"realtor" poems
As I sit here, at the dining room table and stare over decaf coffee at the screen on my Mac
my eyes are drawn, once and awhile, to the picture sitting on the buffet in the butler's pantry.
Before we continue you should know that "butler's pantry" in this case
means the "third bedroom" that we saw in the listing on Realtor dot com before we bought the house and that,
in the usual real estate-ese, is an optimistic label at best.
But I was talking about the picture.
The picture sits, slightly askew, in a carved wooden bowl given to us by my wife's boss
as a housewarming present.
It, the bowl I mean, came with salad tongs or forks,
depending on what it is that you call them,
made of water buffalo horn.
They sit in the bowl too and,
although she'd never admit it,
I know that the thought of serving salad with water buffalo horn salad forks...
lets just say.....
doesn't appeal to my wife.
Right, the picture....
It sits in on the buffet,
in the carved wooden bowl,
next to another wood bowl.
This one full of carved wood fruits and vegetables,
which evidently, includes sugar cane.
When my wife's dad moved from his house to an assisted living facility
the kids, my wife, her brother and sister, took turns going down to help him move.
My wife was the last and dad insisted that
someone
"had" to take the fruit.
But, the picture....
It, and the wooden bowls full of fruit and unused salad forks,
are surrounded by both faux and real glassware
and placemats
which all sit perched
on the top of the buffet as precariously as refugees
and all of their belongings
on the deck and roof of an overloaded fishing boat
chugging from their homeland
to some place that is hopefully better.
The picture...
It was painted by my father-in-law and,
of all the others we have in the house,
is one of my favorites.
It sits on the buffet, askew in the carved wooden bowl with the horn salad forks,
amid polycarbonate and glass drink ware,
and placemats,
unframed for some reason.
All of his other works came framed
but this is one he did not...
and did I mention that it is one of my favorites?
I like his choices of frames on all of the other pictures we have,
but this is just canvas, stretched over a frame,
sitting in that carved African wooden bowl
with those salad forks made from water buffalo horn
on the buffet next to the other wood bowl full of wooden fruits and vegetables,
and wooden sugar cane,
in the butler's pantry.
Jul 15, 2013
Jul 15, 2013 at 9:51 AM UTC
I once slept
with a few sophisticated rats,
5 to be exact,
on a pull-out couch
from a garage sale
in corona, queens
they had ivy league IQs;
double majors in
evasion and skullduggery,
and a crush on my left thumb....
*the one you ****** on as a kid...,*
posited dr diaz,
my shrink with an md
from the lesser antilles
like freaks,
they came out at night,
in indian file...
as the raging moon dipped
below my cracked glass window,
and a cimmerian shroud
swallowed its receding light,
and I snored...
on the couch,
left thumb hanging loose
near the floor
where a heavily highlighted
textbook lay wide open...
cued by the dipping moon
or the rhythmic rasp
ripping through the room
like a stihl chain saw,
the curious 5 whisked
over the persian rug,
or was it soiled chinese?
like I said
they had ivy league IQs....
thus my heavily cheesed
wire traps
remained engaged
but cheese-less...
as the curious 5 converged
around the couch
for dessert...
~
I skipped mgmt 301 at 10
and dr diaz gave me
a rabies shot:
4 doses ig,
a sterile bandage
for my shredded left thumb,
and a referral
to his realtor...
~ P (Pablo)
(8/8/2013)
Aug 8, 2013
Aug 8, 2013 at 4:05 PM UTC
a real estate agent
is the person to talk to
if you want a house
with a nice ocean view
listings of these kind
of properties are rare
there's not many on the market
which isn't very fair
residing on the scenic
North Carolina coastline
would most definitely
be ever so divine
as the sun rises
I'd look out over the bay
to catch a glimpse
of the yachts sailing away
upon my two storey deck
I'd read a book
whilst partaking of a serving
of salad and roasted chook
I'll be on the phone
to the realtor this afternoon
so he can line up a sale
for me pretty soon
near the seaside
is where I want to nest
living in a bush locale
isn't all the best
to smell the sea breeze
wafting o'er my yard
that would be a fabulous
tip top draw card
where the brine rushes
into the sandy shore
I'd so love to be situated
there forevermore
my pots and pans are packed
and ready to go
I'm just waiting to hear
from the realtor Mr Row
Oct 14, 2014
Oct 14, 2014 at 7:19 PM UTC
I want to be a criminal defence lawyer.
And I would be a ‘sincere’ criminal defence lawyer,
Breaking the norms.
Pretending to defend the criminal till the court date,
Just long enough to gather all of the evidence I get against him.
Give him just enough hope to stop the seed of suspicion to grow,
Then change my colour like a chameleon,
And sweep his sinful life into the darkness of prison.
But I will be rich right?
Because my uncle makes a fortune with this profession,
So yes, being a criminal defence lawyer would be a good idea.
I could also be a realtor.
And I would be an impatient realtor,
Yelling at the buyers when
They spend 6 months looking at houses and deciding not to buy it.
I would give them half of the information,
Leaving them wondering,
Like an individual looking for a drop of water in a desert.
And I would be able to live in a luxurious house,
With a huge chandelier at the entrance and a glass elevator, right?
Just like my cousin.
So yes, being a realtor is also not a bad idea.
Or I could be a writer.
And I would be an excellent writer,
Something that I wanted to be after the first book I read,
Reflecting upon what I know and,
Wondering about the unknown.
A grand chandelier I may not have but,
A wall decorated with my curious thoughts,
Lightning up the mind of the one who enters the small but cozy home.
I am not the water changing myself to fit the glass,
But I am the glass with unique design and space,
Allowing my dreams and imagination to fill the empty space.
Jul 26, 2015
Jul 26, 2015 at 12:59 PM UTC
tired of hearing "potential" in reference to me
cause i only hear it when i'm being squeezed
into a box by those who think they know whats best for me
its a wonder i haven't gone ****** from all the pressure
writer, lawyer, realtor, travel agent, hair dresser
i don't know yet, i don't know! yes i do want better
but how am i supposed to plan a career when
i can't see as far as my hand in front of me
i love everything! how am i supposed to pick one passion?
is my passion divided among a hundred interests lesser in value
than someones passion focused on one point?
i can't help but think so. and it discourages me even more
and its not just a career, job, and school
pulled in all different direction i'm everybodys fool
i have to be a different me for just about every person i see
selecting aspects of my personality to fit the scene
its not fake its not phony. its reality.
i have friends in all circles, family in a whole separate ring
i can't share all the aspects of me or i'd spend my time
defending my thoughts, beliefs, and interests.
i am so tolerant, why can't people afford me the same luxury?
the worst thing is the fake smile and polite subject change
whenever a parent of a friend asks what i've been up to
when i can SEE it in their eyes, they are all thinking the same
that i've thrown my life away, that i'm not a good influence
anymore. nevermind that they've known me for years,
that i've set dinner tables with them, celebrated birthdays,
and survived puberty alongside their kid, my best friends.
all they can see is another college-dropout who is going nowhere fast
i lied... the worst thing. what hurts most is that they are right
i AM going nowhere fast and it kills me everyday.
and its more salt right in the wound that i know my parents
have the same conversations when they run into neighbors,
friends, family, and the "how are the kids" comes up
how did a 3.7 G.P.A. and a 1410 S.A.T. turn into a
20 year old with a P.O. and a record.
i know they love me all the same but i can't help but feel ashamed
i know they wanted, i know they expected... better
i've been decorating the same mistakes in different frames
so i can pretend they're not the same
but who's the fool when its you fooling you
and me hurting me by playing fast and loose
with common sense
Feb 10, 2012
Feb 10, 2012 at 3:07 PM UTC
The realtor came to me and tried to show me the house.
But from the time he met me, the meeting went south.
I stumbled on the steps, and hurt my bigger toe.
The porch looked like a residence for a male ******
The realtor told me that the first owner did not want to go.
I asked where he was, and the realtor said he’s buried six feet below.
But he made it a haunted house, because he said if I cant have it no one can.
I said that sounds crazy, and then the realtor said you haven’t even met the man.
I stepped inside the house, and immediately wished I did not go past the main deck
Because it did not look like a house, it looked like a bad trainwreck.
I said to the realtor that I was leaving, and he said to check out the upstairs.
But of the nature of the house I was caught completely unawares.
I walked up the steps, and instantly it made me regret my life choices.
I said I wanted to leave and the realtor said that you will offend the voices.
I asked what voices, and the realtor replied I have spoken too much.
I left the house in a hurry, and the realtor yelled that there was no rush.
I got to my home and quickly took a shower to wash away the experience.
Because I never went to a house that had such bad virulence.
Nov 3, 2017
Nov 3, 2017 at 5:36 PM UTC
I planted flowers
Fixed the floor
Worked for hours
Painted the door
Re-grouted the tile
Sowed some seeds
Rested a while
Then pulled the weeds
Painted the halls
The carpet is new
Washed the walls
And baseboards too
Removed the clutter
granite counters were bought
Replaced the gutter
'Cause the old ones were shot
I stand back and see
the results of our work
mumbling softly, Gee
You're a stupid ****
Shiny and new
The house is a show
Prepared for a view
By people we don't know
Our home's at it's best
And everyone can tell it
So now we can rest
And the realtor can sell it!
May 23, 2013
May 23, 2013 at 1:56 AM UTC
They nickel and dime me
So money can't find me
While debt keeps climbing
With inconvenient timing
A note reading foreclosure
Spells my doom
As a realtor's brochure
Sells my room
Poverty looms
Over my head
As everything is taken
Even the bread
And what I use to bake it
They come with a gun
Demanding that I run
They tell me I can't stay here
Police presence engenders fear
So this place I once held dear
Will no longer be near
And the bank
Maintains rank
Over the poor
Locking the door
So I hit the floor
Hatred in my core
I adopt an attitude
Of eat or be eaten
This simple platitude
Will get me beaten
Money isn't that hard to make
If that's all you're trying to do
Yet they take all they can take
Like they've got something to prove
They don't mind
Separating bees from the hive
Power is control money buys
So the rich are seen as wise
Even if they're destroying the world
Forcing families from their homes
And now the rocks they hurl
Are delivered by drones
From lethality to loans
We're stripped to the bone
And feel all alone
On a planet of exploitation
It's tough to live the full duration
When we're stuck at a bus station
Called placation
Where the wealthy do what they want
Because they have money to flaunt
Giving them status and power
To build their ivory tower
By evicting delinquents
And bombing huts
A dog-like sequence
We're treated like mutts
The cumulus accumulate
Usurping heaven's gate
Creating a second rate
Decrepit estate
For us to deflate
Into a state
Of hate
And wait
For a mate
To feel great
So our slate
Has low weight
But once it gets late
We ask for a rebate
We run for the frivolous
But that fun is insidious
And it's slowly killing us
From emptiness filling us
We withdraw into shells
Of similar mundane hells
Until the bank comes knocking
Then into the streets we're flocking
While they're progress blocking
And pistol cocking
We kneel and worship them
Begging for mercy
They're the problem's stem
Yet we wear their jersey
Which is absolute insanity
But money controls humanity
Jun 3, 2018
Jun 3, 2018 at 12:57 AM UTC
I don't know what wood
this table is made from
as I bought it from a yard sale,
but to be brash
it seemed the people's home
had been foreclosed.
Knocking on the table's surface
imagine the beating sounds
of drums, a native tribe
secluded from the river of reality
and yokes the essence
of their seclusion to be culture.
Now imagine the opposite
and you'll understand the quality
of the table I just bought--
who has no history
and most likely
rested on IKEA's factory floor,
it's welcoming to the world.
There is no grain to this creature
as the metallic hands that crafted this beast
lacked a soul and its creations lack one too--
fittingly, it's perfection is a symptom
to the disease that lies in it's faux-wood.
Placing the poor table frame
inside some high rise studio in Manhattan
I can't help, but imagine--
the hands that will enviably gloss over this shell
and preach to their acquaintances
of a life the table never had.
Nov 24, 2015
Nov 24, 2015 at 11:20 AM UTC
He didn't move
Not because he couldn't
But because he could
He lied
About lying
Horizontaly
He stayed
All day
Where he laid
For his home
His building
Is where he gets paid
This is real reality
Apart from dreams
I'm an apartment realtor
Jul 18, 2013
Jul 18, 2013 at 2:55 PM UTC
I'm going away
Far far away
Because I need assurance
I need to know I won't be like y'all
I need to know I won't hit the bottle to mask my rage
I need to know that I am not bound to you
I need you to know I am not your child
I want you to know I am my own self
My mother was a Realtor selling what we could never have
My father was a detective finding his own evil in the world
My sister's were ****** for attention grasping at what they wanted
In a house built for the tainted life that tailored the world through sadism
I grew up there
Hiding when they swam to the bottom of the liquor hole.
I watched in the house of sin and regret the atrocities of alcohol
I watched them sow the seeds of their dreams into their children's brains
I would never be their field though
The meadow of my mind is my own
I live isolated and alone in that house
But I have begun my leave
I have begun to pave my own road and walk it
I will walk away from sin
And never return to that house of regret
Nov 30, 2013
Nov 30, 2013 at 10:54 PM UTC
No matter the decoration,
they remain bleak as Antarctica,
empty as the Sahara.
Stuff will not suffice;
bric-a-brac remains invisible.
Even the best music merely echoes:
Mozart, Vivaldi, even Beethoven
cannot fill the emptiness.
Clocks clang like church bells
and every muted footfall
screams out loneliness.
They are places to pass through
where you reside but do not live.
Even the most asinine Realtor
couldn't call them home
with a straight face.
They are the shelter for those
who have not quite descended
to the bridge abutment.
They are where you wake up
alone into loneliness
and pretend each morning
you are still alive.
They are the difference
between survival and life,
breath and inspiration.
They are the preordained
end of the game
you were forced to play
and doomed to lose.
We each get but one home
and if by folly or disaster
we destroy it,
wherever we go
we remain homeless
in the wilderness
of rented rooms.
- mce
Apr 11, 2015
Apr 11, 2015 at 9:38 PM UTC
I'm worried, oh dear
now what will I do
my neighbor lost his house
next week it might be mine too
But I've paid all my bills
while he never paid his
but they could still come
my mind's all a friz
They could take it for taxes
but I know I paid those
yet here I sit and still worry
did my house properly close
Could it be that the realtor
had no right to sell
does it make my house stolen
am I going to hell
Why does this happen
I know I've done this before
worrying myself sick
of problems not at my door
I've got my own problems
and now they're ten fold
as I needlessly worry
over things I have no control
Jun 21, 2015
Jun 21, 2015 at 8:50 AM UTC
So,
they say you can read a person like a book if you look from the right point of view.
If you try to...
Read deep enough into the book you may actually understand the person as a whole.
But when I look at you I feel fogged because where words should be is empty space.
A black hole.
With infinite knowledge and
Secrets like
Like empty space in our conversation where I should be attempting to say something funny but I only feel the tension that could be cut with a twig.
Or...
Your soft stare because your warm eyes seem to draw me.
Catching my glance like I'm stumbling I ask a question that I already think I may or may not know the answer to.
Only to end up mystified again.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul.
But when I get the guts to try to verify its like I'm a peeping tom with tinted windows on the other side.
I see my own reflection,
Myyyy own...
Confusion
My pauses in my sentences that I try to fill with a smile that fills about as quick as it takes to pour out water.
Or blank like my soul search history
But I got mostly doubt
I strike out
Because I got all L's when I tried
And when I tried to go for the goal I tied on the way through the ribbon.
Last time I tried to read someone the game was over before the first base was ever touched.
And all my " loves " were L's or lies because I lied to myself in saying I was an okay person or that somehow my dream girl would become reality
Because this heart is open for realty
Realtor is Cupid with a diaper and tie but I may end up with another tie because when I asked if u wanted to hang when u came back.
You said yes.
And then you asked why it was awkward for me
I said somethin like umm it was...
Nothing that I could remember
But I remember the feeling I got when I got caught in that smile like the tide. Thing is I thought I could read your emotions but could never read between the lines.
And then I blink again and we are in an embrace.
And after the "date" we never went on
I think I tried to save face.
But the mask was more of my real face and it was blushed
All the guts that I had were kinda flushed with the flirtation and...
Space that is or isn't between us.
Because that 5 second rule was probably established between just us
And now I got space bars where my voice should be
But it's become more of an injustice
My puzzlement got me locked up in this prison
That I've been living in since the beginning offfff...
this year.
And there's a fire in your eyes its plain to see
And right now I'm hoping this is not another fantasy.
Like every book there's always the words and those are plain to see
But when I open the book I can read the seen words but the mystery lies between the lines.
So in a leap of faith I,
I cast my lines.
But, where do they lead?
Jul 27, 2016
Jul 27, 2016 at 6:52 AM UTC
We lived in a house a cleric built
In fifteen sixty-three,
Deep in a copse of Roman Elms
A grand and mighty tree,
The place was Tudor, half timbered,
And it creaked in every storm,
The wind was rattling through the eaves
Before we both were born.
We saw it up in the window of
The Realtor, going cheap,
It needed some TLC because
Its look would make you weep,
It badly needed a paint job and
Some timbers plugged with tar,
The years of rot had disfigured it,
‘Are you interested?’ ‘We are!’
Dead leaves had cluttered the downstairs rooms
And damp had swelled the floor,
The leadlight windows were dark with gloom
There were rats down in the store,
We worked and slaved on it, Jill and I,
Till it soon became a home,
Nestling in a hollow that
The locals called a combe.
I’d lie awake in the poster bed
That had been since Cromwell’s day,
The beams and curtains were overhead
And the wind would make them sway,
While Jill slept soundly, I still could hear
The wind sough through the trees,
Come rattling up to the shutters and
Slip gently past the eaves.
But then some nights, I’d hear some muttering
Down there by the elms,
Like ghosts of soldiers, loud and stuttering
Underneath their helms,
And then I’d hear the sound of marching
To a Roman beat,
There wasn’t even a pavement but
It sounded like a street.
A street that clattered with cobblestones
To the sound of chariot wheels,
I’d stare on out from the window-sill
To see what night reveals,
But nothing moved in the shady wood
To make those strangest sounds,
I searched and searched in the daylight, through
Those ancient wooded grounds.
Then one day digging a garden patch
I came across a stone,
That held a funny inscription on
The face, that smacked of Rome,
I think it mentioned a Lucius
From Legion Twenty-Nine,
I pried it out of the ground and then
I knew what I would find.
He lay there still in his breastplate
With his helmet and his sword,
His sandals still on his feet and tied
On tight, with a rotted cord,
The skull stared up at me in dismay
As if to say, ‘Who’s there?
You’ve broken into my endless sleep,
Invaded my despair.’
I swiftly covered him over so
That Jill would never see,
A sight to give her the nightmares that
I knew would come to me,
But then I settled his stone upright
That he might rest in bliss,
And that was the end of the mutterings,
From that day until this.
David Lewis Paget
Jan 19, 2017
Jan 19, 2017 at 7:34 AM UTC
Will I always want to die early?
A head on collision
Fractured skull with my brain seeping out like oil -black gold
A robber with a gun
Carpet stains forever -the realtor will claim it's wine
A tumor
Cells they're multiplying -a death by creation
Spontaneous combustion
The stench of my body's blackened burning flesh -actually smells pretty tasty
Drowning
Gasping my life's last breath as I scream muted screams and water poetically fills my lungs - shimmering bubbles float to the top
My mother sobbing and cutting herself for months
My father goes insane and shoots himself in the head in my room
My sister cries herself to sleep and wishes she would have seen me more
My best friend doesn't talk for years
My boyfriend throws up at the thought of my death everyday while his parents claim god will make everything okay
Or they'll all write best selling novels on how they survived my awful tragic death
And no one will ever read my poetry
Will I always want to die early?
Mar 19, 2018
Mar 19, 2018 at 9:47 PM UTC
Using the art of triangulation
I plot what I think's my position,
the universe thinks differently
and expands my point of view.
The creator,
a failed realtor
or what?
Celestial snooker.
To lose one world is unfortunate
and so on and so on, but it goes on
and in the end it will end
nothing is patently obvious
except the shine in that
new pair of shoes.
On a whimsy
I paint
' made in Grimsby '
on the back of a Leyland bus.
I should shoot by starlight
I might get my position
right.
I sail on into the reach
of the night
and anchor on the dark side
of the Moon.
Aug 31, 2017
Aug 31, 2017 at 12:49 PM UTC