Tag: poetry

behind the headlines (archives)

i felt a rotting albatross

around my neck was hung

the barrel of my .38

was pungent on my tongue

a deadly glass of poison

was lifted to my lips

the suicide solution

was at my fingertips

but then i realized

in the pit of my despair

that suicide is pointless if

there’s no one who would care

and that’s when i decided

on a plan so cold and cruel

i grabbed my automatic

and i strolled into the school

and all the while thinking

that the world would surely heed

the pain that they’d inflicted

to make me do this deed

and when the blood-bath ended

it was time to end it all

and so i blew my brains out

on the high school classroom wall

and now just like the albatross

i’m rotting here in hell

and yet the world remains unchanged

as far as i can tell

Jody’s Depression

My wife Jody suffered from depression (which eventually led to her fatal drug overdose), and I remember how frustrated I was that I couldn’t do anything to help. It came from inside her, and seemed to have little to do with how things were.

It’s been over 12 years since she’s been gone, and life goes on. When I took this photo, it reminded me of her depression, so I wrote down how I think she might’ve felt:

there’s a bright blue sky

just beyond these dark trees;

a wonderful world of beauty;

a world of light and love

where people wave and smile

and life…happens;

a world of fussy grandmas

and naughty grandchildren–

if only I could get beyond

these damn black trees!

it’s no use; they’re too thick.

maybe if I take more morphine,

i’ll get to that blue sky.

And that she did.

–photo by me