Splitter

The reasons we remain
Are sometimes less-than-sane
When reason starts to wane
There will be pain

The decision to depart
Is made within your heart
This decision, like a dart
Is bound to smart.

Revolver

So, as promised, here is a strange tale that happened to me recently and it involves The Beatles, one of my all time favorite bands.

The house we live in is old, and like every aging domicile, it has a history. It turns out that the family of my wife’s first husband owned it previously, and one of them committed a murder. This was in the early 1900s, and though he was found guilty and served jail time, the gun was never found.

Fast forward to Memorial Day a few years ago, my wife says, “C'mon, we're going to the cemetery to put flowers on my mother’s grave. “ I was sitting on the bed practicing a new song that I was obsessed with learning, the song was Happiness is a Warm Gun. I still to this day don’t know why I felt I had to learn it, but I grew almost feverish with desire to do so. My ears were burning and ringing, it was very strange.

At the cemetery, after we put flowers out, I was walking over some markers that were flat on the ground, not the kind that stand up. Suddenly I saw a familiar name and said, “Hey, here’s some guy with the same name as your first husband.” Well this was when my wife told me the sordid details of his grisly crime.

A few days later, I had finished learning the song and was practicing it when it was time to walk the dog. I take him in the back yard every day and look around while he does his business, it’s always the same. On this day though my dog kept scratching the ground, so I looked and there, half buried, was what looked like a toy gun.

As soon as I picked it up I could tell by the heft, it was a real gun. After showing my wife she called a friend of ours that’s a cop. He checked it and said it was indeed a real gun, from the time frame of the murder, but that was a hundred years ago so there’s nothing they needed it for at this point.

My wife is very superstitious and insisted the gun be thrown out immediately. We went back to the cemetery and I walked around for over an hour trying to find that marker again. My ears had stopped burning and ringing, so I must have succeeded in helping him. Now I even question if I saw it in the first place.

Was I the mortal tool this spirit manipulated to expose the weapon used in his foul deed a hundred years ago? That’s up to you, the reader, to decide.

Tricked

I watched the sad charade
Being labeled a parade
By those without the eyes to see
How much things have decayed

When I was just a kid
Everything they did
Was done with so much pomp and glee
It’s sad how much we slid

The masks we're forced to wear
May cover up despair
But seem to foster apathy
Does anybody care?

Lackluster

The old me was younger
And too cavalier
To satisfy the hunger
That could have changed my here

And now, but I never listened
To what people told me,
I could have glistened
But it’s tarnished old me.

Downtown

My instincts have gotten me where I am
(In the heart of historic Nowhereville)
Embroiled in a hellacious traffic jam
With a broken down car, and it’s all uphill.

Double Dare

Why should I have to pay
To say what I want to say?
If you're handing over a fee
Then speech isn’t free,
Talk about endless greed
How much do you need?
Show the world your biggest flex
Unlimited for all on X.

Paging

I'm not here to buy or sell
Just share some ink from my well
Stop by if you’re fond of art
But scammers, don’t even start.

Tributary

Orion towers to the south
Washing stardust off his feet
While I simply smile and nod

Like the river I have a mouth
But talking is a fluid feat
And I am human, a contradictory clod.

R U OK

To find X on the map
You have to ask Y
B careful of a trap
And the C when it’s high.

Humbled

A guardsman is garbed in gold greaves
Immune to resentment or wrath
Another, with more swarthy leaves
Stands watch at the end of the path

And ivy is fetching, mid-flush
A bit winded from climbing the wall
Though seasoned, she still tends to blush
Nonplussed by the oncoming fall.

Served

“Your flagrant lack of fervor
Is unbecoming of a server
now smile and make me think you want the tip.”

She said, “I’ve been so placid
imagining you flaccid,
so keep the change and get a fucking grip.”

It was worth unemployment
to feel the enjoyment
of wiping the filthy sneer from his lip.

Help Yourself

Creation is a credit to our creed
Destruction, perhaps our darkest deed
Forgiveness is the future we should forge
Goodness, the gruel on which we gorge.

Off One

There’s a corpse in the copse
With gravel over the grave
If anyone stoops, their luck stops
They need a save from their close shave.

In the Dark

It seemed so real, but I knew
The second I saw you
That it was just a dream,
Cue the anguished scream.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do
To bask again in your gleam.

Unfollowers

Porn bots come and go
But there’s something they should know:
I'm poorer than the average Joe—
Watch them scatter so.

Give It Up

How far is too far?
Just ask your avatar
If virtual is real enough
Then nothing leaves a scar.

How fake is too fake?
How much do you make?
Thinking no one wants your stuff
Will be your last mistake.

Clearly

Although pictures tell a tale
It’s words that help a thought prevail
And help define each crisp detail

For how can someone hope to tame
An image they would like to frame?
If something doesn’t have a name

It just becomes a formless blob
Which won’t compel a heart to throb,
Perhaps our most important job

Is finding the means to relay
Ideas in a coherent way
So clarity is what we convey.

Transfer

Some of us would love some shares
At least we’d know somebody cares
But others spurn such gestures made
Their hearts composed of brittle jade.

As data flows without remorse
Remember love is still a force
To change the world if harnessed right
So put a bit in every byte.

Taken

Take it from me
Nothing is free
Everyone seeks
To charge a fee
To the nth degree
They pinch my cheeks
And then with glee
Take it from me.

Junction

A train rumbled by
The sky began to cry
For everything you’ve done is nothing but a lie

I'd say odds are steep
That hell's your lasting keep
When your pathetic presence makes the heavens weep

Because you have a knack
For shrugging when you slack
I guess it’s finally time for you to get life back on track.

Perpetual

The pendulum
Has begun
To return
And what did we learn?

That as it does
All that was
Comes back when
It swings again.

Move On

He pondered which path he should take
He measured what moves he should make
Displeased with his constant descent
He wondered where all the miles went

Assessing uneven terrain
Can’t always alleviate pain
At times there’s not much you can do
But stub a foot digit or two

Despite being slightly delayed
He knew that his way would be made
For such is the journey of Man:
Keep going as long as you can.

Cheap

It was on sale
So I bought a loaf
Like the life of this oaf
It was stale.

Cutting Ties

The battle-axe is dull
It’s cumbersome and pitted
The warrior must mull

Should he go alone
Or keep the dimmest witted?
He sighs, loyalty prone.

Xed

People pen pathetic posts
Banal boorish bratty boasts
Tainting timelines, torching trust.
Make amendments? Many must.

Transaction

Sorry, just me
Who else could I be?
I'm not your type?
Don’t take a swipe
Love was once free
Such old fashioned tripe.

Manhandled

It’s a rough game out there
Don’t ever get confused
And think that people care
You’ll wind up being used

For those without a soul
Will foul you hard and grin,
Their unrelenting goal:
That they're the ones who win.

You’ve got to have good cleats
Regardless of the cost
Or self respect retreats
And you have surely lost.

Scat

Just answer your chat
If you crave a good scam
They’re always working
Like leeches lurking
Or tell the fishy cat
Get out of here, scram!

Turbid

Any gesture made
Was quickly thwarted
The rope proffered was frayed
Or strangely shorted
There is no truth displayed
Or reported
The wake through which I wade
Becomes distorted.

The Lessening

I think I’m over everything
There’s no shit left to give
My life an endless lessening
I tried my best to live.

Running Out of Popcorn

Dates come and go
Nothing new to show
We never will forget
No one’s in jail yet
Hate to be abrupt
Can’t we wrap this up?