Poems Spring 2025

1. Grand Mastery

Do your sport; enjoy
Your niche hobby and do it
Well. Do not listen
To the voices of the Naysays;
"Touch grass" They say; you achieved.

For be it Mario or Rubik's Cube
Or writing poetry or painting art;
Be it clockmaking or bonsais, or song;
Be it carpentry or butter sculpture
Or Legos or making large sand castles;
Or bladesmithing or sculpture or sermons;
Or lectures or homilies or preaching;
Or martial arts or sports or mechanics;
Or math or English or humanities;
So long as there is no harm to yourself 
Or to others, grand mastery is good.

2. A Curiosity

There is a man who is average
And a grandmaster.

The average man makes his fortune;
The grandmaster starves.

The average man is a churl;
The grandmaster is a truly exceptional man.

3. A Poem in Trochaic Pentameter

I struggle today on my own mercies---
Great is the day of my time and treasure.
I need not waste a mental hour on 
Frail bones, and shallow truths; awaken heart
To the image of greater destinies! 
Poetry shall be one day freed, so me.

4. The Seminarian 

A good boy or girl take up
Saying, "I will be instructed in the way."
Thus, they go where no man
Should ever go.
To the Seminary they go,
And they learn every bit of chaff they can.
Then theology is a mess of confusion
And babble. Ideas become muddied.
Let go... let go... let go...
Drink the pure chaff of Seminary
And you shall come out a know it all about nothing.
All you need for a Bible Scholar
Is a brain, a Bible and I just realized
None know the way...
All are the blind leading the blind.
Why was I led by Thou Christ
With precious memory of You?

5. The Smell of Cabbage

The Plumber came to the door---
They belonged to the neighbor.
The smell of cabbage reeked outside;
I thought it was them, but it lingered
For two hours, even as I walked at the State Park.

6. The Mystery of Babylon

To hate the good's law
And claim Nature's Religion
Can't be known by man.
Thus, the cross is sin's license
To hate good; pursue evil.

7. The Mystery of the Cross

We love righteousness
And we also love the truth.
But, we cannot do
It, nor cede from all our sins.
Thus, we live with this knowledge.

8. Alaila

Swift runner, so strong
You had one moment of rage
And committed the sin of Cain,
But awoke, and there was no murder.

Now you hide it, and I understand why.
Rest assured, I understand why.
We sometimes don't know what we're capable of
Until  we do it, and a lifetime's reflection
Gets us back on the path...

Sometimes it is best that there were no consequences
For a once and done misdemeanor;
For we do not know it is in ourselves
Until we realize it
And then we must live with the fear of ourselves
Until we reach the shores of Zion;
Either broken into, and in flames, or flourishing like the well nourished  field.

9. The American Folk Religion

How I wish I had clung to you closely
Instead of Christian Protestantism.
For you're a form of Christianity
Pure and untainted by the world's weird.
Just be a good person, and believe Christ.
No need to make it harder than that, now.
I see the Protestant evangelist
Rebuking his grandmother, saying, "Please
"Accept Jesus as your LORD and Savior."
She already did, you silly dove, more
Soundly than anyone else you know of.
For to know Christ, and say, "I follow you,"
That is enough. God never punished one
Who did what was good and true. Just believe.
I praise American Folk Religion
More than I do Protestantism. For
It leads people to backward ways, foolish
And dark... and The Religion of the Folk
Is indeed the Christianity I 
Remembered, and though we sin and do wrong
No one has to know about it, so we
Can live peaceably with God and Neighbor.

10. Buddha and Christ

What Buddha spoke in long circumlocutions
And often without a single shred of nuance
Jesus spoke in short bursts of crystal clarity
And also many diverse breaths of shades.

11. The Sage

"There was a semicircle
"And it was divided into two
"The one part was twice that of the other.
"The shorter part was one third the semicircle's length
"And the longer part two thirds.
"Two right triangles were made
"From the circumference.
"Therefore, the hypotenuse of the triangle
"Toward the shorter side
"Is one third the square
"Of the hemisphere's base's square.
"How could this be, unless God designed it?
"For as intersecting chords theorem works
"So must this be true, as the circle goes round
"Equal. How does this work, unless God planed 
"And scaled our universe?"

12. An Interesting Thing You Only Learn Studying Euclid

1 is 1 1/2 
Times larger
Than 1/3.
To make it into an equality:

(1 1/2)/3=.5

or 3/2=3/2

3/2*1/3=1/2

3/2*x=(1 1/2)/3

x=1/3

13. The Marching Morons

It would seem the best way to prevent such a thing
Is to teach people how to read better,
Give them solid and firm religious foundations,
And educate them better.

14. The Canticle

A minor nation we may be
Antique and all alone,
In dark days clinging to old canticles.
But bright is the ancient fay
Of true religion in its day
When the world turned to its weird of Atheism.
Druids worship by sex and murder;
We, so peaceful, with a joyous song.
We harm no one, but are hated
For we shun all that is strong.
We by peace and love do worship
And by gathering alms for the poor.
We worship with the Mass
And Christ's bread and wine adore.

15. 3.24.25

Joy, 'tis more deep
A well than melancholy.
Deepest of the treasures
For it is very easily lost
And Melancholy easily gained.

A prophet is not 
A fortune teller. No.
A fool tries to predict
The future.
A prophet is a witness,
Interpreting the things
Seen and unseen.
Drawing out its meaning.

Therefore, prophecy is not
A prediction, but a warning.
A reminder of what
Will be if keeping
On the present course.

Thus, prophets seek
Out what is deep,
To furnish joy in the world
And stay back many sorrows.

16. The Law is Abolished

The law is abolished.
Therefore, every sentence
Is cut off, and we live free.
Not so we can sin,
But so we cannot sin;
Not so we can live in unrighteousness
But so we can indeed live righteously.
For no one has reason to do what is right
If there is no reward left for them.

17. Tribulation

Paul says,
"Tribulation work'th patience,
"Patience work'th experience,
"Experience work'th hope
"Hope mak'th not ashamed;
"For the love of God is shed abroad for us
"By the Holy Ghost which is Given to us."

What does this mean?
Trial and sorrow in this life
Work'th the understanding
That we can never be plucked
From the LORD's hand
No matter what.
Thus, we stand nigh our enemies
In peace, knowing we have ceased from all sin.
For we are given peace and rest
Through the abolition of the commandment
And therefore, are enabled to do righteousness
And sin no more.

18. Thoughts 3.26.25

The stars travel on their course, 
And the Dragon morphs before
My very eyes--his red eye moves;
There behind David
Who struggles with Goliath
As Elisha's Bear stands ready to defend.
The Pyramids have a secret unlocked---
Or so says all the evangelists,
Great depths of catacombs
Impossibly drilled kilometers deep
Which I know must be modern---
I say it is the palace of a king
And his underground hot springs.
Egypt and Babylon were opposite---
Egypt artistic, humorous, and fat
Babylon calculating, defensive, and harsh.
For the great society of empires
They begin light, free and perfect
And humanity dwells most richly in their bones
And due to complexity they grow tyrannical---
For complex civilization grows more controlling.
And  then they die  by the hands of barbarians
And the peoples are once again free.
And we can hold these views simultaneously
That on Planet Earth there are always  
Good and Bad civilizations;
The despotic is in us as well as liberty.

19. My Greatest Fear

Life eternal here, with no green, no blue, no slime
And no sex, no food, no love, just unending time;
Hell  it would be to me, for all that'd be left is crust;
Die and be buried, ashes to ashes be dust:
For life eternal here is hell,  you would soon find;
Even with all the creature pleasures for your mind.

20. The Weal of Time

The weal of time is good, I say
As Robert Burns, Clive Lewis, gay,
Sings a song of Satan's din
Of the horrors of science been
Born of man who did gross deeds---
The moon of Sin is looked at clean
Where strange wars are fought in mental sides
And the miser of the world commits suicide.
For the frightened fact of great all tamed
Deceits of riches and worldly fame
Is to be ever lived upon this Earth;
But my love, such could only be a curse.

21. My Brain

My brain is like a top of the line
Graphics Chip, only second from the best;
A fragmented, but top of the line Hard Drive 
With perfect recall; top of the line qRAM cards
And a Quantum Single Core Processor;
With a top of the line sound card,
Second from the best..

My graphics chip, is because I have Phantasia, and not Hyper-Phantasia.

My Hard Drive because I have great recall of events that have happened,
Even as far back as the age of one and a half.

My qRAM because my mind wanders all day, every day, and randomly bring back memories
So Qubits are the only thing that can run a Quantum Processor.

A Quantum Single Core, because my mind is singularly focused
And can only run one program at a time,
But I see through dichotomies, and see things through multiple layers and dimensions
While comprehending things without having direct evidence--I make pretty accurate leaps like in Calculus
By predicting the patterns.

My sound card, because I have near perfect pitch---
Not perfect pitch, but near perfect pitch, as my Memory cannot keep track
Of all the different pitches to have perfect pitch;
But I can recognize pitch when I hear it, and have something to base it off of.

22. Pilate and Lentulus

Coming upon these two Syriac manuscripts
One by Publius Lentulus and another by Pilate
I've found 5th century Syriac sources
Written in the Syriac tongue---
When translations were fruitful
It would be around the 5th Century AD.
460 years after Christ.
Catholics say, "It is pseudepigraphal
"For no Lentulus ever was Publius."
Although, scholars said Nazareth never existed;
They've even gone so far as to say Israel
Didn't exist until the seventh century B.C..
Which we know is not true.
Why would translation work be done
And then hidden until the Renascence?
Mystery upon mystery.

23. Sebastian Prufrock

David with his wings, and maddened by murder
Faithlessly devoid of all truth---
Wings of the Seraph upon your back
Writes a self scathing ode thought to be 
A song of a maddened professor---
Nay 'twas he all along.
As he has the original Syriac manuscript
of Publius and Pilate
And devoid of all cleverness
Works tirelessly to nullify it.
Like Eusebius, does damage to the faith
And makes a controversy to hide the plain spoken truth---
Oh Lucifer, thou Sealest up the Sum, Full of Wisdom!---
And your hatred of Jews and love for Volk Christianity
For you agree with Hitler, "All Christianity is, is work and pray"---
You say I am stale, and you modernize the tongue
To pedants like Pharisees, I alight upon your sparkling prose
And know... yes I know...
St. Sabastian, the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
'Tis you, and Nathaniel was wrong to terrorize me.
You revealed it... and it was delivered to the king
As a present, and he was enraged.
Need not worry, I will keep your secret.
If you need me to die in your place
Live long and prosper
But I cannot be your propitiation.
Only your ticket to a worldly lucre.
Eat, Adam---that is my brother's name.
You are not he.

24. The Old Don

Twenty-six at most, the Old Don sonorously
Expounds upon T. S. Eliot.
Parts of an older world, a better world,
Which I am a part of also.
And Eliot, the harbinger of the new one
Where our ways are already obsolete.

25. The Mad World

Palestinians and Jews fight to destroy each other.
Russians and Ukrainians fight to destroy each other.
Judicial systems are invaded by punks with Palestinian flags.
I say, "Shoot them all," in a moment of pride, but then understand.
Yes, but it must not be named, what I understand.
I support the Jew, but not a Holocaust. And I always have.

26. The Christian Prison Population

A Christian wants a quiet domestic life
And to feed on the breasts of his wife's nourishment
And to love his children, and to work for life and limb.

The Atheist will not let him have it
By disseminating cruel philosophies into the void.

Thus, they both commit their crimes,
The Atheists' worse and more abhorrent
In its cruelty and callousness,
But calculatingly made legal,
So the Christian ends up in prison
And the Atheist sneers and says
"We commit no crime."

27. The King in His Beauty

I saw the King in His beauty
I saw the distant land.
The Assyrian came to kill me
Deeper speech they had which I could not understand;
And speaking with them wrought sorrows
And they could not understand me;
The scribes had all been wrong
And they that wrote down their wisdom could not be seen.
The Towers were then counted,
The Treasurer saw our debt was high.
Yet, it all came to the head,
When the LORD burned their armies alive.

28. A Fact of Life

If you are lazy, or dishonest,
When you give your effort
To do what's right, and then slack
It is immediately doubted.

If you are hardworking and honest
When you give your effort
To do what's right, and then rest
It is immediately pardoned.

29. The Loneliest Whale

52 hertz, and UFOs, an American Pie,
Luigi Mangione and Richie Valens,
Aliens and Bigfoot, Area 51,
Planes crash, Kobe dies...
QAnon and Pizza Gate
Alex Jones gets sued
Why oh why oh why?
It's all the great distractions:
That's why.
It's probably just a whale.
It's probably the United States Air Force.
It's probably a disgruntled man.
It's probably just Ghost Stories.
It's probably just a nuclear waste dump.
It's probably just kids not being able to do their jobs right.
It's probably meant to discredit Conspiracy Theorists.
It's probably because Alex wouldn't get an Attorney.

30. If Not Highly Regarded

If not highly regarded,
And my corpus thrown in the trash...
I at least learned of you Jesus
And how not to be so rash.
A sage and philosopher, I may be forgotten
And a wise man too...
I at least found my Savior
And I at least love you
Who reads this, though given some mighty truth...
I spent my life the right way
Even though I may look like a loon.

31. The Schizophrenic Poet

The schizophrenic has a sound
Mind for creating poetry.
For it soothes his soul to place the 
Song upon the sheet, and see it
There, where it can't hurt anyone.
And there, several years later it
Emerges, and is seen to be 
False, only creative forays.
For the mind tortured by worlds
Needs to speak its peace; who knows if
It is true? It likely is to 
Some degree. It is the mind's thoughts
And then creatively expressed
And then exorcised, and read
By others, through his adventure.

32. Elegy to Pope Francis

It is not good, to so wonder
Whether a man had risen high
Or descended down to the pits.
Yet, let us look at this Pope now
And see the fruits of his, and know
Only God can judge a sinner.
First, he made Solo Christo doubtdt
And had taken Mayan idols
Into his city, which the priests
Had thrown into the Rhine to die.
He made divisions in the church
And had great abomination
Seated behind him on his throne.
Yet, he was kind to all he met
Despite slapping a woman once
For touching his then holy sleeve.
And he stayed back the Sodomite
From being included in church
And kept the patriarchy sound.
He was not so proud, but humble
And loved mankind so very much.
He startled a child once by 
Whispering into coiled ears
And said something which made his eyes
Lit, what I do not know, either 
Good or evil, it is not ours 
To ever know. He wished to blend
The church with other pantheons
And marched with sinners on the way.
But, he had a kind persona 
And loved by much of the world.
Yet if he repented, even
He could then find the narrow gate,
Even if in the throws of death.
For, he had mercy on the poor
And perhaps it is to hide him
From the day of wrath: consider.

33. Old Plain Buttons

Old Plain Buttons on a sloop
When American might was honored---
Kindly treated you were, and not harassed.
Ashamed I am to say, no such treatment
Would be given to you in today's America
A hollow shell of her glory.
I love my country, but not its people.
I love its laws, but not its hollowed jerks.
Today,  I saw the men wandering
Like they did before World War I
Aimlessly in the streets, disturbed by technology.
And I will not fight in its infernal wars.
For I am a patriot to another world
And a country long gone and forgotten by time.
I have a country... Star Spangled Banner
And Liberty. Not Kings and mad Congresswomen
Trying to steal every breath of liberty
From our blessed soil. That is not my country.
I bow to no man, nor tyrant, but seek
The Principle of our great nation.
Not "Sexual Liberty" for no such liberty
Can exist with my blessed freedom.
It is the rot that tumored our shores
And made great waves and destroyed
Worlds before. But I shall let them have it
For I am a man without a country---
But not the same as the one who dishonored his
But the one abandoned by it, for we forgot our own foundations.

34. How Lessons are Learned

Lesson learned,
My numerals are off...
Write a new poem
And work smart, not hard.

35. My Last Apology

Should Earth be spherical 
And old, and Evolution true...
I know Christ was exceptional.
I know He made sense in ways
That few ever could.
I know Paul made sense
And yes, Moses too.
And I know heaven is the only
Thing that could make this rotten world
Not stink so bad
And hell the only thing that could
Suffice for the people who made it that way.

36. The Radical Christian

The Radical Christian says I'm in a cult---
I know of no other faith than the one I speak.
Nothing but sound Doctrine comes from my mouth
But I say how there is so little righteousness in this world
And that all congregations look like a troop of sinners.
So, I am in a cult... verbatim I speak the Apostles Creed
And words from St. John... as he speaks in all caps.
I am fearful for Christ's sheep, if this is a righteous man;
A raging lunatic who cannot listen to reason.
Come my LORD, and save us soon...
Before all Christendom is extinguished
And Satan elevates himself, and teaches them his error.
The devil flees when you resist him...
And he fled, by blocking me.

37. The Space Pod

They go into space
And see what's been long hidden.
The pod falls, windows
Break, and a frozen hand grasps
The control. Controversy
Drums up. But people
Don't know, and are mad about
The wrong things. Always.
Then changelings replace the
Women aboard the capsule.

38. The Saints I Know

The saints I know today
Were a little melancholy
And a little bit of a bore.
Burdened by overworking
And grieved by doing good.
They think, and meditate,
Wondering if their good deeds
Are a crime. For they seem punished
For welldoing, and I understand
Satan wishes to cause our ministries
To fail, and give up and feel sad
By means of welldoing.
Let Charity revive our souls
And know that good is not a sin
And that by doing it, you will
Attain to life everlasting
And be with Hephzibah.
For shyly was Don on the trail;
And Sam was a bit despondent;
And I a bit avoidant;
The Pastor a bit overwhelmed.
Let Charity refresh our souls
Through one another's company.

39. The Woman Upon the Screen

I saw her there, with her large bosom exposed
Along the sides, and a perfect face
And I said, "Have mercy!"
I can't see it, for I need it.
And it is frustrating me.
How I can't imagine those men
Who watch porn, how they're frustrated
As this beautiful doe's bosom
Is there, exposed to me
And I realize I need her to be happy
But there upon the screen,
She is a far away thing I cannot touch.
Arrive! Hephzibah! Save me!
Arrive! Jerusalem! Take me to your courts!
Arrive! Beaulah! Make me a happy man!

40. I Am A Fool

Driving down, my dad does something so nice.
I put down the back windows---knowing I shouldn't.
They get stuck, as I knew they would.
Stressed, because the realtors sent us a check
For our house in the mail we didn't want---these are the times we live in---
And worried about Social Security and being homeless,
I guess I just didn't remember it was broken. But, I put down the windows
And we dazedly drove for two hours looking for a place
To get our car fixed the next day.
We found it, with no help from me.

41. Hey, Jude, did You Publish?

Hey Jude, did you make it bad?
Did you take my novels and make them better?
Did you sell them down the river
And let the editors make them marketable?
Did you find her, though?
The beautiful Laurel Wreath?
Are you rich and fabulous because of me?
Am I Kilgore Trout? Just a Paperback writer
That you took the name, and did some tweaking
To my themes, and made them yours?
Did you improve upon me,
And with no desire to be true to yourself
Take and market me? Sell my soul down the river?
Am I just living in a Yellow Submarine
As you, Death, dance, oh Santa Muerte?
The skeletons walk, and clatter,
As I have the curse of Bunyan and Climacus;
They say it is because of pride,
I say it's because of the envy of the Demons.
Did you take a sad song and make it better?
Was it my sad song, that you made better?
I don't know... for I am poor and need my books;
I will not sell the rights for nothing
And I will not change them for the market.
Maybe that is why you always win.
Do you have the whole world believing you are the Apostle
And took my fantasy as your name?
Did you embrace my delusions?
Did you become my Doppelganger?
Are you making the whole world believe in magic, again?

42. The Wicked Witches

The people know they're
Evil, and will slay that which
Kills their dark brethren.
Like Vikings on a warfield
They only know 'bout vengeance. 

They terrorize their brothers and neighbors
And they make war with all the other lands;
And when their friend dies, they know only war.
For when the nations will defend themselves,
They only have one ethic, and that's kill.

43. Oh My People

Oh my people, so beautiful in the congregations
How I see your light, and it is an inspiration.
Yet the shepherds have spoiled, and made your sun go down.
You know not what the path is that leads you to the crown.

If I had a modern worship song for you
It'd be to have your faith be proved
And to live life in victory
And wrestle death and Satan's sting.

If I had one thing for you to say...
It'd be that life may not be so gay.
For fear and failure are a common theme.
Riches are not, they just are not our king.

A great world exists in heavenly temples...
Love God, and your neighbor with all reverence.
Know your light is the light of my life.
The face of joy is my most precious sight.

Yet mourning comes in this life of sorrows
Great men of God are thrown down to the gallows
Of torment and sin and sorrows strong.
Know that your shepherds led you all wrong.

They said, "Life is about Christ and nothing else."
Not loving your neighbor, but they said, "Love yourself."
They say Love God for He is king...
Yet the Law of God they leave it be.

So here's my last stand on this hill, I sing so wretchedly,
Give me faith, for it is my burden, without enmity.
For sorrows rack me every single day
And Satanic forces wish to have their way...

There is no sin for swallowing a bitter pill...
Respite comes in another life...
Make heaven your spiritual wife.
That's the way of life.

44. My Friend the Author

She was my friend for fifteen seconds
And I spoke every ill imaginable---
But she was my friend.
My pride is so arrogant
And is why I am poor.
I am as good as a grandmaster
But a villain in my heart persists
Wherever that sore is touched.
I backbite my dad;
I slander honest people;
I get angry at all the world.
Only so far as that sore is touched
And my wound is incurable.
And it aches and agonizes 
Every sorrowful burden is passed---
I chose a very miserable career
Knowing I am better than a bestseller
But not noticed by anyone.
And so I am cruel to a good woman
Who was my friend for fifteen seconds
And I can't help myself.
Would the success I get gain me more humility?
Or make me like another Arrogant Author I often run into?

45. My Favorite Pastor

My favorite pastor hates me---
This I know, for his silence is deafening.
He thinks I'm lazy, but well studied.
He thinks I accomplish nothing.
I don't know if it is just envy of me
Or that he thinks I truly am a sinner
And cannot get past the sins I committed in youth.
What am I to do, though?
If I affected nothing, then I am useless
But a human being, am I not?
Surely I am useless for myself
And for others... and he doth judge me a sinner
And I know in my heart... it is true.
I gave nothing.
I did nothing.
I hurt everyone.
I am nothing.
I have a heart to do good, but it does evil.
I know this.

46. The Poet

The poet tells me to read a book,
But he is unclear about what even he means himself.
To him, knowledge is agreement on a subject
Between two people... and that's what establishes wisdom.
Yet how can they be agreed, if they themselves
Do not even know what they mean when they speak?
Agreement is then, just mocking sounds
That neither one has the slightest knowledge for.
I'd rather never read another book again,
If that is what he gets from them.
I'd rather read nature, than a book.

47. Gladiators

Conservatives watch
Real punks being blown away
By guns---entertained.

48. Peter Sholze

I am not a mathematician like you,
Peter, but am very curious.
I spend time on the rudimentaries of rudimentaries
And study things in my purview.
I have not made a contribution--
I have pontificated on some things---
But I'd say Abel has already made my discovery.
P Versus NP cannot be,
Because it would generalize a formula for all shapes.
Some P cannot equal NP.
Why? The same reason πr^2 cannot equal l*w.
On a square, it works... if you do the radius times half the perimeter
But not on a rectangle. Which is also why ellipses need Calculus
Which I spent about 2 hours figuring out one day.
As we don't know the perimeter of an ellipse, therefore
Cannot generalize a simple formula for the shape;
And even then it wouldn't work on a rectangle, so you go nowhere.
We know the curve of a circle is pi, we do not know the curve of an ellipse
And that is why we need Calculus.
And then, I have one more inane idea---
That the Twin Primes can be used to solve Reimann's Hypothesis.
As we can find some way to establish a pattern through them
And the Zeta Function, that may get us to a concrete shape.
Those are my only theories, though...
Just a Philosopher.
Not as brilliant as you.

49. Spring Cotton, Lavender and Wood

The smell of my home, so good to my nose;
How long! oh homeward bound, will that smell
Pleasantly rise? Many years, resting, the home
Smell arises, like an angel in the reeds.
The angels sing, and nice are those songs,
And the smell ancient to my nostrils
Like a melody, familiar and never sour.
If I were to move, how long would the smell
Take before it lingers, and fills my nostrils?
Familiar is the scent… will it ever return?
Or will new, other pleasant smells arise?
New house smells? Or will I lose the familiar scent?
I know not. For ancient lives are born from ancient homes
And the angels come, and rest and make a pleasant smell.
That much I know.

50. I Just Want to Do My Work--To Another Man, Give the World

I just want to do my work
And eat doing it---
Write my fantasies, and sci-fis
And study math and science
And study flora and fauna---
And have a small income:
But give the world to another man.

51. Good Food

You're done spending your money,
I just wanted milk and honey
You took our world to the shoots.

Why is everyone so poor?
Why is everyone so sore?
Why did I need your money, dude?

Was it not you who made it bad
Who made everyone so sad
So I'll just eat my good food.

I shouldn't have needed your money, dude.

My dad's a good man
And he doesn't understand
That I don't need your money, dude.

But so he doesn't get so poor
I'll just hold my hand out more
While my books sit for sale and just stew.

And if you don't pay me
I'll go out on the streets
And leave my dad with his wealth, and pule.

I was just a tad to late
So I will starve at the gate
Like Lazarus, and die with no food.

Why did you make me sad
Why did I get so fat?
Was it not because you were so lewd?

You took every cent I had
And you hid it in a bag
And you made me get high on some tunes.

I don't need you.

52. A Man

There is a man who everyone knows
Happy and high on life...
He makes war on all
And strives for all he has
A hero of the folk.
Yet, no compassion and hateful
He teaches others to have no love...
All things to him are war
All things are push or shove.

There is a man who no one knows
Sad and low as scum.
He makes war on none.
He strove for all he had
Yet the folk would not pardon him.
He had compassion on his foes
And taught all others to have love...
All things were warred against him
But he died. Yet, he did much good.

53. The History of Magic

Jim Morrison once said
"A saint is really a criminal
"And a criminal is really a saint."
I suppose wanting to be a saint
While being a criminal,
That makes me like Socrates' Eros
Half Wise, and in a mean between them both.
A true philosopher, knowing both
The deep evil and the deep joys;
Yet, I still wish to be a saint,
While have mercy on the criminal
For having been so, too, once myself.

54. Glitch

I heard a glitch in
My podcast and an ever
Critical ear caught
Every unnatural pause in
Everyone. So don't 
Spoil all of your joyful illusions.

55. Byzantium

Declining empire, a Shadow of Rome---
You fight to take all the Roman Territories back.
But, are invaded by Huns and Germans
Goths and Visigoths, Vikings and Barbarians.
The institutions are not so powerful
With various booms and busts.
Muslims then invade, and Crusades.
You bulwark the West
And Schism from Rome
And are now Orthodox Christians.
You rule over religious rites
You make encyclopedias---
You bring the idea to Da Vinci
By routes to Italy in the Fifteenth Century
And Da Vinci compiles empirical observations
And invents the Compendium of Science.
That goes to Britain, and America
While Masons forge their best interests
And their many interests in Geometry and Magic
To create a world where illusions are made
Into leisure. And then Prometheus gives fire
To man, and Industry excels and man has comfort---
The poorest of all were more situated than kings.
And then Arab princes invade, and smash
And European princes apologize for making the world better.
And Irishmen dawn the horns of demons
And metastasize the West with belief in Fairies again.

56. The Two Kings of the West

I listened to the King of the West
Talk about his education he'd bequeath to his son.
War, violence, primitive man, God is dead;
The economics of relationships and some Sages.

I listened to the other king of the West
Talk about his education he'd bequeath to his son.
He'd do away with all history, and make everything new.
A vortex, eating away all virtue and cruelty.

57. At the Mall

At the mall, I'm sitting
And minding my own business.
A janitor comes up behind me.
He politely asks me if I can move...
My dad is buying my soda.
He then tells me, "God has a way of 
"Putting people in your life
"At the just the right moment.
"He provides for you what you need."
I politely get my Coke
And realizing I was rude
Come back, and try to give him a business card;
But I didn't have any on me,
And told him I was a writer.
He told me he was a writer, too,
Thinking at first I was begging for some money.
He wrote "Hell of the Black Dusk."
I search... the engines are hiding it;
Or he lied to me.
Either way, I am at an impasse.
As Sun Tsu said, if you must succeed
Hedge your army at an impasse
Or die.
I either die a writer
Or I live a writer.
I've spent too much time on this,
And can't bear the rejections from McDonald's and Subway anymore.
People have this habit of babbling to me religious platitudes
Not realizing I have a purpose.
This is it.
I knew it wasn't from God because it seemed mean
And seemed more like war than peace.
But, I entertained him all the more...
What's the chance of meeting a published janitor
At the Mall telling you you need to get a job
And God provides the right person at the right time?
I believe in miracles, just not when they
Bristle at the thought of someone buying their precious book
And then get belligerent with you for trying to ask him.

58. The First Death


Abel, murdered by your only brother…
How did Cain ever figure it out?
What inventive scheme would he see
To think, “Now here is my brother
“And I shall kill him
“For his sacrifice is pleasing to God
“And mine is not.”
For Abel Shepherded the flock—
He seemed so idle, sitting in the hills of the meadow
And with his Shepherd’s Staff, hooked
To pull the sheep from biting one another.
Cain, busy at work all day long, toiling in the hot sun
Making corn and tomatoes and husks of wheat
Brought it to God, and said, “Look! Here is mine!”
The firstfruits an offering too; a wave offering;
Cain’s was done for selfish motive.
Abel tended his sheep with love.

Oh! Busy man, you come to shepherd me…
I know I am poor.
I know too many things, and my brother is better than I am.
I wake up at Eleven Thirty and go to bed at One O’Clock.
I love him… and glory in him…
My shirt inside out at our meetings for his lover shall see me queer.
Cruel I was to you, oh glorious shepherd!
But I meant not to be… just tell me… tell me where to find your work
And I shall buy it whenever I can.
But I have nothing… I do not wish to beg from you or steal
Only to share in this great profession of ours.
Yet the Hillfolk say, “You are not of this time, get with the beat!”
Oh, how I am ashamed! I just want them to have good!
To find God! To know one another, and be pleased with each other!
The Custodian of my heart says, “I shall drop a word.”
And he does, and I foolishly try to help him!
For I have nothing to give, do you have anything to give?

Cain killed his brother Abel, what invention was this?
Never was there death, never was their murder…
The first man to die, was also the first man murdered by another…
Nay even by his own brother.
And he was cursed, for sure…
But to know death, and transcribe it like a plagiarist
From the sacrifice of a lamb, to the sacrifice of a man…
For Abel killed his sheep, the beloved of his soul
And Cain were offended by such a thing…
So he murdered Abel, for Abel’s sacrifice was more pleasing.

59. The Greeks

The Roman Golden Age
Came, before Greek Religion 
Filtered into it.
218 BC Hannibal fights Rome
And Rome destroys them.
146 BC Rome became like Greece.
So it was like Christian
Rome and Europe.
Golden ages came  when it was gone.
Hedonism, decadence and suffering
Came when it was here.

60. I a Reviler and the World an Extortioner

I revile, and the world extorts.
I speak its sin and shame it
It says, "We wish not to hear,
"Therefore, toil endlessly
"For that is work worthy of you."

61. The Day is Done

The wind blows so calmly;
The roses are in full bloom;
Invasions storm around thee,
Of weapons forecasting doom.

All for the air of silence
Of poetry and verse;
The great men and the giants
Have fallen to the curse.

For meaning has been lost
And tyrants' claim to fame
Is to scrape off all the moss
And make writers have no name.

For the ancient poesy is forbidden
And the serial of verse
Is given to the bidden
Of petty men rehearsed

Of a few stale phrases
And platitudes of mind.
The bold are off to battle
As the general crossed the Rhine.

And I realize now and forever
I have lost track of time.
But my poetry is my treasure
And is what kept me so alive.

My mind is filled with things
And the images of metaphor.
That is what made me happy
And what shook the world to its core.

To do a job I cannot, but I lend my skill to rhyme
Yet none will purchase my sorrows
For all want me working on the dime.
So I do not know.

62. Walter Summerford

Off to battle, he rode in World War I.
He led his calvary into war!
Then, was struck by lightning
Off his steed! He fell, paralyzed and dumb.

Six years later, as he fished,
He was beneath a sycamore tree,
Down fell the lightning bolt to lift the curse
His legs were now able to walk; set free!

Oh, God had blessed what He had cursed
And like Jonah in the belly of the whale,
The tree which He gave He also first
Lay to the silence of the gale

What God had given He had taken away.
So thus, he ambled on so happily
Walking free and true and good.
Yet, six years later, he was struck, could

It be that he was then paralyzed again?
Yes indeed it was, was it curse or freak
No one knows, but frightful of his life
He could no longer walk, and was meek.

Then he died, and laid to rest
His tombstone was struck again.
Was God a tyrant or was He just?
Yet, it proved He was once a man.

To philosophize upon this story
Lightning struck thrice, yet first
It hurt, and second relieved
Yet third it was a curse.

Why would God allow such things?
It is unknown to all Scholastic men.
It just shows God is truly real
So it were better to be His friend.

Yet it were for one more verse
I shall now tell you with this song:
Like Job, Walter had not cursed
But rather he suffered long.

63. Wrightsville Fire

Columbia and Wrightsville burn
When the Union set fire the bridge.
Buckets come, Confederate sons
And a table is furnished for
Their troop. Such beauty is seen there
What wouldn't happen today. Good
Men, knowing war is famine of
Charity, they work together
To restore the town from ashes.
Right in my hometown the war came
Near, but both sides set aside their
Differences, to help keep the peace.
645,000 
Men died in the war, to free slaves.
Thus, reparations were paid by
Our blood and peace. Let it now rest.

64. The Dead Writer

He wrote such exquisite verse;
Such exquisite prose;
Such exquisite stories.
Twelve Thousand pages;
Five Million Words.
He was dead, having little else.
His family rummaged through the work;
Dull they were, and no friends in sight.
They threw it in the trash.
All the boasts of being a man of history
Gone, the writer died,
And was forgotten by his brother's children.

65. Most Beautiful Woman

Most beautiful woman
With perfect face and cleft bosom
White and exposed upon a red dress.
You sing a favorite song...
Have mercy on me, beauty,
For you are perfection in every sense.
Give us mercy, we men,
For you torture us with your gorgeous
Cleavage there, teasing as it were.
I had to turn away, and not look.

66. The Prince's Wisdom

The wisdom of the Prince is airy---
It fades with every night.
Histories are forgotten
The wrong and the right.

Thus, like Paul I wonder
"All I know is Jesus Christ
"And Him Crucified,"
So I shall not hide my light.

©2025 B. K. Neifert
All Rights Reserved