How to Write Bad Poetry

First, include weird
line br
eaks.

Add in strange!.gramm?ar
and pun(tuatio)N~

Go off on an unrelated tangent.
Unrelated, like the beaver
is to the daffodil,
and yet they still seem to whisper
secrets---

---and then jump back.

Use bigger words than is necessary,
but don't you dare use them vociferously!
Only a fool and a hypocrite
would be naive enough to use
the word "ubiquitous"
in conjunction with a beaver!

And last, but not least,
use cliches.

Art Gallery

Shout it from the midst of crowds.
I would.
But a cupped hand to an ear
may be more conspicuous.
Whatever your choice,
----------------choose your poison

The familiar blood rush
with a new touch of adrenaline.
Was it the way her hair curled?
An explosion of amber,
peaking with a sparkle in her eye.

My dead give-aways,
canvassed over with lids,
blank and ready for the masterwork of my memories,
unfolding and running over each other.
Bubbling brooks of smiles and laughs,
whispering like trees with their secrets.

Critical Poetry

Which to listen to
and who to leave,
that
is the joy of poetry.

whatislove?

at first sight
chemical imbalance
thought
desire
lust
sex
fate
emotion
heart
necessary
poetry

==========
*a different version


at first sight,
just a chemical imbalance.
mind thoughts, stop thinking.

desire
lust
sex.

fate can't be stopped.

emotion,
hearthurts.

necessary
for
poetry.

The Kingdom Under the Bush

Five years have passed
and still our children are dying.
My own children spend all night
counting the three hundred billion
Caesar threw with the hopes of appeasing the mighty Mars--

a retaliation that reaches
to a small village in the Philippines
where a straw hut smolders
and a woman cries (over her limp child)
to Allah,
"Why?"

--the sand and sun beat
on those men and women,
worker ants, fulfilling statistical analyses,
remembered only when they are gone,
------------and only by their mothers--

a young man with dreams of reaching captain,
Nathan Perry, caught it a crossfire,
the only one of his group to walk away.
No purple heart for him today

--but Caesar snorts
and signs away more billions,
more for my children to count
with their papercut and raw fingers,
while our old receive less and less every month
and the ants march on
to the tune of a silent scream
from an unborn child.

The 'most prosperous of nations'
writhes in pain
from a thousand overlooked issues,
instead looking over its borders
in the hopes of fixing others' problems.
With millions on the streets
and too many going hungry,

Caesar ignores his kingdom,
leaving his smile on a blue screen and his mind in a desert
while rats and disease rampage the streets,
and the ants march on.

Everybody is a Critic

"I don't like that part,
you should scrap it and start over."
But perhaps it is you,
oh wonderfully wise,
that is the scrap.

However should I,
self-proclaimed-poetwriterauthorartisthumanbeing-extraordinaire,
ever decide what to listen to and who to leave?

"But that use of the conjugated verb is incorrect."
But that, my ever-so-intelligent friend,
is the joy of poetry.

One-Way Conversation

"You sound so sad
and empty.
Is that how you feel?"
not always,
not when I'm with you.
"Are you suicidal or something?
It hurts me to hear you like this."
then why don't you show it?

A Couple Leaped From the South Tower

…and they held hands.
Some flame through the sky
while little Jake asks his teacher
why the birds are on fire.
Lucifer sneers
and folds into the smoke.
More somersault to meet the ground.
One man counts fourteen
and then stops.
Pink mist hangs over Liberty Street.

Out of instinct, they reached for each other...

Blacking out
in the fall,
the simple warm touch,
and the two running jumps
out the jagged window,
arms outstretched to embrace the world.


================================
*in memory of those who lost their lives on 9/11

The Flu

Fantastical plasmic junk
flowing from my face.
Freaky fecal fluid
flaming away inside me.
Four hundred and two fever,
frightful fits of chill.
Forever faking sick,
until this fateful day.
Faking would be nice,
but in bed I'll stay.

Notes on My Other Self

I am the Thor of waves,
pounding at your shore,
stealing you away,
grain and loam.

I am the raven of misery
-- no, a flock of ravens --
pecking the straw
from your brainless body.

I am the monster
behind your headboard,
the ubiquitous shroud
of guilt and alone.

I am the one that screams
"You're ugly!"
from the mirror,
throwing shame
as you sob your way home.

As I Scream

A rework of an older poem..


As I Scream
- Andrew Williams

Dumb and wet,
my anguish pours
and drops onto the ground.
No one notices,
thank God.

Deep breaths echo
like the roar
of a leveled forest.

Flash of a smile,
fading now--
like the moistness on my cheeks.

I don't want to believe.
I am alone
in a hazy black/blue.
Fall forever, freeze,
as I scream.

===================
*original


Silent tears pour
and drop onto the ground.
Almost unnoticed,
but seen by me.

Deep breaths echo

Memory of a smile,
fading now--
like the wetness on my cheeks.

My heart doesn't believe.
Reality sets in.
Time stops, freeze,
as I scream.

Leave No Evidence (Except Me)

Tear the East
from West,
rip them apart,
no way - not even
a tesseract - back.

Hide your right
from your left
not to mention your wrong.
Spill the ink
to cover the blood.

Fill your mouth
with smiles
and your pockets
with love
in case of emergency.

Decent thoughts
bullied by deceit,
kicked in the pants,
- you always did
play dirty - hard.

Think you're safe,
stay secure.
North and South
won't tell on you,
but I just might.

Talons

It's bad enough
to place the bird in the cage,
but the cage gets smaller
every day.

The man with ten talents
receives ten more (plus one),
but what happens
when the talents are too much,
and he returns,
wishing he'd buried them?

His wings are clipped
and he is left
wondering why the cage bars
keep getting closer.

Her Father Beats(Hurts.Loves)Her

yet the bruises
go deeper than skin.

tears

and then I cry(gasp.pain),
big heartsobs.

insecurity

it never ends,
she listens to him too much.

yells

but then all is quiet.
is it safe to come out?(quick.check)

screams

or are those in my head?
no one will know.
no one ever knows.(ever)



==================
*original


Her father beats her;
no bruises show,
only tears.

Insecurity never ends.

Yelling,
Screaming,
Crying,
Laughs.

He shows love in odd ways.

Noone knows of this pain
except me,
because I hear what he calls her.

Don't Treat Me, I'm to Blame

Hold head in hands,
world falling down.
Invert the skyscrapers,
all my fault.
Sprout white wings
to escape it all.
Stay away from water
for fear of hungry trout.