Stephen Kilmer | + Follow Poet |
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Peace Frogs

Tonight I walk alone
For no apparent reason
I have friends who care for me
But I had to get out of the bar
I couldn’t stand the band (and I was in it) and the smoke 
Was choking me

Outside under the neon lights of the 
“South Side Bar” I look up and wonder
What has this gig brought me?
A brief moment in some frat boy’s memory
He will share and enhance to impress his fat boy 
Buddies in their button down shirts and top siders
Punch drunk and full of cheap cocaine they bought from 
Some guy named Raul at the Rum Boogie.

They’ll stagger down Beale Street knowing nothing about the blues 
Except that it comes in their daddy’s credit cards and Beamers
And tie dyed shirts bought at the Peace Frogs boutique.
They will walk down to the river and smoke a fat one headed
For a Wide Spread Panic show on Mudd Island.  
The perfect evening of frat boys playing for frat boys pretending to be the Grateful Dead.
Trying ever so feebly to live in the past and be in the present.  What a joke.  Do the hippie dance…sway from side to side, shake your head and grow the hair on your legs and underarms.  So cool yet such a stench of human waste.

It ain’t fair.  It ain’t right.  It just is.  And that’s the way it’s going to stay.  Cause money can by coolness and cars, but it still can’t buy me.
So I light a smoke and head another direction.  There’s a great BBQ joint about four blocks up and they serve white people.  At least ones that show respect.

Copyright © Stephen Kilmer | Year Posted 2013

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Luke Irwin Date: 8/30/2013 6:53:00 AM Good stuff. I enjoy all your stuff. Keep it coming. Login to Reply Stephen Kilmer Date: 8/30/2013 9:30:00 AM Thanks Luke, there's plenty more to read. I write every night. :) Kilmer

Laura Breidenthal Date: 8/2/2013 4:11:00 PM Wow, what a fantastic poem. It has been a great pleasure reading some of your words, some of your past. I am glad you realized it was time to move on, as cherie put it nicely, "a reflection of maturity".. Thanks so much for sharing these bittersweet memories. We can certainly learn from them in some way. And if not, it still means something to you, and that's surely worth writing down. Always, Laura Login to Reply Stephen Kilmer Date: 8/2/2013 4:57:00 PM Keeping it real. :) Yes it was good for my soul to let it go. Thank you so much for taking the time to read the poem and the comments. I try to write everyday, would love to hear more (good or bad) comments. I am a work in progress. Kilmer

Karen Anglesey Date: 7/30/2013 6:54:00 PM Blend of reality with storybook imagery skillfully arranged like a splendid slice of pie.. .makes me want more like the name of your band. Peace Frogs, such a hippie kind of name Login to Reply Stephen Kilmer Date: 7/30/2013 7:00:00 PM Played with many bands. Some damn good many more not so much. That life was hard but had it rewards. The memories till haunt me and leave me wanting more. But that was the past. Now I have the experience to write about it. Bitter sweet. Kilmer

Cherie Thomas Date: 7/30/2013 4:42:00 PM Hi kilmer,,,, I read this a few times...I see it as a reflection of maturity,,, im not sure weather im reading it right or to much into what your saying but I like this poem because its something that can be related to in changing our perception, of what we have done in the past to what we do now or even just what we did last week. Its just change!!. I think I "get it" lol but im still not sure anyway I enjoy your mind:0) ty for sharing....cherie!! Login to Reply Cherie Thomas Date: 7/30/2013 7:54:00 PM Thats cool, im glad you did and ty for summing it up..in that way. I like the last 2 sentences of this poem because its familiar, to me:) ohh and cool name for a band...its good to sometimes experience things, like that even with the b.s. lol:) have a good night kilmer... Stephen Kilmer Date: 7/30/2013 5:04:00 PM Cherie, I wrote this about a time in my life when I played in bands and how much of it was bull**** and how one night i realized it and made a change. So yes changing our perception can change our lives in a second. I don't regret making the change at all. ty for reading and enjoying. kilmer