IMAGINING YOU

Just My Imagination

Imagining You

Is it just my imagination
Or are you really real?
Are you really holding me right now
And making me to feel....

That all my dreams might come to pass
And all my hopes come true
Are you really telling me to dream
But dream of only you?

You need not ask that question, love
For there is no one else
That can make me dream such magic things
Not even my own self.

I do not know where you came from
What star from whence you fell
What moon beam dropped you in my life
For the sun won't even tell.

One day I woke and you were here
Where you'd never been before
Walking up my garden path
And knocking on my door.

The bluebirds serenaded 
The rose expressed perfume
The buttercups stood up and danced
With the moon flower and the moon.

And the sound of music filled the air
Pianos, violins
Saxophones and guitar strings
From the hands of holy men.

I looked around to see if I
Had died and gone to Heaven
For you were an angel standing there
That my heart had surely beckoned.

But then you smiled and shook your head
No, I am real, you see
For the angels heard you when you cried
And they have dispatched me.

For I was crying, too, you  know
And longing for your love
And wondering if we'd ever meet
And they watched us from above.

It's not imagination
No matter how you feel
We may have been born in that good place
But you and I are real.

And I have come to take you to
That paradise you seek
It's in a world you may not know
For your heartsight has grown weak.

The world that lives in here, you said
And pointed to your heart
The place that love has always been
Where we've never been apart.

And now we'll abide forever there
Where none can tear asunder
And you won't have to imagine me
Or ever have to wonder.

And I gave my hand and gave my heart
To the man that came that  day
Who walked out of my hopes and dreams
And here will always stay.

 

Kiss of Life

©by Voo

February 18, 2019
10:49 p.m.

DEAR KEVIN WALSH a spur of the moment write for someone very special

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
With your feet in your head
And your brains in your shoes
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose
kevin, age 9


                                                  
                                    
 DEAR KEVIN WALSH:

Kevin comes in like a rain storm

With his poetry

Washing away the dust of life

Off of your weary bones

Cleaning away the muck and mire

And making you feel human again.

Then he shutters the sun

And does a happy dance

Around the moon

Just because he can

And oh, how we love to watch him

Hear him, see him, know him

Just happy to be in his widening circuit. 

And just when things get darkest

He flies in on his magic carpet

And uncovers the sun again

And you stand and watch in amazement

As flowers rise up out of the concrete

And fill your hands

With beauty

And your nostrils 

Full of honeysuckle.

He tells the most amazing tales

Tales you want to believe

Tales you want to live in

And partake in

In some small way

Because he can take the most mundane

Subjects and make them

Live in a newness of life

That was never there before.

A perpetual boy,

Now a man,

But only on the outside

Inside he is Aladdin

And Frodo,

Peter Pan,

And

Robin Hood

All rolled into one

Marvelous, 

Magical 

Creature

Known as Kevin.

And we love him

For who he is

And we love him

For who he was

And we need him

To always stay in reach

Because we all need

People like him in our lives

To remind us that this is not

All that there is, 

This routine, ho hum, dog eat dog existence

Out here alone

Where poetry hides it's face

And waits for those

Who seek it out

And recognize it's worth

In this darkening world.

Kevin is one such as this

Finding poetry and magic

In every raindrop,

Every beam of sun, 

Every abandoned car

And old shoe

For he is not of this earth

But from a far distant land

On the other side of Heaven

Where poets come from

Where they only speak the language

Of poetry

And all their dialogues rhyme.

When true poets meet,

We always recognize one another

Even if we have never met before

We know one another by the spirit,

Our hearts

And the glow that emanates

From our fingers

As we write magic words

That take your heart away

To that place from whence we came

And make it real to you.

Kevin lived most of his life

Without having known his true talent,

His true nature

He thought he was just an ordinary boy

Until one day

He wrote a poem

And then another

And another

And amazingly he knew he was special

And no longer alone.

For suddenly

He was surrounded by poets

From near and far

And we encircled him in our arms

And embraced him with our hearts

And we showed him how it felt

To be loved

And he loved us back

And healed us, too, and cheered us

For we were homesick also

For that distant land

And never knew it.

And he told us tales about home

And made us remember how good it was,

How sweet it was,

How dear it was to remember

And write about

And share with those who need

A little magic in their lives

And for this, Kevin,

We are appreciative,

We are thankful.

And we are constantly waiting

And yearning with each passing day,

For you to take us back into your world

And read and learn and play again

The games you played as a 9 year old

Now living in the body of a man

That most of us have yet to meet

And yet love so much

 With all our grateful hearts.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(bless you Kevin Walsh

for the joy you have brought into

our lives. Never stop writing poetry.

Never grow up. Never stop believing in magic.

And never forget us, your friends.)

©By Voo

February 14, 2019

2:25 a.m.

VALENTINE EVE dedicated to all those single people out there gritting their teeth

        Valentine Eve

    The day of love, it looms on the horizon now

    Teasing me with it's rose and balloon 

    And teddy bear

    The memories of those sweet, sweet days

    And magical nights of wine and candle

    Long slow dances and kisses

    That promised love unending

    But ended all the same

    Forever and a day, you said

    And I agreed and wrote it down

    In my book of remembrance

    And saved it with the cards and hearts

    And pressed flowers that I would

    Not have sold for gold

    Valentine's Day, unfunny, unsweet

    Unlovely, unlooked forward to

    Looming on the horizon now.....

    The worst day of the year

    For those with shattered hearts.

    ©by Voo

    Feb 13, 2005

 9:28 p.m.

OF MONSTERS AND FEELINGS a collab with Nick Nguyen

Of Monsters and Feelings

Long days passed

As I rested 

My pounding head

On my cold hands

Reflecting 

A memory

Now like 

A shattered 

Glass mirror.

It started with

A heartbeat

Rising ever

So slightly

Next came pain

Like hot needles

Protruding quickly

Through my skin

And a dull pain 

In my stomach

Ruining all my nights.

With the realization came the terror

And the terror turned to worse

Worse than any word so spoken

In conversation or in verse.

I had never known such anguish

Such despair or numbing fear

I couldn't dream of an existence
Without your presence living here.

All my feelings became monsters

Feelings once I loved to feel

They made me cry out in my anguish

They did me harm and made me ill.

But love's a healer

And I still need you

As I watch the pouring rain

Come and put your hands on my heart

Come and make me feel again.

Written By Nick Nguyen

and Voo

(c) Copyright Nicholas Nguyen 2019

In Collaboration with Voo 

THE REST, AS THEY SAY, IS HISTORY an experiment in poetry

The Rest, As They Say, Is History



Throwing caution to the wind,
I walked into the night,
Down the street,
To your door,
Knocked,
Knocked again,
And gently turned the door knob
And it opened.

And there you sat
Staring blankly at the wall
Then turned and stared 
Blankly at me
You opened your mouth
To ask "How did you.....?"
But I gave you no time to ask.

Slamming the door,
I crossed the room,
Turned off the tv
Turned down the lights,
Took a sip of your wine,
Took a bite of your apple,
And threw myself into your lap
And kissed you like no man
Had ever been kissed before.

This lip, tongue congress
Continued on 
For some fifteen minutes
Or so
And then I stood up,
Dusted off your dustless lap,
Took another sip of wine
And turned the tv back on,
Flipped the light switch back up,
Hurried across the room
To the front door,
Opened it, took a deep breath,
Went outside, slammed the door,
And did not look back.

But peeking through the window,
I watched as you came to your senses,
Swallowed the leftover wine,
Poured some more,
Ran your fingers through your hair,
Stood up awkwardly and said,
"What the hell was that?!"
Then you sat clumsily back down
At your dinette table, frowning,
And contemplated your life
And whether you were possibly awake
Or dreaming and whether you ought
To call the police and report a break-in
Or if you should go back to sleep
And finish a rather remarkable dream.

Caught in the dilemma of confusion
And mild euphoria,
You turned the dregs of the wine up
And drank every drop,
Stood and threw the bottle in the sink,
Turned off the tv, turned on the stereo,
Did some sort of bump and grind dance
In the middle of the kitchen floor
To a song,
By a band that sounded 
Like a cross between Frank Zappa
And Frank Sinatra......
And stopped and shook your head
With the biggest smile possibly
Ever seen on your face 
Since you were a toddler
Tasting ice cream for the first time.

 When you crossed the room
Headed for the door, 
I knew it was time for me
To make my presence vanish
And I turned and ran down 21st Street
Just as hard and fast as I could
Possibly run in high heels
On a cracked asphalt street
At midnight in the rain
On a Wednesday night in February.

But I wasn't fast enough
For you caught me 
By the arm, 
Twirled me around, 
My hair flying, earrings flying,
Heart beating like my brother's
Little tin drum
And just about ready to burst
Either into song or screams of fear, 
I wasn't sure which.

I had had it all worked out
Before hand
But I hadn't counted 
On you coming after me
I hadn't counted on that
Because you were 
The shyest damned man
I had ever met
And you never looked at me,
Smiled at me, noticed me,
Or gave any evidence
That you knew I existed.

Which was why
I had formulated this god-awful plan
With no hope of reciprocation
On your part
And no intention whatsoever
Of explaining myself or
Redeeming improbable intentions
On my part or anybody else's part,
Either in part or to the fullest extent
Of the law, give or take a crime.....
For I hadn't thought much further
Than taking you unawares
There at your kitchen table
Drinking wine
For I already knew that
You never locked your front door
And you always had dinner
At Tom's Cafe on Wednesday nights
And you were always home by nine.

No, I was not a stalker!
(I just knew things.)

Like I knew I had loved you
For at least six months
And that I dreamed about you
Every night
And that I had made up 
My lovesick little mind
To hunt you down
Like a dog
And kiss the living daylights
Outta ya and split
And I would say now
That that was a 
Fait Accompli.......

I was pretty proud of myself
Until I felt your hand
Go around my waist
And the other one grab my hair
And you pulled me backwards
And we went tumbling down
Into Mrs Tompkins's flower bed
Right on top of her gnome
And a granite saint that I
Couldn't rightly remember the name of
At the moment
And first thing I knew, 
You were laughing like a crazy man
And kissing me back so hard
And so sweetly that I could hardly
Even believe that I had ever thought you shy.

"Don't you think a proper introduction
Would be in order about now?" you asked, 
Pulling me to my feet and off the top
Of the unfortunate saint who had rolled down
Under a fake toadstool 
And hidden his face in shame at the shocking
Machinations of a girl, half-crazed with love
And a caught-off- guard man who didn't 
Rightly know if he should be thrilled
Or terrified out of his mind
Or what his next move should be.

"I'm the girl that loves you."
I blurted out like an idiot
And reached to shake your hand
As you shook mine back, dazed and confused
And wondering if you had heard correctly
"You....you're the girl that does what to whom?"
You stuttered and removed your hand from mine
And put it in your pocket for safe-keeping
Like I was going to take it home with me
Or worse
And so we stood there in the rain
With our hair plastered down upon our heads
And our clothes fitting us like skins of plastic.

"Well, I'm...." you began and I rushed to shush you
"I know who you are."  I said excitedly
"You work in the cubicle behind mine
And you always have tuna for lunch
And you read the paper and listen to NPR
And whistle when you walk into work."
"That's....that's... correct." you said, puzzled
And cleared your throat and kicked at a rock
With your shoe
"But why should you.......?" you began
And fell silent, reaching to remove a tendril
From across my left eye.

"Why don't we go somewhere warm?"
You finally completed a sentence
And I nodded and wiped mud and dirt
Off of your chin and brushed leaves 
From your jacket and pretended that it was
A perfectly normal thing to do
That the entire scenario was a perfectly normal
Thing to do
And that I was a perfectly normal girl
Standing in Mrs. Tompkins flower bed
In the rain which was an absolutely normal thing to do
With a man I hardly knew and who didn't
Know me at all to speak of
But boy, I sure did want to kiss you again
With your wine flavored breath and your
Soft brown eyes and your smile that was just
Barely able to contain itself
Now beaming at me and becoming prominent.

I took your arm and stepped over 
The fake toadstool, the gnome, 
The nameless, humiliated saint
And smiled a tiny smile of my own,
Wanting to believe in miracles, 
Or at the very least.....good luck
And we made our way back to your house,
Back to your door, back to the kitchen table,
Back to a fresh bottle of wine
And back to what you had been doing
Before I had so rudely interrupted you
Which, as I found out later, 
After three glasses of wine, 
Fifteen shy sweet kisses
And four that were anything but....
Was the shocking revelation
That you had been sitting there
Trying to think of a way to get me
To notice that you were alive
And about getting up the nerve 
To ask me out on a proper date
And possibly, one day, hopefully, 
Having the good fortune to
Actually kiss me like a proper gentleman
But I had ruined all that, hadn't I?

So, yes, dear children, 
That is how your father and I got together,
Fell in love, got engaged, got married,
Had all you lovely babies
And this wonderful marriage
And this wonderful life 
And these wonderful stories
And lived happily ever after
The end.......

And it had all started with me
Planning and scheming 
And taking matters into my own hands
Because your father was too shy
To do anything on his own
So I fearlessly marched myself
Up to his door, into his house,
Into his kitchen, into his lap,
"Into my heart!" you interjected
"Into his heart" I repeated
Smiling broadly and proudly
And we kissed and said at
Precisely the same moment:
"And the rest, as they say.......
Is history!!"

©by Voo
Feb 12, 2019
4:14 a.m.

(a mindless write
in which I just typed
without thinking about
what I was typing
and seeing what was on the page
when I got through......)