I have the originals in spiral notebooks in a closet someplace, but back in the 90's I typed most of it up on my first computer. I think I used Windows Write which came with Windows 3.0 originally, then upgraded to MS Works, and then finally to Microsoft Word. Much of this is 20+ years old now. I'm no Shakespeare, Yeats, Robert Frost or Edward Thomas. I just thought this would be a fun blog.
While typing this blog I've been listening to The Hip, and included a link to an appropriate song from You Tube below.
The Hip -Poets
So here they are some of my early works in no particular order. As I dust these poems off and bring them into the light for the first time in awhile I'm still happy with the way they came out.
According to my notes I wrote this one May 2, 1993 while working the Night desk at Fredonia State College. That was a fun job 2 am- 7am on Friday or Saturday night letting residents back in the dorm.
Blender
Love is a
many-splintered thing
Inside
fuzziness, vague happiness, uncontrolled giddiness.
It’s a
mess, mixedupedness
Not so with
me
I’m in
love.
Foolish,
you say
Yeah,
Maybe,
Strange?
Oh
definitely!
Why?
Don’t know
That’s the
Beauty
She’s
beauty
Really,
Truly.
My notes on the next one say May 9, 1994, written in 3 minutes. Reading it now it sounds like I may have been in my Robert Smith phase at the time.
Desire
These words on a page
Weathered with age
Mean Nothing without you,
You complete their meaning.
Give them vibrance and life.
Without you they cut like a knife
And my blood runs streaming,
Down these words on a page
Weathered with age.
Walking
Have you ever seen the wind blow?
Across the fields and through the snow?
On a cold and brisk winters night
I went for a walk in all the white.
And all my dreams began to unravel
The
more and more and more I traveled.
Not many notes on this one just February 5, 1994. The subject matter probably tells enough about my mental state at the time. "woman..can't live with them, can't shoot them, I can't get a date with them, pass the beer nuts." Not sure which of my "roommates" made that quote up. Reminds me of the one time I was unhappy about my ability to get a date and I played Garth Brooks The Dance for about 6 hours on repeat. Ryan, if you are reading this sorry man!
Solitaire
I got dissed, it
bites
(shuffle, shuffle,
shuffle,....)
Second time in two
nights
(Deal, Deal,
Deal,....)
I don't know what
I expected
(six of hearts on
7 of clubs...)
Why did I think it
would be different
(move the two of
spades up)
I shouldn't have
listened to the guys
(shuffle, flip
aahhh....)
Their advice
wasn't wise
(nine of clubs on
ten of diamonds...)
"Just ask
her, it can't hurt."
(five of diamonds
on six of spades...)
Man she looked so
cute, in that skirt
(King of hearts
over....)
I thought I might
have had a chance
(flip, flip,
flip,...)
Even if it had
been only this one dance.
(running out of
options ....)
Maybe this anxiety
will just go away
(ten of hearts on
jack of spades)
Hell, I wouldn't
even know what to say
(flip, I need that
stupid Queen )
By now I've waited
to long
(King of spades
over, Darn)
I don't even know
how my feelings belong
(It's over, I
lost)
I hate this stupid
game of mine
(shuffle, shuffle,
shuffle,... )
But at least it
passes the time
(shuffle, shuffle,
shuffle, ...)
My notes on this next one say May 20, 1993 at Basileia (Intervarsity Christian fellowship Summer camp)
Fragile
“It's like
playing baseball in a glass house," said he,
"Whenever
I'm trying to deal with she."
"I know
seems to me she needs a sticker 'fragile use care.'"
Fragile, a finely
crafted vase, perfectly formed, without compare
Wrought by the
master, totally unique.
Fragile, a
spider's web, beauty of nature, mystique.
Fragile, crystal,
faceted sides shinning in radiant beauty.
Fragile, roses in
bloom, petals of red, nothing else needs to be said.
Fragile, is a
precious thing of immeasurable worth.
She has, she's
the only one on this earth.
All my notes say about the next one is December 1992.
My Rose
Trees are nature's canvas when
autumn comes.
Red maples, yellow oaks, green
pine shine bright
Leaves crackle underfoot as I
walk through the trees
Out in the fields, the grass is
withering brown.
Winter waits for its turn on
center stage,
For now I marvel at nature's
handiwork as it stretches in the breeze.
It's beautiful.
Beauty becomes my rose too.
Delicate like the trees, alive
like the breeze
It is the last wild red rose of
the year.
It is unique, special, just
like you.
One final one, I remember writing this one at night at Basileia 1993 outside Cabin D&H at a Camp near Albany NY. same time frame when I wrote Fragile.
FOG
Misty faces in
misty places, why even try?
Cold fronts
meet warm fronts in the May sky.
Rolling in
like a blanket over the ground,
Surrounding me
on all sides is solitude, not a sound.
Returning home
finds me drifting in the fog.
Thoughts
appear then float away,
Silence is my
way today
I can only
wait and see what tomorrow may be
Waiting is so
hard for me.
The street
light above gives off a brilliant white glow
Not unlike the
light on a mountain years ago--
The brilliance
of Jesus in pure form
His love and
grace envelop me unlike any natural storm.
Hope in Him is
mine, for love is divine.
Lifeline of
hopes and dreams, mine.
All things
will become clear with time.
