Ray

Ray

I still recall the apartment in London

Where I stayed a month with you.

In the hall a cigarette vendor -

Tiny packages – money too.

Madame Tussaud's and the Tower of London -

The stairs were so narrow and cramped you said

The must have been midgets when Henry was king -

The British Museum – the mask when dead

Of Keats in the back the attendant showed us -

Like the bone of the dinosaur

I touched in Manhattan when I got back -

Back from enchantment – through a door.

12-29-13

 

The Wise Ones

Every omniscient man is a fool.

Fools are omniscient, that is a rule.

A fool on a forum will stretch his tongue,

Should be hung,
No longer young.

Passing out praises like Santa Claus,

And sparing no censure, he can because

He can't write a stanza but he is king

Of poetry, god and everything.

Anonymous, safe in his Jersey fort,

He lives for the moment you're in his court.

He'll lay you out with a trenchant retort,

Call you a troll, a pussy, a sap,

Then hitch up his pants. What a wonderful crap!

12-29-13

Love Songs

My love songs are to people

Who despise me now.

Long ago they went away.

Though I've forgotten how,

I wrote them little poems

With magic in the words

That worked no spell upon them.

They went back into herds

That trampled my existence,

Left me angrier by far.

But I kept all the love songs,

Each a perfect stolen star.

12-28-13

If you like my poems, I have several books on Amazon (most $10 or less) and Kindle (most $1).  On Amazon under books, if you type Joseph Hart Poetry in the search bar, it will take you to all of them.