The Poetry of Rick L.

My face
touched your hard body.
You kissed me
with that pretty rouge lipstick
that burns into my face.

I joined in your
cobalt circle club.
Tough love indeed
from you,
but it was all good.
Your love
left me reeling.

Now it's all
I can think about.

The Evening

[Sep. 16th, 2008|02:33 pm]

Mom blows out the candle,
She shall sleep soon.

She opens the window,
aiding the heat
in its escape.

My brothers and sisters
and I
put on our warmest pajamas
while mom gets her white quilt.

Mom will fall asleep,
but we will not.
We will stay up late
and play around.
She won't hear us at all.

Misdirection

[Sep. 4th, 2008|03:35 am]

Is my volume knob stuck,
or does my voice
fail to reach its destination
like a dart hitting the wall?

It's like a living chain.
It's fed with my words
and keeps growing
with each phoneme.

I want to go to China.
I want to go to L.A.
I want to go to London.
I want to go to New York.

But I always end up
in some small town
in Arkansas each time.
How'd I go astray?

Let's Tango at Night

[Sep. 4th, 2008|02:51 am]

Could you not
destroy your crutches
with an axe?

Somehow,
I think I reek
of a tremendous body odor
or we are made of magnets,
and we are both alike
I know.

Could you not
destroy my crutches
with a chainsaw?

Somehow,
I don't think
you're an adiuvophobe.
You just want
to see night,
so you paint it on
your window blinds.

But the sun always rises again,
though you may miss it
with your sleep schedule.
Let me buy you a rooster as proof.
He will sound in the morning,
as to show you the way
out of a maze of hedges,
as long as you don't
lay him on the table
so he eternally rests
at supper time.

Silent Avoidance

[Aug. 26th, 2008|06:01 am]

The sky's in the midst
of changing the lightbulb
in its bi-daily ritual.

I'm just here,
watching the guy above me
as he hums to himself
and walks in circles.
He thinks I'm cool
and he always wants me to chill out.

For the thousandth time,
I look at this thing here.
It just sits there
being pristine,
but I want something different.
Turning around and counting to ten
isn't working,
so why am I trying it again?

I want to push the clock.
It's walking,
but I want it to run
because it's so lazy.

When all is said and done,
have I eluded my dreams,
or did they just forget to call me
when they drove by?

Sight

[Aug. 24th, 2008|04:15 pm]

You don't want
to stare backwards.

I pity the fortune tellers
in Dante's Inferno
Who can never see
the joys of the future.

We have eyes that see forward.
Why get stuck on things behind you?

Grip

[Aug. 24th, 2008|04:11 pm]

Stacking!
People say
the stuff you
carry
can be thrown into the void.

So many claims
big and small.
Which ones make you hold
less?

So fast!
The elephant will
exit
your mouth
with these magic tricks.

Observational Haiku - Greyhound Bus Trip, June 27, 2008

[Aug. 24th, 2008|04:07 pm]

I.
Dive-bombing raindrops
attempt to impede movement
of the Greyhound bus.

II.
Leaving Lewiston
an Amish guy reads a book
that I do not know.

III.
Running late again.
Bus'll prob'ly arrive at
Portland around two.

IV.
Sun's back out again.
Warms this part of Southern Maine
as we all pass by.

V.
Looking at the swamp,
I wonder what things live there
on that murky side.

VI.
Toll booth up ahead.
We don't need to give some change,
we can drive on through.

VII.
There's construction here.
Guys fix up the tattered road.
That's some real hard work.

Labor

[Aug. 24th, 2008|04:05 pm]

It's easy to put it
in a box or the desk.

Why is it a difficult task
to remove it from the location
from whence it was placed?

Time goes by,
not a thing is done to it.
Is it like wine,
just getting better with age?

Foreign Language

[Aug. 24th, 2008|04:02 pm]

"You sure are in a hurry!"
I remarked to the river
as it swiftly flowed by.

It responded
in a language
that I did not
understand.

Many years later,
running late again,
the same ol' river
is standing still.

It spoke to me
in a language
I still do not
understand.

"I am in a hurry,
I cannot chat now.
I must go places."

Suddenly, I
then understood
what the river had
tried to tell me.

On The Road

[Aug. 24th, 2008|03:25 pm]

Sitting.
Watching people go by
in the parking lot.

What do I want?
I want to turn my green eyes blue again,
but they stray irresistibly
to that woman in the mini-skirt.

What do I need?
Some change for the toll booth
on that highway,
though my eyes are tricked by bottle caps
that my brain thinks are quarters.

...

Sitting.
Watching cars drive by
on the highway.
Some prick
passes a little old lady on the right.

What do I want?
I want to tie that son of a bitch up
and throw him off to the side
if he tries that crap with me.

What do I need?
To cross the street,
but do I want to play a game of Freeway
with only one chance to do it right?

...

Sitting
somewhere at some place,
after hitchhiking halfway
to my destination.
Mapquest sucks,
the directions are all confusing,
and now I'm in front of this building
that's falling apart. It's probably been
closed for years,
even though it's a busy intersection
with crazy drivers that go two ways
when all the streets have only one lane.

I'm just sitting here without a car,
wondering whether I should walk
or stick around and try to hitchhike again.
It's quite a walk,
something like, twelve hours to get there
if I go on foot,
but only a couple hours if I get a ride,
but how long do I want to wait
for a driver going the right way?

The Dreamer

[Aug. 1st, 2008|12:54 am]

Rapid gusts
giving me the strength
to defy gravity.

Let me see all the toys
that are nearby towns.
May wisps of cotton
accompany me
on my journey.

My pursuit
is for pleasure,
motivated by mystery.

Down.

Down here,
the dirt lays dormant
like an idle boy
who should be doing his chores.

Down here,
the green looks up at me
just as enviously
as I look up
and envy the blue.

Down here,
I plan.
There is no easy way
to get to where
I want to go,
but I know
the only way to go

is up.

Acres

[May. 7th, 2008|11:04 am]

The long green field
is everyone's good friend.
He's the most generous
and patient friend I know.

He invites all the nearby kids
and suggests a game of football.
At night, he doesn't mind us coming by
for stealthy games of scatter.
If I'm sick or can't come by,
he understands.
He keeps a bright deposition
to wish me well.

When Mother Nature comes by
to water her garden,
My friends and I
know better than to go out to play.
We can go back out when she's done.
Sometimes, if we accidently step
on Mother Nature's flowers,
he tries to fix them for us.

When I drive by,
he says "Hi!" to me,
and I say "Hi!" back
When I take the other way home.

He doesn't just invite the nearby kids,
he invites everybody and everything
to come over and hang out.

"Bring your little sister
and do cartwheels on my cool grass."
"Bring your grandfather,
and we'll both tell you stories of days gone by."
"Bring the dog over,
and if he does his business, don't worry, I'll clean it."
"Bring your parents
and have a picnic. Oh, and bring those yummy tuna sandiwches!"

I feel so lucky to have a friend like you.
You're so warm, kind, and pleasant,
even when you're covered up
in your white blanket,
you still let us play with you.
You're so generous,
and that's why I admire you so.

Well-Wishers

[May. 1st, 2008|11:19 am]

A group of men
stand around a well,
throwing pennies in it
as they complain about life.

But the grass gets greener,
the river still flows,
and the kids still loiter
in the parking lot,
smoking cigarettes
and breaking windows of rich people
who continue getting richer
as the old building continues to fall apart.

But still,
a group of men
stand around a well,
throwing pennies in it
as they complain about life.

Drops

[May. 1st, 2008|11:16 am]

Hey ma,
why so down?
You were so happy
these last few days.

Now tears fall everywhere.
I tried to console you,
and I even did a little jig,
but it didn't really help.

You say you need time?
Alright, that's fine.
I'll wait in my bedroom
and watch you from my window.

Just remember, ma,
I think you're beautiful
inside and out
no matter how you feel.

Aerial

[Apr. 29th, 2008|12:24 pm]

Those on the bottom
fly up
on multi-colored
helium balloons.

I learned the hard way
how to build a plane.
I'll look down and watch
all those folks go by
on a one way trip

to nowhere.

Railroad Crossing

[Apr. 24th, 2008|11:41 am]

The train rushes by.
Where it goes
I don't
know.

I could follow its tracks,
but I choose not.
I want to
Make my
own.

The train rushes by.
Where I go,
I don't
know.

[Untitled]

[Apr. 24th, 2008|11:38 am]

Watch as I evaporate
all the water in my body,
then burst into flames.

If you would quit
embedding sharp objects into my spine,
I wouldn't have
to do this.

Too bad for you,
I can impersonate the phoenix.
You're in for it now.

Kidnapped

[Apr. 24th, 2008|11:36 am]

Someone hypnotized me.
Before I knew it,
I was shoved
underwater.

Then I was encased
In a steel box
with an invincible glass ceiling,
forced to watch the world go by.

Fold

[Apr. 24th, 2008|11:32 am]

Make up your fucking mind
which way you want me to bend.

Either way hurts like hell,
but doing both
snaps me in two.