The earth keeps spinning.
My heart keeps beating,
though not as well as when
I was young.

And when my heart stops beating
and the earth will still be spinning,
my remains will be more a part of it
buried in the ground,

maybe in someway benefitting it,
like fertilizer benefiting plants and
vegetables in the ground.

Bob Boyd

In a dream last night I moved with some people somewhere else for more opportunities and I think for love.

Then everything went awry, and I was unemployed and running out of money with the love unfound.

And the people I moved somewhere with were going separate ways and abandoning me for their own interests.

I was alone and worried about running out of money, and no way to make any more money somewhere where jobs were scarce
especially for an old man like me.

Then I woke up in the familiar, comforting bedroom of my apartment instead of somewhere with my life coming apart with no money and no work, relieved that my distress was only in a dream.

Bob Boyd

I hear the black preacher
talking on the am radio station
the way some black folks talk
smooth and natural
without using perfect grammar
or big, showy words
his inventive use of grammar
his natural sounding words
go straight to my heart
better than those preachers
with PhDs.

Bob Boyd

Everything is going
great for you
couldn’t be better
the right job
the right lover
perfect health
but then one
or more of
the unexpected:
a job loss
right lover gone
health problems

like an apple cart
turned over with
apples running all
over the ground
are the many problems
in your turned upside
down once perfect life.

Bob Boyd

Amazing how, the right woman
can have such an effect on you
a look from her eyes, near ecstasy
the touch of her hand, heavenly
to hold her, like holding an angel
oh how I miss those days
days that for me are gone
as are my youthful years
but maybe, in the afterlife
I’ll be with the right woman again.

Bob Boyd

I don’t like spiders
maybe you do
they creeped me out
from day one
it’s as if they have
a knack for that
creeping others out too
but those tiny jumping
spiders are kinda cute
don’t ask me
about tarantulas.

Bob Boyd

He went on a lion safari
in South Africa
to get some photos of
those magnificent beasts
he got out of his jeep
and got twenty meters
close to the peaceful lions
for an optimal photo
the lions began stirring
even better he mused
but he failed to realise
his fatal error when
a roaring lion traversed
the twenty meters in
three terrifying seconds
too late for him to escape.

Bob Boyd

Does romantic love endure
or even exist
in the unknowable afterlife?

Is romantic love transient
like this earthly life is?

Is romantic love forever
two hearts eternally
united, soulmates
and love ever after?

Or as it seems to be with
all the other species
is romantic love merely
for procreation and the
advancement of our
human species?

God only knows.

Bob Boyd

He sits at his computer
remembering past loves.
But he can’t pine over
any of them, as if they
never happened at all.
Like everything else,
the love he once had
for each of them
has been swept away
in the tides of time.

Bob Boyd

Everyday in America
dozens of people are murdered
what the hell kind of a world
are we living in?
and hell is the operative word
for all these murdered people
who go out of the world that way
and if there’s a God of love
where’s the love in all these killings
but as I think about it, killing
happens all throughout creation
insects, fish, animals all killing
even weeds and plants kill
all under a God of love above
unless there’s just a God
that’s impersonal and everything
that happens on earth is random
or maybe there’s no God at all.

Bob Boyd

The daughter of the mayor
in her small town
married to the chief of police
a substitute teacher
hot as hell
gets involved with a student
a 15-year-old kid
now she’s gone to jail
for a six year sentence
but she’s only one of many
of the female teachers
sexually abusing students
what the hell has happened
to female teachers nowadays?

Bob Boyd

Yet another true crime show
where a woman gets murdered
this time an innocent teacher
murdered by a guy she met in a bar
the number of young women
who get murdered in these crime
shows is nearly numberless
woe to all these women taken
brutally out of this world
curses on all the male monsters
who murderously take their lives.

Bob Boyd

They had an open marriage
the fun and games were going well
spicing up the marriage with plenty
of new and exciting partners
everything was terrific and wonderful
loving their alternative lifestyle
until they had a ferocious argument
about the ground rules
then the husband lost his temper
and his wife shot him to death.

Bob Boyd

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