douglas brent smith

She Didn't Believe It

i tried to tell her hell i

try to tell all of them

but she didn't believe it

when i said to expect

the unexpected

and to deal with

puzzling deals nothing

to be dealt with normally

there being nothing normal there

so i should not be held responsible

naturally

for twisting a phrase,

opening the horizon

or breaking her heart

i tried to tell her that

might happen but

she didn't believe it but

being pro-active and smarter than me

broke mine first

douglas brent smith

on and on again

when the page turn

burns

the writer's hand

a grimace grows

surfacing the strands

of captured particles too bland

to turn the twisted

trip again

as the sunlight

fights

against the night

the struggle of

forgotten sights

resumes its earnest empty plight

even when the product's

trite

it falls apart and leaves a scar

while forgetting who you are.

douglas brent smith

my father's house

my father's house bears change

these days

the voices bouncing

off the walls

are not those of my family

but

of strangers

taking the space

i once knew so well

they speak with West Virginia accents

strangely

and treat me as a stranger

there are few things left

in my father's house

to remind me of familial love

to comfort me in shared history

something has been transplanted

and another thing supplanted

my father's house which

once was also mine

is no longer even

my father's house.

douglas brent smith

the numbers

you're living (it's truly

amazing) i'm crazy

though windows to open

will never close doors

you're giving (i'm

living)

much more than before

together we wonder

while skies shall surrender

when life lends us love

the threes become fours

but what matters

above all

when people may choose

is magic in making

the ones become twos.

douglas brent smith

envy

he smoked a pipe

that would make any author

drool with envy

which (by the way) need not be green

but it's also available in

red, blue, and occasionally paisley

although perhaps best

invisible.

douglas brent smith

What the Lemmings Must Know

Stars stream madly

across the frozen sky

sending drops of passion

into the pathways of

our wings

unmasked unfolded

we yearn

for the mystery

painted on the faces

of leaping lovers

of circus grips

and tunesmiths

sing, push, and pull

the lever

once pulled

overrides all the rules

the camera

once flashed

disappears with a crash

the secret

once known

leaves the lover alone.

douglas brent smith

Space Fish

Nothing spectacular, just a fish in space who has swallowed a space station and is apparently surrounded by black holes. Oh, and an orbiting top hat, too.

douglas brent smith

The Sun Rises, The Television Sets

oh lovely lady locked

into real world rollers

with past tense terrors

run off with me

somewhere like

the mountains of

Colorado

where we'll build a

log cabin right next to

our own peak

while the snow falls, the sun

rises

and the television set's

blue glow flows on

we'll sing

all day long

and in the evening

keep each other warm.

douglas brent smith

-------------

Note:

When I wrote this, possibly in 1975, I had no idea that I would actually some day live in Colorado. Life can be funny like that. It wasn't in a log cabin, and it wasn't with the lover in this poem, but there was an interesting symmetry to the adventure.