Can I raise my hand saying I've done all I can
Despite my circumstance
Did I choose to do all I set out to
That being no more and no less

Did I find my nitch, make the best of it
Taking it as it comes
Grab the baton in the wind on the run
Whether I lost or won

Who besides me would not change a thing
Would still own up to all of the wrongs
Knowing for sure they were part of the course
Life lessons that help you grow strong

If death came today how many would say
I did the very best I could
Lived as I learned through every junket in turn
Mostly in the name of love

Not trying to leave behind some magical line
Written down for history
Just doing my best at my own bequest
While trying to just be me

How do you know if you can or you can't
If you never give it a try

How do you know if you'll sink or you'll swim
If you never take the dive

How do you know if you will or you won't
If you never give it a thought

How do you know to sing along
If you never choose a song

How do you know the cost of it all
If you're not willing to spend the dime

How do you know to learn from the fall
If you never dare to climb

How do you know how fast love will grow
If you first don't plant the seed

How do you know to come in from the cold
If you never feel the heat

How do you know that now is the time
If you don't keep a watch

How do you know where to find the light
If you're always in the dark

How do you know the jest of it all
If you never care to laugh

How do you know to give it a try
If you never say can but can't

You might not be an astronaut
Never be a king or queen
Never meant to be the president
Or walk the red carpet scene

Won't win the Noble Peace Prize
In science or literature
May never find that mountain to climb
Or discover the colds elusive cure

You may never make it famous
In the circles that you move
But you can always count on the one thing
You are good at being you

You may not step into a room
To the roaring of applause
Or have the Paparazzi follow you
Taking pictures of all they saw

You may not be a rock star
Filling stadiums at night
Among these and other things
You may never do in life

While the above for others
May all soundly come true
You can always rely on the best part in life
And that is in being you

You may take some things for granted
Seeing green on the other side
Wish that you had made it
Much further in this life

You can take it all to the bank
With holdings firm in your belief
That where your ship has landed
Isn't at all where you should be

But when your lot is filled with haven't got
All you can do in life is lose
Just stick with the plan that is at hand
And do the best at being you

5:09 in the morning
I slap the alarm a second time
Guess I best be going
If I plan to catch the 6:09

That's all I seem to do these days
Is travel the salesman's life
But what else can one man do
With three kids and a wife

I hate the life I'm living
Of never being home
I know they love and cherish me
But I still feel so all alone

With the T.V. as my only companion
In this dreary hotel room
Each time I leave a part of me
Knowing I'll be back real soon

The life of a traveling salesman
Is nothing if it's not hard
Most days they barely look at me
As they hold their hand out for my card

I still must brave the days ahead
For the little ones and wife back home
To give to them a better life
Than the one in which I roam

5:09 in the morning
I slap the alarm a second time
Guess I best be going
If I plan to catch the 6:09

early on
in this run
i jumped off the train of thought

the clickity-clack
of rusty tracks
trying to find my way back

an old hobo
out in the cold
weary in and without soul

that brings me to
this lasting truth
if i knew what i would lose

when early on
in this run
i jumped off the train of thought

Poetry pulls me over
With screaming siren and blue lights
Knocks me to my knees slaps the cuffs on me
Forcing me into rhyme

Why can't it mind its own business
And stop giving me such a hard time
Leave me alone to do other things that I want
I ask you, is that really a crime

Behind bars, hard labor forced
Pen and paper in hand
Writing off my time in this do it or die
All at the judges demand

Guess they have me a poetry thief with a need
Serving time between the lines
Of this poetry that has control over me
With its insatiable need to rhyme

Here in this life doing hard time...

There's a lesson to be had
In every lesson that you get
When it's your turn up to bat
Whether swinging right or left
If you're young and dumb
Or if you're dumb and old
Don't take ahold of nothing
If you're not willing to let it go

Life can be an issue
So keep tissues at hand
The sands of time keep blowing
Blasting their demands
You might not see it coming
So keep this in the know
Don't take ahold of nothing
If you're not willing to let it go

Be it material possessions
Or matters of the heart
Don't let that thing define you
Make you into who you are
Be it in the heat of the moment
Or the brittle bitter cold
Don't take ahold of nothing
If you're not willing to let it go

We we want it, you know it
We want it all now
A generation Jonesin
For the golden cow

Amazon craving
Easy to Prime
No hassle, no waiting
No standing in line

They make it, we okay it
The latest of ism's
We are the children
Of materialism

They tell us, they sell us
The latest in trends
To make us and break us
Bend to their whims

With tantalizing advertising
We're deer in headlights
As we run over each other
To be first in line

I have been a student
Of all that really matters
Sitting at the desk of life's demands
Reading books and raising hands

A child from the beginning
And will be till the end
Placed faith inside the meaning
Which means I'll do it all again

I've been a teacher of those who'll listen
In hopes they understand
Seeing all they're missing
And what they're missing is all they have

A soldier in this lone army
Fighting wars within myself
As no one else would have me
And I would have no one else

I've been a poet in the giving
Where words refused to rhyme
When knowledge knew no limit
All this once upon a time

If you need any proof that I'm funny
I come to you with a laugh track
You can borrow from me till you're red in the knee
Then after the laugh you can give it back

Because the jokes that I tell are quite funny
Well at least they are in my head
Swirling behind my eyes trying to find the punchline
Till they spill out with the last laugh

Say have you heard that I'm funny
By now I'm The Talk of the Town
To make it more simple just call me Comedy Central
As I continue to wipe tears from this clown

You do a lot of things I don't
I do a lot of things you won't
But hey, here's a novel thought
Why can't we all just get along

I do things you do not like
You do things I would never try
In the Great by-and-by
Why don't we all try to be kind

You don't like the things I say
I don't like the way you behave
But what better day than today
To stop and say that it's okay

I'm just trying to make a point
We all call heads on this two-sided coin
In this I'm sure I'm not alone
Why can't we all just get along

It's not the cough that has you off
Lay back relax you'll soon be seen
The fever you've fought
has to do with your thoughts
In today's realities

If you're looking for the cure de jour
He's got just the thing
As you slip into bed
he slides into your head
A visit from Dr. Dream

His prescriptions don't come in a bottle
For a pharmacy, there is no need
The only pop em if you've got em
to bring you back from rock bottom
Comes to you in your sleep

Stick out your tongue saying ahh sawing logs
While the good doctor takes a peek
In the back of your mind
where nightmares spend their time
Examined by Dr. Dream

As you toss and you turn in your never-ending search
Hoping one day to be free
From the thoughts in your head
that are best left unsaid
Spreading like some dreaded disease

You spend the night looking for answers
Hoping to find some relief
While the good doctors' bedside manners
increase the chances
A visit from Dr. Dream

If you're looking for answers
To your many questions
Needing direction in what you should do

If you're undecided
On which side is lying
What you are buying is your choice to choose

When one side says my way
The other says no way
And which side is okay you haven't a clue

If one side says turn left
The other says right at
And what you are left with is more than confused

When wild windy deflection
Keeps leaving you guessing
With many more questions than bean lovers toot

You might want to think twice
Before you ask advice
Wouldn't it be nice if all said was true

Instead of listening to others
And their drooling druthers
Your ears you should cover and just listen to you

Modern Technology confuses me
Especially when I'm alone
Without some 6-year-old kid to show me it
Which only helps to prove that I'm old

You'd think over the years I'd have earned my keep
But instead, I'm left out in the cold
Perhaps someone 2 might better suit
It all being gibberish to me

Modern Technology has it out for me
I'm thinking it thinks it's real cute
With its drummer and me on two different beats
Which throws everything else out of tune

I sit and stare bug-eyed at the glare
Be it computer, smartphone, or...is this even a watch?!
I'd take the dive but I'm not that deep
It's my mind this time, not my feet that keep tripping me

Modern Technology is mocking me
Thinks it's Big Man on Campus
Gets all the high grades or at least appears that way
Of course, the mistakes may be coming from me

I wonder who is the master and who is the slave
And who's the holder of the secret key
And had we all known these cows ain't coming home
Would we have dipped our toes into
this stream of Modern Technology

Some days are better than the rest
Some days will put you to the test
Some days are fat while others lean
Some strike a match with gasoline

Some days are easier to find
Some days will make you lose your mind
Some days you want to save the date
Some you can't wait to give away

Some days are there for all they're worth
Some days laugh, some days curse
Some days always show up late
Blending into other days

Some days come from the crayon box
Some days a lead pencil is all you've got
Some days are black with others blue
Those are the days that beat up on you

Some days you stand, some days you fall
Some days you wonder at it all
Some days you pay, some days are loaned
Yet through it all, you carry on

What once kept us warm
We seem to have run from
Which makes me think the gig is up
Put a fork in us, I think we're done

What used to be all smiles
Is overloaded now with frowns
We picked it up only to put it down
Whatever happened to "Happy Town"

Slicing and dicing mincing words
Letting our mouths run off course
Nothing sadder than this soup de jour
Being spoon-fed with pitchforks

We often dream but wake to doubt
In black and white, we find this out
One eighty in our turn around
Whatever happened to "Happy Town"

When did our plans all fall through
Out of our hands, we let them loose
We lost the gander and the goose
******* in knots with a noose

Is it so hard to figure out
All we have is heading south
In line at the slaughterhouse
Whatever happened to "Happy Town"

Turn the key on my back
Wind me up for the attack
Making sure to wind it tight
Springs are sprung for a fight

Cranky gears and rusty veins
Enough to drive this toy insane
I wish I may I wish I might
Not always be wound up so tight

They find what works on these nerves
Pull my strings to runs its course
Spinning head, Stomping feet
Losing not a single beat

Wound up tight for the attack
Strings and keys upon my back
Pushing me close to the edge
Stomping feet, spinning head

Don't mind me
As I sit here drool free
Opting out on the hysteria

From the latest rage
On today's Climate Change
I find it a shame it's not clear to ya

All of the hype
Accented with baby cries
The world is soon again going to end

I've heard all this before
20 to 30 years ago
Where even back then they told us 10

Sure we need to take
Care of it all for all of our sake
But this about amounts to mental cruelty

Where we're scaring our kids
Saying kiss it goodbye, this is it
Blaming you and me without skipping a beat

It used to be we're all going to freeze
Wait...scratch that, they meant overheat
Till they threw in the towel and called it Climate Change

That way they can cover it all
Be at heavy rains or freezing snow
Makes it easier to go either way

So please don't mind me
As I sit here drool free
Opting out on the hysteria

From the latest rage
On today's Climate Change
I find it a shame it's not clear to ya

I've made a mess of this life
Which has me wondering why
I get it so wrong
When I don't even try

I just wake up and do
Without a single clue
This being about the only thing
That I follow through

I've looked forward and back
Double checked all the facts
I've made a mess of this life
Which has me smack-dab where I'm at

I've made a mess of this life
Without once thinking twice
If I could do it again
I'm sure again I would find

That every time
With no reason nor rhyme
Try as I might with all of my might
I'd make a mess of this life

You've been the constant beside me
The comfort inside of this daily wild sea
That pushes and pulls the blue of my soul
The forever peace to my needs

You've been the flowering fragrance
The treasure that says you can keep it
The silver and gold to all that unfolds
The first dawning of light come to greet it

You've been the miracle in the making
The gift of the day for the taking
The stronghold of hope that never let's go
The grace that is made for the saving

You've been the goodness inside of the deed
To perfect tone to my phones loving ring
The fine tooth comb to comb out my alone
You've been the constant beside me

i built my heart
out of salvaged straw and paper
lit a match where the headlines read
it burned much hotter than expected

i then built my heart
using discarded sticks and stones
which in the long run broke my bones
and your words they still did hurt me

it is then I built my heart
out of hardened brick and mortar
windowless it is kept
a heart of brick as thick as this

i look at you
and see a loon
absent from the bin

humming to
a crazy tune
somewhere off in wonderland

this speeding elevator
see you later alligator
short of a few floors

as you gargle
your loose marbles
insanely spilled out on the floor

the loose screws
used to tighten you
are all stripped of their thread

while the voices that
you laugh with
are all inside your head

leaving the thoughts that
you often build with
short of a few bricks

which leads me back
to where this started at
you loonie with no bin

What do you do
When there's a contract out on you
Do you blacken your face then run and hide

When the deeds of yesterday
Are today slapped in your face
Then thrown in the trunk and taking out for a ride

You can toss out all bets
When it comes to tolerance
That you ever will see it again

Unless you drain the lake
Of regrets and mistakes
And find it in boots of cement

When tolerance got carried away
In its hey, that's okay
We all make mistakes now and then

Where we're all the same
In those daily mistakes
What happened to live and let live

I may judge you
But don't you dare judge me too
Remember what happened to tolerance

Blindfolded and stuffed
Into a waiting cars trunk
And fitted with those shoes of cement

She knows a thing or two about Life

Has felt the tick inside the sorrow
But then she also knows
How fickle the wind blows
And how it all can change tomorrow
In spite of Life today

She knows a thing or two about Faith

And how it only takes a little
Of its seed to be sown
For it to grow
It may not seem but it's that simple
To come and pull yourself up

She knows a thing or two about Love

And how it holds it all together
Using the softest heart
To play a major part
Handle it delicately with care
It'll all work out just fine

She knows a thing or two about Life

The sun came down
Kissed the Earth good morning
Huged it with a warming
To help it on its way

Gave a gentle nudge
To guide it in it's spinning
Whispered here's to new beginnings
Calling it a day

If everything was perfect
And life was but a breeze
I'm not sure exactly
How that would feel to me

If life was but a song
That we all could hum along
I'm not sure how right that'd feel
If something was not wrong

If everything was right side up
And not a thing was upside down
Would we ever really know
When the good times roll around

Can we take this opportunity
To realize what we should know
How things would not feel right
If something was not wrong

If you're late coming to this party
In the perfection that you seek
How on earth can you be happy
If you never have a need

I believe they both go hand in hand
Never travel far alone
Because right would not feel right
If something was not wrong

Haven't we been here before
As History sits by slack-jawed
Wondering why we haven't learned
Seemingly unconcerned

How many times must it repeat itself
Before we move on to something else
Before we open up our eyes
To see it didn't work the first time

Nor the second nor the third
When to us will it occur
That we should take a different path
One much different from the last

Where the record set of History
Won't skip a beat and then repeat
Again to stand and look slack-jawed
Wondering where it all went wrong

is there any difference
when seen from a distance
of a waves persistence
of hello and goodbye

if love was the matter
the wave might know better
between the sadness and laughter
of hello and goodbye

is there something missing
off in that distance
some meaning hidden
of hello and goodbye

another agenda
that waving will send ya
once you catch the wind of
hello and goodbye

Standing center stage
Ready to give it all away
The comedian removes his coat
Set for a night of killing jokes

A murderer in his own right
Slices and dices with precision knife
At his feet, he draws the chalk line
Funny kills the crowd every time

Although some jokes go over their heads
Some also fall flat a grueling death
He tries to hide the beads of sweat that show
While doing his best at killing jokes

Smothered laughter comes in a can
***** the lid tight on ignorance
Which helps in the making of a comedic list
Writing it down then killing it

From the bloodbath, he takes a bow
Bathes off to the sound of the crowd
Smiles at the rambunctious applause
All from a night of killing jokes

We're all in one frame of mind
To smoothly flow upstream with time
Caught in the middle without a paddle
We've become quite the gaggle
With the water rising high
No way of stopping till the day we die
Can't you see, believe you me
We're all up the creek

So you best hold on to all you own
Finding out, in the end, it was just a loan
Cause nothing is as it seems
The further that you get upstream
You can moan and groan for all you know
There's no way to stop the flow
Hoping to get by with just a squeak
We're all up the creek

How many of us want to just let go
Get pulled out by the undertow
Halfway through this life
And still no paddle within sight
Where's the promise, where's the hope
Where's the life in stories told
As far as I can see
We're all up the creek

i do well in a crowd
talk enough to earn my keep
my opinions i spout a bit too loud
but then again that's just me

i've not done myself any favors
as i hide behind it all
i've tried my luck at ordering out to lunch
but the order is much too tall

being the sound that's made
with a one-hand clap
as a matter of fact
i'm a one man band

it's not quite as simple as
cymbals, drums, guitar
when your hands are kept so busy that
you have to wonder who you are

when you can lose yourself in that crowd
on fire with gasoline  
starting out down for the count
before you even make the scene

being the sound that's made
with no slap on the back
as a matter of fact
i'm a one man band

no one sees the one true me
nor comes to the show
on the run, i've seen them come
but mostly seen them go

i've got a sound that often puts me down
rightly in my place
making it hard to see to find me
when you forget my name and can't place my face

being the sound that's made
with a one-hand clap
as a matter of fact
being a one man band

Two lives so young and tender
Yet old enough to know better
If they had only kept her
Would it have really mattered

Would anything have really changed
Would what is right still have turned away
Letting evil grab hold her hand
Leading her down the road of the ******

Would those that kindly took her in
Be thrown out as next of kin
For all the hell in what they did
The rapping of the innocent

Would the angels still stand and cry
At the evil in their sight
Would they know to pose the question why
The sin of man is piled so high

Would they see her cope with this life on loan
From man to man from home to home
This Child of God now fully grown
By His Grace come into her own

To follow along a different path
One she and her son can draw the map
To know for sure where they are at
Finally on the final path
In what is right, right where they're at

I've got all of this
And even more of that
Yet still I'm working on the list
Of all I lack

You'd think that I'd be happy
With just some
But to tell the truth, sadly
There is never enough

I save the Knicks and the Knacks
Along with everything else
Proud of the dust that they collect
On the many shelves

What hidden pleasures are hoped to find
In this crazy elbow rub
We all know I would be lying
There is never enough

All I can get if not more of it
To fill this insatiable need
Where spirits lift as I take a dip
In this pool of insanity

Better safe than sorry
Hoarding all I've got
Anyways, you know the story
There is never enough

With this,
My last Will & Testament
I'm sure you're all here
To see what you get

I know you're excited
To see the treasures I had
Now that I'm gone
Now that I've passed

To split it up evenly
Only seems right
Cuts down on the cussing
Stops all the fights...

I leave behind my disappointments
And all my regrets
Along with the projects
I never finished

Plus all the days
That I never did
With the buckets of tears
I cried over them

You can keep the guilt that I felt
When things would go wrong
Whether or not
It was my fault

Take the attitude
Of what's in it for me
And do as you please
Now that I'm free and no longer in need

Oh and my fits of rage
When things would not go my way
Be careful with that
And watch what you say

Fill free to keep the jealousy
Of why them and not me
But be warned if you do
Happy you'll never be

And my final breath
That I wish I still had
You can toss that away
Now that I'm dead

I'm sure you're now thinking that
You should have hedged all your bets
Since your ears and your eyes
Have heard and seen what is left

I'm so glad you all came
To take this all away
That over the years
I should never have saved

...oh and tonight if you are soundly asleep
And suddenly come awake
The noise you hear is just me
Laughing from beyond the grave

from innocence
to what a mess
who would have thought
who could have guessed

the worst in life
would pile this high
with troubles that
some people find

you can choose
to win or lose
what you do
is up to you

take the hate
as your fate
or learn in love
to give away

giving innocense
a second chance
this side of life
hand in the dance

those who know
can't help but grow
past the past
into the hope

and overcome
the trash that's thrown
at the innocence
of the young

till there's no secrets that
are ever kept
when it comes to
young innocence

I woke up this morning
To quite a surprise
I had a 42 chest
And round shapely thighs

The hair on my face
Had been replaced
With voluptuous lips
And rosy red cheeks

Guess all the dreaming of women
That I always do
Went straight to my head
And changed a thing or two

I went to the mirror
As every man would
And thought to myself
That I look pretty good

So I searched my wife's closet
Found a little red dress
Nothing to fancy
But enough to impress

Off of the hanger
I pulled it down
Then headed out the door
For a night on the town

Dinning and dancing
In all the places I'd been
I break a few hearts
Cause I don't really like men

I tried to explain
That I woke up this way
Neither delusional nor crazy
And certainly not gay

I'm just thinking I think
Of women most all the time
It must have swirled in my head
Till my body fell into line

I'm not really sure
What I'm going to do
But enjoy being pretty
For a moment or two

Just when my wife
Was warming up to the idea
I woke up again
But this time back to a man

The one thing I learned
Out of all this craziness
Is I look good in red
So I'm keeping the dress

I wonder who's the Puppeteer
Who pulls all the strings
Do they have charge of the world at large
Or just this one country

Is it done for the love of money
Or the power that it holds
Is it shoot to **** for the thrill
Until they fill they're needs and wants

What goes on behind the curtain
Do we really want to know
And if we knew for certain
Would we still come to the show

Tangling you and me in their strings
Befuddled in the motion
As the Puppeteer leaves us hanging
Without us even knowing

Do they tug on us more than once
Strings wound tight in every matter
Wish us luck we're all in the clutch
Of the Puppet Master

Now you see me
Now you don't
Looks like I'm here
But I'm really not

I wander off
From time to time
Take my thoughts
Leave the rest behind

As I sit here
And blankly stare
With a silly smile
Not a single care

I make my way
From day to day
From the here and now
To the far away

That's why you see me
But you really don't
I may appear to be here
When I'm really not

There are people over here
That don't like people over there
Though they've never met
Here, there, or anywhere

They're told the way they are
By people, they don't know
Which makes me rather sad
For the world as a whole

We sit inside a box
Our little happy hippie pad
Liking it or not
It's where they like us kept

You can drool on it for days
What's wrong with society
It's all in what you make
All up to you and me

Because the people over here
Are like the people over there
All we need do is meet
Here, there, or anywhere

when all the words have been taken
and all the thoughts given away
that is when you'll hear me saying
i will kindly be on my way

when there is no more ink worth dipping
with paper parched in yellow dust
when all ideas end up missing
when the feeling i once had is lost

that's when i'll pack what little i have left
and say goodbye to all i know
what good is poetry to me if i can't seem
to compose another poem

here
we
are
another
day
another
day
to
give
away
everything
that
you
have
saved
just
like
every
other
day

They give it in a whisper
Throw it out in a shout
Hoping you will listen
To the words, they spout

We all have our own opinions
Whether or not you need
Yet the only time we listen
Is if with me you agree

We've lost the art of compassion
Somewhere along the way
Drawing to the conclusion
Can't believe a word they say

The reprobates manipulate
And then call it daily news
Giving away their own brand of hate
In the words, they use to spew

As the Talking Heads spin
And blame the innocent
What happened to compassion
I often wonder where it went

We all have an opinion
That we gladly share
Though if your's is not in line with mine
Your's does not matter

You can see that I ain't faking
I know what I'm speaking of
There's no time that is worth waisting
When you're searching for true love

You can peek around four corners
Open every door that's shut
Hang out at funerals with the mourners
When you're searching for true love

You can build the tallest tower
So you can look from up above
Check your watch every hour on the hour
When you're searching for true love

****************

You'll know when you find the feeling
Of the genie to your rub
There won't be any hidden meaning
When you finally find true love

The emptiness will be leaving
When push comes down to shove
This you best be believing
When you finally find true love

You can hang your coat and cap up
Welcome home buttercup
You've come upon where you've longed to belong
When you finally find true love

Ready or not here he comes
Best you batten down the hatches
Unless you were one of the smart ones to run
Like a crazed hound in July chasing rabbits

Alright, alright, alright
As you turn and face the wind
Open the door to a Category 4
And let Dorian come screaming in

Oh me, oh my, oh my, oh me
Is that Grandma in the yard below
Hanging tight with all her might to the clothes line
With her cat Skeeters wrap around her big toe

This is getting rather exciting
As I see trees by the dozen crack in half
With my Boy Scout skills I might need to later build
A family size raft including the cat if there anything left

But for now we'll all hunker down
Try and stay away from the windows
And all the flying debris that I decided to leave
In the yard scattered amongst the plastic Flamingos

I'm here wondering at this very moment
Which of the two could be worse
The fate of being blown away by a hurricane
Or eaten by a gator face first

Still you've got to love living in Florida
With 20 foot waves crashing to shore
As I step outside to grab that branch floating by
I think I need to start whittling some oars