The Shakers believed
their leader
they called Mother Lee
was a manifestation
of Jesus Christ
said her face often
glowed during worship
believed God was
male and female
their worship, estactic
while dancing believed
they experienced
the Divine
bodies and heads shook
and they screeched –
some thought they
were demon possessed –
believed in healings
and visions from God
renounced earthly
possessions
dressed plainly
worked hard
condemned marriage
celibacy was their rule
believed you couldn’t
be saved
unless you were one
of them.

Bob Boyd

In Scape Ore Swamp there’s a Lizard Man
Bigger, badder than a he-man
Stay away from that scary swamp
Or he might eat you – chomp, chomp, chomp.

Bob Boyd

I once read that aliens would be incomprehensible
to us

I don’t know if the writer, I think a scientist, meant
their appearances or their minds

but imagine if aliens existed with appearances
beyond the reach of human imagination

I think the afterlife is probably like that
incomprehesible, beyond imagination, indescribable

Here’s what I can describe. I’ve often read and heard
that in the afterlife communication is telepathic

I’ve often read and heard communication is telepathic
with aliens as well

I can understand telepathy in the afterlife where
one would not have a voice box

I cannot understand telepathy in aliens, but I’ve heard
and read about it so many times, that I believe it

I think the mysteries of the incomprehensible and the telepathy
wil be revealed to me when I die.

Bob Boyd

I met her briefly at the senior center
downstairs in the nonprofit I worked for
a young women, maybe mid twenties
I only exchanged a few pleasant words with her
but I was blown away by her eyes
the brightest eyes I’d ever seen
like eyes I’d expect to see on a sage
she was the sister of the young woman
who ran the senior center
I told her I was amazed by her sister’s
incredibly bright eyes
she said her sister inherited those eyes
from their father who had bright eyes too
it is said, the eyes are the windows of the soul
had I been able to see inside those windows
I wouldn’t have been surprised if this woman
had or was going to have, the higher
consciousness of a sage.

Bob Boyd

A guy from New York, a mechanic
is on YouTube calmly talking about
canoeing with a friend in a creek
in Hubbardsville, New York in 1991
he and his friend see a light in the distance
canoeing closer he and his friend saw
what he called an 8 to 10 foot machine
and a being that to him looked like a figurine
with large black eyes bigger than a human’s
surprisingly he’s not panicking or scared
though his friend is getting scared
he called out to the being, a friendly
greeting

the being made a curious, flowing motion
with its arm to the side of its body
the mechanic interpreted this as a wave
at that moment, understandably, his
friend panicked steered the canoe
to the shore and jumped ouf of the canoe

days later, he and his friend went back to where
they saw the figurine-like being and
the 8 to 10 foot glowing machine
the earth was bare for about a 30 feet circle
no grass, no leaves,no stones, no weeds, no roots
tall grass and trees surrounding the circle
just bare earth in the circle that looked
like coffee grounds and “stripped bare”
he and his friend’s mind’s were blown
by the sight of the earth stripped bare
but he wasn’t sure what the figurine
and the machine were
it’s suspected it was an alien and
the machine a UFO
this is a true story, according to the
man named Fred Acuri and his
friend Piazza
I tend to believe these are honest guys
their account is one hundred percent true.

Bob Boyd

Codex Gigas aka The Devils Bible
took 180 animal skins to make
36 inches tall 29 inches wide
nearly 9 inches thick
a lot of devil for a book
a full page picture
of Satan himself inside
maybe an advertisement
curiously, blasphemously
it contains a full edition
of the Christian Bible
how the hell did that get
in a Devil’s Bible?
and why didn’t Jesus
who could walk on water
and cast out demons
cast the Devil out of it?
nobody knows who wrote it
the unknown author
supposedly made a
pact with the Devil
when creating it
it’s alleged to be cursed
(would you expect anything
less from a Devil’s Bible?)
and will bring disaster or
illness to anyone fool
enough to possess it
(pun intended)
it’s on display online at the
Sweden National Library
been there, saw it
now I’ve got the pox
my car has been stolen
flies invaded my home
the devilish night hag sat
on my chest last night
nearly suffocated me
and I dreamed I was in hell
all of the above seemed
fitting when messing with
a cursed Devil’s Bible
so do yourself a favor and
don’t make the same mistake
as yours truly did
beware of the Devil’s Bible
don’t even look at it
it’s a damn sight worse
than a Ouija board.

Bob Boyd

P.S. It occurred to me that
someone who doesn’t know me
could think I was serious in
this poem about the effects of
seeing the Devil’s Bible.
It’s real and I did see it online,
but I was kidding about side effects.
I can’t help myself. I love to kid around.
And I believe it’s important to not
lose you ability to kid around, no
matter how old you are. I see that
as having a lightness of being.

I’ve watched many true
crime shows on YouTube
most involved homicides
many people killing people
the numbers are massive
happening everywhere
to people who probably
thought murders only
happened to other people
to me, the most surprising
are those with one spouse
murdering the other
nuptial bless gone bad
once lovers turned killers
but the constant I have
seen in many of these
true crime shows is all
the good people in this
world who get murdered
women, men, spouses,
random good people, even
innocent little children
which makes me wonder
why so many good people
get murdered in this world
and why so many people
are inherently homicidal.

Bob Boyd

Her path in life
possibly predestined
was to be burdened
with insanity before
age twenty three

why did this happen?
why did this have to be?

why couldn’t she
have had a sane life
like most others?

why did she have
to lose her mind?

what in creation
creates ill fates
like this?

why do some have
to suffer the scourge
of insanity

while others it never
touches?

you could say
emphaticlly it’s
bad karma

but be honest
you really don’t
know

you’re just parroting
what you’re read
or heard

as for me, I can’t
offhandedly
and unknownly
claim it’s
bad karma

but, if I had to
guess, I’d guess
it was something
random and
unfathomable.

Bob Boyd

Those innocent
cute babies
cradled in their
mother’s arms

sweet bundles
of delight
joys to behold

looking at those babies
in their
adorable innocence

it’s hard to
imagine what
a few of them

will grow up
to be

nearly unfathomable
to see or believe
that a few of them

out of thousands
probably millions

will grow up
to be serial killers

but alas some
innocent babies
do

their innocence
replaced with
malevolence

from sweet newborns
to the cruelest
of killers

from innocents to
the slayers of
innocents

mostly young
women

if there’s a God
that’s loving
which I believe
there is

how could that God
ever allow this?

Bob Boyd

Li Po, where did you go?
Did you become one with the Tao,
or are you in some celestial, jade heaven
where dragons frolic, orioles still sing,
and beautiful maidens play the guzheng?

in case this poem somehow reaches you
through the ether, I’m a fan of your work
and would like to meet you in the afterlife

maybe you could be my mentor there,
if you were so inclined or had the time
and teach me how to write great poems
like you do –

or, at least, give me some tips
on writing better poems
in the afterlife

and, as for writing poems,
I hope wherever you are,
that is something you still do

Respectfully,

a fan in the world
of the temporarily alive.

Bob Boyd

Adorable
really adorable
with the
the sweetest voice
I ever heard
she had a
crush on me
a gift from God
some could easily
say, if they ever
saw and heard her

but she was only 27
and I was 70
I was born too
early
she was born
too late

alas, as if
cursed by
fate

the gift from
God could
never be.

Bob Boyd