Long Joplin Poems

Not too many decades out of college
I finally landed my first full-time job,
as a White House speech writer.

I know,
you would expect
I would not start at the top
and then claw
and grab
and snatch my way to the...

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History's Sad Song (Revised)

throughout my life
I've heard many a sad song
relating to the lyrics
that seemed to play too long

way back during the Crusade
where religious debt was paid
by the bloodlust of so many
could not ye God...

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Splash Bang Reflection


W ~ hen it has hit home with a big splash bang or silent reflection that time

E ~ lapses and fireworks are for the moment and not forever young displays


W ~ here here...

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Crackling tension filled the community hall in Abergavenny 

‘We are in this together dear folks for a pound or a penny’

Speaking of which the loos were situated right behind the bar

To ensure that urinal relief...

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Cadaverous climate controlled cave creature 

(Idea birthed, engendered, and germinated 
from Lombok Indonesia earthquakes
On 5 August 2018, 
a destructive and shallow earthquake
measuring Mw 6.9 
(ML 7.0 according to BMKG) 
struck the island 
of Lombok, Indonesia),
rendering...

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“Freedom is just another word for nothin left to lose.
Feeling good was easy Lord, when he sang the blues” ~ Janis Joplin ~

    Life was filled with laughter.
    ...

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"When I was a kid my dad left me in a bad way .... he was 
in the lives of my sisters and brothers but he wasn't in mine."

      ...

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BRUCE, HOLIDAY OR JOPLIN?

Just another genius junkie
Someone’s master and someone else's flunky
Just another genius junkie, man
Building crosses while cursing the inevitability of a plague
Writers both vehement and anything but vague
Some of them whose rhymes fell...

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My soul understood Lynyrd Skynyrd
Like Ronnie I had monkeys to
Just simple boys chasing life’s joys
With our needles playing our blues

My soul understood Pink Floyd
For I have lived inside the wall
Comfortably numb and ignorantly dumb
Living my...

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Aint Throwin my'self off no bridges
God made the Ocean for the fish

And at the risk of soundin' religious
Suicide wont be gettin' his wish

Sister Mercer, sister Bailey,
Sing me through this

 'Nough Blues in my suitcase
To make...

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Joplin Missouri, May 22, 2011

It came out of the western sky they say
In darkest dark before the morning day
The wind, then rain, then calm, then came the storm
The trees, the cars, the house all in...

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Love jumped up one afternoon
and as I sat reading a book,
she kicking my door in
and took me in a dream wonderland
full of surreal life,
and Salvador Dali was there, painting
and Picasso sat smoking a cigarette,
and thumbing...

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Remember, dancing with the devil
In life will take it's toll
For, dancing with the devil
In the end will take your soul
Many who have done it
Reached the top only to die
Many souls we thought in heaven
Could never...

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It’s coming can’t you feel it
Something, absolutely wrong
They’re preaching greed and hatred
In the lyrics to their song
The precipice we’re perched upon
Hums! like a ticking bomb
As they herald their New Order
Their Future Babylon

Iniquity in every song
They...

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Brick houses gone, wood houses gone
Family histories blown away
No photos or proof of life
2.8 billion dollars worth of damage

Devastation for a mile. 
One house standing, with debris 
Covering every inch of her yard.
2008 Chevy in...

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(Idea engendered from Lombok earthquake: Indonesia)

Nary a chink of illumination pierces thru
thick cavernous rock solid chamber home
     to this crepuscular anchorite,
who spent untold countless chunks of time
holed up deep underground

 ...

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It is with sadness and long remorse
That we entertain this curse of course
It’s most absurd, and that’s the rub
Introducing the twenty seven club

Each decade we see the number grow
And wonder as we see them go
Musicians...

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Rock Stars who died at age 27 and the eerie coincidence that gave rise to some 
 
Jimi Hendrix-Played electric guitar with his teeth and left hand
Ripped through scales, held notes, used flames on stage...

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They were hippies 
and societal dropouts.
Scholars, poets and 
pot smoking draft dodgers.
Civil right activists,
and anti-war protesters.
Patriots and soldiers
fighting an unpopular war.

Relationships were confused
and marriage became open.
Morality lost meaning and
God  was largely forgotten
except to grape...

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I've always been a mellow
type of fellow
Laidback like dem seats
in that Cadillac
Yeah! Real chill like that
sleek '73 Deville
Even as a little boy
the jukebox was my toy
Sweet rhythms of life
abating all ills and strife
A manchild in...

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He started a club, but was completely unaware..
That many would follow, and join his despair.
Robert Johnson the first, was a pioneer of rock..
Poisoned by jealousy his life came to stop.

Another one joined and his name...

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The great Elvis Presley stole the show
When it came to music, fast and slow

Patsy Cline could sing so sweet and fine
Without a doubt, her voice would shine

Hank Williams had a son with his name
Like father,...

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Mom bought records of the classic Disney films; each song
was played again and then again; we all sang along.

Mad Hatter singing he was late, Snow White singing too, 
and seven whistling dwarves kept us from...

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”A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singing
Funny when you're dead how people...

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In Africa you were born 
In deep serenity
To the sounds of mighty drums 
And rhythm’s authenticity.

Stole you from your righteous land
Cut it up like a birthday cake
Gave it back to Anglo hands
But your birth was...

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