I hope you're aware what you're doin' --
Got a bad feeling you're not
We may be headin' into ruin --
Maybe lookin' at the Doomsday clock
When that end-times gong chimes out,
Who will come to your defense
To say you were roundin' up the cattle
Behind the electrified fence?
I saw death on the installment plan
I saw a Petri dish full of rage
I saw animals eyes in the darkness
I saw the Great Idea in a cage
Still I dream that we'll recover
Someday in the future tense,
And not brand and poke one another
Behind an electrified fence
Electrified fence --
Ain't there no place to turn
All you sinners
May you reconsider
As you feel your hides start to burn
When you're puttin' your love on layaway,
And you pay for it as you go;
When you're tellin' your lover to stay away
'cause you're scared where the heart might go --
Don't be surprised when the bank moves in
And seizes your land and your tents
And you're forced to move in with your animal friends
By the electrified fence
As I stepped out into the morning dew,
the rooster was crowing as roosters will do.
Then I sat down on an old oak log
and down at my feet sat Jeb my old dog.
As the Sun rose up I said to the Lord,
"Thanks for this life even though it seems hard.
Not much in the bank, but I got a house filled with love
and paradise on layaway just waiting above.
Thanks for my wife and the children you gave,
I'll work hard to provide til I lay in my grave.
I'm a simple man who knows his place,
but I feel important when we speak face to face.
Thanks for the time, I know you've plenty to do,
so I'll see you tomorrow on this old oak pew. "
4/13/20
WHITE glistening snow
WHITE dove
DOVE of love
DOVE of purity
PURITY of intention
PURITY of child's innocence
INNOCENCE lost
INNOCENCE price was paid
PAID by charge
PAID by layaway
LAYAWAY in manager
LAYAWAY paid by Child stranger
STRANGER gifted Earth
STRANGER provided worth
WORTH is sung
WORTH is celebrated
CELEBRATED with mistletoe
CELEBRATED with a big bright bow
BOW your knee
BOW the harp
HARP Symbolizing joy
HARP for small boys
BOYS and girls anticipation
BOYS and girls toys, lots of noise
NOISE exuberant
NOISE so jolly
JOLLY with visual holly
JOLLY Santa's jelly belly
BELLY full of cocoa and cookies
BELLY bombs of snowballs
SNOWBALLS hanging from dogs fur
SNOWBALLS melded into Frosty's that once were
WERE we warmed by fireside
WERE we warmed by loves abide
ABIDE in reverence
ABIDE by presence
PRESENCE and presents
PRESENCE and love
LOVE silver bells
LOVE of children swells
SWELLS of memories past
SWELLS of smells that last
LAST gift is opened
LAST guest has left
LEFT to gaze Christmas lights
LEFT to kiss children goodnight
GOODNIGHT Dear Lord
GOODNIGHT illuminated star
STAR so very
FAR
11/30/2017
Remember back when black people were friends because we only
had each other then
Back when we wore butterfly collar shirts platform shoes and mini skirts
when the press and curl was in and wearing a afro was the trend
When Malcolm was necessary and everything necessary was Malcolm
when everything was on layaway and layaway was on time
When Motown was the sound and the Temptations, Smokey and Stevie
were laying it down
When we had hoola hoops and hopscotch with plenty of double dutch
on the block
When black families were united and believed in black power and never
tried to hide it
When the street lights came on and that told you it was time to get home
When all black people had soul because that was something know one
could control
Oh I wish those days would comeback again so I composed this rhyme
to take me back to then
The “forthcoming” backtracks on dilly-dallied whispers.
They place verbal down payments on layaway,
Incomplete soul mates
Running on muted slow dances
Blanketing their pain
“Oh, how I always wished for your lips against my selfless animosity”, said Nobody.
Another decrepit smile
Pandering arrogant Bible verses,
They stroke heartbeats
Made of blood diamond fallacies
Reflecting upon misery with convex eyes,
Companionship denied,
“I’m so glad you stayed”, said Somebody.
Placating vehement touch,
They ache for petulant innocence
To rock them to sleep
Lullabies venture unto unknown certainties,
Lackadaisical clef sharpens ill-fated tomorrows
They make “love” to invisible yesterdays,
Feeding off strenuous caress
Torn, silky dress
Perpetuating restraining orders in duress
Bloodied retinas blink,
Vexed
©Drake J. Eszes
I drink too much
to get your images out of my head
but with no such luck
so i kept drinking instead
and with dread
I'd wake up with no recollection
but still your memory comes
in quite a large collection
I make the selection
to dance my pain away
but still your voices in my head chooses to stay
you had my heart on layaway
because all you men did was skid me
to the point where even I got rid of me
and I pray and I pray and I fight and I fight
with my demons who come at me like seamen
from a rapist I met one night
from lovers who lied
from all negativity
from myself who I once knew
now looking in my mirror with nothing but a fake smile and disgrace
after awhile I don't know my own face
Used and used till my abusers were through
so here I stand
bottle in hand
stumbling
crumbling inside
We'll all die yes..
but some of us already dead
hiding and crying
in a bed that we made
out of anger and self hate
but whose to say how I deal
I once but a meal for people to just feast
now I'm chilling in the tummies of beasts who have ate me.
but from them I conquered now and then
I still do it with a bottle in hand.
You Ain't Gettin Jack!
You wanted my heart, soul
On Layaway...
That ain't gonna get
Jack.
You can't afford the full
Price of Love?
You ain't gonna get little
By little...Jack!
And, uh, just a thought...
How many other Layaways
Are you checking on...?
Mr. Jack be Nimble,
Mr. Jack be Quick,
Fixin to get your ass
Singed
By Love's flaming
Candlestick...
Don't knock, knock, knock...
Cause I'm gone, gone, gone.
Amassed bulging clouds
Dashing enmity fusion,
generously hovering
In jellylike kneaded layaway
Mysterious noir over
Prairies quietly resting
Suddenly trapped under
Vicious wind’s X rated
Yelling zeal.
CarolineCecile - 10.15.12
This Year, Underneath the Tree
By Rick Rucker
This year, underneath the tree,
Presents all around,
But, the one that can’t be found,
The one, that means the most to me,
Your Love, which you give to me, so True,
And I return, in kind,
You are always in my mind,
What else could I do?
My Love, given to you for all my Life,
Seems a very inexpensive Gift,
But, I hope it will, your Spirits, lift,
That is why I have asked you to be my Wife!
Love cannot be bought for pay,
Money does not make it yours,
Those, that try that, are curs,
It comes only layaway!
Installments made on Time,
Like a daily morning Kiss,
It is little things like this,
That make it so Sublime,
After half a hundred years,
If the payments, We have made,
When, to Our Rest, We are laid,
There should be no tears,
You and I will have loved, hard and long,
Together we will be,
On those clouds that appear a Sea,
Having loved each other Strong,
My Life, I give to you, my Love,
Without reservation, or fear,
Always want you to be near,
Until we live in Heaven, Above!
Marble hatched haven communes; helixicly hewn canvas' brushed within
Acidulous acrylics of adumbrated conjectual forms....
Spawn tipped dippings upon the collateral cliffs edging these, layaway hues?!
Deciphered shades in monochrome pitch pigments beneath the jaded jejunes
Manic manifestations, over-looking the colourant gangrene valley below
While as maritime merchants lifted from the pedagogue palettes of
Row your boats....
Climb their municipal born mast in marauds malice from afar
Signaling unto the watchtower through their Socratic spyglass optics
Inceptions intruder, standing tall and coming ashore; red rum....
...."Hurry, someone save the Queen!?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rembrants lost rocking chair moment in, artistic meritime manifestations ~
Note: Smile ~ I thought that I would offer up a bit of hopeful ice-breaking
and light-hearted humour upon this glorious and lovely "New Years Day" ~
Smile ~ "My 'Love & Warmth,' Always," John!:) ~ Ps. "En' Si Viod" ~
I diddn't notice my mother's jewelry she wore
As funeral procession becomes vain bonfire
The mask older becoming amber aspic
As more relics are worn more frequently.
Diamonds are too much for the grocery store,
As amethyst doesn't wear well by day anymore.
Still we have the whole set of pearls
To wear at dying processionals.
I haven't a thing to wear at my funeral.
Let's put it off as long as we can
And I'll keep buying more time.
No layaway though.
I don't like the way that sounds.