External pressures without comparative edges
Weighing down the spirit of our voice
The uneasy relationship with original thought
Fate passes us by when we cannot rejoice
External Pressures
fate
The Infinity Of Love
The infinity of love
The entirety of a single breath
Odd footnotes to a shapely evening
After kissing the feet of Sister MaryBeth
The important ones are those you forgot
Distant notes too unbelievable to remember
But there’s a gravity to these infatuations
Still wearing Fair Isle, though it no longer December
Our dreams aren’t always tangible by birth
Effort & perseverance required, but you can’t relate
You won’t know it, but it’s worth the heartache
We’re doomed to live our days as humans & it’s called fate
Lost Beneath The Shipwreck
Lost beneath the shipwreck
Down at the bottom of the cove
Suffering from the scurvy
With scant upon our old wood stove
No fresh water nor ripe fruit
Alone with only countless tales
Doomed with no audience nor friend
Fate of those who chase the whale
We’ve Been Here Before
We’ve been here before
But that shouldn’t assuage our fear
Experience doesn’t equal conformity
Is it a virtue we’re still here?
For the dregs are apocalyptic survivors
Fated to exist forever it seems
Is there anything to contribute
Through (within) a love we might be redeemed(?)
Two Lost Souls, Like Beachcombers
Two lost souls, like beachcombers
Looking for lost things, love & such
Distant memories of happiness
The feeling of being needed; a touch
Nestled within a Siren’s lullaby
We never could grasp our fate
Shrugging off the daily struggles
Our only choice is to circumnavigate
Patrolling The Underground Realms
Patrolling the underground realms
Lifting thought from prepared pages
Easing youth that won’t overwhelm
Knowing craft requires poise upon the stage
The dissidents lining streets in praise
While heroes grow cold, lying in state
Sharpen your pens lads, we rise by days
Attune your focus & we might outlive our fates
It Was A One-Eyed Kind Of Morn
It was a one-eyed kind of morn
With evening’s festivities going awry
I scrawled out all I could remember
Once a gentleman, turned drunken guy
Slight images of a lovely form
Olfactory sparks upon my brain
Sketching the party’s guest list
But no new faces could remain
Racking my skull for a proper memory
Writing down every & each detail
Compiling a list to rediscover
I’m trying to think, but it’s to no avail
A faceless gown with affectionate gloves
Somehow my mind is able to recall
Cognitive fragments begin to linger
Clouded out by last night’s alcohol
Scenes slowly begin to return
I believe we’re out on the dance floor
An embrace of smoldering desire
Yet I couldn’t figure out any more
Scraps of notes spread before me
No identity to place upon the truth
Scant reason to be shy in my search
Basking in honesty of my lapsed youth
Cobwebs have been sparsely lifted
Won’t think of her in the past tense
Her ghostly touch encourages me yet
We shall meet again, I firmly sense
To hold her with determined spirit
Seems fantastical at this sad rate
Yet she’s left fingerprints upon me
Remaining until I succumb to my fate
The Carcasses Of Inspiration
The carcasses of inspiration
Wine glasses with Burgundy residue
Speaking to late nights & early mornings
Scribbles in the margin on the follow through
Feeling parched as I wake
Noticing your lipstick stains
Upon the rim of the glass
Reminding me of the dreams that remain
Bleary eyed, drinking the coffee grounds
Searching for a fate within the dregs
Fumbling over these typewriter keys
Lightheaded when I see your naked legs
Your smile is a distraction
But you pop a button & then one more
I’m at your complete mercy
Once the nightgown hits the floor
Image by TastyCinnamonn from Pixabay
Scatterbrained Today
Scatterbrained today
Feeling raw weight of tension
The world’s burden
Hindrances to fateful ascension
Regret & sad resignation
This wasn’t in the script
Perseverance through hope
It’s the only way – she quipped
How To Create An Individuality
How to create an individuality
Yet, contribute to society as a whole
Without falling to the socialist ideal
& abandoning your capitalistic soul
I believe in the American experiment
A dream that is & could be great
In fact, I’ve sworn to defend it forever
Duty, honor & a complicated fate
Weight Of The World
Weight of the world
Falling on my shoulders
Rising early to attack the day
Another coffee – going to need to grow bolder
The stress that defines life
The mess that we’ve made
Perception fades to black
Succumbed to the frustrations we’ve displayed
Sympathetic to Atlas’ condemnation
Understanding his modern fate
Premonition this load might explode
Knowing somehow I’ll eventually drop this weight
Reading The Errant Pages
Reading the errant pages
Crumpling after each one is read
A gentle eye befallen the paper
Revising what each one has plead
Wastebasket- a lifetime away
Hoping it’s not the destiny of them all
Slowly, sacred thoughts form
Living in the weird space of my scrawl
So You Think You Want To Be Wild
So you think you want to be wild
But you’ve never left the city gates
Living within such structure
Organizing a lush, manicured fate
Pushing forth the semblance of influence
Yet, outwardly needing to create a scene
Dreaming of an adventurous existence
& what breaking free could possibly mean
Running Headlong Into Winter
Running headlong into Winter
The cold air forced inside my lungs
Stopping abruptly at the end of the dock
Arms out, catching a snowflake on my tongue
I ran out of land again
Isolated out here with my soul about to freeze
There’s no place left to escape
Shanghai’d again! My fate lies on the high seas
Dreams & Fates Return Forthwith
Dreams & fates return forthwith
Stars falling from under her dress
Elegantly raised up from her seat
Floating lightly with each soft caress
The town is alive tonight
Her body spun upon her painted toes
A culmination of efforts built upon
The bunched cloth forgotten in the throes
Midnight’s A Fine Time To Take The Jacksonville Train
Midnight’s a fine time to take the Jacksonville train
Rolling double boxcars to decide our fate
Gotta get back to my lover’s bedside
‘cause women like that don’t hardly wait
Been dreaming of her since the days of steam
Finely dressed woman with incalculable sense
I’m lagging behind schedules & timetables
Hindered by a world of devastating pretense
Spellbound, in the terminal cloister, trying to keep track
Our destiny dwindling, chanced by the tumble of dice
Fearing snake eyes when we need eleven
For lightning isn’t going to strike us down twice
Separation has me feeling on the edge of sincerity
Bleary eyes blinked time & again for some sanity
I’m not emotionally set up for these tribulations
Fear of failing, yet no marks upon my frivolous vanity
Memories of forgotten moments in the text
Perhaps it’s time for me to remain fully alert
But I can’t ignore how my insides churn
The notions of the woman so beautifully pert
It’s risky to return my heart for ante
Somewhere she’s loosening her bustle
This venture is getting out of hand
When she’s applying her legendary hustle
Pulling into the station, I know my lot
A few hours late; enough for passion to be reclaimed
I’ve tried my best, but crapped out again
In my weakness, I become loved; that’s when the angels came
Image by Khusen Rustamov from Pixabay
Summer’s Dog Days Of The Forgone
Summer’s dog days of the forgone
Experiencing a crisis of fate
Sharpening our wits on bathtub gin
Wondering if it’s worth the effort to curate
Suburban Arcades & Record Stores
Suburban arcades & record stores
Love notes left jammed in the teletype
Ancient technologies lost to whims of time
Sacrilege of consuming before it’s ripe
Littered by dreams of public-school poets
Falling to the feminine side of healing
Whose obedience to authority lingers
But only the lonely are rhymin’ & stealin’
Our literary antihero catching the cliff notes
A repressed childhood is still better by half
Trying to make up for that deleted time
But you can’t get far by writing on decaf
Standing with arms braced to the wind
Needing antiquity to know how we perform
Rolling empty dice against our loaded fates
Summer on the coast ensures the storm
Trembling Coins In My Pocket
Trembling coins in my pocket
A disconnect in time; rapidly repulse
Our words twisted soon after spoken
Inferiority complex became our natural impulse
But we knew life could be far greater
If we could only escape our own fates
Get out of our own disturbed minds
& embrace the love that patiently awaits
Forgotten In The Ether
Forgotten in the ether
Against the stones on the shore
Fatigue hitting hard at sunrise
Before the day might restore
You cannot outlive a memory
Our fates left to a diminished chance
Bound to the sea by luck or force
Drifting silently with suspicious circumstance
Dog eared postcards & other totems
Words from home to quench the tide
Meandering scribbles in the margin
Dreading the prospect of another ride
Fates & Folly Everlasting
Fates & folly everlasting
Without courage to proceed
A beautiful lady
Measuring thought & deed
But she just wanted my heart
No matter the complications
I couldn’t view the reality
Of her love without reservations
Two Lost Souls, Like Beachcombers
Two lost souls, like beachcombers
Looking for lost things; love & such
Distant memories of happiness
The feeling of being needed; a touch
Nestled within a Siren’s lullaby
We never could grasp our fate
Shrugging off the daily struggles
Our only choice is to circumnavigate
Which Distance
Which distance
Our beliefs corresponding
What strain
Our thoughts absconding
Taking the time to reason,
Ponder & contemplate
Our combined future
Viewed as a delicious fate
Now That I’m Old…
Now that I’m old, there’s no chance to be cool
I’m that creepy lurker passing the delicates isle
Finding myself lost in nebulous thought
Youth dropping their eyes while I try to smile
You can’t be friendly when you’re a certain age
Somewhere along the line, I missed my cue
Oblivious to the graffiti on the decaying walls
I’m slowly dying, more with each day that’s through
Stuck before I can be the wisened old fellow
Conversations with alter egos as I deliberate
Taunting life with my aggressive apathy
Father Time impatiently waiting for my cryptic fate
A litmus test for fragile character upon my days
Emerging from adulthood with wisdom in my head
Never again a victim to society’s whims
Pushing past expectations; my own hero instead
Rising higher than their own trite requirements
Still not accepted & still the silly old fool
Sketchy, weird & perpetually the outcast
Damn, there went my last chance to finally be cool
Rubbing Their Fingers Over The Stereo Knob
Rubbing their fingers over the stereo knob
The frequencies distorted on the airwaves
Kings of the new world & thus apocalyptic
Searching for something more pragmatic to crave
These technocrats with no concept of reality
Tasking – without offering an alternate fate
Demanding citizens for homages to be digital
With no power to control – or else we attenuate
Words of peace have the chance to amplify
Even when we’re feeling out of time/out of sync
Don’t need their fiber optic lies to survive
A blind man loses all when forced to blink
Tapping into a passion without any circuits
Our transistors are live; we’re lovers thus discrete
There’s no stopping us when their signal’s weak
There’s nothing but fire & sparks when our wires meet
This life is forever altered now we’re here
Do not attempt to adjust the squelch
You’re listening to Radio Free America
Standing proud & robust like Raquel Welch
Returning To Simplicity
Returning to simplicity
Tossing out these fledgling fates
Stunted growth increasing these days
Hindered by our technological rates
I don’t want to watch my soul wilt
I want to break free & soak up the sunshine
I’m through with this culture of victims
You’ll hear the dial tone & know its mine
Incomplete Rants Are Broken Thoughts
Incomplete rants are broken thoughts
Antique shutters dangle in the breeze
Vaccinated by expired truth serums
Eye twitches; our hostess is ill at ease
Yet remaining upright on the page
Our fate wrapped in a trickster’s charm
Subtle strokes without remorse
Only dried ink leaves us disarmed
Subverting all the easy answers
Sacred is our fundamental right to choose
However your speculations drift
Cut the devil’s throat and wrap him in Winter’s hues
Let Us Focus On Love
Let us focus on love
Expel their notions of hate
I won’t let them affect me
I’ll set the standards for my fate
This life won’t last forever
The glories in Heaven surely await
But for now, I’m going to be compassionate
To take care of the people – HOPE we’ll create
John Muir
“The world’s big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”
― John Muir
Captain Q 