In swim trunks, the balls were out.
Each one scored a mighty shout.
digressed to a maul,
in a beachside brawl
Winners were in serious doubt.
I wonder, Little Eddie, hypnotized,
can it be true you felt no pain at all?
Ten years of age, a figure formed too small,
and that poor Roadster, a gift you so prized…
How could your brother have so despised
your car? to pop its tires,—and on the wall—
smash it, scratch it, do everything to maul
that toy.—Is it true, you weren’t agonized?
Though Harry promised hypnotism,?he quickly realized, putting you in trances,
that he could trash you—as he had your car.
and soon, he stuck mom’s hat pin way too far.—
To cover up his tracks, he took his chances—
his lie: epileptic paroxysm.
(to Peter Straub)
A tyrant, though he’s feared, he also fears:
A symmetry of horror unites them all.
Unleashed, a dragon that forever nears,
And he, as all the rest, it soon may maul.
A tyrant rides a tiger, yet he knows
It is not love that keeps him in that place;
And that which comes, it just as swiftly goes;
The claws of retribution can he face.
A tyrant may have had a better course
In selling shirts upon a dusty street;
Immersed in simple love, and not in force,
With friends around him, children at his feet.
The vacant glamor of a wretched life,
Forever fearing for a sudden knife.
Most hyenas are not predictable but Squirrely was the weirdest of all
So strange, he was thrown out of the pack when he was a cub
He’s just so unusually and blatantly odd, said his sister, Maul
Squirrely is beyond the realm of fantasy said his brother Chub
They did not like his smile and his laugh bordered on the insane.
He gallops around like a goat, a donkey, a llama and a horse
He had hair so messy, it was brushy too like a lion’s mane
His family did not like him, but his grandma took him in of course.
Squirrely had a marvelous life with his loving Gran.
Until she died and went to the promised land.
.
thuh
vernal equinox
alive
unto mine bombastic see
arrived
pristine
off
wit
thuh
wool
thuh itch
scratch
maul
uv it
take it
off
A drop of summer, pleasing--over there
I thought it wanted me, no want of ground
but want of me, instead a pleasant sound
of birds merging and darting thoroughfare
seemingly clueless of their doing-dare
o'er crowds busy about, looking spellbound
course to escape amiss ahead turned round
to freedom with the banners released to air.
In the opened venues queues roundabout
every which way as the buying frenzy
curtailed from end to pass the noontime lunch
crowd slowing and going but caterers doubt
that the dinner crowd will be as lengthy
till gathering increased, gave them a hunch.
Enchanting eyes.
So brown like autumn leaves.
Mesmerizing smile.
Fairer than snowflakes.
Beguiled by my delusion of what you are.
Painted the picture so perfect.
One's gaze has to be through my eyes.
Portrait so perfect.
I tucked its sharp ends away.
They prick me.
And each cut pierces my soul
With your baneful caress
You make it all better
I submerse deeper each day
To your treachery
Your covetousness, feign so patent they cram me
But again, you plant qualm
And I end up dubious of my sanity
Shifting blame to my imagination
Only one to make me laugh
Without uttering a word
You know just the buttons
Peculiar acrimony
So calamitous yet so inimitable
You are a part of me
I am part of you
Imprisoned by words
Actions dancing to a different tune
Trapped in fiction
Enforced to overlook
Your ills, I am weary
But again, with your crooked claws
You pull me nigh
Maul away all my trepidation
And I, gently reach out for your embrace.
A door made from the haphazard weaving
of wood, rust, and ivy.
Smudged newspapers flap their wings
in a wayward wind. Bird feathers
emerge from wet claw prints. Faded condoms
spill to feed the mouths of empty cans.
The garden has no house,
rubble and broken verges limn a floorplan.
Weeds grapple, roots maul residual slabs of concrete.
Black bags regurgitate desiccated bacon rinds.
A boy finds treasures,
a nickel can opener,
a pen with a lady, whose clothes fall off
when turned upside-down,
a dog-chewed superman doll.
That night with dreaming eyes
he flew over the city with a half-naked lady.
while a can-opener
slowly opened up his adulthood.
when in the parlor
should see Christmas squalor
grow taller and taller
while really on a roll
Christas tree was full of coal
all my gifts Santa stole
when college scholar
who would receive a caller
head stuck in huge howler
when receiving shawl
for Christmas from shopping maul
stuck it in shower stall
for Christmas God came
forgot His fortune and fame
they gave me the blame
when on face saw some scowls
God with Him had brought His owls
would need towels for my bowels
God should always spoil
my pants He did see me soil
when I was on a roll
(my role was rock and roll)
(give out grunt was my goal)
God would make a stream
become part of drastic dream
Christas gifts will redeem
God made my fire flame
He even gave me my name
from my mother came
(with me played name game)
(my Terrier came to tame)
now for an encore
cold see ship crash into shore
not around anymore
when in the parlor
should see Christmas squalor
grow taller and taller
while really on a roll
Christas tree was full of coal
all my gifts Santa stole
when college scholar
who would receive a caller
head stuck in huge howler
when receiving shawl
for Christmas from shopping maul
stuck it in shower stall
for Christmas God came
forgot His fortune and fame
they gave me the blame
when on face saw some scowls
God with Him had brought His owls
would need towels for my bowels
God should always spoil
my pants He did see me soil
when I was on a roll
(my role was rock and roll)
(give out grunt was my goal)
God would make a stream
become part of drastic dream
Christas gifts will redeem
God made my fire flame
He even gave me my name
from my mother came
(with me played name game)
(my Terrier came to tame)
now for an encore
cold see ship crash into shore
not around anymore
Grab up some pine I cut up last weekend,
back creaks as I put it up on the block,
splitting maul flashes, in an arc descends,
sinks deep in the wood with a meaty THWOCK.
Logs splinter off, tumble across brown grass,
coated in saw-dust from the chainsaw's blade,
small bits for kindling, they catch flame fast,
mix with bacon grease, fire-starters made.
Rack up the big stuff in a woody wall,
looks like a redoubt from the frontier days,
it seems like a lot, but we’ll burn it all,
when the snow comes here, it does come to stay.
Clean out the camp stove before frost sets deep,
nothing feels warmer than wood-fired heat.
the news breaks
the world breaks down
the sky screams savagely
the war dogs maul mercilessly
the raging rubble bounces bitterly
the apocalyptic horses gallop giddily
the rotten roof caves in catastrophically
BEAST
Bold and bruising, bursting forth to attack
Everyone’s enemy, ever the worst of all
An angry animal hunting, just for a snack
So sentient, sensing the right time to maul
Talons tearing with a loud and terrible call
As the Hedgehog is known for its hedge
It seems he is known for his edge
As he drives in the tip of the wedge
Whether swinging a ball peen or sledge
He will maul you with words aptly lurid
Setting traps that are complexly florid
Hit the gas, double clutch, and then floor it
Leave you lusting for metaphors torrid
Then on a whim he will dip his pen
And commit the poetic original sin
Of writing so tight it almost sounds trite
Shakespearian screamers awake in the night
And yes, he will dare, to twice poke the bear
Baring his heart though no one will care
Are his words stealthy demons bred of his fear
That might let you in, but won’t let you near
Thus, does he stand on the edge of the edge
His view a blank page on which he must fledge
John G. Lawless
©5/19/2023
I pull...tear my heartstrings
Rip and maul like a wild beast
Why, oh why do I do this
Why does love never stay
I treat love so divine
I give the elusive goddess the sweetest creams
The ripest fruits and the clearest waters
All my longing is hers
All my songs and poems and sonnets
I write and write and write and yet it is futile
How much does this cruel goddess want
Aphrodite, I yell,
Aphrodite, I scream
Aphrodite, I howl, I bark, and cry, and whisper, and croon
And I kneel and say,
Aphrodite
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