Stressed Out

Anxious and uneasy
indeed, for certain queasy;

Stressed stressed, I cannot remember
ever being blessed;

Glance at the window, peer at the door
fear of the beast that is prowling on the floor.

I offer just desserts to slow it in its tracks.

as I flee
a chorus soars
of never-looking-backs.

Fortune hunters steal my thoughts
And carry away my dreams…

And somehow the music surrounding them
Makes them appear the heroes.

And you cheer them on.

K.A.Stryer December 11, 2001

A run through the leaves,
As innocent as,
The chilly night...
Fresh pumpkin pie,
Served with ice cream,
Running over your tongue...
The cool fresh air,
Flowing into your body,
Refreshing your lungs...
A cup of coffee,
At the local diner,
With someone you love...
A warm smile,
And a few hugs,
From your girlfriend...

Life is good...

Innocence

Karen,
A simple name,
Conjures the most important memories,
A time long ago,

Almost 12 years since,
And here I am writing this,
It's hard to believe, what do I say ?

So long ago,
No hormones to confuse things,
No fancy words,
Or catchy phrase,

Being with you was simple,
Natural as breathing,
I don't even remember what we said,
Just the memories of the emotions,
Made so faint by the etching of time,

I think of you,
Not day by day,
Not since we were split apart,

But now and then,
Yours is a memory I cannot shake,
I don't even know if I want to,
Something so long ago,
So Innocent,

Yet what we had,
What you gave me,
Last to this day,

Like a drug,
I cannot live without,
I've searched for something like what we had,

It was so long ago,
A lifetime in fact,
It seems like I was another person then,
Fear was a simple thing,
Loneliness just a word,
Despair but a concept,

So I think of you,
And I only wonder,
Do you think of me ?

Haiku

Popcorn and a Coke...
Hand in hand, watching TV.
Not so bad, really.

You might be a bastard if,
When driving near pedestrian huddles,
You swerve across the oncoing traffic,
To go through all the puddles.
Or when your ugly aunt come to visit,
You offer her a bed,
But that place of lodgings belongs to,
Your mangy dog instead.
Or when you're babysitting brats,
You get pizza delivery,
The time them up in front of you,
As you eat - misery!
Or before you go to the movies,
A laxative you strategically swallow,
And ask people to move aside,
Or in it that shall surely wallow.
Or when you want to play football,
And the football's flat,
You make do with the next best thing,
Your baby sister's cat.
Or when you go to the toilet,
You stretch plastic wrap across the seat,
The next one who uses it,
Gets a warm feeling on their feet.
Or when you go to the toilet,
You put shoe polish on the chair,
The next person upon the throne,
Has a circular dairyair.
Or when you're feeding someone grapes,
Getting them full of hope,
You casually change the food,
And slip them a bit of soap.
Or when you hose your front lawn,
And little kids come by,
You turn it up to its maximum,
And watch their shorts fly by.
Or make sure you drink lots of beer,
Whether boy or girl,
The take a new car for a drive,
And in it promptly hurl.
Or make sure you get the remote,
Then hog the TV,
Watch football or absolutely anything,
It matters not to me.
Or make sure to be a pig,
Leaving your clothes everywhere,
And never do any form of ironing,
And washing never prepare.
Don't ever cook any meal,
That's a nice thing to do,
Let your partner take care of that,
That's the thing to do.
Don't ever take the rubbish out,
Just leave it on the shelf,
When enough maggots are there,
It'll leave all by itself.
And those curtains over there,
That look so out of place,
Whenever you get some KFC,
Use them to wipe your face.
Make sure that you do the shopping,
And get the things you crave,
After all you're doing the shopping,
And you're a sort of slave.
Always hog the shared computer,
You've got important stuff to do,
Your partner will only waste some time,
It's better left to you.
But best of all join the Unwashed,
It's not so very hard,
Write yourself a two line poem,
And you're a Poetry Bastard!                                                    

Cheers from the Land of Oz

It was a dark and stormy night -or so the heralds say-
And lightning striking constantly transformed the night to day
The thunder roared the castle round -or thusly runs the tale-
And ringing from the NorthEast Tower there came a dreadful wail.

It was no beast or banshee that, the castle folk knew well,
Nor prisoner in agony, nor demon trapped by spell
No ghost that moaned in penance, nor a soul in mortal fright-
Twas just the Countess "Singing" - for she practiced every night.

The Countess was convinced that she should have been born a Bard
And thus she made the lives of those within her power hard.
For they must listen to her "Sing", and smile at what they heard
And swear she had a golden voice that rivaled any bird.

The Countess was convinced that she had wedded 'neath her state
And so the worst lot fell upon her meak and mild mate
Not only must the Count each night endure her every song
But suffer silent her abuse, be blamed for every wrong.

It was a dark and stormy night - or so the Dards aver -
And so perhaps that was the reason why there was no stir
When suddenly the "Music" ceased; so when dawn raised his head
Withen the Tower servants found the Countess stiff and dead

The Heralds came at once to judge if there had been foul play
They questioned all most carefully to hear what they would say
And one fact most astounding to them quikly came to light-
That EVERY moment of the Count was vouched for on that night.

The castle folk by ones and twos came formawrd on their own
To swear the Count had never once that night been all alone
So though the Tower had been locked tight, with two keys to the door
One his, one hers; the Count of guilt was plain absolved for sure.

At length the Heralds then pronounced her death as "Suicide"
And all withen the district voiced themselfs quite satisfied
It was a verditct, after al, that none wished to refute -
Though no one could imagine WHY she'd try to eat her lute....