Standing at a dusty crossroads,
The sun brutally beats down
Upon flesh left for dead.
High noon mingles with midnight;
Diminishing reality becomes increasingly threadbare.
Brittle tumbleweeds drift tragically away.
Beady-eyed vultures swoop, circling.
Gravity's pull feels increasingly heavy
Against unrelenting waves of sorrow—
Karma's come to collect its dues.
Squinting in due south’s direction,
A dilapidated shack instantaneously appears.
An invisible pull propels me;
Fate’s hand opens the door.
Forward I march toward uncertainty.
Do you know the tale about the guy who thought
two small, cute, fluffy poodles he had bought?
But they were not two poodles, for in fact,
the DNA of any dog they lacked.
Do you know what really those “dogs” were?
They were critters with perms put in their fur!
The buyer’s vet then had it verified.
The seller of the “poodles” had lied!
The buyer of them must have have felt so silly.
What were those two beady-eyed things really?
It turns out in fact they were ferrets. What??
Two ferrets given steroids the fool had bought.
Longshanks drainpipe and whistle through the day.
pterodactyls got it easy in this wide-open sky,
they glide too far up to be real anymore.
The beady-eyed slinkers that wriggle under our plodding boots,
they also avoid the earthshaking heaviness of light sleepers.
Beyond the curtains, a plastic pelican
has got its bill and belly stuck on a satellite dish,
now we can only receive small-minded thoughts in a soup bowl.
Strong winds are disrupting sleep patterns,
static pictures can only take baby steps or crawly shuffles.
Leggy winds go out to play in front of green screens,
illusions, made to promote the good-looking and perky.
An old peacock has lost his voice, among the hens
he wanders, his soundless beak a' clacking.
Once he rode the roof of life, once he strutted
across its gaming board, a tyrant lover,
a beady-eyed frightener to all comers.
The hens gather to ridicule the old cock-king,
and mock his silent passing. A younger cock must
by common law
topple his fan-feathered throne
upon the floor.
The voiceless bird must learn to be a poets page,
and there write the sorry history
of those that wander (most reluctantly),
into that choleric school
of chronic ripe old age.
Yes, Life Crumbled At His Feet Like Decay On An Old Log
Yes, life crumbled at his feet like decay on an old log
that morn was abjectly eerie had a low moving fog
and in the distance a low murmur rolled on in
In that bleak little world, in the country road a dead dog
Whilst in the teeming city was the ever present smog.
The dirty man was tall, beady eyed and almost blind
one could surmise may he was out of his hair raising mind
his apelike features like so much splashed on barnyard paint
In that washed up world, was there room to ever be kind
Or heaven help us, any leeway to relieve workers that grind.
Why does such mysterious manmade happenings so abound
is it earth is dying or rare truth never to be found
should Godlike justice appear to rear its judgmental head
Justice is too often at buried like snakes in the ground
And lay there like a useless orchestra playing no sound.
Yes, life crumbled at his feet like decay on an old log.
That morn was abjectly eerie had a low moving fog.
Robert J. Lindley, dec 17th 1983
Rhyme
The Power-to-be
likes to decree
that red is green
and vice versa
The audience rapt
sucked into his trap
They wildly applaud
a beady-eyed fraud
The promises fell
as excuses became,
the voice of the man
who is casting the blame
While off on vacation
these moment to share
Informing the masses
he hadn’t a care
“It comes from another
who made this design,”
he mumbles and stutters
in televised time
“Do not look at me
for I haven’t a clue
It is obvious now from
the scenes out on view”
“The pipeline I stopped
and the border is free,
but this is much different
you cannot blame me”
So now as they die
harshly falling from planes
Their old way of life,
not a fraction remains
The enemy now holds
the key to the vault
Yet still he insists
it’s another man’s fault
“I’ve stopped everything
he had put into law
But this I choose not for
you can’t have it all”
He has no regrets,
the one truth he has told
While winking at China,
his soul quickly sold
He sits in his chair
with a beady eyed leer
Counting his yen for the
buck does stop here
The Afghan people have been betrayed as this weak and ineffective President vacations.
I am squirrel, watch me stroll.
I scurry to my left, and strut to my right.
I shimmy, shake, and go.
Nature is my dance floor.
My moves are crisp.
Elvis & M.J. toss over in amazement.
I'll drive you nuts searching crazily for them.
Beady-eyed, and bushy tailed.
I'm watching you. And your watching me.
Me and my brethren, we run the streets.
Brown, grey, copper, and more.
We're a polychrome of nature dwellers.
We are squirrels. Watch us stroll.
Oy, he has the answers to all!
He is psychiatrist, pollster,
Self-righteous, pompous
And that will be his downfall.
Beady-eyed, he is just waiting for you.
A snake charmer who loves to destroy a poet or twenty-two!
When you see him slither down Poetry
Soup Lane,
Better watch out for he is verified, hurtful!
He will humiliate you, and tryto swallow you with, sharp, famous fangs.
I have been bitten, boy, do I know!
He is coming to poison you with his intelligentsia show.
His name, not signicant, his heart cold
as ice.
You will know when you have been bitten,
as he shreds poets like Wuhan rice.
Your poetry, your feelings mean little to
him.
So many of you already think his demeaning
others , is delightfully quite in?
You best not ever disagree with this snake,
He will turn and humiliate you as a fake.
Best ask his permission before you post.
Or you will be a joke, no kidding ,the most?
7-5-2021
Waiter waiter!
look!
but monsieur
you ordered a minnow soup, n'est pas?
Waiter waiter
Not one swimming
around in my soup
a brown minnow full of brown poop
I don't want minnow poop
in the soup
why look, its a bald beady eyed minnow
waiter! I swear this minnow is drunk
ah Monsieur, we give all our minnows wine
before death
Waiter now I know why Greeks
throw dishes at walls
I swear than damn minnow tried to write
a poem, what gaul!
Plato must be going mad
in his grave
Monsieur , can we offer you some Coock & Hen whiskey
to drown out this bad taste?
No comment
Feathers gather on the wing
Sore with precision in their flight
An updraft lifts the beady eyed visitor
A hunt begins on hunger pangs of black
Grows from the dawn of times survival
Launched into action with the talent of God
Towers over the enormity of sky
Preys on darkness unencumbered
Leads the falcon on to his devices down
Stretched out on yellow talons sharp
In sight, laser vision pinpoints a target
Stars scream out in covered night
Something glistens on the shadowed ground
A woodland creature squeaks out in pain
All goes quiet at the strike in silence
A victim falls dismembered as a meal
When distracted on the moment of the kill
Call me Gillespie
At the thought of choosing sides
This all makes me Dizzy
Where ones befuddled and the other lies
White toothed grinning alligator
Beady-eyed crocodile
Which will we regret later
We'll find out for sure after awhile
One to build a wall to keep us all
Safe from those who want a home
The other swinging doors wide open
Sweeping out deplorable's
Reading from the dictionary
They would make a lot more sense
Starting out with the B's
Blah, Blah, Blah, He said, She said
I wonder when we the sheeple
Will stand up and call their bluff
Give this all back to the people
Finally say enough's enough
Is this the best they have to offer
Who's to win this losing game
Will it be the constant cougher
Or the billionaire that's clearly insane
Sadly, this crazy train needs a conductor
To carry this fragile freight
Watch out for the Loco-motion though
As we jump track on this runaway
Rodents that stealthily invade a home,
Agile and able to crawl through tight spaces.
Troublesome pests that chew holes and leave droppings,
Scurrilous scavengers with beady-eyed faces.
8/23/13
For Andrea Dietrich's Four Letter Word Acrostic contest.
Raven’s Shadow
Staring beady eyed
Collecting for winters nest
Natures unique post
Silky shiny black
Dawn-to-dusk itinerant
Multitasked creature
Suave wings casted wide
Full shadow imprint on moon
Solo transporter
Beak fluid sounds
Winter snow cloaked by congress
Envy your freedom
© Shane Cogan 2013
here you are again
she* told me you'd be back
ruffling my feathers
stifling my dreams
grabbing my legs
as I ready for take-off
Just when I'm feeling strongest
you peek your beady-eyed head
from behind the velvet curtain
of all I've resolved
to let be
reminding me that
my journey
is not nearly over
But, I have news for you
evil sister
I'm stronger now
sharper, clearer
than last time
I know all your tricks
and will banish you
to some desert isle
before you can
strangle
the life out of me
again
*Marianne, with thanks for so much more than you'll ever know
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