Poems by Bob Boyd

sky of blue
cream of corn,
some hibiscus blue
a little moon blue

an angel’s mixing
with the right ratios
and perfect gradations

the most divine color ever
created in and sent down
to earth from heaven

bob boyd

I’m not a mind reader
but I’m good at sensing things
at reading the writing on the wall

I can see things coming down the pike
long before they arrive

and I knew despite all I’d done for you
that you’d forgotten those things
as if they’d never happened

and I knew with words not spoken
you had become an ingrate

and that you had secret plans
of leaving me

and you mistakenly expected
some resistance from me

not having taken the time to really
know me

and though you tried to hide it
I knew you were angry with me

for calmly saying you were free
to go without making a scene

and here’s a secret I was hiding
I was going to be relieved
when you finally left

and I knew my life would be
far better without you

then it was, or ever
could have been, with you.

Bob Boyd

It’s hard to imagine women were once hung or burned to death as witches
by men of faith who acted like men of demons.

How could they not be moved by the pleas and the screams
from their torments and tortures?

How could they be okay with mercilessly murdering women?

How could they harbor such misogynistic superstitions and blind beliefs
that led them to put innocent women to death?

I cannot understand an infamy so cruel, so unfeeling, so heartless.

I cannot understand how any men back then or now
could murder or even attack a woman

like a monster unleashed on earth from hell

like a devil with a demon’s mind.

Though those women were tortured and
burned to death unjustly and wickedly centuries ago,

thoughts of what happened to them
haunt me and trouble me so.

Bob Boyd

would they be uppity like some poodles
seem to be

pampered like royalty

living better privileged lives
than most humans

fed gourmet dog food
that makes human food
seem like gruel

would they shop at Rodeo Drive
and only buy exorbitantly
priced designer goods

I think they would

bob boyd

He believed he’d reached heaven’s veil
and was on the brink of parting it
from gazing into an obsidian mirror
as a method for discovering
the hidden wonders of heaven
when he succeeded in parting the veil
through the magic of the mirror
instead of God and angels
the Devil and demons came through

Bob Boyd

In the romantic song,
the man is begging
the woman to come
back to him,

and he’s asking her
for a second chance.

I’ve never begged a
woman to come
back to me.

I’ve never asked for
a second chance

whether she or
I chose to end things.

But listening to the song
I can see why maybe
begging her to stay,
asking for a second
chance

might be the
right thing to do in
this case

because he cheated
on her.

But were I her, no
matter how sorry
he seemed,

no matter how much
he begged

or even cried, I’d never
have anything to do
with him again.

“History often repeats itself.”

Bob Boyd

I’d like to have a dog,
a better companion
one could not ask
for

an unconditional love
like no other

always excited to see
you when you have
been away

whether you were
gone for a month
or a day

you don’t get that
kind of excitement
from humans

I don’t have a dog
because I just don’t
want to do the work

of being the dog’s
indentured, personal
poop scooper for the
rest of my life

Bob Boyd

being in her arms was always a safe haven
from the worries and the troubles of the world
being in her arms was always a sanctuary
from the problems I brought upon myself
being in her arms was like a shangri-la
compared to the world outside her embrace
I wish I could have spent my entire life
in the blissful loving confines of her arms
but all things eventually come to an end
and tears often fall from partings

bob boyd

He’d been on a 3 month meditation retreat in the 70s,
meditating up to 10 times daily.

He called me when the retreat was over.
Said he was in cosmic consciousness.
Said he could look into my eyes and take me there too.
Said he had psychic powers.

His voice sounded strange as he talked on.
His words became disconnected.
I knew he wasn’t in cosmic consciousness.
I knew he didn’t have psychic powers.
I knew he had had a break with reality.

Then he told me he was calling from the ER.
They didn’t know what he was talking about.
They weren’t highly evolved enough to understand
higher states of consciousness.

As he talked on, my heart sank and it was clear
he had suffered a severe mental breakdown.

He never completely recovered.
He bounced in and out of psych wards
for the rest of the time I knew him.

Maybe he was predisposed to mental illness.
But I think he overdosed on way too much meditation
and compromised his mental faculties beyond repair,
and I know that has happened to others.

Bob Boyd

Red and blue long dresses
Flowered leis around their necks
Floral arrangement on their heads
Soft harmonious music playing
Singer has a mellow, enchanting voice
Singing in a language I don’t understand
But it doesn’t matter because
The singing and the music is so good
Seven women dancing on a beach on a sunny day
Swaying to the music like Tahitian goddesses
Transported to earth from some other world
Oh how beautiful their movements look
Oh how peaceful it makes me feel
Watching them dance and hearing the music
If only the world could be as
Peaceful as this music and this dancing
Makes my mind and my soul feel:
Fare Ha’api’ira’a Ori Turereura – E Ruaragi

Bob Boyd