All That We Have is This Moment

All that I have before me is right now.

This specific scene is what it is and no more.

I’m not motivated  to obtain  any golden cow,

No great bounty lies in some secret store.

The sun hasn’t risen on tomorrow,

The moon has shown on yesterday,

I have no empty row to hoe,

I bear no duty call

For some yellow bricked path I’m supposed to make.

I feel hungry

So I pause and break bread.

I pour my coffee cause I feel I need a jolt.

When I am sleepy I lay down my tired head.

Should I feel threatened

I’ll reach ‘neath my bed and  grab my Colt.

This moment has found me exactly where I am,

The specific situation I’m in is what I’ll have to deal with.

With what I presently own I do the best I can,

This life I live is what it is.

Having a plan steps outside of today’s collapsing reality,

In all honesty nothing truly exists in the world to climb with.

I know this fact strikes readers like an unseen  calamity,

So

You want more

I sense you still insist,

But in the end everything is what it is.

I purchased a few acres of land because I needed a place to stay,

Its total price was realistically something I could pay.

A manufactured or contracted  house is only a never ending bill,

I refuse to work two jobs

Because I want time to kill.

I’m not tying up my money in no kind of fund,

I’m not living to keep up with the Jones,

I’d rather spend my time

Fishing King Perch from a backwoods swamp run!

I live on soup made from scrounged meat and leftover bones.

I use what I own until it wears out,

I don’t waste my time living for the latest fad.

I live a much higher quality of life

No doubt.

Not working all the time isn’t so bad.

Enjoying being alive is what life is all about!

I live in a rented attic right now at this very moment.

My dear wife is three hours away.

My family has abandoned me for living in a tent;

But the sun will soon rise on the next new day,

While living their golden fantasy only kills them in the end.

H.L. Dowless is a thirty five year writer who loves travel, exploring, and living life on the edge. 

One More Visit

Come here so I can see you once more 

When your face was plump with rosy cheeks, 

You towered over me at 6 feet, 

And you could embrace your grandbabies. 

Would you come to my birthday party? 

You used to drive to Florida 

That second Saturday of January. 

I know that you’ve been occupied 

But could you visit one more time. 

Bring the Spider-Man comic, 

The one from 1962 that you promised 

You would not give to the salesman. 

It’s worth more than he’d ever know. 

Take me to the Mississippi River, 

Where we used to sit for hours and fish, 

At the place you taught me to be patient. 

This time I can drive the boat. I got my license last week. 

Come back to the river you haven’t seen in many springs.

Alicia (Alethia) Grove earned her bachelors in English with Summa Cum Laude at the University of Florida and is currently a master’s student in rhetoric and composition at the University of North Florida. While her focus is on the editorial side of publication, she is an amateur writer who enjoys writing poetry and short stories that are inspired by real world experiences. 

How I love to write

I’d rather write than eat or fight.

I pen these poems and tales with all my might,

When I rework it enough I’ll always get it just right!

Oh

I live a life of a rolling stone,

And in it I find the words to my own life song.

Aw

The many villains and alluring Jezabels,

I describe these vivid erotic dreams

And bitter realities so well.

We all live for something

And I live for mine.

Let me speak of my flying wing,

Since its writing the next line.

Beginning at 0500 on every Sunday,

I submit poems and stories in batches of three.

I know deep down that somehow I’ll leave my own legacy;

But in all honest truth I want to make a best selling story!

It's not pots of gold I wish to make,

But if somebody offers I’ll ne’er hesitate!

It's not for fame and glory that I languish in my wait,

I do it simply for the pleasure I find  in my ability to create!

I’ve been writing since the first grade of my life.

My initiating experience was one of two family poems published in a local paper

The day before Christmas eve night.

My second experience was in an educational  journal about conservation,

My finely crafted article was accepted with great elation.

Oh,

Nowadays I have came so far,

Yet

I still wish hard upon a falling star.

I feel as if I need to pull harder to make it over that veiled bar,

Maybe then I can cruise town in a luxurious car!

H.L. Dowless is a thirty five year writer who loves travel, exploring, and living life on the edge.