Category: Poetry

Amateur scribblings often over rhythmic, rhymey, shallow and too Freudian.

  • Today’s Kill

    A cat is a cat is a cat.
    I don’t have to like that.
    She gives me gifts
    I’d prefer not to have.
    Extinguished life.
    Birds, mice, chipmunks and bats.
    My bloodstain stoop
    Her trophy case.
    Today she stood proudly over a wren.
    I think that’s what I buried.

    (At least it wasn’t a rabbit ht Meredith)

  • Atlas’ Journey

    Hopelessness clings like a straitjacket
    Constricts like a boa
    Weights the feet like walking through watery mud

    The legs gave out long ago
    But the mountain must be climbed
    And I trudge on

    Hopefully I will see the summit
    If the sun sets without me
    I will savor all it illuminated during my journey
          and fertilize the trail for the hiker behind me.

  • Slip Sliding Away

    I was having this discussion
    In a taxi heading downtown
    Rearranging my position
    On this friend of mine who had
    A little bit of a breakdown
    I said breakdowns come
    And breakdowns go
    So what are you going to do about it
    That’s what I’d like to know
    [Source, Paul Simon, Gumboots]

  • Handwritten Note

    This one is scribbled on a napkin shoved into my poetry journal and dated August 6, 2004 along with Of Time and Aging.

    If at first you don’t succeed may your rotting corpse serve as a warning to the next guy. -DM 6aug2004

    Another on the same napkin:

    Yesterday was never as hard as it seemed at the time. -DM 6aug2004

    And the final is an old favorite that is not an original of mine.

    Today is the tomorrow we thought about yesterday. -author unknown

  • My One-dimensional Reality

    This was written for a open mic night around 1992.

    I wrote a poem the other day so in the spirit of the evening I would like to present it to you.
    Ready?
    It’s called "My One-dimensional Reality" and it goes like this:
    Dot!
    Well, it lacked a little point so I wrote another called "My Two-dimensional Reality" and tried to draw lines between the meanings. It was then that I started to get deep and philosophical and expanded the two poems into "My Three-dimensional Reality." It was here that my thoughts exploded in ALL directions.
    I started to write "My Four-dimensional Reality" but I ran out of time.
    And one day, I want to write about the larger dimensional realities but at the moment my concepts are beyond words.

  • Chaos Wrangling

    I look about and see
    All the chaos which surrounds me
    Clutter on the desk
    Clutter in the mind
    Clutter makes it hard to progress
    Leaving me far behind
    To get ahead I need to clean
    Remove the chaos to be free
    Tasks at hand take priority
    Leaving chaos to encompass me
    Remove the chaos from the physical world
    Digitize and organize in bits and bytes and clouds
    Where’s my chaos now?
    It’s still there but I’ve misplaced it somehow
    I stored it on a website for all to see
    Recycled the physical evidence around me
    But they changed their name
    Bought by another company
    Delicious bookmarks are all but broke
    And the price gone from free
    To $4.95 monthly
    My chaos still burdens me
    I need its comfort for my strange insanity
    But now I cannot find it
    My desk is clean
    The chaos in my head still surrounds me.

  • Voided

    Drip, drip, drip, drip
    Into the void it slips
    A black hole sucking the darkness in
    A container filling within with out
    Nothingness becomes somethingness
    Still less
    With every sampling the void grows
    Blackness stimulating
    Maddening
    Addicting
    Hate it, Crave it
    Driving force
    Of … what?
    No answer
    Drop, drop, drop, drop

  • We are all one breath away from the end

    Today I saw a man dying on the side of the road
    He lay within sight of trained paramedics, a mere 325 feet
    As I came to the scene, parked cars lined the side road dangerously close to the speeding traffic
    I criticized whoever allowed their party guests to park so carelessly
    I did not know they celebrated a life
    As the distance narrowed, my irritation turned to concern
    This looked more like a car accident than party
    A footfall field away, sirens roared and lights flashed, help was on the way
    I pulled the side to clear a path, to my right my worry turned to fight
    There in grass, lay a man surrounded by people and one pumped his chest
    I do not know what happened to that man
    I drove away, I could not help, I’d just be in the way
    I did not see his face, he could be someone I knew well, a neighbor, or a stranger
    I do not if he breathed again or had his last day
    He left my mind as quickly as he entered it
    I had no emotional or philosophical response
    I did not think of his family nor mine
    I simply noted that my CPR training is out of date.

  • Noooo…. Grounds!

    The coffee is gone! The coffee is gone! Watch for riots in the streets! How could we have let all the coffee grounds run out.

    Oh bean!
    How I miss thee
    Not long ago
         I coddled thee
    I’d shake your bag
         Like a maraca
    We’d laugh with glee
    Then I’d give you a ride
    The grinder it spun
    To fine powder
    Then a steam bath for you
    While you drip dried
    I’d have a drink
    Now I thirst.

  • How vivid are your dreams?

    My dreams are filled with color, details, and sound. Last night I was watching a well machine, straight as an arrow, perfectly round one inch thick steel bar. While I looked at the bar from close distance, it hung in the air with no apparent forces being applied to the bar then without warning it snapped in the middle with an incredible, piercing pop! I flinched to miss any shrapnel, and in the process bolted upright in bed, wide awake, with my ears ringing and heart racing.

    No interpretation needed. That dream is as clear as the single, ear splitting pop which came out of the dream and into the real world.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Evan, 3 years old, going down for a nap:"Daddy. Wake up and go store. And play in water. Then come home and go sleep."
    Dad:"Take a nap first."
    Evan:"Okay."

    I love that boy so much! I love all my children.

  • Imprisoned

    I want to reach out
          But my hands are tied
    I want to shout
          But have no voice
    I could cry
          But have no tears
    And I could die
          But have no heart.

  • Simple, yet powerful

    To live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy. Perhaps our blogs use too many words.

  • I cry

    I hold you my son
    And I cry
    For I cannot give you all the world.

    I watch you my daughter
    And I cry
    For I cannot give you all my time.

    I teach you my son
    And I cry
    For I cannot give you all knowledge.

    I guide you my daughter
    And I cry
    For I cannot prevent all your mistakes.

    I set you free my son
    And I cry
    For I cannot protect you all the time.

    I love you my wife
    And I cry
    For I cannot give you a better life.

    And I cry
    Tears of joy
    For all of you give me such happiness!