HAIL
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​
Came how cats tip toe.
Getting in car to move it
Under port, just as door shut
Came the buffalo
Stampede.
The car was not yet started.
The windshield was an iceberg
On a hot skillet.
And my ears became the land
Where the buffalo roam.
And in the rearview mirror
The sky melted. And from
Windshield to car roof
The stampede moved
And their freight train rumble
Almost popped my ears.
And my heart, for no real reason,
Ran with them. And the key
Now in place I turned
But could hear only hooves
And see just
A hail symphony
Bouncing off my hood.
​
​
--poetry, rj Williams, 2016
THE POISON of SUCH PRETTY THINGS
​
Carribean Blue,
Just yards from shore…
That kind of shallow wading pond
Is what glanced at me.
Never saw the shark shadow
Circle the drain of her pupil.
She gripped that harpoon
How mother’s save falling babies…
Held it level, upright, with no arch.
This was her tropical paradise
Bathed in crayon box colors
Melted on every flower.
She was queen here
And part lava rock, part tsunami.
I can’t swim. And here I feared
A wayward jellyfish all too happy
To touch me.
No, apparently
I have fallen into the volcano.
Skeletons of my likeness
Fossilizing here.
My heart an echo chamber.
I’ll have to get used to
The underbelly of paradise
And the poison
Of such pretty things.
INVISIBLE THRONES in the SKY
​
​
Someone got tired
Of all this "natural order of things" talk.
That someone came to the conclusion
That life was mostly about suffering
With a little happiness interspersed between.
This person had read Dante's Inferno,
Concluded hell was real (enough).
Had their doubts as to just who or what,
If anything, lived way out there somewhere
Up in the bold blue sky.
Decided to test the stratospheric waters one day,
Manned a hellacious canon built to punch holes
Into the universe.
Aimed it directly at invisible thrones in the sky
And LOADED it with a dozen or so canon balls
Figuring if chariots of the gods fly
They would have to take a few shots.
At who and why?
Apparently at whoever was sleeping
Dreaming this dream that is heaven above
Hell below and all things living sandwiched between.
A great hope to hit the mark and wake the dreamer up
Permanently.
​
​
RJ WILLIAMS, 2017
​
Sand Castles come to Life
​
​
I've Written Poetry
Where, I gave so much
I turned myself inside out
And on completion
Was left a pretzel of my
Former self. I posted it online
And received 1 "like."
I've Written Poetry
That was nothing more than
A random thought
Void of almost all sensory
And posted it online.
I received 20 "likes" and
An emoji kiss.
In my poetry I've pulled clouds
Down from the sky,
Altered the orbit
Of the Earth.
I've made sand castles
come to life.
I've minced my heart
Sprinkled it over
Lactose free waffle cone
Scooped ice cream
To make it palatable for all.
And it's all in what people feel
Or are going through that day
That they read poetry,
That decides if they remember...
If not your name...
Just a thimble full of words.
​
--poetry, rj Williams, 2016