Diary of a Poet
Dear Reader,
I am sitting here in front of the digital deliverance of the Australian Open, two weeks before leaving
for the anniversary
cruise the wife and i try to take each year. My way of spreading the verse i got
to witness coming from my pen, or keyboard, around the world has been to pass out copies on these
excursions. This year i was about to decide not to, but my Grandmother suggested that i continue the
tradition
and, as she has survived ninety-seven years of life, i try to take her advice. Since all
the stuff i have handed out in the past is between five and thirty, or so, years old, i thought i would
make a chapbook of the infrequent verse that has flowed since (trickled?). One might come to the
conclusion that this verse is best fit for my own reading, as it is so personal, but i tend to think it
must be for other eyes as well... Even if the distraction of the action only helps to make the journey
less tedious, it will be well worth the efforts taken!
I want to thank my friend Charles, creator and maintainer of DARCPoetry.com for allowing me to use the
name of his site in my title, as well as for the inspiration he, his site and the poets attracted to it
have brought to me, possibly saving me from fading into silence, poetically.
If this verse does not fit your particular preferences, please pass it on! (Echoes of paper...)
I do hope you find some lines that touch your heart, or sing to your soul, as you read this!
#1096 , #1097 , #1098 , #1099 , #1100 , #1101
#1102 , #1103 , #1104 , #1105 , #1106 , #1107
#1108 , #1109 , #1110 , #1111 , #1112 , #1113
#1114 , #1115 , #1116 , #1117 , #1118 , #1119
#1120 , #1121 , #1122 , #1123 , #1124 , #1125
#1126 , #1127 , #1128 , #1129 , #1130 , #1131
#1132 , #1133 , #1134 , #1135 , #1136 , #1137
#1138 , #1139 , #1140 , #1141 , #1142 , #1143
#1144 , #1145 , #1146
#1096
Words Are Going To Flow
It's been a while
Since the verse was let flow
It's so long now
It may not even grow
The break was vile
Maybe depression's throe
Is forgotten how?
Or does current still flow
Inspiration
Cannot withhold its glow
Contrarily
To action's seldom throw
Desperation
Quivers within its know
Oh, Verily!
Words are going to flow!
Top
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#1097
...preparing to expose one's self...
Paper cutter one
turn the sheets to halfs
Tactile ecstasy
my spirit just laughs
Paper cutter two
hole puncher i guess
Confetti maker
and, oh, what a mess
Plastic comb no hair
stick 'em in and through
There is not much else
i would rather do
Put the verse to eyes
or should i say drawl
Wait the snail mail-mare
a package at crawl
Nerves are frayed and sharp
jaws have teeth in clamp
Now that i am ready
i'll go buy a stamp
Top
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#1098
April Fools
Mom turns seventy today
just a landmark along her way
her Mom turns ninety-one in June
Her Mother-In-Law come this fall
turns ninety-seven tops 'em all
not too much my forty-six soon
So i guess it is point of view
or haunting only half way through
if i'd not smoked like a buffoon
Top
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#1099
But for the few...
The state of things
remains the same
just more people
and baubles and flare
Technology
has changed the name
and there is so much
more freedom than there
Global scripture's
a click away
a short study
to see it's the same
Still used for
excuses to slay
though not now
even holy by name
Schemer redeemers
laud its flair
but can't replace
what they take away
Ten millennia
have been there
there's just a smoother
ride on its sleigh
Top
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#1100
Happy Birthday
Seven years since
you hunted me down
hope you are still enjoying your prey
Sorry your bad boy
turned out a clown
i'm doing my best what can i say
Seems you got the
short end of the stick
isn't much i can do about that
Stay here and love
you through thin with the thick
fast so my sit down don't end me fat
Take more bike rides
your last fifties year
and the suite i ordered on your ship
More time camping
so summer is dear
maybe a few more shots from the hip
Let me know if
you have any needs
and with wishes and wants do the same
Keep on dancing
i'll follow your lead
oh, and thank you for taking my name!
Top
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#1101
...while i am waiting...
My protection is only fair
and i'm using unsecured waves
So now dial-up will take me there
a two hour download that saves
Is technology on my side?
or is this but a Homeland
scheme?
My illiterate on a ride
knowing nothing is in the seem
The Sopranos of Song tonight
that's if Bob really comes along
But me and the bro' is alright
karaoke addiction strong
The last laptop flew off the bike
i had not insurance of course
That was a credit failure spike
i'm still paying for that failure's source
So now it's just me and my Dell
and E-Machine in the back room
But that is a whole other hell
or maybe too much of a tomb
With boxes of Palace
's fall
and labels declaring ink's waste
Forgetting the scraps' below call
a mixture of pipedreams and haste
At least the scam came to an end
forty-four hundred down the drain
Good thing my delusion can bend
or it would have snapped with the pain
Now a grand every thirty days
with two and a half years to go
Then free of my frivolous haze
all done with my credit card throe
But that is not the here and now
seventeen percent of the way
It's hard to stay focused somehow
while buying my youth with my pay
Offers have come to let me out
it's legal they say but that's crap
Hope it's not what i am about
letting others take my own rap
I'll just wake up as life allows
be pleased with this writing again
And wink at the skeptical brows
if i can resurface some then
Top
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#1102
If It Ended Now
Am watching Universe
with its amazing postulations
black holes, white holes
worm holes and such
Surely created
by scientists' adulations
totally understandable
while emotion don't have much
The baby sister died
in ninety-four without a blink
a driver at work this year
with a that's too bad
If a Dr. tells me
i am on the brink
i do not think i
could even muster sad
Just see the things that
life has brought to view
a gross of jobs
and a score or more
A virgin and a farmer's daughter
and an old lady, too
enough love to make
an excited man sore
A gas station and an
hundred books of poem
spirit duplicators and
piles of paper everywhere
Selling on the street
now that was a home!
then years in between
when verse had no fare
Nine times through
the Bible in eight months
and Dianetics to
explain the human mind
Yes, those years
of pinners and exotic blunts
those moments with
the feel of fall behind
And here a group of poets
weave their word
eclectic may just
hinge on a descript
But they are verse
i'm glad i heard
a wine that i am
so glad i sipped!
Top
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#1103
Another Site
It's probably a worthless venture
maybe i don't need it like i think
The tooth fairy finds another denture
not only is it fake but the stink
Verse-atility was a bright gem
Thought Cafe now lingers like a dream
Is it worse to just have touched the hem
than it was to hear desperate scream?
Tens of thousands of verses slated
and a dozen score of praises sung
Maybe bull is the human fated
but immediate the flow of dung?
Such hope the standards posted tender
example hailed of prestigious man
Arrogant ignorance too rendered?
is that part of the critiquing plan?
One for the know-it-all
s. o. b.s
to paraphrase a quote of the pen
Leaving hope a fragrance on life's breeze
and alone again the common Zen?
Does politesse guard fatuity
or insouciant attack licit?
What explains the incongruity
without the overtly explicit?
Top
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#1104
Onward
Fifty-six and a half hours
the first real
week is gone
Winter's softness slowly sours
future hopes counted on
I know they are eggs not yet hatched
by wounds still sore from past
But fractions of the whole as batched
for how long this will last
The good ole boys with sweat of brow
that paint the gravel black
Others' horror seems right somehow
not yet under attack
A brand new truck with sulfur low
one fortieth of then's
It may just be a lighter blow
suppose it all depends
The sky is falling, Little said
heads buried in the sand
I think that fuckin' chicken's dead
it tasted rather bland
Of course i hope electric cars
fill all those parking lots
And yes that man will stand on Mars
while Oil family rots
I hope the best for ev'ryone
though best seems far from aim
I'll work my O. T. in the sun
and try to hold my flame
Top
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#1105
...no great poem
...
So i got out the laptop
but the strongest signals are secure
Yeah, SHE gets Pogo evenings
chances for a land line are obscure
No more email notices
so PM me if i should respond
But i am still here reading
see the poetic garments you've donned
And writing in the dump truck
any scrap of paper i can find
I rode the bike this morning
loaded it at 4:10 in the blind
Mostly i have a notebook
for a couple of years just in case
This year might be different
with all you poets right in my face
Not at all in a bad way
i think the rhymer had died again
Not as bad as the nineties
it was close to ten years' silence then
But now there is no great poem
that i feel i must write yesterday
Just me and words i play with
and moments of my life i display
But that is incidental
to messages of gods and flowers
Accented every day
by various poetic powers
Top
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#1106
My Best Angle
They say practice makes perfect
maybe in a billion years
Thousands of poems later
my hopes are still left in tears
Top
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#1107
Middle Aged
Smashing tile into tiny pieces
drinking ale
and doing karaoke art
Got hippy hair and Garcia beard
the project trickles
into its third weekend
Quiet without nephews and nieces
the kind of quiet
that seeps into the heart
Father's Day morning is hairless weird
after clippers hum
while gray locks descend
Living this life of short-term leases
just learning the grateful
of taking my part
Seeing the empty of all things feared
feelings the comfort
of wounds allowed to mend
Top
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#1108
Religious Bastard
I learned not to wipe
my nose with my sleeve
as he kicked me
around her last stand
i burned every swipe
in memory's weave
each wound licked
to the Pity Me Band
the party lasted fifteen years
The road crossing bit
was purpling bliss
as he tried to spare
me from Hell fires
extension cord shit
a sure Satan dis
and time stood still there
and built future pyres
finally there are no more tears
Sometimes i still think
the grass is greener
over other fences
in other times
though i would not
drink from potions meaner
i've not your defenses
and just soft rhymes
i'll keep my explosions and Hell
And all those landmarks
ease the rest
the jabs and poorly
aimed upper cuts
but the echo still
barks with all zest
keeps tabs while
sorely lamed in its ruts
four decades awaiting the bell
Top
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#1109
dr.'s lecture on smoking
and thoughts of death...
Never really meant to end up
a fat, bald man on welfare
but here i sit, waiting
for the unemployment check to land
Only want to dent
the horror critics put on poetry
each moment's delating pyre
sees my lines growing bland
Childhood left me dreams
of being president and all your wrath
the computer's eight by ten foot
in the sixth grade fed the flames
Anguish quelled those seems
as adolescence liquored up its pain
liquor's pity filled Why?
poured resentment back into the blames
Just remnants remained after
matching sorrow's seconds with same
so broken i stood at thirty
with my cedar chest of pain
Years he and i stained
blended into such harmony
who could imagine that such a bond
could leave a person sane?
Fifteen years later
with a couple of Palaces in the dust
fourth quarter beginning
<
and i am still locked into my rhyme
Ink masturbator
just a shadow stroking my cyber pen
delusions of winning
have turned to pipedreams of over-time
Thought Cafe echoes seem
to have filled this brand new stadium
as i limp to the bench
i feel like family on Noah's ark
H C's the deco
in this post modern war of ancient words
and if time kills my stench pre-whistle
i hope it's in the DARC! LOL
Top
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#1110
Is It Possible
Is it possible
that everyone is out to get me?
Is it possible
that my own beliefs caused all my fears?
Is it possible
attraction is the law to let me?
Is it possible
knowledge held has cost all my years?
Is it possible
that every human act is unclean?
Is it possible
that every human thought is fraud?
Is it possible
death is all that these eyes have seen?
Is it possible
lies make perfect creation look flawed?
Top
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#1111
Letting go...
I stopped at the Red Arrow diner
it's been open since 1922
the waitress said she'd worked since then
i think she's just folk trying to start lure
After hours could not be finer
to sip that sweet Columbian dew
I'll take six abortions from mother hen
bacon, sausage and home fries for sure
No batted eye like some young whiner
a thorough what flavor toast shall we do
the practiced refill glance now and then
while eyes do the alien landscape tour
Brother bond was night's headliner
alone but not wanting to see it through
dreaming of next week's if and when
and more of our karaoke de jour
Top
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#1112
First day of spring...
The wind is only gusting at forty
and the temperature just hit forty-one
Looks like the bike'll take me to the bank
just wish there was a little bit of sun
Wouldn't ya know it's garbage day today
i'm thinking as i slalom up the street
Wonder like back in those roll-off days
how much waste this ole Earth can eat
The fingers aren't happy with biker gloves
cheeks wish the beard had more curls
The left hand i damaged on winter binge
twinges when after clutching it unfurls
But after all it's the first day of spring
north of Boston you ride when you can
Joints won't remember in June in the sun
and fingers will long since be tanned
Top
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#1113
Regular Brownies?
Sittin' here eating
regular brownies
i'm sure the younger
me would scoff
But he's in a
parallel universe
popping pills
trying to get off
Four months in front
of the television
guess probably
i am insane
Was just about
praying for a vortex
but messages
became inane
Was about ready
to head for the hills
just to better see
it fall down
Take one of those
fabled trips back in time
and dive into
a bong to drown
But last week i noticed
that nothing's changed
and many have not
yet deceased
So i decided to play
here with the band
on time that
extra has leased
And was it not Lao-tze
that once said
in that book
dusting on the shelf
That when the skies
are all looking like doom
the problem is
found within self?
Top
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#1114
Who's What, Where?
I remember writing
without rhyme
remember not
counting syllables too
But memory must have
taken me back through time
and that trip would take
me farther from you
Who are you you might ask
if you don't know
you are the one reading
right here and now
Of course my mind
long left and you can't go
though i do think it best
for you some how
This is the mind
that roulettes suicide
or did some there
and then that don't exist
The if and when was
ruined on that ride
so hither and yon
will be greatly missed
The rage that actions
taught has simmered down
its fires too whose
smoke i used to ride
The hopes of retribution
i've watched drown
peace appears to be
a defeatist's bide
How come it seems
each time i win i lose
how come the end
is not fun like the means
How does life keep
over-ruling my choose
and when will fortune
ever spill its beans?
Top
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#1115
The Last Christian
It had been seven months
since Devon left the station
the stop on the moon
was intended to rebuild mass
Echoes of the evil
which filled days on Neo-Earth
were now dimmed by
Biblical studies and let to pass
Devon's sincere attempts
to come out and be separate
Spawned sole contact with
the silent shadows on the moon
Aloneness as solid
as a liquid drowning pool
the carnal of his heart
screamed for human contact soon
Lurid thoughts professed
that even an android would do
the Bleached Clean Honeys
sales pitch put daggers in his soul
So then there were quoted
some verses from Ephesians
but Devon knew that the words
would never make him whole
Another mute round
with the devil was averted
as the proximity alarm
was followed by voices
Sweet, monotone directives
to help the shuttle land
wooing sleep to the anxious
of all those past choices
Pain splintered weight-bearing legs
and Earth seemed too distant
flagging hopes of revival
coffined by self-deceit
All the foreman tares
Devon had astutely studied
poisonous gas breathing
workers ready to be wheat
Days dragged into weeks
as exercise brought back the strength
dreams of preaching gospel
were the only fair relief
Devon dug with renewed vigor
earning all his keep
the zealot making truth
from handed down belief
Jumping with ease to the
shuttle thirty feet above
Devon knew the mission
of accomplish was his own
With rockets spitting fire
he left shadows behind
so set foot on home planet
where never love was shown
With pity full of pockets
and Bible held in hand
Devon dared the bleak
labor colony full of pride
Past the illumined guard
with the tear helmet hidden
who wondered how much
ego to waste that ride
Top
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#1116
Holy Grail
The Cross pen was my holy grail
the world was waiting for my verse
Since then it all has changed
and the grails have become diverse
The Cross still holds its aura
though the keyboard is sacrosanct
Religion has lost its holy
but so many grails are banked
She is a grail worth awing
and holds a grail or three
And some nights when i'm lucky
she finds a grail on me
Work is a grail worth worship
it funds all the other vents
And love is a grail still shining
though full of scratches and dents
Friendship a grail most sacred
each individual finds their alter
Forgiveness a holy sanctuary
for when i or they might falter
Albert said it once i think
a miracle either none or all
Gods these thoughts, acts and words
divine their always call
So i choose not the nothing holy
but angels in every sect
Gods are all i entertain
hoping never to neglect!
Top
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#1117
Scratches of Growth
Saw the Mayan ruins
in a Grind House film
had to call the wife
from the other room
Just added our pictures
to the screen saver
from our recent trip
in that barf-bag tomb
Yes those vacations
with all their splendor
are often peppered
with moments of naught
I couldn't believe that
lunch had fruit cocktail
you know my ill with
which humor is fraught
But back to neo
England isolation
with my almost fav'rite
C
and solemn DARC
The tree of life's
display bard-ic scribble
as we burrow
beneath expanding bark
Top
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#1118
Karaoke Pirate
Out on the high seas
with the MP3
an hour a night
and once maybe three
Time
was the taster
and thank you Floyd
In The Air Tonight
filled another void
What A Wonderful World
is a cruise ship song
then Turn The Page
just to drag them along
Mustang Sally
gave them something to do
while Us And Them
a chant for their rue
What an ice breaker
for the Caribbean sea
shots with the Norwegians
and sure them with me
Said he'd send a shot
and took my address
mentally posted a volume
i must now confess
I don't have a peg leg
with the third looked like wood
and i can't say exactly
i sung as one should
But i gave them a dosage
of old Screamin' Tom
and those with the stiff drinks
thought i was the bomb!
Top
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#1119
Monday Afternoon
Drinking coffee and water
on a Monday afternoon
Saturday and Sunday
setting tile
The stage and walls are almost done
but look better by moon
ninety minutes
of country road style
The Conni Lane Karaoke Klub
soon will open doors
celebrate living
with their song
Join the rotation
and do all your favorite encores
but be warned
addiction's pull is strong
Sometimes Screamin' Tomz
Karaoke videos its ads
maybe you're
the next video star
This air time gives
poetrypalacetv its congrads
even if no online
site goes far
The chainsaw up a tree
and the first bike week in the snow
should make good clips
after Father's Day
After a bike week trip
when the beard and hair have to go
purple of the Palace
turns to play
Returning to the DARC
when i can steal a little time
bits and pieces
of lifetimes of verse
Still prefer days when my eyes
are tired from reading rhyme
the other side
of the practice curse
Top
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#1120
Pirate Brothers
Back on land with winter waning
the wavy audience fresh in mind
Brother calls about public singing
with last time out a year behind
Late life bar scenes' little singing
can't compare to home marathon
Though the slew for few public venue
flaunts small-time fame to float upon
All You Zombies was mighty risqué
with Sinatra fan and country crowd
Big bro sang off missed Jersey Girl
again making a young sibling proud
Round two drags by already wondering
what few songs the slots should fill
I almost whispered Raining In Baltimore
while his Wasted Time kept eyes' trance still
With Time ticking i had to Floyd
while my long time idol went to town
Then as East Coast America got late
i sang Lonely People as it all slowed down
Hoarse wasn't found as at Lawyer Bob's
and we missed the rock our legal kid puts out
But we built on bond our brothers' kindle
guess that's what life's really all about
Top
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#1121
An Exercise In Verse
Was raped
(#721)
thought it was love
(#13)
immature notions
(#16)
dead and gone
(#56)
Hope draped
(#1070)
possible shove
(#1067)
ignorant potions
(#693)
wished upon
(#140)
Top
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#1122
Idiocracy
Actions speak louder than words
thirty thousand plus c.c. debt
nothing much louder than that
not too much more that i regret
Pipe dreams litter past like turds
in love every time with all bet
i even use Yahoo chat
guess service is fatally set
I speak good phrases in herds
some philosophies i sublet
'ologies scatter like birds
in this mind so prone to forget
Grew with mathematical nerds
but was gone before i got wet
guess worship has been in thirds
rumored thought
false hope
and no sweat
Top
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#1123
Scrambling From Blind
I wallowed 'til
pity was pathetic
raged until
anger was bile
Screamed 'til
words were in whisper
Lusted 'til
i was dirty and vile
So what if the past
was full of torture
who cares the old
man was mean
Why piss on this
now’s wonder
dragging yesteryear
's black scene
Yes love was slain
by vicious emotion
fear was the god
that i served
Pain was my
purple kingdom
the horror i
once reserved
But that was truly
only yesterday
the guardhouse
vacant for years
Why waste breaths
with remember
why wet today
with its tears
The blame game
only worked until manhood
now all the abuse
is mine
If i let it
continue
those cries were
nothing but whine
There is no use
in using the pillage
that old man is
changed and gone
No reason to
play a part
now has no stage
to act on
I can destroy this
moment's adventure
with memory
i keep alive
Ruin my hope
of comfort
turn living
into survive
But did not that
journey bless with lessons
was i not
stubborn to learn
Hasn't this heart
grown stronger
even from my
crash and burn
Is my love now free
from vulgar hatred
is compassion
part of mind
Hasn't this
gift of terror
sent me scrambling
from blind?
Top
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#1124
Roland Garros
Monfils is dancing
with Federer
the prior a little
clumsy of foot
Just gotta love
the slide of the clay
romantic Parisian scores
and feisty fans
It's down to the third
set of the match
number one and
a talented reacher
Now Roger turning
it up a notch
Monfils taking the heat
like nothing changed
But everyone knows
he can't lose more
Federer serving
for match in poise
You know that
the hope is about gone
but Monfils seems
to be the last to know
Ad Monfils to the
scream of the crowd
now a marionette
in master's hand
So hope floats
away again so soon
a slip, some net play
the fatal error
Again it is Roger
who's standing
Monfils needs to win
two sets in a row
Seasoning is
beginning to show
but one underdog
point gets the praise
This up and coming
is really good
still Roger turns
up the tempo again
Suddenly it's deuce
on the king's serve
just an ad and
it's all Sil vous plais
It's hand to hand
and the kingdom stands
but it is balls
to the wall at the mote
Precision raises
its practiced hand
starting to look like
the flea and the dog
Break point to win
the pro takes it clean
and it appears there
's a lesson to learn
Amidst the electrical
volley
it is entirely
glory and go
Reciprocal
honors are given
dual respect and
the love of the game
Bullet after bullet
is bitten
then Monfils takes us
from break point to win
Roger wins in
half of a minute
Monfils' expression
has melted to grim
There may be no way
to beat the Fed
but the plump woman
ain't ready to sing
To perfect crowd gasp
the two play on
until Roger has break
point for the match
And then it's deuce
then ad Monfils
'til Roger's pace spins
the boy to the ground
The crowd woos
into cheers for Monfils
one must listen
to the noise of the new
Now merci beaucoup
is sternly said
but not an ear
really cares about that
Finesse seems
to solely rest in age
maybe constant should
have come before that
Federer's fatal
fin'lly shows through
yes of course with an embrace
and a smile
Top
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#1125
Today/Night
Looks like Djokovic is
winning another match
as i jamb the baby toe
on the way to the Mrs.' computer
Thus the cadence of a poem
that was once a batch
is set where wished gold
is turned to maybe pewter
While the globe is warming
past the point of no return
and a black Muslim
and a lady try for votes
As the gen'ral public habit
into crash and burn
to the tune of flamboyant
poets' unread notes
So we watch Lennon's
walrus cry about pigs that fly
if karaoke is the outlet
for your voice
Or maybe these verses
are my only way of cry
yet fate is a bastard
leaving me with no choice
Bill Mayer is out there
trying with all he has got
Gore has made an effort
after his Latin failed
Perhaps my Doppelganger
has just drawn his lot
as Christ of yore was simply
destined to be nailed
Could it be the six ales
i've drunken into this night
distorting sight so much
that even past is lie
Should such a somber ledger
partake in such a plight
where my red pencil's
edit is so sure a dye
Yes ego built the Palace
where C
had named me king
grandiose was for sure
my guide along the way
Yet DARC standing
as a tribute is not a small thing
an Alien or two
to verify its sway
Possibly the means cross-eyed
its very ends this time
leaving my goal a mirage
to keep me crawling
What if alcohol wants to
perpetuate the rhyme
and i am but a drunk
amidst his own drawling
Hist'ry has marked this spot
though the walls are standing
i am just a pauper
like 15
with his hat
Poets sprawl words
without the public's understanding
and all is well as all
is thrown within the vat
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#1126
North of Papal Echoes
I don't really want to work
it's Patriots' Day in Mass'
Nothing to do with the Pope
or his cathedral of glass
Where people throw prayers of stone
and tithe at the bingo hall
And probably L. Ron-out
if they ever get the call
Although economics say
i best get my ass in gear
Cuz holiday overtime
might be my best pay this year
I'll bundle up on the bike
a helmet for crossing the line
Hope this damn flu relents soon
before it drags me to whine
Until then i'll just spit phlegm
bury my head in spring's sand
Prey for hours and pay
with tortured Cross in my hand
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#1127
'tis the season
Yesterday i put five hours
of wax on way too much chrome
today i drove the hundred
and forty thousand dollar truck
The boss's expectancy
in my future garden a gnome
either missed the propaganda show
or does not give a fuck
So i got eighteen speeds to play with
and that lush new car
smell
for two loads of gravel and asphalt
the plant will crush for new
The thrills of bumper to bumper
spring fashion some would call hell
four hundred and sixty-seven
horses in lanes one and two
Nap time fades into history
next to a toolbox full of wax
if we said the slob has butterflies
we'd surely understate
But let's just keep throwing straws
on the camel's overtime tax
get a good laugh as the mother
fucker wobbles with the weight
I've lived here more than four decades
and know it could be worse
so i'll hide lush with cigarette smoke
and Febreeze as i go
This old dog has many new tricks
to learn as he follows course
my heart says Christmas is coming soon
but my mind says go slow
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#1128
Different Worlds
The two different worlds that i live in
are spread so terribly far apart
That i wonder if the drastic changes
might not be a good thing for my heart
Four A. M. either alarm or bedtime
and is the diet coffee or lamb
I suppose if the change was not drastic
it might put me in some sort of jamb
Eight months of early days with no ending
four months of wishing i had saved
It is odd how the lapses seem so equal
guess the tick of the tock misbehaved
Work like a dog when the work has plenty
as sweet as the idle winter brings
I am satisfied to spend days watching
the duet with which my lifetime sings
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#1129
...dissecting the inexplicable...
after mentioning fasting
in the wife's birthday card
and possibly
a different worlds
epilogue
i thought maybe
a little history on this bard
just might enhance
our invisible dialog
the private
school cure
found me at one
hundred and twelve pounds
i was only five
foot eleven at the time
the Beater by then
had me scared of all angry sounds
school owed Grandpa
money so i went on his dime
thirty kilos from cigarettes
i was Mr. Buff
only forty-one demerits
at Christmas break
over four hundred
by May Day they had had enough
school pres
drove half way
to a dad i did forsake
beanpole
was forgotten
as i idled out the year
the park
school failed
to offer Bible one and two
French two's teacher for French one
made my credit scam clear
as tenth grade passed away
i knew that school was through
eight months of expulsion games
in two schools i was done
three days shy
of file clerk school
strep throat
beat boot camp
played Phoenix
and beer in Bar Harbor
through marriage one
dove into number two
this stupid poet tramp
hindsight says the daughter
made that horrid trip okay
and the ex's A. M. call
twenty years through hate
heart's door ajar
the empty mind found lovers to play
'til little gurl
hunted
down boytoy
for her fate
Oh i missed the brother
who shrugged off unfriendly seeds
just a vow and a girl
friend back along the way
tricked this laze king
into his strenuous iron deeds
gained well over fifty pounds
with his pump and play
number three would not have
that my one day off a week
so i most errantly chose
not to stand my ground
perhaps too many battles
have made my heart weak
so i sat in my dump truck
adding pound by pound
well no quit brother came back
after reading Fast 5
the five hour eating
window was introduced
of course i quit at Christmas
time the year end's survive
by March the couch potato
had pound by pound loosed
two hundred fifty-six
the D. O. T. doctor said
a relaxed heart rate
of eighty-eight was not good
with all those death tales
spinning in this fanatic's head
went back to the window
like any scared boy would
two P. M. black java drowned
i reach for magic box
last week's steak and this
week's lamb surely fill the hole
i've beaten all but two days
of hunger's sly like fox
two-thirty-eight right now
i'm glad i paid the toll
of course i sit here
with my coffee heavily creamed
the fasting is a weekday deal
with two days off
but life is looking so much
better than it ever seemed
lift the cup take a drag
and tip my smoker's cough
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#1130
God Is One, as Is God's Creation
Know the Truth and the Truth
is what it says
do you think the Truth
is a man who lived and died
The Gospel is
a liturgy of facts
for meditations of heart
that King David tried
One is the number
of the King of Days
Creator, Curator and
a thousand more names
The yesterday, today
and tomorrow
blasphemously blamed
for the horror of Lie's games
At Soul we are all
One because of Law
which all of Love and Peace
and Joy and Rest involve
The meditations
are a stepping stone
to rise up into One
through the act of evolve
Did Lot argue with God
or was that Law
ten righteous men
through whom even karma could change
Is Moses the first
thought you had of God
Truth dying the reason
for youth's awkward and strange
Without appearance
what of proof remains
behind senses what
vehicle does one employ
Does the ethereal body
have chores to do
beyond this body
what does one learn to enjoy?
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#1131
Touting The Continuous Jam
The misled bleeders that taught us
came from a different age
What has technology left us
other than selfish rage
And how in this cyber creation
with billions of trillions of page
Can egos continue so puffy
or is it the long lost mage
What cure is not availed us
what key overlooked for our cage
Whose noose can now cast shadow
whose neck display scarlet sage?
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#1132
Bathroom Singers
It's raining in Baltimore
three hundred miles south
but no crows here
in my living room
Now the flood watch is wreaking
my financial schemes
as this bathroom
singer heads for doom
Over I Am America
(And So Can You)
if there is no work
there is no fast
So fuck this yesterday's black
coffee i'm sipping
with cream's artery
hardening blast
Yes betrayal of the
concept body bullshit
has me stuffing
heartburn with a meal
Could the heartburn be
actual when not eating
thought, mind, body
and soul was the deal
Although buffalo
before noon was exciting
hope the gut don't
pull that shit again
I am but a few burning
weeks from two sixty
it's the wrong season
to go there then
Got the wife a new Nextel
this past Saturday
she continues to
call on the phone
A hundred fuckin' dollars
so she can beep me
guess i'm fighting
this battle alone
Hippy got me to Myspace
earlier this year
it worked to see
the great nephew's pix
But that is just a place
where i am registered
always come to the
DARC for my fix
My big brother is splitting
the cost of the tile
so i can afford
latex and grout
And it is about time
that i finally learn
what karaoke
family is about
Birds singing pre-dawn
songs of this torrential rain
three and a half inches
were forecast
Reminds me of hens' corny
that i'll eat for lunch
when i'm done with
my waxing at last
Today the Mack drips
as in parochial heat
the karate kid
sits on his couch
Wondering how without
all the working day rulez
he can stretch out
his enormous pouch
Options are daunting with
bread, sugar and chips in
i'll just let
buffalo patties roam
And those corny hens' raw
can just sit in their chill
while these words waste
away in my home
Oh yeah speaking of home
there's a taco near by
and the diet has
gone to the rain
I can eat all i want
and i'll never get full
should another totem
pole be slain
Just thoughts that wonder
on this beautiful spring day
as the poets i know
fast with sleep
I don't mind taking
my verses to them to lay
because i know
their honor they'll keep
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#1133
Interpretation of Jacob's
Complimentary Breakfast
(@ darkpoetry.com)
...angry endings...
...a semi-submissive bdsm slave girl...
...cold hearted player”
in an under
twenty-one club...
...'til the bitch is drunk...
...and shows interest...
...bending to show cleavage...
...giggling as walking away...
...player is played...
...she rolls her brilliant blues...
...he mumbles insults under his breath...
..interrupted by smoker's cough...
...mahogany dawn ( :) )...
...hang-over fantasy...
...solitary pool (lol)...
...legend in his own mind...
...screwing his own potential...
...subconscious' lurid peanut gallery...
...knowing it will survive...
...after the player's death...
...in reincarnation...
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#1134
CHEERS
So i was up to eight cups of coffee
at work, ya know, before i eat?
I went and found me a bigger cup
and now, it's two, oh what a feat!
I got walnut in my lunch this week
the past, fist full, celebrated
Grammy kept them in the sugar jar
my small, this high, was elated
Twenty-seven degrees on the bike
damn cold, fingers, ski gloves aside
Back roads add eight miles to the gallon
might be, highway, too cold to ride
Eleven dollars forty cents saved
cartons, almost, on a long week
Truck waxing saves a pack a day
three bills, well shy, a month i'll freak
Got lost here thinking of dollars signs
Oh yeah, coffee, motorcycle
Is forgetfulness a sign of lack
blessed, prayer, old Saint Michael
Don’t know the Saints so i'll go without
get me, karma, if i deserve
Theology never got me high
hard work, and love, is what i'll serve
And in the end if i burn in hell
give cheers and beers and sing a song
Cuz if that's where life is leading to
was waste, Holy, all along!
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#1135
Where The Value's At
Income equals what
i once thought rich
childhood dreams were
more perverted than i knew
But gas was sixty
cents a gallon
and rent was what
a week's shopping now will do
So i stop early
to fill the bike
keep it under twenty
as long as i can
Got the one piece
and hood made of wool
two wheeling through frost
just to NOT drive the van
An old E-Machine
in the office
ninety in computer years
but still able
She's got the Dell
desktop for Pogo
then there's this laptop
on the coffee table
The PS2 has
its own T. V.
and karaoke's and
the forty-two inch
I'm sure we could
scrounge up another
were we ever to find
ourselves in a pinch
Mostly stainless kitchen
makes her smile
maybe a fridge this year
would make her giggle
That credit demon
still fills my head
but i've kept it to
an annoying jiggle
Then there's four hundred
watts of Peavey
four monster speakers
in case i need the cops
And three hundred
plus discs to sing from
i guess i better quit
cuz it never stops
So maybe perverted
wasn't off
and rich only looks greener
when you are poor
It is all perspective
but for two
and money is not
what either wishes for
But none of this
stuff is of value
compared to the perfect
from my Number One
Was hoping Star Trek
might make verse
should i throw in a Barkley
mention for fun?
The demon possessed
genius at work
with his Darc-hole
media for the lost crew
So i see neo-Data
too technical
and Luoxanna's
crazy and sexy too?
I'll spare you Spock
Jordy
and Seven
leave Bones
, Sulu
and Doc
for another time
Don't want to
totally bore you here
so with all present points
made i'll end this rhyme...
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#1136
Weight Off My Shoulders
Had a hotdog and
flounder feast tonight
i just may have to
start working out soon
Two thirty is the mark
on this health plight
and make it easier
those nights i swoon
Let's just forget tonight
and call it last
those three A. M.
alarms hit kinda hard
Sleep creeps up from
behind and attacks fast
right in mid verse
yesterday for this bard
I have one hundred
and eighty-eight clips
for my modern
scrapbook in video
Many quotations
for comedy rips
JVC, webcam
and my Roxio
A cable or two
short of what i need
matches the card or
two short in my deck
If i control my
desire for speed
this might not end up
as another wreck
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#1137
Big Weekend In May
Shawn, the realtor
is trying to get us a view
while i prepare for a
Suzuki ride to Maine
Dawn, now far gone, leaves me
to sit here and think of you
and all the drops of blood
with which you write your pain
Home, it could be
a two family right down the street
while the north
Manchester
waits patiently with tile
She, beyond odds, has
turned all of my lacks to complete
so what words fail to explain
leaves me with this smile
Fear, my old friend
broke all of the promises it made
horror and pretend seem
to whither with it gone
Pain, fear's echo, with all
its slashing has dulled its blade
yet to your terror these
empathy eyes are drawn
Youth, so misspent, has succumbed
to the bed of its grave
who would have guessed
such rage and hatred could die
Age, that now mocks
the flamboyant quotes memories save
says that the last one
to see it coming was i
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#1138
Heaven
Back sittin' in
the big new Mack
guess slightly used
is a bit more true
Is there more or
less when in fact
or is THAT effort
cause for our rue
I'm backing down
this country road
following the
Gradall as it digs
Fifty reverse
stops for a load
there's no time
today for cleaning rigs
Weekend memories
fill my head
lifting seven
hundred feet of tile
From barn to truck
an easy spread
but the basement
was a country mile
Bright green meadows
along stone walls
lake and farms
and winding cow paths paved
A cleansing of
those city galls
oh savored moments
when not enslaved
A Virginian
on a mower
ready to drop all
and find a map
To the cloud
of black flies lower
a quick no thanx
and tip of the cap
Take random numbers
north and east
looking for
some familiar sign
Free from the
economic beast
and there is no time
upon this line
Almost inhuman
peace and ease
an almost ethereal
perceived
No corp'rate nothing
here to please
just the joy of this
heaven received
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#1139
of Novel Ideas
I started four hundred
and forty-four verses
last night before
i went to bed
Been wanting to lose
those writings i threw away
ricocheting
around my head
Oh at least a dozen
attempts have been started
but each of them
too hit the trash
If at last i could kill
the pipedream novelist
i would not miss
its dig and thrash
Of course that
leaves me
with the king
and his palace
though cobwebs could
cover that mess
Then i'll just be
Screamin' Tom
the dump
truck driver
no recalled failures
to confess
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#1140
Memorial Weekend
Early day before
the weekend failed
shut down the dump truck
right at six P. M.
Drove the bike
up the drive at seven
the plan was more than
just frayed at the hem
Unload the buckets
of adhesive
be careful with the
dusty dark red grout
Clean the work van
into a camper
it's what the three day
weekends are about
Supper, shower
crash by ten thirty
half past midnight
she's ready for the trip
Her wise ass offers
me beer 'til two
a hundred miles
before my morning nip
Three fifty-five
the dawn cracks the sky
pull to the present
end of Conni Lane
The compound stands
mostly now as plan
but Klub Karaoke
will be a gain
Seven A. M. slumber
time is gone
i hit the sister's
kitchen seeking juice
A family out-of
-stater cuts in
finally feeling
he is of use
Eight o'clock finds
me in my dungeon
funny how we torture
ourselves with dream
We decide the angles
for each wall
and i'm barely a long
from Scream'
day's work
The hours tick
into my trowel
the three-year-old twins
want to put up some squares
The Queen and the young teen
come join in
hope of accomplish past
angular tares
Midnight comes calling
as cold beer slows
one day's vacation
i'm down for the count
Alone i watch
the bonfire slow
middle age work
is of far less amount
Eight A. M. calling
back to the grind
but the end seems
to have dropped out of sight
me and my ceramic
masterpiece
hours past when
ambition took flight
My sister finds
the sense to stop me
i just might have
but all my sense was gone
Completion tip-toed
with the sandman
with weekends in
the future to dream on
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#1141
The Maybe House
So, the bid is in
on the house
with some Genesis fund
clause for the bank
Is the comma count
a syllable
new ideas are filling
that dusty tank
The seats in the van
in the garage
see, there’s more
than ninety days to move
Free ads could fill
a garage in sale
gotta get into
the incoming groove
The Screamin' Tomz
Karaoke sign
and make Poetry
Palace Gift Shop real
Just to try it once
with a woodshop
hobby pace i
can't imagine the feel
The hundreds in sign
are put to use?
aside from Palace
T. V. distortion
Still displayed like
the newsletter pix
take the site promo
in its proportion
Two car garage
with a high steeped roof
bench concave walls
for the singing people
Gotta spend
to save on the taxes
on Karaoke
Kathedral's steeple
The first part
is manual labor
one thing middle age
cannot afford
All the loam gets
seed and manure
but not so strong
it cuts like a sword
Leaving walkways
to a big oval
sink a pipe
for the electric cable
And then some last
dump-out of the day
go and pave it
for the picnic table
Downloaded
the vinyl manual
with insulation
and furnace to gas
And then there is
roofing and plumbing
plus the electrical
studies en mass
Maybe those hundred
-fifty some jobs
will be allowed to
start earning their keep
Maintenance in
the shoe factory
boat building, cake
making the list gets deep
Can we sail it
in a sugar dream?
or should we
sacrifice a pig and sing?
Is the phantasmal
coming to sight?
or will a No
make it not mean a thing?
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#1142
College Daze
Seems like just yesterday
when i was at Harvard
Susan said the book
of poetry made her day
Oh it was yesterday
after the country club
Wellesley's got a new line
of posh coming our way
M. I. T. was years ago
in a roll-off truck
I was at Northeastern
and Babson college too
Boy did Boston College
have the crew's heads turning
though our Notre Dame
College's closing birthed rue
On the twelfth of June
i'm back at S. N. H. U.
this drop-out has been
going there for nine straight years
Guess i was destined
for the best campuses
but long after the pain
of my reentry sears
It all works out best
it just takes some time to see
or maybe we see best
when we take time to look
As with hating and loving
and all of that gore
not the reasons or treasons
but foundations shook
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#1143
Questions And Exclamations
Four fifty a gallon
by the end of the week?
a black man and a
war monger want your vote!
Not the first lady
with a blind eye left the stage!
can we all sink or swim
from this bloated boat?
Please tell me if butter
is bad for me this year!
which side of the road
did the egg fall this time?
And take back my lack
of water anxiety!
i will gladly throw
in a shitload of rhyme!
Is radon the problem
or x-rays unneeded?
can you scan the
degradations of my dreams?
Was Humpty Dumpty
really sitting on a wall?
if no one cares is there
value in our screams?
Did today even notice
the stroke of midnight?
is salvation's army
being sold to the poor!
Is the concussion greed
caused fatal for all love?
do i really not know
living cuz i snore?
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#1144
Another Holiday Weekend
Just an Eagles' fan
on the Long Road Out Of Eden
not sure i can make
the jump with them this time
I'm going down this road
to wherever it's leading
remembering how The Long Run
became rhythmic rhyme
An hour after noon
with the air conditioner
got Coffeemate in my coffee
and days without fast
Trying at last to be
a watcher and a listener
i see everything as it
pass me at last
should be
Have to admit they are
great singers and musicians
and as far as a writing
session goes they are sweet
Harmony inspires
the syllabic transitions
dictionary meter skips
across their perfect beat
There’s a battle of
karaoke songs in my head
trying to claw their way
up to the top of the list
Get to the party early
to get the singer fed
well soaked vocals relaxed
to Southern Comfort's insist
They can't be that far from
fireworks on the North Shore
too bad Boston would make it
a bit much for the day
A bounty of New England
around me to explore
but after the journey home
from work i'm in to stay
Then Belfast where
my karaoke nightmare takes place
though i'd do it again
if it included some dough
And in the end it becomes
the comfortable space
there's only this weekend
and the floor weekend to go
Back roads from Bath in the day
-light is steel horse heaven
although it seems New
Hampshire has more money to pave
'Bout flying up the hills
with six cylinders revin'
saturated by nature
on a much faster wave
Seems some thunder storms
want to race me home on Sunday
one would have to think
a short day by then would be fine
Of course it's a relief
to go to work on Monday
where's that stream to sit by
while i wait for what is mine?
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#1145
'til i bled
Can you recall
kicking me around that bathroom
the last time
Mom had the courage
to stand between?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you remember whipping
me with that extended belt
for stealing those twelve cents
for extra milk at school
while Mom begged you
to stop from the doorway?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you remember
that folded extension cord
you whipped me with
for not looking
before i crossed the road
while Mom hid in her kitchen?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you remember taking
turns on my brother and i
all afternoon
for doing somersaults after church
and only stopping
so you could go preach
the love of God
some more?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you remember lining us all up
for a beating
because a weak one
took your bag of M & M bait
after days?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you remember
all the other times
you needed a little release
and devised an evil to punish?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you even realize
how you beat Mother
into an accomplice?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you remember
the hatefulness
that came from my mouth
and pen?
I hated you 'til i bled for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
Do you realize
i have moved beyond that hatred?
i love you 'til i bleed for that
and i beg your forgiveness!
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#1146
Down In The Dump
Twenty miles north of Boston creeping south
four lanes and counting; trucks, buses and cars
Staring Mother's warming straight in the mouth
singularly insignificant mars
How long until better fuel is found
the means have been known for years most believe
How long 'til this much oil is under ground
maybe from cockroach to adam and eve?
Does papa roach sit atop the family tree
is this the umpteenth time i've thought this way?
Does disaster always bar final free
again no ears for Divinity's say?
Nineteen miles of traffic to creep at still
with far less noble thought to fill my mind
But now my life has one less page to fill
and i've another verse to leave behind...
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