Inevitable, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

In a concert
There is a last note
In a book
There is a last page
In a movie
The credits always roll
While time will
Always take it’s toll
Enjoy it while it lasts
For tomorrow
Is always extra.

Always Bet On Black, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

I am glad my panther does not bother
I am glad I don’t get under his collar
I am glad he is domestic and is not taller
Because he if he was he could make me holler

I am glad he isn’t a Navy Seal
I am glad he isn’t a Ninja that is real
I am glad he isn’t a crow or raven
If I were a sheep I’d be mutton

He is furry, purry and healthy
Silly, funny and stealthy
While he can’t make me wealthy
He can silently sneak around me

He’d make a great October decoration
Hitch a ride on a broom, witch with a declaration
A carved pumpkin could be his companion
He’s everything Halloween can imagine

He could be the the Karate Kitten
But he’s grown and his name isn’t Danial Son
He blends in to the shadows, and sleeps on my pillows
His name is Anneplath, and he’s the cutest fellow.
(end)

Anneplath, pronounced “Anna-plath” or “Anna-pleth” is a boy cat, he has grown up and gotten real big. His sister Kelly is a Calico, I named her after Jaclyn Smith, because two months before I got the pair as kittens, I got a Tweet from the real actress.

“Anneplath” is a hybrid name of two of my fellow poets “Anne Sexton” and “Sylvia Plath” thus “Anneplath”. And it is appropriate because he is dark and many of their poems are dark.

The funny part of him in reality, is that if he is in a shadow even during the day, I can walk right by him even if he is in front of me and not see him. I especially have to be careful when feeding him because he likes walking around my legs.

I just wrote this poem because, like almost every day, he picked a very good spot right laying on my bed, and because I had no lights on, he just blended into the wall behind my bed which is dark in color as well. Sometimes my anxiety makes me think maybe he darted out the door when I take out the trash, but the truth is he is strictly an indoor cat and he is afraid of the outdoors, at least for now.

Left Of Center, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

Don’t ask me how I ended up
Left of center west of Adelaide
It was a concoction of my R.E.M.
Something my slumber had made

The traffic just wasn’t right
I had just left my dorm room
Trying to call my mother at night
The cockroaches gave me a fright

I had no money, my passport gone
I found myself wondering the streets
Looking for help, what went wrong
9 thousand miles away, how did I go astray?

I was worried what my mother would say
I knew her panic would never go away
If she couldn’t contact me this very day
I was desperate to get to her, had to find a way

Then suddenly on the side of the road
A family in opposite traffic walking their dog
I waved at them with tears in my eyes
I explained to them I didn’t know why

Didn’t know why I ended up here
Left of center, west of Adelaide
They lead me to their home, I had made
I asked them about the creatures on the way

The scary ones that could kill me any day
Like the spiders and snakes, oddly enough
I wasn’t worried about the salt water crocs
I have heard of the jellyfish in the shape of a box

They told me I had nothing to fear
That the danger wasn’t that near
But this movie suddenly became foggy
My restlessness made me groggy

Where was a phone, a phone, a phone
I wanted to call home, my home, my mom
Suddenly it was all gone, all gone, all gone
The reality of daylight’s dawn

Kelly stirring in her crate, breakfast wont be late
Her brother insistent too, their meal overdue
I had to take the trash out too
This oddity, Odyssey, sadly finally through.

Mom, mom, mom, I wish I could talk to you.
(end)

I had a dream where I woke up in a college dorm room full of cockroaches, don’t ask me why. I fled outside and found myself somewhere in Australia, but couldn’t figure out where. In reality I have been to Australia, just not Adelaide. But in this dream I kept on asking people where I was, and they kept on saying I was slightly west of Adelaide. I was also worried about getting a hold of my mom because I didn’t want her to worry. In real life my mom would get worried if I didn’t call her the instant I got home.

So in this dream I panic about the dangerous animals as the family is guiding me back to their house. In reality animals don’t bother you unless you go looking for trouble. So finally we get to the house, and I start hearing rustling in a cage, and in reality it was Kelly trying to wake me up because she wanted out of her carrier, and her brother Anneplath was making noise too. Today is trash day too. So I never did get to talk to my mom in the dream. When I woke up, it made me sad knowing she has been gone for 6 years.

The city of Adelaide is at the bottom of Australia not quite the center of the country.

Barrage Balloons, by Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37)

The airborne ships tethered tips
Unmanned shields floating above
Deliberate obstructions put in place
Used to slowdown the Nazi’s pace

Dive bombers it gave fits
Steal cables attached to it
Razor blades to enemy wings
Wrapped around crashing things

Now the Nazis live again
Though they hide in different name
Attacking minorities is their game
LGBTQ and drag queens too

Lets be their barrage balloons
The bully MAGAS cannot win
When their allies protect them
Make the bigots history again.
(end)

If you ever watch WW2 footage of the landing of D-DAY, and you notice blimps floating above the ships. Those were used to discourage dive bombing and force enemy fighter aircraft to attack from higher altitude making them less effective.

This poem is basically a call to LGBTQ and drag queen allies to raise our voices.

I cannot know how it is to be a target of hate that LGBTQ go through and especially not transgender. But I just saw an MSNBC/NBC story that gives me hope, that most of America does not agree with the MAGA right, once again, on yet another issue.

While this isn’t an NBC poll, this Forbs article does reflect the average same numbers. 80% of American SUPPORT protections for LGBTQ in regards to things like jobs and housing. “Including 66% of Republicans”, according to this article.

Just like firearms, the MAGA right are behind most of the rest of the nation. MAGA Trump republicans love to shout about how much they love freedom, and bitch about “cancel culture” but are doing everything they can to deny the human dignity to LGBTQ minorities.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/06/03/heres-how-americans-really-feel-about-lgbtq-issues/?sh=111edd172e88

This Round Is On Me, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

I was in a run
In a frenzied scurry
Trying to avoid bears
That could potentially eat me

I ended up on rice
Translucent as jellyfish
Salmon swimming upstream
This round is on me

I could be in the Meadowlands
Rooting for the Giants or Jets
And maybe at a baseball game
City Field rooting on the Mets

I could be at an office party
Everyone smiling and jolly
While they sit on the copying machine
Bet you think that is funny

I could be at a beach resort
Surrounded by tiki torches
Hula dancers shaking hips
This round is on me

One evening my friend and I
Ended up at Bennigans
We ordered our usual drinks
And this is what happened

Two more drinks
Landed at our table
We were a bit confused
Because these we didn’t order

The waiter pointed across the bar
To a man sitting alone
“These are on him”, the waiter said
He had bought us another round

We smiled and waved
But I couldn’t let it go
I went over to his table
To thank him for the round

I invited him to sit with us
After what he did for us
“Come over to our table”
I didn’t sense his trouble

He collected his jacket
His keys, his glass
Redirected the waiter
To the new table, his order

Initial common banter
“What is your name
What do you do?
Nice to meet you”

His balloon became barren
Our shot glasses like goldfish
Went down with our gulping
The next round was on us

His wit withered slowly
His smile he had initially
Slithered out of our booth
Though his body never left

Swirling his near empty glass
Raised his hand like a kid in class
To get the waiter’s attention
He wanted it filled again

What was he filling it with
Where did the other guy go
His shoulders now slumped
His head bowed in sorrow

“What is wrong?”
Our voiced of concern
Hesitant he said
“I don’t want to talk about it”

But we couldn’t help it
We wanted to know
How he could go from 80mph
To dead stop zero

It turned out to be his father
Retired cop turned investor
Made tons of money
He lavished on his son

“You have everything”
We said, “You should be happy”
I patted him on the back
But that didn’t seem to help

“You don’t get it”, he responded
His eyes swelled with tears
“I could be standing right next to him
But a million miles a way it feels”

I could be in a stadium
I could be at a party
I could be with dozens of people
And still feel isolated and lonely

The rivulets
Spidered down his face
Dried up over his red flush face
He wiped his tears, took a deep breath

Sighed and resigned
At almost closing time
Last call had arrived, he said
“This round is on me”.
(end)

This is about a real encounter with a guy at a bar back in the 90s who bought a round for everyone at the bar. We invited him to our table, and at first he was cheery but that slowly melted away and it came out that he was depressed that he couldn’t have a close relationship with his father the way he wanted. His father’s idea of love was giving money and material things to him, but this guy wanted a deeper relationship with his dad, one with sensitivity and listening and understanding and companionship.

The first two stanzas are me feeling my own want of escape away from work and stress and wanting to escape the rat race like a salmon wanting not to be sushi or be caught in the bear jaws of life.

The rest of the stanzas are about him, but also having that feeling of isolation even in big crowds like at sporting events are backyard parties. I wrote this poem originally a few years ago.

“His balloon became barren” , “balloon” is a type of bar glass that you would put say a brandy or wine in.

Children’s Bible, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

The MAGA wing scared of rainbows
And beer cans and Target’s cloths
Have no problem with Hooters
And Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders

And when you go to the doctors office
There’s always a children’s bible somewhere
With cute stories about Noah saving his family
And saving two of all other cute species

Spurious it would seem to me, to call the Bible
“The Good Book”, funny how they leave out
The graphic parts, like Lot and his daughters
Or David and Philistine foreskins, as a dowery

They are worried about rainbows
When on both coasts at the beach
We see skin all the time, and nobody
Thinks kids seeing that is sexualizing anything

Moms, I am quite sure, go into the Walmart
With their little boys, into the women’s underwear
To shop for themselves, I’ve seen the packaging
Passing by to the men’s section

Lacy and some thin and some boosting
And I am sure dads take their little girls
Down the men’s isle where they see
Men in boxer’s and briefs on the packaging

But these same MAGA republicans
Are worried about a rainbow?
This isn’t about a rainbow
This is about buying into fear

Buying into bigotry, being insecure.
Let me clue you in MAGA
You cannot be magically turned gay
You cannot be magically turned lesbian

And there is no
Junk slicing
Of kids
Unless you are Catholic or Jewish.

For Your Consideration, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

One may ask
What is the reason
The poet puts pen to paper
The response is your reaction
The thoughts invoked in the action
Of our putting pen to paper
It is our adventure
One for you to discover
Words for you to devour
Fill your mind with wonder
Fill your mind with horror
Feel the flames of a lover
Give you a place to wander
Something for you to consider.

Oh What A Louse, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @brianrrs37 on Twitter)

Cymothoa exigua, eats L. Lingua G. Glossa
Cut your tongue out, the cat’s already got it
You’ve been told before, bite and hold it
But these skeptical fishes don’t buy it

If you are a sucker, and swallow it
It won’t give you a Columbian neck tie
But it will, speak and eat for you, tell every little lie
Indoctrinated at birth, less likely to ask why

A parasite’s paradise, unwanted French kiss
The man of the cloth from the pulpit
His ancient predecessors stole the obelisk
In St Peter’s square is now where it sits

He’s the middle man, insight he insists
Your palate is cleaned, symbolic cannibalism
Unleavened wafer, he sticks in your mouth
Morality, morality, he pontificates about

It is too late, he’s dictated your meal
Council of Nicaea, cemented the deal
The three headed figure, is now your trident
Ventriloquist pews in which you sit

Cymothoa exigua, dines in your jaws
Recites in dead language, ancient King James laws
Let us offer a sign of good reasoning , better skepticism
Is a great seasoning.
(end)

(DISCLAIMER) I am an ex Catholic. Now yes, this poem is extremely blasphemous. But it is strictly about bad logic, and early childhood indoctrination into any religion. I just happened to write about my former religion in this poem. It is not advocating violence towards Catholics, or anyone at all. It is arguing that religion in general does make moral claims about the nature of reality, with no evidence whatsoever that that a particular sect has a patent on morality.

The other point of this poem is that it is ok to think for yourself and to consider that you do not need a holy person to figure out right or wrong. The Pope has no more power over anyone than the person is allowing the Pope to have over them.

I do believe outside my skepticism, that if someone is in need of help, say they’ve been in a car accident, everyone would agree, the labels go out the window, the debate goes out the window, and you stop and help that injured person in distress. Humans always deserve the dignity of care in distress.

This poem is strictly about bad use of logic and where our species morality really comes from.

“Cymothoa exigua” is a parasite that invades the mouth of a fish, whom accidentally mistakes it for food. The parasite will cling to it’s tongue eating it, and living in the fish’s mouth eating the food that should go to the fish. In many cases, this does not kill the host fish.

“L. Lingua G. Glossa” is the scientific name for the tongue.

An “Obelisk” is a type of shape, like that of the Washington Monument in D.C. There is an Egyptian Obelisk in the middle of St. Peter’s square that was originally stolen from Egypt by the Emperor Caligula and placed on a nearby hilltop. Eventually the early church took it down off that hilltop and made it a monument in the middle of St. Peter’s square.

I am arguing for people to speak for themselves instead of letting someone speak for them.

This is what the parasite looks like.

With the help of @Zaylen99 who runs the Okay Atheists show on the Discord app. And special reading by Zaylen99 and @derickijohnson. This recording is available to listen to on Youtube at the following link. Special shout out to Creative Chick and Luminous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ikCkc7lWE