He was a bad man
robbed convenience stores
beat up people for money
even killed one

on sobering morning
when he was arrested
for grand theft
and thought he might
be going to prison
for a long stretch
and to hell eternally
for all his multitude of sins

he got on his knees
and accepted Jesus
as his personal savior

he was presumed innocent
by a rigged jury
but he thought it was
because he was saved

Six months later
he squandered his
Got Out of Hell Free Card
and returned to his old ways
and the afterlife isn’t
looking too good for him:
that is if you believe in Hell.

Bob Boyd

As I listen to the lyrics, I’m reminded of relationships like that,
making you crazy and in your face, as well as your business.

However, the song is so good that it almost doesn’t matter
if you’ve had a relationship or relationships like that.

And, I ain’t lying, those lyrics remind me of the things people
do and put up with for love.

Bob Boyd

Nobody could believe it
at first they thought
it was a deep fake
when aliens were
trotted out at the
White House
like distinguished
guests

the world watched
in wonder
and as if the world
had been turned
upside down

minds were blown
millions freaked out
when the seemingly
benign gray aliens
morphed into a
praying mantis like
insectoid ones.

Bob Boyd

There have been cases
where people have vanished
in national parks
and though those people
are nowhere to be seen
sometimes they can be
heard calling for help
and despite their cries
for help, they are never
seen again or found
perhaps they have been
trapped in a portal or
in another dimension

Bob Boyd

When is enough enough with too many
disappointments in love?
It’s all sunshine and rainbows in the beginning,
happy days and constant euphoria.
But, alas, so many of those falling in love
elations turn bitterly sour with time.
Yet, many keep trying to find love, disappointment after disappointment,heartache after heartache.
So great is the need for romantic love.

I gave up on romantic love many years ago,
enough was enough,
despite my heart’s murmurings for love
one in a rare while.
Often I wish that obsessive, unrelenting need
for romantic love was never implanted in me.
Yet even as an old man, in the deep recesses of
my beating heart, romantic feelings occasionally live on.

Bob Boyd

There’s a woman who married herself to the
Eiffel Tower.
There’s a woman who married herself
to a ferris wheel.
There’s a woman who is married to a
life-size cutout of an actor.
There’s a man married to a
Barbie Doll.
There are men and women married to
rag dolls.
There are men and women who are married
to AI husbands and wives.
I’m not making fun of any of them.
They’re not harming anyone, and if it
makes them happy I’m good with it.

Bob Boyd

Though I never knew you,
coming home for lunch from work

sometimes I saw you walking,
dressed elegantly,

I think in your late sixties
or early seventies,

and despite your many years,
you still looked beautiful.

Ten years later, after I returned
from the Philippines,

I saw you once more, sadly,
most of your beauty was gone,

and I worried you wouldn’t
live much longer.

I never saw you after that:
I fear you are dead.

If only, if only, I could have
gotten to know you.

Bob Boyd

I’m talking a hike in a nearby forest,
minding my own business, per usual.

The entire forest goes silent, no birds
squawking, no insects making a racket.

I know from reading fake stories about
monsters this silence means one of them

has entered the forest; I know it’s supposed
to mean danger and horror has arrived.

The fake stories about monsters were
halfway right.

When my ex-girlfriend appeared, looking
evil as hell, kinda like a monster as well.

Believe me, no monsters had anything
on her, terrifying as she looked.

Because I always thought she was possessed,
I made sure I armed myself with a cross and holy water.

When she charged me with fingernails brandished
as long as knives and screeching like a bona fide demon,

I held my cross in front of her face and doused her
with holy water as a back up.

She screamed loud enough to break the sound barrier,
her face looked like a demon’s.

She flew out of the forest screaming and swearing,
and she never bothered me again.

Bob Boyd

Melinda went to college to be a teacher,
though she got good grades, she put more
effort into partying and binge drinking.

She graduated with a 3.00 but a 4.00 in
partying and binge drinking.

Unknown to her, the cumulative effect of
all that binge drinking messed up her mind,
clouded her morality.

When she began teaching, she was like a
superstar, loved by her students, praised by
the principal and the senior teachers.

But because her mind was messed up
and her morality clouded from all that
binge drinking, she did something naughty
with one of her preteen students.

Now Melinda is no longer teaching;
she’s serving a five year prison sentence
for her inappropriate behavior with that
preteen student.

Bob Boyd

Ronny was an adventurous soul
as well as a daredevil.

He was also a born again Christian
who talked in tongues.

He was curious too, decided to attend
a Pentecostal snake handling

religious meeting deep in Kentucky
led by the famous Reverend Notts.

When the reverend handed him
a hissing rattler to hold,

Ronny caught up in the religious fervor,
grabbed it a little too tightly.

The rattler, angry as hell, bit Ronny on
the neck,

and Ronny saw blazing white light
bright as the sun.

Seconds later, Ronny passed out and died,
maybe he made it to heaven.

Bob Boyd