Bad Garden Poem

Having a Garden is great fun
The plants grow under the sunny Sun
But it’s not for Everyone,
Because Weeds grow by the ton.

Do you see
What’s happening to me
Because I must judge the contest of poetry?

Now I’m done
Look what I’ve become
I’ve wasted time
With shitty rhymes

I guess there are worse things
… sings
… rings

Etc


-Jim DuBois
June 28, 2016

Late Afternoon Lull

Dropping words on the page,
in no particular order,
rambling, relaxing,
wondering if far from now,
on my deathbed,
I'll confuse real life
with some of the
Minecraft worlds
I spent so many hours in,
saying to people,
my beloved ones
I am departing from,
"Remember that village
we visited and
took care of that one time,
with the great view
at the edge of the swamp?"
and they'll say,
"Yes, yes. I loved
that place."

And that'll be as good as
anything
at that moment.

But now these thoughts
are passing
and I'm going
to read
then make us dinner.


April 27, 2016
-Jim DuBois

Falling in Love is Like...

Falling in love is like
when you first
come in from the cold
and you can't quite
feel your toes and fingers yet.

Falling in love is like
waking up from
a bad dream
when you're still
panicked that
the crazy/scary/sad thing
might be true.

Falling in love
is a huge disaster
for my cherished
sense of unwantability.

Falling in love
is ruining my plan
to bitterly face
middle age on my own.

Falling in love is like
waiting for the sunrise,
that part where you're like,
"C'mon, c'mon, any minute now! When? When?"

Falling in love is like
walking on your foot
when its fallen asleep
- before circulation returns
every step is agony.

Falling in love
is dangerous
to my comfortable loneliness

Falling in love
is devastating
to my lack of
self-esteem.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 25, 2015

Instead of "Passion"

a desire to record
a desire to experiment
a desire to communicate
a desire to learn
a desire to explore
a desire for chaos
a desire for order
a desire for change
a desire to pass time
a desire to preserve
a desire to be generous
a desire to be selfish
a desire to finish
a desire to get started
a desire to create
a desire to destroy
a desire to be distracted
a desire to achieve a goal
a desire for peace of mind


-Jim DuBois
April 2016

What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done, dandelion?
How will you pay your rent on this hillside?
Anton Chekhov was a doctor
and wrote great novels.
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done, dandelion?
What have you done, little butterfly?
What have you done, grassy hillside?
How will you fulfill your obligation to society?
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done?
How will you live?
What have you achieved?
What will your legacy be?
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done, dandelion?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a musical prodigy at age 4.
Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity.
Genghis Khan conquered most of several continents.
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done for America, Dandelion?
At least get a job selling lottery tickets and cigarettes
instead of absorbing the free sunshine all day.
Please, dandelion, please!
What will you do, dandelion?

What will you do?

-Jim DuBois
April 24, 2016

Nachos at Fire & Water

They used to
bake the Nachos
in the oven
at first,
back in the day,
20 years or so ago,
at Fire & Water
and I remember
eating them
on a particular day.

Even though
they took longer
to make,
they came out great,
but then
Fire & Water started
using the microwave,
and they
weren't the same
anymore.

It was
a long time ago
and I never expected
something as ordinary
as that particular
plate of Nachos
to have such resonance
in my memory.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 19 2015

It Began

It began
with the smile on Jake's face.

Someone dropped their keys
Someone else fainted.

Jake kept smiling.

The people on the sidewalk
felt their neck hair stand on end
and their skin tingle.

Many looked to the sky.

Up on the 30th floor,
a woman turned into a sparrow
and flew away into the clouds.


-Jim DuBois
March 30, 2016
(revised some old scraps of writing from the 90s)