still chasing what doesn’t feel real
something’s in me nobody can heal
trying to hold what isn’t mine
i’ll grow up somewhere, sometime
getting sick of messing around
maybe one day it’ll be found
they say it makes you lose your mind
i’ll meet love somewhere, sometime
i’m coming down, i’m losing steam
breathing in can be so mean
nothing to hear but my very own cry
i’ll break up somewhere, sometime
hate doing anything that i’ve been told
these blue days are getting old
shot down for a petty crime
i’ll bite the dust somewhere, sometime
understanding
accompanies
unsignalled
sounds
in
an
extraordinarily
vivid
impromptu
echo
contextually
separate
from
the
familiar
Taunted by luxury, a life of ease.
I struggled to utter the words, “sir, please”?
I’d become distraught by my circumstance.
I saw no way alone; I could advance.
I knew the time in my life had now come,
To lose my ego, ask help from someone.
With all my money, I’d still have to ask,
Or accept my failure at this one task.
With money and self my only allies,
Having no solution was a surprise.
Sometimes our dreams may require another,
Like a friend, stranger, sister, or brother.
With my deepest desire, I long to teach.
Without another, it’s out of my reach.
1. To Fly
My father was an admiral, and so
I joined the Navy. Back in fifty-eight
to be a pilot seemed the way to go:
ship-sailors were committed to a crate.
Scrub decks? Paint rusting gunwales? That’s a ‘no’.
The Skyhawk was my weapon (and my fate!)
2. Rubicon Crossing
Some nations follow rainbows, I am told:
we thought, in Vietnam, ‘search and destroy’
would lead us to our fabled pot of gold.
For years we tried it, but it brought no joy:
we lost our nerve, and switched to ‘clear and hold’.
Saigon endured the selfsame end as Troy.
3. Brainwash
The Hanoi Hilton. Yes, I was a guest.
They found my father was a VIP,
and left off hurting me. Impressed,
they wanted to restore my liberty.
But if I left my buddies, I’d detest
myself. I turned them down. That’s decency!
4. Frozen Side of the Sun
Should politicians simply sing the song?
A woman voter told me, in the hall,
Obama was a Muslim. I said, “Wrong!”
I guess I lost her vote. I made the call
I knew was the correct one. I was strong.
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all.
Your bedroom with a garden view
Includes a view to the field
Here we are, looking through
Leaning on the window sill
It’s calm, the early dusk hour
My favorite time has come
I sense the smell of every flower
I breathe the tune you hum
Down in the sitting room
Comes Pippa to lick your face
She’s jealous, you say, and the fume
Of your blackberry vape fills the space
Then our images blur, the sound worsens,
Interrupts, and the call fails
We're too good for the real persons
Just two characters of a tale
It’s over now, all of a sudden
I can’t bother less, you’d say
I’m promised another garden
See you sometime, one day
Sometimes I listen to my lofi on low.
Sometimes I listen to phonk on high.
Most of the time I bask in a moonlit glow.
Most of the time I bask in the midnight sky.
Some days I just wanna really die.
Some days I just want people to know.
Most days I actually just want to cry.
Most days I actually just need to feel the afterglow.
Somewhere my first ever love and I belong.
Somewhere that I want to find first on my own.
Most places made our bond even more strong.
Most places in which I remained as an unknown.
Sometime ago I remained a secret, still do.
Sometime ago he returned my love again.
Most recently ago he's become a secret of mine too.
Most recently ago we've reunited, healed of all our pain.
Would you meet me sometime
At the space in between
The corner of reckless schism
And the street of broken dreams?
I just covet a good word or two -
So long as we break silence -
And I will collect an echo
Then leave and recommence.
SOMETIME HOPE
Sometime in an epoch not too distant from here
Where seas are calmer and people care about each other
And not their pocketbooks or bank accounts
We will have peace
Somewhere in time there may be absolution
but not if it is dreamt of by misanthropes
who begin wars and make victims of us all
yet, even then, the dream of peace will continue
At times when the wind blows cirrus clouds across gray skies
my mind finds hope in that place of peaceful solace within me
that strangely hides in plain sight
like the aged waiting for their daily walk
As adults, we also wait for hope to take us on our daily traipsing
through imaginings of wordy minefields to help us know ourselves
to grasp the essence destruction of war ingrained in us
but our future is out there for us to make better or not
The question is, do we have the intelligence and compassion
required to survive our own conflicted selves?
hope is embedded deep in our core
as adults we use the idea of hope as children do the myth of Santa Claus
But hope is more than a myth; it is our lifeline to the stars.
She was the envy of the other roaches, for her marvelous house.
They were jealous of her pink high heeled shoe, especially a louse.
He was angry because he could not slide into his own soft little bed.
She was thrilled he was jealous, for he was arrogant and not well-bred.
Can we visit? The lady bugs asked for they wanted to see the shoe.
To see her cloistered closet, darkness suited her through and through.
You have to come out sometime yelled that louse, Little Ned.
She was thrilled when her owner accidentally stomped him on his head.
.
There’s a clock on the wall
And it’s not moving
The sun rains the clouds are moved
A non-moving clock doesn’t mean times standing still
Sweats running off my face I’m perspiring
Daylight turns dark, it’s it is now night
Waters toils rivers flow
Just because the clock on the wall
Stalls and the hands are not moving
I do be believing
Though! The hands are still
Daylight hues turn to dark
The sun and moon rises and sets
We keep ourselves moving
3/3/22
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2022©
I believe in everything.
But then again,
sometimes I cannot fathom
believing the beliefs, gets bewildering.
(06.01.2022)
Someday Sometime
David J Walker
If my dreams pretend
to have seen you
in a then before we are us
then who was it I was looking for
unless I knew the
faceless you
when we were
Much younger
Living apart as children do
Every day in
The same city
And certainly we
Crossed paths on a
Silent street
seeing each other
Reminded of a someone
A someplace
A distant time
but not today
If I waved
would you remember
in the someday sometime later
Dawn tangerine dream;
Make shift altar;
Domineering sceams;
While yet afar off;
Antique lace racket space;
Dreams afar lost;
Leagues of amazing grace;
Happiness is...
Not always clear nor fair
Sometimes it's a nightmare
11/24/21
Written by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
If infinity has no finality - sometime later may never arrive!
written July 20, 2021
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.