Day In The Life
Morphine
blowback proof’s in the nod
cops
in cruisers people in pods
active
shooters suspects on hold
license
to eliminate get it online
conclusions
are short lives don’t matter
run
if you can imagine the worst
gets
thick on the street among throw-aways
don’t
think for a moment substances cure
chrome
edged pricks to the vein the rush is on
side
of the road hand to mouth practiced in the art
good
cheer with chains to enlightenment
watch
your step cracks break backs
points
out with slants don’t you know
cautionary
tales degenerate culture
maneuver
the craters for exit control
it’s
dreamtime in oblivion reality
minds
gone wrong nailed to a cross
lost
with double vision and killer instincts
best
to avoid but never deny
poised
for takeover time to change the channel.
High Heaven
Postcards
from hell
uninterested
parties
conspiratorial
attachments
accusations
and sharp corners
blind-sided
mind control degradations
out-of-towner
knee-jerk condolences
a
dollop of shit to spice the mood
enough
to jam the circuits
burn
some tubes and blow the gaskets
it’s
fuck y’all to high heaven
and
no need to wait by the phone
if
it doesn’t ring you’ll know who it is
so
sincere regards from Tansland with kisses galore
headed
to the North Country for an ultimate score.
Rogue For One
Who’s
to notice the brown to elsewhere
tracks
there might be in swarms
that
red sky a fair warning
can
tell the waves as eddies thirteen thousand years
a
terminal void after the final break
much
though as morning’s dim crawls the rise
folks
here stiff the intruder
forget
suffering they’ll lay it thick
a
drink in this country far from found
tethered
is what it takes for a shoe-in
hot
rig barrel toters set free to roam
asphalt
trippers begging the high-life to see ‘em through
you
could die out here and no one would care
purge
the list this flight’s a real cloudsplitter.
Thin Ice And Dancing Shoes
Down
in the lowlands the heat is on
summer’s
just a memory like it never was
control
takes the wheel backseat traveller along for the ride
clad
in rags patience’s a loser
there’s
change and the palette turns
another
sonnet stakes its claim
vices
to curtain call with future endowments
clean
exit’s no harm done
it’s
savvy on the slick and smooth
shoulder
surfing between hemisphere’s ghastly conjectures
let’s
nail it to a fine point
holes
need plugged before the mess spreads
thin
ice and dancing shoes a cruel combination
won’t
matter how it slides but it’s too late to worry now.
Byway Reminiscence
Profiles
in every window
serious
shit from the radio
drive
for view hand on a thigh
naptime
with snowfields
perky
tits with arms raised she said
dreams
are dreams drink them anyway
tired
of the no-shows so light it up
here
to there a shudder and wink
leaks
in the news no lives’ private
paradise
under the quilts
cold
morning eroticism demands friction
hotels
aren’t home in the long run
there’s
a wedding in store with birds music and dance
attendance
required dress optional
needs
discussed left unheeded
a
neverland always in sight
street
man city girl worlds removed
no
names but union’s the clear choice
aliens
discovered what a lovely planet.
Bare Shoulders And Everything
Straps
to paradise
another
pint to burst the dam
downstream
flood lifelines thrown
it’s
soul food for the hunt
crazy
mama in a fool’s kitchen
heat
cranked to swell your dough
hustles
for the maddened outliers
stand
back this air is mine
hell
for the acolytes’ true fuckoff followers
demon
stew in a beggars’s banquet
runnin’
red lights in heavy traffic
you
got a problem it’s despair to nowhere
that
face in the mirror you better believe
hot
for bargains with fire in the gut
playin’
the words till voices crack
passion
dance to slack the kinks
bring
it around that downhome feel
open the doors let the trees do the talking.
Randy Barnes is the Lifetime Honored Historian Beat Poet Laureate, Washington State. He has been published both nationally and internationally in lit mags, journals and anthologies. He currently resides on the southern tip of the Salish Sea in the foothills of the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges.
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