Raggedy Army
As morning bathes in spring sunshine
A raggedy army stands in line.
Unkempt and ragtag, oddly sized,
Unarranged, disorganised.
Red, a splash among the grey
A new parade at dawn each day.
Some heads drooping, some held high,
A handful gazing at the sky.
Fresh and bright to start the morning,
Most won’t see a new day’s dawning.
In summer’s heat, the same routine -
A new head where an old had been.
In autumn’s fading dying light
A hardy few keep up the fight.
But then to hide in winter’s snow,
Till spring’s warmth says it’s time to show.
And bursting forth and standing proud,
Though scattered, battered, thrashed and ploughed
The raggedy army stands again
Eternal homage to fallen men.
In the blithe breeze
A baby’s hand opens to the light.
In a daze, the radiant blaze, towering flower
arching toward the golden solar rays.
In a time-lapsing daydream, it rises, stretches
and unfurls, soaking in and beckoning the sultry Sol,
the simmering summer Sol.
No wonder it is seen as good luck.
First conceived in childish crayon,
It bears the ragged, jagged edges
of toddler joy, of a blunt golden celebration.
Clutch it to one’s chest,
the Raggedy Ann blossom,
the perennial of laughter and glee,
great daisy pregnant with seed!
A brand new doll, with braids and freckled face,
was tossed aside, left caged, with plastic bars.
She eyed the blue-eyed spat with no embrace.
Though box was dinged, she’d not receive sad scars.
Ann’s clean though tossed in attic space; it’s dark.
It’s not how she’d imagined play; she’s bored.
Alone and lost without a friend - trademark
and popularity, boxed in cardboard.
One day the sun blazes, a blinding hue.
Stirred doll doesn’t know how long she’s been around.
Ann’s brought downstairs, unwrapped..she’s awed…she’s new.
A hug of excitement, for she’s been found.
Her girl gives her a rocker and a bed.
The kindest soul with freckles, hair deep-red.
I was a Tomboy to the core,
Went to Kindergarten – hoping for more
Than merely dolls and tea sets but some things
Like cars and trucks, airplanes with wings
All the things that make a boy’s heart sing
Also brought me to dreaming of every good thing
Despite the tomboy who lives inside this lass,
When I entered the kindergarten class
I was met with a doll, Raggedy Ann - while
This new teacher, with her kindest smile
Offered me Ms. Raggedy – I accepted her
Despite the thoughts that came in such a blur
This is mutiny, revolution… this could create
A uprising in my soul, but patient, I’d wait…
Ms. Raggedy, once I’d secreted her beneath
My desk - I realized that, once lost, I’d bequeath
Her to my friend – since then, I’ve decided to become
A poem writer – writing about the lost doll who would overcome
The tomboy who had won her as a trading tool
This lost doll who she’d market became the best in school!
I have raggedy
shoes with a long tongue yet my
shoes don't speak none their
~
silent souls searching
for something to say this day
as the latchets tied
~
in the marathon
race came in last place to place
these shoes don't speak none
Loopy
Lonely
Goofy
Droopy
Raggedy Ann doll long forgotten
Dirty, discarded, alone, forlorn.
Goodbye.
Alone, and sad. He swings.
Fearing a future, dreading his past.
What comes next? What happened?
His eyes full of a thousand years worth of the pain of loss.
Hands knitted together, one grasping the other.
Feet dangling helplessly inches above the ground.
His mind races
Everything else around him slows to a stop and fades to nothing.
That one moment, that changed everything
Eats him alive from the inside out.
Why did it have to be this way?
What could he have done to stop it?
Would it have even mattered?
He could save the world, and solve any problem.
But, is it worth it? When he can’t save himself?
Raggedy Mules
Ghosts of the past
on their raggedy mules,
Clichéd and typecast
as infidels and fools,
Travelling nearby
in their caravans of woe
And in the blink of an eye
know what we know.
All that we fear
and all that we yearn,
They see and hear
as they twist and turn,
Through love and hate,
beyond life or death,
The journey of fate
lies on laboured breath.
On a wing and a prayer
we wallow in doubt,
Grasping at thin air
trying to get out,
But how pitiful we are
with our ifs and buts,
Never getting very far
as each door shuts.
Stranded in the void
between Heaven and Earth
We seek out the paranoid
to confirm our birth,
And they stand in line
pretending to be friends,
And on our souls they dine
when our journey ends.
Foolishly, we follow
with all emotion spent,
In perpetual sorrow,
waiting to be sent
To the archives of insanity
dressed as ghouls,
Where we escape humanity
on raggedy mules.
© RJVHorton2015
Have you ever bought a used car and thought it was good
You didn’t even check the motor or under the hood
You drive it out the lot and it drives smooth
And then the very next day something just aint cool
You hear some funny sounds and you see a little smoke
And then the car stops after you hear a big choke
There your car is, it just now stopped
Every car pass you and even the cops
Now you’re sitting there chilling with the hazard lights on
And then you see a thug come right along
He give you a ride hoping you’ll make it safe
Praying to God that you don’t have to escape
Soon as you get home you call a mechanic and tell him what’s wrong
And then he say “I’m sorry to tell you but your motor is gone.”
The longing to go back,
Back to another time
Another place
I’m aging, and he doesn't care
A different crime
He can run
He can hide
He can he can soar
He can fly
Away in the
Blue box
I don’t have one
I don’t have a police box
I’m all alone
I’m stuck here watching every dawn
I’m stuck here like mom
He won’t take me away
Because he left us you see
Alone to fend for ourselves
And I hate him for it
But at the same time I love him
My mom’s raggedy man.
Growing tired of running circles around your eyes.
Time to slow the tempo of the jester's soul tangle.
Breathe-breathe.... breathe
My deep blue raggedy sheep.
Easy-easy-easy
You don't need those happy pills
just these bucking, diamond flanks.
Chill-chill chill.
Rest your Velcro heart in my sticky mind.
Watch stars climb from frozen naps...
Time to dream...dream ...dream.
Turn
each
other
on.
My deep blue raggedy sheep...
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