Six Poems by Randy Barnes

 

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.