Saw a gent on YouTube
exploring a little, old church
in Wales
said to be haunted

he walked passed a wooden pew
heard a creaking sound
no big deal
seemed like nothing to see

but it kept creaking
each time he walked by it

becoming a bigger deal

then he felt something
unseen touch his hair

gave him quite a scare

then the deal got bigger
the stale air inside the church
became freezing cold

and the gent felt fear
got the hell out of the church

and the door shook after
he closed it

the gent believes someone
was buried under the church
and is trapped there

but for unexplained reasons
can make things get
spooky inside the church

more unexplainable to me
is why a spirit would
linger in an old church

I don’t believe it’s
trapped there but
that’s an intriguing theory

I can’t come up with
a better one

Lord knows
I wish I could

Lord knows if
a spirit is trapped there
I wish someone
would send it to the Light.

Bob Boyd

I spy two vultures gliding overhead in the sky
I wonder what is dead, what has died

I glance at the vultures again
gliding effortlessly, beautifully

like avian royalty gracing the blue sky
like princes among birds, regal and sublime

yes, they have a bad reputation as scavengers
flesh eaters of the dead

but today, here and now, in the sky above
gliding so gracefully

they look absolutely beautiful to me.

Bob Boyd

Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva

foregoing

your nirvana

your final release
from this world of

sickness
old age
and death

till every sentient being
is off the wheel

of revolving rebirths

guiding souls

for thousands
maybe millions

of years

embodying

a higher selfless love

a greatest sacrifice

for others

Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva

Bob Boyd

A young woman on a train
stabbed to death
a woman asleep in a subway
station, set on fire, burned to death
a high school teacher
murdered in her home
a couple sitting in a movie theater,
gunned to death
random murders by strangers
nowhere is completely safe.

Bob Boyd

I once read a post from a magazine article
that claimed hot Asian women were a given
but Asian men were unattractive

utter nonsense

just as many Asian women are undeniably attractive
so are many Asian men

imagine an Asian guy reading that insulting bunk

being a male, I naturally favor the women
and agree with the assessment of many Asian ones

but I dislike unkind people dumping on the looks
of Asian men — or men and women of any race

I once heard the same about people in the UK
attractive, unappealing, said an American woman

I felt she needed a new prescription for her contacts
there are plenty of fine looking people in the UK

but all this talk about looks is so superficial
more important is the heart, the essence, than fleeting looks

this reminds me of how when younger I often met
women who were unattractive to me

until I got to know them, and they
became beautiful like lovely, unfolding flowers.

Bob Boyd

Breathlessly, gleefully Marcy told her friend Nancy
she met her soulmate using an old Ouija Board

her soulmate told Marcy that though she was bodied and he was
disembodied, one day they’d be together forever

and handsome as hell, he began meeting
Marcy in dreams

amazed, encouraged, Nancy borrowed the Ouija board
thinking easier than a dating app

surprisingly, miraculously, Nancy met her soulmate
with the Ouija board too

13 mornings later, the ladies, 25 and 26 years old
never woke up on that tear-stained dark day

a catfish demon went into laughing hysterics
delighted with his bountiful catch

now Marcy and Nancy sleep with the dead
the Ouija board enticing others

in the dark and dusty thrift shop where
Marcy first saw it.

Bob Boyd

to want to know
really know
firsthand

about the mysteries
the wonders
of the
Great Beyond

thus I welcome
Death

the usher
who will lead me
into the theater
of the afterlife.

Bob Boyd

I found two old friends in the online obits
left this world before me
wondering where they are now

wonder what it’s like there
are they in a cushy afterlife
or embarking on a blast off
into another earthly life?

are their transitions permanent
or just temporary?

some people claim they know
the answers to this
heaven or hell

I don’t think it’s that simple
I think it’s far more complex

and probably unknowable
for any one in human form
who hasn’t been there yet.

Bob Boyd

You might disagree with me on this

and you have the right to be wrong

just kidding

no definitive way to prove if I’m right
or if your wrong

or if were both right
or both wrong

besides this is all conjecture

I believe the gods of yore
from all over the world

were like conduits to
the Divine

I believe the Absolute
would honor those conduits

to It

I don’t think any of the devout
were wasting their time

in their pursuits of these gods
their worship of what
I see as
essentially
expressions of the One

and speaking of gods and such
consider Gneesha
the Remover of Obstacles

who couldn’t use a
Remover of Obstacles
in their life?

Bob Boyd

After listening and reading so many ghost stories
of late

I’ve become 100% convinced ghosts are real
all these people alleging they’ve seen ghosts

can’t all be

liars
deluded
mentally ill
mistaken
pranksters

the numbers are too great
many of the reports seem entirely creditable
for me to believe none of them are bona fide

but what I’m grateful for
is I’ve never seen a ghost

except
maybe

in a dream.

Bob Boyd