Day: December 16, 2024

he was a goodhearted ordinary joe
he worked the 8 to 5 for twenty years
paid his taxes, followed the laws
served in the military as a marine
married a good and decent woman
attended a Baptist church on Sundays
tried to do everything right like a good citizen
until a dangerous pedophile molested
and killed his seven-year-old son
and his rage made him maniac crazy
he executed the pedophile
by torturing and burning him to death

he got sentenced to a long prison term
and became like a caged wild animal
killed an inmate who tried to make him his bitch
got more time tacked on his prison sentence
escaped in 1976 and has never been found

bob boyd

aging keeps trying to take him down
almost like the death of a thousand cuts
different maladies keep accosting him
his ticker works less and less efficiently
his sleep is increasingly disturbed
the quality of his life is diminishing
he cannot walk without a walker
his mind is becoming more fuzzy
his voice is becoming weaker
he fears a nursing home is his future
he knows he can’t be institutionalized
he’d rather die than end like that
he prays for death to rescue him

bob boyd

the day began with the sun beaming
the birds singing cheerfully
the bees buzzing happily
everything was optimistic
life seemed fairy tale wonderful
as if life were a happy ending evermore
in the sprawling lawn-trimmed suburbs
of the party town metropolis

but beneath the superficial
beneath the sunny day
beneath the fun and serenity
in the seeming shangri la
homicides were happening
drug addicts were dying
women were being raped
business were being robbed
fights were breaking out in bars

the bright happiness of that day
was a day of horror for some
chaos for others
and a day of misery
for more than a few

bob boyd

I was the last unmarried daughter
my two sisters had been married for years
I was 38 and my family kept asking why
I hadn’t married.

I had no good excuses. it seemed men
were just not interested in me. but the
pressure to marry became so worrying for me
that I married in a hurry to the first men ever
who took an interest in me.

the marriage was too rushed. my husband
didn’t respect me. I was chattel to him and
after about three months, he stopped loving me.

he began cheating on me and I put up with it
because I didn’t think I’d ever have any other
suitors who would want to marry me.

I wasn’t good looking. fate had been unkind to me.
eventually my husband was shot by one of his girlfriend’s
husbands and that was a blessing to me.

I was happier alone and without him, and at least I
had gotten married like my sisters and my family
got out of my hair.

now I’m a respectable widow. I dress in black and
go to Mass everyday. and I’m happier with this holy life
than I ever had been when I was married.

bob boyd