Replacement

Replacement

I write to put poetry

Into the world

Friend

Put himself out of this world

He wrote when I did not

This remembers him

This apologizes for my mistake

Yes

I invited him for sex

It ended our friendship

He wrote better poetry

He would write better poetry

Now

But he's no longer alive

To open his palette of images

I found out his absence 

Years after I had known him

Hurt

An old friend dismissed

By time and wrongs

There would be no recovery

If he were still alive

Fool

As I retry that scene

That never fails to float

Barry G. Wick

Painful Memory

Painful Memory 

The words march

Through this pain filled head

As images thunder 

On the street lined with history

How could this have been stopped

Certainly not at that distant time

It only would have been replaced

With another soul pounder

Dust is result

So maybe dust will stop it

There is a crush that comes

Over the hills of friendship

That is seen behind

Through life like picked weeds

They are seen in their death

Just because words were exchanged

Or arms and lips touched

Their lives ended because

What one of us said

Explained in the momentous feelings

Directed to leave this time

None of it happens

They remain as if endeared

To the crunch of bone

And the tearing of flesh

No matter what screams

No matter the throat vibration

Loud or soft

They return full

of senseless bravado

Wait for them in loneliness 

They always bark

At a second’s edge

Barry G. Wick

The Universe

The Universe

Hi there

Sorry I didn't Know about you

For lots of my early years

I wish I'd been more aware

Then again children must learn

No I never played Beethoven

At age 4 and didn't do him well

Ever

Yeah I send my little notes

To you and whomever might

Read them

I've seen your sun

Most impressive

And the moon at night

We little beings think

It's so very romantic

The stars are just amazing

To think there is a strong possibility

There are beings out there

Thinking about the beings

That might be here

Baked at 350 for 16 hours

Barry G. Wick

Brutality

Brutality

Welcome to your profession

If you hit the top

You'll join the excession 

Sitting on your dais of fame

Exhausting all your critics with blame

I prefer the deep of the ocean

When all above has a superior notion

There I am surrounded by shells

Like myself in their pitiful hells

I drank myself into magical stupor

Thinking I was golden and sparkling super

It's here now that I’m nearer finality

What I found of life was ugly brutality

The few that I love were generous and wise

Some young some old who sussed  my disguise

Barry G. Wick

Characters

Characters

I write silly names

Of people who do not exist

I would tell you about them

I would make up facts

To match the names

It goes too far

They are better faceless

You are better off not knowing

Where they work and live

How they came to live

In your neighborhood

If they spy on you or

Write about your visitors

You're already getting itchy

You haven't even heard

Of him except from me

You don't even know me

Even though my name will appear 

At the bottom of this

It might not even be my name

Just one that fits the space

He's already moved on

From three streets over

It wasn't you he watched

I just made that up

You hope

Barry G Wick

A life in scars

A life in scars

When old 

and a memory attacks

Remember it's the memory

Of a failed action in the past

That keeps a person

From progression into the future

Worried of failure again 

The citizens

That might need the experience

Won't receive it

It's important lesson

Gets lost in second guessing

Plus the failure of youth

To listen to a voice of experience

Other nations teach reverence

For older citizens

America is all about

The value of beautiful youth

Who know little

And won't learn

Since they've been taught

They are so special.

The mistake is

No one is special

Until the scars show up

Barry G. Wick