He felt he loved her more than any other
man ever could when he was a budding man
in his teenage years.
She left him for another, broke his heart
in jaggard pieces that never repaired
until he met her forty years later,
her beauty diminished, his vision
unclouded, seeing clearly the woman
she always was,
he realized he never lost the love of his
life she never had been, except in his
unseasoned, wide-eyed teenage years.
Bob Boyd
I imagine a woman’s beauty
is a two-edged sword
a blessing and a curse
on the one hand it
can grant her advantages
on the other hand it
could make her self obsessed.
Bob Boyd
I can see how some cultures
thought the sun was God,
the way it shines so radiantly
in the sky,
the way when it’s blazing
it could seem omnipotent
and the Creator of all things.
And I believe the Creator
of all things honored that.
Bob Boyd
He was a bad man
robbed convenience stores
beat up people for money
even killed one
on sobering morning
when he was arrested
for grand theft
and thought he might
be going to prison
for a long stretch
and to hell eternally
for all his multitude of sins
he got on his knees
and accepted Jesus
as his personal savior
he was presumed innocent
by a rigged jury
but he thought it was
because he was saved
Six months later
he squandered his
Got Out of Hell Free Card
and returned to his old ways
and the afterlife isn’t
looking too good for him:
that is if you believe in Hell.
Bob Boyd
As I listen to the lyrics, I’m reminded of relationships like that,
making you crazy and in your face, as well as your business.
However, the song is so good that it almost doesn’t matter
if you’ve had a relationship or relationships like that.
And, I ain’t lying, those lyrics remind me of the things people
do and put up with for love.
Bob Boyd
Nobody could believe it
at first they thought
it was a deep fake
when aliens were
trotted out at the
White House
like distinguished
guests
the world watched
in wonder
and as if the world
had been turned
upside down
minds were blown
millions freaked out
when the seemingly
benign gray aliens
morphed into a
praying mantis like
insectoid ones.
Bob Boyd
I’m watching the beginning of a werewolf movie.
A guy is driving his car into a dark and cloudy
night on a country road.
And I know what he doesn’t know;
he’s driven into werewolf country.
And I know he’s driving to his death.
His car runs out of gas.
He gets out of his car and starts walking.
Not surprising, about twenty feet from his car
he hears a loud growl in the forest lining the road.
I can see the guy’s last minutes on earth
have arrived.
Then a louder, scarier growl erupts, and
the werewolf busts out of the forest.
But, wait!, the guy surprises me.
He zooms back to his car like a world class sprinter.
To my surprise, he makes it to his car, jumps in and locks it.
And I’m relieved he’s safe.
But, gasp, I underestimated the werewolf.
With one of those blood curdling howls, the werewolf
smashes the car windows, reaches into the car
and drags the screaming guy out of it.
And without any gore, without seeing what happened to the guy,
there’s no doubt he was ripped to pieces.
Bob Boyd
There have been cases
where people have vanished
in national parks
and though those people
are nowhere to be seen
sometimes they can be
heard calling for help
and despite their cries
for help, they are never
seen again or found
perhaps they have been
trapped in a portal or
in another dimension
Bob Boyd
When is enough enough with too many
disappointments in love?
It’s all sunshine and rainbows in the beginning,
happy days and constant euphoria.
But, alas, so many of those falling in love
elations turn bitterly sour with time.
Yet, many keep trying to find love, disappointment after disappointment,heartache after heartache.
So great is the need for romantic love.
I gave up on romantic love many years ago,
enough was enough,
despite my heart’s murmurings for love
one in a rare while.
Often I wish that obsessive, unrelenting need
for romantic love was never implanted in me.
Yet even as an old man, in the deep recesses of
my beating heart, romantic feelings occasionally live on.
Bob Boyd
There’s a woman who married herself to the
Eiffel Tower.
There’s a woman who married herself
to a ferris wheel.
There’s a woman who is married to a
life-size cutout of an actor.
There’s a man married to a
Barbie Doll.
There are men and women married to
rag dolls.
There are men and women who are married
to AI husbands and wives.
I’m not making fun of any of them.
They’re not harming anyone, and if it
makes them happy I’m good with it.
Bob Boyd
Though I never knew you,
coming home for lunch from work
sometimes I saw you walking,
dressed elegantly,
I think in your late sixties
or early seventies,
and despite your many years,
you still looked beautiful.
Ten years later, after I returned
from the Philippines,
I saw you once more, sadly,
most of your beauty was gone,
and I worried you wouldn’t
live much longer.
I never saw you after that:
I fear you are dead.
If only, if only, I could have
gotten to know you.
Bob Boyd
I’m talking a hike in a nearby forest,
minding my own business, per usual.
The entire forest goes silent, no birds
squawking, no insects making a racket.
I know from reading fake stories about
monsters this silence means one of them
has entered the forest; I know it’s supposed
to mean danger and horror has arrived.
The fake stories about monsters were
halfway right.
When my ex-girlfriend appeared, looking
evil as hell, kinda like a monster as well.
Believe me, no monsters had anything
on her, terrifying as she looked.
Because I always thought she was possessed,
I made sure I armed myself with a cross and holy water.
When she charged me with fingernails brandished
as long as knives and screeching like a bona fide demon,
I held my cross in front of her face and doused her
with holy water as a back up.
She screamed loud enough to break the sound barrier,
her face looked like a demon’s.
She flew out of the forest screaming and swearing,
and she never bothered me again.
Bob Boyd
Melinda went to college to be a teacher,
though she got good grades, she put more
effort into partying and binge drinking.
She graduated with a 3.00 but a 4.00 in
partying and binge drinking.
Unknown to her, the cumulative effect of
all that binge drinking messed up her mind,
clouded her morality.
When she began teaching, she was like a
superstar, loved by her students, praised by
the principal and the senior teachers.
But because her mind was messed up
and her morality clouded from all that
binge drinking, she did something naughty
with one of her preteen students.
Now Melinda is no longer teaching;
she’s serving a five year prison sentence
for her inappropriate behavior with that
preteen student.
Bob Boyd
Ronny was an adventurous soul
as well as a daredevil.
He was also a born again Christian
who talked in tongues.
He was curious too, decided to attend
a Pentecostal snake handling
religious meeting deep in Kentucky
led by the famous Reverend Notts.
When the reverend handed him
a hissing rattler to hold,
Ronny caught up in the religious fervor,
grabbed it a little too tightly.
The rattler, angry as hell, bit Ronny on
the neck,
and Ronny saw blazing white light
bright as the sun.
Seconds later, Ronny passed out and died,
maybe he made it to heaven.
Bob Boyd
Her life has become miserable
she’s 67 years old and alone
she has no friends, only a
few distant relatives
her days are dismal
the tv shows she used to enjoy
seem mindless and dull
she wishes she were dead
with her husband of 30 years
who died a year ago today.
Bob Boyd
When he was 10,
30 was old.
When he was 30,
50 was old.
When he was 50
70 was old.
None of those numbers
really mattered when at
70 he was dead.
Bob Boyd
The rains pounded the earth
birds and animals took cover
humans as well
some with umbrellas
in the midst of the taking cover
the unfolding of umbrellas
the pounding rains
the earth sighed, enjoying
the long awaited shower.
Bob Boyd
to want to know
really know
firsthand
about the mysteries
the wonders
of the
Great Beyond
thus I welcome
Death
the usher
who will lead me
into the theater
of the afterlife.
Bob Boyd
A tender teenager who felt deprived of love
by his parents,
he yearned to find that love in a romantic
relationship.
At sixteen, he found that love in a beautiful
girl his age.
But as often happens with teenage love,
she left him for another.
The breakup was too much for his wounded
heart to bear.
He hung himself to death in his bedroom closet,
his need for love, his agony, no more.
Bob Boyd
His father made him a seaworthy toy boat.
He sailed it in the brook behind their house.
One day the toy boat got away from him.
It sailed through the brook to a river,
from the river to the sea, then to an ocean
and into the hands of a little boy in China.
Bob Boyd