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Best Poems Written by Ricardo Gonsalves

Below are the all-time best Ricardo Gonsalves poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Boomerang Bullets

A cosmic river
of boomerang bullets
fired decades ago ripping through
Indian flesh Black bodies 
Vietnamese heads
Lebanese souls and millions more
of assorted uncounted Others each
little lead blob morphing through
ancient mosques and bible belts
Algerian dead ends in Mexican villages 
erased lives scattering through space time
shape shifting as they return to the unholy 
source of gold diggers graves and Left Bank royals 
a rush of karma fueled vengeance
returning as a no-mans jihad against
everyone and 
nothing
amen

Copyright © Ricardo Gonsalves | Year Posted 2015



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Midnight Bling

Lil’ twobits clanging
past midnight with
cash and carry dreams
sell low buy
cheap tomorrows news bouncing
yesterdays hate
in WTF headlines
“oh for sure like its for reals”
u know sunset paychecks and
eviction pink
slips between nighttime wannabe okays
into an “oh hell not today”
must-smile-for-the-boss realities
do me sideways and kiss me
without Prozac or
2am remorse
do it sometime quick
before the dawn chorus 
wakes the landlord
and pocket change offends
the god of practical sorrows.

Copyright © Ricardo Gonsalves | Year Posted 2015

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Blunt Knife

driven by a painful stain i say yes to 
1/2 empty Bukowski tankards 
full of dusty nothings meanwhile sitting 
in shallow quicksand @ 96 sweaty degrees 
in this emerging limbo 
of rent-per-hour eye blinks 
flicking rusty milagros erecting 
indifferent sentinels to guard 
against a past-due event 
of forgettable magnitude 
breathing as if here but not really 
there feeling all kinda so sharp 
betrayal yet acutely bland as if 
a still deeper black 
could hide the stitches 
if maybe kinda as though 
the pain of being discarded 
could fade to fuzzy 
and not hurt like a blunt knife 
cutting with careless regret 
and lack of purpose

Copyright © Ricardo Gonsalves | Year Posted 2015

Details | Ricardo Gonsalves Poem

Reach For the Book

A revised riff on Brecht’s sage advice…

reach for the book
&
smack a redneck upside the head
hide a Glock in a carved out bible
burn pages to build a fire under capital
stack by dozens to make a homeless house
send pages in urgent bottles out to sea
make literate airplanes & conduct a wordful raid
wrap fish & serve to the recycled poor
blow your nose & clean your ears in public
throw spitwads @ cops
weave a blanket of shredded words 
lift repeatedly for Jack LaLanne biceps & pecs
toss through your landlord’s window
hit together & create a zen slap 
open for the sake of fresh air
sniff for memories & optional futures
kick to save your dog from pain
step on for out of reach 
hope

Copyright © Ricardo Gonsalves | Year Posted 2015


Book: Reflection on the Important Things