Published: 31 January 2025

a pinball am I

some people drift through life
others steam ahead, forge their destiny
I’m a pinball

I bounce off everyone and everything
constantly spin
enjoy the flashing lights, buzzers and bells
that follow my every move

it’s true I’ve treated some as bumpers
others as flippers whose company I sought
then flew away from
while every gobble hole knows my name
every kick-out hole is my friend
“Come, rest in me and score big points!”

I’ve done damage
gone, “Tilt!” more than once
but, I always run the alley to the top
my only goal the hopeful
well prolonged ride
that wins free games

my personal myth agrees
I’m made of steel
a perfect sphere with no weak points
(I am indestructible)

I admit
I‘m big on forgiveness
count before I roll again
but, am I not marvelous
in my own careening way?
tell me I’m not entertaining

you know you can’t

More Poetry:

Bear

My family often call me a bear.
Perhaps it’s my grumpy nature.
I’m known to roar if startled,
behave badly if woken abruptly.

Mansion of Joy

The world needs comedians,
comedians need people who laugh,
the comedians have Arlen.

A boy with a big laugh,
to fill a hall, a building, to fill the world

blue is blue

is there not enough glow
not enough bleeding heart?
not enough gold shows through?
blue is blue
blue is blue

sounds like the waiting room before an acid trip

A tremulous place of anticipation and dread,
suspicion the colours are changing, are they changing?
What is the sound of a silent train arriving?
Apparently, I’m to depart. I’ve been informed
I have a ticket. I seem to have forgotten

written by AI

I asked Artificial Intelligence
to write a poem
in the style of Ward Maxwell.
It worked so well
I’m going to use it again.

we are light

in the midst of our teeming squalor
our inexcusable excesses
the moments when everyone says
shut the fuck up, not right now

Related

Bear

Bear

My family often call me a bear.
Perhaps it’s my grumpy nature.
I’m known to roar if startled,
behave badly if woken abruptly.

read more
Mansion of Joy

Mansion of Joy

The world needs comedians,
comedians need people who laugh,
the comedians have Arlen.

A boy with a big laugh,
to fill a hall, a building, to fill the world

read more

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