Poetry

by J.M.King

Poems are words,

Hanging out with their pals,

Singing songs in a neighborhood bar.

      	   Unseen

Nobody noticed the shell of a man,
On a bench, by himself, in the park.
Clutching a bottle of two dollar wine;
Eating his soul strings...
    Gnawing his heart.
                                       --j.king

        Good Morning									

So nice to have coffee, alone, in my bed,
And smoke my third cigarette,		
To rumple the paper to my heart's delight,
You're gone, and I've no regret.
			--j.king

	 Overlooked

In a cold, crowded place
A tiny, lost soul,
Raised his weak little voice
In a plea,
"Someone, please, help me!
Can anyone hear?
Look down. Here I am. Do you see?"
		                    	--j.king

    	Rain

Stop in the world
To pause and reflect,
The next time a rain leaves your windowpane checked
With crystals of silver and yellow and blue,
The serious aspects of
Cause and effect.
                      --j.king

          Lost Hope

Standing alone, half-way across,
The boy on a bridge watched the stars.
Quietly he whistled an Ellington song,
   then stepped
      into space
         (and was gone.)
                          --j.king

        						
       Without You
				

The nights stretch out like desert highways,
Cold, lonely passsages to dawn,
Winding out of Desolation, east of Hopeless,
Bound west for all the emptiness beyond.

The bottle on the seat can't seem to warm me.
The radio plays only love songs and the blues.
Its a thousand miles from midnight until morning	
And each brings back a memory of you.
			--j.king

      	   Oh, By the Way

I've been hurting a little bit since you've been gone,
But not very much, all in all,
I expect that by Thursday I'll have it all through...
	The crying,
	The pain and
	The blues.

Friday I'll burn all the things that you left
So Saturday's free for my move.
The move! Did I mention
I have a new "friend"?
He's handsome and wealthy, too.
But the very best thing about my new friend
Is he's younger and thinner than you!
					--j.king

      Sometimes

       (in three quarter time)

 Do you think of me sometimes,
Since we're apart,
Or is that just my fantasy?

Do you wonder, if sometimes,
I'm dreaming of you,
And do you dream dreams of me?

Does your smile sometimes brighten
When you hear my name?
Do you sometimes feel something
You can't quite explain?

If you feel, sometimes, Darling,
Any of these
Then sometimes you're very like me.
			--j.king

          Ode to an Ex

Lovers are people who pack up and leave
When you need them around you the most,
Then come waltzing back, when the crisis is done,
With the clap and a tan from the coast.
He'll never wash dishes or take out the trash
Or pick up his shorts or his socks,
But he's always well dressed
And all your friends say
That you're lucky to have such a fox.

He couldn't care less if you come home or not,
As long as the phone bill is paid,
But he knows all the moves when you get him in bed,
So then, you're glad that he stayed.
Sooner or later, he'll dedide to move on,
And he'll leave without saying a word.
The only tears shed will be those that you waste
On the ungrateful, two-timing turd.
                              --j.king

	  The Night Life

Skin tight shirts in baggy jeans
Pretend to know what freedom means.
They roam a path from man to man,
Avaricious and hungry, stylishly lean.

Cruising slowly around the block
Cadillac men peruse the stock
Of boys for rent, blue eyed and tan,
Just fifty bucks for a section of clock.

Cheap hotels, with yellowed sheets,
Rent by the hour for those who meet
In some darkened bar or no man's land,
Tea rooms, parks or dingy streets.

Nameless faces and faceless numbers
Written on napkins and matchbook covers
Tell the tale of one night stands,
Forgotten tricks and doorway lovers.
			--j.king

	    Kitty

Drawing deep, from one more smoke,
She cruises 'round the bar,
Like a taxi with the meter off
That's looking for a fare,
But all the men there know her name,
And all of them were once fair game,
But that was many years ago
When Kitty was a girl.

Drinking fast, she finishes another warming gin,
Then motions Freddie, at the bar, to fill her glass again.
He's been around since "who knows when?"
In fact, she helped to break him in.
He's known just how she likes them poured
Since Kitty was a girl.

She brays, "One day, I'm gonna leave
This lousy one horse town".
But every day at two o'clock
She starts to make the rounds.
When she arrives, her stool is there.
The men all know its Kitty's chair,
And has been, since so long ago,
When Kitty was a girl.
                                       --j.king

	   Carping

"What's all this 'Love' stuff?
A crock! 
That's what it is".
	(He said to the bartender's back.)

"I don't want nobody hanging on me.
You can bet your sweet ass, that's a fact."

		He ordered another	
		By lifting his glass
		Then sat back to
		Stare at the crowd.

"Fools! Everyone of them".
	(Under his breath,)

	(Then louder,)
"Hey, who's playing ball?"

Nobody answered him.
	   Nobody cared.
		      Nobody heard him at all.
						  --j.king