared , declaring ,
We've the shore of Pensacola for all eternity .........
Sep 21, 2015
Sep 21, 2015 at 12:52 PM UTC
In the dusk of August we remained separated.
Different lives lived,
wondering has the "best day of our lives" already come.
Riding home in your car;
I remember how full of life you looked in my eyes.
We both laughed about inside jokes & stories from childhood,
I never figured out how to stifle my guffaw that spoke of how lonely I am.
I promised you my honesty, always.
Referred to it as a curse,
but a fate much worse is-
the one where we never belonged to one another.
Sometimes, my head gets so heavy:
I never belonged underneath the sun.
I had stopped writing poetry for weeks because, I didn't feel I had anything worth saying.
Until August 4th.
I cried to you, poured my heart out to the waves.
Where I dreamt they carried us away-
in the mundane life I lived,
my bones could never be content in finding happiness within myself.
Last August we spoke like two children in love.
Becoming the lights that illuminated Gulf Breeze where my residency was.
My heart erupted into
smoke signals across Pensacola
that reach your window.
We spoke effervescently of a future we'd
be a part of together.
We spoke of intimacy and how it'd feel to be enraptured by passion.
I'm a fleeting thing, my love.
Gone.
Like the rotting leaves through Autumn in another state,
I am the present time when-
destiny does not meet with fate.
I'm no longer here,
with a curtained heart outstretched,
loving me is dastardly,
and now it's too late.
—KRM
Aug 8, 2017
Aug 8, 2017 at 9:44 AM UTC
I just wanted to feel again
For too long I was trained to feel nothing
Self medication was killing my senses
The government numbed my feelings
Her lack of love killed my hope
She had cheated on me again
I was a thousand miles from home
And then I met you
I was broken, lonely, lost, and dazed
confused, hollow, a killing machine for Uncle Sam
But deep down, the trapped little boy cried out
for passion, for love,
to feel something other than nothing
and there you were
An angel with a devilish smile
the Southern Belle I'd always dreamed of
On a park bench outside the rec I confessed
with so much fear, I wasn't ready to let my heart go again
but I really liked you, and I couldn't hold it back anymore
instead of being let down, you lifted me up
from a painful October to a November of dancing
your name rolled off the tongue
like an Italian singing to a Sinatra Sonata
Kellie Greene
a North Carolina peach with a body like a violin
a beautiful, **** warrior woman, with a heart of gold
Who knew such women existed!
With each moment I fell harder, loved more dangerously
I kept winning, so I kept pushing my luck
with you, I always got lucky
I loved you
and you loved me back twice
each kiss was a ****** shot that froze me in place
don't even start me on your Southern curves
or your Carolina twang
God crafted you like a sword smith crafts a katana
smooth, **** and razor sharp
few deserve such a goddess
I sure didn't, but Fate doesn't always pick favorites
Fate give me you, and you gave me something
I never knew existed
Love that didn't cost me freedom,
Love that didn't drive me mad
Love that didn't leave withdrawals
Love I wasn't afraid to give back
And the *** was something the angels sing about.
Sep 21, 2017
Sep 21, 2017 at 1:13 PM UTC
Part One
A man left a prison this morning
he'd been there the last fifteen years
when he walked down the mean streets of Jesup
he'd resurrect all of their fears.
He was a man, no different to others
though he kept himself to his peace
but the anger all stored up inside him
was destined for violent release.
A young girl had been murdered in Jessup
and he'd been a stranger in town
they said that he'd beaten and stabbed her
he hadn't, but they still sent him down.
His first thoughts were for retribution
he'd beat them and they'd feel the pain
like he felt when they kicked him in prison
again...and again...and again.
Now he travelled to seek not just vengeance
he needed to get back his name
so someone was going to suffer
and others would pay for his shame.
He'd walked out of prison in Jackson
and boarded a train to Mobile
By Greyhound he reached Pensacola
where he rested and took time to heal.
Part Two
In Jesup he woke with a headache
to the loud urgent ring of the phone
he remembered that night and that poor girl
and he let out a long quiet moan.
It was Hedley the new County Sheriff
he said for the man to go down
he could call at his office in Jesup
or pack up his things and leave town.
Such a bright sunny day as he stepped out
not one single cloud in the sky
a gunshot and a burning sensation
The man fell and knew he would die.
To Hedley the man was real guilty
keeping peace meant he wanted him out
he thought back to the slaying that morning
the dead man's last words cried like a shout.
A young man had rushed up to help him
there was nothing to do he could see
but as he died the man whispered something
"Tell the Sheriff son, it never was me."
A young had suffered so many year before
and the case had been closed a long time
but the wrong man had gone into prison
or his death had no reason or rhyme.
The girl needed justice as the man did
Sheriff Hedley would never be the same
for he promised the girl and the dead man
he'd catch her killer and clear the man's name.
Epilogue
A bullet was found by the dead girl
a matched one lodged in the man's heart
the second one carried a thumb print
for the Sheriff, a good place to start.
©Joe Wilson - Where was the justice then...2014 (re-shod from 1992)
Dec 18, 2014
Dec 18, 2014 at 4:37 PM UTC
Twelve
end of summer
1982
mom dad
in
the background
I do all the talking
what I'm saying
is brief
an off-hand question
so to speak
on its face
the whole scene seems pedestrian
though it carries a bit
of restless magic
me fidgety hard
nervous eyes
especially golden
when I turn sideways
and crack
a wry
smile for the camera
the videographer
summer camp buddy
a kid named Terry
from Pensacola
he's still around
though he might
not look the same
it's taken a while
and many carousel rides
to get around to saying
something
I thought I'd never say
to myself
I miss him
me
that kid
the one who had
yet to put a pet
to sleep
or got the news
about his brother
the merchant marine
© Whit Howland 2019
Sep 5, 2019
Sep 5, 2019 at 9:29 PM UTC
Four years ago I didn’t think I’d be anywhere.
I didn’t think I’d be alive.
But now,
I’m breathing in the ****** air quality of
El Centro, CA.
Stationed at an Airbase near by.
A few things have changed since I last checked in, guys.
I joined the navy, I work aviation.
F-18 fight attack jets.
It’s been a hell of a journey so far.
I went from Great Lakes, to Pensacola, to Virginia Beach, and now I’m here in El Centro.
I’ve made friends.
Bonds that are stronger than titanium, or steel, or concrete.
I’ve lost friends too.
From distance, from death.
But the strangest thing is, we’re always connected.
My friends that are deployed to the South China Sea, when they’re in port
They always message me about how deployment is going.
They don’t forget me.
My friends that are touring around Europe,
Saez is in Greece.
Lockhart is in Norway.
Root is in Italy.
They always message me to tell me about it.
I’m not lonely anymore.
I’m not sad.
I’m so happy.
Every morning I wake up to the sound of Blue Angels flying
And it’s music to my ears.
I have a family again. It’s amazing.
Feb 11, 2023
Feb 11, 2023 at 11:12 AM UTC