#marcus bales

[batgovernor]

Song: Marcus Bales, 'Those Got-To-Leave-You Blues'

Well, he was near played out when I went on and took him in. His mind and body like his clothes were worn. His self-control and wallet like his boots were mighty thin. I patched him up wherever he was torn. He needed somewhere safe and warm so maybe he’d begin To grow a callus back someone had shorn. There wasn’t much he’d ask that I’d refuse Until he got those got-to-leave-you blues. He said…

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[batgovernor]

Sonnet: Marcus Bales, 'This Bar'

In the middle of their movie each arrives Smiling in this gutter, still the stars Of broad moments in their narrow lives. They tell of other people, other bars, Other husbands, lovers, friends, and wives, Re-writing both their pleasures and their scars; How one thing given up another strives To get; how what one shines another tars With one of the varieties of hate. But here the villain is a…

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[batgovernor]

Marcus Bales, 'Suddenly'

Suddenly the kids, the car, the house, the spouse, the local bar, the work, have made you what you are. What doesn’t chill you makes you fonder. Should you stay or should you go? The thrill you’re looking for, you know, could be right here at home, although what doesn’t thrill you makes you wander. If, avoiding common truth, you dye your hair and act uncouth, will you find your misplaced youth –…

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[batgovernor]

Marcus Bales, If Elizabeth Browning Had Written "I Will Survive"

How do I love you? Well, not any more — I love you? Not even to bread slice height That has been toasted, buttered, rye or white, And dropped the wrong side down upon the floor. I love you like a mildew or a spore Or pestilential fungal blastocyte That makes one’s breath itself a mortal fight And living life seem like a choking chore. I love you? The one who made the try To break me with goodbye,…

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[batgovernor]

Marcus Bales, 'Rule Number One'

For Linda, who said it first  If you’re going to have a reading then no matter where you are for a minimum of breeding you have got to have a bar. You will fill up all the seating, they will come from near and far, if the best part of your greeting is “Why, yes we have a bar!” But the evening will be fleeting even if you’ve booked a star when it’s alcohol they’re needing and you do not have a…

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[batgovernor]

Marcus Bales, 'A Rainy Day in Cleveland'

A rainy day in Cleveland. I almost said“The skies are gray.” Of course the skies are gray,It’s raining, so — what could they be instead?I meant to mow the rest of the lawn today,But it’s a day to watch the garden grow.The finches, flashing in the too-long grass,Are pecking dandelion seeds, and glowTheir special yellow through rain-dotted glass.The internet is off. I sit and watchThe irises and…

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[batgovernor]

Weekend read: Parody poem: Marcus Bales, 'Slash Wednesday'

IBecause I do not do the limerick line Because I do not do Because I do not do the limerick Desiring this man’s schtick or that man’s joke I will stick to knocking out free verse (If here and there a rhyme so much the worse) In mournful moans Presented ragged-right upon the page. IIThere once was a Lady with threeWhite leopards, a juniper tree,And a bag full of bonesThat sang their sad moansOf…

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[batgovernor]

Using form: Parody with a message: Marcus Bales, 'The Easy Way Taken'

Two friends diverged in a yelling mood And sorry I could not keep them both And still maintain one attitude, I scrolled down through one’s page, and viewed Some green and gold of writing growth. Then saw the other was just as good, With maybe even a better claim Because so well misunderstood Within the writing neighborhood, Though as for that they’re much the same. And each that morning equally…

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