Poems

GWL

The only man I ever knew

Intending to be good -

Diogenes – a burning lantern

In the lightless wood.

One of only several even

Able to be kind -

Too busy with the machinations

Nobody designed -

A jewel in the gutter

Just the very sad can find.

Facing death defiantly -

Facing god with truth -

And every happy memory

Happened in his youth.

7-28-13

Weeping

So many good ideas

That never will be said

In the darkness of the universe

Where everything is dead.

People are much nicer than I

Give them credit for.

Tattoos, rap and violence,

Bigotry and war.

I don't want to die. That really

Never was my aim.

Denny's is a circus,

And America a game.

I used to love the English

Notwithstanding Oscar Wilde.

Then I heard of Turing too.

The final myth defiled.

7-28-13

 

Relief

When I am depressed, I read my poems -

Feelings I can understand,

Ideas I agree with.

Or sit in Denny's, let my feeble brain

Be beaten passed oblivion

By loud and noisy music.

Like Michelangelo I strain

To put my soul in verse.

Picasso stolen from a Dutch

Museum and then burned.

Nothing's sacred but their fetid

Homophobic god.

7-27-13

Two Fads

Never show emotion. For a while

(Sincerity is now replaced with guile)

The latest Yankee fad has been to call

(And even the police have caught the ball)

Any feeling or distress “a drama”.

The other (let it not be Ms Obama)

Is of course like Pompeii excavated,

To have your naked body decorated.

7-27-13

 

Help

Are people any good for one another,

Especially psychologists and cops?
Crawl inside your soul and make it better?
Or solve the problems keeping you aground?

So what good are people to each other?
Though some defy the rules and try to be.

It's odd that I am fonder of Rebecca.

I was sad. She smiled. And I felt happy.

Cops are rough. Psychologists are rich.

And ordinary people do not care.

7-27-13

Double Bind

The policeman pulled him over

And asked to see his license.

He gave it him and didn't say a word.

The policeman asked to see his registration.

He gave it him and didn't say a word.

The policeman asked for proof of his insurance.

He gave it him and didn't say a word.

Then he said, “You haven't said a word.

Why is that?” The gentleman replied,

“No matter what I say it will be wrong.

You'll beat me up and knock me down

And take me off to jail.”

This bothered the policeman, so he

Pulled him from his car,

Knocked him down and beat him up

And dragged him off to jail.”

7-28-13