Stone Cold

I think I’m done attempting to alert
Those convinced it’s best to be inert
If they can’t see that now's the time to act
They’re already dead, and that’s a fact.

Refresh

If you will
You might
If you won’t
Goodnight

If you can
Should you?
If you can’t
Start new.

Deprived

I heard a vapid girl today
Exclaim with smug aplomb
That she was sure religion was a hoax

I guess she never learned to pray
Or felt the soothing calm
That loving God wholeheartedly evokes.

Intractable

Rebellious souls can be
The worst ones to set free
For either way they'll plot
To take the apex spot
And pride to that degree
Will surely get you shot.

Slippery

The winter sky grows bleaker every day,
that front which vexed those in another state
has made it quite belligerent and gray
and very few look forward to their fate.
If only we had heeded the reports
that indicated treacherous terrain
we might have been concerned when out of sorts
became a road we couldn’t quite maintain.
Remember: if you must, deploy a flare
to indicate you’ve had a little hitch,
reduce your speed to dodge the dark despair
of winding up in some deserted ditch—
We live our lives (for the most part) alone,
until we are one, with the great unknown.


Dedicated to Pat, see you on the other side brother.

Indifferent

Groomed for success
Or a mid-life mess?
I curtly confess:
Couldn’t care less.

Alternatives

You think it’s okay to cheat
But keep ingesting defeat,
Perhaps try an honorable style
To win once in a while.

Do you have a tendency to lie
And wonder why your life goes awry?
Maybe shoot for honesty instead
Enough said!

Cyclical

Daffodils abound
Their golden faces vibrant
Meadows burn with life—

What was green has browned
As gentle winds turn violent
And cut like a knife—

Crystals dampen sound
To brave the cold is valiant
Slosh and slog through strife—

Barren muddy ground
Should soon be nice and verdant
Robin seeks a wife.


***Well it’s been a while since I explained a poem but this one compels me to. A post for a contest came up in my feed which didn’t specify an entry fee, so I figured why not. It’s one or four haiku(s) about the 4 elements, easy enough, so to give it a little more depth I rhymed the first lines, the last lines and the middle line I ended with variations of words that begin with V and end in T, and I also included the four seasons. When I went to enter it the entry fee reared its greedy head and I said, oh well guess it goes on the blog, so hope you enjoy 😉. ***

Aperture

Celluloid semblance
Of innocent joy
Developed to demons
Dark forces deploy

Gloss of our gladness
Overshadowed by shame
The model of madness
A fraudulent frame

Portrait of posers
Inverted inside
Excessive exposure
Width growing wide.

All Heart

How do you derive
The thrill on which you thrive
Or should you satisfy your soul
In order to survive

Will your driving thrust
Be lathering your lust
When true compassion makes you whole
As love ensures it must.

Rumination

Everyone enjoys a healthy meal
And though I’d never tell you how to feel
Or insist on what you should do
Here’s something on which you can chew:

Reflections of a friend I used to know
Make me sad that it was time for him to go
And every time I think of him I smile
We’re only here for a little while

So tell someone you love them if you do
And if you don’t, that’s entirely up to you
But mark my words, someday you’ll have to face
You could have made the world a better place

Yes love can heal whatever wounds you’ve got
You should try giving it a shot
You’ll find that it’s the only way to live
Oh and by the way, don’t forget to forgive.

Restrained

If everything is upside down
Stand on your head
If living tends to make you frown
Try being dead
When common sense succumbs to lies
Prepare to rant
When shackled, will you feign surprise?
You know you can’t.

Determinant

Does the absence of love mean hate
Or just one that fails to relate
It's tough to say
But either way
Neither choice is great.

Is the lack of trust a curse
Or overprotecting your purse
Or is it the due
Of someone who
Knows things can always get worse.

Unrealized

The crows went mute in unison
As blackness overtook the sun
Then someone said, “I think we’re done.”

And though I prayed it wasn’t so
A lone concern began to grow
could this be the final show?

A coldness crept inside of me
And sadness for the loss, you see,
What may have been will never be.

Departed

The clouds look like a ribcage of an otherworldly beast
That’s stretched across the never-ending sky
Which fades away to gray above the treetops to the east
A remnant of an age that had to die.

Fretless

To make a string
Expertly sing
You have to sacrifice one thing

A bit of skin
But you will grin
Once giddy from the groove you’re in

So don’t delay
To get this way
You have to play and play and play.

Ringers

I sped with shredded fingers
The ringing echo lingers
Sometimes even into the next day
But despite the dead spots
From having crusty pots
We crude rambunctious singers
Turned out to be bringers
Of joy, through music we robustly play.

Reverent

Is piety achievable
At this point in my corruption?
I like to think it believable
And pray without interruption.

Translucency

It’s best to view the world
Through a window with no blind
For how could one write about
Something they keep tuning out?
They’d never find the words
Without a pane well shined.

To Be Brief

So much to say
I post each day
A less-than-grandiose display

That’s plainly terse
It could be worse
But thankfully I feel adverse

To such an outlay
It doesn’t pay
When no one reads it anyway.

Bothersome

Should I live in unabashed denial
of all my faults? Nah, not my style
but those that do seem to succeed (I guess)
depending upon how you define success.

If someone gives you what you’re begging for
so they don’t have to hear you anymore
should you brag about your victory?
It really doesn’t seem too cool to me.

Disembodied

The fakeness is real
That’s just how I feel
Think it’s not so
How would you know?

Existence consists
Of lies, that like mists
Obscure honest facts
Until sense retracts

I yell “How can this be?”
I hear It wasn’t me
From the other room—
Personified doom.

Launch Sequence

You hit the pad
Things weren’t too bad
Plenty of fuel
Space can be cruel
Mission control
Circle the pole
Vector untrue
You really flew.

Spurt

As winter wanes
We dream of gains
Where seeds are sown
In fertile plains

For every groan
We hope we’ve shown
With sturdy strains
How much we’ve grown.

Chomp

Whoever you try to tell
Doesn’t take it well
Sometimes it’s best to bite
Your tongue till time is right.

Fantastic

Everything’s a test
So always do your best
And face the fun or foul
With equal zest

Nothing is by chance
Endeavor to advance
You can either humph or howl—
Dare to dance.

Tidy

Those messier faults
We do somersaults
To brush away with a smile
Will overrun lust
Like bunnies of dust
If we don’t sweep once in a while.

Stumped

They came and took the limb today
Just hacked it off and hauled it away
And callously laughed it off to boot
Might as well pull out a gun and shoot

I could feel the terribly painful cut
And every tooth that gnawed that rut
Into the flesh still deemed alive
How much must we cede to survive?

Chicken

With every piercing note
That Bluejay seemed to gloat
As if to say I told you so old man!

I’ve heard him shriek before
And it’s something I ignore
But this time I’ll make sure to get the plan

Despite being kinda lean
He looks a little mean
Perhaps it would be better if I ran.

Predicament

You talk a good game
Of sophmorish smack
But know you’re so lame
You’d never attack
Despite their fascist commands
You don’t want blood on your hands

The moment will come
When peril is near
You’ll feel your heart thrum
Ignited by fear
And you will have to decide:
Fight or bow to those who lied.

Resolute

Do right, as you must
Throughout the new year
Be patiently just
And love without peer.