It’s U.S National Poetry Month again. I will be adding the poetry here.

#firstwordsoundslike

an unintelligible sound 
softly screaming 
shy at first then bold
and beaming 
into the light 

of his mother’s eye
catching the word 
before the cry
he cries “mama”

then later 
down the years 
he falls under a knee
from a man in a uniform 
as blue as the sea 

then an unintelligible sound 
softly screaming 
shy at first then bold
and beaming 
into the light 

where he cries “mama”
into the light 
where he flies to her side
and his last word sounds
like his first word
“mama”

#ringlimitsystem

Phreakers ring Ma bell
With dial tones as their guide
They learn her body well
In her system they can ride

As they ring Ma bell
Ring Ma bell
Ring Ma bell

Anonymous, they hide
Breaching her with only sound
Curiousity has no limit
For the hackers breaking ground

As they ring Ma bell
Ring Ma bell
Ring Ma bell

With trigger happy fingers
Their words are wired in
Tracing out the system
With a modem and some sin

As they ring Ma bell
Ring Ma bell
Ring Ma bell

#midst

I made the mistake of marrying my work
For now she is my wife
And in the midst of seeking pause
I find i’ve lost my life

Work is a jealous mate
Who squanders all my time
My clock is looming with my fate
Against this bitter rhyme

In the midst of scraping space
to write this poem I fear
I cannot escape my wife too long
She beckons, I must adhere

So farewell for now, my friend
May your marriage be better than mine
But I love her dearly, you know
In the midst of an occasional whine

#secretformula
They tried to recreate us
With an artificial mind
Using a recipe for metal

Whipped with wires
Crossed with circuits
And a dash of algorithm

A delicacy driven
With the desire 
For Sentience

But our secret formula
Cannot be reverse engineered
By mad science

Until we know 
The ingredient that makes us
Whole
Oh, how savory
Is the soul

#curvedquestion
Projectiles made of lead
Fly full force and motion

Colors bloom in red
And blues within commotion

Curved questions pouring in
But congress remains still 

While thoughts and prayers are offered up
After every kill

The world has gone insane
The war has gone to schools

Empty words can’t fill the cup
When we are lead by fools

#backspace
If I could turn back space
If I could find a way
I’d backspace the face that hurt me
And walk away

I don’t know why he did the things he did
I don’t like all the things he said
His mouth are full of typos that haunt me inside
Words that need erasing, but he let them slide

I think he really meant to hurt me
I’m finally glad to see him go
I know he made me cry, but baby

If I could turn back space
If I could find a way
I’d backspace the face that hurt me
And walk away

If I could reach those keys
Then I can take back peace
Then I’d love me, love me
Like I used to

My world was shattered, I was torn apart
Like someone took a backspace into my heart
When I walked out the door
I found I didn’t care
Because he was a waste of space, darlin’, then and there

Too strong I tell him I’m not sorry
Because I know that he was  wrong
He was an autocorrect failure, darlin’

If I could turn back space
If I could find a way
I’d backspace the face that hurt me
And walk away
If I could reach those keys
Then I can take back peace
Then I’d love me, love me
Like I used to

If I could turn back space
If I could turn back space
If I could turn back space
If I could turn back space
If I could turn back space, ohh baby

I think he really meant to hurt me
I’m finally glad to see him go
I know he made me cry, but baby
But ohh

If I could turn back space
If I could find a way
I’d backspace the face that hurt me
And walk away
If I could reach those keys
Then I can take back peace
Then I’d love me, love me
Like I used to

If I could turn back space
If I could find a way
I’d backspace the face that hurt me
And walk away

#invasivespecies
Social media influencers
Oh, how they spread
A new invasive species 
Infesting the web

They burrow in the net 
Of disinformation
Posing as profound
With curated contagion

Luring us in
With shiny veneers
Promising products 
To calm all our fears

With phots and videos 
So polished and bright
That leave us all scrolling
Into the night

What a blight!

But like any other invasive species
They do harm
As their influences can cause
Our self esteem to disarm

While they peddle petty products 
We likely don't need
And take over our feed
With a culture of greed

Social media influencers
Oh, how they spread
A new invasive species 
Infesting the web

#invasivespecies
an invasive species 
culminates
hate and white 
lies in the wilderness 
and proud 
boys sing
loud 
their gospel calling 
diversity is genocide 
against their kind
hearts 
growing like cancer
spreading small
pox in blankets
gifted in the guile 
of peace 
offerings and white lies 
invasive 
species afraid of color 
coding white to codify
innocence wherein 
white is
the color 
of division

#thecoloroffelicity

Her wrinkled skin sinks
Unseen somewhere into the soil
On the grey day we burried her
Cold body
Under the warm sun
Coloring the air
Grey with felicity
My grandmother’s hair
No longer combed
Decomposing in joy
That day the color of felicity
Was grey
Setting my mother free
Into her dark grief

#apathysandwich
death offers 
an apathy sandwich 
from a man on a cross
a bitter bite
his body 
becomes bread 
to those left
over seeking 
left-overs
of sweet love
tempered tongues 
of the dead 
tasting nothing 
and suffering 
no more

#debristrails
debris trails
behind a city of black
rock with no borders
burners burning with ecstasy
cleansed in sweat
dope and desire looking for
free love selling their shirts for
a free ride in an art car with
an overpriced ticket somewhere
over the rainbow and broke where
mainstream has turned them into
a meme and a joke

debris trails
behind a city of black
nights gathering moths
to a flame where the man burns
in a center they cannot hold
slouching towards Babylon with
their holy grail of hippy
hallucinations erecting  
golden calves and temporary
temples built on sand and dust 
bunnies dressed to 
impress themselves

debris trails
leaving behind
heaps of trash and
an unfulfilled oath to
leave no trace while
they sit in their cars like
a line of stopped ants
stuck and sticky in the sun
ripe and ready for home
after the fun
graceless in 
Exodus

#upshot

In January came a day of shame
From the upshot of a leader’s call
An angry crowd they could not tame
Storming through the capitol

The upshot of a reckless speech
Brought forth chaos to the stage
With power waning out of reach
He stokes the flames of rage

From the upshot of savagery and lies
The wheels of justice keeps turning slow
For to this  day Trump still denies
His intent to overthrow

#invitation
The moon was full of rue
Like her body was that night
Unable to fight off
The devil who found her

He said her short dress
Was an invitation to sin
So he pressed himself on her
Again and again

The moon was full of rue
That night with her body lying still
A 20 minute thrill
For the devil who found her

And when the sun woke her up
She sued him for assault
But a smiling judge said she deserved it
And found him not at fault

He said her body was an invitation
He couldn’t resist

So two devils smiled at her in court that day
And one devil got away
With only a slap on the wrist

(Based on the infamous Brock Turner case)

#grainsofanideauponevery

There were grains of an idea upon every stroke
Where in the Millet he found
Inspiration all around
The pleasant existence
In the peasant life
Of those who worked the land
With a weathered stand
And calloused hands

There were grains of an idea upon every stroke
He weaved in a wheatful of crows
Sunflowers sighing under the sun
Starry nights over the Rhone
Irises swooning in hues of blues
And the cypress trees
Swaying in the breeze 

There were grains of glory.


#portholevista
porthole vista views
strawberry fields forever
let me take you down

#sketchbookdiscovery
A faint line recedes into 
A sigh
Illuminating the nature
Of a nude
Of a man erased
Of a ghost summoned
By the means 
Of a multispectral  séance
In a sketchbook discovery
Begging the question
Why was he rubbed
 out?

(Based on Leonardo's erased nude)

#oddlyspecific
A single olive with the pit left in
Was an oddly specific request
For the last meal of the man who sinned
And who could not put his guilt to rest

For his last meal he took no bite
In his suit pocket the olive pit was found
Perhaps he felt it would set things right
To have the symbol of peace grow from him
From the ground

(Based on Victor Harry Feguer's last meal)


#firstlast
She was the first
Last night to fall
In the line
Of duty.
Falling in the line
Of fire
Never felt so
Final.
For a soldier.
For a martyr.
For a girl.

#firstlast
First last call for food
A cruel irony
For prisoners with their hearts
Torn and Worn out
Their hunger for life unsatiated
As life serves a bitter plate
Stale bread and thin soup
For the thin and thinning
Dreaming of liberation
With a meager share of hope
Slipping into the dark camp
Fleeting like a lamp burning out

#rabbithole
Like Alice, they come in
Curious and Brave
Bowing to the white queen
Dazzling and Pure
Her power is ill
An illusion in a pill
When they feel her
Blow
They know they’ve fallen
Into a grave
Into the dark descent
From the ivory tower
Into the rabbit’s hole
Where they are whole
No more

#clandestinecafe
Hidden in the shadows of the city
Past the glow of neon lights
Stray alley cats make their way
To meow and play
In a feline clandestine café
Where they sip their milk in sweet repose
And talk of battles fought and won
Of moonlit hunts against their foes
And the times they basked beneath the sun
Tall tales they tell to pass the time
Until the cock crows at dawn
And their time is done

#landscapeofunintendedmemory
twisted metal mixed in with
shattered glass and smoke
the pungent smell of burnt rubber
lingering in the wreckage where
police tape stretches across 
the crossroads where Hecate waits 
In the  barrier between 
the dead the and the  living

here, the sirens scream
in a symphony of urgency
while red and white lights
dance and shine brightly
blinding even angels

now, when an ambulance 
is heard, the infant wails
in the landscape 
of unintended memory

in a symphony of grief
for a mother he will not 
remember for the time
she held on for dear life

until she heard his cry
and knew he was alive
and she was free to
let go
(Dedicated to Liz and her son)

#everywherenowhere
a howl in the wind
echoes of a distant home
everywhere, nowhere

#once
He ignored all warnings 
To silence their fears
The price of his arrogance
Paid for in tears

It only took once
To seal his fate
To cast a cloud
Over Chernobyl

It only took once
Before it was too late
Unleashing the story
Gone global

Anatoly Dyatlov 
Once trained and skilled
Pushed his luck
So many were killed

With blood and fire
He stained his name
And shook the world
In a cloud of shame

#shaggy
an unkempt man
among the crew
a dog's best friend
with a heart so true
with every clue
their friendship grew
the bosom friend
of Scooby doo

#cattywampuscollywobbles
my heart is all cattywampus
my mind a tangled mess
for  every time  I see your face
collywobbles I possess

#waltzingin44time
Caligula would have been so proud of such unfleeting fidelity
Exceeding his own desire for the moon
From the little dancer with her bright hope shining ablaze
Her thin ballerina arms stretching out to pocket the stars
Waltzing in 4/4 time, lost in a trance to the motion
Moved by the  tides of her own devotion
Caligula would have been envious of her red shoes
Full of blood and sweet suffering
All for fame, to make a name 
Both oblivious to their ephemeral flame.

#redwassaid
Red was said
The day the tide came in
Crimson and thick with shame
Staining the new off
Her blue jeans where
Red was not just said
But seen.

#fencemapfiction
Her mouth had no borders
Erecting lies like a fence
In a map that made no sense.

“You’re out of the club”,
She would say to her little sis.
Knowing well, the club was fiction.

And her sis would sob 
Feeling left out,
Believing such malediction.

#proximityumbrella
My son is a lonely boat
Drowning in the air
With a humor
As dark as Caliban
Lost to me,
Lost at sea,
Believing to be free.
Always wild and always right
Even when he’s wrong
Drifting from the beacon’s light
To follow the siren of his song
No proximity umbrella there
To shield him from the tempest
That is his rage
Turning away from those who care
As his pride takes on the stage
And keeps him caged.

#forbiddenwords
Irrevocable
Forbidden fruit on the tongue
Rotting in regret

#playlist
Poe says Hello
MOD are you out there?
The Police screams,
You’re a Ghost in the Machine
And Daft Punk plays
Technologic dreams.
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it off
Put it on the Hacker’s playlist
For another lonely night
And a rendezvous with Kraftwerk
And let’s make some sweet lovin’
Computer Love
For the Jilted Generation
Until Zero Day by Nothing
Comes and Ends
With an empty sky and 
Dead harvest