i could live with three

if i could limit my life
to words with two letters
would my days and nights
be worse or be better
up and in
would carry the day
down and out
would just go away
on would rule
it would never get tired
and off would leave
it would simply be fired
there’d only be go
there would be no stop
there would be no bottom
there would be no top
that’s all well and good,
but i still don’t think so
’cause there’d be no yes
and there’d only be no
and there’d be no you
i would only have me
so two would not do
but i could live with three

jwturner
3/4/2010

🙂

no mercy

you can loot
the spirit of love
there’s plenty to go around

you can rifle
the truth with your lies
and truth will always prevail

you can heist
our dollars in greed
we’ll find other ways to give

and you can take
our rose-colored glasses
we see better without them

but you can’t steal
the innocence of a child
and expect us to act with mercy

jwturner
2/20/2010

i miss you

your face
on my screen is
gripping my brain
I know it’s a photo
but it drives me insane
it’s solely to blame
for the sleep
i’m delaying
for this moment’s
unfraying
for the demons
i’m slaying
for this game
that I’m playing
for this price
that I’m paying
for the urge
i’m obeying
for these words
I’m relaying
and the ones
I’m not saying

jwturner
8/28/09

The Poem Store

Walking out of Moscone Center in San Francisco, our group happened upon Zach Houston’s Poem Store.

Zach sits outside with an old typewriter and pumps out poems on ripped scraps of paper. He simply asks what you want your poem to be about and you pay him what you wish. I had no cash, so I borrowed three dollars, including a $2 bill from Ira Serkes and polled the group for what I should ask him to write about. Ginger Wilcox suggested, “Love.” That’s one of my favorite topics, so that’s what we went with.

I was going to just type in the poem he wrote for me, but you really can’t get a feel for the poems he writes without seeing them. So here it is. Thanks, Zach.

i need you now

i did not need you
when you burst into my life
but i need you now

jwturner
a haiku

this is how i know

i
am
sure
we met
in a dream
and we kissed
and i fell to my knees
and clung tight to your waist
and buried my face in your arms
and asked you to never, ever let me go
and you held my face & whispered, “always”

this is how I know that dreams really do come true.

jwturner

of her

thoughts of her distract me
they haunt the halls of my mind
and startle me

the feel of her lingers
long after her touch has been removed
and comforts me

the sound of her is deafening
it drowns out all other voices
and focuses me

the want of her enslaves me
traps me in a prison of fantasies
and tortures me

jwturner

poem for a rainy day

if sun should rise
and sun should set,
a day has passed
and I have yet
to tell you that
i need you, how
i want you, then
i’ll tell you now.
this poem serves
to make it clear
to give you peace
to draw you near
to let you know
i crave you too
one thousand days
passed can’t undo
the passion that
i feel for you

jwturner
9/01/08

i do not miss you

i miss cheers, friends and sex in the city
but i do not lust for their return

i miss college football in february
but i do not yearn for its presence

i miss staying up late to listen to johnny
but i don’t thirst for the sound of his voice

i do not miss you

i thirst for the sound of your voice
i yearn for your presence
i lust for your return

jwturner
9/29/2007

missing my wife