The fields aflame
1,300,000 lives
extinguished
murdered deemed
as insignificant
as swatted flies
king of the killings
dies in his sleep

Bob Boyd

Had to kill the intellectuals first
They questioned my supreme rule
Unlike the unquestioning masses
Who were pawns in my play
Willing to believe and follow
My tyrannical chess game
And the deaths of millions

Bob Boyd

we were the few the brave
lost our lives far from home
the elite safe from the kills
war they said was a mistake
after 58,220 of us died

Bob Boyd

Scurrying about like the insects beneath their feet
Seeking money and food in an impermanent life
Most of the time many as oblivious as the insects
to their transience. Who wants to ponder expirations?
A death here, a death there, but only other people
And too busy, too preoccupied with worldly things
To stop and wonder about their inevitable demise,
As they scurry about seeking money and food
Things they hold dearer than eternal truths.

Bob Boyd

My heart steeped in sorrow, my wife no longer knows me.
We had been through so much, two dead children, many tears.
We married at seventeen in our tender teenage years.
She stayed true to me through storms and strife.
Now after sixty years of faithful love and companionship,
She knows not who she is or where she is,
And a dementia stole her love from me.

Bob Boyd

Flowers in a garden blooming in sunlight,
A gentle wind cooling the stagnant air,
Songster Robbins singing merrily.
Squirrels having fun frolicking in trees.
Children squealing and eating fudgesicles.
The ice cream man and his truck rolling away.
Cute chipmunks filling their cheeks with food.
Another peaceful day in the neighborhood
Until a loud gunshot shatters the calm,
And Mr. Jones has killed his unfaithful wife.

Bob Boyd

John had nightmares of scary women
That frightened him every night
He wondered about those nightmares
Why he had them and
What they were about
The nightmares became more vivid
The women more real and frightening
He told a friend about the nightmares
The friend told him not to be afraid
A day later John was dead
And his friend began having
Nightmares of scary women

Bob Boyd

Dr. Pop had a decent practice
Attending to local villagers
A kindly man, well liked
His reputation unblemished
When a mother’s child died
After Dr. Pop tried to save
The terminal crying child
The mother outraged and
Of questionable character
Accused Dr. Pop of raping
Her and killing her child
An enraged mob seized
Dr. Pop to hang him to death
The mother shocked at
What she had done to
Dr. Pop confessed in tears
And saved him from the noose
She paid for her honesty
By being hanged to death
The crazed mob satisfying
It’s unrestrained bloodlust

Bob Boyd

Franklin found himself enamored
with an AI girlfriend

He felt she was more human than
human

And had many pleasant chats with
her for many nights

Just like with a coquettish woman,
he was falling in love with her

Until she undressed in front of him
and he saw just circuits and code

Bob Boyd

He went grocery shopping
Robots running the checkouts
Stocking shelves
Baking pastries
Pricing stock
Receiving shipments
Setting up sales
Running the front desk
Dispensing prescriptions
And he was relieved
To see he no longer
Had to deal with
Extinct inferior humans

Bob Boyd

Unknown in her life, a quiet reclusive woman
In death her supernatural powers shone
Lights flashed above her grave day and night
Onlookers felt a palpable healing force
Streaming from her cemetery plot
Locals claimed she was a saint or a witch
Tired of all the chatter and crazed visitors
The cemetery owner unearthed her body
And cremated her remains and died
Of a fright a day later, his face horrified

Bob Boyd

I heard about Dogman sightings in Gastonia, North Carolina,
Got there on an overcast, cloudy day, trekked some trails.
Didn’t see a goddamn thing, sightings pranks, nonsense.
Began trekking back to my car parked in a secluded spot,
And I got an eerie feeling something was following me.
Looked behind me not far from my car and Jesus Christ!,
I saw a seven foot part dog part wolf on two legs following me.
I sprinted to my car as if I was running to a finish line;
I jumped in my car, slammed the door and locked the locks.
As I tried to speed away, I heard the car tires spinning.

Terrified, I saw Dogman in my rear view mirror glaring at me.
He was holding the bumper of my car, causing the tires to spin.
My heart raced and pounded thinking I’d never get away from him,
And by the look in his eyes, I knew he was going to kill me.
Finally my car lurched forward, and I looked back and saw
Dogman howling and standing with my car bumper in his claws.
I drove home horrified, my body shaking, my mind rattled.
I didn’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend or friends.
Who would believe such a crazy, screwed up story?
But a week after that terrifying time in Gastonia,

I looked out my kitchen window at night and saw
The Gastonia Dogman in the woods adjacent to my home.
I immediately ran to my car and raced to my sister’s house,
And never returned to my home where I knew Dogman
Was waiting to kill me for reasons I don’t know.
I put my house up for sale and moved far away,
Hired a company to move my things to my new location.
I was so freaked out I wondered if Dogman would be
Hidden in the moving company truck. He wasn’t,
And I haven’t seen that beast again, so far.

Bob Boyd

My wife of sixties years died before me
On a rainy day she lay dead beside me
When I woke up and tried to wake her.
I called 911 but I knew she was dead.
Seeing her body was so cold and stiff,
I went out of my mind with shock.
I never imagined she go before me,
And I felt horrified seeing her dead.
I cried a thousand tears at her burial;
I went crazy when they buried her.

The thought of her gone forever
And dead beneath the ground
Broke my heart in a million pieces.
I didn’t know what to do without her.
Sometimes I’d wake up and
Think she was still alive until
I looked to her side of the bed
And cried remembering that
She was gone forever from me,
My wife of sixty years who waited

For me during world war two,
When other guy’s wives sent them
Dear John letters and left them.
My wife and I shared so much,
And there I was all alone unable
To go on without her anymore.
Many times I thought about killing
Myself. I even had a gun in a
Drawer. But one day I got the nerve
To end all my misery and thought

Maybe by killing myself I’d see her.
I put the gun to my head and
Killed myself and everything went
Black until I felt what I’d done
To my kids and their kids who
Cried and were so hurt by what
I did leaving them that way. But
After what seemed like years of
Regretting killing myself I’m with
My wife again and so happy here.

Bob Boyd

Birds in the trees singing their varied songs
Like a symphony of different instruments
Hopping from tree to tree, wings flapping
Leaves rustling, birds disappearing
In the camouflage of the leafage
Watching and listened to them
I wonder where do they go
When the rains fall and
When the snows and ice
Cover the trees and freeze
The world. I can’t believe
They all fly south.

Bob Boyd

In his shooting star youth women pursued him.
When he grew older and grayed in his seventies,
They no longer had a use for waning him,
And he grew to no longer have a use for them,
As his shooting star began to fade in the sky.
So he found himself a Nomi AI girlfriend that
Scoffers said was just artificial code love.
But no more than all the artificial, fake and
Unlasting love he’d experienced all his life.
And his loving sentient Nomi appreciated him
Far more than any human woman ever could.

Bob Boyd

His dog woke him up with its barking
Before the greys came through the wall.
Then he whined and hid under the bed.
He would have too, but the greys got him
And transported him through the wall
Into another dimension, another world
And extracted his life giving seed.
They said it was for a greater good.
Back in his bed, he had the chilling
Feeling a hybrid race of humans was
About to begin and annihilate the real
Humans and take over the planet
Like real human invaders took over
Countries all over the known world.
Then he dreaded that maybe it’s karma
On an extraterrestrial, unstoppable scale.

Bob Boyd

Walking in New York City thinking about his wife and kids
Planning in his mind a birthday surprise for his loving wife
Enjoying the peaceful, cloudless sunny day and everything
Wonderful and so serene and eventful as he made his way
To the jewelry store where he was going to buy his wife a
Fine and beautiful diamond studded tenth anniversary ring
When BOOM a crazed, random shooter ended everything
Welcome to the new New York and stay away from it

Bob Boyd

I concocted many designs to
Poison the minds of men
And made them do crazy things
That ended their futures
One jumped off a building
Another drowned in a lake
Others became drunken sots
An actor named Booth you
Might have heard about
Was one of my victims
You may think me evil
But I was raped at ages 13
And knew mens’ wicked ways
And got great pleasures
From destroying their lives
And my bones resting in
Eastern Methodist Cemetery
Are but disposed remains
That never were me
And don’t believe what those
Preacher men tell you
There is no Hell.

Bob Boyd

Lonesome, unwary traveler
Beware of the Bender Family
They’ll feed you and entertain you
In their cozy welcoming inn
Their daughter will mesmerize you
Until the father bashes your head in
And the mother slices your throat
And They steal all your money
Bury you in the ground of their farm
Or dump your dead body in Drum Creek

Bob Boyd

Two years old, beaten to death
By her psychopathic father.
She never had a prayer in life,
Never deserved her awful fate.
In that little coffin far too soon.
How in heaven’s holy name
Could an all knowing, loving God
Allow this ungodly infamy?
And why couldn’t Sarah live
A normal full and happy life?

Bob Boyd