Best Alternate Poems
Edmond’s Alternate Ending
I am about to move
Though I’ve yet to move on…
…now that I’ve moved on
Or was it moved back
I found all the lack
In my alleged desires
A mind of loss conspires
For redemption, or revenge
My vengeance consumed me
Began to eat me whole
Til I realized I was the one chewing
And the graves that I was digging
Were nothing more than holes
So I stopped biting
And recovered the Earth
Won’t belittle myself by fighting
Or lower my self worth
Stooping to do battle with the trolls
I’ll just let them dig their own holes
Today someone praised a poem I wrote
It is about considering the disenfranchised
at this supposedly jolly time of year
Why, she said, just think about all in need,
why not spend Christmas with them, she asked
Amazingly enough, that is just what I do,
For you see I am one of the poor and disabled
whose SSD checks just do not stretch to month's end
All who live in my building experience much the same,
depending on food boxes and the generosity of others
We come in all types and sorts, full of warts and woes
Mental illness has felled a number of us terribly
They closed the hospitals and mental facilities
Just can't afford them, government says, so out
they were tossed roam the streets, incapable and lost
Poor choices plagued many tender, women who loved,
or thought they did, men who beat and burned them,
took their money and left them ill and unable to fight
Years of abuse, wisdom awakened, years more to heal
to even a bare minimum of capability to survive
So, dear tender lady, with heart of gold, trust when I say
I live with the broken and poor and lonely each day
Alternate Reality (MJH 17 April ’18)
Maybe in an alternate universe,
Where good is bad and better’s worse,
I could be you, you could be me,
Together apart, sadly happy.
You’d pursue me, I’d flee from you.
Yes you’d pursue me and I’d flee from you,
‘cause I know that I’d be caught by you.
Perhaps in a wondrous macrocosm,
We’d share everything in common.
You’d finish things I’d start to say,
But we’d laugh about it anyway.
Time would not be our enemy.
No, time would never be our enemy-
I’d be part of you; you’d be part of me.
By chance there is another dimension
Beyond earthly comprehension
Where past, present and future blend;
Time has no beginning nor end.
I’d say “I love you” with laughter.
Yes I would say “I love you” with laughter—
Said so before, will say so after.
In some hypothetical reality,
Beyond conceptuality,
Where nothing is circumstantial--
Matter’s almost insubstantial.
Separate bodies, united minds-
Yes, separate bodies and united minds-
Our souls forever intertwined
From days start till end
Loud housebound kids cause concern
Your dreams undisturbed
With every word, with every phrase,
You breathe, you come alive,
A tale of truth, mapped with reality,
Or a dream unlived for which you thrive,
You live through what is written,
Or you choose to hold your pens,
It doesn’t matter how it ends,
Because it’s the end where it all begins,
Broken hour glasses of the War,
Acting as the mirror to see through the past,
The good is victorious, and is glorified,
And evil is evil, because in the battle they did not last,
With their blood, is inked the war diary,
So winner takes it all, and is called as ‘good’, hence,
As it doesn’t matter how the war ends,
Because it’s the end where it all begins
And then there is Romeo, falling in love
And Juliet waiting for him in the Balcony,
They kill Romeo, and justify the murder,
But love is charged for an unforgivable felony,
Died, the felons leave the stage,
But love lives irrespective of the skins
As it doesn’t matter how the life ends,
Because it’s the end where it all begins
You pose the king of you story,
Or in their game, you are just a pawn,
Your story is written in this moment,
Larger than life; this moment is never gone,
So when they bury you as a ‘Sinner’,
Be the phoenix to rise from your sins,
As it doesn’t matter how the Story ends,
Because it’s the end where it all begins
around
And Around
Convergence news chirality
Convenient use hue rainbow chronology carnality
Fast tracks flashbacks
New convergent reality
Hypocritical political
Around and around
Tangent stanger truth is not fiction
Again realities convictions
Fantasies detention
Why does my spirit soul are mine so hurt?
Reason I'm in a alternate universe
Here on this filthy Earth
Feel like I'm on a Ferris wheel of Life
No lie, goodbye?
6/18/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
The lonely evening falls again
The night is fast becoming my favourite friend
Where the moon it shimmers all over your skin
Let out the bad vibes
Invite the freedom in
Ride we must our dreams through the night
The hazy traffic stickiness fading
Leading traces of forgotten memories
Blank as these sheets of paper the future awaits
The past flutters, torn out notebooks
Ashes in the rain
It was there I saw you
Lying in the dirt
Blackened eyes crying
Little fingers tug my senses open
A drugged-up film
These memories toxic and sweet
Passing through veins and skin
Flesh and bones
Everything will break
Only the strong will survive
Glimpses of myself in a different time..
Recurring thoughts occupying my mind..
Visions of lush greenery landscapes
I gaze upon the deep blue sky
I caught a glimpse of myself..
My alternate self..
Unique surroundings
Fascinating experiences..
Colors illuminating so perfectly vivid
Bright and bold
Intense and magnificent
For my eyes have never seen such vibrant colors..
Words cannot express the sweet vibrant colors..
Vibes and energies are intense..
Vibrating with the sights and sounds..
A beautiful high vibration of energy ..
My senses have intensified to the fullest
Through the marvelous glimpses of myself..
In existence..
Living a life
Fulfillment multiplied to the maximum..
A mirror..
An image of myself..
For I have been deceived by my own mirror..
Showing quite a distorted image of myself
Distortions certainly have a field day with myself..
Tricksters in disguise..
Brewing foolishness..
A foolish self ..
Living in a narrow gateway..
Cannot see the size of the gateway..
Can only see the narrow corridor of what lies ahead in the gateway..
Unexplainable awarensess shapes form..
A deep awakening..
Glimpses through many different windows and doors..
Altered states of windows and doors..
The doors and windows of my perception have completely opened..
Whisked away I am..
Reflections of myself in a different alternate reality..
Parallel entanglements
An interdimentional infusion of pure bliss..
Expansion of gateways..
The corridor is wide and abstract..
It lies everywhere simultaneously..
I am myself on earth..
As I am myself in an alternate universe..
Experiencing many facets of life..
My opened doors of perception entering through a window..
Dear mom and dad, you told me I was your treasure
My heart quivers to ask you, why did you leave me to break under the pressure?
A worthless, wretched, withered flower, that was I
Nonetheless, I always did my part
I dreamed of your embrace, wished for a little praise; yet your groans and snide remarks
Only shattered what was left of my heart
I was an dirty, filthy mattress, in desperate need of cleaning
Struck with wooden bat, each night, as i'd yelp
Your scoldings, your beatings, your old leather belt
It hurts to say, they never really helped
Dear lover, my love was true
It hurt to know, love was just a game for you
My heart was a mere counter on the board
It would suffer turns and turns just to get to you
My veins were the lonely pathways
My blood still reeks of all the sorrows you've put me through
You left; as i struggled to survived with all my might
You left; with nothing but a shoddy rope and a rusty dagger by my side
Life is a prison
All doors shut tight, each moment I become less and less sane
There only ever is one escape
I never wished to stop living, I only wished to cease the pain
Tonight, as the clock strickes midnight
My foot will caress the chair, I'll count till three
I died a long time ago
But tonight, I'd finally be free
Goodbye, beloved, father and mother
Thank you for letting me die, thank you for not being aware
Signing off, Yours truly,
A descendent, a progeny, a lover, your worst nightmare
Such effort to write, when you wouldn't even read it, would you?
Pools of blood splattered on the floor, your ugly heart falling out, you couldn't watch as you disintegrate, could you?
Scraping your eyes, tearing your throat while you scream silently, motionless on your bed
After all, one can't really be convicted for murder when the murderer is already dead
I wonder if I did not stay,
What paths my life would gently sway.
Would destiny unfold anew,
Or fade like whispers that I once knew?
In the realm of infinite chance,
Would joy still dance its blissful dance?
Or would regret with mournful sigh,
Embrace my heart beneath the sky?
The road untraveled tempts my mind,
With secrets hidden, left behind.
Yet, in this place where I remain,
A tapestry of memories reign.
For in the choice to stay or roam,
We shape the life we call our own.
So, as I ponder what could be,
I find contentment, here, with me.
What if the Rubix cube was round?
Would everything lost be found?
Maybe Boris Johnson wouldn't be head,
three cheers for Mary Berry as pm instead.
Would we have ever left the EU?
Say 'bygone' to the Dover/Calais queue.
COVID may never have shown its ugly face,
and bankrupt every marketplace.
We'd greet one another with a grin and hug,
not a distant wave or a faraway shrug.
Perhaps daytime tv would be on local life,
not murder, illness, earthquakes and strife.
Historic figures could come back to life,
and lay down every weapon and knife.
Each eager to make peace, do right,
knowing full well war only starts a fight.
Where everyone has everything they need,
all injustice gone, every civilian freed.
Where hope becomes tangible,
each language understandable.
Dreams become reality,
regardless of nationality.
Where love drives every action,
and brings everlasting satisfaction.
04/03/2021
Lift a baby from water, after decending from the cloud
An alternate way to start the world, the vision makes me proud
She could be the first earth mother, the start of all mankind
The greatest person ever lived, would need an open mind
I place her down upon the bank, there to see her grow
To take her place in legend, no seeds of doubt to sow
I guard her with the power I have, to see her to adult
Implant her with a virgin child, wait for the result
I plant for her a garden, where the two of them may play
Fill it full of bounty, give fresh water they can spray
But there is something missing, in the scheme of things to come
One a hubby, one a dad, I will combine them into one
I will go back to the water, see if another there
Cast my vision back and forth, end with a vacant stare
Change my gaze up to the beach, and spy a coconut
Could be just the thing I need, to use for head or butt
I took the finished model, so the Mum could give her view
She looked so happy that I thought, I should maybe make her two
That is how the human race, started on this earth
I am sure that's how it happened, for what my opinion's worth
(“Still Life”, 2021, original encaustic)
Alternate Lives
Time appears to go in a line
From then to now
And some times it does
But at a certain point the stream
Becomes a river
Which then spreads into a delta.
I’ve always found the metaphors
Of literal geography to be the best,
And in this life can see the threads
Of alternate lives play out
All the what ifs
We’ll never really know.
What if my first wife and I had children
Instead of abortions?
I’m sure we would have stayed together,
And my daughter by the next wife would not be,
At least not who she is to me now.
And what of my life with wife number three?
Certainly that would not be.
And in the alternate beings and not beings
I would not have done all the things
I have done to make me me
And the same for everyone else touched
And moved and divided by the flow of time.
A flow that sometimes seems insignificant
Until it clearly isn’t
And the parting is complete,
Until it isn’t, and some kind of unity,
A whole greater than the parts
Is realized again.
(3/26/25)
It’s always the same.
The darkness.
I don’t care what you think or what you say.
It has sound and it has color. It has life. It has energy.
There is no black void in the darkness. There is no quiet in the darkness.
That’s a lie.
I know because I’ve been there, I still end up there.
Night or day, awake or asleep.
I’ve traveled every avenue of this rank and rancid place.
I’ve been to this violent place.
It’s like an animal ripping and scratching and tearing at me from the inside-out.
And it does. It claws and rips and shreds and devours.
Every single time.
See, it has color. It definitely has sound.
Horrifying, terrifying, pleading sounds.
It screams at me and then echoes back from every crevice.
It has no escape or hiding place.
It always finds me.
It always consumes me and leaves me so tired that I can barely breathe.
I don’t even try to move. I can’t.
I have no life left in me, no fight left in me.
No hope left inside me.
See, it has its own energy. It's own life.
It’s always the same.
The darkness.
The only reason to tune into mainstream media news,
is to see the corporate network's biased point of view.