To My Future Wife that Wasn't

We've been married now twenty years my love.

We fit like hand in glove.

You wear the pants in this house.

You know you married a mouse.

I was so nervous when we went on our first date.

That's why I was thirty minutes late.

I couldn't stop my nerves from shaking.

I couldn't stop my heart from aching.

You were so charming and beautiful.

When I dropped you off that night, you said 'Tootles."

How odd and wonderful that sounded to me.

I knew right there and then our love had to be.

Now it's twenty years gone by.

You're still the apple of my eye.

Your beauty has not faded one iota.

Of good looks, you have more than your quota.

I'm a man who's still smitten.

Your raven hair, eyes like a kitten's.

Your sexy walk, the way you sigh

When I put my hand upon your thigh.

Oh love of my life, I'm so glad you're my wife..

The first two verses were part truth, part fiction.
You know I have a predilection
For the fantastic and unreal.
Don't know how to tell you how I feel.
Darling how do I say in verse
That I never ever felt worse
Than that night I didn't kiss you. 
That you're my whole universe?
Well no, that's not true.
But how do I tell you what I never did then?
What was it made me hesitate?
My insecurity and self-hate.
God I know it's too late!

My love for you then has certainly cooled.
And I know that I am the biggest fool
To write to you in the present
And in a future that wasn't.
My thoughts are as disheveled as these words.
And I know that it's absurd
To make art out of a missed chance.
A lonely victim of circumstance.
Guess I'll pour myself another drink
And try not to think about the one that got away.

 

The Wizard

The wizard is blind but the wizard sees.

He looks deep into your soul.

He makes your body whole.

Just from his touch.

It doesn't take much. 

The wizard talks to you but not in words.

Although his sight is blurred,

The wizard has deep vision.

The wizard knows the path you're on.

The wizard can protect you from harm.

The wizard isn't perfect 

But the wizard has a gift.

The wizard is a healer.

He takes away physical pain.

But not spiritual pain.

That's God's domain.
Even the wizard has his share.
To tell you about it, he wouldn't dare.

Instead the wizard likes to drink.

Because it helps him not to think.

The wizard shares his gift with those who are suffering.
The cost to you is next to nothing.
Considering the power he bestows.
And the secret truths that only he knows.
The wizard can put your mind at peace.
The wizard can cause your hurt to cease.
He takes red hot pain and makes it freeze.
The wizard takes what is invisible and brings it to light.
The cause he fights for is always right.
Although he's often misunderstood.
The wizard's intentions are always good.

.

Admit one

Welcome to the show.

We're glad you've come,

I hope you know.

It's about a fabulous creature. 

He's the star of the feature.

A monster all powerful,

With a brow so sorrowful.

Who would never hurt a flea.

If that's what you came to see,

You should know

It's pure mythology.

For there isn't such a being.

The one with might is always killing.

Not docile and kind,

Like the one we've got inside.

But you paid your coppers,

So we can't stop ya 

From seeing the monster

Who's gonna come out and shock ya

With his hideous face,
Yet with benevolence and grace.

This monsters' a real charmer.
We put a woman in his cage
But he'll never harm her.
He'll just gaze at her beauty.
To protect her is his duty.
Watch this lovable brute
Whose ugliness bore fruit
To something amazing.

Come on in, step inside.
You won't believe the monster's pride.
He must think she could be his bride.
What a dubious proposition!
Fantasy and fiction only go so far.
To think on it is quite bizarre.
A beauty with a beast.
A monster with an angel.
You see the angle?
Neither do I.

Music

Music is a balm to the soul.

Music makes us feel whole.

Music is emotive and cerebral.

But music has another level.

A place beyond our senses and thought.

A deeper place that God has wrought.

Music makes life worth living.

Music just keeps on giving.

Music makes you crazy.

Music is fucking sacred.

Music puts a smile on your face.

Music is a spiritual place.

Music tells us stories.

Music makes people make babies.

Music makes a connection.

Music gives us direction.

Music is a unifier.

Music makes you feel aliver.

Music's power is inexpressible.
Music is of the ineffable.
How to tell how music moves.
Or makes your body want to groove.
Or how it can put you in a place and time
Music is sublime.

Music is transcendent.
Music touches everyone
From the preacher to the prodigal son.
From the righteous man to the tyrant.
Even the evil doth music enlighten.
Music comes from heaven.

The Collector

He only wants the good stuff.

But there's never enough.

He's got an obsession.

He finds it tough to lessen.

His desire for treasures.

He's selfish beyond measure.

This guy's compulsion

Would cause some revulsion.

He's always in need.

Bad ideas just plant their seed.

He's full of desire.

Never quenches his fire.

He can't stop the wanting.

He can't stop the longing.

These special things mean everything.

They are precious and dear

And they have to be exquisite.

His thirst he can't shake.

The chains he can't break.

He always thinks about what he covets.

But once he has it, he no longer loves it.

He's truly a beast.

And money's the least

Of his problems.

He always needs to feast!

Oh, oh, oh!

His desire wont't slow.

And his dissatisfaction just grows

Like a malignant tumor.

He's full of aching.

For his desire, there's no shaking.

And for his thirst no slaking.

This beast needs forsaking.

When he looks on his prizes,

No satisfaction arises.

The hunger is infinite.

And nothing is sufficient.

He's a hopeless case.

Scourge of the human race.

Sinner with the saint's face.

With a penchant for high taste.

I can't look on this creature.

With his ghastly features.

His presence I can't stand to be near.

His affliction couldn't be clearer.

You wanna know who the monster is?

You wanna know who it is that sickens?

The one who makes my heart quicken?

I just look in the mirror.

Impossible New Year's Resolutions

I made a resolution to hold hands with the sky.

I made a resolution to spit in God's eye.

I made a resolution to see if the moon

Was really made of cream cheese

Like they told you in school.

I made a resolution to eat someone's thought.

I made a resolution that happiness can actually be bought.

I made a resolution to plant a garden on the ocean.

I made a resolution to run without motion.

I made a resolution to put the sun in my hat.

I made a resolution to squash the Earth flat.

I made a resolution to love without pity.

I made a resolution to make war pretty.

I made a resolution to write a poem in invisible ink

Then send it to my beloved with an eye blink.

I made a resolution to never be sad.

I made a resolution to never be bad.

Those last two were the hardest I ever had.

Last Night

I think I had two cigarettes last night.

I think my coat had twenty.

As I sit in the cold vapor of my car waiting for it to warm,

The cigarette smell washes strong memories.

They say scent is the best evoker of memories. 

I smell something good and something foul.

The good is me and Joel hanging.

Makes me think of 'Two of Us' by the Beatles.

Ineffable memory. Can't be captured or rendered.

Drank cheap whisky with a motley crew of hipsters.

Listened to top 40's and someone's ipod.

One kid stumped me with a Blondie tune. For shame!

Youth of today may not be completely lost after all.

Didn't think kids today knew about rock and roll.

Woman from New York said she was an editor.

Showed her my blog with twenty some poems.

Dismissed them completely, saying something terse.

That witch didn't know shit about verse.

She looked like Edie Sedgwick if she had lived to her fifties.

With a sterner brow and cold cold eyes. 

Her coat probably cost more than an X Box.

Opportunity knocked and said better luck next time.

I met a really cool girl at the party.
Her boyfriend challenged me to write this poem
He never sent me his poem so I guess I won.
Some people are only in your life for fleeting moments.
But they still have an impact.
The hostess left before Joel and me.
She ran off with the kid with the ipod.
The dish ran away with the spoon
By the light of the silvery moon.
It was that kind of night.

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