Gone
I may be
But it brought him no joy
To get rid of me

Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence
Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent
I'm flat broke but I don't care
I strut right by with my tail in the air
Stray cat strut, I'm a ladies cat
I'm a feline Casanova, hey man, that's that
Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man
Get my dinner from a garbage can
Meow
Yeah, don't cross my path
I don't bother chasing mice around
I slink down the alley, looking for a fight
Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy
I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class and I got cat style"

I feel the effect
Of your neglect
But that’s something you’ll never see
When you don’t ever look at me

My poems are ever evolving
I’ve edited
Along the way
The beauty of these tools
Or maybe a curse, too
The loss of the shadows in the
Light when it was new

It’s not really love
I can’t call it that anymore
It’s adulation, or even worship
Probably maybe
Unhealthy
It should be
It doesn’t seem to have that effect on
Me
But maybe that’s something I don’t want to see

Mostly I don't like you
Because of your hypocrisy
You have rules for you
And then, for everybody
You only respect physical strength
And flashy new money
You have no sense of fairness
No sense of decency
I wish I could avoid you
All and entirely
But you are there
And I pretend
Not to see

Acceptance
Unwept
For this loss
I’ve been prepped
Foolish on my part
To catch feelings within
Over a man I had no chance to win
But that’s how it happens
With heartly matters
Throw it into the wind
And see how it splatters
Sometimes it creates
A beautiful mess
I see a masterpiece
What  you perceive
I can’t venture a guess
In your rejection
I’ve found my own priceless-ness
Maybe it’s delusion
Perhaps it’s ego
But in this failed climb to you
I put it out there to show
And doing all that
Has helped me to grow
I am better than before
Whether you never know
Better and stronger, my dear
Wherever I happen to go from here

I beg like a ***
For a token or dime
I spend all of my time
On this lonely street
Freezing to death
While you hoard the heat
And just like the typical
One who drives by
You avoid my eye
So you don’t have to see
The hungry
Me
There’s thousands of bums on the street
And you can’t give them all a thing to eat
Least of all

Me

We all have stars in our eyes
Invisible to some
And often most
But stars are there
In every one
Not really reflective
But probably the most I can see
Through someone’s eyes
Is another version of me

It could potentially be
The stuff of myth and mystery
But you’ve achieved that
Already
You’re in chill mode
And here comes an overload
Sustained, reckless, brash
To deliver a swift kick in the ***
Passing gas
Passing gas
Passing
Time
My Adonis
Bring it home
In rhythm and rhyme

Random bird outside
Amidst the chatter
Sings a glorious song
No other bird
Could’ve sung along

I ain’t never gonna really leave
Unless you ask me to
And then I’d go
Happy for you

We’ve got Dino Dana on the big tv
For no other reason than to control me
And something only a kid wants to see
On every electronic there could possible be
One pad with Cocomelon
The other with some kind of ant cartoon
Two kids
Every device in this house
I’m hiding under the covers on this phone
Because there’s surely some princess show
The little one wants to see
For no other reason than to maintain
Massive control
Over me

It will happen
One day
When one you trusted
Will turn and betray
You’ll feel like a sucker
Let yaself get played
But you’re not the one on the fade
The real fool in the room
Is the one who
Looses you

My grandkids are playing with an
Adjustable bendy track
On which to run their cars
And this has quickly escalated into the
Race track wars
Of course
It is true
All the pieces look exactly the same
But
There is a particularly special piece
The little one thinks she has claimed
And now, out of the fifty other racetrack
Pieces
That could do the job
Her older brother
NEEDS that one
Particular piece
Apparently
For no other reason than
To **** with me

One day
He will notice
You just wait and see
How he notices me
So boombasstickly

Human part in there
Somewhere
Your ego so fragile
You find it a fault
Being fragile
Fragility is the human condition
We all break
Some of us
Find people to fix
One of the few ways
To heal from a break
Some refuse to break  
Hold whole to a bitter end
The recovery rate from an almost break
Is much more grim

No apologies
You never owed a thing to me
And everything I gave was free
I should be thanking you
For treating me respectfully
You could have made a circus show
With me the number one clown
You gave me a reason to grow
And did not let me down
Thank you
Thank you
Sir
You’ve been a noble man
And I know it ain’t going anywhere
But I dream because I can

Took him to the playground
Run around and wear himself out
Was the plan
But then, I got to playing
With little man
And now
He's wide awake
And I'm so exhausted
I can barely stand

Here I be
Your personal freak on a leash
Self-imposed
And unwilling to leave
Here I be
While you ignore me
Apparently
Permanently
Here I be

When I say it in the written word
I feel like I am being heard
Maybe not immediately
But at some point in history
The right one will listen to me
And the right time
It will be
For he or she
To hear whatever words from me
And apply them to the life of thee
This is probably
The entire point of poetry
At least, for me

What will I tell God
If He lets me in
To Heaven?
Should I apologize
For my worship of a mere man?
Confess all my sins
Which He already knows
Were they a part of His plan?  
And if that truth be
Shouldn’t He be apologizing
To me?

Ego got the best of me
So I'll turn it into poetry
All the things we think we know
Resist with force to being shown
Performed my little dance and song
But you were right
And I was wrong

The dragon is withered,
His bones are now crumbled;
His armour is shivered,
His splendour is humbled!
Though sword shall be rusted,
And throne and crown perish
With strength that men trusted
And wealth that they cherish,
Here grass is still growing,
And leaves are yet swinging,
The white water flowing,
And elves are yet singing
     Come! Tra-la-la-lally!
     Come back to the valley!

The stars are far brighter
Than gems without measure,
The moon is far whiter
Than silver in treasure:
The fire is more shining
On hearth in the gloaming
Than gold won by mining,
So why go a-roaming?
     O! Tra-la-la-lally
     Come back to the Valley.

O! Where are you going,
So late in returning?
The river is flowing,
The stars are all burning!
O! Whither so laden,
So sad and so dreary?
Here elf and elf-maiden
Now welcome the weary
     With Tra-la-la-lally
     Come back to the Valley,
          Tra-la-la-lally
          Fa-la-la-lally
               Fa-la!

The perfect poem exists
But not
It’s the one that jumps into your mind
When you don’t have the time
To commit it to permanency
And as much as you try to
Grasp at the vapors
It will forever remain a mystery
But isn’t that what perfect things are supposed to be?

My mind is always brought to you
Something you would say
Or something you'd do
Take me to the days
When I did them with you
How could you be
So fun and sweet
Which makes it such a crime
That you lie all the time

Old souls carry old bones
The past settles in between
Weight of spirit
That we imagine can fly
With these old bones
It is the weightlessness we lack
Attached to the Earth
More and more
Old backs

I wish to be seen
Ideally from you
But whatever
Wonderful man will do
He’s out there somewhere
He must be
The ever elusive
One for me

She said to me
“I hope his ex girlfriend is so ugly.”
That would not be my wish
To have stolen a pearl from a swine
I want my pearl to be
Pearl infused
A history surrounded
By beautiful things
And still
It’s my necklace he graces
Despite the choice
Of all those pretty faces

She brings it to him
All over the table
Hodgepodge arrangement
Completely unstable
Yet true
And honest of what it be
No pretentions
Lots of dreams
When dreams, pretension seems

You’re not perfect
But you know that
Which makes you more perfect than most
Guys who come close

Thus far
I haven’t noticed
That you’re not perfect
But reason and sanity say it must be true
The first one to tell me you are imperfect
Would most certainly be you

My family will not participate
When I make excuses for myself
I love them for that

He won’t go easy
He’ll try to scare you
Speak of the doom
Distort what’s true
Twisted version
Displayed for you
Point out potential ruin
Cause you to question your evry doin’
And all the others you should fear
Which astonishingly
That’s what you want to hear
And he promises to set you free
And then asks you to send him your money

I get up in the evening
And I ain't got nothing to say
I come home in the morning
I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain't nothing but tired
Man, I'm just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby, I could use just a little help

You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark

Message keeps getting clearer
Radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man, I ain't getting nowhere
I'm just living in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere
Baby, I just know that there is

You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark

You sit around getting older
There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on, baby, the laugh's on me

Stay on the streets of this town
And they'll be carving you up all right
They say you gotta stay hungry
Hey, baby, I'm just about starving tonight
I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
Come on now, baby, gimme just one look

You can't start a fire
Sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You can't start a fire
Worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark

All these little pieces of me
Form a whole
Eventually
What you see
If you piece it together
Maybe
Has nothing to do with me

If I didn’t know better
I’d assume she wanted the pain
She keeps grabbing the hot ***
By anything but the handle
She uses her finger to put out the candle
Melted wax
Dries on her hands
Leaving it’s fake skin behind
And she picks it off
Complains about it
And repeats it every time
She wears flip flops in the snow
Complains her feet are cold
She refuses to freeze any leftovers
And ******* when they get mold
It’s hard to be around her
Her game is getting old
Her friends are looking at their hands
And thinking they should fold

I come to see if you brought it
Like only you can do
Gentle tickle
Of my soul
Your presence
Ignites me
Simmer shiver
Brings me to my form
Gentle and warm
To a brisk simmer
It’s a new summer
And you are the sun who makes me shimmer

I have to force myself to see
If now you are not ready for me
You’re never going to be

I am the opposite of you
You use twenty words
When only ten would do
Free donut off the cart?
You will take two
Throw one in the trash uneaten
That’s what you like to do
You’d rather take too much
Than risk having just enough
Wasteful habits feel a lot like
Wealth to a show off
All your stuff
If you don’t need it
It is a luxury
But really, you’re just wasteful
And it’s something we all see

Poisonous spiders
Venomous snakes
Vampire bats
Crocodiles from lakes
Cockroaches
All other yucky bugs, too
Lions and tigers and bears
Oh my
Possums pretending to die
Rats and **** throwing monkeys
Skunks and all their funky
Lots of creatures that we love to scorn
All these things made it onto that ark
And not one unicorn

I fleet and flit
Habitually
My attention
Not much to speak
Yet you
You…
You captivate me

Too far
Sometimes
Looks a lot like
Not far enough
And you’re already half in there
When things get rough

We ended without an end
Which makes it hard for me
To let go of what could have been
So much possibility
I'll work on accepting
And I'll work on me, too
First thing I should accept
Is that you will not work on you

Blackout
From you
I know you don’t do it on purpose
And maybe you don’t know I notice
You have no idea
How your presence effects me
And your absence too
I prefer it that way
There are no reins on you

He offered more
Encouraged me to explore
He’s better than I was hoping for

I see you there
That look on your face
Wondering if you made a mistake
But no harm, no foul
My head is not bowed
It's pretty clear I'm too good for you now

He ain’t fresh out the box
Nicks, scratches, scars
Most invisible
He got his demons
Inner vibe ****
He ain’t as up as he seems
Wearing his mask of other mens’ dreams
Why ain’t it perfect, though?
The answers to everything he wanted to know
Sure put on a lovely show
But there’s more
In store
Fireworks galore
To the man who just wants to
Chill indoors

Lady, your kid is a brat
But I imagine
You already know that

I could tell he wanted my attention
Which was adorable
As adorable can possibly be
In a man of fifty three
For a few seconds
And a few seconds more
He was a little boy of four

How can he not sing?  
Deny the beautiful offering
The silent voice that used to ring
Oh the feels that man will bring
When he remembers how to sing