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Best Poems Written by Ricky Muse

Below are the all-time best Ricky Muse poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Prosopography In Blue

waiting
with diaper on 
for this woman to get up 
off the kitchen floor and
stop bleeding while a man 
hovers over her with grimace 
and clinched fist

waiting
for our first-grade teacher 
to stop crying 
over the P.A. announcement 
that the president 
has just been assassinated 
in Dallas

waiting
on the spirit of Christmas 
to return days after the news 
that mother's favorite song "You Send Me" 
had just been shot and killed
a few blocks from our home

waiting
in the backseat of a Packard 
for the policeman to stop screaming 
at my father as urban soldiers 
toss fire from their hands 
in our neighborhood just outside of Watts

waiting
at LAX for Wilt the Stilt 
to come back and finish 
signing autographs after 
some idiot just called him a freak

waiting 
for the bowtie and scowl 
to let go of my arm so I 
can shake the hand of 
the Greatest of All Time 
as he starts his comeback 
with an exhibition bout 
in East Los Angeles

waiting
with eighteen-year-old trembling knees 
for that sheriff deputy 
to remove his pump action shotgun 
from my temple

waiting 
in the delivery room 
for the wrong woman 
to have my child

waiting 
at a motel 
for the right woman 
to find the time 
to slip away

waiting
on the side of 
the ninety-one freeway 
for a motorcade to pass 
shortly after the funeral 
of a former president 
shamed by the Watergate scandal
 
waiting
and looking 
while holding onto 
the entry gate at 875 S. Bundy Dr. 
for some sign of what really 
happened that night

waiting 
along with F.E.M.A. and the Red Cross
for the distraught woman
to come with us to safety 
days after the Northridge earthquake 
leveled her million-dollar home

waiting
at the hospital
for my first grandchild 
to be born while her father
who's been convicted of battery
is nowhere to be found

waiting, waiting
seems like I'm always
waiting

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Forgiveness

I wondered what she was about to do
this image slowly hardened like cement
she sat erect upon the wooden stool
I gazed as if she were a monument
she placed her hands on the piano keys
a melody declared yes she could play
my daughter beckoned, "again 'nanna please"
mother smiled then continued to amaze
a bit of rust did show, but did not last
her Amazing Grace made us sing along
she played gospel with flair the die was cast 
this well-kept secret erupted in song
though sad for not hearing her play before
I silenced my grief then begged her for more

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Common Threads

whether bound and dragged 
behind a pick-up 
‘til limbs slowly dismember
or shackled hand and foot 
then tossed unsecured 
into the back of a rolling 
makeshift coffin

whether judge, jury or executioner 
all don the same hat 
and fancy themselves a God
and your only crime was to exist 
in pigmentation unlike their own

let us not forget our tears
our laughter, our blood 
our date with mortality 
these common threads 
that bind us

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Wild Tuna

why is it easier to look at you
through one eye as opposed to two
when we should be totally 
enamored with the thought
that we have come this far
we of flesh and blood, but enemies of spirit
cannot go on this way

a desert of parched emotions
cherry wood furniture atop marble floors
transformed our home into 
an oasis of tears and coffee

this trivial mirage under scathing sun light
left us grappling for sustenance
be it water or be it love

empathy should be our cry
we stood hand in hand me and you
now with grey hair for a crown
these life stories on our face
we joust over flashbacks 
and weakened rungs

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Hopefully

the skin that tingles when lips meet
will probably demand forever

but this heart that beats out of rhythm
from the touch of a dream
must say no to a blush and promises

instead I'm beholding to sacrifice
what cannot be laid down

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

American Covenant

a knee, a neck, a symbol, a tool
the segregationist would be proud

fighting to breathe is a fight where 
Vegas is covering all odds

let's lay our money and him down
the spittle, the pool on the ground
does not need to be explained, cleaned or vilified

this is America dammit where change 
is not always the objective
where the unwritten far outweighs 
the written rule of law

families bleed albeit slowly
that merciful hemorrhage
some swear isn't normal

let's riot shall we
let's set ablaze the constitution
that Letter from a Birmingham Jail
our Holy Bible

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Feel Or Die

morality sits on the nose 
of this bitter young man
an option of intrigue 
is there for the taking
that call, that lure
from a feral hunter
to a wounded prey 
soliciting capture
as I reach for the ignoble
the knees, the elbows 
the betwixt, the between
a door to an orifice opens
revealing our imminent doom

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

A Key For the Maiden

she enters the room gracefully
belying the heartache inside
her tale of loss floats through the air
like a windblown kite

a mother, child, and death 
reduced to silhouettes

her vision rips a hole
where there should be love 
from this pulpit 
with its congregation of one

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Ballad For the Parnassian

I the lonely poet whose words 
spill out onto the page 
like blood spatter at a crime scene
will knock at your door
books in my eyes hoping 
you'll want to critique them

while others partake of tradition
I will bring cheese
summer sausage, and wine
quote Auden, Ginsberg, and Dove 
'til the aurora strums the horizon
this rhythm inspires the wren
that melody signaling the dawn

Details | Ricky Muse Poem

Shindy With Pops

outside the fire
you go left
not from fear, but roots 
that stretch far beyond 
the reach of family ties
  
inside the fire
I go right
and pray our heirs
find the wisdom of savants
much more to their liking  

these sides have risen
a gap has been formed
the wedge between us 
cries out for breast milk