The small experience gave color
to a clouded evening
of tedious bread, eggs,
orange juice, purchases,
and responsibilities.
The church bells
are not chiming
outside this song
and a fly isn’t mocking
my sincerity.
“The grass is
greener”
on your side
of the train track
where there is less trash,
crumpled beer cans,
and your sunset
has more colors.
“There was a ragged man
who followed in our
footsteps,”
but I am sprinting
toes to heel
on the cement clouds
overhead.
Gravity shakes her tired head.
When it's flopping time for Floyd,
Anywhere there is a void,
Is where you will find Floyd,
And as a dogs life is something
Floyd cannot avoid,
It is an act of kindness by those who Love Floyd,
To avoid,
Asking Floyd,
To move to another void,
Leaving Floyd to be Floyd.
Borrow songs Poetry Contest
1/21/2026
Sponsored by: Fire Bird
In the gentle pulse of a distant guitar,
a voice drifts, half-remembered, half-alive.
White walls and silent corridors,
where thoughts flicker like old fluorescent lights.
A question asked—are you listening;
are you somewhere between here and the dream?
The world outside blurs at the edges,
a hush falls over memory.
Hands reach, but sensation is muted,
as if wrapped in fog or faded cloth.
There is comfort in the numbness,
a velvet ache that soothes without healing.
Stories echo—childhood fever, distant voices,
a doctor’s silhouette at the bedside.
The notes stretch, unraveling, filling space,
hovering above the weight of flesh and mind.
Each chord a gentle descent,
spiraling inward, away from the pain.
Light shines through half-closed eyes,
soft and indifferent.
The question returns—
is this relief, or surrender?
The music persists,
carrying fragments of hope and resignation.
A threshold discovered, not crossed,
where presence is a gentle hum.
Here in the quiet, the song lingers—
not a cure, but a balm,
leaving you peacefully, comfortably numb.
As the ethereal guitar mesmerises
My soul responds
As if I dipped into a melodic bath
Of perfectly curated
Lovingly tempered
Heart massaging
Candle flickering
Water
A fragrant tune invades
My nostrils
Flaring as the warm
Moistened air tumbles by
The world merges into
Perfection
Harmony
Stirring
The resonance
Of childhood memory
Percolating through the mist
As sliding strings
Caress my ears
My mind drifting
Towards that past
Safer place
Yet this mesmerising medication
This tuneful tumult quelling
Perfect prescription
Is deeply welcome
Somewhere in my gut
My true being
Soothed as we surrender
To this soulful sabbath
May you never grow old
At the joyful table
Where your soul dines
Hear the whispers
Of the small pleasures
Taste the fermented flavours
Of the ordinary delights
Using all your available senses
When the music plays
To transport you
Run to catch the moment
Soak in the vapour
Embibe the elixir
Breathe it all in deeply
Holding in gratitude
Each heavenly moment
Four years before George Floyd met death
Tony Timpa drew his last breath
A cop pressed a knee into his back too
Tony cried warnings, the warnings were true.
Tony was white, George was black
A knee in Tony's back wasn't a racist attack
In neither case, was killing sought
It was a bad police tactic, that cops were taught.
If we talk of George Floyd also recall David Dorn
When protests erupted, then riots were born
You can cry "no justice, no peace'
But a looter shot David, made his life cease.
David, a black man, was trying to protect a store
That too is a story we should not ignore
To some, black lives matter only if the story resonates
So many other stories buried in these United States.
Don't just care when the outrage aligns,
Think of the lives falling between the lines.
Racial tension and Floyd
A picture of a committee in defense of human right a picture where serious white man and a woman in a business suit and to black persons This was serious business no one smile except the two black persons that spoiled the gravity of the solemn undertaking
Most black people I have met were like me from a working stiff background I was employed on ships they were mostly onloading cargo from the said, ships, they appeared more open, talkative then us Scandinavians, we don’t say much unless we are drunk in a bar
there was an unspoken racial barrier that made a man whose lowly job was to oil the engine feel racially superior; this was daft as the oiler had more in common with black people than he realized as we both suffered from segregation by those who wore suits working in an office
In America, with her many racial problems, we tended to side with the oppressed black people we had not noticed politics had entered into the fray; let to a man called Floyd, was killed by a cop who had trained for riot control in Israel Floyd, an addict, was not a person to look up to
("Gravity's Rainbow", 2017, original encaustic)
The Endless River Flows
Everywhere sheep being led to slaughter
Everywhere the innocent seduced
Everywhere someone crying
While another looking up
Into open skies
As unspoken questions arise unbidden
These are the times of change and revelation
As demons are given form
To be confronted
As closets empty into streets
Overflowing
With the blessing of abundant matter
As everyone struggles to find what matters
Everyone, tempted at least,
To make manifest
Their wildest dream or
Darkest fantasy
Or secret wish of beauty
Who are you if not me
And me you
One for all and all for one
Even when we remain clueless
As those with vision
See and speak, chant and whirl
Have you ever wondered how, where, why
Mobius came up with his infinite strip
Or Escher his simultaneously
Ascending descending stairs
Giving us a path
For endless fervent pacing
Have you ever wondered why we dream
And how we can do it so well
Making worlds more vivid
Than the ones we don’t
Have you ever loved
Without reason
Without direction
Without any sense
Of accomplishing
(10/24/23)
September 1999
Floyd made his landfall
right here on our tropical isle
at category four strength
on the Saffir - Simpson scale
The winds which came
out of his mouth
were so strong that he had blown away
the rooftops off all the houses
hotels and coconut trees
like lighted candles on top
of a child's birthday cake
His ferocious thirst of water
made him perspire his sweat
from among his cloudy body
which created additional ocean bodies upon our land
the sounds of his thunderous voice
was as loud as a juke box
no electricity, no showers
no phone calls
no viewing of new favorite cartoon episodes
The saddest part about Floyd's visit
which will never be forgotten
where he ruined the celebration
of the first half dozen years of my life
but he was gifted with first piece of cake
upon his departure
On Floyd
Riots unleashed, arson, looting and destruction.
You officers of law mindful of your job
Are you aware of what you have done?
You judged and executed not your duty
But a human life.
Is that ‘bill’ more precious than breath
You constricted so brutally?
Were you so inhuman not to see him struggle
For his life?
You are no better than a beast
Officer of the Law.
You heard the protest of one man
Now, you have thousands screaming for your blood.
The breath of a close friend.
Awakens my soul in the hour of rest.
Your good memories will live on.
But I will stay with you and pray.
The tiring years are gone.
Every day. Dawn is a tremor.
It rains all the time since you left.
I sit here, away from the sun.
With the thick rain covering my whole body.
And slowly flooding my soul.
And in my heart, a thick chill.
But I don't see calmness inside the dark cloud.
Just the shadow of long despair.
Alone at night, with that familiar voice.
And then... a sudden pause.
A long pause, which slowly turns into hope.
And hope ... turning into eerie silence.
I wish to be your comforter.
Legend of goat man of pop lick trestle
prominent in the stories of mountain folk
blue grass anomaly seen by a few
chilling bluegrass spotters who become hypnotized
some local hillbillies affected jump off the trestle
landing a hundred feet below on sharp gravel
terrifying to passengers of oncoming train
he uses voice mimicry to lure many to their deaths
common story in floyd, Kentucky
known by few newcomers or interlopers
shared by old timers in hushed whispers
waitress listens and rolls her eyes at their tale
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
The sad thing is that people are getting hurt,
The environment statues are being treated like dirt.
We must find a better way to resolve this situation,
And do this across all nations.
The day George Floyd died,
People realised,
A way to stop racism is what we must decide.
There will be few fights,
We need to give black people their rights.
People thinking this isn’t bad are terrible liars,
Bodies of black people burning in fire.
I wish none of this would have happened,
Think how better it would be, just imagine.
When George Floyd died, people began to say,
Black Lives Matter either way,
If we stop racism soon,
We would all be content with none of this on the news.
I had him reserved superb name
Simply to awaken the flame:
Grey Floyd proclaim “Never to fall”
This saying in Reception Hall
For Praised Artists’ Exhibition
That should address Inhibition
A crime make of Prohibition
And quite ignite The Ambition
“Yeah, I have seen all of Floyd’s Art
And could bet they would feel a cart!”
My homage where Artists gathered
Plus ‘Famous’ who had him fathered:
The Ever Loved for a Sculpture
Of Busy-With-Carrion Vulture…
But Floyd was just good At Graphics,
To many Familiar Efik:
Much cheaper than Hieroglyphics
Unlike Difficult Ceramics;
It’s A Floyd who might resign
With a ban on Graphic Design…
Then, he should self urge to spread out
As this wouldn’t mean rules does flout:
I’ll be waiting to the more shout
Floyd grant The Salute of A Scout.
Don't get me wrong.
He didn't deserve to die... like that...
Under an eight-minute nonchalant knee.
In full panic mode, crying out for his mamma.....
But he doesn't deserve a statue either.
I mean, what kind of angel holds a gun to a pregnant woman's belly?
(I wonder if her fear reached the level of his).
Please don't dumb down our real martyrs....
Leave Honest Abe alone.
After all, he took a bullet to the soul, for the cause-
The Killing of Floyd
So, the policeman who Killed Floyd by pressing his
knee on his neck, the sentence was murder, but was it?
The police officer accidentally killed Floyd as he was trained to do.
The why police are learning their dubious craft has to come
into focus, the whole police department has to be scrutinized,
and the new “servants” of the people must be accentuated.
To concentrate on one man who is insensitive and stupid does
Not solve the problem of the American police.
First of all, the poorly trained officer must understand a gun
It is not for shooting people who are fleeing, but the weapon is a defence
Only used when attacked directly.
I cannot understand why a single police officer has to bear
The burden of guilt that is pervasive in the American society
is by its nature, overly fascistic and too dependent on the GUN.
The victory (political) can be a pyrrhic one if some people can disregard
Law and order.
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