‘fear the morning’
it’s all i have left, this moment,
because tomorrow i may be
stripped down into something
even more insignificant than
i’m clinging to now.
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
‘ache’
sung in all the songs
you can’t hear.
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
just leave the bottle…
‘proof’
weakness from an old injury. the broke breaks deeper than the disobedience of soul to bone. i’ve oft tried to mend myself with white cocktail napkins and while catching the spill they could never wipe the mess. there’s not much left but a photograph of us along michigan avenue. who knows if heaven exists but something beyond our capacity to reason raised our lips skyward that day and if you think i don’t still feel the phantom of your hands when pleasuring myself then what of life have i left? in this worn-out bar silhouettes throw back with punch line violence and here i am still sipping the cadence of your shoes. you’ll always be in my vision but i order one more just to spite my face.
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
‘obvious metaphor’
though pretty
the dandelions
choke and
kill the
lawn.
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
the prince, though wicked, still wise…
‘appreciation’
a devil’s deal
for love
heart freely ripped
gnarled vines replacing
fruitless
eyes rust weeping
emaciated clouds
sun refuge
shovel,
he handed
break soil,
he spoke,
only now can you appreciate drought.
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
there’s always a challenge…
‘lorn’
good god almighty, you widen my eyes with clandestine grandeur, salve my tongue as vessel to your unknowable ways…only to rob me lost of true fervor, my faith upon my knees before eternal night, pregnant above my ashen countenance in bedeviling possibilities
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
‘lacuna’
still waiting here, a blue without horizon, an awful gale without wind to blow. your name about the corners in reflective manifestations, none the direction from where we came. keeping the posture when the rain falls teeming down, the realization tread water means one has since drowned. and when the sun dries the sodden mess it leaves me feeling worse. at best. no more skipping puddles or reimagined clouds with a picket fence. hands fill the pockets but nothing overflows my heart the way your hip once anointed seamlessly along mine. the passerby give no note to the stoic man with westward eyes, homeward.
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
‘fool’
you’ve got to be a fool first
in order to feel like one.
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
and i go on only to live on beside you…
‘euthanasia’
recognition, spoken through your eyes. i heard you and maybe someday someone will hear me too. years spent like seconds. i woke before ready. a long walk before i tied my shoes. spirit moves along without care to pack and even slipping you filled my arms with more than they could hold. i want you back i want you back i want you back. there’s no rushing from the house early mornings anymore. no burst of light greeting me through the door.
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
i’m just your average handyman…
‘whelve’
my father kept many tools i never knew how to use. little boy hands still feel little boy in adult bones. remarkably he transferred his sins into the soil of all my pores but to this day i can’t fix a thing. when he moved on i took his toolbox heavy as all the burdens he never spoke a word of and just as cool. in a side room off from my basement he waits to be mended but i’ve closed him to the dark. i can smell his curses mushrooming like smoke from diesel stacks and his words linger longer than summer did when i was six. loose screws require the perfect twist but all falls apart when stripped. he’d call me useless in those bursts of deflection and dutifully my eyes fell to the dirt under my nails. i’m sorely scrubbed now and the irony is i no longer feel under my fingertips. the apple falls no farther from the tree nor does a bent angle lean from its foundation. i pound with fury all that no longer fits foregoing his wrenches. round holes don’t accept five knuckles but i’ve the flayed skin to prove that’s not fucking true at all.
listen to this poem
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.
‘From My Front Steps,’ ‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.
Joseph A. Pinto 