Anyone remember
When a conversation meant
You tell your partner what you like
And everywhere you went,
Your hopes and dreams and fantasies
And they reply with “K”?
You don’t, which makes me wonder
How we got to this today.
Tag Archives: Life
Just Fine
Today I learned something
That I’d not before seen:
That someone can be “not nice”
Without being mean.
There was no sense of cruelty
In any way, shape, or form…
Just the absolute absence
Of everything warm.
If you took both the cuteness
And claws from a bear
You had basically
Who I met today there:
Something living and breathing
But someone had missed
Installing the place
Where a heart should exist.
Now I wonder whether
I’ve found something new
Or if I’ve just been sheltered
And hadn’t a clue…
Filed under Poems
Do Unto Others
There are two invisible powers
And both go by the name of “Love.”
Both share earthly symbols
Like a flower or a dove,
Both can feel spectacular
And to lose them feels rotten,
But only one is cherished
While the other is forgotten.
The first love, which we celebrate
Comes in many ways and rates,
Whether flourishing in one glance
Or through countless many dates.
It’s an all-consuming passion
That no drug can replicate,
Designed by God or nature
To ensure two people mate.
I prefer the second love,
Which many haven’t known,
Which can’t be felt by starry eyes
Or fire in the bone.
This love is not a feeling
But an action that we take
Not to gratify ourselves
But for another’s sake.
This second love is not reserved
For those with lovely faces.
Instead it’s most important for
Those found in darkened places,
And yet with equal vigor
To your wife and to your foe
You manifest the second love
And to both parties show.
You needn’t feel amorous
To help a stranger carry
A heavy bag, nor should you feel
Obliged to them to marry.
And yet the baffling part about
This second love these days
In when you show a person this
They’ll spurn it seven ways;
“Shee’s clingy,” or “He’s needy,”
Or “He’s trying way too hard,”
Or “He’s creepy,” or “She’s lying,
“So I must be on my guard.”
In most cases the rebuke
Is one of self-defense,
For many who show kindness
Are expecting recompense.
So when one shares the second love
For nothing but the good
It seems what was well-meaning
Is oft misunderstood.
I hope if you’re a giver
Of this secret second love,
The love for human brothers
Unconnected by their blood,
That you do not forget the gift
Or cease to feel or give,
For you’re an ever-scarcer breed
Who knows how best to live.
And if you may receive the gift
I formerly did mention
That you may understand it
As a love with good intention.
And if you’ve never thought of love
As something more than lust
I hope you read these verses
With an open mind, and trust
That if you try to love someone
For their sake, not your own,
That you will feel a universe
In which you’re less alone.
Filed under Poems
Realism and Idealism
It would be nice if living were easy.
A life without pain would be grand!
Imagine that life, so sweet and delightful,
Where nothing is worthless or bland.!
I think of that life, where perfect is doable
Then I awake with a start
And go face a day that is average and gray
But hold the dream close in my heart.
Filed under Poems
It’ll Get Better Soon… Maybe (Probably Not : )
Yesterday I wrote a joke
And thought I’d write more later.
By later I had decomposed
Into a couch potater.
From the fact ai wrote “potater”
I suspect that you can see
This week has not inspired
My most vibrant artistry.
So tonight I have a fallback
That I’ve used in ages past
Where I write a bit on writing
And use words like “grand” and “vast.”
I make questionable decisions
And lines with uneven meter,
And rap up the inanity
By rhyming with saltpeter.
Filed under Poems
Joke of the Day
Harvey Weinstein, Pablo Escobar, and Joe Biden walk into a bar.
The bartender says, “Let me guess… you want me to put it in my body or I’ll never work again?”
Filed under Uncategorized
Know Your Place
Whether we walk by the mountains or sea
We consider ourselves on the ground,
But the birds and the fish far below disagree
And render the notion unsound.
The birds up above sing to each other
Of how humans choose not to fly,
Enjoying the feeling that comes from remaining
Always at the bottom of “sky.”
The fish and the whales and coral and seals
Think of our waterless place
As one way a heaven, in other ways hell,
Just as we humans must think of space.
We are at the apex, we are at the bottom,
All trapped by the pull of a star.
To some we are Gods, to others we’re vermin
And I’m just content that we are.
Filed under Poems
Being An “Us” With No “Them”
When was the last time a stranger
Whispered something in your ear,
Whether something that was naughty
Or perhaps a secret fear,
Saying something so important
That they risked becoming near
To share with you a datum
Only you were fit to hear?
If you’ve never given quiet
I think you ought to try it.
Filed under Poems
Live and Learn
When I was five years old I thought
That I was pretty strong
Until I tried to lift my dad
And found out I was wrong.
When I was fifteen I figured
That I was pretty suave
Until I learned that suave’s a word
That doesn’t rhyme with “shave.”
When I was twenty five I thought
That I was pretty smart
Until I turned my car key
And the engine didn’t start.
And I suspect at thirty five
And forty five and older
The things I saw in my mind’s eye
I’ll see as a beholder.
I just hope at ninety
Or whenever death will dial
I’ll remember all the times I erred
Then look ahead and smile.
Filed under Poems
Coping
I’m reading a book recommended to me
By a woman whom I once adored.
I’m reading, avoiding inviting the world
For the world leaves me feeling ignored.
I make friends with a spider I’m terrified of
Who lives on my white bedroom wall;
I know he deserves life as much as I do
Even though he is creepy and small.
I’m wearing soft clothing, lying and waiting
And writing a poem in bed,
Remembering over and over forever
The words that I felt and I said.
I’m hearing the lawnmower, water through pipes,
The cars on the road passing by
Destined to be somewhere other than here
And I can’t help my wondering why.
Why is the grass not allowed to be growing?
Why must the spider bring fear?
Why do the people drive quickly to elsewhere
When they know they will end up back here?
Why do I care for an author’s opinion?
Why can’t I love people less?
All I can do is get up and keep smiling
And be me: a beautiful mess.
Filed under Poems
