Several Short Poems

Several Short Poems

“We all lead lives of

Quiet desperation.”

Some of us are

Idiots as well.

Pure Americana.

Success at any cost.

The greyest moth in Christendom,

New England's Robert Frost.

I didn't like Rene

Or anything he stood for.

He was good in bed.

That's all that he was good for.

I dismiss the past.

Don't even take a look.

There's nothing back there for me.

Proust is just a book.

If you're feeling crazy

And don't know what to do,

Be careful lest the doctor

Is crazier than you.

Remember you moved mountains

To make me one of yours.

I didn't understand it.

Now I'm facing doors.

I have no rights and no control.

The preacher said I have a soul

That belongs to only me.

When I'm in heaven, I'll be free.

That is what the preacher said.

When I'm in heaven, I'll be dead.

2-2-14

Bossy

You can't tell other people what to do

Even though they're rolling to their death.

Their future's theirs. Their fate's not up to you.

A villain pulls a dagger from its sheath.

In the sea unnoticed swims a shark.

Everybody has a single star.

At Denny's after midnight, when it's dark,

Someone walks the waitress to her car.

2-3-14

A New Phase

67. All the work is done.
All forgotten manuscripts are purged.

Hopefully the lousy verse is gone,

With just the decent poems to be scourged.

A life of struggle without any hope,

Following relentlessly an aim.

Just doing it. Like college. Still I grope.

And Joyce and Frost called poetry a game.

I surface in the rain on a plateau,

And in the sunlight lie beside the sea.

There's nothing that I ever hope to know,

Not even how to write good poetry.

2-3-14

If you like my poems, I have books on Amazon, both paperback and Kindle.  The paperbacks are usually $10 or less.  The Kindles are usually a $1.  To see them, go to Amazon, click on Books on the drop down, then type Joseph Hart Poetry in the search bar.