I am the master
of triumphal disaster
I go out for coffee
and return
slapped

I ask
a
question
as
innocent
as
bird
song

and
now
I
am
hiding
behind
my
umbrella
painted
with
roses

roses

not just some
passive prettiness
response

no

this
membraneous
protection
stops
her spittle
dripping
down my cheek

her mouth
hollow with fury

So

clocking up despair

Donna worked for the Dracut Dispatch
I never made the connection then
Then the year of nineteen ninety-four
She was my first foot in published door

There was a call I don’t remember
Around late in the month September
Someone said, so I purchased news then
To see my poem - off to dinner

Now she who knew me was a sinner
I was favored by her that one time
All for a prime rib juicy dinner
My budding writing had found some minds

Donna, oh Donna, lost your honor
But my career had turned it’s corner

ME AND WOODBINE WILLIE
Benefit delays that lasted forever
Causing lifestyles not-too-clever
Welder's gloves on and into the bins
To scoop out the treasure troves within
Shove all the dumpers into a packet
Then into a pocket of my big jacket
And after this hour of going out shelling
Soon my other plans were gelling
ME AND WILLIE WENT DUMPER-DIVING
ME AND WILLIE HAD OUR WAYS OF SURVIVING
PICKING TAB-ENDS OFF THE GROUND
AS SOON AS THERE WERE NO WOMEN AROUND
A pile of baccy on my kitchen table

I’m in need of something miraculous
I’m in search of something more
Lead me through a secret garden
Show me to a secret door

A world awaits on the other side
A place where I can breathe
An escape from this reality
Which only makes me seethe

Always shall I seek escape
Seldom does it serve me
Unlike my costume and my mask
My cloak of invisibility

Stop challenging Africa
Wherever you go we are
We’ve slept on many oceans without a cover
We’ve lived in peril on the sea
We’ve died and buried without a tomb
To remind our children our days
And to celebrate us like heroes.

Stop challenging Africa
We’re born free.

Where were you last night?
The night has been so long
you gave me such a fright
when I heard your mournful song

I heard you calling to the darkness
it answered back again
I worried about a weakness
going back to your old friends

Voices in the moonlight
howling closer still
sounds rustling in the night
eating at your will

Stealthy footsteps in the shadows
the eerie music of their song
where it comes from, no one knows
I know you're aching to belong

Roses in springtime fill the air
With fragrances behind compare

Red, white, yellow and more
Their perfume penetrates my core

Their leaves are firm and green
Creating a lovely scene

The flowers are so sweet
Their aroma can't be beat

Even though their thorns are there
They serve to protect and care

No matter what the rose
It's the flower everyone knows

A precious gift for all occasions
The rose is here for generations

(how about that topic for a change of pace?)

Yes back to getting walloped, decked
and clubbed courtesy cold hearted brute,
who casually, glad handedly, and royally
flushed out mine tailored pricey suit
wherein every pocket
once stashed, and lined with loot.

As I lay here on my hospital bed
Many thoughts invade my mind
Up bubbles the fear, all encompassing dread
Tranquility is impossible to find

They warm the plastic to make it bend
And over my face it's placed
They push and pull til it fits in the end
And my heart continues to race

I cannot let it win I must not succumb
To the demons dragging me down to hell
Gird yourself now, just make it numb
Keep a grip of yourself all is well