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Joe Flach Poem
It would be great if human beings
Were great at being human
And if all of mankind
Were made up of kind men
It would be wonderful if common knowledge
Was knowledge commonly known
And if the light from being enlightened
Into every heart was shown
It would be fantastic if the war to end all wars
Was the last war that we fought
It would be amazing if we learned the lessons
From every lesson we were taught
It would be cool if our freedom
To us was freely granted
And if every seed of kindness
Would grow wherever planted
It would be glorious if neighbors were neighborly
And prejudice a forgotten word
It would be awesome if we shared everything
And being greedy was absurd
It would be spectacular if the golden rule
Was golden to every man
And the good things that we ever did
Was everything that we can
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2011
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Joe Flach Poem
Sixteen years old and in a world of her own
Confined to life lived in a wheelchair
Ever since birth, doctors don’t know what went wrong
But, it was like no one was at home in there
One summer vacation with the other kids in tow
The family visited a Kentucky horse stable
They left her alone in a sunny grass meadow
While off riding with the children who were able
While sitting alone in a catatonic state
Staring out somewhere in space
A gelding that was grazing, Mr. Truly Amazing
Came up and licked her on the face
The family returned to a shocking surprise
Seeing the wheelchair left unoccupied
They looked all around, then couldn’t believe their eyes
When they saw her standing with a horse by her side
She was petting his nose, feeding him an apple
And seemed to be whispering something
They were frozen in their tracks not believing the fact
That their Jenny was no longer a nothing
The mother walked up, in a delicate manner
Not wanting to interrupt this miracle’s course
When Jenny turned to her and in a shallow voice
Whispered, “Look, Mommy, I have a horse”
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
With the sun shining on my right side
And the clouds pouring rain on my left
It seemed to me, I didn’t have too far to go
To reach the most brilliant rainbow I had ever seen yet
I ran as fast as my little feet could take me
Before the spectacle could up and disappear
My whole life, I wanted to scale rainbows
I may as well do it right now and here
When I reached the beginning I was almost blinded
The red and orange were hot to my touch
But when I grabbed a hold of the yellow and green
They didn’t hurt so much
I placed one foot on the blue; the other on the indigo
I used the violet underneath me, to point out which way to go
The slope started off steep; it took everything I had to climb
As up and up and up I went, losing all track of time
At the top of the rainbow I could see forever
The earth beneath me and the heavens above
I had never felt this feeling before
I’m pretty sure that they call it “love”
I just sat there in peaceful silence
With the colors wrapped around my limbs
If happiness was a deep blue ocean
I had just jumped in it for a swim
The time had come for me to descend
As the sun was starting to set
I slid down the rainbow like a playground slide
On a ride I will never forget
When I reached the end of the rainbow
I found disappointed people looking for gold
But fortunes aren’t found at the end of the rainbow
It’s in the journey – or so I am told
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2012
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Joe Flach Poem
Johnny was my best friend through our early teenage years;
Wherever one of us went the other could always be found near;
Until he found a girlfriend who soon supplanted me,
But because he was my best friend, for Johnny I was happy;
Johnny had a girl
He had a girl
Johnny had a girl
She rocked his world
Johnny had a girl.
Throughout four years of high school I was always the third wheel;
Going off often by myself, leaving Johnny with his girl;
They learned about biology outside the class room walls;
Johnny always had plans with her every time I would call;
Johnny had a girl
He had a girl
Johnny had a girl
Oh, what a thrill
Johnny had a girl.
One week before graduation, coming home from a date,
Johnny never saw the drunk driver until it was too late.
For three months in a coma, I sat by Johnny’s side;
I knew that when he woke up, someone had to tell him she’s not alive;
Johnny had a girl
He had a girl.
I took him to the gravesite so he could see it with his own eyes;
We stayed there for hours so Johnny could say his goodbyes.
Johnny got in his car that day and started heading west;
Nobody has seen Johnny since, I wish him the very best.
I’ve taken care of her graveside for thirty years and more;
If Johnny ever comes home again, we’ll be friends just like before;
Johnny had a girl
He had a girl
Johnny had a girl.
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
Son of a gun we were still young;
only 15 years gone by.
You were the first my kissing bubble to burst,
and for you, I think so was I.
I wanted to start putting other parts
of our bodies in the field of play;
But you stopped it instead as you paused and read
what Ann Landers had written to say:
Keep your petting on the outside, keep your tongues inside your mouth,
Keep your hands north of the border, don’t let them travel south.
There’s no use in trying to rush things and ruin the rest of your life,
So just hold his hands and hug him until you’re man and wife.
You stuck to your creed in spite of my plea,
and I didn’t want to press you;
So your hand I would hold and my tongue I would fold,
even though I want to undress you.
Late at night my conscience I’d fight,
still awake in my lonely bed;
Thinking of you and what I would do
if these words weren’t still stuck in my head:
Keep your petting on the outside, keep your tongues inside your mouth,
Keep your hands north of the border, don’t let them travel south.
There’s no use in trying to rush things and ruin the rest of your life,
So just hold his hands and hug him until you’re man and wife.
I followed your rules, played it cool
for the first ten to twenty dates;
But by the end of the year to me it was clear
we wouldn’t be tempting our fate.
So we parted our ways; ending our days
to see other people instead;
As I set forth looking of course
for a girl who hadn’t read:
Keep your petting on the outside, keep your tongues inside your mouth,
Keep your hands north of the border, don’t let them travel south.
There’s no use in trying to rush things and ruin the rest of your life,
So just hold his hands and hug him until you’re man and wife.
More than thirty years have disappeared;
For me two wives and four kids.
And as for you, I hear it’s true,
that getting married you never did.
I’ll never forget and never regret
That first kiss where we both did live;
And though I did slander poor ole Ms. Landers
to my daughter this advice I now give.
Keep your petting on the outside, keep your tongues inside your mouth,
Keep your hands north of the border, don’t let them travel south.
There’s no use in trying to rush things and ruin the rest of your life,
So just hold his hands and hug him until you’re man and wife.
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
Well, of course,
It was pretty hard when you refused to go to the funeral after my Father died,
And I’d hate for this relationship to end in a lie, so…
The second hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
But, to come to think of it,
It was probably harder when I had to give Skippy away.
You know, when you made us move to Florida because you hated the cold,
I’ll never forget that day.
The third hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
Well, not quite as hard as it was when I had that little operation,
And you decided still to take your vacation,
And left me alone in the hospital with no visitation.
That was hard.
The fourth hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
You know, I did take it pretty hard when I proposed to you
And you said if I couldn’t buy you a bigger ring we’d be through
And I had to sell my car and hock my guitar
To get you a ring as big as a star.
That was pretty hard.
The fifth hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
Well darn it, no!
It was hard going to school at nights and working all day
Because you didn’t want to get a job and wanted me to earn more pay.
What exactly did you do with yourself all day!?
The sixth hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
No, its time to admit it,
I saw you with Tom that night,
And Bob the time before that,
And Tim and George, Harry and Frank.
That was hard on me and I’ve got you to thank.
The seventh hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you.
Now just wait a minute!
This is not hard.
In fact this is rather easy.
The hard part was living with you,
Placating you,
Pretending to love you,
Pretending that you loved me,
Heck, this is easy!
The easiest thing I’ve ever had to do,
Was to say I’m through with you!
Boy that was easy!
Now I feel much better.
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
I am a white, middle class, American male; raised in a white, middle class American home. I would not say that my upbringing included a lot of diversity.
I remember talking to my brother, Jimmy, just before he told my father he was gay. Jimmy told me about the inner struggle he wrestled with in first admitting to himself that he was homosexual. He said he thought it was wrong; it was sinful and something he must avoid being. Once he realized that being homosexual was not a fault but an innate sexual preference, he decided that he would not live a life of lies. He, therefore, decided to tell his family about his sexual inclination. It took a lot of courage to tell my ex-marine father.
Afi is a beautiful, strong, black African woman; raised in a black, African home. Afi will admit that she is not overly charitable and not likely to do volunteer work. When she first came to the U.S., however, she was appalled with how our society treated its AIDS victims. In Africa, Afi would tell us, AIDS patients were embraced and cared for, not shunned and outcaste like here in the U.S.
Jimmy was not a promiscuous man. He only knew a few sexual partners in his too short life. Jimmy was a very intelligent and artistically gifted man. He was doing post–doctorate research in Iraklion, Greece when he first started showing symptoms of having AIDS.
When Afi volunteered to be an AIDS Buddy she made it clear that she did not want to be paired with someone who had full-blown AIDS. The organization was so hard pressed to find someone with a profile to match Jimmy’s intellect and interests that they begged Afi to just meet him, just once.
Afi says that within an hour she was no longer on a volunteer mission; she and Jimmy
would be friends regardless of a commitment to the Buddy system. Jimmy and Afi
remained best of friends for the two remaining years we were blessed with his presence.
It has been 15 years since Jimmy passed away. I am still a white, middle class, American male; from a white, middle class American family – only now, we have a beautiful, strong, black, African sister in our family.
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
She has a mole upon her cheek;
A blemish of which we dare not speak;
At the thought of it her mood turns bleak,
But I think it adds to her mystique.
No other beauty to her can compare.
Her facial features are perfect and fair,
But all she can think of is that blemish there
And plucking, each day, her small mole’s hair.
I love that mole upon her face;
It keeps her humble, this mild disgrace.
Her vanity it helps to erase;
And empathy fills in its place.
She is unaware that beauty is her prize,
So much so she doesn’t realize
She is out of my league in other’s eyes,
And now is my wife to their surprise.
So thank you God for giving her that mole;
Such a subtle mark that helped save her soul.
Winning her heart was my ultimate goal;
Being a humble beauty is her perfect role.
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
First I was me,
Selfish as can be,
Wanting everything from A to Z
And wanting it all for me.
Then I became we,
A part of an us.
I learned to share, give and take
I learned how to trust.
Next I was you,
Believe me its true.
I would rather give than receive,
It was you I wanted to please.
Now I am them,
A family man.
Giving my children,
All that I can.
If you look real close,
It is easy to see,
I am older and wiser,
And no longer a me.
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2010
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Joe Flach Poem
If I had been born a girl
I wonder what would rock my world
I really have to stop and think
I guess I’d have to start liking pink
One thing I know that would be really great
I know I’d never make a single mistake
I could change my mind all of the time
Oh wait a minute … no I wouldn’t
Well yeah, I guess I would
Or not
Maybe
Yeah, I would change my mind all the time
Naw, that wouldn’t be fair to my guy
Ahh – who cares … surely not I
I suppose I would have to get used to carrying a purse
Of course, there are other things to get used to a whole lot worse
I wouldn’t have to shave my face …
But I would have to shave almost every other place
If I were to be a girl
I don’t think I would be one of those liberated kind
Treat me like a delicate flower
I really would not even mind
I guess I couldn’t burp and fart in public
That would really cramp my style
And I know I couldn’t walk in high heels
Not even for one tenth of a mile
And one thing I know for sure,
I would be the ugliest girl under the sky …
No – I think I’ll just scratch and spit
And thank God I was born a guy
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2012
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