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.

[Green Regol]

--Deceitful eyes and whiskey breathe-- did you mean breathe or breath?

I like this. Usually I try battering people into adding commas/periods at the ends of their lines when needed, but I think this poem it fine without "correct" punctuation. This, I think, is a good example of poetic freedom as opposed to grammatical negligence.

I like the points you make and the pictures you paint. You set a up a nice rhythm.

[Violet]

enjoyable. it makes the reader stop and think about society. lovely.