They say that you’re beautiful.
Gorgeous, pretty, even stunning
You brush it off, move on, it’s rather pitiful,
But it’s just another day… and you’ll keep running
They call you attractive, alluring and a knockout
You ignore it, compliment them instead and hope they don’t prod
It’s easier to tell a truth than to respond to a lie, no doubt?
You hide behind the jokes, the laughter, the facade
Just take the compliment they say, why is it so hard?
If they knew what it would mean they’d turn tail and run
For you to accept it, you’d have to be unscarred
Accept it you will, but that’s it, game over, let it all come undone
They’ll see through the hiding, the running and the fright,
The self-criticism, the comparisons, all the backlash
But when they look a little harder they’ll notice the light
A glowing ember that lies beneath all the ash
Let the mask fall away and the walls break
down,
The confidence, the hope, you’re starting to remember
They’re all waiting outside, you’re no longer bound
We’ve been here all along, your army of defenders
I am who I am despite what has happened to me.
I am not defined by the wounds I carry.
"Who Am I"
Voices in my head the unheard of
They mimic, they pester, they lie
All to just torture my mind
Who Am I...
Who Am I...
I question I can no longer answer
They've erased Me, Myself and I
Changed into the hopeless, heartless, unkind
Who Am I...
Who Am I...
Someone now just a faint memory
Lost somewhere forever but did I die
Did I turn tail with yellow spine
Who Am I...
Who Am I...
From the torture cocoon to robotic host
Manipulated, Influenced, Punished but why?
They see through my eyes while I'm blind
Who Am I...
Who Am I...
Definitely not this important of a man
Given mental beatings if I try...to defy...
The skin of their evil, zombified defined
Who Am I...
Who Am I...
Twenty-four hours every single day
Twenty-four hours every single night
Twenty-four hours of a continual tortured mind
Who Am I...
Who Am I...
Because I do not even exist anymore
bmdavey@ 09/09/24
I Stare Into the Water
I stare into the water
(The water stares back at me)
In chime with Terra Mater;
I expend no energy.
Without a paddle or wind to sail,
My prospects are unavailing;
I restrain myself not to turn tail
And so sit quietly, waiting.
Better there were a rising storm
That forces challenging the elements;
Then I could stroke these listless arms
And make for the lee of Canoe Island.
Though I cherish the life given,
I dream of a different place.
This cannot be the eye’s intention,
Timeless, on an unrippled lake.
To create beings dumb and useless,
Void of expansion of faculties,
Suppresses conscious awareness
That forever is death realized.
A blight cast adrift with stigma
Whose destiny is nullified
Because I’m trapped in a quagmire,
Loath to idle in paradise.
***
coyotes howl
desert comes alive at night
I shiver
rats shaking tin cans
junkyard comes alive at night
I cringe
wild zombies dance
graveyard comes alive at night
I turn tail
screaming bobcats
woods come alive at night
I run like mad
Sammy was eager to please the woman of his desires and dreams.
He pretended he liked camping, and pitch tents by mountain streams.
She asked him about cats, and he pretended he liked them a bunch.
She gave him an arched eyebrow, because she kind of had a hunch.
You like them? She asked, and he assured her that he did indeed.
He would rather have a dog, rhinoceros, dinosaur or mangy steed.
But he wanted to impress her, so he lied through his teeth, but good.
Thinking he was making progress, he felt happy where he stood.
One night she said “Let’s make sure we are compatible, okay?”
His first instinct was to turn tail and swiftly run away.
Sammy wanted to win her. He said, sure, pretending he had no care.
She opened a door and there were fifteen creatures sitting in a chair.
They want to meet new daddy, she said; she walked in with a breeze.
Not feeling comfortable, Sammy's body began to shake and sneeze.
I love cats, he lied through his teeth, hoping he looked at ease.
She told him. I am allergic too, and she began to choke and sneeze.
The Big Bad Wolf Nursery Rhyme
The big bad wolf is on the prowl.
Those three little pigs have made him scowl.
Will he charge the house made of bricks;
or huff and puff on the one made of sticks?
Little Red Riding Hood, now makes her way.
Will that wolf now have his day?
While on the path to Grandma’s house.
The wolf puts on Gran’s cap and blouse.
He tries to hide those big bad eyes.
His big sharp teeth await their prize.
Little Miss Hood will spoil his fun.
She’ll make the wolf turn tail and run.
Her protected path has let him down.
The wolf’s big smile turns to a frown.
Will the wolf get help from friends?
I think we know how this one ends.
3/8/2021
Nursery Rhyme Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Eve Roper
I have many names for myself
And not just the ones you see
If you saw all of my personalities
You'd wanna turn tail and flee
Not all of them are bad
Most can be quite fun
But one of them is quite frightening
If you see him, you'd better run
Cheech is quite amusing
Bookmaker
Boomhower is my friend
Minnesota's the quiet one
But his input he can lend
Chatty Catty lives up to her name
Betty, well that's just me
Pocahontas is the fem fatale
But she's rarely ever seen
Now comes the scary one
D-Bo is his name
If he happens to come for you
It's definitely not a game
This is why I have no friends
Not because there scared of me
But because they can never tell who's I truly am
I wish these personalities would leave me be
I'm tired of being a misfit, an outcast and a loner...
I just want to feel like I belong
I'm tired of crying myself to sleep
It's always the same sad song
I know that The Lord truly loves me
And no matter where I may roam
I'm Paradise I'll be forever happy
Because this is my temporary home
DINGLEO AND GINGLYET
When the Dingly Doo
Met the Gingly Goo,
On the subway late one night.
They fell for one another,
A case of love at first sight.
But the Dingly Doos and the Gingly Goos’
Like the Capulets and Montagues,
Had been sworn enemies for years;
They’d never be allowed to wed.
The thing was doomed to end in tears.
“Dingly Doo, Dingly Doo,
Wherefore art though Dingly Doo?”
The Gingly Goo beseeched.
So they ran away next morning
To find a friar who preached.
“Dingly Doo, Dingly Doo,
Dost thou take this Gingly Goo
To be thy wedded wife?”
“I do, I do”, said the Dingly Doo,
“Though I now fear for my life.”
Mrs. Dingly Doo,
Once Miss Gingly Goo,
Shared one night of love with her beau.
But now he was a wanted man
And so he had to go.
So the Dingly Doo
And the Gingly Goo,
In trying to buck the trend,
Couldn’t re-write history,
And both met a tragic end.
So, you Dingly Doos
And you Gingly Goos,
If you meet on the subway today,
Just remember this cautionary tale.
Turn tail and walk away.
23rd March 2020
Inky Pinky Parlay Voo contest
Sponsor - Caren Krutsinger
They advance on horses, giraffes, and unicorns.
Helmets gleaming, war cries screaming.
The women are here! A man yells.
There are lots of screams and a bit of wailing.
Some shudder.
Others turn tail and run into the woods.
The women steer their steeds after them.
They are pulled onto horses, never to be seen again.
Are these Amazon women? A newcomer asks.
Worse, he says. Krutsinger women.
There are more shrieks as men are grabbed up.
Some scream all the way to the woods.
What will they do to them? The newcomer whispers, suddenly afraid.
They marry them, the man says, running for his freedom.
But he is snatched up and taken to the chapel with the rest.
A wild gobbler strutted into the woods,
it did not see all the camouflage hoods,
straight into a turkey shoot;
trips over a gnarly root,
with ruffle feathers made off with its goods.
11/17/2019
Poetry Contest: Holiday Themed Limerick
Sponsored By: Tania Kitchin
Madness has come to get me today.
She whisked me out of the food line, and told me
I did not have a chance. I am a loser, a dupe, a pawn.
She put nails in my head, and drew blood from my teeth.
She kicked me unmercifully in my tenderest parts.
I was shrieking and screaming, trying to get away
But Madness had me pinned, and terrified.
She revered my shrieks, she encouraged me to thrash and scream
"You are noting!" she told me. "No one. A non-thing."
Frightened, I began shrieking more loudly,
Within myself, despising myself more than ever
Hating my inability to boot her out of my life.
"You can do better than that!" she coaxed me.
She tore my skin off, and punctured me with unhappiness.
It was painful, but not the worst I have endured.
A terrifying wolf's howl rushed out of the bowels of myself.
I expected to see madness turn tail and run.
Instead, she laughed, pleased.
No one came running.
I looked around the cafeteria.
No one had stopped talking.
No one had heard my silent shrieking or my wolf plea.
I am alone again, not one of the pack at all.
A hyena lets out a chilling laugh
As lionesses feed on a downed giraffe
The felines will be outnumbered soon
By these vile and spotted goons
The lionesses have to turn tail
As the hyenas continue to wail
The hyenas start feasting on the prey,
But the lion will surely make them pay
As the maned beast comes into view
Hyenas flee, they know they're through
The lion wastes no time in killing the foe
He bites down hard, and won't let go
The king of beasts has laid down the law
As the hyena lays dead in its huge paws
-
5-9-18
Navigating the path to truth,
which is paved with harsh stones to walk upon
Many stumble or turn tail and retreat
But you will not
You will find your way through
You will seek and search and reach the end knowing
You will arrive there beaten and bruised with your enlightment
You will know the truth of your coming as the only truth
The light will hurt your eyes because you have yet not seen it
The deafening sounds of the world will be the music your heart has longed for
All the yearnings of all the years will not be found here, they will be lost
You will find your essence, which you've always carried, was all you needed
Feeling hopeless
The only word crossing my mind is sorry
sticking to the path I'm choosing
but the day is becoming night
and I can't see clearly
Walking down one road
only to turn tail and begin from start
like I'm just stuck on the game board of monopoly
The writing on the wall
the art of illusions
or maybe I am just blind
Just...I'm only being guided by
the endless words of a sad song
while I'm just mumbling
I'm sorry as I drift into the night
I'm sorry
I'm sorry
I'm sorry...
I am rarely weary of watching the wind with its wondrous ways
The breeze dances delightfully through the budding branches
At times it tumbles and turns and can terrorize my lady’s skirt
It is whimsical and wistful and its soulful song the heart entrances
I have heard it hungrily hammer at Grandpa’s garden gate
Then turn tail and softly serenade the sweetly sleeping child
Skillful scientists can tell of the whys and wherefores of the wind
But most men are merely mesmerized, and by the breeze beguiled
3/19/16
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