"ratliff" poems
Constitutional
Morning constitutional
What does it have to do
With the Supreme Court?
If it's been a few days
While siting reading the news
It's a great ruling coming down
Vacating the lower courts ruling
And wiping the slate clean
Is a release to enjoy
I'll start my day
Flush with success
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Sep 9, 2016
Sep 9, 2016 at 7:25 PM UTC
Burma-Shave
I remember........
Getting hit in the head with the swing set;
Doctor sewing up my scalp at home,
While setting on the step.
Taking the bus downtown with mom,
Car shopping for dad.
Picked out a Ford with a windshield sun visor.
A two tone black and cream collage
Mom using it to "move the garage".
I remember family vacation:
Driving to Florida before the interstate
Before Disney became a nation
Motels with pools, swimming laps,
And all those tourists traps:
The house that reverses gravity
Burma-Shave signs leading the way
To where the fountain of youth lay
Driving to the lake,
Dad forgetting his hat
At the halfway restaurant cafe
Finding it still there the next year.
Those were special days
Weeks at the lake catching turtles
Cleaning fish guts and scales
Swimming and skiing on glass.
Great fun and no care of details
No telephone at the cabin
Copyright 2014
Richard L. Ratliff
Published in The Indiana Voice Journal
Nov 25, 2016
Nov 25, 2016 at 8:47 PM UTC
Rail road
Making love to the rhythm of the rails
That big locomotive traveling on the rails
O whoosh o whoosh woo woo woo
Clickedy clack clickedy clack clickedy clack
And the bouncing of every joint
Whoosh o whoosh o whoosh
A big base drumbeat as the motion
Gets faster and faster
Making its own sweet music
The journey has its own lyrics
A duet of balanced motion
Whistling along woo woo woo
Pulling into the station
Pulsing pushing pulling pounding prodding
Rumbling chugging moaning in the night
Through the dark night chasing the morning light
That headlight streaming white through the night
That squirting light
Quivering just before the dawn
Slender rails long want to ride
Down the mountains and valleys to the flat lands
And in the dark tunnels
Woo woo woo woo
Panting, wailing huffing .
Struggling up the hills
And roaring coming down
Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff
Feb 2, 2017
Feb 2, 2017 at 2:13 PM UTC
Autumn Morning On The Porch
There's a chill in the air
Goose bumps and bristled hair
Morning coffee steaming
Big yellow leafed hostas turning
Copper tree leaves falling like pennies
Lipstick red bushes burning
There's a chill in the air
Copyright 2014
Richard L Ratliff
Published in Pencil Marks newsletter Nov. 2016
Nov 2, 2016
Nov 2, 2016 at 4:07 PM UTC
Thursday Morning
Check out my books www.amazon.com/author/richardratliff
Morning comes now
With no alarm no razors edge
Splash of warm water and a brush
Yesterday's slacks are clean
Instant coffee then
Inhalers, pills stool softener
Morning news email and Facebook
Breakfast from the drive through
Trash set out at the curb
It must be Thursday
Unless yesterday was a holiday
Have to ponder this
Must exercise on the treadmill
Twenty minutes slow walk
Some days more some less
Just keep moving is a goal
Guess I'll work on a poem
At least for a while
Till its time
To get my poppy seeds
From television for the afternoon
Evening news
It is Thursday
Better bring in the cans
Before harvesting the poppies
On tonight's cable
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Aug 5, 2016
Aug 5, 2016 at 5:19 PM UTC
A Cold Rain is here
The invading cold rain
Pummels the fall foliage
Punches the dead leaves
Like an angry mob of looters
Stealing color from the trees
Leaving the ground covered with the fallen
Now bruised and broken underfoot
Stomped and kicked to the curb
Trampled by the relentless rain
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Oct 27, 2016
Oct 27, 2016 at 4:22 PM UTC
Butterflies and snow angels
Snowflakes floating across the sky
Cause such wild seasonal thoughts
Butterflies and snow angels
As the sun shines through the grey
Rainbows and snowdrifts
While traveling from place to place
Convertibles and snow plows
And life near the beach with
Snowmen and life guards
Playtime for children
Snowballs and baseballs
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Dec 19, 2016
Dec 19, 2016 at 2:01 PM UTC
Bunny ears
Bunny ears, bunny ear
Down the rabbit hole
How can I tie my shoe
If I can't remember the line
Over under a round an back
I'm just different but it works
Maybe because I'm left handed
Don't know but I'm doing fine
Just a little different, unique
Flip, flop, tie a knot
Doesn't matter
I've got slip ons
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Oct 21, 2016
Oct 21, 2016 at 9:34 PM UTC
Dandelion wine
When you are dead and buried
Do your thoughts and memories bubble to the surface?
Feed the grass?
Do dandelions fluff and carry your ideas with the wind
Mental pollen irritating and pollinating the world
Impregnating others with your mental seeds
Both weeds and flowers
Do your thoughts continue and repeat a cycle
Seed, growth, bloom, and seed again
Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff
Aug 12, 2017
Aug 12, 2017 at 12:51 PM UTC
Check my books www.amazon.com/author/richardratliff
About today
What can I say to you about today
It moves along with slowly rising grace
Leaving all my thoughts of you still in play
Around and around but still in this place
No matter what other thoughts may arise
You cast a shadow over all others
They all compete but you are still the prize
That towers above all mental flowers
Come along with me, soar above this fray
Clear your mind and rise, rise as the sun does
Each and every day without thought this day
Will be different no matter what was
Each day is always breaking out anew
Aspirations swirling round what you do
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Jun 20, 2016
Jun 20, 2016 at 2:48 PM UTC
Clouds
Dot dash dot
Clouds in the sky
Morris code
Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff
Feb 11, 2017
Feb 11, 2017 at 1:51 PM UTC
Fathers talking
When did it happen
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I don't know how it happened
Really my friend, I don't know
I had to stop and get diapers
You were just supposed to pick her up
You know, at daycare on the way home
Has it happened to you before?
Perhaps returning from brownies
You too? Were you
Going to softball, or soccer practice?
Playing catch
I know, I know, I was coming
From the junior high fundraiser
Well I'm confused, I was
Saying "easy, easy on the breaks!"
Nice to met you
Be back by eleven
Come guys come on
How did this happen
Only yesterday
I had to pay tuition
So he ask for what?
Her hand, quaint
A tear
Now I'm at the bar
Paying for everyone's drinks
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Jun 18, 2016
Jun 18, 2016 at 9:59 AM UTC
Erase
How could I have missed it for so long
Living an Ozzie and Harriet scripted life
Unable to see the reality
Long missing forgetting ignoring overlooking
How can someone erase memories
Make just a bunch of washed out snapshots
Alcohol is good at disinfecting things
It can clean a surface or erase memories
She left me those snaps shots
No usable video
How many things were wiped clean? Sanitized
Sterilized to black and white no color
I don't know, so much has been overwritten
Stumbling in the dark with a small candle
Only now seeing touched up photos
Why have these past memories been blotched
Were those formative years sanitized?
Only to be revealed at the end
Still bitter about the ending ones
Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff
Mar 5, 2017
Mar 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM UTC
Pillow
You have been the pillow
I lay my weary soul upon
A soft cradle for my woes
Conforming to my needs
And nurturing my dreams
You are the night light
That reassures a fearful mind
Giving guidance in the dark
Keeping demons at bay
While guiding in angels
The blanket that warms
And comforts me
That soft cocoon of love
Protecting my tired wings
For tomorrow's flight
You are the morning dew
That cleanses a new day
That kiss of morning light
That offers promise
For all that lies ahead
Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff
Mar 4, 2017
Mar 4, 2017 at 11:17 AM UTC
Number One reviewing
Bath powder on your *******
That I caressed
You felt like silk
So surprisingly timid was I
Our first time you so gently
Helped lead the way intently.
Did you hide your experience
While letting me seem victorious ?
We parked so many places
We could have used a valet
Win Schular's was class
But mosquitoes in the Michigan woods,
They made love bites on my ***
No room in the canoe even for that
That house I hitchhiked down to
A warm bed of your softness
Football weekend at a brothers place; times too few
Where your scent lingers after you
Memories are sometimes fleeting
But not your first love
I cried after you. ........ still needing
After ten years strong and vivid
After two decades still exquisite
After five they begin to fade
Just flashes here and there
A whiff of your scent somewhere
A lingering synaptic flash decayed
Copyright 2013
Richard L Ratliff
Win Schular's is a famous restaurant in Michigan
Jun 16, 2016
Jun 16, 2016 at 2:22 PM UTC
Graduation
Buy my book Amazon.com/author/richardratliff
Picked up my sons cap and gown
At the campus book store in the college town
The clerk was so thrilled
Congratulated me and ask
Is a masters gown to get down
No a bachelors I said
You should be so proud
Having graduated after all these years
Couldn't spoil her confusion.
I just went along with her illusion
Told her it took nearly 40 years
Had to work full time and such
The effort was almost too much
But I finally made it
I then put it the trunk
Of my alumni plated Benz
Heading off to my son's graduation
Copyright 2014
Richard L Ratliff
Jul 5, 2016
Jul 5, 2016 at 12:02 PM UTC
Drip
Drip drip drip drop drop
The **** kitchen faucet leaks
Those ***** dishes
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Dec 21, 2016
Dec 21, 2016 at 11:48 AM UTC
A Warm Sweater
You are a warm sweater
I wear like a second skin
A warm gentle breeze that lifts
Away the melancholy
A nod, a glance, a kiss hello
Brings comfort
As I move through time
Yesterday today and tomorrow
Hand on your soft waist
Rubbing hip to hip
That swelling inflating light headed reverie
Half real, half imagined memories
As homemade perfect dreams
Visions of the night
Floating away like a kite
Making love in the clouds
Sharing a laugh and a smile for no reason
Simple shared joy of a song,
A dance, a hug, holding hands.
We are philosophers of our time
Floating in the moon's evening glow
Copyright 2013-16
Richard L Ratliff
Oct 6, 2016
Oct 6, 2016 at 4:34 PM UTC
Normal childhood
As I receive more rejections
Of my nostalgic poetry
I must apologize
I wasn't molested, neglected
Or abused in any way
Well maybe I got spanked a time or two
And sent to my room a few
Yes I had my own room
We went on great family vacations
My brother and I were taught right from wrong
Family went to church some
Mostly Presbyterian or Lutheran or such
It was just important to listen
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Nov 10, 2017
Nov 10, 2017 at 7:53 PM UTC
Twenty again
I wish we were twenty again
I would ravish you
Anoint your ******* with honey
And languish in their sweetness
You would fill my navel with cream
And ravish me
Like a lioness lapping up the night
And you would ravish me
And I would ravish you
Our world would be new again
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Nov 11, 2016
Nov 11, 2016 at 1:07 PM UTC
Your words
Your words are the fingers
That massage my aches away
Soothing the worries of the day
Your wisdom the arms
That hold my world together
No matter my mental weather
Your laughter the drug
That cures my emotional infection
And becomes my new addiction
Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff
May 9, 2017
May 9, 2017 at 6:40 PM UTC
Sliver bridge
Check out my books Amazon.com/author/richardratliff
As the sun sinks
It casts that silver bridge
Across the lake
If I run fast enough
I'll reach the other side
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Jul 22, 2016
Jul 22, 2016 at 4:25 PM UTC
Expecting you'd be there
Took for granted
Did I ever ask for a date
Think I just assumed knew
You'd be there
Don't remember ever asking for a date
We just seemed to be
Could you read my mind from afar
You never broke my heart
Hope I never broke yours
I knew you'd be there
I knew you'd go
I knew you'd enjoy
Came to visit on my bike
Knew you'd be home
The movies :Doctor Zivago
Knew you'd like a love story
Home from college
Visited your modeling
Knew you would smile
Made plans for your prom
I knew we'd be there
Dinner at the Union
Football games at college
Knew you'd root with me
Frat parties
Motel night
Knew you'd stay
Stewardess job
Took you away
Knew you'd be back
Returning home visit
Knew you were there
Airport kisses
Then I knew you went away
Digital visits
What's next
Ethereal visits?
You were my safety net
I knew you were
And yet I know you care
And then you weren't
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Jul 26, 2016
Jul 26, 2016 at 3:56 PM UTC
April
If April is cruel
May is so friendly
Pleasant and warm
May is green and pink and red
A teenage year
As summer learns to drive
June's young adult
Searches for July and August
Hoping for a tryst
Then a mellow September
Casting long shadows
To the final quarter
Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff
Jun 16, 2016
Jun 16, 2016 at 1:48 PM UTC
Kiss across the sea
Can we hold hands across far distant lands
And share our kiss across the troubled seas
Let us breathe the air from around the world
Can we share thoughts in the clouded skies
And embrace the images of lovers
Carried along by thoughts of each other
Let the words we share warm your heart
And shrink the distance that separates us
Copyright 2017 12/1/17
Richard L Ratliff
Oct 9, 2018
Oct 9, 2018 at 11:43 AM UTC