feeling otiose and so out of place
a little corticose under a tree-like face

you've always embrangled me

take my glass heart and pull it
i'll lack the strength to make cullets

sensitivity gets you nowhere

you're an angel among the wicked
a shining light from a sect of bovine
animals

you seem to want the visciousness

playing nice and playing fair
makes me a whisper among a blare

in your eyes

when bad makes you feel good
I must have misunderstood
what I thought you needed

I'll always adhere, I'll always be myself
and when you become a souvenir,
I'd pine to be your shelf

what I knew doesn't matter
what I learned is that
sensivity gets you nowhere

I don't want to change

There are some really moving ones here.  Marshall, i like it.  Don't worry, I won't dissect it like I did the other one.  I just like it is all.  Good job.

Wow, Rob, you've been going to town.  I didn't know you and Andrea knew each other off the board, but I gathered it.  "Second chance" called to me.  

I think you should be moderator to take Elrond's place.  Maybe I suggest it to Don but only if you're up for it.

Oh, please dissect my poem! What do you think it's about?

Yeah, Andrea and I are close friends.  We went to high school together.

Go ahead and suggest it to Don.  I'm willing to do it.

"Happiness Greater Than All"

Wealth you say brings one joy.
Watch a child with a new toy.
Try and see how he laughs and plays
Without begging for a high pay raise.

You sell out to the mighty dollar.
Cash bills are your alter.
Risk your soul and kill your heart.
Obsess over your money chart.

You're missing out on something great.
A joy money cannot create.
Leave your wallet on the table,
Give up on your false fable.

I found the answer to the question
And it's not a cash obsession.
What makes me happier than all
Is a sweet, kind girl named Crystal.

This is really long, but yeah...coping methods
HAHAHAH!  ...how pathetic


The Walker Requiem

One day when I was waiting for the dawn
Thinking of all the things I'd do and say,
The sunny orb that we are all so fond
Did not this morning rise in light ballet

Instead beneath the heavens arches tall
A greater being came to meet the world,
Who most looks like the mighty mistral ball,
Whose sapphire bodice 'gainst the sky does furl

A second sun that meets the morn's approach
Whose least smile banishes the dusky dark
And purges sorrows kiss that tries encroach
With the sweet weapon of your faces arc

If such a smile might alter all that is
That I've seen upon your painted likeness
'Twould likely be a fairy symphony
To cure the world with a magic brightness

Do you who tread with angels know your worth?
Who with a wake of bliss unleashes joy,
Turning frowns to smiles on this place called Earth
The glorious maiden from this realm deployed

To make the lowliest worm felt welcome
And embrace the throngs of hapless souls
To be the multifoliate blossom
And from us only, love was all you stole

As Spirits know the treasures underneath
The dark, foreboding chasms of the sea,
So that I know what shining gem is wreathed
In burning merriment  that stands before me

That you should see my loneliness so banned
Forever chased away by your design
That blazes from the fingertips of hands
So innocent and yet more wise in mind

The sparkling star that keeps us from astray
That breathes the winds of Fortune always blest
To guide us from despair that would betray
And in this you shall never bear molest

As rocks know time, or streams know of its flight
So shall such beauty of your person know no grave
Thou wast not born for death, immortal sprite
For time to come shall never make you slave

The deathless martyr blazoned on that throne
Who quells the temperaments that honor war
And binds the wounds of grief that we have sown
By crumbling to crackling dust our swords

Should infinite compassion of your words
Be compared to seas of envious hue
Branching against the grassy knolls where birds
Tune their melody to this handsome ruse

And find no fences, borders, mountain shores
With endless ventures on these vaulting plains,
Sailing with the stallion squalls of lore
On hinds of a dozen nebulous manes

Should perpetual grace be cast like leaves
Whose deadened shapes gasp on the deadened air
Painted in the glaze that a dead man bleeds
To be entombed in quondam's feinting snare

Or in Springs eye to be eternal green
And yield none thy youthful dappled petals
For blooms of dignity if never seen
Waste their sweetness and transform to nettles

Perfection from most artful purity
So drawn from every soul a single drop
That coalesced by pious clarity
Amounts divine that which shall adopt

Through some insanity my gambit played
To win affection of the matriarch
What madness of the blood has henceforth made
Me risk the consequence of endless dark?

Should mine failure in this task make complete
Then my dreams shall be dashed ever after
Be slaughtered with a single fatal feat
Knowing that my presence disregarded

Could I the courage of ten thousand take
Then I might say the things I never dared
For mine own death hath lessened fear and sake
Than this one single uttering I've shared

But I am not a warrior bred in blood,
Nor any tamer of such dangerous beasts,
Not one who might brave beating winds and flood,
Or in such mythic valour claim the Fleece

And yet, should love so sicken me as this,
Then I would climb to Heavens singing dome,
Plummet to perditions Hell where serpents hiss,
Or see Atlantis with a sinking stone

Know I could wait for you a thousand years
Or till the Sun was bored and flickered out
Unto my dreams where that time always nears
And my delusions sad remain as stout

I'd find you so wrapped in tendril rapture,
Each beat my heart trapped in a sweet embrace
But to be noble I would ne'er capture
And much of me your eyes would catch no trace

They say Time slows to dripping hesitance
When heart meets heart, when eyes meet eyes, so free,
That by that unseen governed presence
It'd seem the hummingbird would move beneath the sea

Yet happiness without me at your side
Remains as happiness, and thus I wish
Each day of mine and yours shall once abide,
Yet even though I know what I shall miss

I wrote the following on a plane when my wife slept next to me.  It has no title.

Tonight, I hold her tight
As she cried because of you,
The one who broke her heart
And walked out on her forever.

The feelings she had for you
Were geniune and true.
You used her and tossed her
Like she was a rent-a-date.

Soon, she'll fall asleep
And dream of false hopes.
I'll stay with her
Because I love her.

Time won't heal her wounds
Or make the scars go away.
Time won't make me forget
The helplessness of today.

I will wipe away her every tear
When she pours out her soul.
Never will I abandon my friend,
Always I'll be there for her.

"The Boy and the Bird"

A soft and gentle breeze
Blows over the calm river.
A bird chirping on a branch
Falls into the cold water.

The bird struggles to swim,
Powerless to save itself.
One young boy tugs on the shirt
Of his passed out, drucken father.

The man's eyes crack open
And with one quick swipe,
His young son falls down
But he's quick to his feet.

Quiet chirping and calm waters
Sets the boy's heart at ease.
The bird is safe and secure
But the boy remains trapped.

"Goodbye"

Don't hate me, please,
I mean you no harm.

This will hurt, I know,
But I can't help that.

My feelings will never change
But we don't have a future.

The road ahead
I must take alone.

You can't stand by me
Or be a part of my life.

Someday, we will meet again
But you won't recognize me.

You will never see what I become
And that will make it easy for you.

In time, my place will be filled
By someone who fills your needs.

Companionship for me
Will never be found.

This is the sacrifice I must make
To embark on my life path.

I won't ever stop loving you.
So please, forgive this goodbye.

The one you wrote on the plane...

Rob, your wife is truly one of the luckiest women to ever live on this green Earth.  I mean that.

I was asked to write a poem in what I, um, affectionately call "Prison Class" (aka World Literature - we're studying prison authors in the 20th century;  the whole class is prison themed - yikes, I know) and I'll transcribe that when I get back my paper from my teacher.  I think I wrote it in about ten minutes.

A prison-themed World Lit class?  That sounds scary.

"Goodbye" touched me.  Breakup poems like that always effects me.  The one you wrote on the plane, wow.  That was fantastic.  Your best one so far I think.  You're really hitting your stride now.  See you next weekend.

Thanks Lesley.  I think I got the better end of the deal though.  My wife is the best.  And that plane poem is my favorite.  I actually didn't like "Goodbye".  I came close to not posting it.  I also didn't want to put this one up, but why not.

"Inside of Us"

We all carry something
Deep inside that hurts us.
In our greatest time of joy,
We still feel that pain.
We run from it, hide from it,
Pretend it does not exist.
On our face is a happy smile
But a tear longs to be shed.

Whether it is the wish
A lover will return
Or the lasting memory
Of one we forever lost,
It is always on our mind
And buried deep in our heart.
Our soul cries out for relief
While we beg for it to go away.

Our regrets, however terrible,
Makes us who we are.
The suffering we endure
From the bad in our lives
Only makes us remember
To cherish what we got.
From our family to our friends,
They promise to carry us through.

"High School"

Remember all those teachers
Who never gave us a break,
And that mean Principal's car
We egged after graduation.

The terrible meals served daily
With the occasional grey hair
Hidden in the awful food
As if they were little prizes.

On the bus, the bully sat behind me.
I still don't know why
He chose that one seat
And torment poor little me.

Wasn't there a single locker
Without a dead rat in it
Or huge cockroaches
Crawling over NKOTB stickers?

Gym, wow, that was fun.
The coach smoking weed
With a hot lady nobody knew
While we slept on the bleachers.

Those were great times.
I loved every moment of it.
We arrived as young kids and
Hopefully, we left as responsible adults.

Was that whole rat thing real?  I remember people talking about it, but I never took it seriously.

I love your signature.

I swear, Rob, you are channeling me in some weirdly remote way.  I have identified with nearly every poem you've posted since you've come back.

[deleted on my quest to once and for all delete the person it was written for - i realize now my name is not alanis morissette - thank you for previous kind words and comments.]