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

She walks the hotel halls from room 17 to room 21
she unpacks and packs guest’s suitcases
she doesn’t like guests being in those rooms
the reason she messes with their suitcases
she can walk through doors, no problem
she’s the Grey Lady ghost of the Crown Inn
in Amersham, England, a town densely
populated with varieties of ghosts
at least seven haunt the Crown Inn
there’s a green lady ghost in Amersham too
if you ever want to get scared many times over
take a trip to Amersham and book a hotel room
the ghosts there will gladly accommodate you.

Bob Boyd

In a dream last night
I’m lying in bed
holding a woman
but when I held her
her body felt more
wonderful to hold
than any other
woman’s body
I was ever blessed
to have held

we cuddled
we kissed
I fell hopelessly
in love

I had a vague
feeling she might
have been an ex wife
long deceased

that I left because
she was always
out
I was always
alone
her the extrovert
me the introvert

and I’m not one
to go back with
someone that a
romance didn’t
work out with

I awoke in the
sobering morning
light, sort of
relieved that I
hadn’t falling
in love with her
but wondering
if I had been with
her ghost or spirit

whatever the case
at least it was a
pleasant experience
as opposed to an
avenging ex’s spirit
harassing me.

Bob Boyd

In Springfield Vermont, stands the Hartness House Inn
an elegant, looming gables mansion built in 1904
once the home of James Hartness, an inventor extraordinaire
a governor of Vermont, an aviator, an industrialist and more
in want of a quieter environment, he a built a network of tunnels
under his mansion, a subterranean sanctuary with
a library, a workshop, a study and an apartment

twenty years after Hartness died in 1934, the mansion was
converted into an inn, and the ghost of Hartness is believed
to be haunting it: strange sensations, lights flickering, rocking chairs rocking by themselves, objects fly off shelves, sounds of someone murmuring

but smart as Hartness was, if he is haunting the mansion,
why couldn’t he find his way to the Light?
or is he locked into doing what he still thinks is material world work in his subterranean, tunneled haunts?

Bob Boyd