response memo…

it is
with some regret
that i must inform you
that your death
could not be
scheduled
for a more convenient time
to facilitate your
getting affairs in order
and having time
to finish
your bucket list
you must understand
that these
recall notices
are dependent
upon a large number
of events
some of which
we
have no control over
accidents
suicides
murders
wars
and other human
designed methods
of early entry
i mean
it’s not like we
haven’t given you
sufficient warning
admittedly
we skipped
the locust
this time
but all-in-all
we gave you
fair notice
oh
by the way
there is
no appeal process
so
see you
soon

not even in the fine print…

since burial rites
are
so
important
to many
i
was just
wondering
who will bury
the last person
befitting
their
unbelievable
survival skills
i mean
just being
the last
one
should
demand special
attention
perhaps
a preprogrammed robot
could do the honors
playing the roles
of priest
mourners
and
of course
gravedigger
a compacted
version
of what
humans
used
to be
before
they became
blind
with
self-interest
so not seeing
death’s signature
on the contract
to their future
which
they
co-signed

love is hell…

it is not the lack of love
in the human heart
that brings one
to styx’s shores
but
love
love is the tormentor
bringing into one’s life
hopelessness and suffering
when unrequited
and sorrow and destruction
when it departs
the heart
and even when
shared between two
it is
a passion
that cannot
be quenched
by a single touch
unsatisfied desires reign
day and night
in the souls
of the young lovers
and with age
those who truly love
find no rest
from its burning passion
it is
a bottomless pit
this thing called
love

 

Point-Counter Point Challenge:  For those of you have been following the challenges between Jade and I, you are aware that several challenges have taken place over the course of the last few months.  This time, the challenge was to be initiated by me and I decided to change the rules a little…well a lot.  Here’s how it works this time.  Each poet provides the other poet with  five quotations that must be addressed from the opposite point of view as the original quote. Here is the second quote that Jade provided to me: “What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love”  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

america’s song…

like those before me
i too hear america sing
but from here it sounds
like the rhythmical
sputtering of guns
along the city streets
with a chorus of hissing
tear gas and crackling
of human bonfires
with extra verses of
fusty law-and-order
hail-hail the gang’s all here
god bless ye merry gentlemen
peace on earth
good will to
all
men