I live around
people
who fail
to communicate
their big
emotions
and walk on
eggshells.
There are
so many
other things
for them to
fix and heal,
such as
their own
mental health.
Perhaps
my light
is why
I am mostly
happy and
my parents
are so
spiritually
unwell.
groovy graying grateful ghost
happy Halloween party’s healthy host
he was humble, did not boast
in truth, we all liked him the most
out of a ditch climbed an ugly witch
this party went on without a pause or hitch
Greedy gremlins danced swishing a switch
I ended up with a giant gremlin named Mitch
cutting in was a gigantic green ghoul
I do not dance with them as a rule
But this one I recognized from grade school
He told me he’d always considered me a jewel
In a bit I saw a carved pumpkin, Jack
I knew him from his carved hump back
Sorry I said to the vampire named Mack
I handed him a discarded trick-or-treat sack
Arriving now was Heather, the Halloween queen
prettiest October faerie I’d ever seen
She was warm and friendly, not at all mean
She did not put on airs, primp or preen
Best Halloween queen ever I said, giving her a toast.
She surely is! Added our groovy graying grateful host.
To observe once is a blessing.
To observe twice, doubly more.
Thrice is pushing your luck too far,
and four times is much too much;
Much, too much to
mourn.
Four times is worse,
four times a curse,
four times so clever in
view and in pleasure.
The fourth time you see
the way things truly are:
the syrup dripping from
the table in such a perfect
pile.
Copacetic in nature,
sweet, sweet denial.
The fourth time you’ll know,
in body and soul, that you’ve
been given a pretty thing only
for it to be taken away.
White Space
In perturbed silence, I sat
with music dancing in my ears
within a blank and bare room
solitude quieting the mind
against ever racing thoughts.
I dipped my head, eyes blinded
by a false sun, gazing upon
echoes of now forgotten names
scribbled in layers upon eachother
their owners now far away
from where I now sat.
Sitting there, I wondered
if they sat as I did,
panicking over tests and essays
scribbling their names in stressed fervor
so no one forgot those who struggled before.
The thought crossed my mind
to add my name to the web of echoes
etched into the wood, to be observed
years after I've walked the stage
moving onto ‘greener’ pastures.
but it was not time for that just yet
the book infront of me instead
drawing me away from reality once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
maple leaves hemorrhage onto the pavement
hurried commuters wear wool coats
squirrels dash about, burying acorns
metallic tang of dying light
decay clotting the sky’s vein.
I pocket pecans, hard and cold.
frost fingerprints the morning grass
geese stitch southward through the clouds
gold leaves turn to gangrene
Hershey’s kisses wrappers blow against gravestones
October's blusteriness arrives:
a handwritten sky smudged gray.
earth exhales: damp soil, crushed leaves.
October dying beautifully.
The grass waved hello
the birds called back.
Telegraph poles stood still
like tall slender trees.
the birds liked that.
the crickets a constant tickle in the ear,
swathes of brown grass bouncing back after drought,
three troughs haphazard on a patch without
any grass. Bare dark earth.
the raven makes its cry
under a bright grey sky,
on a swampy, sweaty day .
my dog companion at my feet
"Come on then, let's go home."
Sinkhole Sally liked to swallow cars
Slurp them down in front of bars
People would wander out on a Saturday night
Watching their cars disappear; what a sight!
She did not receive many hardy har hars
People get extremely angry about their cars
Except the ones who spend lots of times in bars
They sometimes jump in Sally behind their cars
My lot in eternity is to forever gather dust.
And I agree.
For the way I lived my life, that's probably just.
But I'd so hoped for a task
were at least part of the ask
was to do something fruitful with the excess of my lust.
I asked this whiz of divinity,
"What's heaven like for infinity?"
He said, "Each day, we adore the Lord,
as we partake of His smorgasbord,
then hang with the Holy Trinity.
Dreams of troubled people are troubled
Those of calm people are calm
Intensity of both types often doubled
~ There is no magic balm
The baby in the check-out line was the only one smiling.
The cage free eggs and the free-range eggs met at a boundaries workshop.
The lone golf course Goose struggled to get out of the sand trap.
In a distant frozen corn field the crows snuggled with the scarecrow.
The sideline Squirrels puffed their tails and chanted: “GO NUTS! GO NUTS!”.
The “Elves on the Shelfs” union filed a class action suit.
On Share a Gift Day Timmy brought diapers for the Baby Jesus.
Joe Biden has Mistletoe in his back pocket…you figure it out.
The Global Warming Coalition canceled its demonstration…it was too cold out.
Turtles that washed ashore on Martha’s Vineyard got the same treatment as the illegal aliens.
A large group of Christmas carolers was arrested for disturbing the peace.
Like hard, dry toast, with no aroma,
Poetry minus heart and soul, puts me in
an endless coma!
My brain short circuits, the longer the poem!
I get a poetic seizure and my mind
is lost and endlessly roams.
Then come the poets, who are would-be
philosophers!
As fascinating, and exciting as wooden bean
counters.
Finally, those poets, who think the divine
Thesaurus, makes a poem a dream?
I sit here, in agonizing tears and do a
howling scream!
11/12/2024
Quite a meditation to think
how man evolves, his way of
thinking, a little harmless egg
into a viper...a once proud
Democrat into a
Marxist Snake -- JFK turning
over in his grave.
Racism seems to be a deeper
infection in those that vociferously
oppose it
A contrary
species mankind is -- public servants
who serve self before God and country
Hollywood cheers, they are their
own deity -- Queen of naive hearts
gave away cars for social anointing --
King of bitter hearts, sold
his soul for the delusion of absolute
power --
Royal Flush, the Devil wins.
warhol's marilyn had everything
but just a flaw...
she was ever so unsure
hopper's lady
of the empy chair...
with such sadness in her stare
michelangelo's girl
..less a picture of sleep
more of piety and grief
whistler ..his ma's own dear butterfly..
but made her more famous..in reply
seurat's lady's gaze ..disppears into the haze
...did seurat miss the point
watteau's black beauty in chalk
red,black and white..
to fill us with delight
leighton's languishing lady ..all admire
her eye filled with such desire
unintelligible whispers ~ cause the weirdest reverberations
it sounds too good to be true ~ is a noisy misinterpretation
a chameleon in a flawed mirror ~ kissed it’s own aberration
the pot overheard the kettle whistle ~ a steamy admiration
a little magnetism is good ~ too much will bring polarisation
i put these monokus together ~ with mostly misinformation
By David Kavanagh
hms
Do you see many snacks on the counter?
Perhaps the homeowner eats many,
and the snacks you see were set out yesterday
to be gone tomorrow.
Perhaps the homeowner does not eat them at all,
and the snacks you see were a gift,
or an ill-considered purchase.
We will always judge,
but let us not be too hasty in our conclusions.
13 July 2023
P.S. How many weeks will it take for me to get through the pretzel sticks and tortilla chips on my counter? I have no idea, but I imagine some of them will still be around in September :)
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