True Love

I told you
that you'd really
influenced me.
Since we'd started dating,
I said "jackass"
and "Douche-bag"
a whole lot more.
I felt guilty about it
but a few days later
you told me
that ever since
dating me
you hated love songs
and I felt that
kind of
made us even.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 14, 2010

Valentines

You asked
how far it was
between my balls
and my butt-crack,
I farted under the covers,
and you said,
"do you think
boobs are weird?"
and then, later,
we both burped
at the same time.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 14, 2010

Magical Essence

First Love (running through the snow)

All we really had were those shining moments,
    sleeping together
        under the grey wings
            of winter,

Running through the snow
    beneath the sheltering sky
        between long dreams
            and desires for which we
                had no voice.


-Jim DuBois
Summer 1997

What Was Revealed

Like someone turning up the volume
    when you didn't know the music was playing

Like scattering clouds from
    the face of the sun

Like a thousand folded days
    stuffed into fragile boxes
    and thrown to the wind,
        blooming like instant flowers
            wherever they land,
        growing like vines
            that hold the world together.


-Jim DuBois
April 21, 2004

Say Something!

Many years ago now,
I had this unbearable
crush on a librarian
at the Forbes library.

It was the kind of crush
that left me
unable to talk
in her presence.

I would go by
every few days
and get out books
just to see if she
was there,
and invariably,
if she was,
utter a timid thanks
and leave.

It was so unbearable
that I resolved one day
to say something
next time,
no matter what.

(Now, I must tell you
that I have made
resolutions of that nature
before
and they usually don't work
- one time I had resolved
to say something
to a woman I kept seeing
on the sidewalks downtown
and the pressure built up
so much
that I
jumped behind a tree
to hide
the next time
I saw her coming.)

So, I go to the library
and my crush is there.

She takes my book
to check it out
and I am saying
(in my head,)
"Do it! Say something!
Now is the chance!
Seize the day!
You never know what will happen!"
but I'm feeling like
it will be very awkward.

This battle continues
for a bit
as I stare down
at my library card
in my hands.

Then I look up,
and say (out loud),
"My library card
is made out of paper!"

There is this brief
yet horrifying pause
and then she says,
sounding eager to talk to me,
"Oh yes, and now,
you can get plastic ones!"

And that was
real progress for me.

I planned to follow it up
on other days,
with equally chatty statements,
but unfortunately,
that was the last time
I ever saw her.


-Jim DuBois
August 24, 2011

Romance/Science

How do you cross that line
between talking
and dating?

I want to compare it to
crossing the event horizon
of a black hole.

You might not notice as you cross
but you are on your inevitable way
to that intense and singular point

And no information
can return to the outside world
to let anyone know how it finally happened.

On the other hand,

I want to put romance
into a high-powered particle accelerator
and smash it to it's elemental bits

So we can make lists
that say things like,
"romance always has at least 130 billion quarks."

Then we won't have to
ponder the mystery any longer.
Instead, if things aren't happening,

You can study the lists
and say,
"more quarks, my friend, more quarks!"



-Jim DuBois
May 22, 2011

There's Still Time

There's still time
    to surprise me,
    to show up randomly at my door
    and pledge yourself
        to the revolution
        and to me,
    to don your old heroic gear
        and enter the battle
        once more,
    to open up your mouth
        and say no
        to the things that need
        to be said no to,
    to stand up,
    to fight for love,
    to reach for other humans,
    to be brave,
    to open your heart.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 28, 2011

Soft and Tender Love Stories

-Jim DuBois,
c 2003

Momentary Ambition

Sometimes there's no guide
    Sometimes there's no right or wrong,
        only a momentary ambition
            to climb into your eyes

Sometimes there's nothing to understand
    Sometimes there's no rules,
        only love
            you didn't expect


-Jim DuBois
Dec 8, 1998

Semi-sweet broken hearts

Semi-sweet
      broken hearts

absorbing heat
      from the landscape

of lost love

because somedays

the sun isn't enough


-Jim DuBois
Aug 27, 2008

My Heart Has Always Been My Own

My heart has always been my own
with its own ways
and words
loving when it does
who it does
however it does

You might notice it,
you might not
- that is your business



-Jim DuBois
April 14, 2010

The World Didn't Stop Turning

The world didn't stop turning --
    the moon rose,
        the stars shifted --

but we were safe,
    drifting through time
        on our raft
            of that long embrace,

for a while
    really living,

just being there
    at the center of things

caught up
    in the trees and water around us

caught up
    in the only moment there was.


-Jim DuBois
Sept 21, 2000

Upon Opening My Kitchen Door

Upon opening my kitchen door
I see a strange chair
which startles me for a moment
and then I remember
in a rush
how we stole that chair
last night
on a date.


-Jim DuBois
July 15, 2007

Computer Summary Poem #2

When I put my whole blog through the summary function of my word processer, this what it came up with:


Shirt,
40 Short Poems

This poem
Run
Run
Run!!!


a love poem
loving
running


- Jim DuBois + Computer
Dec 20, 2009

Let Tomorrow Come

Let tomorrow come
    because I’ve polished today
    and stashed it
    in my trophy case,
    with an engraved label
    reading:
                    ‘Yes!
                              Yes!
                                        Yes!’

Let tomorrow come
    because I’ve got my ear
    to the ground
    and the energy of life
    is relaying your heartbeat
    to me from wherever it is
        you’ve gone.


-Jim DuBois
Oct 6, 2000

Short poems about an old lover

Sleeping with you
beneath purple horse and yellow sky
my heart wakes up

Walking home
thinking of ______
a bird hops by

Walking you home
in my stolen red shirt
the streets are quiet

Swinging gently in my hammock
the knot in my stomach unclenches
I think I just got over you

-Jim DuBois
c 1996

Sometimes

I put together another book of my poetry, which you can get online from a print on demand service. This is a larger collection of poems I wrote in the 1990s, and it covers a wide variety of themes, including love, spirituality, nature and space travel.

Sometimes - a collection of older poems

You

It wasn't anyone
any different than you

who started that last
revolution,

who fell in love,

who was remembered
    for thousands of years.


-Jim DuBois
2006

Running Around Eastworks

Running around Eastworks
after Mama's birthday dinner,
we saw the bear!
we ran around the little shack
  with all the poems,
we ran up and down the big hallways.

Watching you reminded me
that it's ok to love.


-Jim DuBois
March 2009