Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Four lanes of traffic.
Modern city? Well, mostly.
Horseshit in the street. - Jeff Barnes

Twila

Twenty years of bar fights
have made her face look rough.
She has a house full of children
and a mouth full of snuff. 

Three packs of cigarettes a day
have given her a gravelly voice.
Spandex leggings and camouflage jackets
are her couture of choice.

 She's only thirty-six years old
and already is a great-granny.
She has tattoos of Jesus and Trump,
one on each cheek of her fanny. 

They are her two saviors,
the objects of her adoration.
She's counting on one to save her soul
and the other to save her nation. - Jeff Barnes

Micky

Still a believer,
keeping the music alive --
last Monkee standing. - Jeff Barnes

Haiku

Leafless in mid-spring,
these old trees, much like me, are
slow at waking up. - Jeff Barnes

Ned the Dragon and Fred

I woke up this morning
with a feeling of dread
when I saw a dragon
at the foot of my bed.
His eyes were yellow
and his scales were red.
I was really scared until he said,
"Good morning, Fred!
My name is Ned!
Please excuse me for appearing
at the foot of your bed.
I had to give up the life I led
in a faraway hamlet," he said.
"They hated me there,
and so I fled."

"That's terrible!" I said.

"I know," said Ned.

"I had to find a place where

I'd be welcome instead."

"I admit you gave me a scare," I said,

"when I saw you at the foot of my bed.

And how did you know my name was Fred?"

"It  was what I read 

on your mailbox," he said.

"Fred Hempstead,

a name that rhymes with my name, Ned.

And your house, like my scales,

is a bright shade of red.

I took that as a good sign," said Ned.

"I have lots of room," I said.

"You seem very polite and well bred.

You're taller than I am

but only by a head.

I think you'd fit nicely in the spare bed."

"That sounds wonderful!" he said.

And now I share my homestead

with my scaly red 

well-mannered friend, Ned. - Jeff Barnes

Elegy

 It was a poor way to say goodbye
and an even worse attempt to
mend a friendship almost 
forty years later, yet
what else could I do
but leave a note
and flower
on your
grave? - Jeff Barnes

The Death of Blue

The M&Ms, Orange, Green, Yellow, and Brown,
all were gathered and standing around
the hole they had just dug in the ground.

Everyone had brought colorful flowers.

The sky was gloomy and the mood was dour

on the day that Blue was devoured.

Green, standing at Yellow's side,

 said, her lips quivering as she cried,

 "This truly is the day the music died."

Orange said, "I can't believe he's really dead."

"There's nothing left of him to bury,"  said Red.

And so they buried his saxophone instead. - Jeff Barnes