Let's pretend for one moment that this is a contest
each suitor vying for your undivided affection
rendering themselves as contenders for the purse
bending meter, rhythm and rhyme in eloquent verse

Let's say for sake of argument that this is a prize fight
each author battling with their wits in contention
pretending as though they carry an incurable curse
of deeply hurting emotions in need for you to nurse

Would you fall for the ploy, the guise, the foible front?
Would you swoon, put your heart in suspension
or buckle to your knees at the lowly blows so terse?
I would rather not be carried away in that hearse

No. I do not wish to contend, to offend or pretend
My heart will not send, nor vend nor even lend
one false hope to my head, that I might fend off
these gentle meddlers and their pennedicuffs

I shall quietly sit outside the ring of folly and foils
and just let my poems stir within the restless tension
of the crowd around this arena. I will submerse
in the jeering and cheering and nothing worse.

It's a jam
the internet scam
with all the spam
and advertising slams

I like my toast buttered
with a sprinkling of cinnamon
and sugar

It's like having peanut butter
stuck to the roof of your mouth
or flying south
in the spring time

I like my eggs sunny side up
and a nice warm cup
of fresh brewed coffee

It's tough going to work
at three thirty in the morning
like eating hardboiled eggs
with out any salt

I like sausage with my breakfast
and a nice piece of fruit
or perhaps some crispy bacon

Its a scam
all this internet spam
just getting jammed
and continually slammed

The squad hunkered down
They were completely surrounded
The enemy was closing in

Trapped

Around them only an open field
Yet they remained hidden
lying low and out of view

Carelessly

The enemy approached
Unaware of the trap
A few more meters

Surprise

The squad leapt to its feet
And let the tomatoes fly
A hail of fruiting vegetables

Splat

She took one smack dab center
on her new clean white blouse
The screaming girls fled

War

Even in children's games
there are always casualties
"I'm telling mom!"

Drat

Dawn, day three
two women with myrrh
query the gardener

"Excuse us good sir..."

They look Him in the eyes
slowly; they will realize
He IS the one they came to see

Just a man
a son, a brother
yet, unlike any other

Wise beyond compare
Made of flesh and blood
and the purest form of love

He is the conqueror
killing us all with kindness
so that we may live again

Dawn, day three
The sun rises, glowing
hushing away the darkness

Just another day
like any other day
but for one little difference

With this dawn
there is hope...

This octopus ain't no squid
This fin ain't no quid
That mess was all wrapped up
with a five pound note

In Egypt they discovered the jinks
a veritas of missing links
arms spiraling outward
by a conch copier's quote

Near Mexico they uncovered the stones
of Quetzalcoatl's feathered bones
In fons iuventute
sailed back in de'Leon's boat

Under Atlantis they covered it all
with a well of water before the fall
But now don't you be sad
and don't give up your goat

It has all been recorded
before the ship was boarded
by the fountain pen of time
And that, is all she wrote

"I do believe in spooks!"

There she was
lingering in my memory wells
though we had never met
hovering in my sensory cells
like an angel heaven sent

But she never went to heaven
and the earth was too cold
Her shell was all shattered
But her heart was pure gold

There she was
weaving through my living room
As though she owned the place
Called away from life too soon
a maiden bathed in royal grace

And she wouldn't go to hell
nor the sky so far above
The look upon her face it tells
She slipped before she fell in love

Here she is
dreaming in my warm soft bed
tucked away beneath the sheets
my pillow melding with her head
in silent slumber she retreats

And she can't go home
Her time has drifted past
There is no place left to roam
She has found her peace at last.

All my steeples are peoples

I am caught up in the chase
No time for an embrace
I have to keep on pace
losing the human race

All my churches are searches

Life has its treble and base
Some days are frills and lace
others are pepper and mace
A warm sun burn on my face

All my pews are views

Down on my knees in place
Begging you please erase
this icy breeze with grace
and ease this trying case

All my alters are falters

From here we keep looking up...

You thought you would live forever
You thought tomorrow would never come
You thought you were bullet proof
You thought we would always be friends

That was a long time ago
before the children needed new shoes
That was nearly a lifetime ago
before you started watching the news

You thought that you would be an astronaut
You thought that you would never die
You thought that you could be the president
You thought that you could fly

That was ages and ages ago
before they stopped counting the candles
That was eons and eons ago
before you stopped watching cartoons

ding
ding

ding
dong
ding

ding
ding dang dong
ding
ding

ding
ding dong ding
ding

ding
ding
Ding Dong
Ding Dang Dong

dong
Dong ding

Ding
ding
ding dong

repeat

I've got that
I bought a new building last week
Twenty two hundred square feet
We were out of debt
Living the American dream
Owned our own home
Free and clear
Owned a little piece of paradise
in the southern tier
of New York State
Built me a log cabin
But I get so restless
This house is too small
This forest too tiny
So I begged and borrowed
and worked overtime
Back in debt again but
Now I've got me a quiet little place
Next to the Sea Breeze Amusement Park
In quaint little Irondequoit
Where I can paint my pretty pictures
and hand them on the wall
for all to see
That should keep me busy for a few weeks
Perhaps even cure this cabin fever
burning inside of me

The Artist's Cave - https://www.google.com/maps/@43.233914,-77.543984,3a,30y,213.45h,92t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sFhiMtqNzr6Bzqd5-w1p1fQ!2e0?hl=en