Best Over The Counter Poems
1
At peace perhaps too much
a fine Spring rain
we seek news from the desert or capitol
of those who have dedicated their lives to losing their lives for us
adventurers, ancient honor, land runners
this campaign a must to advance one's career
a war president needs war
2
All you need to know is the names of things
chambers of commerce and large corporations
elements, products, decay fungi, egg masses
cultivars and their relation to wild grasses and the edge
uses of herbs, languages of mammals,
purposes of insects, placement of rocks
the names of everything by which we know our way
3
I've read about those remarkable souls who maintain self-control
among murderers and the unentertained multitude
who may have even spoken persuasively
at the right moment for speaking
and thus attracted a now unwanted immortality
there are only two ways you can tell
a bird of prey from a vision - humor and ritual
4
the Fedex gal
would be unlike taking off Emily Dickinson's clothes
over the counter perfume and spray paint hair
postman's shorts, black socks
a woman's legs are much like a man's
yet she too is beautiful, too beautiful, weekends
boating with her man
5
Suburbs, lawns, blankets
in a long, long nursery of babies
napping, old, blameworthy
and, I say this respectfully, blind
certain and uninterested
in motives more subtle than their immediate comfort
Who am I to complain?
6
Plants, poems: riches
our financial advisor doesn't count. Good and simple
a man as he is. Comes tousled
from early morning golf and eyes puffy
from a late night fight or lovefest with his wife.
Inchworm
letting out its rope down an oak.
7
Late afternoon meeting
like the dry samara, achene or capsule surrounding a seed
how often have I tried to escape
my need, community, chamber of commerce
you cannot drive
the roads are theirs and the signs, perhaps
you can walk if you can name the plants and rocks and are willing to die
8
O happy family
there's some contentment in letting community and family decide
your place in it. Gatekeepers -
unconscious god, invisible hand, natural selection -
kind when refraining from violence
when not responding with force to the universe's effort
to extinguish us.
Unsang song
To the body that buried crying souls turbulence is emotional
Womb for a wormhole life is optional,
One night stand for stars die quicker than supernovae and wrapped in
Mummifying sheets .thighs for dear dairy to hold record of men who came for visit.
The same thighs measure a how deep is the cut to the fetus should be.
No tiny hands or feet for lullaby songs.
back door clinics welcome unwanted life for the cost of living give life no meaning.
pillow talks to seek a place under the skin where lust resides,
for what reason should a latex determine the fate of responsibility?
rough talks heat of pleasure where demons dance for the sad tune of reality.
palms rough like surfaces of hard rocks,
tin men walking around with empty chests,
when prides are sold over the counter for a one night stand.
Friday afternoons are used for slaughter,
on the fourth termination, count increases every fortnight,
body heavy with smell of death around the waist like a waste site.
who smells the coffee when waters keep breaking for pleasure?
by:TSHEDISO SEROKI
will it pass this way again?
nobody knows because the community
library
has to many paperbacks and the clouds
to many sins.
will twain swirl in the rain?
will steinbeck hit the deck?
will it pass?
will a folk singer from the north play the
harmonica
piss into a gutter and give some simple
remedy?
Now there is baptist marmalade in the
sun.
Now there is rye bread in the oven,
but in a cafe on main street
there is still.....
black coffee.
white porcelain cups.
thick calloused fingers.
all the regulars gathered there just like
every other day.
an old tv flickers over the counter just off
to the left of a
warped mirror that has labor union and
mason stickers
from the early 90s on it.
The government and its people stay on antagonistic sides
but what stimulates the rulers’ infidelity to patriotism
can easily be bought by any, over the counter.
They are desperately in need
of sailors to guide through the storm
yet for some reasons,
nurture a belief of so called anointed but empty vessels.
Structural human developments
siphoned by leadership’s exhaust pipes,
desecrating humanity’s sanctuary
for corruption to sell in wholesale.
The public treasury flows down
non-stop even bypassing its bladder,
as materialism and the quest for good life
break all of conscience’s administrative protocols.
Survival instincts undergo inflation
for civilization to suffer a recession
to this end, unity’s objections are overruled
by Nepotism and favouritism.
Social growth is blocked
and always in need of foreign catheter.
A direct current links poverty to the mindset and way of life,
giving a clear evidence of an economy
in desperate need of reconstructive surgery.
She said at the pharmacy counter
My husbands Viagra needs renewed
She asked the man if they sold it there
He told her that they certainly do
She asked if he had ever used it himself
He told her he had and was a big fan
She asked,"Can you get it over the counter?"
He said, "If I take a lot I probably can!"
Adrenaline Rush
This drug that surges through
my veins and floods my brain each day.
Giving my brain just the jolt it needs
in all the right ways!
This electric stimulation is organic.
Nothing bought on the street
or over the counter would ever compare
to the sparking flares this natural
drug delivers to me.
I find my fix through
various avenues and pathways
of my life, any way that will deliver
this potent rush to me quickly.
While speeding down the highway,
weaving in and out of cars with
the radio blasting my favorite rock song.
The "endorphin fix" my body delivers
while running across a ten mile run.
A really scary movie, or roller coast will
do in a pinch!
The intense buzz
I feel the moment
I take my first step
off the highest bridge
I can find with a bungee
rope attached to my waist.
The exhilarating feeling of delivering
a public speech in front of a crowded room.
The bells and whistles
that sound off in my body as I ski
down the steepest black diamond path.
That fleeting feeling as the blade
of my skate digs into the ice and
I project into a triple axel-spin
in the brisk air.
It’s this rush that I enjoy
running to every day
in my own way,
my adrenaline rush.
I’m so addicted to you!
Cursing and cutting bleeding and boiling
Undressed and undone...like a microscopic maggot now scorched in the sun
Strung out and strung up
Feasts of flesh...decomposing...devolved...deterioration
Anti-creation
Over the limit and over the line over the counter...my drug is to die
Gold unto giants and silver to swine
Drunk on divine...water to wine...dead end drives that lead to destruction
Evil eyes crying...soon dry...evaporation
Anti-creation
Saints get slaughtered when lambs turn into lions
Cold cash currency...now nobodies buying
Frozen in fires...fiends now frying
From the lost and the living to the dead and the dying
From fears to frustration...anger to annihilation
Anti-creation
Sewer mouth scapegoats are buried and burned by propaganda puppets
Red moon riders ride shooting stars
From the nuclear blaze a bad beast is born
Scarlet is sin...savage is scorn
Ripped and torn
Ravaged and tangled
Mangled by mutants...minions set to start a mass mutilation
Anti-creation
Everyone has ample Apple Annie needs,
caramel candied covered heart cravings
But, at what cost
does one pay the price to receive?
I’m holding on to my precious pennies,
keeping my copper Cupid thoughts
in my Cardigan cardiac pocket
Always wishing lovers well,
I cherish the fond memories
of innocent days gone by
Age fades desire ...
But the sweet savoring
of the first taste of lollipop baby love
is never forgotten
Penny candy love sold over the counter,
small beginnings sweetly wrapped
Penny candy little portions,
sweet tooth gifts licked fingers unpacked
The first kiss given
came puppy love nearly free
Bicycle racing heart dreams ...
Candy thoughts
that only cost a penny
Just a minor ego scrape from a bruised knee
One simple misunderstanding,
a brief falling out that was kiss patched easily
Asking for the first dance,
only came with a small price to pay
A tease from your friends,
an awkward, shy smile now and then
But the magical feel of the virgin closeness,
was a penny earned well spent
Penny candy Love received,
the peppermint price paid was next to nothing
Penny candy Love given,
the chocolate heartfelt offer didn’t cost much
But after bittersweet buys
later in life,
what is the sour price one pays for losing love?
A penny for your thoughts ...
what is the cloying cost one pays
for tossing
their other half-eaten candy away?
This poem was inspired by the soul-stirring poem, "Fading"
from the talented poetess Alexis Y.
— Romantic Warrior
Horoscopes defy what the mind already knows
Sagittarius categorized, Catholically inclined
Religion forces Signed eyes to reconsider deliverance
Archer status on the dance floor
Lips poised clothing crunk'd
High heels dipped in ghetto couture
Street loved, Sirens seem to posess me with Hip-Hop streaming
Cold blue steel pressed against my thigh
He makes me forget Good Girl analogies
Marxist ideologies and paying the water bill
Electric cars and global warming
Catholic tendencies clash with knee-jerk leftist remarks
Minorities have a propensity to be Democratically oriented
Shall I take it to the highest point of disregard
And let Disneyland dreams give way to worldly needs
Oh God
May we philosophize before his muscles take me over
Smiles reconcile what was once sober
Drunk off uncertainty
"I live for the moment" lies
We all need a little healing
I forget my repented chants to forgive sins
The more educated I become the harder it is to blindly believe
Faith is a tired charade that I must play
Center stage, bright eye'd and readily paid
I believe but must I rely on what the homily says
The bank notes the eagerness in charity of diluted masses
I trust in the Lord
Everyone needs a mentor
To relinquish safety in the face of uncertainty
Is something revolutionary
Am I to fall in love with guilt as my ancestors before me
Will Jesus still love me if i'm not sorry for smiling
I'm not sorry at all for being
Lividly in love with living
But was it T.S Elliot who was so declined to meet
The basic devotion in his poetry
Or was it me who denies faith everlastingly
I'm already twisted with these bottles of opiated, over the counter conviction
Priests who color me darker then I was before I dipped my hand
Into sanctified waters
Questions procede answers that are left for dying
The Vatican with daily mantras force me to facilitate fate
Is this the right religion for me
Why isn't faith enough, destiny binds me to unforgiving roots
Relatives in Zoot-suits trying to mix it up
The fine lines between being revolutionary and being impious
Are fading so slightly from the clear cut minds
Or is it mine whose mind is cut from something similar to sacrilede profanity
Surely we shall see
With prayer in my hand
the devil at my feet
Please don’t blame the automatic weapon
that synagogue killed me, tragically,
the other day
The hands which held it
are Second Amendment clean —
Gunpowder washed in crimson water
of dogma purity
I was just the latest recipient
of an over-the-counter, scarlet backorder
Which came with a limited scope range
death warranty: Multiple kill shot guaranteed
So pistol please, don’t fire scattered aspersions
at the sacred bear arms ground of innocent gunplay
Judgmental splattered tones
always try to open fire and spit spray fault
in a bullet hale of invective trigger rain
To cover misconstrued issues
over fresh, bystander corpse bloodstains
It’s just eulogy plain dirt wrong,
to give credence to indignant moans
berating innocent gunplay
I wish somebody six-feet above
could control
this outrageous, gun burst cry of
emotional criticism
Knee jerks got no ex-caliber love —
Glamorous magazine
affinity for kinetic pellets thereof
Bear arms pawns like me want more
Camelot night undertakers,
wearing grizzly gravedigger gloves
My only tear grievous cardinal sin,
(of fearful last rites)
was that I wasn’t gat blast packing
to give a gun battle fight
I was just good target practice
for some gun-toting holster devotee
Us untimely death mismatches
got smoking barrel burned
On this, we can collaterally all agree
That poor, inanimate weapon
was simply an unsuspecting vessel,
used in a grisly altar sacrifice
Ricochet oath bound
to help a hot metal head
exercise their inalienable right
to take a life
Don’t muzzle blame that clean weaponry please ...
or the washed Pilate hand
that calmly palm pulled the deadly squeeze
This is just the roulette wheel price
which every American Idle breathing body
gotta rolling barrel, lottery chance take
Winners get their engraved names
obit posted,
without any undue process
yellow tape delay
And this I must say
with deadly seriousness —
We of the speeding spherical fallen,
slain by the blessed cray cray ...
be fatal fatality souls
Those bullet-hailed as revered victims
of the hated, innocent gunplay
So much has happened
feelings unexplained
shot, dead
Clear the ROOM!
Speak the silence
in my heart.
The silence brought by death
the death of two loved ones
the loved ones I scarcely knew
but no tears were shed.
So were they really loved ones?
How can one distinctly define love?
Love for family...
Love for friends...
Love for... those we "love".
A strong like
A sinful smile
A deep thought
Lick your lips
and taste my Savior's blood
trickle down His heal.
His love is real.
But where is He?
Is He here?
...
So much has happened
feelings explained
but we're getting nowhere.
Trudging in one spot
one motion
toiling, working
and nothing's coming to fruition.
So we pray
heads bowed, kneeling in sin
to an unseen Power
to the Man Upstairs
when all along
we lust, lie
cheat, steal
hurt
just like the Man Downstairs
Double-minded and unstable
We rock to and fro
just like Grandma's rocking chair
We moan and groan
until finally
We break.
We hit rock bottom
We lend our lives to things,
things we feel will give us a helping hand.
Abuse, misuse
over-the-counter, behind closed doors
We grow, concoct, test
We kill ourselves slowly
until it all becomes too much
and with that pill bottle,
that deadly bee's sting to the head,
that scratch on the wrist
we contemplate.
We judge and weigh the pros and cons.
"How will life be without me?"
Maybe better.
Maybe worse.
But we ache to know.
So we pull the trigger
and it jams.
We scratch the wrist,
we swallow the pills,
and we wait.
We wait to see what's across the murky Jordan,
But our Savior comes.
So we pray.
Repentance in our hearts
Sins on our minds
Confessions on our tongues
and, as the preacher and good book says,
we "confess unto salvation"
We believe.
We believe everything's going to be just fine.
We believe that we'll be alright.
We believe.
We believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the Good News, the Great Commission.
We believe.
But who's to say if what we believe is real?
It all started off innocent enough
To take a slight edge off the pain
Some days seem worse than others
So you take a few more I'm afraid
Before too long the battle is gone
You don't dare go back to the doctor
So you take to the streets to meet demanding needs
With no option of over the counter
As all addictions do they stop working for you
And eventually bite like an ungrateful dog
The only reason you know is your friends tell you so
In your shipwreck of a drug laden fog
You try and think back on the life you once had
Before you first swallowed this hell
But with a mind that's not clear to point you anywhere
Your past is too far back to tell
You pray for normalcy but never down on your knees
Afraid that you might get your wish
Not sure you could let go the only comfort you know
In this cruel world of hit and miss
Still if you could go back you'd jump at the chance
To not have given your soul away
In the form of a pill that doesn't care what it steals
Leaving behind death in its wake
Today's pill epidemic is horrifying.
Partnering with death, poverty
Of hunger and homelessness
Seek the equality of all—Vowing
Never to discriminate;
But their perpetrators
Continue to control the odds
Favoring a hued majority;
A hued majority remaining
A minority concern as their opioid
Conditions are not prescribed—
Just over the counter cash addictions;
So odd be the ways of mercy and equanimity
When it comes to the hued like you and me;
How odd.
Cassandra was my neighbor
young and smart indeed;
and disappointed in love as beautiful Claire,
she took a dozens of pills to kill her only need.
Leaving for work, I saw Cassandra sit
on the stoop shivering so overwhelmed by fright;
I was surprised to see her in that
miserable condition and said, " Are you allright? "
I came closer and her face was turning blue,
I frightened and yelled, " Have you taken an overdose? "
No, I didn't imply illicit drugs, but over-the counter ones...
" Yes, " she replied stuttering...confirming the doubt of my clue.
I called an ambulance recognizing her extreme condition,
than I handed her a wool blanked to keep her warm..
hoping that she would live through that terrible storm;
" Cassandra, help is arriving! " I stated with trepidation.
She turned her sickly gaze to me and tried to smile,
then she fell into a coma as the paramedics carried her away;
I prayed as a saint seeking another miracle...
she was the nicest person alive, never feeling lost in disarray.
The next morning I saw Cassandra's mother in the local supermarket
I asked how her little girl was doing and her reply was, " She doing fine
and told me to thank you for saving her life...you have a golden heart! "
Those words brought me relief, being happy that she had survived suicide.
Like a star in Hollywood
I never thought I would
watch you like a TV screen
yet it makes me wanna scream.
So close, yet so far.
Makes me wanna raise the volume bar
only to get drunk as if I sat at a bar.
No, not just temporarily drunk
but addicted to you like a pill.
I would swallow you with passion.
Slowly, but precisely timed like a slam dunk.
One pill a day is what the prescription says
but you're too good I must say.
My diagnostic says I took an overdose
but I thought I was just getting started.
Who knew one pill could get me so high.
I think I almost touched the sky.
I am living on cloud 9
with no worries of what tomorrow holds.
It's sad that you're not over-the-counter
because ever since our encounter
I've seen you as my medicine,
making me happy and bold.
It's unfortunate however,
that like a star in Hollywood
I can only watch you on a TV screen
and hope one day I can make you mine.
But until then,
one pill at a time it is.