Long Tolbert Poems

waiting

there were oatmeal cookies on the counter.
only three left
of the dozen she made just before the pot on the stove moaned,
weeping
that her coffee was done.

dark and bitter, sugarless
and of course no cream
to embezzle the deep...

Read More

everybody’s dying 

 everybody’s dying, everybody’s dying 
 in this world we call insane 
 and nobody knows it,  
‘cause it’s part of the game 
  
 and there is no resurrection 
...

Read More

straight talkin’ whiskered man  
                  one stop 33

i walked into the bar room
just to hear the sound
pulled...

Read More

song of the mattress


 she slept, wrinkled and small
 on satin sheets, a band-aide covering her mattress,
 knees tucked tightly beneath her chin
 and legs pressed against her breasts
 as if waiting for a gigantic...

Read More

encounter on pier 39


 she sat inaudibly alone on pier thirty-nine

 watching colorful sail boats go lazily by

 i didn’t know her name but she was a friend of mine

 and it hurt so badly to see her cry



 with...

Read More

she

she walked along the silken shore
crocheting thoughts and even more
morning could not unravel her
men’s lustful eyes freely traveled her

she cleaned the windows of my soul

laying together between satin sheets
she took my life and rhymed for...

Read More

white punctuation


where did the minutes go?

we held hands and laughed at nothing
because nothing mattered
as we traveled into the safeguard of night

darkness was a friend
dressing us like a single wool blanket 
pulling us together at the...

Read More

It's been twenty (20) years going on forever since I'd been bullied around. It seemed that this devastating event would never go away;  it was going to haunt me for the rest of my...

Read More

swan song
.
you made my world bigger
then smaller
then so large 
i did not know east from west
as i stood so alone 
in the middle of desire 
and that proverbial non-place…
wantonness
.
i showed you boats on the water
and...

Read More

hannah’s song

with cotton clouds above her
and yellow daisies at her feet
she danced to a quiet sonnet
of freedom

hands outstretched 
and palms towards the heavens
her blonde hair flowed 
like summer showers
as she watched waving daisies
swaying, dancing
to the...

Read More

madrid in springtime


i have never seen madrid in the springtime
i have never seen madrid at all

does the sun rise differently in madrid
than in san francisco
on those rare city days when there is no fog
nor wind...

Read More

th’ dust never really settled



th’ dust never really settled

on those backroads of virginia

yesterday past



and though times were rough

and winter brought only snow and cold

there was still a warmth

in th’ house heated only by kerosene lamps

and...

Read More

one trick pony

the man was too corpulent to dress in lime green and lemon yellow
yet it was his colored grapefruit vest that identified him with the ponies

sometimes a man does what he must  
there...

Read More

streams of mud


we played in shallow streams of muck
where there was no black, no white
we were all mud-packed kids
crusty-skinned little boys who knew the sludge would wash away
when we dipped into the stream
and splashed one...

Read More

ms. deborah digges

ms. deborah digges died today
plunged to the earth and they found her that way
she took her complex thoughts of simplicity

and buried them in the soil of the university

i suppose like most who take...

Read More

naked mattress

 the naked mattress seemed more abandoned
 than on nights gone by
 when european percale sheets
 lifted like a kite from the corners
 as though they had somewhere to go
 and struggled passionately to...

Read More

prayer from a tired world
 
 He pulled His net from the choppy sea
 looked and found there were no fish to share
 so He walked to the shadow of an old olive tree
 fell...

Read More

sylvia

***this concerns several books I once owned.
Some were written by Rod McKuen, others by
Richard Brautigan, others by others…***

i discovered that words are  
like some decadent dessert
too small to cause harm but too big 
to...

Read More

i lost you somewhere in the fog

i lost you somewhere in the fog
tuesday, the day we shared apple pie and coffee

i knew by the way you swallowed your words
and politely wiped the punctuation with your...

Read More

 proud to be an american (in jest)
 
 i saw the mailman steal my letter
 i saw the tax man steal my dime
 just when i thought things were better
 i saw the preacher...

Read More

carmel morning

was it morning 
or the touch of your skin against mine 
that reminded me of yesterday 
in carmel 

sidewalk cafés and coffee clouds 
sounds of daylight peeling back last night’s sunset 
packing it away...

Read More

crystal


she held me captive with her fingers
nails rhythmically tapping on sand-colored stone
like a general marching to war
ready to go but wanting to stay

with my eyes i could taste her sumptuous lips 
swallowing words was easy...

Read More

tin cup music

life’s story was etched on her face
carved with pocket-knife memories
rubbed in with grammar school erasers
and colored like heavy wet fog
on a stinson beach winter’s morning
.
smiles were kept tucked in her pocket
until a coin...

Read More

morning was sadder than april


 he looked at his clock and calendar at the same time
 then glanced back at april before it ended
 and ahead to may before it had begun.
 
 there were...

Read More

tuesday morning laundry
.
he had waded out into the waters
del mar in the morning was quiet
and he certainly was not on the sea of galilee
.
he had a pole in his hand
and stood quietly still before the...

Read More