O, death
wait for us
for some of us
don't quite have
our shoes tied
yet
and
there are leftovers in
the fridge
that I'm sure the cat will
get into
and you know
how the vet
said poor kitty needs to
watch her weight
o, Death
wait for us
because the theater kids
are doing the Charleston
in a flash mob
in the library during
parent teacher conferences
and it's kind of hard to hear,
o death
and O, death,
wait for your turn
you really should have called
i'm just so busy these days
with school
and work
and the kids
and really it's kind of late
and I should be getting to
bed
but let's schedule something
for a week or so from now
because I just don't have time
for you today

O, death
o, death
o, death
my love
do not cry
i hear you've been
awful busy these days
and you just can't catch
a break from the tedium
so let me help you
and I will walk myself
over, o death
and together we shall wander
the horizon
behind the sunset

he walked
from station
to station
his heart in a paper bag
holding it out
asking for spare change
because it doesn't matter
when the heart's not beating
all clogged and weighed
down by quarters
and half-cent platitudes
that it'll all get better in time
and that everything happens for a reason
and there is nothing to worry about

and all the kid really needed
was a little blood

It's midnight again
and the guy with
the truck
out back is
revving his engine
3
no, 4
times tonight to
get going
and I am once again
here without adventure
with wine to tell me
secrets
remembering the time
someone told me they loved me
and how disastrous that
all turned out to be
but hey
at least i can make
perfect over easy
eggs
at midnight
when the occasion
calls for it

The blood in my veins
is as frozen as the
sap in the trees and I can't
come up with a better
analogy because my
head hurts from it
being so **** cold out
and I get depressed
when I see pictures of
lush
green
landscapes and
I dream about the warmth
of the sun
because there's nothing
green around here
other than the green
I spend trying to keep
myself from dying of frostbite

and yet

there's always a guy
walking around in shorts
and a tank top

There once was a hero who was mute,
A musical hero, to boot!
His fingers did not strum
A guitar or tap a drum;
He saved the kingdom with a flute!

-------------------------------------------------

A soldier clouded by strife,
To have love lost like a life.
Finds beauty in flowers,
Destroys evil powers,
While wielding an oversized knife!

-------------------------------------------------

An army of soldiers well-trained,
Though, in action they seem dead-brained;
Hit with his own bomb,
That one knows your mom,
It’s a battlefield of the deranged.

-SLuR

When I was younger
and perhaps wiser
than I am now
I went on a date
with a young woman
to see a movie whose name
I pretend to forget
and I remember her laughing
at children being hanged in
the opening scene and I knew
that it was bad and that I was
in the wrong place at the wrong
time
so I told her I loved her
because I was a wise boy back then
and luckily she said
"okay"
and we parted ways
and it wasn't until I became foolish
and a few years older that
I realized just what I had
done and that
the children on the screen
were all dressed like me

Write your poetry
like accusations for
crimes never committed
against the love you hold
dearly in your heart
better than anyone has ever held
you in loving arms
and write your poetry
like bottled messages
floating adrift in the endless sea
we call loneliness
and hope that you may bump into
someone out there
even if it breaks the glass and you both
sink
you won't be alone
and write your poetry
like some vigilante cowboy
from days past
and treat each letter
each word
each line
like a bullet that will
always meet its mark
and save the day
so that we can all ride into the sunset
happy and free

at least
until someone changes the channel