Category: Poems

His girlfriend was obsessed with ghosts
always watching ghost hunter shows
always reading about ghosts
he felt her obsession was a bit much
in the category of the macabre
especially when as he predicted
ghosts began appearing in their home
her obsession had drawn them in
she was quite elated; he was not
she stayed in the house, happy
he moved out, frightened
unable to be with her and her ghosts
though young, she died months later
he believed killed by the ghosts.

Bob Boyd

Long red orange beak
like a scimitar sword
built for picking
insects out of trees
metallic-green black bird
with small white streaks
red orange feet as well
as large as 17 inches
loud cackling chatter
sounds a bit alarming
saw one for the
first time today
South African bird cam
many unique birds there.

Bob Boyd

I saw a fox last night on a wildlife cam
eating food left for wildlife animals
since I hadn’t seen a fox in a long time
I saw the fox with new eyes
he looked little and cute to me
despite his less than stellar reputation
like the “fox in the chicken coop” cliche
and I wish I lived somewhere where
I could leave food for a fox and maybe
gradually reduce its natural fear of me
and tame it enough to pet it.

Bob Boyd

It’s not by chance
that you came here
it was your destiny
so some websites read

I never believed that nonsense
I saw it as a ploy
maybe to induce one
to join a soul snatching cult
or to buy whatever was being
sold on that assuming website

I haven’t see any websites
like that in years
I saw them in the past
some cons people don’t forget
more so if you they got swindled by one.

Bob Boyd

I see at least 30 birds on a bird feeder
in a live youtube video
each hustling to get some seeds
some pecking others
even birds have bullies
I wonder if birds have psychopaths
maybe the bigger, predatory ones
like hawks that savage song birds
I’m not thinking vultures
though I can see how you
would think I was given they’re
scavengers of the dead
with near macabre appearances
but I just see them as like
janitors of the planet
cleaning up all the dead messes
without a shred of evil in them.

Bob Boyd

he couldn’t believe how fast his life had gone by
I heard of that in my youth
and it always stayed with me
now that I’m probably as old as he was
when he said it, I know it’s true
oh so true, as my life keeps speeding by
as if Death can’t have me fast enough.

Bob Boyd

To him, she was incredibly beautiful
he felt blessed when her eyes met his
when they talked for a long time
the connection was joyfully amenable
until she started becoming unhinged
and parroting political nonsense
that she’d been spoon fed daily
blindly accepted and believed
brainwashed with misinformation
designed to shape her outlooks
and use her like a useful idiot
he couldn’t abide that flaw in her
he couldn’t reason with her
he couldn’t open her eyes to truth
he could see her brainwashed views
were cemented too deeply in her
he had to bid her goodbye.

Bob Boyd

I don’t know if reincarnation is factual
I do believe it’s possible

in the past I felt I was once a Hindu monk
another time a lord in England
once a cave dweller in a primitive past

now I think these were just imagings
now I am not sure if life is a one shot or many

supposedly there were experiments with kids
who were able to remember past lives
skeptics say the results were questionable

if reincarnation is not real, the worst would be
if dead was just dead, no more you, no more me

but speaking honesty, I’ve reached a point
where I’m perfectly okay with that outcome

perhaps that’s a kind of enlightened acceptance
I don’t know for sure; maybe I’m just tired of living.

Bob Boyd

Geese are flying overhead
ants are marching on the ground
minnows are swimming in the water
all of them like many humans
live and move in groups
unlike me, a lone wolf,
who lives and moves alone.

Bob Boyd

When Franky got drunk,
he got crazy
beer muscles as if
on super steroids
would fight anyone
even drunk he never lost

often when under the influence
he’d say he could kick the shit
out of a polar bear at our local zoo

his friends thought that was funny
250 pound Franky going
mano a mano with
a 900 pound polar bear

except one night when Franky
said he was going home
after getting crazy drunk
he drove to the zoo instead

in the news the next day
the police reported a man broke
the polar bear’s jaw
before the polar bear
tore the man to pieces

at least Franky got a good
sucker punch in. RIP Franky.

Bob Boyd

In a city in Britain
a man makes
an innocent
social media post
a day later
six police show up
at his door
and say
someone found
your post offensive
you’re coming with
us to the police station
they grill him for hours
let him go with a warning
anymore posts or
comments like that
and you’re
going to be arrested
and most likely
sent to prison

welcome to 1984
in 2026 Britain

it used to be said
God save the king
now it’s
God save Britain.

Bob Boyd

He lived to kill young women
and torturing them as well
he found them thumbing rides on roads
hiking alone in secluded forests
wandering drunk from bars
jogging in tree dense parks
he killed at least twenty women
torturing them gleefully before
ecstatically strangling them to death
ironically his killing spree ended
when one of his intended victims
armed with a gun shot him
in the heart and in the head
on a remote forest trail
his remains devoured by wild animals
the women who murdered him
a serial killer of predatory men.

Bob Boyd

The sailors heard it emerging from the sea
a slight humming sound vibrating their ship
what the hell is that, one of them said
another one drew a gun and fired shots at it
the humming sound grew louder
the ufo whirred and floated in the air
directly toward the frightened sailors
other sailors began shooting at the ufo
their bullets having no effect
with a high pitched ringing sound
rays blasted out of the ufo
killing all the sailors, obliterating the ship
before it vanished in the sky.

Bob Boyd

In the 18th century, Two women conspire
to kill one of their husbands
they decide to poison him to death
the wife buys the poison, puts it in his food
the husband eats the food, dies a painful death
neighbors and others become suspicious
the husband too young too die
a doctor examines the husband’s body
determines he died from poisoning
the wife confesses to the murder
implicates her friend’s involvement
a trail is held, both found guilty
the wife’s friend hung to death
the wife strangled till she died
her remains burned at the stake.

Bob Boyd

Like a Biblical quote about young men having
visions and old men having dreams
I’m an old man who has a lot of dreams,
figuratively and literally

for example, I had a dream, as in an imagining,
that maybe I could be with an ex wife in the afterlife
and unlike with the marriage on earth
everything would work out right

the perfect harmony, the everlasting love
despite our being incompatible in this earthly existence

her being too much of an extrovert
me being more of an introvert
me being of a deep, spiritual/philosophical nature
her unable to relate to any of that

and besides we’d still probably be incompatible
not right for each other even in the afterlife

then I thought about how in the afterlife
there may be no romantic love
all unconditional love beyond
the I’ll love you if you love me

that thought saddens me a bit
maybe I’m too much a romantic
but I’d like to see romantic love endure forever.

Bob Boyd

Yesterday, I thought about death closing in
ordinarily I have no fears, no regrets
with no one on earth to grieve for me

which I’m kind of glad about
I don’t want to bring any sadness
when I pass away on any day
despite feeling young and quite well

but, unexpectedly, when I thought of my death
I felt a tinge of sadness
despite being alone, I felt some attachment
to my now reclusive existence

an existence where each day brings
the possibility of more age-related health problems
the reality of the body and the mind breaking down
like an old machine of months over eighty years

the gears worn down, the mechanics outdated
the machine no longer fixable, the machine dead.

Bob Boyd

Last night I had a dream quite pleasant
though some of it a bit indistinct
pleasant conversation with a lovely woman
she looked like Marlene Dietrich to me

I’m living in some kind of community
that also provides help to people
two female employers are going
to hire me for a human services job
the feelings are quite positive
quite cheerful with the two women
asking me what I’d like to do

the conversation shifts to small talk
I tell one of them about the lovely woman
who looks like Marlene Dietrich to me
I think with the hope of securing favor
when the lovely woman learns what I said

before the dream ends I’m about to
walk into an apartment where I live
I see the Marlene Dietrich woman
in a classroom across the way
she’s smiling at me, an inviting smile
I’m smiling back at her and thinking
how she’s a beautiful young woman
and though enamored, I realize
I’m an old man far too old for her
I wake up realizing I was right,
realizing I wanted to be with the young woman
and it was a foolish old man’s impossible dream.

Bob Boyd

She was so beautiful she seemed like
a mythical creature
she was so uncommonly nice she
seemed like an angel
but when she got angry
she seemed like a demon
and in one of her demonic
rages
she picked up a kitchen knife
and stabbed her mother to death.

Bob Boyd

She came to work at the department store I worked in
funny, pretty, a nice woman, we had a great rapport
her flirtations increased, and I was a bit enamored
but something undefinable keep me from asking her out
on the day I was about to ignore the undefinable
she didn’t show up for work and never returned
she had been fired for stealing women’s clothes
though surprised such a nice woman was a thief
I was grateful I didn’t give her a chance to steal my heart.

Bob Boyd

At 1:00 AM you might see her
walking by the railroad tracks
on main street, maybe in
the city you live in

the little old ghost lady
who is always dressed in
black and glows in the dark

if she sees you looking at her
or hears you speaking to her
she vanishes into the ether

the locals say every night she
roams the tracks looking for
her husband who died on the
tracks while drunk in 1973.

Bob Boyd