Sunday, June 17, 2018

Speech to the young, speech to the right now

Show them,
show the lost and used,
the blinded and confused,
the self-doubters who lose,
the angry who got screwed,
"even if you are not ready to fight
the fight will find you."
You will fight.
For that is life.

Live not for the way out.
Live not for final bout.
Live for the battles fought.

©06.17.2018 ebn

Saturday, June 16, 2018

I'm a fool to want you

In a small, quiet room
On a wet Sunday afternoon
I sat on the bare floor
Listening to Billie
While you were sleeping

©06.16.2018 ebn

When morning

When morning
slides through the cracks in the windows,
still hung over from last night,
shuffling along the floor cuz it knows what it is supposed to do,
and pushes the curtains open with a painful yawn,
I pry my eyes open, feeling guilty,
and in a very groggy voice,
grunt, sitting up,
the taste of a sliver of moon
still in my mouth.

©06.16.2018 ebn

We will fall in love

What does burning a flag mean
To a human being
And what worst enemy to life
Than a patriot

Like a leaf falling in a puddle
We wait for the sun
And the wind to blow us away

And having fallen from the tree
Eventually
We will disappear

What song
Moves the deaf
And does shouting
Ever make a point

Like the temple kissed by a bullet
The startling crack goes unheard
And the light rushes into darkness

And being kissed
Eventually
We will fall in love

©06.16.2018 ebn

Friday, June 15, 2018

If I’m going to be honest

If I’m going to be honest,
(which is like peeling off scabs
at the swimming pool while daydreaming
about nothing in particular)
she never knew how much
or how little I loved her
because my love for her
had little to do with her,
any more than the sun dancing off the water
had to do with my delight at seeing
an unexpected butterfly alight on my knuckle
and, looking over to see her witness it, too,
smiling at the idea that someone else saw it.

She’s that half a melody
that reminds me of something
that has nothing to do with the song;
I get happy when she comes around
because of who she brings with her.
Now that I think of it
I didn’t really love her at all,
not the way she was used to love,
but I used her to remember where I was
when she was there -
the way balloons racing into the sun
remind me of how she smiled with her mouth open
when she leaned her head back to watch them;
or how the lyrics to that song
remind me of how terrible she carries a tune;
or how that one beat
reminds me of how we stepped in the park
that late afternoon just before it rained.

So maybe it would be best
to stop telling her I love her
when I really just want her to
fill in the space in my head
with old receipts from moments I almost forgot
but for the fact that she still has them
sticking to the bottoms of her shoes,
stuffed in her purse,
or posted on the refrigerator.
Receipts of me
She keeps up with better than I do.

©06.16.2018 ebn

Blessed are the ignorant

Blessed are the ignorant
for they gone learn today.
Their just desserts are made with love
and just a touch away.

Blessed is the average Joe
who’s figured out the game.
He’ll be richly rewarded;
shit gives flowers all their fame.

Blessed are the faithful
who believe what helps them sleep,
who cannot help what they don’t know
and don’t know they are sheep.

The shepherd called in sick today.
The wolves are up and at ‘em.
Someone’s gonna have to pay
for easy living’s bottom.

©06.16.2018 ebn

No need to shame bitter souls

No need to shame bitter souls
whose bad manners offend innocent sensitivities
like fallen candles proving their flame;
whose misery creaks through crooked jaws
and slanted eyes,
like a dust storm announcing it is only a fresh breeze.
Neither is there a need to console their
pugilistic nature -
what make everything and everybody
an obstacle.

There is no room for your compassion.
It will simply be used as a handkerchief
to clean the excess spittle from their lips
so that no one can accuse them
of being rabid.
They take care of their appearance.

Do not waste your time correcting them.
Their madness will not allow it.
You will only succeed in proving yourself
a charlatan,
who believes the world can be a better place
if one chooses to believe that
none of the lemons of life
are molded.

©06.16.2018 ebn