He’d read about mirror gazing,
decided to try it.
At first it felt weird staring
at himself.
At times it felt scary.
Other times it made him high.
With more practice, his face
began to change.
Sometimes it look funny,
sometimes strange.
His mirror gazing ending
when his face became demonic.
And the mirror shattered.
Bob Boyd
She made all A’s in high school
a four-year scholarship
to Duke University
planned to become a doctor
like her mother before her
participated in many activities
in her high school years
loved by her classmates
nice, funny, well mannered
worked part time at a mall
upon leaving work one night
never made it home
vanished that night
abducted and killed by
a serial killer waiting
under her car
her dreams, her academics
all her achievements and
all that she was – gone
the horror and unfairness
of her death haunts me still.
Bob Boyd
She’s hooked on alcohol
can’t shake the addiction
she goes to church Sundays
tells God she’s giving up
getting drunk and drinking
back to the bars Monday
back to getting drunk again
Monday to Saturday
so far she’s repeated that
pattern for 30 plus days
church on Sunday
drunk Monday to Saturday
I’m not putting her down
horrible things happened
to Mary in her childhood
deep scars in her soul
because she keeps trying
I’m rooting for Mary
I believe she will become
free of her addiction and
have the happy life she
seeks and deserves
despite the unfortunate
beginning she had
and at least she keeps
trying, doesn’t give up.
Bob Boyd
you left this world
far too soon
never having
a chance to live
never having
a normal, full life
unable to walk
unable to talk
unable to play
as other
children play
bedbound all
your brief life
fated with water
on the brain
from birth
dead at age six
RIP sweet soul
I hope in the
afterlife
a happier home
awaited you
where you could
walk and talk
and play as
other children play.
Bob Boyd
I don’t like how in this transitory life that
in a millisecond everything can go awry.
No matter how well you planned, how well
you avoided dangerous situations,
bad things can happen to you.
A bad thing could be as random as
a heavy tree branch falling on you in a park,
killing you instantly.
Or shot to death along with others
by a mass murderer while sitting in a
fast food restaurant enjoying a meal.
Or despite all your healthy practices,
the right foods, exercise, trim body,
a deadly cancer or a fatal heart attack.
In truth, our lives hang on a thread
that can snap at any second and
put us in the ground dead and gone.
I don’t like the uncertainty of that,
and I think you don’t either.
Bob Boyd
After she graduated from the U. of Mass,
Lily decided to travel alone to India.
She was seeking enlightened truth.
She’d read the Bhagavad Gita and
other Hindu texts and books about
Hindu saints, sadhus, and gurus.
Lily practiced meditation and yoga
from what she’d learned in books.
She wanted to find an authentic
Hindu spiritual master who
could get her off the wheel of rebirths
before the end of her life.
She trekked to the Ganges, saw
many amazing and sacred sites.
But didn’t find what she considered
a real and pure Hindu saint.
She found only con artist fakes
dressed like holy men and sadhus.
A Hindu woman told her that
the saints were hiding in the Himalayas.
So she traveled to the Himalayas and
wrote a friend that she’d found her guru.
A month later, she vanished completely.
After many searches and investigations
her body was found strangled to death,
the killer or killers never found.
The locals thought they were remnants of
Thuggee thugs who strangled to death
thousands of travelers in the 18th century
as sacrifices to the goddess Kali.
Bob Boyd
She’d been a glamorous movie star
beautiful in her youth and into her sixties
blonde hair, blue eyes, trim and lovely body
at 71 years of age she was diagnosed
with an ominous, spreading cancer
for reasons unclear and risky
she chose to forego chemotherapy
at age 72, all that she had been
was gone forever, except for
her movies and cinematic fame
Bob Boyd
He lifted weights all his life
got super strong
pumped his muscles
up to the max
thought he’d lift heavy
all his life
joint problems in his 50s
a back injury in his 60s
other injuries too
now he can’t lift heavy
lost lots of muscle mass
has heart problems
had cancer too
works out light now
but at least he’s
still working out.
Bob Boyd
Your life is great
nice wife, good job,
enough money
perfect health,
no meds,
feeling great
your future bright
and sunny
a car accident
a heart attack
a job loss
a divorce
a death
in a millisecond.
Bob Boyd
Dresses modestly, looks great
without showing a lot of skin,
doesn’t do drugs or get drunk.
Doesn’t use the word fuck
to try to seem modern,
better mannered than that
Doesn’t take off her clothes
on websites and compromise
her morals for ill gotten dollars.
Doesn’t put a price tag on how
much money a man must make
to get a date with her on an app.
Doesn’t mind being called a lady
or look down on women who
are stay at home mothers.
If you’re lucky enough to
be her boyfriend or her husband,
she won’t be your submissive.
She will be supportive but also
your 50/50 loving equal
and always there for you.
She’s an old fashion woman,
but I don’t think you could do
better than her for a girlfriend
or a wife.
Bob Boyd
His friends warned him,
said she wasn’t right in the head.
He didn’t give a damn about what they said
because he wasn’t right in the head either,
and they had a love that lasted all their lives.
Bob Boyd
She watched them lower her dead baby in his little casket
into the cold ground.
Tears rained from her eyes, her heart forever broken,
her life over.
In that moment, on that day, she made a life changing
decision.
After the funeral, she dined at the most expensive
restaurant in town, like a man on death row’s last meal.
When she finished the expensive, fancy meal,
she drove to the high bridge over the raging river.
She parked her car at the beginning of the long bridge,
shuffled as if in a trance to the middle of it,
climbed on top of the safety rails, leaped into
the deep waters and drowned to death to be with her baby.
Bob Boyd
Dawn alighted
clouds glowed
birds sang
winds sighed
earth awakened
rivers paused
trumpets blasted
angels appeared
out of the clouds
and He descended.
Bob Boyd
On the day she was leaving
his heart shattered, tears streaming,
he left for work without saying goodbye.
When he knew her love for him had waned,
and she began treated him disrespectfully,
he said no one is making you stay here;
you can leave anytime you want.
The next day she left him with no regrets.
Although he knew her leaving him
was for the absolute best,
he hated her for a year after that.
Mercifully, at the end of that year,
the hate drained out of his healed heart
and he was free of his unhealthy loathing.
Bob Boyd
She was young and beautiful
like the flowers in spring.
He loved her too much, and he
became unhealthy obsessed
with her and dangerously jealous.
But she cheated on him, and he
became insane when he found out.
Now like the flowers in winter
she lies in the cold ground
beneath where the flowers died.
Bob Boyd
When Jack and Jill went up a national park hill
in search of beautiful scenery.
Jack came down without Jill and claimed aliens
had abducted her.
The authorities didn’t believe him because to them
his story didn’t add up.
They interrogated him for days and hours until
he couldn’t withstand their questions anymore.
At the end of his sanity, he lied and cofessed he
had killed Jill just to stop the interrogations.
The weight of losing Jill and the constant grilling
had caused Jack to lose his mind.
The authorities kept pressuring him to tell them
where Jill’s body was.
But he couldn’t think of any convincing lies to
tell them about where it was, not having killed her.
He was sentenced to life in prison, while Jill was
fated to be a human slave on an alien planet.
Bob Boyd
I remember Pat Boone.
His songs often played on my radio.
He sold nearly 50 million records
in the 50s and 60s, had many hits.
One of the greatest crooners
of his day and a great guy.
He lived an examplary life
no drugs, no scandals.
I’m happy to say he’s still alive
and still singing.
But now from what I read,
he’s singing songs about God.
God bless him for that and for
being a great role model
for the youth of his day.
And for all the great songs he sang,
like Love Letters in the Sand.
He’s 91 years old now,
and still a great guy.
Bob Boyd
Great Britain used to be great.
Now it puts its citizens in prison
for tweets, suppressing free speech.
Now it treats illegal aliens
better than homeless veterans,
fancy hotels, free food, cell phones
free medical care, allowances, etc.
The government keeps flooding
Britain with unvetted illegals.
Sex crimes are rising, the public
is outraged, their government uncaring.
Great Britain is no longer great,
but its citizens and patriots still are
and they are rising up.
Bob Boyd
I see some sparrows pecking on the ground
beneath a sturdy oak tree.
Not unlike humans, they are working
for food.
And like fewer humans than most,
they are self employed.
At least they don’t have to worry
about going out of business
or losing their jobs and becoming
too poor to afford food.
Bob Boyd
The war drums are beating.
The soldiers are marching
the cadence of their boots
sounding on the ground.
The rulers are making speeches
to motivate the soldiers to fight,
the soldiers to die,
the wives and mothers to cry.
Bob Boyd