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Best Poems Written by Gary Jones

Below are the all-time best Gary Jones poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Gary Jones Poem

The Rolling Seas

When the time arrives for me to depart
from the sunlit harbors of the living.
Take me aboard a navy fighting ship
and carry me back again to the sea.

Order the boatswain to construct a skid
made of wood and painted with fresh white paint.
Build it to hold a gray weighted coffin
draped by Old Glory with her stars and stripes.

Cruise the coast of my beloved home Whidbey
until full abreast with Ebey’s Landing.
Muster the funeral party astern
Play taps and slide me into the blue drink.   


Let the storm-flecked waves of the rolling sea
take this old sailor to his final peace.

Details | Gary Jones Poem

The Man In the Field

Everyday he was there.
 
On his knees, standing, or kneeling
Gazing into the sun and the colors

He watched the road, the hay, 
the horizon, and sometimes even me.

His eyes followed my bucket and me.

I felt, not uncomfortable, but 
as if a passive madness were there
in that field, watching, always watching.

Once I stopped to say, "Hello."

He ignored me, standing erect,
absorbing the sun,
and gazing at the golden hay.

He was never in the same place.

Sometimes, he was near the road.
So close, I thought I could hear his breath,
his very thoughts as I passed,
thoughts I would never repeat.

The sound of the water sloshing
in my pail and his mind in rhythm.

Yesterday, he was lying in the middle of the field,
staring upward into the sun.

Motionless and still…

Today he was gone.

His absence left the field seemingly empty.
Yet… the haystacks and the scattered straw,
the sky, the sun itself

Brighter…Alive

Author notes:
Inspired by “Haystacks in Province,” by Vincent Van Gogh

Details | Gary Jones Poem

Answering the Serpent's Call

The serpent called her

And as if swans carried her light airy behind
She ran through the cooling blue vines of the garden

Into a jungle that puffed magenta steam clouds 
Circumventing cawing crowds of warning green fowl

She wasn’t startled by the beast’s bright yellow face
Nor his elongated serpentine demeanor 

In fact she formed a one-woman army of souls
That would one day inhabit her entire planet 

She listened to his soft persuading elocute
And dreamed to appropriate her ghostly master

He entwined and penetrated her quiescent mind
Persuading and enticing with promised power 

She became the trained monkey of the tempter
The first of millions that would soon go after her

Like a hungry macaque she climbed the great tree
In search of her creator’s forbidden construct

Reaching the golden fruited orb with heated breath
She plucked it without hesitation or regret

Racing through a luscious sea of green and amethyst
She finds her sleeping mate beneath a giant mushroom

She awakens him with an erotic purring
Her tantalizing womanhood nude for his taste

Drunken from her enveloping draining pleasure
He accepts her offer of golden fruited prize
  
As they greedily dinned the garden slowly died
And the master revoked their immortality

Clothed with wilting turquoise leaves to cover new guilt
They fled their luscious home for the valley of death

Never to return

Details | Gary Jones Poem

These Days

You have to be real careful these days,
things that seem natural,
you better keep to yourself.
Remember, they will kill you if they can.

Got to run loose and free these days,
no telling who it was,
that wouldn’t be good.
Remember, they would kill you if they could.

I started thinking about things these days.
Like being a flawed swine,
but still being a respectable chap.
Remembering, that they will kill me if at all possible.

Better keep things down low and tight these days.
Got to be ready for it,
when everything finally hits the fan.
Remembering this, if nothing else, they're going to kill me one of 
these days.

Details | Gary Jones Poem

Alone In a Crowded Room

Sitting absolutely alone
In a round room of riled people
My brain feeling dry as a bone
Staring at a silent steeple

They’re sleeping upon a hill there
In a shadowed silent graveyard
Still, just resting lacking a care
The smooth granite stones standing guard

Charming clouds floating close above
The sounds of calling gulls and surf
No competing or push and shove
In a plot of well trimmed green turf

Safely absent from the rat race
With constructed reality
With make believe smiles on each face
Sleeping through perpetuity

A seldom soft fleeting footfall
Leaving intermittent flowers
Stopping for a tad to recall
Then receding like spring showers

Smiling, I return to the room
The backbiting and bickering
Critical deadlines that still loom
People fretting about nothing

Details | Gary Jones Poem

The Secret Door

A secret door
Hidden beneath the falls
Where only elves and fairies enter
It’s said if a human attempts entrée
Their destruction is explicit to follow

One sunny day a young man ventured toward the falls
He laughed and played in the peaceful waters
After time he noticed the door
He passed through the cool falls
Fore it he stood

He pushed softly
It slowly swung open
An endless tunnel beckoning
Upon its rocky walls, fiery torch lights
The ancient stony path, cracked and heavily worn

There were ancient symbols carved upon the walls
The warm air smelled of incense, dragon’s blood
He removed his thick crown of thorns
And society’s cloths
He stood naked

Clumsily slow
He began down the path
Leaving behind his guilt and scorn
Whispers came from the tunnel’s dark depths
They constantly reminded him to, “Do no Harm”

© Copyrights G. Jones 2008

Details | Gary Jones Poem

Killer Girls and Flesh Eating Zombies

My head feels like it has a lava lamp inside
The skull has a long crack going across the front

I think it’s time to rotate the winter Mucha
Slide up the spring beauty with her berries and birds

Tis the season for old fashioned double features
Killer girls and flesh eating zombies rule this year

Sucking the crystal geyser for all it is worth
The pole humping, lap dancing nemesis at play

Think I’ll drop some winter pounds and grow a new tan
Feed my birdies and then the melodies will come

Make my life sound thrilling with my ukulele
While I pour down those Beefeater gin and tonics

I’ll collect pie birds and light incense each day
While praying for a zoftig desperate housewife 

Change my religion back to innocent pagan
Shed all this Christian guilt like a well worn condom

I’ll hang Wiccan twig men in the lush green forest
And read about the Peloponnesian war years

Polish my ceramic frogs for the porch display
Then ship my old video tapes to my momma

Install some buckhorns on the hog for back relief
And turn fifty with a big four twenty bong hit

I’ll drop in just to ask question and make one think
Then listen to baseball while hammering fine nails

Grow some fat tomatoes in hanging flower pots
Number my candles with secret hieroglyphics

Yes, my head will crack open like a rotten egg
Then the healing will begin, and the world will turn

Details | Gary Jones Poem

Renaissance Man

I was thinkin' 'bout you the other day babe
How much I looked forward to talkin' to ya each day

You were right when we broke up
I don't appreciate a good woman 

I seem to fall in with the shallow crazies
It comes from one too many beatin's

Too many people tellin' me I was stupid, as a kid
I never would amount to nothing, they said

I don't know when my conscience began to die
For what reason? Well, I can't remember now why

When I was teenage boy I suppose
One day my gaze just went low

No friendships were in the cards for me
Survival was my only thought, to be free

I never respected anyone, nor loved
It was all about me when push came to shove

I ran away and became a warrior at sea
Grew to be hard, deadly, and mean

I went through women from east to west
They served their purpose at best

Some call me now a Renaissance man
That I have grown wise and kind

But I'm really still just that beaten and abused kid
Afraid to trust anyone, just trying to survive

Details | Gary Jones Poem

Falling Through the Clouds

Several thoughts enter one’s mind while falling through the clouds
It, without doubt, gives a singular perception of life
Reality rising nearer, your focus sharpening

The knowledge of being without a parachute, there, lurking 
After awhile, the inevitable is accepted
With the enjoyment of the passing clouds and splendid view

The clouds of financial worth and personal possessions
Social status, career accomplishment, and self-esteem
Loves, family, friends, and vitally important contacts

When the ride down lastly comes to its termination
The meaninglessness of those passing clouds
Suddenly becomes glaringly obvious to us all 

© Copyrights G. Jones 2008

Details | Gary Jones Poem

Sweet Kitchen Contentment

Boiling kettle a whistling,
an imitation of life.

Water and delicious tea,
bubbling hot, a sober joy.

Living in satisfaction
and sweet kitchen contentment.

Warm feet upon puppy’s back,
massaging toes gently squeeze.

Watching out my windowsill,
the warm sun slowly rising.

Safely within make-believe,
my world of golden pipe dreams.

My mind remains crystal clear,
my eyes a frozen topaz.

I am just living away,
and without the slightest clue.