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Best Poems Written by James A.

Below are the all-time best James A. poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | James A. Poem

Broken Alter

I feel the devil calling me,
a voice I choose not to hear

He's called before 
when I was young

But even then I refused to listen

Growing up with an innate sense of right
and wrong
The path to righteousness was easy to find
but laden with snares and pitfalls

I've been caught in my share (more than) --

In the woods behind my house
about a mile hike 
stands an old wooden church,
abandoned and fallen to ruin

I've stood on the weathered floor
and stared up at the vaulted ceiling
The only sound I heard
was the sound the wind makes
when it blows through an empty tunnel

When I was a child
I heard the Voice of God

Now I search for it 
in the decaying wood 
and broken altar

Details | James A. Poem

Dancing Through the Years

These floors still hold echos
and they creak when I walk
and the room where you slept
still holds your every thought.
And I sit in my chair
in the room down the hall
remembering the laughter
in the pictures on the wall.

But you've gone and grown up
and this house is an empty shell
covered over and forgotten
like old dried up well.
I hope that you've taken me with you
in a memory or two,
under those big city lights
that keep calling to you.

Last night I slept in the T-shirt
you made on my birthday
and I dreamed of the games
and the places we played.
I saw my little girl
with wild, curly hair
smiling and jumping
and flying through the air.

Your eyes were shining
and your voice filled my ears
and saw a little lady
dance away through the years.
I played your guitar
and I heard your sweet voice
singing the songs that we wrote
and the songs that you loved.

I awoke in my bed
with tears in my eyes
just like I did yesterday
and the day we said goodbye.
And I walked past you room
as I left the house for the day
and I paused in a memory
to watch a little girl play.

Details | James A. Poem

Long Way From Home

There's biscuits in the oven and bacon in the pan
it lingers in the air reminding me that I am
a lost and lonely body, a man without a home
just a free ranging king without a castle or a throne.

Just a King without a Castle searching for his home.

My momma, she told me when I was just a boy
son, you'll never go any where with that guitar and a song
but I didn't listen to her and I played it any way.
Now, I'm singing in the streets at night with no warm place to stay.

I'm a king without a castle searching for a throne

I got my first job in Memphis Tennessee
carrying shingles up a ladder seven days a week
I didn't save my paycheck, and I walked the streets alone
But I've got this old guitar I brought it from home.

I'm a king without a castle searching for a throne.

I learned a few chords and wrote me a new song
I sing it every night now hoping I'm not wrong.
I play it every night, I'm still a long way from home.
Just King without a castle searching for his throne.

I'm a king without a castle still a long way from home.

And now I'm getting older and my momma's she's gone on
The old home place is crumbling but I've still got my song
And I sing in every town and city wear I roam,
I sing it every night now still a long way from home.

I'm a king without a castle searching for a throne.

Details | James A. Poem

Fighting the Moonlight

Can I just sit a little bit longer
Stare out the window
and watch the sun rise.

It's a long day living in the shadows
hiding my face
like some beaten down guy.

We all got a little more life left
We all got a little more time
We all got a room full of sunshine
Fighting the moonlight, trying to stay alive.

You tell me that I'm not your problem
Your car won't start
Lord, it's just one more thing.

The boss man says you can't work here
The street is cold
Tomorrow's another day.

Sing, sing, nobody's listening
Sing it loud, before the words get away
Sing, Sing, and stare at the sunshine
Fight off the moonlight, try to stay alive.

We all got a little more life left
We all got a little more time
We all got a room full of sunshine
Fighting the moonlight, trying to stay alive.

He said man ain't she pretty
Walking home
After working at night

She said, man why's he walking
She pulled up close
And gave him a ride.

They both got a whole lot of life left
They both got a whole lot of time
They grew old staring at the sunshine
Fighting that moonlight trying to stay alive.

Details | James A. Poem

Shoot Out the Stars

"Gonna shoot a little dice
Play a little cards
Drink a little beer
and shoot out the stars
Gonna dance with the girl in calico dress
Live to raise hell, ain't no time to rest"

Sittin' at a table playing five card draw
Losing money faster than you ever saw
I looked at the dealer said, where y'all from
He smiled real big and he pulled out his gun

He said me and my pappy and my grandpap
we all come from the Cumberland Gap
The Cumberland Gap, the Cumberland Gap
We all come from the Cumberland Gap

Well I looked at that gun, and I looked at my hand
I looked at the money and I looked at the band
The fiddle player sawing some mournful song
I'm living in this world boys, but not for long

"Gonna shoot a little dice
Play a little cards
Drink a little beer
and shoot out the stars
Gonna dance with the girl in calico dress
Live to raise hell, ain't no time to rest"

Going down Cripple Creek, going in a run
Going down Cripple Creek to have a little fun

Down on Cripple Cripple Creek the living is fast
The girls are all pretty and the money never lasts
You can have you a girl, you can have you a dance
They'll have you hitched and married if you give'em a chance

Preacher man says "son you're living wrong
Life's too short and you're doing all wrong

I said to the preacher, I know you're right,
I'm looking for a girl that can last all night.
I need to find me a bottle with something good
and get to living life the way I should

"Gonna shoot a little dice
Play a little cards
Drink a little beer
and shoot out the stars
Gonna dance with the girl in calico dress
Live to raise hell, ain't no time to rest"

Details | James A. Poem

No One Asks Your Name

I saw you standing on the street
with dirty hands and callused feet
with a frayed and weathered bag
filled with dreams of different life you had
No one stopped and asked you name
where you're from or why you came
So you move on down the road
to a different town and a different home
But your eyes still look the same
full of hope and fear and pain.
                         --
And no one asks your name
where you're from or why you came
                        --
And the choir sings in harmony
Their voices loud and the church bells ring
You feel the words floating in the air
they echo in the city square
They fall down on you like rain
washed down the gutter where they drain
And your life is still the same
full of hope and fear and pain.
                         --
And no one asks your name
where you're from or why you came
                        --
The rain is cold when it hits your face
No one close for your embrace
The winter wind blows through the night
And you close you eyes against it's bite
The people move on by
And turn their heads when they meet you eye
And no one asks your name
Where you from or why you came.
                       --
Your dreams are still the same
full of loss and fear and pain.

Details | James A. Poem

Gone Is Gone, Extended

Gone is gone, as gone can be
waiting in the winds to see
a shining light before me waits
for the winds to stop and the waves to break.

Flyin' low, into the wind
straight ahead towards the end
I'll be gone as gone as gone can be
There's nothing left on this world for me.

So sail away now, across the sea
Let go my heart and set me free
Set a heading for the southern sky.
You can find me in the bye and bye.

You can find me in the at bye and bye

Because gone is gone as gone can be
the lights are fading it's hard to see
I'll be there -------when you go
to take your hand and lead you home.

Gone is gone, as gone can be
waiting in the winds to see
a shining light before me waits
for the winds to stop and the waves to break.

Details | James A. Poem

Spent All My Money On You

I'm coming back to this town
It's been years since I've been around
Ain't much changed in the time since I've been gone

I went to the same old bar
Where I played like I was a star
That same old place you said that we were through

I asked all the people there
If you were here and where
They all laughed and I was a fool

When I tracked you down
We lit up all the town
We partied all night until the bill came due

"Chorus"
"Now baby I want to stay
but you won't help me pay
I spent all my money on you
I ain't got a dollar to my name
Next week it'll be the same
Because I'm spending all my money on you"

Now I'm leaving town
on the fasted route I found
I can't get far enough away from you

My paycheck's all been spent
Not enough left for the rent
A tank of gas and this highway is all I own

So I'm going to play this old banjo
until I find another home
I ain't never coming back this way again

So little girl forget my name
And I'll do you the same
Just like I told you all those years ago

"Chorus"
"Now baby I want to stay
but you won't help me pay
I spent all my money on you
I ain't got a dollar to my name
Next week it'll be the same
Because I'm spending all my money on you
I ain't got a dollar to my name
Next week it'll be the same
Because I'm spending all my money on you"

Details | James A. Poem

For the Drunks and the Loons

He spent his nights on the rolling seas
Eating half-raw fish and moldy cheese
He'd float into town about twice a year
To see some old friends and drink a little beer

He played an old guitar with worn-out strings
With callused fingers, he could make it ring
And he knew every song that'd ever been played
And sung them all whenever he stayed

I met the old man when I was just a boy
Strumming a six-string that was just a toy
He took it from my hand and showed me a chord
He came back the next day and showed me one more

In a few weeks, I went looking around
But the old man had sailed for the next coastal town
So I took the two chords and learned a few tunes
And I played on the streets for the drunks and the loons.

Details | James A. Poem

See Though the Shade

Mine is a world
that see's through the shade
of my own forgotten lust
for more 

For more
of the tragedies of sin
and waste

For more 
of the time wasted
wasted on waiting
waiting on wasted
dreams

Music and dance
hold not a chance
for a melody
lost to deaf ears

The sky is dark
on a hot sultry 
night
and the waves pound hard 
on the shore.