Strolling Down Memory Lane, Part 3

So in case you missed the first 2 posts, the idea of these posts is to put some of my older work on the internet for posterity. Some are good. Some are bad. All are unedited. How cool is that?

Untitled Haikus, Undated

The seasons fly by
Like a flickering flower
Eternal beauty
Dancing gracefully about
The infinite dance of time

The sun of fall sets
Giving rise to skys of white
As the snow falls down
Watch the snow fall lovingly
In white there is purity

Crisp and clean the leaves
Fall freely from the tall trees
In my eye, beauty
Touch not this place, viceful man
Turn away your hate and destruction

I like to eat cheese
Yellow, white, holey, stinky
Cheese and ham tastes good

Fast, faster, go, go!
Fly as fast as the wind blows
Fly home to the sun

Day dream with me dear
Walk the land of the sleeping
Be free, as the wolf

Retrospective Notes - Again, I think these are hit or miss. I'd also like to point out that "viceful," is not a word. At the very least, I had a laugh at the cheese haiku. Comedy gold, that one.

Footsteps To Hell, Undated

I need my words most
Just as they escape my tongue
And as the air escapes my lungs
I propose a modest toast.

To the lives I couldn't lead
To the mouths I couldn't feed
To all the souls in need
And to all the men that bleed

Your words are lost to tides of hate
Bundled up and tossed away
But they still ask you to stay
And continue a 1-sided debate

Left and right, the locks start
Lick up your door, lock up your child
Lock up your car, lock up your smile
Close your eyes and lock up your heart

I tell myself there's more to life
But the war-path of a nation
Has lead to the realization
The people are under the knife

I am not my leader
And I am not afraid
Of the price to pay
For the mistakes he's made

As history records with unblinking eye
A simple truth is revealed
Though our differences conceal
After famine, war, and zeal
After death by flesh and steel
After downing your last meal

remember

we are all human.

Retrospective Comments - I might have been a little bit frustrated with the administration of "W" at the time of writing this. I don't think the title really matches the product of the poem, but I still agree with the message. As I've said about previous works, I think some of the passages are better than others. This might be a concept worth revisiting.

(The) Hell In Me, Undated

I found my secret place
I've found my way home
No one else is welcome
When I crawl back to my hole

With chain around my heart
Barbed wired around my mind
All guns at the ready
Held by the ties that bind

A man called "disgrace"
The one who walks alone
If an angel stole your prayers
A demon commands your soul

Flung into the fire
No one wishes you well
God smiles and says
"Welcome, friends, to hell"

Light encroaches on the dark
When there's bones to grind
Even in eternal mercy
His is till a light that blinds

Spread out your black wings
Sound the demon's horn
With fang and claw we smile
Earning even Satan's scorn

At some point we all give in
At some point we all sin
At some point the mask falls off
Revealing a hell within

Retrospective Notes - This one also plays with the idea of good versus evil, light versus dark. If I were to write this poem again, I would be much more careful about word choice. I think the biggest problem with this work is that it seems very inconsistent. It doesn't seem to have any logical flow. I couldn't really reconnect with this one, but I think comparing this work against some of the others shows my growth as a poet.

Trouble In Paradise, Undated (but probably more recent than anything else I've put down so far).

Hold me like a newborn
And (Cuz) I'll be gone tomorrow
The sands of time slip away -
How many have I borrowed?

I'm waiting for a sun
That will not rise
Watching for the ground
From the sky

Retrospective Comments - It's hard to be too retrospective on this one, because it was written so recently, but I can say that I really do like the last bit, "watching for the ground..." I like the sense of flight I get from that line.

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This officially concludes, "strolling down memory lane." I hope you enjoyed the trip. Don't expect to get anything more like this though...I think I've pretty thoroughly cleaned out my old stuff (minus things that were honestly not worth posting). I actually had a lot of fun with these. It was really refreshing to go back and see what I was thinking and writing about over the years. I even feel inspired to write more, new works. Wish me luck.