Do I deserve it?
Asked my heart within me.
But my voice was stuck.
Within the throat of insecurity.
Will the things change?
Questioned my soul beneath.
But my moments were paused.
Behind the sea of responsibility.
IRIS
Little Jane ran to Mike
Joyfully jumping and hugging
Mike elated after long trip
Jane points to calm Iris
Linda, sweet Iris so listless,
Our sweet birdie not talking,
Over a week, Linda said teary eyes.
No singing, no wise crack, no mimic.
Mike held parrot with heavy heart.
Doctors after doctors node their head,
Final answer bulbar A L S
Came as stone on head.
Linda screamed why god why ?
I know she doesn't love me.
She visits everyone.
When its looking bright.
She'll shade me from the sun.
She is all I've got.
Probably my best friend.
Though she isn't real.
I like to pretend
It's a sense of duty.
Much less out of care.
Always there beside me.
My keeper of despair.
This one strong warrior you know lays down his sword. Sure there's still talent but it's all muscle memory now which is just going through the motions. Pain used to be an old friend but it's all mum's now I see things clearly but yet it's like walking through a hazy first. This existence becomes too tiring. I lay my body down and pray that when you think of me that there is one good memory of me!! The Original Johnny Rancid is Outtie 5000 Gee,!!!!!
the homeless people
alive in cracks we avoid.
each displays no grace nor glory.
We turn our backs, are so annoyed.
Worn overcoats over scrim pajamas,
angled hair and leather-ed skin,
bags and bottles are their bangles,
we’ve become loveless manikins.
some have singing voices.
souls beautiful yet never heard.
some lay choice-less
all have only what we deserve.
there are angels among them
Sent to check on you and me.
watching, waiting for any kindness
To save us from what we deserve.
What do we know about the homeless people?
Sleeping in the cracks that we avoid?
Those who seem to have no grace or glory.
We turn our backs we’re so annoyed.
John K. O’Zemko
Revised 01-13-2023
02-19-2009
The damage is catastrophic
The wounds are just too deep
The caffeine doesn't affect me
The pain just puts me to sleep
The weight that is upon my shoulders
It is just too heavy to bare
The things I can't do because I'm older
Leave me solemn and full of despair
The cure has not been discovered
So I'm doomed to die the lonely one
The ache in my laugh is colder
And my eyes sight just like a gun
The reason why I don't care now
Really is none of your business
The words from my mouth I swear now
I just do not like your existence
bmdavey@ 12/8/2022
Do you struggle with burdens?
Are you drowning in despair?
Does a web of negativity permeate your air?
When you travel down life's roads, on your journey, that quest, and God
has clearly put you under deep duress.
Remember those beings that you swatted like flies,
those people out there that you demonized?
Wouldn't it be a wonderful surprise to find they might be
angels in disguise?
It might not just be people who loved you and you loved,
what if it was also those people you once snubbed?
Calling all angels. I know I've had a few.
We can't always see their wings but they hover near you..
Be some body's angel. Soften a heart that's known betray.
You might earn those angel wings before you go away..
Why cast a shadow of darkness
Why cause pain that I never did seek
Empty this cigarette carton of disease
Out into blank existence
Why shower with love only to
Douse acid in return
Why grant neutrality only to ask for a democracy
Empty this spoiled milk of misfortune
Into bleak existence
Why emotions that feed like cancer on healthy cells
Why love when death grants heartache
Empty this bile of disgust into something more
Capable
I am unwilling to hold to the bullet holes
Torn garments to tie off bleeding wounds
Soaked in sorrow the bleeding never stops
Why do I exist when misfortune finds me as its
Welcoming mat
Set blaze to this darkness, give me a tourniquet and not a
Torn garment.
Give me peace inside of my head
Save me from the grasps of negativity
Save me from...
Me
11/13/2022
Pick-A-Title, Vol 33 Poetry Contest
Edward Ibeh
Love and sorrow are conjoined at the hip
They are the same emotion
They have the same pulling in my chest
And the same hopeful dispair
Throw it into the void
Maybe someone will read it
Maybe someone will love it, be moved
Prolly not tho
I see a weary coxswain
That steers a crooked boat
Across a sea of madness
With endless empty hope
He searches for a memory
Of what was just a dream
In clouds of misty mayhem
And winds that howl and scream
He looks among the folly
And the prayers he did not pray
His heart is filled with passion
For the star that turned away
So when then in a lifetime
Does one's soul at first appear
To soften such a jaded heart
And silence all the fear
written - 2022.08.25
Entered in Brian Strand's Premiere Choice Poetry Contest
The Victor's Creed
By: Inking Al'Kallio ??™?
Never drink the wine of dispair
nor let defeat toss you in the gutters.
No matter how great the needs be
Our faith beats all foes.
Get not intoxicated with yester-victories,
nor let vain talks bids thy time,
thus,that how disgrace beckons.
Lest you tarry not,
in search of peace you cannot find,
work till your body shouts peace!
Making sure your failures towers above other men successes.
Whilst flatters they,you doth with ease.
Despair
I feel the sun.
The warmth does not penetrate.
I see the light.
The darkness remains.
I’m surrounded by people
And lonelier than ever.
I am aware of my good fortune.
However, I can’t pull myself together.
I fracture apart.
Spiraling further down.
No way out.
Trapped in a hell of my own.
That homeless guy
Thought I was homeless too
How grand it feels
To belong.
Do you think if I went out back and stood,
Where the clean green lawn meets the wood
And whispered softly in the night air
I’m not afraid and I know you’re there.
If I wished hard enough, do you think
The fae would steal me away with a wink?
And take me up with them to the sky
That blue abyss where fairies fly?
I’ve had enough of the human planet,
I’m ready to eat the pomegranate.
When they ask my name, I’ll tell them straight
and accept my role as a foundling playmate.
I’ll swim in a puddle and dance on the moon
My dress is a gossamer cocoon.
At the end of the day when I’ve had my fill
I’ll go to sleep in a daffodil.
Will the fairies come? My wish was earnest,
But the waiting leads me to despair.
I’ll have to finish my mortal quest
If they leave my Earth-bound body here.
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