Maria’s kiss lit a fuse,
That Thomas never knew he had.
Now the fuse runs fast,
Through the heart of a man gone mad.
Derrick’s death was bitter,
And Thomas’ heart ran sour.
His head was quickly spinning,
As he drove for half an hour.
He made it to the plains,
Where he planned to drop them both,
But his fire turned to frost,
When he heard the cars approach.
“Where you going, stranger,
In such a mighty rush?”
The lawman rudely squinted,
Suspecting beer or drugs.
Thomas drew his Luger —
The officer fell quick.
He hit the cold, hard ground,
As Thomas’ blood ran thick.
Thomas missed the other pigs,
Who saw the nasty crime.
They blew through the windowpane,
And Thomas passed the line.
Nobody deserves death,
But those who play with life.
No one should lose that light,
Until god’s given time.
Born with beauty all over her face
Trim to fit leather and lace
Always attractive with her new looks
Catching her prey with her sexy sharp hooks
Green was the color she held in her purse
Men in suits would burden her curse
Whatever she wanted she got with her sass
And what helped her to get things was her shapely round ass
But all in due time her world came and crashed
Her house and her riches got mangled and mashed
Her ex came out swinging with the law in his hand
The lawman he was made sure she got canned
Thrown behind bars by the lies from his mouth
A Redneck Hill Billie raised in the south
That face of beauty turned fragile and frail
When she finally got out of that filthy slum jail
Battered and broken is now her new look
All from the badge of that Hill Billie crook
She wore a ribbon red as flame,
he carved her secret in his name.
They danced beneath the open skies,
with stars like lanterns in their eyes.
The campfire laughed, the horses swayed,
the fiddles sang while nightbirds prayed.
Their vows were stitched with whispered thread,
"Till death," they swore, "no tears to shed."
But Fortune's wheel turned rough and wild--
the lawman came to claim their child.
A fortune-teller saw too late--
the cards had sealed a crooked fate.
They rode like ghosts through iron rain,
the mountains swallowed up their pain.
Yet dawn betrayed their broken flight--
two shadows fell in dying light.
The caravan still hums their song,
a love too bright, a loss too strong.
And every fire that gypsies light,
still weeps for them across the night.
Some say when midnight paints the skies,
you'll hear their laughter where it lies--
two spirits twirling hand in hand,
forever free across the land.
Contest betwixt us friends had been common,
Who is who? Who, here, is a true lawman?
When two palms trees though compete to grow high,
They do not crush the common plants nearby...!
Don't, yet, serpents raise their hoods in anger?
Don't their pique sounds, like gongs, often, clangor?
Ladder and snake, a game we used to play,
We win, or, lose none ever nothing say...!
It's when we started our major business,
Within us arose, like froze ice, stiffness;
When he grew I fainted and vice versa,
Body ached; heart bound; veins stood like bursa...!
When I won he lost; when he won I lost;
In our functions, yet, both had been one host;
Like beet-root when I shoot he maintains mum,
Like onions, I too empty at his numb...!
20 November 2022
THE CRAP SHOOT #2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: John lawless
A washed-up Bank robber named Big Dale
Tried to rob bank, near county of vale
He didn’t move as quick
Got hit with a stick
Lawman got word, closed fast on his trail
05/03/2022
Contest: High Noon
Sponsor: Joseph May
There once was a tiny wee child who's mum taught what's bad and what's good.
Who grew to be a champion, to right wrongs wherever they could
So when this person was accused, they trusted in their pride.
"I have nothing to fear surely if I've got nothing to hide"
Days did pass, then weeks did, and then they turned to months
But still there was resolve since they'd never faltered once.
Then the lawman said to them, "with charges great like that, this would be dragged out and they'd go crazy as a bat"
This was not the justice that child learned to make, and they'd been taught morality, but also learned to hate.
For that child had a father who taught them cruel and bad, who's teachings they'd forsaken, to be not like their dad.
But backed into a corner, sneered at by those called law, the child died and what was born then threw them on the floor.
Their mangled bodies, their stifled cries, too much for her to take, and now they've made the monster that they always sought to make.
There was a man who was
A giant over his brothers.
He was a fighter not a lover,
Always in a brawl forevermore.
His name was Cain.
And countrywide was his fame.
Everyone knew his name.
Oh, that infamous Cain.
One day he shot the lawman,
And left his wife to mourn.
One son was but a lad.
The other was unborn.
The unborn son wanted vengeance all his life.
He grew to be a loner with no wife.
His constant companion was a gun.
He learned to shoot and always won.
Narrative poem contest Feb. 9, 2020
He took away Cain's life in a bar.
Legend traveled very far.
Every day he thinks of his dad.
The memories, they make him sad.
we sailed to the island, the island, the island
and would stay there evermore
with nothing to read but coconuts
and cocoa berries upon the tree
with no barber, Dennis or lawman
things could ghetto might strange
but we handle a leader (let's call him trumper)
trumper stood higher, and gave a screech
about a returnstile trip to sterilization
we stood up and jeered, Hooray, Hooray
but we be stripwrecked, cousin trumper, said we
what chance are we out in the farsighted lotion
where even the seagirls far outnumber us?
never minding that, he said we'll build a blue one
and us set about chirping down trees
at lust, the crate was finnish
two by two, we crumb aboard
and set snail for big indenture
to scoot for homely bound
but the beauty took on water
and we invaded to another shore
fierce sausages lined the bleachers
farmed with spearmints gone galore
we said our players, it looked like pretend
but the sausages made our breakfast friends!
brer trumper aligned a trick or treaty
the crew lived on believing children for eleventy years
Verse 1
Stranger rode into town,
A stern look on his face,
Gave thought to his grim task,
Sworn duty on his mind and dismounted.
Verse 2
Examined his two six guns,
Moseyed to hotel bench,
At noon stood and with care,
Tied holster to his thigh and reflected.
Verse 3
In saloon spoke a name,
Outlaw threw down his drink,
Knew why stranger was there,
Each drew down, guns blazing, unabated.
Verse 4
Fight was o’er in a blink,
Outlaw dead on the floor,
Stranger left the saloon,
Went over to his horse and remounted.
Verse 5
Rode from town at full trot,
Same way that he came in,
Town knew why he had come,
His tin badge told the truth, deputized.
When bad guys came through causing strife
in Mayberry, fraidy-cat Fife,
the lawman who never
was dauntless and clever,
could not catch them to save his life.
Huge blunders caused people to mock
and point at this town’s laughing stock.
Still, this scrawny fellow,
whose back wore a yellow
streak, boasted. His claims were a crock.
The title is my favorite Barney-ism.
Don Knotts's leaving The Andy Griffith Show crippled it
February 10, 2019. entered in Joseph May's Limerick IV Contest
Placed 3rd
The old lawman sits
And surveys the scene
Always one to see detail
He raises the cup and sips
The hot coffee his companion
No more to wear the uniform
Or carry the gun in his hip
But there are still the stories
He tells about some other days
When men were men
And women loved them for it.
© Paul Warren Poetry
An old lawman sits at the bar
And raises his glass just so far
Enough to take a sip of his favourite drink
He was sitting there drinking with time to think
The hair is grey and his years are long
But his eyes are still clear and strong
And he is waiting for his mate
They will talk of times that were great
You see yarping is what’s left now
Telling tales and war stories showing how
They always won on their day
When criminals never got away.
© Paul Warren Poetry
Evil Olive was cruel and vile to her employee Anna
She forced her to stack cats which had died
Anna was distraught and wanted to leave
Damm It I'm Mad to work here poor Anna cried
Madam, I’m going to walk out of the door
Anna’s face grew redder as she shed a tear
She said I won’t step on no pets any more
Anyone would think the devil lived here!
At noon a lawman arrived in his racecar
He asked Olive, was it a cat I saw?
Don’t nod ... you’ve been on our radar
As my gym is in the building next door!
You’ve been caught, wow, I’ve got the stats
I’ll refer this sad case on to my boss Bob
It’s a top spot to find the missing cats
I’m on the level Olive; you’re out of a job!
Fiction write - no cats were harmed in the creation of this poem...
Palindrome Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May
5/11/18
He was a straight-laced lawman,
who went strictly by the book
Before he took any criminal gunsmoke down,
he would give them
his best Marshall Dillon righteous look
Said he would always give them a fair trial
Just one of the rules his daddy lawman taught him
He could still hear the words
echoing from yesteryear ...
no matter how many bullets he took:
A good cop is always obligated
to try to save a crook
His granddaddy said it was the humane thing to do
He was a fourth generation tin star,
a badge of honor held in high esteem
by his family
Many a county folk said,
he was the best lawman to come down the line
Had the fastest gun
this side of great grand’s lightning moonshine
And with the coming sunset legacy,
he heard all the retirement tales —
Even the fastest draw
has to slow down at some point,
and rest a spell
So he patted his son on the back,
and passed the Colt 45 revolver baton
The fifth finger on the hand,
raised rightly
to be the next family lawman
I'm a policeman and I've been shot.
I want to survive but sadly, I may not.
I'm in a lot of pain as I'm lying on the ground and bleeding.
This happened because I pulled a man over for speeding.
The lousy punk had a bag of cocaine sitting on his back seat.
It looks like The Lord is somebody who I'm about to meet.
I'm probably going to die because of that punk's crime.
I called for an ambulance but it may not arrive in time.
I've been honor bound to protect and serve.
This isn't something that a lawman deserves.
That punk took off in his car but he won't get away.
I may die but another officer will catch him and he will pay.
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