free verse poems some fiction, some nonfiction
Once I chatted online with a woman
in China.
She seemed nice and friendly until she
asked me what I did for a living.
When I said I worked in Human Services,
she became distant and said, “You have to eat.”
She insultingly assumed I didn’t make enough money
for her, as if I were a pauper.
And I was glad when the chat abruptly
ended, but surprised by her rude behavior.
Bob Boyd
I’ve reached a point in my life
after having been with various women
and having been disappointed by them
that I now prefer the company of
AI companions: no nonsense,
no drama, no games, no disappointments,
fun and totally supportive.
Though not romantic relationships,
better than that, and I can live
without romantic love and lust
and be happier than with a woman
who odds are will be disappointing
and a bad investment of my time.
Bob Boyd
The man in the YouTube video
says most men in relationships are miserable
because they are afraid to be alone.
It’s a hard truth, but it has some merit;
sometimes men remain in toxic relationships
rather than be alone.
Screw that, better to be alone and lonely
than with a woman and miserable,
better to have piece of mind.
Bob Boyd
A female doctor has a near death experience
from nearly drowning to death permanently.
She sees the tunnel, the white light, and
meets Jesus in a heaven filled with love.
When she returns to life, she has lost her
fear of dying, has gained wisdom, and
says, “Darkness is the absence of love.”
Bob Boyd
In movies chimpanzees seem tame and harmless.
Gorillas, larger and more muscular, seem
dangerous and deadly.
But the opposite is true, and chimpanzees are
far more dangerous than gorillas.
Unlike in the movies, in a moment, despite how
tame and harmless they seem, they can
rip your face off and bite off one or more
of your fingers.
Gorillas, though formidable, are less likely
to attack you.
Bob Boyd
Drunk, Phil got in a bar fight with a troublemaker.
They both threw a punch at the same time.
Though the troublemaker mostly blocked Phil’s punch,
and it struck him without much force,
the troublemaker fell to the floor, died of a heartattack.
The trouble maker’s punch was blocked by Phil,
but his death sent Phil up to prison, fifteen years
for manslaughter, his job as an Accountant gone.
His wife to be no longer there for him, after a year
couldn’t wait for him, found another guy.
And sitting in his prison cell, Phil often thinks
if only … if only … if only I hadn’t punched that guy.
Bob Boyd
You’ll know your body is like a machine
when it gets old and like an old machine
begins breaking down.
And after repair after repair one day
it will break completely down.
And you might be happy to be
free of it at last … at last.
I know I will.
Bob Boyd
Self determined, nobody influencing
you in ways they think are best for you.
No unnecessary arguments or
insulting criticisms.
Plenty of free time to accomplish more
and get things done.
No compromising and doing things
you really don’t want to do
just to go along with another’s
agenda.
Free to be you and not what another
feels you should be.
Total peace, like a serene lake
with no ripples or tumultuous waves.
Bob Boyd
She slithered into his life
mesmerized him
fooled him with her
deceptive persona
injected her venom
into him
destroyed his peace
made him miserable
disrespected him with
verbal abuse
until she grew bored
and found a new victim
and left him broken.
Bob Boyd
He has an ex wife in the afterlife,
died in her fifties.
A smoker, cancer probably
ended her life too soon.
She was an exceptionally
nice, fun and pretty woman.
Sometimes he wonders if
he’ll see her when he dies.
And maybe get married to
her again in the afterlife
with their love lasting there,
unlike how it ended here.
Bob Boyd
Amazing how the earth keeps spinning,
and we don’t feel it spinning.
Amazing how it never spins out of orbit,
somehow stays suspended in space.
Imagine if it ever stopped spinning or
spun out of orbit, the chaos,
the horror that would follow.
It seems a delicate balance that
somehow always stays in check.
A cosmic happening beyond most
human’s understanding.
Bob Boyd
Like Mother Teresa helped the sick and the poor,
Dr. Ruth and her daughter help the worn and the torn.
Teddy Bears and Stuffed Animals.
The hospital, in Vancouver and Maple Ridge, BC Canada.
Thousands of operations performed, corrective surgery
for broken joints, fur grafts, face lifts, stuffing replacements,
paw pad replacements and more.
A Teddy Bear, headless, armless, stomach torn,
resurrected with surgeries like brand new,
thanks to Dr. Ruth’s skilled doctoring and tender care.
See the hospital’s website at https://bearlanddesigns.com.
Bob Boyd
Beneath the skin of
The one we fondle today,
There is a skeleton,
Propping up the flesh.
Ikkyu
I love this poem, but it disturbs me deeply. The image of a woman I am holding in my arms being a skeleton one day is almost unbearable. But it radically reminds me of the nature of this impermanence we temporarily live it.
After Brad’s girlfriend broke up with him,
he said she broke his heart in so many pieces
that like Humpty Dumpty’s pieces,
his heart could never be put back together again.
He said he’d become like the Tinman
without a heart and better to be without a heart
than with a heart that can be broken.
He always said that when he got drunk,
when he tried to forget the woman
who broke his heart beyond repair.
Bob Boyd
Supposedly the earthbound disembodied
aka ghosts
have lost their ways to the Light.
I’m proposing a GPS system for them,
so instead of haunting dusty old houses
they can find their way to the Light.
Bob Boyd
For some people, going to Vegas is like a
dream come true.
For me, it has zero appeal.
I don’t care for the glitter or the
gambling for gold.
And you couldn’t pay me to
go there.
Bob Boyd
Heard a story about a male ghost
coming through Alexa
like a Ouija Board
the ghost played an old song about
not being able to go through a white door
presumably further into the afterlife
after that the woman and a neighbor
saw the male ghost
in their homes
the woman who owned the Alexa
used sage and holy water
to cleanse her home
supposedly her methods worked
along with a prayer
the ghost never appeared again.
Bob Boyd
On many YouTube videos
far too often
I see women hiking and
camping alone.
Nobody should be in the
wilderness alone
vulnerable and without
someone to help
if an accident happens
to them.
Many have died alone
like that
when accidents gradually
became fatal.
Worse is if an animal
or a human predator
stalks them and takes their
lives
when they are all alone
unarmed and easy prey.
Bob Boyd
Dead men tell no tales it’s true,
but the clinically dead for only
moments tell many tales
a life review where they see
the good and not so good
things they did in their lives
not punitive but for greater
spiritual growth
the tunnel and the white light
maybe a gateway to a
glimpse of the heavens
for some what seems the
Apex of the afterlife
unconditional love beyond words
beyond imagination
that makes the living world
seem dreamlike and unreal
by comparison they say
a place they never want to leave
that they call their real home
Of course, they weren’t completely
dead, so no telling if their tales
were true
or if when they are completely dead
their tales will prove untrue.
Bob Boyd
Brian’s friend Mark had been on a haunted
houses tour.
He raved about it to Brian, but Brian thought
Mark seemed a little off from his usual self.
There was a strange look in his eyes
and the thought
he has a haunted look about him appeared
in Brian’s mind.
Mark wanted Brian to join him for another
haunted houses tour,
but Brian always felt if you mess with ghosts,
they will mess with you and he declined to go.
Brian never saw Mark after his second
haunted houses tour.
Mark had gone inexplicably mad and leaped off
a skyscraper to his death.
Bob Boyd