Resident Poets

45 and alive
45 and alive
too young to stop
too old to worry

45 and alive
can still be angry
just not all the time

45 and alive
got places to go
know where I”ve been

45 and alive
still finding who I am
know a lot about me

45 and alive
can do a lot
have done a lot

45 and alive
know happy and sad
had plenty of both

45 and alive
like to compete
in competition with none

45 and alive
miss the yesterdays
can”t wait for tomorrows
***

My Friends are Dead
My friends are dead
The ones that are breathing
Have the dull glazed eye
Of a run over skunk

My friends are dead
There’s a lot of talk
But nothing’s said
And nothing’s heard

My friends are dead
Beaten down so flat
That they’ve become
Part of the pavement

My friends are dead
Before their time
From maladies
Of their own making

My friends are dead
Hardly shadows anymore
Of what they once were
A dwindling memory

My friends are dead
From self-inflicted
Wounds and not
The malice of enemies

My friends are dead
Because living got
To be so terribly
Terribly hard

My friends are dead
Because all the stuff
Wasn’t an answer
Just a big pile of crap

My friends are dead
Because too much thinking
Is a kind of sickness
A masquerading disease

My friends are dead
Bugs on the windshield
Of the speeding
SUV of life

My friends are dead
The songs are still there
But they can’t sing
Anymore at all

My friends are dead
I’ve heard it all before
Over and over
Again and again

My friends are dead
Piles of rocks
Pounded to pieces
By unknown hammers

My friends are dead
My friends are dead
My friends are dead
My friends are dead

My friends are dead
Echoes in the cavern
Of my head telling me
It”s lonely in here
***