Riding My Bike Back From the Mall

Yeah,
you knew this
was coming,
right?

I got a bike,
I write about
    everyday things,
and voila!

I know
it's not deep,
or obscure academic
    poetry.

It's comprehendable,
not dada-esque --
revered dada-esque.

It's not even
Charles Bukowski
drunk pathetic
poetry.

No metaphors,
no rhymes,
no special names of plants
or other things
no one really knows.

O Robert Frost,
this is not
your poetry!

I'm not counting
my syllables,
dear Haiku!
haha!

I'm not
going to a "slam"
to recite this
while I bob
back and forth
and angrily
try to make it
more than it is.

Instead, I'm telling
a simple story:

I rode my bike
  back from the mall
  and I was happy.


-Jim DuBois
June 19, 2013

Love Note

Your heart
      was made
                to love me

Don't deny it
      the chance


-Jim DuBois
Jan 23, 2013

Love and Lust

We could go on
confusing
love and lust.

We, all of humanity,
could go on
like that,

but let's start
a new era
instead.


-Jim DuBois
April 15, 2013

Sometimes - eBook

I have a new poetry book in eBook format, available on the iTunes Bookstore for $2.99.

It is a collection of early poems by me, featuring themes of love, loneliness, space travel and spirituality.

Many of the poems have not appeared on this blog.



Get a copy.

Or view my all my books, eBook and print, as well.

Grandfather Turtle, and Snake Hunting Near Gregor's Crossing

"Thank you,"
I say
as the first snake
of the season
slithers into view
ahead of me
on the dirt path.

I slow down.

I take its picture.

I start to think
about all the animals
I have seen
down here
near Gregor's Crossing,
the snakes,
frogs,
owls,
ducks,
fish,
chipmunks,
and beavers.

And one time,
when the evening light
was slanting
in just the right
way to illuminate
the streambed
clearly to me
on the bank,
I saw this
giant 3-foot long
turtle
swimming along placidly.
So I followed along,
tried to get pictures
but none came out,
wondered where he came
from,
thought about age
and survival.

There were many people
nearby that day,
walking,
swimming,
enjoying the day,
but none of them
noticed the turtle,
and he seemed
to sense
when they were
nearby
in the water,
and turn back.

Old Grandfather Turtle,
I thought,
swimming near
Gregor's Crossing,
appearing only
when the light
and time are right,
appearing only to those
who can notice,
who can be silent
or still for
the right amount
of time.
Not noticeable
by the hectic modern
world of humans,
but still swimming
below the surface,
holding to the old ways,
the peaceful
and silent ways,
the enduring ways.


-Jim DuBois
April 18, 2013


PS - Two days before I put up this poem, I went for a walk, saying to myself, "I will notice the present moment this whole walk." And then I saw the turtle again! I got a few pictures.

I write these things down

I write
these things down,
because someone
should do it,
and I decided
it would be me.

I don't think
it needs to be
too clever,
or too dramatic.

It mainly
just needs doing.


-Jim DuBois
March 31, 2013

I'm Saving Your Heart

Joshua,
playing on the couch
one day,
his head
in my lap,
reached up
and touched
my cheek.
"I'm saving your heart,"
he said.
I know,
I thought,
you really are.


-Jim DuBois
March 31, 2013