We see but grey where once was green
As bulldozers now scrape,
Turning a joyful rural scene
Into joyless landscape.
The area was green-belt land
With forest and pasture
But as our numbers still expand
We will invade nature.
And so that farmland must give way
To high profit housing.
Farming that land has had its day.
Let the plunder begin.
First rip up each ancient hedgerow,
Take living loam away.
Make space for luxury homes to go.
The wildlife then must stray.
Nests and burrows can play no part
As man now owns this space.
The construction work now can start
And big profits then chase.
Soon building projects in full swing.
The stream that filled the pond
Diverted to concrete piping
In culvert underground.
Aquatic habitats destroyed.
Frogs, toads and newts homeless.
Many wildlife species now void.
But man could not care less.
Read last year's diary
Ridiculous targets.
Regime for dieting
Recipes for weight loss
Resounding disaster
Reach for more chocolate!
Rip up aims for next year
Realise they're futile!
THE LYNX
That black cat, I spy - he licks the puppet all over.
The fox’s red fur feels not the imposition nor
the puppetmaster’s paw, but the red fox,
my prey, feels the crunch of its bones, insanity bleeds,
after the toilsome run from my teeth.
My teeth chatter, cold and cruel, terribly hungry
to rip up a carcass, to chow down
a soul. I eat the meat raw.
Its blood is my foundation -
I powder my nose. The cries of my prey
with stuffing and gravy. Yes, let’s do
Thanksgiving. Like me, the black cat
defiles a fox. We are both satisfied.
The day you never came
My love all the same
Strong
Indestructible
Like superman
To cryptonite
You destroyed
You destroyed the indestructible
All I wanted
was for a dad
You end goal
Was to make me sad
You hurt me
Like everyone else
You never heard
My screams for help
My pleading for love
My yearning for affection
You just me as a weapon
A card
To make other disregard
The pain they wanted to cause
The day you never came
My love all the same
Destroyed
Abused
Never again
Will I feel that love
Unless
It comes from lies
Lies like you
that rip up insides
Buddy was ripping up stuffed animals
Paw over paw, tail over head
Making sure to rip off their eyes
Tearing out filling, making them dead.
I was buying the expensive dog toys at first.
Later discovered he would rip up second hand too.
So bought used stuffies from a resale store.
Side by side, he would eliminate two.
While shaking a sleeping bear, he started to care.
He began carrying this one around, loving it instead.
It has a recording, plays the Lay Me Down to Sleep Prayer.
Buddy now sleeps with this little bear under his head.
There are some great people
Who treat you as their own pupil
Until you confront a trouble
some great persons are there
All the euphoric events they share
After fathoming your agony, don't they dare care
There are some great minds
To hear your happy verses they incline
And when you lament, they abruptly decline
By embracing you, they make you ween they are gem
And desperately shove off, when you need them
Not even the almighty can predict their traits
But the time could rip up the masks tight
And when you perceive them and try to dodge
Ungrateful person you are, they accord a badge
When time unveils these personalities
Be thankful that it also retrieved your ability
Having discerning true faces of those great peep
Be thankful that you are able to know them deep
Lo, the sadden man does so cries
Tears run down his sober eyes
And yet beneath his heart
Love not apart
Hoe does a man be strong when his heart is rip up
Yes, you see even a lonely man cries
Even he has a broken heart
0/2/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
As she opened the letter
She thought she'd feel better.
But this wasn't to be.
The letter was from John.
Whom she had loved long
And now he was setting her free.
Cowardly John.
Who she depended upon,
Now had decided to flee
To love evermore
A life together to explore
Was what John had promised to me.
What a despicable man
And fool that I am
To be attracted to a thug
That crawled from the ground.
And a target he found
I should stamp on this creep like a bug.
A bug no John's worse.
I feel a need to curse
But revenge will not ease my pain.
I'll rip up John's letter.
And trust I'll feel better.
Imagining what could have been confetti is rain
24 June 2021 contest Let Er Rip Sponsor John Lawless
Tear out my hair
Rip up the pages
Life's never fair
Frustration its wages
Fear overcomes me
Inspiration flees
Bells toll the decree
Silence my pleas
I battle addictions
And they’re as sweet as honey,
As a summer day and I’m okay
Good feeling’s only price is surrender
I battle addictions
And they feel like watching
Myself rip up rationality,
Building and spreading like cancer
I battle addictions
And they infest every cell
My body, home to an unchecked mind
And longing that feels like home
I battle addictions
And recovery is more painful
So every day they scream to return
And sometimes I do and lose
I battle addictions
And I know that I don’t want to
And I know my mind is changing
And there might be hope in circumstance
One day I will break the cycle
The familiar repeat of desire
What holds me down and chokes me
But will someday make me stronger
Wish I Had the Vital Statistics of Jesus Christ
I am scared Oh, well
Since God the almighty creator
He made me a little higher than the angels
I wish I was, wish I were a man
To tell the demons, angels and mankind, how I felt
Wish I had the claws of a lion
To rip up apart the meat of sin nature
Wish I had the wings of an eagle, to fly above the evil
Wish I had the vision to be an effective witness
Wish I had the physique of Christ
To be His form size body build figure
More so in the spirit rather than in the natural
So that I could be a more effective witness
Wish I Had the Vital Statistics of Jesus Christ
8/11/18
©2018
For Contest Wish I Had the Balls to Tell Them How I Really Felt
Sponsored by: Line Gauther
A picker picker who picked the wrong picker.
To bully the wrong victim.
Who's already thirsty to rip up flesh like a wolf.
Ripping up your insides to see what it's made off.
Since you like to be a bully to make yourself look cool.
Hunger to make you pay the price for being a bully.
This time it won't be a whip I'll use like back then in junior high.
Self defense is my game, for being a bully is not what I play.
Thirsty to rip your gust out. for trying to use my poem against me.
for exposing you.
I will never be a victim by you nether will my love one.
Heartbreak me, leave me completely broken
Tell me lies, leave all the important words unspoken
Leave my side, leave me in tears and choking
Heartbreak me and leave me completely broken
They won't understand this
But I'm no longer going to worry or panic
I hope you break my heart and make me feel worthless
Tell me I mean nothing and take away my purpose
Tell me you love me while you're Thinking of him
Leave me alone while you go drinking with them
Hold me close and place that knife in my back
When i break down and cry, make sure you laugh
Bring up my past and tell me i don't deserve better
Don't read my poetry and rip up my love letters
To be clear this isn't something I'm hoping you'll do
I want real love with you, but if I'm to get my heart broke, i want it to be broken by you
Got wrinkles on my hands
Been there then that
Got nowhere else to go
And nothing less to show
Got bunion on my feet
Been walking them there streets
Corns rubbing gainst my shoes
I've done paid my dues
Went from Selma to Washington
Mr. Man got me on the run
My soul cries out for freedom
Got old feet, crows feet
Got toe nails like a knife
Just short of being rip up and sliced
My socks are worn holey and torn
And nothing less to sow, been walkin fer miles
Done already raised my child
Is married and just me and my wife on the road
Walkin them there streets
Holes burning in my shoes
Got plenty to eat
Toe jam tween my toes
Nothing good as those
Gonna walk it off walk a mile
I've done paid my dues
Make 38 cents and hour cleaning Mr. Cheney's toilets
Been down so long been prayed up and on
I've don there paid my dues
Got nothing more to lose got old feet
Got old feet
07/06/15
written by James Edward Lee Sr.
from anthology 2015 UNO Poetry to Bridge Generations"
Try to sustain yourself on truth if you can,
but your noble aim will quickly come to naught.
Life is bitter, and so too are the actions you must take,
and they require skills that can't be taught.
Only the honest try to blind others, for they keep,
within their breasts a spark of life as it must be.
And they will burn from the fire they protect,
knowing that others never wished to see.
But you cannot afford the truth as they,
so burrow down within your very heart,
rip up the thistle that is reality,
and you will find yourself right at the start.
Two paths to take, but only one will do.
Fool yourself, and pain cannot break through.
Written for "The Jester" contest, sponsored by Kai Michael Neumann
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