Category: Poems

Winter

Snow falling
Ice spreading
Ponds and lakes
Sheets of ice
Icicles sprouting
Upside down
Crystalline plants
Animals and birds
Taking cover
Flowers hiding
Insects burrowing
The ground shivering
Rocks freezing
Kids having fun

Bob Boyd

Played the Odds and Lost

She set love alight in my heart
When I was an idealistic sixteen.
We fell in love almost instantly;
It lasted about a year, and she left me.
A typical long distance romance
That didn’t work, me in MA her in NJ.
But I was too young to know the math
And calculate the near impossible odds,
Never dreamed she’d stop loving me.
With decades experience, age and wisdom
Now I know she was never right for me.

Bob Boyd

Missing Person Mystery

Overlooking the park, she saw him staggering,
Her presence hidden, not wanting him to see her;
She tried so hard to help him too many times.

Once her husband and a successful lawyer,
Now a wandering, begging homeless drunk.
She tried to help him after the inevitable divorce,

Let him stay in their home for awhile
Until he stole money from her purse,
Valuables from her living room to

Feed his ever consuming addiction.
She never saw him after that day in the park.
He had vanished and never found.

He had made enemies when a lawyer,
One of them might have killed him
And hid his body under a construction site.

He might have killed himself somewhere secret.
His disappearance remained one of those
Missing persons mysteries for the rest of her life.

She died a lonely, depressed ex wife,
Remembering on her deathbed when they
Had a fairy tale life she never wanted to end.

Bob Boyd

Malleable Man

Her searing words cut him to pieces
His dignity annihilated by her harangue
Her verbal abuse reached its end
Though a passive man, he said so long
Packed his belongings, left in a storm
Too late she realized she’d gone too far
She cried through the forlorn night,
Wiped her tears and burned his memories
A month later, tears dried up, crying gone
She found a another malleable man
And her patterns began

Bob Boyd

Death’s Eternity

Friends and generational icons
Dying everyday, expecting more this May
Death is having one hell of a payday
Towns, cities, states, countries and continents
Death’s unregulated slaughter everywhere
Sobbing loved ones across the aging globe
Their end times coming soon too
Eighty years nothing to patient Death
A millisecond in Death’s eternity
He’s been waiting for you from
The second you’re born.

Bob Boyd

The Con King

He became an ogre when his luck was on the line;
His mistress left him, his con business went under.
He beat his wife for stress relief six times.
Too drunk to beat her one more time,
He’d planned a seventh attack the next day.
He never got the chance, his wife beat him to it;
She stabbed him to death in the back sixty times.
And that was the celebrated end
Of the Con King, Diamonds Jack.

Bob Boyd

Invasion of the Palmetto Bugs

I lived in Florida for about twelve years
I liked the little lizards that seemed to constantly do push ups
Maybe it was a male mating thing, showing off to a lady lizard
They reminded of the lizards on the backs of comic books
You could send away for when I was a kid in Massachusetts

The palmetto bugs were another matter, a scourge to me
Giant obnoxious cockroaches that invaded everything relentlessly
And don’t think you could leave a lovely display of fruit on a table Overnight
A palmetto bug’s delight, probably snack on it in the night to your Fright
In the morning light when you saw it scurry away and tried to kill It

And if you succeeded in killing one, no problem to the palmetto bugs
More awaited the chance to invade your dwelling and annoy the Hell out of you
And when they died invading your home, they probably thought they’d be
Rewarded with a hundred palmetto virgins in a palmetto bug Heaven

My worst encounter with one of these bastard bugs was when I saw one six feet up on a garage wall. When I went to attack him he flew off the wall nearly dive bombing into me. Shocked, I never knew they could fly
A sight almost reminiscent of a monster in a horror movie
Crawling out of the grave coming back to life

And if you’re a palmetto bug reading this, imagine me giving the finger to you
And if you think I should be beyond such a crude gesture at my age
I never claimed to have completely grown up

After all, I’m the guy who can walk off a job after over twenty years Of working there
Provoked by an outrageous, unpardonable slight by the director. And I’m proud of that

Bob Boyd

The Lamas

The lamas were said to have preternatural powers,
Unattainable by most holy men and women.
Stories about their paranormal abilities, legendary.
Elite Tibetan priests, it seemed they could rule the skies
Or create impenetrable force fields to protect Tibet
By reciting powerful, sacred mantras and
Spinning massive prayer wheels continuously,
Releasing thousands of protective prayers.
Tragically, when the Chinese invaded Tibet
Their bullets were stronger than mantras
And spinning prayer wheels,
And the lamas had to flee.

Bob Boyd

Guru at Harvard U.

Saw the poster, the Guru at Harvard U
Thursdays 7 PM come experience him
Open to the public in a reserved room
Got there at 7, didn’t see the Guru

A Devotee said, he’s in Europe
But his consciousness will be here at 7
Wondered if that were true or imaginary
Devotees so gullible, believe anything.

At 7PM a phenomenal, palpable spiritual energy
Lit up the room. Sitting in meditation, I got blitzed
Lasted for hours, higher than I’d ever been

Devotees said the Guru meditated on them
Every night. Spiritual energy pouring in
Sometimes awakening them from sleep
Bona fide powerhouse guru

Most gurus couldn’t do what he could
Years past and the troubles began
Women coming forth and reporting
How the guru sexually abused them

A common tale with most of the gurus
Who came to America triumphantly
Like kids set loose in a candy store
They couldn’t resist the exotic treats

Didn’t care for the Hare Krishna Guru’s
Path with shaved heads, the chanting, etc
But at least A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The real deal who behaved like a true and saintly guru.

Bob Boyd

Oh How I loved Your Beautiful Red Hair

I must have been sixteen
When I saw you at the dance.
With your red hair you looked beautiful.
I always loved the uniqueness of red hair, still do.

I asked you to dance, surprisingly you accepted.
Tongue tied, overcome by your beauty, I couldn’t talk.
You didn’t talk either. Maybe you felt the same way.

I remember when you and two other girls phoned me.
Not sure how you ladies got my phone number,
Didn’t care, a compliment to have three girls calling me.
I didn’t know you were one of them until you said you danced with me.
And kidding, I said, “You were lucky.” You cracked me up when you said, “No you were lucky!” and told me you were the red-headed girl.

In retrospect had I been wiser back then I would have said
You are right and told you how blown away I was by your red hair
And your beautiful looks, and how I was too shy to start a conversation.
How I hate possible missed opportunities like that,
All those if onlys. And God Almighty I had so many misses.

Bob Boyd

A Young College Girl’s Demise

Good girl, honor roll in high school
Nice, caring, friendly and well liked
Went to church, remained a virgin
Her hard work in high school
Earned her a scholarship
With the University of Vermont
First year, studied hard day and night
Wasn’t there to party
Focused on good grades
And becoming a social worker
In her Sophomore year met a senior
Didn’t know he was a playboy
Who’d slept with many women
And bragged about his conquests
After many dates and persuasions
Took her virginity and moved on
Gave the young college girl AIDS
Does that seem fair to you?
And this poem isn’t fiction.

Bob Boyd

A Young College Girl

A Young College Girl

Good girl, honor roll in high school
Nice, caring, friendly and well liked
Went to church, remained a virgin
Her hard work in high school
Earned her a scholarship
With the University of Vermont
First year, studied hard there
Wasn’t there to party
Focused on good grades
And becoming a social worker
In her Sophomore year met a senior
Didn’t know he was a playboy
Who’d slept with many women
Bragged about all his conquests
After many dates and persuasions
Took her virginity and moved on
Gave the young college girl AIDS
Does that seem fair to you?

Bob Boyd

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