mother's confession

i wouldn't be
happy laying
down my life
for you

i wouldn't do
it out of love

it would be a
feral instinct
and i know it
would prevail

but i wouldn't
be very happy
about it at all


sister, sister

one sister
nurses him daily

one says
he seems himself

guess who
he's grateful to


bank robber v. leaf (3-12-10)

a poem about a grey day
at the beginning
of what they say will be
a week of steady rain

cannot have Dillinger
in it betrayed by a moll
or by a dad who never
spared the rod

although such things
can come to mind
on such an afternoon

one small brown leaf
smoothly gliding down
like a gondola in air
is a far more likely character

in such a poem


crossroads

don't want no baby
baby

I wants it

got
such a good thing

still be good
baby

no
don't want no baby

I wants it


geese/phone (to Maggie)

a vee of geese
goes down
behind the old
Pabst brewery

while someone
hangs up without
leaving
a message


Hildebrand v. Hadubrand

I am your father,
the warrior said
to his opponent.

The boy bawled,
Do I look green
enough to fall
for such a trick?
I have been told
my father is dead
and so shall you
be soon enough!

If you will not
accept the gold
from my arm
here is my neck,
the father said.


truthfully

don't really
like life

who i am

or who
you are

don't think
it'll change

death will
be better

or any of
it matters


wild dog v. camper

dog crouches
& snarls

camper raises
her hatchet

both gonna
get hurt if

dog springs
but it leaves

her erect
with adrenaline


tooth & brain

my sweet tooth
sees
you're a drunk

and my brain
thinks
you're sweet


goodbye, columbus

they set sail
confident
of greener shores

on which
to make
new homes

but doubters
feared
just endless sea

or sudden
cataract
and judged

it better
not to leave
at all


coach v. girl

You ain't gonna
like me, coach say

Guess not, girl say

But you gotta
work your tail off

I can quit, girl say

Yeah you can quit,
coach say

then you still gotta
work your tail off

& you still ain't
gonna like me


i will

i will
do

what
you
want

so
you

don't
kill

me

and
live

the
rest

of my
life

a
poison

needle
hot

to
kill

you


bill of health for Matty

got blood
drained out my skull

heart's too bum
to get my eyes fixed

acid reflux &
irritable bowel

make me wanna
throw in the towel

but I'm hangin' in
because doc says

my liver is just hittin'
its stride


Abel's dam

very mixed feelings
always uneasy
when it comes to blood

but the bastard
slit my kid's throat

stripped her baby fat
and burnt it

he deserved
the dish his brother
served to him


wool coat & I

my wool coat
gets heavier
and heavier
and feels better
and better as
it welcomes
more and more
of the squall


man & man

one man don't like
another man much
he say Why you so
hard ta like

I ain't hard ta like,
second man say
Maybe you just
hard ta please

No I ain't hard ta
please, first man say
I like everybody
else no problem

Then maybe you
just too easy
ta please,
second man say


ER cell call

no
just him

we just
have scratches

he had

a seat belt
on

he was

with
Matt

in
the back

I wish

I don't
know what

I should have
taken

Shunpike


I'm

so terribly

sorry


'nother love story

devil in him & he
got to make a choice

tell his wife & she
get involved or

hide it from her
put up a good front
maybe outlast her

that's the choice
devil want him to make
devil don't want his wife

man know that &
he do it anyway

time pass
devil cleaning him out
he keep his poker face

his wife say
You okay these days

he can't lie & he say
Devil got in me

What the fuck, she say
Devil a damn coward

Come out here motherfucker
fight like a man

devil say This just
between him & me

Your ass, she say
What between your
sorry dick & him
is me

she good woman &
after devil take him

she get her own self
inside devil

wish he never
take that man

[after Casey Quinn's "what free will really means" www.poetrycircle.com/index.php/topic,16921]


bully v. little kid

Gimme that bat,
bully say

I can't,
little kid say

Gimme that bat
or I take it

Mama say don't
lose this bat

It don't matter
what she say

It matter when
I git home

Gimme that bat

Want this bat
you gonna have to

give me
the same beatin'

she gonna
give me


sloth & harpy

sloth clutches a liana
as harpy glides in
to pick him up


man v. bug [submitted]

man got a bug in him
bug say, Leave, leave
but man think, Don't got
to listen to no bug, I'm
gonna be a man & stay

bug say, Every day I'm
gonna bite your heart
until ain't nothing left
Okay, man say, You
go on just bite away

bug bite & man flinch
bug bite again & he
flinch again & bug
keep biting every day
he keep on flinching

his wife say, Why you
flinching & he say, Ain't
flinching & she say,
Every day you flinching
you got the bug to leave

man say, Man got a lot
of bugs but that don't
mean he gonna leave
she say, Don't want no
man who wanna leave

he say, It just the bug
that wanna leave but
the man he gonna stay
she say, He betta stay
I kick his bug butt out


obama v. mccain

i'm a handsome
new guy

i'm an ugly
old guy

i'm a handsome
new guy
on the left

i'm an ugly
old guy
on the right

i'm a handsome
new guy
on the left
who's smart

i'm an ugly
old guy
on the right
who used

to be smart but
is now pretty
much

just a hack


at the window

you looks good
up dere

you looks good
yuself

c'mon down
outa dat window

naw
I ain't like dat

you sho' looks good
enough ta be
like dat if you was
like dat

you looks
dat way yuself

I is like dat
oh yes

you kin change
jesus kin help ya

naw
dis how de good lord
made me

well dis how
he made me too

you have good day
now

you have good day
yuself


weather 5

forecaster
said

we don't know
when the rain
will end

and laughed
like

maybe Noah
didn't hear
right after all


me v. you

as surprising
as your perfidy
is how
you laugh it off

i think
i'm going
to like you


majestic encounter

we meet high on the crest
of the mountains and then

you have your talons in me
and i'm dragging you down.

we calmly gyre to the gulch
where you rip out my throat.


jacob

bless me
father

my brother
can hunt
and knows
honor

bless me
father


CDO & TOM

“Tom? This is your Cardiac Diagnostic Observation. Pardon the interruption, but I sense that you are lying down and resting, and if this is not a bad time, I would like to advise you that I have detected a potentially dangerous degree of atrioventricular dissociation: in other words, a relatively low percentage of of atrioventricular synchrony, which is defined as less than 96%.

“Medically prudent responses to atrioventricular dissociation include pacemaker reprogramming, adaptation of your drug regimen, or another diagnostic strategy. If you plan to seek either pacemaker reprogramming, adaptation of your drug regimen, or other diagnostic strategy, please say Yes now.
 
“If you do not plan to seek pacemaker reprogramming, adaptation of your drug regimen, or other diagnostic strategy, please say No now.”

“No.”

“Tom, are you aware that your decision not to seek pacemaker reprogramming, adaptation of your drug regimen, or other diagnostic strategy will expose you to significant risk of tachyarrhythmia-related stroke? If you are aware of that risk, please say Yes now.”

“Yes."

“Tom, may I have your permission to directly contact your cardiologist with this information? If I do have your permission, please say Yes now.

“If I do not have your permission, please say No now.

“Tom, may I have your permission to directly contact your cardiologist with this information? If I do have your permission, please say Yes now.

“If I do not have your permission, please say No now.

“Tom, in the absence of your response to this question, I will activate Automatic Notification of Cardiologist in another 60 seconds. If you do not wish your cardiologist to be Automatically Notified, please say No now.”

“No.”

“Tom, please think about your choice to resist prudent medical intervention. Allow me to remind you that you chose to install a pacemaker with the Diagnostic Observation feature. Does your choice to ignore me now indicate that your estimation of the value of your life has changed significantly?

"If your estimation of the value of your life has changed significantly, please say Yes now.”

these are good.  I especially like the love story and the devil.

You would!!
Actually very glad to hear that, that one is the most complicated reading and I am worried about that.
Thanks for the read and report, C.
-Tom

curious about your words and also what Obama fans are thinking about him these days.  have your views, feelings, opinions, etc. changed?  and how?

this poem is just my "analysis" of how the election itself went. since then, obama seems the same to me: careful, steady, rides things out without overreacting. i don't agree with him on financial bailout stuff (i think my generation should tighten our belts, not mortgage our children so we don't have to) but i still admire how careful and smart he is, and trust his motivations.

Hi Tom, some of these I like and with more readings
will probably like more.  it's different than anything
I've read before.  You have a very unique style
so will no doubt be famous some day when the rest
of us catch up.
Especially liked Weather 5, second from the last.
We've set a record for the most rain (I think) since
first of the year in Boston rather than the predicted
major blizzards. Actually, we've had a mild winter.

I think you started a new trend, but may take a while
to catch on like I mentioned before.  Wish you luck!
Regards,
Marion

weather 5

forecaster
said

we don't know
when the rain
will end

and laughed
like

maybe Noah
didn't hear
right after all

Good stuff, Tom.  

Marion, what a generous reply! Thank you. I see this and other styles as responses to, if not amalgams of or variations on, what I read at here at PC. Tom