Frankenstein’s Brother William

You never heard of Frankenstein’s brother,
the better half of the experimental duo.
He never caused a ruckus.
He never hurt anyone.
He never showed his monstrous
face to the public.
He knew the public would be horrified
by his ungodly appearance.
He knew with pitchforks in hand,
they would kill him.
He studied all the books kept in his
creator’s library.
In nature, he learned he had
an affinity with animals, perhaps they sensed
he was in some ways like them.
When he read the dusty old Bible
in Dr. Frankenstein’s library and
a book about the desert fathers,
he found his path in life, a safe alternative
from, like the animals, being hunted by men.
With instinctive stealth and survival skills,
William spent his life in caves, like the
ancient ascetics seeking mystical union
and living off the the sustenance of the land,
the birds and the beasts of the forest, his companions.

Bob Boyd

Massacre

The people in the village
felt the ground rumbling
in their homes that night.

Frightened, they sensed the
coming horror, the looming
doom.
The women and children
hid.
The men grabbed
their guns.

Danger reverberated
in the trembling air.
The moon lit up
the advancing hundred strong.

Before the moon bid the
night goodbye,
a thousand villagers
savaged and dead.

Werewolves.

Bob Boyd

An Ex-Wife in a Dream

He hadn’t seen his ex-wife in years.
Last time he saw her they argued,
and they parted hating each other.
In the dream, she was forgiving
and so was he. He woke up thinking
it seemed like more than a dream.
He felt as if they’d let go off the hate
they had for each other for years.
The next day he learned that
his ex-wife had died that night.

Bob Boyd

The Impulse for a Mate Is So Strong

Even though I’ve lived for 80 years,
sometimes I feel the desire for a mate.
I would have thought my age would have
obliterated that feeling, that need,
for a female companion in my elderly life.
Despite the many reasons my mind
can find why being with a woman
would be too risky a proposition
with the possibility of a painful outcome,
sometimes my mind reneges and
that desire, that need, resurfaces.
I don’t act upon it. In a way I don’t
care. In a bigger way I see the many
disadvantages and suppress those
unwanted feelings that now
I wish I’d never been born with.

Bob Boyd

A Radical Change

Barely knew him in high school.
He was a quiet, nice kid
Met him again years later
After I got out of the Air Force
He had a trendy, hippie look
Long back hair down to his shoulders
Something about his eyes was different
He didn’t look like the seemingly nice kid
Life appeared to have hardened him
As I saw when I looked into his eyes
He said he’d been to jail
I didn’t pry and ask what for
He said he’d be going back again
And he didn’t care
He had such conviction when he said it
That I know he meant it
To this day I cannot understand why
I cannot understand why any person
Would be perfectly okay with
Going back to jail again
Never saw him again after that
Brief and reveal meeting
But sometimes I wonder what
Changed that quiet, nice kid in high school

Bob Boyd

Enjoy Your Youth

Enjoy your youth
It soon passes
Before you know it
Those youthful days are gone
Before you know it
Your hair begins to gray
Your skin begins to wrinkle
You wake up and realize
Those young days are gone
And never coming back
Despite there was a time
When you felt as if
You’d be young forever
I know I did

Bob Boyd

I Like 30s Music

I like 30s music It hearkens back
to a simpler, more peaceful era without drugs
Everywhere,
Without poor drugged up souls in the streets
Twisting
Without pointless mass shootings
Commonplace
Without people pushed into subways
Routinely
Without people attacked all the time
Randomly
Without bullied children committing suicide
Often
Without children being sexualized in schools
Daily
Without the government treating concerned parents like
Terrorists
I pine for 30s music and simpler more peaceful times and
Normalcy.

Bob Boyd

Wendigo

Wendigo Wendigo where did you go?
I’ve searched for you everywhere high and low.
Are you afraid of my Werewolf prowess?
Does my howl render you powerless?
Someday under an auspicious full moon
I’ll find you and your body I will hewn
Before you die I’ll say this is for Sue
My sister you killed in 2002.

Bob Boyd

A Chipmunk and a Tricky Crow Named Randy

Chipmunk, Chipmunk what do you like to eat?
Bonbons are my favorite treat.
Chipmunk, Chipmunk where do you find candy?
From a tricky crow named Randy
He brings me vegetables and meal worms too
Once he brought pieces of a vegan stew
I spit it out and said that won’t do
Randy was trying to be tricky and coy
And turn me into a soy boy.

Bob Boyd

Time

when you’re six
you are going to
live forever

when you are sixteen
you are never
going to get old

when you are twenty-six
you’re still a bit
like an immortal

when you reach sixty-six
if you’re lucky enough
to live that long,

the illusions die and
you know you’re going to die
and you wonder how
the time went by so fast

bob boyd

Loveliness Is Life’s Prey

In youth she was beautiful, none could compare
But Life’s right-hand man, Time, stole her beauty away
Why oh why does life not let women stay fair?
Why oh why does it make loveliness its prey?
Why can’t it be like Death who beauty restores?
When faded flowers will bloom evermore.

Bob Boyd

Stuff

I thought we had true love
I thought it would last
But you had other plans
Selfish plans
In violation of true love
In violation of vows

You wanted more stuff
I didn’t care about

So you met a rich guy
Who dazzled you with stuff
And you left me
I didn’t care about that either

Then the rich guy said goodbye
And took his stuff
You cried and wanted the guy back who didn’t care about stuff
Like a fool, I succumbed. Like a fool, I felt sorry for you

Your redemption worked
until you found another guy with more stuff
I’ll never make that mistake again.

Bob Boyd

A Squirrel’s Hard Luck Life

Little Squirrel in the tree
It must be tough being thee
Predators up in the sky
And on the ground standing by
Looking to make you a treat
Sad you must be good to eat
Which must make your life so hard
Always fearful and on guard.

Bob Boyd

Shipwrecks

This whole world has gone past crazy
Morales and values now hazy
Little kids taught porn in grade school
Brainwashing has become the rule
What happens when these kids mature?
Shipwrecks on Normalcy’s shore?
Or will they throw off the shackles
And sail free into the sunset
Of a better, saner world.

Bob Boyd

I’m So Done With That Miss Vicky

I’m so done with that Miss Vicky
Love bomb poem didn’t sticky
Blind like a bat, she cannot see
What could have been, what ought to be.

But it doesn’t matter to me
Don’t care about what could not be
Got a plan to set my heart free
In the next stanza, you will see.

I got game at Harris Teeter
Probably find someone sweeter
Fresh pickins’ in the produce aisles
Hotter stuff with come hither smiles.

Bob Boyd

Reclusive Champ

In Lake Champlain Vermont
lives an elusive sea monster
named Champ first seen
in 1609 and 299 times
after that reputedly.

Like many cryptids Champ
is a champion at hiding;
Many alleged sightings
But no proof.

Wouldn’t it be amazing
if one day Champ made his
debut and wowed the world
as a throwback to
prehistoric times.

And since no mate
has been seen
Champ must be
centuries old with an
anti-aging formula
as yet unknown.

I’d like it if Champ
came out of the lake
and declared his
authenticity to the world.

But somehow I suspect
from watching many
monster movies
that day would be
a bad day For Champ.

So I can understand him
staying out of the media
glare, being reclusive.
Because I’m reclusive too
and wouldn’t want all that
annoying paparazzi attention.

Bob Boyd

For Maria

St. Paul’s own example gives clear witness to the possibility of “offering up” our suffering for the benefit of others when he declares, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24).

Our own suffering takes on a redemptive dimension when we unite it with the passion of Christ.

Songs of My Heart

My heart
could sing
a thousand
songs to you.
My heart can
barely contain
all the love
it has for you
My heart
has never been
Filled with
such happiness
My heart
has never opened
Like it did
when you came in.

Bob Boyd

Fish Food

Imagine
if your place
in nature
brief and
limited
to being
fish food.

Worse
consider
your brief life
limited
to alien food.

What is
Bothersome
Is why
some lifeforms
exist only
as food for
other lifeforms.

Consider
the chicken.

But
in the end
Mother Earth
eats us all.

Bob Boyd