The rules are simple
The rules are clear
Talk about the weather
But no politics here
Talk about the wind
Talk about the rain
But never, ever
Bring up social pain
Talk about the sunshine
Talk about the clouds
But don’t bring up
The political crowds
If you do
Best you prepare
Cause things get hot
And tempers will flare
Can’t no one speak
What they truly think
Cause fights break out
Quicker than a blink
Civil discourse
Is dead and buried
Replaced with rhetoric
And the hatred that’s carried
So talk about the weather
Talk about the sky
Regarding politics
No opinion is the lie
But if your position
You must speak of with pride
Be ready to burn
In that molten divide
Hot lava awaits
On the other side
A curly corded telephone rings in a distant room,
its black Bakelite bulk vibrates behind closed eyes.
An old-time fire-engine parks its flame and brass chassis
inside a cavernous skull, though no conflagration
sets the dark alight.
It is that shallow pit of night when faceless clocks
expose themselves to be landmines.
A far past is calling; disembodied tongues drum loud
above the rattle of a tin ear.
A cumbersome receiver tumbles off its cradle
an accumulated dust of misappropriated yesterday’s
softens its fall.
Nothing has grasped at nothing.
A line is dead and buried; there's no resurrection,
the call however lingers, as a voice dissolve's
deep within the combustible light
of another day.
(A lone voice whispers)
Is this the final time for you and me
To part from visiting my white room
In the Great In-Between
For this morning I read
As God once said
In Isaiah 43:18-19
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland
And I can faintly hear brass bands playing a sad tune in the distance
Via my automatic scrying machine
And a soft voice whispering
It's no use staying
She needs time to heal
To restart and feel
So maybe
Another time around in this crazy circle
With no rehearsal
It may last
Even though our love is dead and buried
Maybe next time we can just find a way to continue to be true friends
Who makes each other
Gasp
To try to make it better than the last
So tonight I open up my old tired diary
And just write in big letters
Never forget
Your only love
Mary
The kind woman who once carried you
When life once got so heavy
(C) Copyright John Duffy
What is this crazy world in which we live
Time enough to blame, no time to forgive
Mad greed for power has grown out of bounds
Caught in a dilemma are moral grounds
Ethics as guide, are long dead and buried
No house for poor, rich have mansions storied
Obsessed with creating wealth temporal
Unknowing any moment takes a call
On our deaths despite the medical care
Be carried to the grave with no fanfare
Vainful is our existence we know not
Life starts not in the womb but in God's thought
When it's time to go, in dust we mingle
No wealth gained will help no love can sprinkle
The elixir eternal that we yearned
Forever remained elusive ungained
Sand dunes, nothing but sand dunes,
Some large, some small.
And the sun burning over the terrain.
No oasis, not even a mirage of one.
The last drop would not quench the thirst
He felt it in his soul. For now
She was dead and buried
And his soul was barren like the desert.
He would die, lost among the dunes
With no water for survival.
Fool. He could make it.
He was like an eagle.
Searching to drink water.
Yet he was no eagle and soon fell
Sand clinging to his face covered with sweat.
Opening his eyes he saw the viper.
All would be lost now.
A swish as a hawk picked the viper away.
He fainted and opened his eyes in a tent.
He was safe except for his silent sad soul.
Don't you feel strange?
Why we've turned into like this?
Like a stranger,
Who reminisce.
Wonder if you possibly,
Think about us.
Or its just me dragging,
What happened once?
You never meant those words,
You wrote on the window.
I would ask, if it could,
The memories with you to undo.
Lemme guess, Is, at least,
The "hello" so hard for you to say?
Where to make me your valentine,
You were on your way.
How can I forget the hickey,
You gave by your pinch?
And now, do we even take,
A step towards us a inch?
I'm writing and writing,
And the thought popped up,
Are you worthy enough,
For a poem, by me, to write up?
It simply took two years,
For you to neglect us.
And today, for my brain,
You are just a disturbance.
At the moment, it's so hard,
About you to write,
'Cause now you're being,
A darkness to my light.
Reminders of you,
Are dead and buried.
I know, there's no more us.
And of it, I'm over and done with.
If you don't like gays,
Don't be one of them.
You choose to hate
And condemn.
If you don't like abortions,
Don't have an abortion.
Your choice to blow it out
Of proportion.
If you don't think gays should marry,
Then don't get gay married.
You can't leave it alone,
It's dead and buried.
You're cool with stereotypes you
Were raised by?
You must be comfortable eating
Humble-pie.
In the land of the free,
Vote to take away our rights.
You look tense, your jaws
Are clinched tight.
Freedom of religion means;
I can't do it because of my beliefs.
I hope you are wearing your
Big boy briefs.
Freedom of religion is not;
You can't, because of my religion.
Your beliefs have no place
In my decision.
No respect when you take
Away the right to choose.
You might want to tighten
Down your loose screws.
You boys have a hell of a lot
More to lose.
Tread lightly boys when the
The woman blows a fuse.
Silly Republicans, you didn't
Think this through.
A woman's anatomy is not
Your choice to choose.
Turbo1904 ?
My life as a woman is not defined by being married,
Nor is it defined by me being a wife.
I hope that I’m remembered long after I’m dead and buried
And for WHO I was and HOW I lived my life.
Today I spring up
I arise from the dead
Dead and buried long deep
Deep in the blackest darkness
Yes I spring up
Today I spring up
I decline to die again
I resuscitate outstanding gifting and talents
The gold that's within
Must up rise and radiate
Today I spring up
Tell my mates I’ve risen
Risen so high, high to radiate the world
With my gifting and talents
With gold in my hand I arise
I remember our Love/Hate relationship.
It seems so long ago in a different life.
But I'll never forget what you did to me,
Making me cower like a dog,
Making me less a person.
The beating I took at your hands,
Bruising my face, my character,
And my inner self destroying my soul.
I walked away.
Burying my love deep into,
The darkness of my heart.
I vow never to say your name again.
Your memory is dead and buried.
I pulled myself up from the depths,
Of hell where you put me.
I vowed never will anyone,
Raise a hand to me ever.
I am a survivor.
Years and years it took me to,
Love myself in order to love others.
I finally found myself.
I have been reborn.
I can breathe and best of all,
I can begin to live.
twisted tunnels overlap deep into the shadows
rocks like diamonds emit twinkles of light embedded
on it's sides
this labyrinth of hollow space glimmers a promise of escape
keep going down ascend up, too narrow as the gap closes
listen to your heart feel your breath crawl on knees claw with fingers
where is this
what is this
why is this
am I dead and buried
am I closed within a dream
distant is a slimmer of light
beckon of hope
shiver of survival
whisper of eternity
open the mind by shutting the eyes
beneath you the earth shakes and cracks
the world collapses into darkness
eyes blink rapidly
throat swallows hard
arms reach up
voice screams screams screams
sit up and lay back down
night sweats sweetly on a trouble mind
Rain pours against the windowpane,
As all the world has gone gray,
With dark skies all the noontide,
And foul weather keeps us inside.
Like vivid autumn leaves fallen,
Once exotic dancers on the wind,
Soon dead and buried in snowdrifts,
In keeping with the rule of the
Seasons, one dance in golden sun!
Like the afternoons daily dying,
For some vivid lives are shorter.
As the rainbow lasted for a moment,
Leaving memories before it went!
I’m back from war without my soul,
having pawned it on the field
Among the dead and buried dreams,
whose futile prayers concealed
I wonder where my spirit hides,
as I sleep these endless hours
With day as night and night as day,
in loneliness devoured
My mind goes back to search the graves,
old enemies inside
And calls my name into the dark
—reclaiming every lie
(Dreamsleep: October, 2020)
I have discussions in my head
With family, friends not here but dead.
Coworkers or acquaintances
Who said they were but weren't instead.
Not dead and buried, not burned to ash.
It's just that part of life has passed;
Of evening talks through nights that last
Till dawn when gone is our repast.
Not that those true nor I don't care,
But life removed our time to spare
For conversations laying bare
Our hunger for those thoughts to share.
Brief connections on the phone
Of day to day a fragile hold
On inspiration we've been sold
To leave that child out in the cold.
Debates, and Arguments, grand designs
A memory swallowed up by time,
Replaced by fear of a great divide
Too far to bridge and so we hide.
By clicking thumbs up, comments, likes
Our love no longer erudite
We keep our truths in dark of night
Except when lashing out in spite
My friends and family are not dead
The bonds are simply less intense.
So I sit not in diffidence,
And have discussions in my head.
All grown up
Toto long dead and buried
Married to the perfect man
Change is in my hand
Sliding between dimensions
To return his heart
Ripped from dying white rabbits pocket
Crazed friend tried to defend
Took his hat as he
met the same
Scarecrow fills my bed
Lion is my spread
The perfect man
Kept in the garden shed
The wizard now can only groan
cut out his tongue
Your kingdom
is now my home
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