the blinders rest with ease—
seams seemingly gaunting;
haunting whispers crunch like teeth,
seekers left to guess
pestering what comes next
be a kiss that is gentle
or bent with tiles filing
finally laying—rather lying;
dying to look you
hook right between the eye
lend the heaven, tongues that speak.
though weepy,
deep and soundly they hide
behind masks clasping dearly
refraining to reclaim their faces
places they’ve felt love.
people they’ve once known—
sewn behind is their truth
and truthfully their pain is plain
written in bold
holding bruises
whether you choose to see it
or be it amiss.
wishing well feels like rope
we can feel it doping us
hoping that our next breath
is the last one to give less.
but living session after session
their weapons once sharp dulling
full hands weaken with tire
and wiry sighs leave the senses
why?
because we weren’t just prizes
disguised to heel blindly
or crawl without first running—
we are not sick and lowly farm animal
simple, dirty, managed to be manageable.
Twenty-seven years of struggle and success
Was all many of our best rockers could take,
We give them a tip of the hat, for their sake
They entertained us even when in distress.
Doping, or mental illness, or a natural cause
Their lives ended much too soon, we regret,
Through their music, we remember them yet
In life, they got our love through our applause.
We keep their memories alive in our hearts
I salute the “too many to mention” by name
While they lived, they had their hours of fame
And many of them are still climbing the charts.
SEVENTH PLACE WINNER
Written September 11, 2022
Submitted to: "The 27 Club" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Anthony Biaanco
A letter arrived from Aunt Mabel, always a keeper
She was delighted I bought myself a Bissell sweeper
Said they are best, but I could have gotten it cheaper,
Seems her nephew is in more trouble, getting deeper
I suspect he was caught smoking or selling a reefer,
Auntie says her bloat is causing her to have a fever
She needs a full physical before prices get steeper!
Big news! Auntie said she was dating a Bob Kneiper
At her age, I was shocked, but won’t ask the “bleeper”
He’s older, she said, expecting soon the grim reaper!
I chuckled when she said she had a window peeper
I’ll tell her she needs to report this ornery creeper.
I’ll answer her when I have some news to report
I think I’ll suggest coming over to serve as her escort
Maybe keep an eye out for that Peeping Tom cohort
I do not consider window peeping a spectator sport!
Aunt Mable will probably laugh out loud and snort
I’m sure her nephew will be asking her for support
She’ll remember what I told her last time to retort,
He’s got to stop the doping and with no dopers consort!
Written June 9, 2022
Standing all alone, we watched
The winner of the gold,*
Who’d skated quite amazingly,
Her elegance extolled.
Her teammates sobbed and ranted
And the cameras caught it all
While the winner clutched a teddy bear
And listened to them bawl.
What should have been her moment
By her teammates was denied
And when asked her feelings, she described
“An emptiness inside.”
Disappointment in athletics
Is quite common to report,
But both doping and sore losing
Cast a shadow on the sport.
*In the women’s Olympic figure skating event
A dark veil
O'er eyes and ears
Have set phrases to stun.
Standards for me
Omnipotence for thee,
Tripping over
grayed limping liberty,
Crumbling to a blurry pause.
Trekking through a
Field of freedoms trampled,
Foraged souls
Appear and wilt
In the fiery smartphone snapped chat.
Hypnotized by systemic doping,
we await elusive belly tickles:
To resurrect us from our
collective nod.
Icebergs melt bears
Poles exhaust pelted creatures
Fur absorbs descent
Foreigners the lot
Bloody migrants escape floes
Pillar grown from salt
Homeless Exodus
Into uncharted rescue
No passport needed
Charity misplaced
Food banks in Antarctica
Shoot the messenger
True nature provides
Mammals seek Noah in trust
Close the gates of hell
Survival has fits
Humans on steroids of greed
No doping control
Genocide salutes
Fish bones drown upon the float
Refuge on plastic
Jolly old Darwin
Nurture mutates on the cross
Rejoice its Christmas
Evolution sinks
One more day in paradise
Malcontent scroungers
Holy and wholesome
Habitats change their disguise
Conscience a fig leaf
Suffused by wisdom
Buddha reaches Atlantis
Blows bubbles in vain
08th December 2019
Haikus traditionally do not have titles
Can't post them without on the soup though
— Untitled —
Defining, refining, and timing the rhyming
And hours of thought to perfect the fine line-ing
Clerical, lyrical, sometimes, a miracle
To get a line right could feel a bit spiritual
Hoping, not doping, and a lot oh “oh nope-ing!”
But when you are through, there will be no more moping
~J.D. Cromwell
Here's to Little Leaguers!
Who get to learn companionship,
leadership, skills and more!
Who are not out killing or doping!
These are the children not on TV.
The hours of practice they spend.
The joy of developing skills.
and learning to play by the rules.
They are a blessing to this nation
Their parents are too!
Thank you parents and players who
show us a future of a bright and
glorious American nation.
Your work year round creates
childhood transformation!
5/52019
There are users, abusers
And bitter accusers
In the World of negative thought
There are legalistic, ballistic
And increasingly sadistic
In the World of righting the "not lot"
~On the other side~
There are roses, poses
And delivering Moses
In the World of fanatical dreams
There are hoping, doping
And constantly roping
In the World of sewing seems (seams)
~Still~
There are planners, banners
And worshipping fanners
In the World of Pyramid Power
There are groveling, dissolving
And situational involving
In the World of heightening bowers
~Til~
There are woulders, coulders
And moving shoulders
In the World of Imagination
There are accepting, respecting
And continually perfecting
In the World of growing patience
~Light Shining on the Darkness
Written by Trudy Schrader on 02-11-2018
You seem smart, you look special,
You are unique, you are beautiful!
For the first time I am impressed,
For the first time I got influenced.
I could conceal my affection
When you left for a new destination,
But not the void you occupied.
Oh boy! I wish you realized!
I enjoyed each moment together;
Sharing problems, aiding one another,
Staring at your smiles rich in vivacity.
A clear sign was all I fancy.
I am writing this rhyme,
With a tear doping on each line,
For the first time, I cried,
For the first time, I'm relieved.
From the radiance of the thought
Through the deep veins of the heart,
I grant you my honest composition
As an enduring story of my affection.
If Lance Armstrong isn’t King of Cheaters
He’s most certainly on the royal court
No soul to sell, that former world-beater
Poster boy for putting self before sport
The town’s old sheriff, asleep at the wheel
Cheaters get a tiny slap on the hand
Much more than laurels the swindlers do steal:
People’s respect for all sports in the land
Now think of a world record that’s been set
Or a gold medal won, do you figure--
When was the last time you were confident
Physiology hadn’t been jiggered?
I say throw cheaters out for evermore
For how else will people ever believe
That sport’s integrity has been restored
And the whole world is not being deceived?
The human potential, heart, and effort
The only measure, else there is no sport.
3/26/16
A bulging extremity,
a feminist integrity,
a swaggering centipede,
the cops arresting me,
my dick the right size,
the bang coming out of your eye's,
the sensitivity upon demise,
the dew and dripping from the sky's,
the eagerness of eloping,
the magnitude of doping,
the honesty of groping,
scattering scorpions glowing and scoping.
you kept poking
walk around moping
stop you minds block
alway listen to hiphop
and doping
AM NOT JOKING
the Adult Children of Alcoholics
educated me a lot on my life
I have seen plenty of alcoholics
growing up with it stabs you like a knife
I once read in a book what certain traits
children of alcoholics developed
being an adjuster in life relates
seems like my life was underdeveloped
I would just go with the flow with no word
looking back on my life I know it’s true
I was never the one to wear a sword
all this because dad drank way too much brew
Dad is dead family is still coping
we have all done our own way of doping
Doping confessing by Lance Armstrong
Why tell the truth, when a lie can set you free
The sympathy card, the court jester: with slumbering tears
The windows wipers wipe the milky tears from his eyes.
He compete, and achieves victory through deceit
Does a hero cheat, his way to victory?
A hero was never label a bully throughout history
Spiderman, superman , Robin Hood
heroes never confessed their sins
The incredible hulk did a powerful transformation
Restoring international credibility in prime time;
Time after time
A myth is a myth even in the past, present and future.
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