Day Old Poetry

I found some of these on my computer. I love words...arranging them, using them, making them up... or just reading them. Love them.

Some of these are old and tired - some are attempts to use words in a new way - some are attempts to "get it out" and be done with it (one of these did this for me -see "To a Daydream Ending")

BUT...

...you are only allowed to read these if you promise to attempt a poem of your own in a blog post of your own (in the near future.) Afterall, it is national poetry month (no, it's not - but it should be, on the brink of fall and all.)

So read on, and then share some back.

Highway Questions
(written in the car, on the way home from my audition at Northview)
How does one white line
Stretch on for a million miles
(or seven years)
Without one question
About direction?

Its second cousin
Just ten feet left
Vacillates
He stops and starts
Like night and day
“Should I stay or go?”
Will it be rain or snow?

Second cousin takes my hand
To lead me home
(to Flushing?)
Or…To Indiana


25 Words
There are only
25 words
in this poem
And you will count them
How could you not?
But none of them
will be
about you

No Friend of Mine
Friends
Without hands
Are no friends of mine
They can’t even give me
A proper send off
Or wish me well
Or wave goodbye
("25 words" and "no friend..." were written together,
when I was mad at some people)


The Twinkling of an Eye
In the twinkling of an eye
In a moment
Things change
A man forgets to call
A hair turns white on the head of wisdom
A lover leaves to find his freedom

I left to find my freedom
A hair turns wisdom white on my head
And I’ll forget to call
And things will change
In a momentIn the twinkling of an eye


The Perfect Number 7
7 years old
6 teeth missing
5 year old sister
4 one more summer
3 women in my life
2 little girls
1 happy daddy


To A Daydream Ending
I apologized in a daydream today
It went very well
She forgave me
Understood where I was coming from
Invited me in for coffee

We drank from our cups like old friends
As if we had put it all behind us
I was relieved
And I sensed a reprieve
An official stay of execution

She was prettier than I remembered
I don’t know how I missed it
At our song and dance classes
Her furrowed brow, my contempt
Bloody in the eye of the beholder

But we put it all behind us
Got on like old friends
Toasted with Colombian, “To us”
“To a new beginning...”
“To a daydream ending.”


Speak Easy
(written at the restaurant, "Speak Easy" in Flushing, Michigan -on the eve of my 6 week sabbatical of what had been a rough and wonderful stay at NCC)
One day before the altar
The altar of myself
One day before I falter
I falter on myself
One day before I investigate
Investigate the evidence of six years past

It’s a cold case file
Matt Bays…
Case closed!
But now reborn

It’s Sunday
The modern day Sabbath
All your sins are known
But not atoned
But not alone
…either

I will be singing songs
From a George Michael album
“Freedom, I won’t let you down”
But nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
The lessons I’ve learned
The lovers that were spurned?
The Jesus-crossed lovers

That betrayed me with a bull's hit lie
With a wink of the eye
With a pack it up
…and take my tithe

One day before my altar
One day before I falter
Before I believe
Before I am relieved

And send the cobwebbed messages to sleep
In the basement of St. Pious
To the end of all my grief
And I will speak easy
(and I was right)