Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I CAN'T WAIT TO GROW UP



I CAN’T WAIT TO GROW UP




The Prez
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts


When I grow up

I want to be big

as tall as a tree
and green as a twig

as strong as a baboon
and fat like the man on the moon

I want to grow and grow
fatter and fatter
taller and taller
stronger and stronger
just like Daddy

On second thought,
I don’t want to grow up
to look like Daddy!

DIVORCE



WHY A DIVORCE




Bruce Lee feeling retro
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts


Parents are like countries

always fighting and splitting apart

They forget words, emotions, and commitments
that they made to one another

They only remember the hate, the bad
and the hurt that they did unto each other

Fortunately I’m not a parent
so why do I feel the pain.


THE PIGGY BANK



MY FULL PIGGYBANK




Texas toast
carved from pine and painted in acrylic by Robert Margetts


50 Lincolns …in you go

a nickel….clink.
10 dimes…plink, plink, plink.
6 quarters….ching, ching.
20 Georges…come on George
3 five dollar bills….Wow I’m rich
1 ten dollar bill…Wish I had two more
2 Jacksons…Good president
4 Franklins….Hey, he wasn’t a president
1 Hamilton……Ah, my favorite
Wow…Daddy sure had a lot of money in his wallet!

GROWING UP



PUBERTY




Superman forgetting his past
acrylic on canvas by Robert Margetts

I forgot you

Yes I did
And I don’t know why
Nor do I want to
Though you have been erased from my mind
That I feel sure
I just can’t remember when it occurred
It happened not over night
This I am somewhat certain
But, in either case,
You are forgotten
And if by some fluke
I start to remember
I’ll remind myself to forget you again.

THE LAST FISH

THE LAST FISH




The last Fish
carved from pine and painted in acrylic by Robert margetts


Rain so wet

nair it quench a thirst
spat forth mist from clouds so gray
taps the parched soil for humans to pray.
Evil that plagued its king
live the story that could not unwind.


Lips open on dry banks perched
spill their life into dirt so baked.
To wolf the air through gills so hot
and flow the desire to appease the pain.
Dew that could no longer cling to scorched blades,
wed to the inevitable and knelt before the land.
Not a hand of water to save
nor a ton of hope to give.

Time as seen in the pupils of an eye
emit the truth and prepare to die.
Swallowed the pain and took to his bed,
water the blood of Earth, the color of red.

Monday, November 22, 2010

THE SEASONS OF LIFE

THE SEASONS OF LIFE





Moose heading home
carved from pine and painted in acrylic by Robert Margetts


Play we did in our youth.
Love we gave with no strings attached.
Together we shared the Spring,
the air fresh with evergreen mist
and pastors so alive with bees sucking the nectar from morning flowers.
Water trickled through our toes
as frogs croaked melodiously while perched upon green lily pads.
With Spring the hours lasted late into the night
bringing the joys of kissing lips that hungered
for the touch from one so innocent.
We held close to one another
and cuddled in the lies of everlasting love,
forever under the watchful eye of a tangerine moon.

One score gone by.
My youth fluttering into the Summer wind,
yet in beauty she aged not a day.
The girl in penny loafers shed the leather and walked as a mother.
The two that gave birth to a third,
frolicked upon some unknown hill,
holding hands and laughing for no reason.
It was just Summertime,
and they bathed in the translucent light of a gracious sun.


Blue skies that once gave birth
to young goslings flapping across the endless horizon,
echoed the chilling winds of silence.
Autumn leaves fell to the frostbitten grass below
as the time of age kept its destructive course,
never hesitating and never rewinding.
Wrinkles ran like tributaries
and veins became more numerous upon hands and legs.
In the Fall of his life
she stood strong beside him,
holding hands and smiling deep
beneath the flickering stars.

Winter came with promising hands
effortlessly caressing the hinges loose.
To the fire it raced to gather warmth,
laying in wait for the final rock.
Gently it blew upon the graying embers
that once glistened like black coal.
In slow motion the chair,
like a pendulum winding down,
rocked to the sound of the crackling wood.
The cold quickly shrouded their aged bodies
in a nebulous fog of solace,
as the two passed together into the night
in the house of their loving son.

MEMORIES OF MY SON

 

MEMORIES OF MY SON





Jim Morrison with 4 faces
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

Son of  me
Son of mine
When I look up I don’t see the sky.
What can I say
What can I do
If living in heaven with the morning dew
is hell on Earth
then, I don’t want to die without you

It’s cold at night
until the clouds meet the day
And the hours turn to minutes
as my memory slips away.
And friends to have none
to sit aside
and play with my mind.
God, it’s not easy to die.

THE CONSTANT PAIN

CONSTANT PAIN





Batman in pain
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

 

When she looks straight through you

and desires another by her side.
When warmth and tenderness
lead to unhappy acceptance,
and the tears that swell
deep inside her sockets as she
lays with her back to you,
drip long into the cold night
for the other man.


And hands that once
swore partnership before a sentenced crowd
break the ring of time
and toss the circular icon upon deceits tarnished floor.
With lips that begged for
hungry connection
spit forth the fluids of the chosen
and contaminate the unborn within the uterus.

There be no such hand
that could deliver a blow and inflict
the pain that now grows between
a man and his wife.
A pain as blistering as fire
chewing the moisture off the skin.
A hurt as deep as the growing universe
constantly expanding and drifting farther apart.
And a numbness that only a bullet
in the head could awaken.

ALZHEIMERS

 

 

ALZHEIMERS 





Albert having dreams
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts


Simple to me

as I know now.

Time forgotten
but always remembered.

In some state of mind
outside the field of gray

To remember what never happened
in the cold realm of  Alzheimer’s.

THE STORY TELLER

THE STORYTELLER




The Storyteller
carved from a popular tree that fell in my yard during hurricane season


Tell me a story blind man for you are the Storyteller.
Tell me about the darkness
and how it sheltered you in its womb,
and pitied by all.
Tell me of the water.
What did you see?
Greed in the hands of power.
A glance the other way.
Did it hurt knowing the truth?
Perhaps that is why you are blind.
Tell me of the skies,
the beautiful charcoaled sunsets,
the hazy blanket of smog and the cold damp afternoons.
Were the toxins gentle on the animals?
Were you also blind to this?
From the holes of useless bile did remorse crave to see
that which I was forced to remember.
How can the Storyteller describe
the blistering flesh burnt onto the skulls.
The billions.
The stench.
The young spitting into my face as I ravaged their bodies.
Tell me.
Please tell me, Storyteller!


At your bedside I did read to you
whispered the tired old man.
Not a prouder father one could find.
Though blind to images of your world,
I saw with my hands and loved with my ears.
I tell you in honesty and in pain,
wept the old Storyteller.
What I did I did for you.
And to wear the crown of thorns
I would do all over again.
What I did I did from love,
I did for you.

THE ROCKING CHAIR


THE ROCKING CHAIR




My sister Sharon
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts


 

Another ember crackled in the fire

as the whispering winds of past
echoed silence outside my door.

The rocking of the smooth pine
kept time like an aged pentameter
slowly winding down.
And the rhythmic swaying
slowly lulled my bones to rest.

A tickle in my eye misted my squinted greens
and the thought of death
gave a smile upon a wrinkled face.

The crackling on the floorboards
moaned under the weight.
And life dripped into the decade
old grooves that had worn its
way into the tracks that I had chosen.


The last pass of the pendulum
as the sickle makes it mark.
The chair ground to a halt
as the pianist clamped the lid on the box.

WEDDING BLUES



WEDDING BLUES




The rejected man
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts


Five to midnight
the circle broken and a nail
twenty half moons alone in the alter
jilted at the rail

Pupils barren of life
drip the dew that webs the skies
constricted by the veil
awakened to the lies

The ring and the gauntlet
the sour blood and the glove
hidden beneath the shame
the snake shed his love

The shower before the alter
the china broken in the slush
the hands move with time
as bristles fall from the brush

The square completed and the nail
sealed inside a prison of pine
ashes to ashes, dust to dust
only the rings survives time.

HER PAIN

HER PAIN




This is dedicated to you
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

In the most tender hour a life was born

given to a poor woman with nothing to give.
Poor and decrepit
old and ugly.
No family to help, no friends to beg,
each day a struggle to survive
She stole for food,
wrapped him in paper
fed him from dirty needles
and bathed him in the sewer waters

And he was happy
for he knew nothing of greed nor prejudice.
He knew only of the kind face that loved him.

And she too was happy
for someone did love her
and cared not about her wealth

For three years a boy learned
to crawl, walk, google, and talk.
He learned love and pain
hunger and thirst
coldness and wetness


And for three years she did learn
what it meant to have nothing but to give everything,
to see pain in the eyes of a child
and to know that you were solely to blame

In the cold Winter of 1987
the baby fell ill.
His screams of pain pounded in her bones
as she begged for help upon deaf ears.
He who had so much would give nothing
and she with child looked the other way.

And one night the old lady crouched
down in a puddle of slush,
lay the young lad upon the blanket of snow.
And with a kiss on his cheek
and a pat on his head,
tears trickled from her eyes
as the baby lay dead.

And for the first time in her life, the old lady
really understood pain
and she cried, and cried.

DOING TIME AT THE ZOO

DOING TIME AT THE ZOO




The moose next door
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

I sit in my cage
and eat raw flesh from metallic bowls
twice a day
I return to the open holes

You pass the meat
and expect me to be happy
caged in an iron coffin
yet convicted of no crime
You pass my cage
as I do the time


He throws me a peanut
She tosses me a candy bar
It waves and taunts me
shouts and vents
disrespects  my existence
and expects me to be content

We are the one who watch you go by
We are the ones who wait to die
We are the ones who hate you so
We are the ones who truly know
that you are the beast
trapped in your own mortality
begging forgiveness from some soiled priest

They come in droves
They drive their cars
They walk by our cages
throw morsels of genetically altered food
and throw our minds into horrific rages



Who is the animal
that traps my kind
Slaves to your world
 filled with hate
filled with utter fear
passing my prison but shedding not a  tear
to walk the corridors of iron that rust
and show sympathy and empathy
ironic gestures of trust

You enlightened creature
who fear my kind instinct
It is you who have been fleeced
It is you who are the beast.

I NEED A DOCTOR



I NEED A DOCTOR




dinosaur fish
carved in pine and painted in acrylic by Robert Margetts

I’ve got ants in my pants

and a needle in my eye
I’ve got a frog in my throat
and bats in my belfry
I’ve got a charley horse
and a case of puppy love

Sometimes I’m so hungry I could eat a horse
But am too chicken to try
Sometimes my dogs hurt like the dickens
Especially when I had the chicken pox

Mommy says that I have the memory of an elephant
but Daddy says that I have the brain the size of an ant
Grandmother says that I have the speed of a cheetah
but Grandfather says that I am slow as a sloth

I monkey around
horse around
mad as a bee
and sometimes as crazy as a loon.

Yep, looks like I need to see that doctor real soon.

DEAR SANTA



DEAR SANTA




Getting ready to battle
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

Dear Santa, the toof fairy is bad

I put it underwear my pillow
and I subspect de toof fairy
It was two knights ago
She stole my toof
and she give me know money.

If you see her

tell her to pay me back
or call my Daddy.
He said he see her do it
and Daddy’s don’t lie!


DEAR SANTA PART TWO


Dear Robert

I am the tooth fairy
and Daddy’s do so lie.
The cheap skate stole your molar
and forgot to pay the toll.
Next time you write Santa
tell them your father is an asshole!!
Love Mommy.

SPANKINGS



SPANKINGS






My Daddy spanks me

and sometimes it really hurts

He says it hurts him more
and that he is doing it because he loves me

Well, he really must love Mommy
because he is always slapping her.

DISEASES ARE FUN



DISEASES ARE FUN



Mommy got herpes from Daddy

I got my pees from the fridge
Daddy said he got crabs from Mommy
I caught my crabs from the sea
Mommy said Daddy gave her gonorrhea
I got my diarrhea from Mommy’s cooking
Mommy said Daddy gave her warts
I got mine from a toad.

NUCLEAR MEMORIES

NUCLEAR  MEMORIES



The last man
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

A child of seventy walks in death’s sands
looking far off and remembering distant lands
and memories cry inside his arching head
as a hungry God cries tears of red

Footprints in the sand, telling stores of past.
Waves cut in and shape new memories
carrying old feelings into the night.
Each footprint leads him one step into the future.
Each wave leaves him one memory into the past.

And he remembers a time when men cried into the wind
and children prayed to the only God of the night.
It was a time when the strong could stop and listen.
They had lived in a time, a time untold
few questions were asked and no lies were given,
thus they survived.

But those footprints have long washed away
and time is tomorrow’s past
as darkness drips its acid nails into the flesh of a child.
Its cries suffocated in yesterday’s pollution.
The hatred of an angle burns eyes of red
as the child of seventy wall’s into the night,
wishing he were dead!


HARP TEAR


A HARP TEAR




the seal killer
acrylic on canvas by Robert Margetts


 

To my child and wife
Silenced in love, murdered from life
Cuddled in fur, wrapped in lace
Taunting strangers, smiling with grace
Crawling in the snow with pup in sight
Sheltered from the cold and youthful flight

On the Eve of Christmas year
Shouts from the enemy, cries of fear
Attack was brutal, sickle was quick
Blood dripped from the butchers stick
A gift here forgotten tomorrow
Killing the helpless yet feeling no sorrow
Wrapped in harp, cuddled in red
They walk the streets carrying my dead.

The rose and the thorn cut from the stem
Lying in the garbage like a faulty gem
And all the memories that we made


And the dreams that we shared
Echoed silence from the ripper
The Gardner, the rose clipper.

BATH TIME


BATH TIME




just your average fish
carved from pine wood and stained by Robert Margetts


Splish splash
I don’t want a bath.

Swoosh swamp
I don’t need a bath

Dirty is good
Clean is bad

Splash splish
I’m not a silly fish!

THE FIRST KISS

THE FIRST KISS




Elvis the cow
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts


I kissed Sally today
I know not why
Perhaps with this kiss I just might die
It was wet and yet dry
It was just a peck goodbye!
Perhaps that is why she started to cry?

SKELETONS IN MY CLOSET



SKELETONS IN MY CLOSET




Lee under pressure
acrylic paint on canvas by Robert Margetts

What’s all this hush hush
about bones and secrets?

None in my closet
that’s for sure

I would know
I hide in there

And if I see
a bony cadaver

Out he goes
into the cold world

No secretes in my closet,
that’s for sure!

LIVER AT NINE

LIVER AT NINE




last nights dinner special
carved from pine by Robert Margetts

A clank of the dinner bell sealed my fate
Evil stepmother dumped a slab of liver upon my plate
Fried 5 hours pass its time
In the pan at 4:00 and out at nine

I looked in horror and in distain
This glob of glitch should be flushed down the drain.
No, not the drain, that would not do
It would clog the pipes as quick as crazy glue.

And to my surprise I began to believe
This burnt slab of snot actually laughed at me.
It jerked and twitched and sang an evil ballad
As it cowered for shelter beneath my dinner salad.

This was a shock, I must declare
But what came next cannot compare.
The limas and the beets out of the blue
Leap frogged the asparagus and crashed into the tomato stew.

Without remorse and to no debate
I opened my napkin and cleared my plate.
Unfortunately for me, my luck ran short
Evil stepmother growled and gave a bellowing snort.

“I see you crave liver as do I”
“And for desert, I cooked your favorite…Brussel Sprout Pie!”