When they become
spiritually evolved
enough
they morph
into potent spiritual
powerhouses
their potent shakti
powerful spiritual energy
emanating out
of them abundantly
permeates everything
their presence
their words spoken
and
written
their videos
their photos
even
their burial sites
some can
feel it
in all of these
ways
some can only
feel it in
the presence
despite how
powerful
how pervasive
it is
some may not
be able to feel
it at all –
surprisingly.

Bob Boyd

A nun in the 18th century
now a headless ghost

beheaded by a mad trapper
or two rouge sailors looking

for gold they thought she
know the location of

if the tales of Saint Marie Inconnue
are true

why would a religious be wandering
in this world instead of in heaven?

unless she was a residual
an imprint of herself headless

a ghostly loop that plays
over and over

despite her not being there
just the appearance what was her

created from the trauma of her being
separated from her head.

Bob Boyd

It’s hard to imagine
how men could
torture and
burn women to
death in the
burning times
the pleadings
the cries
the stakes
the fires
the screams
the charred flesh
the stench
the smoke
the gasps
the deaths

and whoever
conjured up
death by
burning on
the stake
must have
been an
emissary
sent from
satan’s hell.

Bob Boyd

He was born with water on the brain
bedbound, unable to walk or talk
his life lasted only six years
never had a chance for a normal life
This makes me wonder why
in this world of the living so many
get shortchanged in it, born with
medical problems that doom them
to suffering and limited lives
those children ill fated in this life
those children now dead.

Bob Boyd

Ned’s a brave, patriotic fellow
in the United Kingdom
he’s also fun and intelligent
and his YouTube channel is great
tonight he’s taking a stroll
through Cheshire, England
beautiful, historic city
Christmas lights aglow
I’m liking seeing it all

Ned recording everything he sees
on the brick laden streets
clusters of crowds
voices rising in the night air
young women laughing and
squealing with delight in the
excitement of a party night
legions of people roaming

the streets, even the police
in distinguishable yellow jackets
two of them holding up a drunken
pretty, blonde-haired woman
too drunk to remain standing

Ned’s narration over it all
(I like hearing his British accent)
and to borrow a Brit phrase
you sense something is about
“to kick off” on Ned’s expedition
for stirring YouTube content

he comes upon a swarm of
the yellow-jacketed police
detaining about six young men
searching through their pockets
finding illegal drugs

and whoa! there are sniffer dogs
going crazy with the scents of
all the drugs hidden by numerous
nervous, young men in the streets

and holy moly! Ned comes
upon an incident, nine police
yelling at a crazed man with a knife
they take him down without
any harm done, kudos to them
that’s the kick off, and the
rest of the video is quiet and
enjoyable, great work by EnglishNed.

Bob Boyd

His loving wife of seven years
inexplicably went missing one day
her car in the driveway
her belongings all in the apartment
he and the police suspected foul play
no evidence of that ever showed up
a year later when he came home
his wife was in the apartment doing dishes
acting as if everything was normal
and looking exactly as she did on
the last day he saw her
but something about her was different
she told him somehow, someway
she had been vanished into the future
told him crazy and unbelievable stories
told him he had to stay home from work
the next day, a bomb was going off
in the building where he worked and
he would die in the bomb blast
though she pleaded with him to stay home
he didn’t believe anything she said
thought she’d gone a little crazy and
for that year had been with another man
they fought over him going to work
and she wouldn’t stop trying to make
him listen to her until enraged
he swore and slapped her into silence
he went to a hotel to get away from
her craziness and what he suspected
was her year of unfaithfulness
went to work the next morning
died in the bomb blast that afternoon.

Bob Boyd

Her life was full of turbulence
from her birth as an orphan
lived with several foster families
two were chaotic and uncaring
they abused her in all ways imaginable
she felt unloved and abandoned
broke out of the system at eighteen
banged up in a car accident 2 years later
that put her in a wheelchair for life
a boyfriend she had left her for another
despite all the turbulence eventually got
a college degree and became a teacher
married and for the rest of her years
had a loving marriage and a happy life
the turbulence gone from her life forever.

Bob Boyd

Cobra Endlers swim vigorously in my 10 gallon aquarium
I’ve never had fish in my aquariums that swam so fast
like tiny rockets speeding up and down
from side to side and round and round
their green and yellow colors flashing brilliantly
This makes me wonder why these little fish are
so much more energized than other fish I’ve had
perhaps they need that speed to escape from
larger predators in the wild.

Bob Boyd

I stood at her gravesite
my life over
a bouquet of flowers
in my trembling hands
the array of flowers
watered by the tears
dropping from my eyes
I cried and cried
a thousand more tears
as I mournfully wondered
why God had taken
the sweetest girl
the love of my life
away from me
just seventeen
dead in the ground
on that cold
September morning
my first love
my last love.

Bob Boyd

I listed to an Art Bell show about two
hobbyist ghost researchers
who explored haunted locations
and recorded EVPs
electronic voice phenomenon
the alleged sounds of ghosts
captured with spirit boxes
I could hear what were supposed
to be words from ghosts
and they did sound as if they were
for example, one said, “wake up”
another in a haunted prison clearly
said “help, I’m in here”
one that sounded like a child
said “I can’t see” and was
heartrending to listen to

it all was more than a bit spooky but
it got spookier when both of them
nonchalantly said they’d been
followed home by ghosts before
as if it were no big deal and
not a terrifying experience
one of them said she told
it it wasn’t wanted in her home
and it just went away
I don’t know about you, but
having a ghost follow me home
would frighten me beyond words.

Bob Boyd

Individuals and groups
seeking to capture
the voices of the dead
using spirit boxes

a word here
a phrase there
as if out of the air

but not as much
talking as when they
were alive

many doubt the validity
of the vague sounds
of the dead allegedly
speaking out of the
spirit world

the EVPs captured
in spirit boxes

alleged to be the
words of the dead.

Bob Boyd

People frozen in place
some bent over and
swaying side to side
some stumbling about
others walking slo mo
many passed out on
the concrete sidewalks
some living on them
welcome to zombie
land, Kensington,
Ave Philadelphia, PA
some are dying and
most are dead already
or soon will be dead
you’re in a god forsaken
hell of drug addicts
Kensington, Ave
Philadelphia, PA
where city leaders
allow it to happen
drug addicts living
moving like zombies
on Kensington, Ave
it’s a goddamn mess
a goddamn shame.

Bob Boyd

Fame
fortune
achievements
successes
failures
awards
holidays
presents
surprises
disappointments
perfect health
mental or
physical
health problems
perfect physiques
imperfect physiques
beauty
ugliness
rich people
poor people
true loves
untrue loves
good times
bad times
laughter
tears

all eventually
dissolve into
the impermanence.

Bob Boyd

I’ve seen stories, supposedly real,
where someone sees the ghost of a living person

it sounds so contrary that a living person could appear
as a ghost

and if it’s true, what would cause part of that living person
to separate from his body as a ghost?

it also seems the person that appeared as a ghost was
unaware of being a ghost momentarily

perhaps there’s such a thing as an astral body that some
claim leaves our bodies as we sleep

maybe there’s something as an astral slip where the
astral body leaks out of a human on a rare occasion

or maybe a person who says she saw the ghost of a living person was only seeing an illusion created by her mind

the worst would be if a living person appeared as a ghost
momentarily because he was soon going to be one.

Bob Boyd

Some people claim alien hybrids
are among us

indistinguishable from you and me
no way to detect them

it’s claimed they’re here as prototypes
of a better, less warlike human species

God knows we could use some of that
before we blow our planet to bits

with the plethora of nukes growing
all over the world

I don’t believe there are any
hybrids

looking like us and walking on
the planet

I do believe there are aliens
under the sea.

Bob Boyd

Listening to an old love song
There’s a Moon Out Tonight
in an unguarded moment
I’m there
in that song
strolling along a lake
with a beautiful woman
the moon looking on
approvingly
holding hands
the feel of her hand
beyond heavenly
exchanging loving glances
romantic declarations
a heartfelt I love you
although nighttime
my world is aglow
I’m feeling it
savoring it
reliving it
those old romantic feelings
those unbridled joys
the incomparable happiness
then like an ancient charioteer
reining in rebellious horses
I rein in those feelings
and steer my mind
back into reality
the moment extinguished
my heart and mind
at rest.

Bob Boyd

I hear a crooner singing
an old 30s song
in a YouTube video
the song’s entitled
What’s the Use of Living Without Love
he’s bemoaning the loss of a love
a woman who left him

as if it’s a real scenario
I find myself thinking
move on
forget about her
if she returns
which is doubtful
you’ll only risk
the same heartache again
move on
into the dawning of a better day
filled with rich opportunities

to experience the joys
the ecstasies of
falling in love again
with a new woman
a fresh start
the excitement of
getting to know her
and just maybe
one better suited for you
move on.

Bob Boyd

At first, for many life
it’s optimistically great
few problems, if any
the future full of possibilities
death not even one of them
at least not for most

even though death is waiting
silently, menacingly,
for the opportune moment
to pounce upon them
seize their temporary existences

no matter how long they live
or what they accomplish
in their fragile lives
it’s all a losing proposition
death prevails in the end.

Bob Boyd

They’re the bane of bees, the Japanese Hornet
one can kill 40 European bees in a minute
30 can kill a colony of them in about 3 hours
they decapitate and dismember the bees
fly away with thoraxes, larvae and honey

but they cannot easily decimate
the intrepid, inventive Japanese bees
when a Japanese Hornet flies to the hive
of the Japanese bees, he spies a few bees
hovering around the outside of the hive

decoys, they lure the hornet into the hive
where the entire colony waits, still as death
until the hornet seizes one of the decoys
then the entire colony seizes the hornet

traps it inside a moving ball of them
beat their wings to increase the heat
to a torrid 115 F (45 C) and literally
bake the Japanese Hornet to death
inside the swarming ball of doom
the scout dead, the colony saved.

Bob Boyd