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Joe L. Allen
http://joeallen.purpledream.com |
So Close But Yet So Far
03/22/06 |
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
that's the story of my life
the girl that touched my heart the most
was some one else's wife
the problem wasn't so much that she had another man
the problem was her father was Grand Marshall of the Klan
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
got that fish right up to the boat
but it some how broke my line
& now my cameras afloat
& the keys to the new car were in my pocket when I yelled "gotten"
& now I fear they're probably lying somewhere on the bottom
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
she let me take her to the dance
we held hands & dance together & it felt just like romance
but the car I borrowed ran out of gas with all its heavy chrome
& her BIG fat neighbors limo happened by to take her home
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
I was right there so it did seam
I didn't really care if it was only a wet dream
It was closer then I'd ever gotten at any time before
& I'm sure it wouldn't feel so nice if I had paid some whore
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
I came up to those Pearly Gates
I probably would have made it but my attitude wasn't that great
May have been that time that cost me when I took God's name in vain
Or the time I cursed his presence cause I got caught in the rain
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
I wait & rot till judgment day
I never really thought my life would end in such a way
But as I lay in wait & wonder about all that I've done wrong
I realize that 1 lifetime is not that very long
So if your reading this, please realize before you leave that bar
& offer to drive your drunken friends home so you look like a star
that the roads were slick & wet from early evening fits of rain
since you too had been drinking, never heard or saw the train
now your friends are dead & ripped apart in the wreckage of your car
but you say you almost beat that train...
SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR
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Look In The Mirror
03/27/06 |
When you stare into the mirror do you like what you see
When you see you? I do when I see me.
In your reflection are you happy with your own silhouette,
Are you satisfied with what your life allowed you to get?
if your not, then take a look back at the friends gone before,
you shared a love for life but now their hearts are beating no more
think of the people you see living on the sides of the streets,
kids in impoverished nations with no food to eat.
Think of the little girl with lupus, who is always in pain,
The baby boy that's born with cancer on one half of its brain,
The man that took his family out to spend a day at the park
& they were killed by a drunk driver coming home after dark.
So he wakes up every morning in a memory filled house
To the thought: A drunk got eighteen months for killing his spouse
Who was carrying his unborn son that no one could save
Now he spends his time & money decorating their grave
You see he buried them together & not because he's cheap
But so that mom could cradle baby in their eternal sleep
Look in the mirror, are those skeletons beginning to smell
That you'd hid deep in your closet promising never to tell?
When you stare back at your pupils are your visions surreal?
Are your scruples kicking in to better help you to deal?
Now all the people you've looked over trying to get to the top
Will be right here waiting for you when you finish your drop
When you look closely in the mirror do you like what you see?
When you scrutinize you, because I'm loving my me.
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Well Known Stranger
04/14/06 |
Today a friend stopped by
from a time long passed
I can't even recall when I saw them last
But I was just pleased to see they were well
I'd been meaning to visit, stop by for a spell
But time slipped away much more often then not
For the most part a quick thought was all my friend got
& The minutes & hours & days just tolled on
& Before I got to it another friends gone
So I sit & I wonder as the years abate
Why we all miss loved ones when it's far too late
& Now I sit mourning in fits of anger
For time not spent with that Well Known Stranger
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Some One
04/30/06 |
As I sit here alone feeling empty & cold
the way I feel for you is worth more than gold
At times like this I wish you'd just hold me close
To hug me and keep me as warm as fresh toast
I need some one to talk to, someone to care
the first someone I think of when I want to share
Even when my days been unusual rotten
a few moments with her & its quickly forgotten
To tease me & touch me & let me be free
To help me be the person that I need to be
To lead & to guide me and give me a hand
But also want to play and to lie in the sand
be it dinner for two or a Baptist Church function
A party for six or a quiet park luncheon
she'd always be there for me to give support
or just to hang out with and be a good sport
we'd always be together never far a part
this will always keep us in each others hearts
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Echoes In Her Sleep
05/15/06 |
She just wanted someone to share in her joy
A husband, two children, a girl & a boy
& a nice little house on a nice lot some where
for anything more she just hadn't a care
she worked really hard just to make it come true
she even expected a tough time or two
Because anything worth having didn't come cheap
& those were the words that echoed in her sleep
Soon it all came together & just as she planned
A nice car, a small house & good job... but no man
She came home to the quiet, to calm & serene
Cozy, uncluttered & lonely but clean
But to finally make all her wishes come true
She needed one more potion stirred into the brew
That potion would lure her true prince to her side
& life would be Camelot for the new bride
& the babies would come & the babies would grow
but was this how her real story turns out... OH NO
because what she thought boring & tidy & lonely
she prayed for at night but could find in dreams only
she soon reminisced of the life she'd once lived
her Camelot soon became quite primitive
She'd found her Prince Charming & charming he was
So she spoiled him & soon moved him in just because
In her dreams every thing was falling into place
& soon she would feel her new baby's embrace
but things became different, she wasn't sure when
but her prince wasn't the same charming guy that he'd been
at first it began with the verbal assault
what ever happened, always her fault
seem that what ever she did wasn't right
then her prince starts to drink & would stay out all night
she'd sit up for hours both lonely & scared
she thought about calling but never once dared
She just wanted some one to share in her joy
A husband, two children, a girl & a boy
& a nice little house on a nice lot somewhere
for anything more she just hadn't a care
she lay there just hugging his pillow real tight
then got up & just walked the floor half the night
she then scrubbed the bathroom till it looked just like new
because worrying about him was all she could do
finally the door to the house just flew open
but not to the hug & I'm sorry she's hoping
will fall from his lips as she fills his embrace
instead he just cursed her & spat in her face
& asked why she looked like she hadn't had sleep
as if she were the one out all night on the creep
& who'd you let out just before I came in?
he asked her then slapped her... again & again
now he tares through her house spitting curses & beer
knocking down doors screaming somebody's here
He says if he finds him he's dead on the spot
& he'll take it all out on her if he does not
she curls up in a corner & prays he'll calm down
as she's hearing her valuables crash to the ground
then he runs to her room & turns over the bed
the head board by half an inch misses her head
"who'd you have in the shower?" he said in a roar
as the vanity mirrors are thrown to the floor
& now he's above her his nostrils a flair
reaches down & snatches her up by her hair
he says he will teach her to show him respect
so he lets go & clamps his hands around her neck
& he starts to explain why he does what he does
in the panic & haze she remembers what was
she worked really hard just to make it come true
she even expected a tough time or two
Because anything worth having didn't come cheap
& those were the words that echoed in her sleep
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Joe's Apartment
05/30/06 |
There's a man in the projects
who's not too proud
Of being a very small face
in a very large crowd
But what type of an attitude should he project
When even cockroaches give him no respect
When he'd come home tired from working
1st thing he'd see
Is about fifty-leven roaches watching color T.V.
& he wants to turn it off but he's not that bold
because the biggest roach of all has his remote control
It says, "My mother, Concha mocha never taught me fear
That's why I'm hear in your recliner drinking your last beer"
Joe told the roach "I'll get my gun & I'll shoot you jack"
Roach said, "My brother has your bullets,
he'll shoot you back"
& when he went into the bathroom all hopes did fade
when he saw roaches drinking Roach Proof like Minute Maid
There were roaches in his bathtub,
playing in the shower
Running up his water bill, been in there for hours
Swimming in his bath oils & wearing his cologne
& styling there antenna with his shaving foam
It didn't make much since to curse, scream, shout
So he grabbed what he could get
& he just moved out
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Minister Sinister
06/17/06 |
It's eleven a.m. on any typical Sunday
& folks who believe that they'll live again one day
go to their place of worship to help pay the bills
of a Minister somewhere who might fit the bill
of Minister Sinister & his Deacons of Dreams
proof that all that you see isn't all that it seems
His neck filled with platinum, his fingers with gold
& a new pair of gators protecting his soles
A cape covered his garment from his head to his feet
& the aura around him expensively sweet
with a silk under laying & a smile that could bring
the faithful to donate there last every thing
He looks at his followers & smiles with delight,
knowing their money will be his tonight
He's Minister Sinister, in his long limousine
On the strip slowly cruising to find the obscene
But be that it may, Sunday morning you'll find
He'll be there in his place in an outfit divine
Bringing all to their feet with his raised gold clad hands
So the Deacons of Dreams can come out with the pans
While your pockets are open & easy to reach
& the more your donation, the harder he'll preach
Then he'll raise gold clad hands & everyone sits
& he waits to see just how much money he gets
then the clerk thanks the people after the count
for a Sunday donation of enormous amount
But Minister Sinister again raises his hands
Every one sees it, but nobody stands
Just his way of saying he's something to share
Of someone bed ridden or in need of care
Who always depends on the church to be there.
"I must feed my twelve kids, after all I'm a daddy,
& payment is due on that shinny new Caddy,
so bless you for giving" he said with a grin
as the Deacons of Dreams pass the pans round again.
He's pleased with the giving & it shows in his preaching.
He bounces & dances & shouts as he teaching
& calls up the faithful to join his disciples
& everyone's shouting, it's more then an eyeful
They dance without music, as if in a trance
Or still drunk from last night at the Elk's Club dance
They bring out the oils, to anoint their new flock
Which was olive oil from that small store down the block
But they say it's anointed, they say it does heal
Its good to bake chicken, that's just how I feel,
But he'd touch them & they'd flop around like a chicken
Shaking & rolling there eyes back & kicking.
People were now lining up to be next
To be under his spell, his guidance, his hex.
The ushers catch each as they drop to the ground,
& some lie on the floor still just kicking around.
They roll up in wheelchairs begging for healing
But Minister Sinister looses that feeling.
Before he gets to them he has to sit down,
But make sure you come see him next time he's in town.
He sits back in his chair sweating, waiting for water
& for the deacons to get the precession in order.
But he now finds the strength to again raise his hands
& the flock quickly rise to their feet in the stands.
He wants all of the faithful to come shake his hand
& leave a donation in one of the pans, placed on two tables
both of them manned & they'll both try to get all you got if they can
Then it's back in your seat while they read of the minutes
& tell Minister Sinister what the kitty has in it
then the call for new members is brought to a close
& again his hands lifted & again up they rose
he gives benediction & he says from his heart,
"work hard & prosper, till I'm back in these parts".
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A Friend
06/30/06 |
A friend is someone you can trust
To share your deepest thoughts
& someone who wont criticize
the silly things you bought
when you spent all day at Wal-Mart
cause you'd nothing else to do
A friend would ask,
”why didn't you ask me to come & shop with you?”
A friend wont talk about you
if you gain a little weight
Instead they would invite you
to their next mall walking date
This way you both could window shop
while walking off the inches
& keep each other company
while resting on the benches
When your drooling on the window
of the sweet, hot Sticky Bunn
a friend is there to tell you,
"If you eat that, then you run".
A friend is there to lend a shoulder
when you need to cry
or when you're feeling all alone
a friends always near by
A friend's someone you welcome
anytime the doorbell rings
it doesn't really matter
if they didn't want a thing.
You are glad to see them coming
& they never are a bore
a friend will always welcome you
cause that's what Friends are for
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Like Some Body
10/12/06 |
I don't wanna be like somebody,
I'm real happy here inside my dumb body
Although it might be a little bit fat body, I'd much rather be in this than that body
Somebody said I should be like Jimmy
who never had a job but loved to say “give me”
Driving on suspended license & expired tags
but always had money to buy nickel bags
Somebody said I should be like Troy, who perpetrates a Rasta farina boy
Long drug money & Rasta man cloths
but still needs his momma to help blow his nose
Somebody said I should be like James, spends all of his time playing video games
With a body gone fat that used to be fine,
he's spent 8 years trying to get to world nine
Somebody said I should be like Willie
who went from girl to girl & I think that's silly
Says he can only be judged by God up above,
I only need one woman to give me 1 love
Somebody said I should be like John, every since high school he's still on job one
He's been a postal employee every since then, but he still doesn't have one friend
Yeah somebody said I should be like Michael, college graduate with a new motorcycle
And an alcohol problem that was killing his brain until he laid it on the highway
& became a stain
John worked as a postal clerk for most of his life, never had a girlfriend, a child or a wife
& when they thought they'd paid him too much what did they do?
They accused good John of stealing & they gave him the shoe
Willie, he got married again & again, he's gone through some real good women
& quite a few friends, & he's building quite a legacy one child at a time
& child support is trying to get every dime
They sent poor James to ITT to teach him auto mechanics,
but the 1st man that he works for gets excited & panics
because the job is based on turnovers, requiring speed
something that James, living with Momma, never thought he would need
Troy's big money doesn't come legit, he's got these two tiger pits named Ripit & Split
He'd drive up in his big Buick & hit the trunk latch
& 2 big muscular heads would rise up out of the back,
wait for the signal to shred there poor opponent & then
They'd lick each others blood soaked jaws, walk to the trunk & get in
& Jimmy's doing what he can, still smoking all kinds of pot
but someone gave him a job managing a Big Lots
He seems to be content there but its so hard to tell
Cause he'll get high & tell his bosses that they can all go to hell
But since you're all up in my business take a moment to see
That I like being just like Me
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