You might show your brawn,
Flex your fists,
But my words are stronger.
You might sharpen your knives,
Slash at my throat,
But my words are sharper.
You might yell and scream,
But my words are louder.
You might push and shove,
Beat me down,
But my words can be brutal.
You might lie and manipulate,
Twist what happened,
But my words carry the truth.
You might try to make sure others don’t hear,
Damper my screams,
But my words won’t be silenced.
Words have power that might can’t conquer.
While places vary across earth,
there is one where grief’s waste piles.
Atop gravestone where whispers flow,
it drips and drags where gravel bumps and scripture is engraved,
leading to fertile land
where one’s lost heart lays.
Where sheets and feather tangle,
screams and hair pulled and caught,
it is breathed in where fabric makes tracks,
and soaks the pained resting eyes of a lost heart.
In sterile and dreaded halls,
performance forgotten and all weight shifted,
and life’s direction now unknown due to ignorant laxity,
onlookers and a greater shift keep the lost heart internal and silent.
Our world spins but our sinews,
our tissues grow damper as we cry
whatever reason may be
whoever we call out for saviour,
we bathe ourselves as systole squeezes grief to the world.
Old as I Feel
Kevin Davis 2025
I hear people say, “You’re only as old as you feel”!
Then why do my bones ache and is the pain real?
I think I am my age right now, but I think I’m twenty,
I just can’t do what I used to do when I was aplenty.
Now I park in handicap spaces, and roll on lidocaine,
Walk with a cane or an umbrella even if it doesn’t rain.
I take so many pills that Carters has nothing on me,
Wear glasses to read the largest text and also just to see.
But none of this puts a damper on me enjoying my life,
I accept my restrictions and embrace being without strife.
I get up each morning with smile and a hearty “good-day”,
Ready to face whatever comes without any fear or delay.
So, if you are like me, you believe “I am as old as I think”!
And there is nothing in my mind I cannot do, so I don’t blink,
And miss a single moment or worry about what is to come.
I love my life and all those in it, so glad am I it’s still not done.
Where in night, down in day
Clutching one's clay clogged face
Dilly-dallying ditzy dances
Dull, dampened waltz swimming with a drunken sway
Methodical movement of the ditz's drunken daze
Dazed dolphins dance down gutteral gin and toneless tonic omissions
Wringing ring wrung fingers, for the ditz's sherry glass gaze
Caught crooning whispers within the careless candid spotlight
Spickle spittle dawned the dolphin's dance, dominance'n drivel
Deigned to sway within a drug infused haze.
Spluttering with the need of stitches, as burly bone ingrowths
Dappered the damper desolate surface
To drag the ditz's measly hip dips, from the four-lipped, two-tipped,
Derailing and de-tailing,
dolphin intrusion.
7//10//2025
Went to a concert last night, across town,
To see an old favorite of mine, Jackson Browne.
We slogged through a downpour of thunder and rain,
Where the opening song had a “deluge” refrain.*
The show was amazing; the singing so fine
That years fell away with each lyrical line.
The fans were enamored; we clapped and we cheered
As our younger selves, as if by magic, appeared.
For more than three hours, the music fulfilled
The crowd’s expectations, with most of us thrilled.
Yet still, there was texting on cell phones a’light
From various seats, which just didn’t seem right.
It put a slight damper on what was, to me,
An evening as special as any could be,
For certain performers tap into the past
With a power that, over the years, seems to last.
*”Before the Deluge” by Jackson Browne
Written By:
Traducir Al Spaniel'
A.K.A El Alborotado
-----------------------------------
To support all of this emotion
to take everything in stride
to up lift to and to encourage
put all that doubt and envy aside
how can go on saying
when so many want me o fail
hold my head up and keep on stibing
hoping one day I would prevail
Keep me grooving to the music
gone darling do your thang
breakfast was so delicious
Darling you treat me like a King
about yesterday I apologize
but don't keep doing that sorta thing
Your Ole man
started hushing
stopped talking when I came around
he get up when I started sitting
acting like he didn't want me around
his actions both subtle and overt
had an impact on everything
made me feel like ah fifth wheel
put a dark cloud on everything
got mad and started cussin
that's not a nice or respectful thing
got in the way of our performance
putting a damper on everything
now I'm ah red eyed stranger
a tear drop fell in my beer
all that cussin and fussin
is such annoyance
it put's ah damper on everything
damper sound without a box
fuse less high key string fret and the low beckoning
saint the same slide you grew out from
drink news and through lava liqour drips off
damper stage and dampening cat cry
you got news and sew my drums lose
i know its been done
speak frothing failure against
Loving you like the wind, blowing
Through my mind like a melody
The tune mesmerizing like that of hues
Too the rays shine without calamity
My precious mind thoughts lingering
I see a ponder over thus thee reality
Picking up posies - smelling the roses
It's in the air - I too then breathe
Creativity
Puts a damper on a soul indeed
When you are full of broken promises
I adored what we had it flattered me
I am infatuated but it too blemishes
Waking each dew morn - I drink the water
My mind breathing in and clear inside
Dreams often shatter upon awake
My arms I seek for opportunity of wide
The hues of the rays yes mesmerized me Melodies created to the beat of the cleft
Picking up the posies - smelling the roses
Is exactly only that, that I have left.
In the 60’s we protested
Out on the quads
With our armbands and banners and signs
‘Til the rage manifested
By police riot squads
Put a damper on all our designs.
We erected no tents
And we went home to sleep
But were sure we could orchestrate change.
Yet these current events
Which on campuses sweep
Seem, to me, very different and strange.
We used to think about the stars
more distant than the planet Mars
But now we only think of Earth
which puts a damper on our mirth
For on the ground and in the air
There’s so much crud we just can’t bear
So all of you who toss your trash
You ought to be, but aren’t abashed
Be warned! We have a brand-new plan
That we are sure will soon you land
In jail in your respective towns
And change your smiles to ugly frowns
So if you like your freedom, guys
Don’t toss your trash! ~ A word to the wise
We’ve picnicked at the local park
It’s time to go, as it’s getting dark
But Lucy’s lost her small rag doll
And can’t sleep without Millie Moll
We have to find Lucy’s special toy
The roundabout doesn’t bring us joy
We search the swings, climb the slide
Please find my doll, poor Lucy cried
Tears start to drip down Lucy’s face
Her doll has vanished without trace
Rain is falling, our clothes get damper
So I go to pack up our picnic hamper
Beside the cookies I find Millie Moll
Look Lucy, here’s your favorite doll
Oh I’m so sorry mummy, guess I forgot
But she loves those cookies such a lot!
A beaming smile lights up Lucy’s face
The rain turns heavy and so we race
Along the muddy path to our front door
Lucy has her doll, she’s safe once more
There is always the sound of footsteps trailing behind me
And no matter how much I attempt to discover who it is
I have never seen to be successful at all
Everyone believes me insane when I speak of it to them
Telling me that it's my imagination running wild
But I know what I'm hearing
For it's neither loud nor is it quiet
It follows me everywhere I go
Even in my home where it echoes throughout the empty house
It will always fall short of my bedroom door when I slumber
It keeps me restless all night long
And leave me wondering in my head
If it ever enters the room
So I can finally learn the mystery behind the footsteps
But I'm disappointed every single night as the sun arises
It will follow me no matter the weather
The worst of them all is the snow
As the snow makes it seem louder than ever
Frightening me even more
I'm always on edge because of it
And it has put a damper on my relationship with everyone
But that wouldn't stop me not by a long shot
I will prove to everyone that it exists
And then they will stop believing that I'm insane
Right?
Their prejudice is embedded in their words, tucked away
Putting a damper on your pride
A laugh and a smile and a claim that it was “just a joke”
And your friends, the ones who have never loved anyone other than boys,
They accept the apologies, the excuses, as though they were for them in the first place
“That school’s FULL of lesbians”
“You think she has a crush on ME? Ewwww”
“She just looks like a lesbian. That’s why I’m not friends with her anymore”
Day after day after day
Joke after joke after joke
A double standard that they do not notice, do not talk about
Because they are Allies with a capital A
Always ready to curse out a homophobe
Except when their words are hidden in their friends
Except when it’s their basketball teammate or the school gossip
Leaving you to wonder if you went crazy if you’re making it all up
The side glances, the curious looks
One doesn’t belong and it sure isn’t any of them
Except when homophobia is a quirk, an ick, not enough to really call it quits
Except when it’s hidden between the lines.
I was too excited to join the two-some on Tuesday.
Too enthusiastic to want to damper my happiness with those two.
I heard that those two were boring, too, my friend Two-pack said.
You are not wrong, I assured him. They are too much.
I hope this was not too honest.
Do you really care? Asked two of my friends.
I was too conflicted to answer these two.
Next Tuesday do you want to come too?
I am the wind
You cannot hold me back
Rain cannot put a damper on me
I race to be seen.
I twirl and whirl with joy.
My life is the bomb!
I am living my truth.
Someone throws out words that mean nothing today
I am in full blown play mood.
You cannot stop me or even put me on pause.
I will do and say and live how I want.
Today is mine.
The sun is shining, and the birds are singing.
I am in full blown joy mood.
I am the wind.
You cannot hold me back.
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