Lee Morgan
Family Court
I saw a man today
walking along the street
with one eye closed
holding his sobs back behind his grimace.
Breathing through a small hole that he would allow of his mouth,
to stop the sobs from bursting out
his body hunched as if to hold them down inside his gut.
The bag he carried low at his side
seemed to weigh a ton.
As he walked passed I could really connect with his pain
I wanted to stop him, hold him,
so he might cry on my shoulder
and not feel so alone.
or maybe he was a one eyed hunch back with a heavy bag
and it was me projecting this onto him,
so I would not feel so alone with my pain.
Lee Morgan
Harry James
Harry James is a bohemian masculist and proud grandfather
who writes to uplift men in difficult times.
The Empty Garden
Since the days of Adam, there has been hardly a mischief done in this
world, but a woman has been at the bottom of it. – Barry Lyndon by William
Makepeace Thackery
Will you let me be me?
I might let you be you!
It’s tempting in the garden of paradise
When the faithless secret wounds,
We’ll turn the tables, flip the mattress,
Spin the chamber, dip the curse in toffee.
The candleflaming bill is yours, Babe.
Snatch now, the bite that halves the worm
While I blow your brains out from behind!
You choose, my Darling, the apple or the gun?
Which tastes better; bitter bile and bullet?
Juices on the scarlet lips ?
Fluids exchange in earnest?
Or blood gargled before the swallow?
This pain and pleasure is only tenderness with treachery,
Mist through the passionate orchard Dear,
Soured cream on loves peaches, smooth poison in the wine,
A snake in the splendid grass.
Either way, fast or slow,
Open the door for me please, chew carefully,
Stroke the trigger gently, take your medicine smiling,
Gulp the shot grinning, Beloved.
So sudden,
The smoking apple screens the afterglow.
The fang in the barrel kills the weekend, cold.
The halved worm turns a sneer, Dearest
Peace too is hard to find.
Sweet release of days;
Leads only to soil for the tree, Honey,
Where apples fall again to rot
And birds sing while bees buzz.
I’ll let you be you!
Will you let me be me?
Tempting is wasted on green flesh
And worms will try loves openings
In the empty garden
(With compassion for the Betrayed
May you find the strength to endure)
Harry James,
(from Peaches & Poison, Part I of WEST OF NOWHERE).
