Category: Poetry

I was in a marriage with an abusive lout
He’d come home from taverns and
Beat the hell out of a black and blue me
When he slammed my head against
The bedroom wall and nearly killed me
I decided I had to stop his constant abuse
I couldn’t leave him. I had no place to go
And in my time, divorce was shameful
So as was the custom of the day with
Some unhappy and dissatisfied wives
I found my perfect solution in arsenic
I snuck it in that mean bastard’s ale
And I’m ashamed to say that I
Took great pleasure in his death
The score settled, justice done
I got away with killing him
And lived the rest of my life in peace
But now that I’m dead for centuries
I roam the earth endlessly, a fearful ghost
I dare not float into that tunnel of Light and
Surely be exiled to that horrifying place
As a murderess in afterlife disgrace
Burning forever in the fires of hell

Bob Boyd

Read Black Elk Speaks by John G Neihardt
back in the Age of Aquarius nineteen seventies.
Black Elk, powerful Medicine Man, mystic too.
Parts of the book trails of tears, sorrowful times
saddened me what Black Elk went through.
At the end of the book Black Elk did a rain dance
and the rains fell, according to John G Neihardt.

Night I finished the book had a mystical dream.
On the top of a street I lived near in my youth,
trouble making teenagers gathered wild and rambunctious.

Black Elk appeared looking old, decrepit, weak and helpless.
Teenagers yell, “Make it rain, make it rain, Black Elk!”
Knowing he couldn’t do it, taunting and disrespecting him.
He starts unsteady powwow dance steps, chants weakly,
Teenagers laugh and keep making fun of him.

I say, “Don’t, don’t,” at what they’re doing to ancient-looking Black Elk.
Black Elk keeps dancing and chanting weakly, feeble attempts.
Teenagers keep laughing hysterically, drop to the ground holding their stomachs.
Suddenly massive dark clouds roll in from the four corners of the world,
shocking, apocalyptic sight, day turning into night, end of the world feeling.
Teenagers’ screams pierce the air, terrified death is coming for them.

Smiling and amazed, I gaze at Black Elk, the dark clouds rumbling overhead.
Seconds later I’m standing in the center of the universe
beholding endless planets and stars. Woke up, mind blown,
knew it was more than a dream,
Genuine after death contact with a powerful medicine man.
I think because of empathy.

Bob Boyd

At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.

Black Elk

hiking in yosemite
national park
josh and his girlfriend
she was behind him
a mile into the hike
past a noisy waterfall
he turned around
to talk to her
she was gone
he called her
but she didn’t
answer him
he notified the rangers
who led a search
with trackers and dogs
and a hundred volunteers
they scoured the forest
for many weeks
the trackers didn’t find
her tracks
the dogs didn’t
pick up her scent
she was never found
twenty years later
she is still 411

Bob Boyd

I’d like to buy a pet lizard
but I’d have to feed him live food
like chirping crickets

I just can’t do it
I can’t feed those innocent
little insects to a lizard

I can’t bear the thought of
little, chirping crickets being raised
just to die horrifyingly in a lizard’s belly

Yet, with some sobering reflection,
I see that I’m kind of a hypocrite
who eats chicken everyday

That are only raised
to die horrifyingly and
end up in my belly

Bob Boyd

Anna was a caring and loving wife
before her frontal lobes got damaged
in an awful auto accident

After the frontal lobes damage,
she became uncaring and unloving
and took her husband’s life

Bob Boyd

She hears the death knells
Sounding in her head
She lays down
Falls asleep
And dreams she’s falling
But doesn’t hit the ground
The next morning
The death knells ring louder
She lays down falls asleep
And dreams she’s falling
And almost hits the ground
The next day she sees her doctor
He puts her on Hydralazine
Her blood pressure stabilizes
Her dizziness goes away
And she never dreams
Of falling again

Bob Boyd

Some people always
Play the victim
That must be a hard life
To 24/7 maintain
Day to day and
Year to year
For the rest of one’s
Brief and
Unpredictable
Earthly sojourn
Maybe for them
It’s gratifying
And gives them
Some small
Satisfactions
That gets them
Through their
Tired days and
Troubled nights

Bob Boyd

It seems for many Tik Tok is a great place
to act crazy or make a fool out of themselves
in front of hundreds or thousands
or maybe even millions of viewers.
I don’t understand why many people
are so obsessed with doing this.
Maybe they think it validates them
or gives them a chance to shine
out of the darkness of their discontent.
As for me, I’d rather write poetry on a blog
with few people paying attention to me,
especially if I make a fool out of myself.

Bob Boyd

I saw that a woman just added bug to her pronouns;
sure it’s crazy but it sounded like fun.
I’m not about pronouns. The trend doesn’t interest me,
but I find it amusing to think of describing myself as bug.
And were I about pronouns, particularly exotic ones,
I’d probably like to add one like cryptid or wolverine,
or maybe in mellower moments, I’d go with
something like river or moon.

Bob Boyd

In an old song from 1909 I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now, a guy obviously is pining over an old girlfriend who dumped him.

But I say why torture yourself? Even if she left you when you thought your love was forever and she was your soulmate, why torture yourself bemoaning those lost kisses and that irretrievable love?

It’s better to just let your past with her be gone.
It’s better to keep thoughts of the good things and good times with her out of you head. Instead of dwelling on them and possibly hurting yourself by becoming unhappy and depressed.

Move on … Move on … Forget about her. Forget everything
about her.

Remember … Remember … the times with her that were not so good. Forget about her lost kisses and her unlasting love.

Try to drop the sentimentalities, and seek a new and better life. See the broken promises, the broken love, as an opportunity to fall in love again with a better and truer love.

Bob Boyd

we met on the day
the roses bloomed
breathtaking and
beautiful
like our blossoming
love
then came the winter’s
chill
and the roses
and our love
died
now the roses
are blooming
again
but they are
crying tears of dew
for me and you
and what should
have been
and i will always
miss you

bob boyd

Remember the song You Didn’t Have to Be so Nice by the Loving Spoonfuls?
That’s how I still feel about you.
You came into my life on a dark, downcast day.
The woman I thought was the love of my life left me, and I felt so down and gloomy.
Until you showed up.
Years later when an auto accident put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, half a man, felt like killing myself, thought my life was over, and I’d lose you.
Until you showed up.
And loved me even more, always there for me, taking care of me, never leaving me.
And I believe you’ll still be there for me In the afterlife.
When I’ll be a whole man again, and I’ll be there for you; and I’ll love you even more.

Bob Boyd

Sometimes in the nighttime hours
When everything is quiet
When the moon shows its face
And the stars light up the sky
I stare at it all in breathtaking awe
And my thoughts turn to beautiful you
I think of how wonderful you were
In the years of our star-crossed love
And I stifle as many tears as the stars
Remembering what happened to you
When that terminal cancer took
You into the darkest night
Beyond the stars
Beyond our love
Beyond this life

Bob Boyd

I can’t understand how some people can have
spiders and snakes for pets.

I don’t know what the appeal is about pets I find
creepy compared to a bird or a betta fish.

But maybe the problem is me because of my bias
against spiders and snakes.

Maybe those who can find joy in spiders and snakes
are better than me

because they are more accepting of pets most would
find creepy or scary.

But there is a situation where I would appreciate snakes over spiders.

If I had to die by being thrown into a pit of spiders or snakes,

I’d prefer snakes even though the spiders would be easier to step on and kill before they took me out.

I’d rather die with the snakes even if I had to be taken out by an anaconda that would strangle me to death.

Bob Boyd

I remember wearing Yves Saint Laurent and
Pierre Cardin suits and selling diamonds,
watches and chains in upscale department
stores when I was a far younger me.

Although it was a fancy and fun, life it wasn’t
the right life for me. I wasn’t really into jewelry.
I wasn’t a stellar salesman. But I did okay.

It wasn’t until I started helping people for a living
that I found my occupational place in life
and finally found something I could excel at
and make a small difference in this big world.

Now that I’m retired and my life is withering away,
and I’m in what some call the golden years,
I find some satisfaction in having done something
I loved for a living and helped countless people
for twenty plus wonderful years.

Bob Boyd

I feel my body shaking
at first I wonder
is this a spiritual experience
then I have the realization
it’s just a train rumbling
down the track a hundred
feet away and shaking
the building I’m living in

And I’m reminded of the
first time I felt an earthquake
lying in a bed in the Philippines
and I felt just my body was
moving and I thought maybe
I was having a spiritual experience
until I realized the whole room was
shaking and that a mild
earthquake caused the shaking
all over the neighborhood all
over the house I was living in

Bob Boyd

I’ve been thinking about you
and wondering what it’s like
in your afterlife of a few years.

I wonder if you are in a heaven,
or if you’ve come back to earth
for a new start with a new life,

if you are still in the afterlife,
and if we will meet again

maybe we’ll ride unicorns in
crystalline skies over lands,
mountains, and seas far more
vibrant than any on earth.

And I wonder if I’ll see you
in another dream looking so
incredibly happy and serene.

Bob Boyd

Went to my mailbox downstairs from
my second floor apartment.

Checked the mail, only one letter.

Surprise, a birthday card from CareCredit.

Said the card wasn’t going to celebrate itself,
and I had to get out there and make my day
one to remember.

They remembered my birthday partly because
I gave them 12k for implants, money well spent.
Nonetheless, nice gesture.

But I’m not going to cut my teeth on a day to remember.
I had way too many of those memorable days in my youth,
many I wish I could rewind and do over.

So that card with have to celebrate itself somehow,
maybe on a molecular or cellular level.
Maybe for that card just being released from
the captivity of the envelope it came in is
the one to remember, the celebration of its
newly opened and free life.

Bob Boyd

a lifelong devout catholic
she was shocked when
she died and went to hell
and saw demons and
heard the screams of
all the condemned souls

fortunately it was only a
brief sojourn before her
savior rescued her and
she returned to life
upon the exam table

thereafter she pondered
how as a religious person
she could have gone to
satan’s horrifying domain

with much speculation and
communications with IANDS
the international association
of near death studies
she concluded her mind
had constructed her near
death experience of hell

perhaps from having the
concept of it drilled into
her mind by her religion
when she was a child
and unlike her belief in
santa clause her belief
in hell persisted into
near death experience
and was just as untrue
as the existence of
an illusionary santa

Bob Boyd

after his wife left him
because she thought
he’d gone crazy
her minister ex-husband
went a lot crazier
from his raised up pulpit
he said he had attained
mystical union with God
and attained many powers
said he could affect world events
could control the winds
and the weather
could change nights into days
could communicate telepathically
with animals and insects
his worst delusion was
when he thought he could fly
to heaven and jumped
off a skyscraper
flapped his arms and
dive bombed to his death

Bob Boyd