She wondered if he’d love her when she
was old and no longer beautiful

sadly he was gone long
before she got old

he cheated on her
she left him

when she got old and
no longer beautiful

alone, she never found
a man to stay with her

she didn’t have the luck
to find the right one

but it no longer matter
she had no desire to

be with or please an
unpredictable man

she was content being
by herself and free

she had enough happiness
in her religion

her church friends
and her God.

Bob Boyd

Recently, a random raccoon inexplicably fell
through the roof of a package store

and got into the liqueur

he drank to extreme excess, one hell of a bender
broken liqueur bottles all over the floor –

10 or more

streams of the liqueur spread all about
the store a chaotic mess

the raccoon wasted

drunk as a skunk, he passed out
face planted on the bathroom floor

apparently he has a drinking problem
that only a …

come-to-jesus moment can cure.

Bob Boyd

In the back yard of a house,
a man hung himself to death
from a tree

sometime later, a young
married couple moved
into the house

not long after that,
the wife went missing
was never found

until ten years later
when some construction
was being done

in the back yard and
a body was found
missing its arms

the wife’s body
killed by the jealous
husband

after that, another
couple moved into
the house

and felt a ghost
touching their limbs
when in bed

and heard the ghost
whisper the words
am I dead?

I believe it’s a real
account, but real
or not real

it gives me
the chills.

A ghost that appears
over and over

same actions each
time

as if trapped in a
terrible fate loop

that it cannot escape
from

is really only an
imprint of what

was a person
that loops continuously

while the person
that died

has gone on
to somewhere else

whether the grave
or the heavens.

Bob Boyd

It begins like a beautiful dream
that you could dream forever
but at some point it morphs into
a horrible nightmare you
want to end

if you’re at all introspective, you
wonder how could that dream
have become a nightmare

and at some point you realise
you’ll never be able to get that
dream back

and usually you end the
dream turned nightmare
forever

sadly, so many of those dreams
the ideal romantic partners
become waking nightmares.

Bob Boyd

If a butterfly has an awareness of time,
I wonder if its life of only weeks
feels the same as a human’s life
of years?

One thing I know; a butterfly has far
more predators than a human

birds, reptiles, amphibians and
some insects

essentially, we, assuming you are
human too, 🙂

have only other humans to worry
about killing us

so a butterfly’s life could
be less than weeks

whereas, a human has a better
chance of living a full life

except for predatory disases
that stalk and kill many of us

some of us living less days than
butterflies

and probably without an awareness
of time in those drastically
shortened lifes

in that regard, I believe
those that live days or

less than a few weeks
have the same lack of

an awareness of time
that I believe a butterfly
does.

Bob Boyd

A 19-year-old man in Brazil named Gerson who had
mental health problems and a love of big cats

snuck into a lion enclosure in a park in Brazil called
Parque Zoobotanico Arruda Camara (Bica Park)

in a video, I saw him climbing down a tree into the
enclosure and a lion running toward him

when he was four feet from the ground,
the lion leaped up and tore him from the tree

Gerson got up for a moment before the lion pulled
him back on the ground

and, mercifully, I couldn’t see what happened,
but there was no doubt Gerson was dead

my hope is that Gerson is in a heaven, his sanity restored,
and able to play with peaceful, big cats there.

Bob Boyd

Down in Georgia
and South Carolina
U S of A

dwell

horrifying night creatures
similar to vampires

Boo Hags!

instead of draining
you of your blood

they suck the breath
out of you

they have no skin
are raw
blood red

they get you
while you sleep

hovering over you
called riding you

while

sucking
your breath
out of your lungs

but take heart
they don’t take
it all

they leave enough
so that you live

and they can
come back for
another fix

or …

they might also
steal you skin

to wander in
while you sleep

and

you will wake up
in a weakened
state

in rare cases
die

to spare yourself
the risk of
being ridden
by a Boo Hag

it might be best
to avoid
South Carolina
and Georgia

their favored
hunting grounds

but should you
insist on going
to these haunts

bring some
cayenne pepper
and some salt

sprinkle it in
the corners of
the rooms

just in case.

Bob Boyd

The Shakers believed
their leader
they called Mother Lee
was a manifestation
of Jesus Christ
said her face often
glowed during worship
believed God was
male and female
their worship, estactic
while dancing believed
they experienced
the Divine
bodies and heads shook
and they screeched –
some thought they
were demon possessed –
believed in healings
and visions from God
renounced earthly
possessions
dressed plainly
worked hard
condemned marriage
celibacy was their rule
believed you couldn’t
be saved
unless you were one
of them.

Bob Boyd

In Scape Ore Swamp there’s a Lizard Man
Bigger, badder than a he-man
Stay away from that scary swamp
Or he might eat you – chomp, chomp, chomp.

Bob Boyd