Listening to you
oh what a to-do
it looks like
you've come unglued
or going bananas
your psyche's addled the mind muddled
brain's fogged boggled or befuddled
is something missing
a marble or two
perhaps a loose screw
maybe more than a few
and making a run
or bolt for it
will never do
it's not too late
to join the inmates
for as well you know
you will still be there
wherever you go
Moments of clarity
Are such a rarity
What's easier to find
Is my befuddled mind
As a child I used to think
Of all the things I wanted
When I grew I liked to drink
And it left my mind stunted
So now I can't remember
'Cause my memory isn't clear
My birthday's in December
But I don't know in what year
Casting blind judgments;
My steel toe shoes won’t fit you,
they were built for me;
Unable to walk this path,
you would muddle my footprints.
The world rejoiced upon the day,
When doctors quickly found a way,
The vaccine shot was good to go!
And only took a year or so!
But here’s the thing when it began:
Our country didn’t have a plan.
To dole the shots, it chose to shirk,
And told the states to go to work.
You see, although they won’t confess,
It turned into a murky mess.
If first to cops or first to schools,
These fifty states had fifty rules!
Oh sure, there’s little lady Joy,
Who’s sixty five from Illinois,
She did her time, despite it hard,
To get her vaccination card.
But what of Bob in Delaware?
With wrinkled skin and gray of hair?
Who gets a bit more sick than not,
But couldn’t get a Covid shot!
Though Kendra out in Arizona:
Twenty-three and had Corona.
Vaccines were in great supply.
She got it in a single try!
And then there’s Joe in Tennessee,
Who claims a hoax it had to be,
And if a dose or two remains,
He’d not put any in his veins.
So when the country basks in cheer,
Let’s see of all that’s very clear.
“It was a win!” they’ll proudly tout,
But turned a mess when rolling out.
A sparkling gem
In the middle of
The dull and mundane
It shines through,
Even on the darkest days
But still, no one notices
Its beautiful brilliance
It doesn't get stained
By the ugliness around
But that's what they want
It to become, dirty like
All the rest of them
The pure, uncontaminated stone
That had done nothing
To anybody else
Is continually tossed
Around like it is just
Any other ordinary,
Regular-looking rock
The unappreciated pretty
Little gemstone then
Becomes muddied over time,
No longer able
To keep up its shine
So it turns into
What everyone had wanted
Another piece of nothing
Stained by the world
Never to be how
It once was before
The beautiful, perfect gem
Became the small, boring
Rock you step on when
You go out your door
Painted dragon
walleye graphics
Crushing traffic
Plasma flagon
Paisley flower
Common hours
11/6/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2020
MY MUDDLED MIND
Your tea is getting coffee,
And your coffee is getting tea,
And what I mean to say
come and have your
Coffee please,
You have a cold,
I heard you sneeze!
Step out as you walk in
And walk in as you step out,
And what I mean to say
Don’t wander far
from where you are,
Dangers lurk about!
And then I say,
What clock is it today,
Or is today the clock,
So much on our minds,
Of anything and many kinds,
I wouldn’t like to look
Inside my mind,
For I may find a 2nd me
And just think of
How eternally busy
Both of us would be,
And besides, I might
not like what I see!
I get quite dizzy,
Thinking what I have to do,
In fact quite tizzy!
I tell my brain slow down,
Are you stupid it replies?
As it wears a puzzled frown!
Even in a lifetime, I would never
Get to know, not ever,
Of what i'll think of next,
and what my brain will text!
I have so many fake arguments inside of my head
And I win them every time
But when it comes time to actually fight
The words seldom come out right
I suppose that’s why I write in rhyme
There are so many beautiful things to express
And ugly, depressing things, too
But when it comes time, it all goes south
Every explanation is muddled in my mouth
But poetry lets me speak true
I ought to be frustrated, yes, sometimes I am
With my inability to voice my thoughts
But I discovered myself, with time
How to express my thoughts in rhyme
My pen relays what my mouth cannot
Azalea praise in painted hues
some pray, lie, bribe, pray, insult, pray
muddy month of May
A MUDDLED UP WORLD
Oh what a chaotic world we live in
Full of hysteria for all to see
With news of perpetual unhappiness within
Have we come to such a cacophony of undesire
That we spiraled down to such a degree
To that hollow feeling of despair
With the apocalypse about to descended
What happened to the kaleidoscope of love
That all should hold with a velvet glove
Now compare and repair we must
To stop the world going bust
25/9/17
I'm mystified by my unruly brain
while grasping for a word, I draw a blank
like ticker tape that moves in fits and starts
elusive phrases flicker in and out
and putting names with faces is a chore.
To place someone is hard as calculus
this mind, it calcifies as time goes by.
Can anybody recommend a tool
that scrapes away the crust of this decay?
I'll trade this mind for one that's fresh and new
but then I'd lose myself, I'll let things be
and keep my mind, and never mind the mess
it just takes time to get from "A to B".
Written on 5/26/2016
Travelling
Parallel lines
Darkness… light
Turbulent emotions orchestrate heartbeats-
Grey areas filled with muddled dreams.
As I sit brooding over my tea I
picture once more the solemn
sight of a streetlamp going dim
the same beacon of hope that
previously fueled the ramblings
inside my addled mind now
a ghost a shadow of it’s past
I imagine again the clothesline
that was once the structure for a fortress
so flimsy in it’s cottenness yet
strong from our beliefs today it
lies forgotten in a garden ransacked by time
bleached by an unforgiving sun
for eternity it shall rot until
revived by some memory
and brought back into the foreground
of my delusional psyche.
Wrangled truths consistently warn
wrinkled ideals persistently withdrawn
blatant bargaining the hopes of the new-born
banned are the muscle and the fighting brawn
Attained and sustained consciousness abide
ardent and absolute realities adorn
slowly creeping down an unforgivable slide
slated by an over souring scorn
Red and black bandanna's revered
riled and vile of a rebel royalty
land of lakes and volcanoes leer
lost in furore of a forgotten loyalty
Partitioned by purity of parity
pride of blood begins to pour
cloaked in the simplicity of clarity
correlated and formulated by the core
Democracy left hanging and dangled
demonstration of a presidential dud
messy, madness forged and mangled,
mired, muddy and muddled in mud.
(Sandinista realpolitik)
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