He looked at me, eyes dull and cold,
“What the hell are you doing here?”
And just like that-my heart caved in,
Shattered by the words I feared.
I had come with love in trembling hands,
A daughter needing something small-
Just a soft goodbye, a crack of light,
But he built another wall.
I stood there stunned, not sure to speak,
Not sure if he even saw
The child behind my grown-up face
Still reaching through the flaw.
I wanted to scream, I’m your daughter,
I’m here because I care,
But his voice was sharp, and full of fire,
And none of that was there.
I tried to make sense of his anger,
Was it pain that made him blind?
Was it cancer eating through his words,
Or the damage in his mind?
Cirrhosis, Hep C, too many wounds-
They stole the man I knew.
And maybe somewhere deep inside,
He missed me coming through.
But all I have are those last words,
They echo in my chest-
Not “I love you,” not “thank you,”
Not even “I wish you the best.”
And still I wonder, every night-
If he’d been without his disease-
Would he have instead changed
His final words to me?
War, Evil Beast, Just What The Hell Is It Good For
War the Evil Beast what the Hell is it good for
A calamity brings death and great destruction.
Nation against nation, death and misery scores
Onto mankind all its deep savagery it pours.
A darkened force that wipes away precious life
Destroys our happiness, kills the innocent kids.
Ghastly the power unleashed and tragic strife
In Germany the Jews into dark cellars hid.
War gifts battlefields strewn with the dying and dead
The wailing and gnashing of teeth, wars black reward.
Torn up battle fields were brave men and women bled
Pain and suffering, written about by brave Bards.
O' Lord pray we thy light, wonderful saving grace.
We plead, stop insanity in the human race!
Robert J. Lindley,
Dark Sonnet, April 20th, 1973
age 19
Note-
In my small town there were two young men that tragically died in that war.
sad but Teddy Talley , a nineteen year old, a young man from my hometown died there.
Back then there were thousands of our citizens that cried we shouldn't be there.
Live every day to the fullest
Each one is a treasure that cannot be recaptured
Life has a beginning, a middle, and an end
No second chance to experience things for the very first time
Make the most of every day
Breathe in deeply the breath of life
Remember the joys of discovering new things as a child
Your heart throbbing first romance as a teen
The night you announce you're going steady
The union of two souls as you marry
That scary time when your first child is born
Suddenly you realize you are not young anymore
Don't let life and love pass you by
It is meant to be lived to the fullest
Before you can turn around
You're sitting in a comfortable old easy chair
Wondering... “What the hell just happened!”
Life just happened... !
As one door closes
And another is flung
Open wide
Bad moons in my room again
Who will decide
As we float out
On a sea of chance
Disdain
Remains
Unclaimed
Just another circumstance
In my crystal ball
I see a story as yet untold
The truth belies
Her beauty there
Perfume lingers in the air
Or so that story goes
People come in
And leave out
And all the while
She’s still standin there
Ready to repair
All the damage done
It’s just a shame
you don’t know
It
Just a shame
You don’t know it yet
Ready to leave her
out of the bet
Spinning a revolving
wheel of fortune
Lethargy strides along side
The four horsemen
As she rolls the dice of Vice
You circumvent their
Relentless torsion
Build it up
And smash it down
Again
Silencing your only friend
Is that ticket
Worth
It’s price
of
Admission?
The orbital mechanics
All suddenly vanish
And when you’ve finally found your voice
Will you still have a soul ?
Make the right choice ?
Could be good
Could be bad
And still it’s there
Well,
What the hell ?
Aren’t you glad
You’ve spent your whole life
On a wish
a song
A hope
and a prayer
I really don't feel like writing
The day was hot, and I don't feel well
And I can't think of a thing to say
But, Oh what the hell
I shouldn't bother, I should relax
Don't even have a story to tell
I should go in and take a shower
But, Oh what the hell
So there, I wrote it and it stinks
They'll turn away to avoid the smell
If I were smart I wouldn't post this
But, Oh what the hell !
she stood in the window and sung
this to the world
"I am a walrus
the fish in the sea
I am a walrus
ruh1, ruh !
you see
I am a walrus
the crabs and fish I eat
I am a walrus
the clams are so sweet !
ruh! ruh!
your ships and there nets
MMy tender fishes
eat'em all you can bet !
I am a walrus
the ice and the snow
I am a walrus just to let you know !"
We thought she was crazy
until people started applauding her
one man in the audience said you
you don't look like a walrus
more like a whale or a underwater hippo or
something!
Live every day to the fullest
Each one is a treasure that cannot be recaptured
Life has a beginning, a middle, and an end
No second chance to experience things for the very first time
Make the most of every day
Breathe in deeply the breath of life
Remember the joys of discovering new things as a child
Your heart throbbing first romance as a teen
The night you announce you're going steady
The union of two souls as you marry
That scary time when your first child is born
Suddenly you realize you are not young anymore
Don't let life and love pass you by
It is meant to be lived to the fullest
Before you can turn around
You're sitting in a comfortable old easy chair
Wondering... “What the hell just happened!”
Life just happened!
As I sit tonight, of all nights
I think, what the hell!?
As I smoke and drink and smoke and
drink,
I think what the hell,
I cant finish,
I cant start
and I cant love
without dying over and over
Gameover.
I am bad at the game of love,
a poker match with high stacks
the girl is the pot
and I bet all in
I fold.
Get out of town,
live a little,
drive a car into a bridge,
drown in water with stones in my pockets,
a metaphoric death,
Virginia Woolf I love you,
kiss me off!
Game over,
I lost again,
what the hell,
what cant I get right
I always lose.
Not in Poetry though,
And those so-called fans clap for me,
when I light another cigarette
and die with the stoke of a pen to paper.
They eat my **** up
and I sit and think
What the Hell!?
My stuff isn't even that good...
goodnight...
Live every day to the fullest
Each one is a treasure that cannot be recaptured
Life has a beginning, a middle, and an end
No second chance to experience things for the very first time
Make the most of every day
Breathe in deeply the breath of life
Remember the joys of discovering new things as a child
Your heart throbbing first romance as a teen
The night you announce you're going steady
The union of two souls as you marry
That scary time when your first child is born
Suddenly you realize you are not young anymore
Don't let life and love pass you by
It is meant to be lived to the fullest
Before you can turn around
You're sitting in a comfortable old easy chair
Wondering... “What the hell just happened!”
Life just happened!
© Jack Ellison 2014
Velvet fell from the SKY ON a Boston day by the bay
Cotton caressed thy lips gentility so that you might sigh
While you tried to convince me you and I could beg to fly
Suddenly uncertainty and fearfulness drew night but I never knew why
Other people opined they were warm yet I was cold
I longed to see my arms open wide for you to thusly hold
The woman who tutored ancient men how to produce gold
No statue crafted of such solemnity to behold
To heartbeats beat as one neither ever to cry
Hand in had that old man called us lovebirds flying high
And you with gold shimmering in the wind with which you vie
When the moon that night told you to tell me goodbye
The darkened sky stared right at me
And whatever it asked I would cauIdally comply
They ordered me a way, take to the run and flee
And never even knew fu****g why
(c) 2011...Phreepoetree ~free cee!~
What the hell! There is no such place my friend.
This fiery myth is just that, it’s lore.
No different than Santa Clause in the end.
Put all that crap behind you and ignore
The inane stories of fire and brimstone.
It’s just a tool used to control the herd.
They preach it early, this contrived unknown
To instill guilt for our actions. Absurd!
Incongruous hogwash fed to all of us
On Sundays at some supposed hallowed trough
By one of many clerical noblesse.
Listen! I ask you, where do they get off
Poisoning our minds with poppycock rot
innocent ears hear more often than not?
con't
and she felt her grasp slipping, slipping,
sweating hands gripping,
as her facade began to tilt
she feels no guilt
she was always good, good she tells herself
and believes it
the universe she is the center of is now out of sync
her star erodes
implodes
and her weakened soul
becomes a galactic worm hole
oh, God, she remembers when she was just a girl
grasping a silver spoon
as the world danced to her tune
now she's locked in the bathroom
the metal barrel clicks against her perfect teeth
as the bullet breaks the peace
and blows out the back of her head
the blood so red
against the black and white tiles
pieces of hair and scalp
then she's back in the Alps
in the snow
not realizing she's toppled the first domino
as she watches her life review
she has no clue
she cannot avert her eyes
to her surprise
she is shown the future that she created
as her soul clutches with dread
she's dead
and instead of relief
there is devastation and grief
and we all awaken to her ghostly moan
for now it's written in stone
and she is powerless as she is swallowed by the darkness
alone, alone.
Why is the “p” silent in receipt?
Why is “no” not the same as “know,”
Or “new” and “knew?”
And if someone says “there,”
Why do we know
They don’t mean “their” or “they’re?”
I read a note from a redneck up yonder
Said “Hay man, ya got a doller?”
Well I don’t, not that I’d give it to ‘em anyway.
(Probably makes more than me too)
I s’pose he couldn’t talk a lick, hence the note.
Some say I talk funny in these here parts,
but what would one expect
from a Yankee from ‘hia anyhow?
Everybody knows everybody here
‘cause I think they’s all related somehow.
The lady down the street, I swear
is married to her daddy,
her grandfather also her step-uncle.
Jack down the road is all in a tizzy
wondrin’ who’s yer daddy.
Up in Minnesota I found
a word can take half-hour from start to end
where a soda is a pop… there is no spelling
of which I can describe – can you?
But I met a man from Harvard t’other day
asked him “’scuse me sir, where’s the library at?”
With pomp and serious demeanor he says to me,
“Here at Harvard, we never
end a sentence in a preposition.”
So I says to the prep, “OK, where’s the library at…
*******!”
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