Poems by Bob Boyd

Time ticking
Earth turning
Birds flying
Animals roaming
Insects scurrying
Humans hurrying

Birds, animals,
Insects, humans dying

Earth still turning
Time still ticking
Never in a state of flux

Bob Boyd

He’d been hiking in the snow.
The temperature dropped below zero.
It got colder and colder and colder.
He feared he would freeze to death
Then things got far worse.
He heard the wolves howling.
He knew they were coming for him.
Mercifully he passed out before dying.
He woke up warm the next day.
The wolves huddled around him,
His life saved by them.

Bob Boyd

He used to live and work in the world of people.
Now he lives in a semi reclusive world with barely
any contact with people except when he goes
briefly into the world of people in grocery stores.
Sometimes he thinks it would be nice to have
a supportive, loving female companion.
But he cares not to pursue what he sees as a
risky quest that could easily end in heartbreak,
or bring excessive havoc into his peaceful life.
So he passes his days alone and unloved, and
though he mostly enjoys his life, he looks
forward to moving on to what he sees as a
better life in the surreal wonders of an afterlife.

Bob Boyd

She seemed like the sweetest woman ever
when he first met her and fell in love with her.
After a few months of marriage, she began to change.
At first the changes were subtle, slight signs of irritation.
But as if something demonic were devouring her core,
her sweetness began to be overlapped by angry outbursts.
In time many arguments and meanness ensued, and he
wondered whatever happened to the sweet woman he
married. He concluded she was like an actress who
played a part of a character she wasn’t to lure his love.
Now he wishes he could kill her because he knows she
will attempt to get as much alimony from him as she can
and try to ruin his reputation with false claims of abusive
when he finally rids himself of her in a divorce court.

Bob Boyd

The wind is blowing leaves on a tree
to and fro. It looks like the leaves are
enjoying the wind driven rides like
kids laughing and enjoying rides at a
carnival. I have to admit the way the
wind is shaking the leaves all about
it does look as if the shaking is fun.
I wonder if they enjoy a break in the
boredom of just hanging on the tree?
I know if I were a leaf, I’d love the
free rides the spirited wind provides.

Bob Boyd

I see you crickets in plastic containers
in pet stores seemingly thriving.
With free food and water, you might
think you’re living the good life,
that is if you have any cognizance.
Woe to you probably having no idea
you’ll soon be terrorized by lizards
who will kill you, who will devour you.
In a delusional way, I wish I could
save you all from such a tragic fate.
In a humane way, I wish all of you
could have lived free in nature.
But I guess you’d still get eaten
by some other hungry predator.
And you’re not exactly vegans
when you eat smaller insects.
I guess in this world that’s just how
things work; lifeforms eating other
lifeforms like humans eating chickens.

Bob Boyd

I read if humans died out
insects would still be thriving.
Imagine little bugs outliving
big humans in the long run.
Is this anything like the meek
inheriting the earth?
I don’t think that was the
Biblical meaning but imagine
if it came true one dismal day.
Spiders, cockroaches, ants
etc still in towns and cities.
Humans dead in the ground.

Bob Boyd

At age 16, he dove into a pool
and hit his head on the bottom.
Somehow he made it to the surface,
but was paralyzed from the waist down.
He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Somehow he stayed cheerful and positive.
Never seemed to let his misfortune stop him.
Had a great job helping people for a living,
Attracted more women sitting in his wheelchair
Then I ever could standing on my feet.
He inspired me the way he led a great life
Despite his challenges with a lifelong disability.

Bob Boyd

Strong men grew weak at the sight of her,
a beautiful rising star in Hollywood.
Her beauty was incomparable, her voice
like a siren call.
Men came into her life like trains into a
train station.
She used them, tired of them; then
threw them away like old dish rags.
When her beauty faded due to old age,
and men no longer desired her, she
sank into a deep depression and felt
like killing herself.
She died at 77 in a nursing home,
alone, forgotten, and unloved.

Bob Boyd

He was clinically dead
and found himself in hell.
Demons, tortures, flames
of hell tormented him.
He returned to life
traumatized and scared.
He wondered why his
NDE was hellish instead
of the blissful ones
others had. NDE experts
determined he had projected
his hellish NDE from being
lectured about hell as a
child. Whatever the case,
he now fears death and
believes he may go to
hell again.

Bob Boyd

He had been a rich man in his time,
Accumulated billions of dollars,
Owned properties all over the world,
Lorded over thousands of workers,
Made them tremble with a look.
He died of a massive heart attack
After sixty seven years of living
Two hundred and twenty years ago.
Now he’s just bones in the ground
And few remember who he was,
His lording and his fortunes gone.

Bob Boyd

How I yearn for a peaceful life
beyond all the noise pollution.
I’ve come to think the only place
I’ll find it is beneath a headstone
in a quiet serene cemetery.

Bob Boyd

Corrupt politicians keep cropping up.
Jesus Christ what has happened to America?
Lies, cheating, fraud, more exposed crimes.
Laws for thee, not for crooked politicians.
Are we ever going to see any convictions?

Bob Boyd

People said Mark and Mary
fought like cats and dogs,
wondered why they stayed
together in their crazy marriage.
They stayed married all their lives
I guess for them love meant strife
without which there were no sparks,
without which love was just too dull.

Bob Boyd

He found himself in a curious world.
Luminous flowers, transparent spirits.
Telepathic communications, no words.
Feelings of bliss and heavenly peace.
Thought it was just a lucid dream
until he traveled back to his body and
learned he was actually dead.

Bob Boyd

Born to Raise Hell

He was trouble in kindergarten,
trouble in grade school as well.
The prognosis doesn’t look good.
He was worse in high school,
had to be removed for truancy
and irredeemable behavior.
Joined the Marines, found he
had a knack for military combat,
channeled his antisocial behavior
into fighting wars, came home a
hero, settled down with a wife
his irredeemable behavior fixed,
until his wife left him for another
man, went crazy and shot them
both to death. Vanished after that,
and to this day he has never
been found.

Bob Boyd

Perhaps the Absolute is
purely impersonal.
Why do I think this
might be?
I don’t think a personal
God would allow so
much evil, so much
injustice in this world.
140 women and girls
murdered daily.
About 53 people murdered
every hour.
Hundreds to thousands to
millions of children sex
trafficked yearly.
I cannot believe a loving
personal God would
allow that.
I can believe an impersonal
God would be impervious
to it.

Bob Boyd

As the sun rose
the vampires receded.
Another night’s respite
from the fears and
the horrors.
Another chance to
plan ways to rid
ourselves of the
vampiric menace.
But the vampires
kept increasing as
more of us were
drained of blood
and turned into them.
I wish this could have
been one of those
stories where evil
lost and good won.
But in the end we
had to flee the
land we loved and
the vampires won.
Now we fear we’ll
never be far enough
from them, as some
of them were our
kin, and we fear
they’ll come for us
no matter the seas,
the mountains, the
lands between us.

Bob Boyd

I’m less than a pinpoint in the vast outreaches
of space. I’m not of much significance as one
of the billions of humans on this planet. Even
if I had risen to international prominence, I hope
I could have the same realistic appraisal of my
existence and a realistic humility about my
insignificance in the grander scheme of
whatever is the unfathomable purpose of this
fleeting and unpredictable life. I have to remind
myself of that as a sort of reality check from
time to time, not that I get on a high horse
about myself, but sometimes I forget about
how insignificant humans are in the entirety
of this universe and this impermanent world.

Bob Boyd

Megagram prehistoric dragonfly,
lived about 300 million years ago.
A wing span of over 2 feet, giant eyes,
toothed mandibles, sharp legs.
About the size of an eagle, probably
fed on prey like frogs and fish.
Died out during a mass extinction
event, the Permanian Extinction.
Thank God we don’t have to deal
with these giant insects today.

Bob Boyd