Haiku

These early spring rains
are no longer comforting.
Aging skeleton.  - Jeff Barnes

Haiku

Still no appetite
but maybe I'll lose some weight.
Stomach bug, day two. - Jeff Barnes

Haiku

Nasty stomach bug --
wife and cat stay by my side.
Blankets feel like love. - Jeff Barnes

Ill Met

She was the sunshine of your life,
that is, if you had been a vampire.
She said she never wanted to let you go
and  she dug into you like barbed wire.

She was the apple of your eye

with a nasty little worm in it.

She crammed an eternity of misery

into each and every minute.

You said that she had you at hello.

You should have run the other way.

Your answer was always, "Well, love hurts."

You always fell back on that cliche.

You said her words were like honey to you,

but it was like heroin pouring from her lips.

You said  that she blinded you with love.

You might as well have stared into an eclipse.

I wish I could undo what's been done.

I wish those years had all been a bad dream.

But now you are gone forever.

like debris floating away downstream. - Jeff Barnes

Letter from Hell

The last I remember,
it was a gray winter Sunday.

I look outside 

my dirty window

at the empty branches

of a dead tree.

The afternoon is late

but never ending.

I walk down the empty street

in the shadows of buildings

that resemble broken,

decaying teeth.

Night will never fall

and no matter how long

I wander these sidewalks

to tire myself out,

I know that I will never

sleep again.

Wish you were here. - Jeff Barnes

When the Chinamen Come

My grandfather, the old bastard,
was always obsessed with the idea
that China would someday
take over the world.

I don't know how many times

we heard him say,

"The Chinamen gonna come."

Whenever my sister or I

would complain about anything

his response was the same.

"You think it's bad now, just wait

till the Chinamen come."

Anytime we didn't like 

a certain food he'd say,

"Just wait. You will learn to eat it

when the Chinamen come."

He was such a tightwad that

if he were alive today,

he would do most of his shopping

at dollar stores for things

made in Chinese sweat shops,

and I can imagine him smiling smugly

if Chinese soldiers surrounded

my sister and me as

we were forced to eat

liver, zucchini, and beets

at gunpoint. - Jeff Barnes

Three Rocks

At age ten he loved
to go to the banks
of the creek in the woods
and look for rocks.
He would bring home
the most interesting ones,
rinse them off
and display them on his
bedroom shelves.
His parents were certain
that he was an aspiring geologist.

At age sixteen

he only grudgingly went to school

but his real passion

was his guitar.

He would play along

with his records,

learning every song he could,

and knew that someday

he would be a rock star.

At age seventy-two

he thinks back to the days

of collecting rocks

and wanting to be a rock star

as he rocks

and rocks

and rocks
his life away

in his rocking chair. - Jeff Barnes