Between the lines

 

Between the lines you’ll find

Knife wielding assailants

Yellowed-eyed winos

The unemployment line

 

Between the lines you’ll find

Hyenas laughing at you and me

Deceitful eyes and whiskey breath

 A million out-stretched hands

 

Between the lines you’ll find

Fools in the rain

The window seat on the plane

Nightmares in broad daylight

 

Between the lines you’ll find

Broken noses as well as hearts

The albatross around the neck

The sky’s bitter torch

 

Between the lines you’ll find

The mental chains that bind

The song you can’t remember

The one you’ll never forget

 

Between the lines you’ll find

Miles Davis playing at 2 AM

A half empty bottle of bourbon

My typewriter still clicking

 

Between the lines you’ll find

A fly struggling against a web

A young man struggling against the world

Another lousy reality TV show

 

Between the lines you’ll find

The bottom of the bottle

The top of the hour,

Newscaster’s incessant chatter

 

Between the lines you’ll find

A hat trick, a no hitter, an amazing Super Bowl touchdown

Another nameless homeless man

Dead in the street

 

Between the lines you’ll find

A mad genius in a rubber room

A crowded jail with open doors

A closed school and a broken home

 

Between the lines you’ll find

The damnation of many a man

A lifted skirt and parted legs

The liberty statue fat and dim

 

Between the lines you’ll find

A man reading the good book

Another man who thinks it’s not so good

Empty pockets and a collection plate

 

Between the lines you’ll find

Pictures of matchstick men

Plastic faces and empty heads

Nietzsche’s words still ring true

 

Between the lines you’ll find

The last words I’ll ever type

Reviews

[.n.]

Oh man, this is awesome. I love your theme- you really capture the down and out and the empty spaces that abound in our country. This powerful and you have some really magical lines here. "Plastic faces and empty heads"...perfect. Your poetic voice has become recognizable for me, I enjoy reading your work, and I think you are getting stronger with each poem you write.

[Joe Shetina]

Brutal and painful truth. Something that's hard to find nowadays.

[Margarette]

I love how you arranged in random order the lines without a plot. It suggested a special meaning in each stanza. Cool writing!

[DeletedUser]

This sent tingles down my spine. It is a very powerful poem, and you did well at capturing what you intended. Often, people forget that life isn't all happiness and cheer, and reading this, anyone can see what the other side looks like. The poem was like a mirror to another world-the world that many fail to notice.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Dark, heavy, foreboding. It doesn't read like a suicide letter at first, but I can see it taken as such. Either way, this is a stunning piece of prose. I like it much.

[Audrey Howitt]

Just stunning writing. So much that goes on in each stanza. Well executed and well thought out. Really great work.

[kdpgrahi]

The good poetry. i like it much. It has a good imagery and a smooth flow

[Chris]

Between the lines you find -
yourself looking back...
and we don't always like who we see.

[Complex Disaster]

Good stuff! I love the "yellow eyed winos" part. It starts strong and ends strong.

[Ruth]

Goodness!
This is stunning work! Between those lines nothing is black and white is it? Many shades of grey! Wow! Awesome work xx