Tag: Poem

Need/Want

I need a hat

For the sun in my eyes

I need a woman

With shapely smooth thighs

I need a job

With a paying high wage

I need a day

Of a world without rage

I need a suit

Of fine Italian silk

I need to find

Some friends of my ilk

I need a sun

Of bright warm orange light

I need to find

The will to carry on and fight

I need a morning

With no direction

I need a taste

Of a fine chocolate confection

I need a tomorrow

Different than today

I need a map

With a clearly marked way

I need a song

Of sweetest melody

I need for you to long

For something in me

I need a salad

With clean fresh greens

I need the ways

To equal the means

I need a world

Without boundaries or borders

I want these things

In no particular orders

Gene G. McLaughlin 2004

Spring 2005

The rain the sun

The bud the pollen

The flower the leaf

The fruit the seed

Spring undeniable

Again in its glory

Winter’s toll taken

The fallen both recalled

And unremembered

Now is the time of

Unencumbered

And new responsibility

Awakening comes slow

Then sudden

Like the flood of the

Mountain stream

White and cold with

Anger and breakneck

Speed, ice no longer

Controlling and slowing

Its pace, What did I

Believe yesterday?

It seems so distant

I am who I was, but

There is the reckoning

That maybe I was wrong

Believing the cycle broken

And the world to be colder

Than it once was

Winter is nothing if not

A capable illusionist

Claiming things broken and

The cycle stopped

Yet it comes again

The rain

The sun

The bud

The pollen

The flower

The leaf

The fruit

The seed

Unbroken

Just in time

Gene G. McLaughlin 2005

Fear Knows Your Name

Fear knows your name

It is born the same day as you

Fear knows your name

It nestles in the wind that follows you

Fear does not know your actions

It is behind you and reacts to you

Fear does not know your actions

It is subject to the whimsy and truth of you

Fear sometimes wins

If you let it guide your steps for you

Fear sometimes wins

If you do not acknowledge the subtle moves it makes for you

The moments for fear are seldom needed by you

The moments for fear are sometimes real for you

The moment you acknowledge fear has decided for you

Is the moment fear fears it might lose to you

Once we decided all differently

In the background

In the shadows of instinct

Now we can decide for ourselves

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Jury

The burden is shared

Such a thing alone is heavy

The pull to decide before the end

Is strong

Pushed away by will and effort

As the tale unfolds

The impact upon all

Is clearly visible

There is a tangible

Feeling of relief

When we are called to judge

Justice does not feel

Like I thought it would

Vindication or truth

Are the crux of making something

Whole and complete

They do not

Displace the damage

That cannot be undone

We deliver the words

Filtering out when dismissed

Back into our world

Away from that where

Someone’s world

Has forever changed

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

We Of The Divided Mind

We of the divided mind

Whose digital selves

Diverge from our day to day

Where the blacksmith

Once became

The hammer and tongs

Where the painter

Once became

The ladders and brushes

Where the man

Once became

The actions of his day

We of the divided mind

Whose dual selves

Drift between two worlds

Transverse two identities

Evolving best we can

Seek the moment

Where we become

That thing

We do

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Mortar and Marble

There are things you have to do

Shovels full of dirt at a time

Step by step

Word by word

You can do them with company

But you do them alone

They are not bloodless tasks

They are not painless

They don’t come naturally

They don’t come from divine inspiration

They are the thick it

The rest of the story

The time in between

When we are heroes

or villains

You have done these tasks

Some of you

Are doing them right now

And yet

I don’t know it

I never will

But I understand

Because all our lives

Are held together with

Mortar

As well as

Marble

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Dataflow

We as machines process the data

As allowed by divergent models and makes

Filtering out that which does not matter

Configure, compile what info survival takes

Are we users of the technology

Or maybe just accessories

Connected to the world via USB

Or some other methodology?

Trying to redefine our natures

Making choices based on fact

Maybe simply as moving fixtures

Only functioning as they react

There is no mind to free

If there is not cord to cut

There is no truth to see

If the numbers define us

Gene G. McLaughlin 2006

Long In The Tooth

There is no approval left to seek

No desires left to sate

No stone left unturned

Or fiery fetish left unburned

You are alone

With yourself

To your bone

Your no-one else

The hungers dissipated

To find your place

In the mirror situated

Is your true face

Oh please mama

Should I mourn?

Oh please mama

Where is my scorn?

Son you are older

And still alive

Son you are older

And still you breathe

Don’t be guilty

There’s no turning back

Don’t be guilty

There’s no turning back

You are whole

As a man becomes

You are lucid

As the lucky become

You will lose things

You will still fear

You will miss things

Things you hold dear

It is the grey

In you beard

It is the wrinkle

Under the eye

Its neither blessing

Or curse

It is never better

Or never worse

Only years passing

Only years gone by

Times never lasting

Son don’t you cry

Mama I see your beauty

Mama I see your youth

As we both growing weary

And long in tooth

Gene G. McLaughlin 2006

It Doesn’t Matter As Much

It doesn’t matter as much

As my beard grows grey

If I fail, succeed

Or win the day

I’ve failed at things

Had a little success

Surrendered without trying

Or gave it my best

It’s still all so beautiful

It’s still all so sad

If I’m dutiful

If my efforts are bad

I’ll live in the middle

In the dawn or dusk

I’ll engage a little

If I must

I’ll be the bass line

Of the song

You’ll only hear me

If you listen long

Lennon said

Watch the wheels go round and round

Watch the colors

Hear the sound

Feel the beat

Of your space

Stepping back

Is no disgrace

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

That Is The Wolves In The Hills

I don’t think I have seen you since I left

I don’t think I remember your name

I don’t think between us there is anything left

I rather not talk if it’s all just the same

My memories are cloudy, but certainly don’t fret

I definitely recall who is to blame

Reconciliation is out of the question

Those who are guilty must live with themselves

Recognition of the situation

Truth is only there for them that delves

Fact segregation and new truth creation

Our strongest ambition

And goal for ourselves

Oh do you hear the howling . . .

That is the wolves in the hills

Oh do you taste the bitters . . .

That is war’s bloody pill

Mother this is your sorrow to swallow

Mother he was his country’s to kill

Mother you know nothing

Of liberty and sacrifice

Let me tell you something

Of the price of your way of life

I will not acknowledge that which I have done

I will hide behind reasons of the winnings of war

I will support the soldier’s still among the living

I will not recognize those who are among us no more

I don’t think I have seen you since I left

I don’t think I remember your name

I don’t think between us there is anything left

I rather not talk if it’s all just the same

Oh do you hear the howling . . .

That is the wolves in the hills

Oh do you taste the bitters . . .

That is war’s bloody pill

Gene G. McLaughlin 2005