Bob Boyd's Free Verse Poems

margaret always loved
the hot fudge sundaes
at her small town’s
little ice cream shop
never had better she said
everybody ate there and
echoed what martha said
until a big ice cream shop
part of a national chain
moved into the town

it offered more ice cream flavors
and food than the little ice shop
and with cheaper costs
better advertising too

it stole all the customers
except martha from
the little ice cream shop
and saddened martha
a principled woman
never ate
hot fudge sundaes
or anything at
that big ice cream store

bob boyd

cameras all over the city
spying on the populace
citizens spying too
with their ever ready
cell phone cameras
to catch others
doing stupid or
criminal things
police and employers
snooping on
social media
yet despite all
the surveillance
some people still
do stupid stuff
and get caught
on camera
and on
social media
welcome to 1984
in 2024 and
shout outs to
george orwell

bob boyd

she always had to buy the most expensive designer clothes.
she blew thousands more on fancy cars and overpriced houses.
she always dined at restaurants affordable to only the rich.
she looked down on people who shopped at stores like walmart,
peasants she called them, who had no class or taste,
who’s idea of dining out was filling their faces at fast food restaurants.
despite all her arrogant airs and her extravagant spending,
she could never buy enough stuff to make her happy
she was more miserable than so-called peasants she disdained,
and all her heaps of stuff that didn’t matter one bit when she died.

bob boyd

it was the most
thrilling ride of her life
falling, falling, failing,
spinning, spinning, spinning
wafting through the air
exhilarated like never before
when the ride ended
the leaf on the ground
the ladybug
crawled off it

bob boyd

After her cheating boyfriend broke her heart,
she gave up on love and men at age 21.

She didn’t have a man in her life for seven lonely years
until she met a decent and true man at age 28.

The romance lasted two beautiful years until
her ideal love died in a car crash.

She had three more loves and two marriages
before she died at 74.

None of those loves or marriages worked out.
It wasn’t that she was unlovable or hard to be with.

She was a kind, sweet, and decent woman and fun to be with.
It was the bad luck of the random draw, never finding
the right one, never finding lasting love.

Bob Boyd

He keeps suppressing the persistent need
for a woman in his waning life.
He’s at an age where he could die any day
or become physically impaired or get dementia.

Yet, the romantic spark stills flickers in him
every now and then
despite his logical reasons
for not trying to find a woman anymore
or going through the trouble of
finding one who would want him.

In clear headed moments, he realizes
he just doesn’t want to try,
or face rejections and aggravations,
an old man can only take
so many disappointments.

Despite being lonely and
missing the love of a woman,
he gives up on romance in his aging life.
And he dreams of maybe
finding love with an ideal soulmate
in the inexorably, impending afterlife.

Bob Boyd

He wakes up to another boring day.
At age 66, he’s been retired for 4 months
and doesn’t know what to do with himself.
He’s tired of playing bingo and watching birds.
He doesn’t want a girlfriend or a wife,
but yearns for some excitement in his dull life.
He plans to do something dangerous and exciting.
He dons a mask like a bandit and begins secretly
busting parking meters in the pre-dawn morning hours
all over the city to save people money and have fun.
After busting a hundred meters without getting caught,
he satisfies his need for more excitement in his life
and returns to playing bingo and watching birds
and quietly plans his next secret caper.

Bob Boyd

He gave up on an unresponsive God
who never listened to him
or answered his pleading prayers
to heal his cancer-ridden wife
dying of the malignant disease,
his loving wife of ten years,
who never harmed a soul,
who lived to love and help others.

After his wife died of cancer
he found solace for his grief
in alcohol and drugs
that became the gods of
his new quasi religion

At least they were responsive
his communion
one drink his holy wine
one pill his eucharist
the answers
soothing heavenly highs
he never
got from God

Bob Boyd

cold days, hot nights
he has a new girlfriend
dark days now lit up
nights are ever bright
lonely days are gone
happiness increases
he hears the birds
singing in the trees
the sky is bluer than
he ever imagined
as if his senses have
been reawakened
all from a new love
and a happier life
if only that euphoria
could last forever

Bob Boyd

His life has dwindled down
to watching birds and cats.
from his old apartment window.
He’s also become a noisy neighbor
observing what his neighbors do.
His days are that boring now.

He used to be a corporate exec.
Now he’s just another retired old man
whose mind has become compromised
by the effects of his advanced aging.
In reflective moments he wonders what
happened to his once important self.
He sits in his rocking chair sighs,
falls asleep, and forgets his depression.

Bob Boyd

The days and weeks fly by,
the months and years too.
His body’s breaking down
His heart is weakening.
His bones are thinning.
Aging spots appear
on his wrinkling skin.
His days are expiring,
and he drinks himself
into drunken denial
rather than face the
reality his obliteration.

Bob Boyd

Little Red Riding Hood strolled through the forest
on her way to her grandmother’s house
with a basket full of wine and cake for her grandmother.

When she arrived at her grandmother’s house
something was off. A psychopathic, crossdressing wolf
lay in her grandmother’s bed dressed as her grandmother.

Little Red Riding Hood blew a gasket knowing the wolf
slaughtered and ate her grandmother and had the gall
and the stupidity to pretend it was her grandmother.

She pulled her sawed off shotgun out of her robe
and blasted that goddamned wolf to pieces.

Bob Boyd

Little Red Riding Hood strolled through the forest
on her way to her grandmother’s house
with a basket full of wine and cake for her grandmother.

When she arrived at her grandmother’s house
something was off. A psychopathic, crossdressing wolf
lay in her grandmother’s bed dressed as her grandmother.

Little Red Riding Hood blew a gasket knowing the wolf
slaughtered and ate her grandmother and had the gall
and the stupidity to pretend it was her grandmother.

She pulled her sawed off shotgun out of her robe
and blasted that goddamned wolf to pieces.

Bob Boyd

she put up with a lot of nonsense
with the man she once loved
he changed after they married
and gave up on courting her
she saw he didn’t value her
like he did before they wed
after years of his disinterest
she lost all her love for him
cheated on him with another
and he cheated on her too
their marriage crumbled
their nuptial bliss long gone
they started the gamble
all over again with
a new roll of the dice
her a new husband
him a new wife

bob boyd

She wasn’t a fake witch
or a woman tortured to
confess she was one.

She was a real witch
with a mastery of
the dark arts in 1606.

Her powers waned
when she got sick
and was captured
and hung to death.

After three days
she clawed
her way out of her grave
wearing the winding sheet
she was buried in.

Returning from the dead,
her powers became stronger.
She cursed all those responsible
for her death and
turned them into lepers.

She returned to her grave
after that
and died a proper death
never to stir again.

To some people
she became like
an avenging saint.
And to this day
many visit her grave
seeking miracles.

Bob Boyd