Conditional
Why does love feel so conditional?Why do I seek others’ approval in their wordsAnd their tones?What wired me this way?Why can’t I just be myself?Yet what would that look like?Who or what is the real me?Is it too late for him to appear?Or have I been permanently destinedTo be this puppetControlled by strings of acceptance?If…
by rostie06
AnNoYiNg
Your voice is annoyingYour rhetoric is annoyingYour ego is annoyingHow can people continue to supportSuch an arrogant ass-hole?And just ignore the truth?Promises, promises, promises brokenFailed business venturesYet they fall in lineYou liken yourself to ChristYou portray yourself as a modern-day saviorYet you shit on the peopleWill there be a recovery?From what you have done?Or will…
by rostie06
One of My Goldfish is a Serial Killer
Two suspects exist – Two medium-sized fishThe season started with an assortment of large and medium aquatic vertebratesOne by one, the large expiredNone with wounds or traumaWhen they had all floated to the topThe mediums began to disappearWe purchased some smallsTo repopulate the pondSoon, 7 of 10 had gone to heavenLeaving 3 littles and the…
by rostie06
Conditional
Why does love feel so conditional?Why do I seek others’ approval in their wordsAnd their tones?What wired me this way?Why can’t I just be myself?Yet what would that look like?Who…
Keep readingAnNoYiNg
Your voice is annoyingYour rhetoric is annoyingYour ego is annoyingHow can people continue to supportSuch an arrogant ass-hole?And just ignore the truth?Promises, promises, promises brokenFailed business venturesYet they fall in…
Keep readingOne of My Goldfish is a Serial Killer
Two suspects exist – Two medium-sized fishThe season started with an assortment of large and medium aquatic vertebratesOne by one, the large expiredNone with wounds or traumaWhen they had all…
Keep readingLast First
Life should be full of adventureIt is what keeps the mind youngStimulation, exposure, awe, and wonderWill keep the grey cells firingYet life often fills with the mundaneThe same ole same…
Keep readingMy Parents
My parents were a June-December romanceDad had three other childrenThis put me in a position of havingNieces and nephews near my ageMy brother’s children were little monstersDestruction and terror reigned…
Keep readingFirsts
Life is full of firstsAnd these may be the moments that shapeThe rest of our lives.First friend – Mike Lynn, whatever happened to him? They moved away.First love – Kirstie,…
Keep readingMy Hands
While putting down the road The other dayI glanced at the wheel And did a double-takeI was shocked at what I saw Somewhat dazed and confusedI almost pulled over To…
Keep readingAdmire
Who do I admire?Who do I uphold with reverence?Whose example do I look to?Who can I quote the most?Vonnegut – Great flowing wordsSteinbek – Stores that are rawWalter Ruether –…
Keep readingFirst Car
My first car was a cool 72 Chevy Nova2-door with rally wheelsBurnt Orange and black interior350 V-8, automatic, 4-barrel carb.More car than a teenager needed.Fast, not as fast as some,…
Keep readingProfound Kindness
Watching the world hateSeeing it attack itselfNo care given to kindnessI often wonder howWe can tolerate this hurtContinue to function neverthelessI try my best to do goodTo show love and…
Keep readingCool
Oh wow! I fell prey to the mainstream teen phenomenonYeah, man, my generation had the commercial power And cause we had shared interests and “disposable income.”We changed the worldStep aside,…
Keep readingI slipped a sheep and a sheep slipped me
My father had many traits,Some good, a few bad.He was, though, a self-crowned funny man,That one trait could go either way.He would call random female friends Disguising his voice to…
Keep readingOne Word
I was asked the other dayOver a pint, don’t ya knowWhat one word describes your childhoodI thought, smiled, and contemplatedFrowned, grimaced, and mutteredStarted to answer, then thought againThere was love…
Keep readingCecil
Yeah, my brother, my big brother,He was 22 years my senior. Someone cut from a whole other generation, if you will. Born of my father’s second marriage. He spent his…
Keep readingWhen I Look to the Past
When I look to the past, the one thing I miss the most,Is the simplicity of childhood.The wonder of learning new thingsNo large responsibilitiesBeing provided forLoved unconditionally2026
Keep readingLife is A Bowl of Cherries
Ponder this old sayingLife is a bowl of cherriesDoes it not instill thoughts of pristine, gleaming fruitBut the top sparkling layerThese hide the rotting, spoiling bottomTruth of the bowlLife is…
Keep readingWhen I Grow Up
As a small child, I was told that when I grew up, I would be a preacher. One of those who stands in the pulpitAnd screams for twenty minutes, A…
Keep readingJo Lums
Kitty corner from my childhood home Stood, with faded and peeling paint A gloomy red building Jo Lums Chinese RestaurantWe never, EVER ate there Not that we ate Chinese at…
Keep readingFirst Memory
Terror and fearForm in my mindAs I recall my earliest memoryChristmas at Grandmother EdmondsA yule time of cussing and fightingCould be had by all.Dad, after a few beersHas glazed eyes…
Keep readingI’m So Tired
I’m so TIREDSixty-plus years of adulting has me just TUCKERED ME OUTWhy do I have to make decisions?Be the responsible one?I’m so EXHAUSTEDOf always doing the right thingWhy can’t life…
Keep readingKendall
KendallIt started with a hectic, mad dash southTo a frustrating city with no vacanciesBut oh, the outcome was so sweetA bright-eyed, beautiful baby girlThe last bundle of joyTo grace our…
Keep readingMy Blue Book of Original Poems by Cora Oma Long – Rostie Publishing
Poems from Mrs. Long of Flint, Michigan. Originally published in 1924Cora Oma Simons LongBorn: 12 Jul 1868, Michigan, USADeath: 24 May 1950 (aged 81) Genesee County, Michigan, USABurial: Mount Morris…
Keep readingBlue Book Of Original Poems by Cora Oma Long – Rostie Publishing
Poetry by Cora Oma LongBorn: 12 Jul 1868 Michigan, USADeath: 24 May 1950 (aged 81) Genesee County, Michigan, USABurial: Mount Morris Cemetery Mount Morris, Genesee County, Michigan, USASpouses:James Nathaniel Wyant…
Keep readingDoing the Right Thing (Always the Right Thing) by Roy O Richard – Rostie Publishing
Second edition, retitles “Please allow me to introduce myself…” Firstly you should know that I am a card carrying curmudgeon. This includes a sarcastic sense of humor, a limited amount…
Keep readingSTORY TERRACE Paperback by Frances Elizabeth Atchinson (Bacon) – Rostie Publishing
“This play was written for a special occasion, Children’s Book Week, and first produced in my own branch with a cast of children that I knew intimately. Perhaps I had…
Keep readingThe Worker Ants of the Cheese Puff Cult by Roy Richard – Rostie Publishing
15 poems that reflect on the current state of our democracy. Satire and sarcasm fill the pages as little worker ants follow the orange rule of the orange god.Buy it…
Keep readingPoetry from The Masses 1911 – Rostie Publishing
With selections from TM Becker, Herbert Everett, Isaac Goldberg, Wilby Heard, Varl Holiday, Emanuel Julius, James C McNally, Reginald Wright Kauffman, and Horace Traubel.The Masses was a socialist magazine published…
Keep readingFLINTOID: A Collection of Poems About the Vehicle City by Roy O Richard, Sarah Louks, Ralph H Marlatt, Katherine Cary-Place, and Gaylia Kenslow-Stogsdill – Rostie Publishing
A Collection of Poems About the Vehicle CityIn memory of all those who made and continue to make this place home.The industrial city of Flint sits on the banks of…
Keep readingTownsend Tinklings of Club No. 2, poems of Sarah Louks by Sarah Louks – Rostie Publishing
Poems by Flint, Michigan housewife, Sarah Louks (1862-1955).This work is dedicated and about the work of California physician Francis Townsend.He worked to establish an Old-Age Pension as part of America’s…
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Ramblings of an Old Coot 