Mediocre White Male Poet Entitlement

By Bud Koenemund

For Shaindel Beers

Peril awaits mediocre white males –

Objection breeds cries of entitlement.

Trapped betwixt love and refusal they flail –

In quicksand, struggle speeds envelopment.

Risk and uncertainty oft’ herald pain;

Attraction devolving in enmity.

Wounded, “nice guys” lash out, although they feign

Indifference, voicing their misery.

Sadly, it appears fantasy is dead,

And life doesn’t end like a fairy tale –

No Beauty transforming this Beast. Instead

Happily ever after remains veiled.

   Words diminish, vanishing in chatter;

   E’en as we protest: all poets matter!

You Haunt My Soul With Unmerciful Eyes

For Christina Martinez

You haunt my soul with unmerciful eyes,
That wound my spirit where no blade can reach,
Down in the place my candescent heart lies,
And time no longer serves to heal the breach;
Before your torrid gaze once more I stand
Defenseless; searching for some safe harbor
On a sea of passion; I beg your hand
To save my heart and sustain my labor;
I have faced this peril before and know
Those orbs are filled with unspoken sorrow,
But delight and deceit be damned below,
To the Devil I’ll condemn my marrow.
Against this tempest love I am powerless,
And left but to rage in Lear-like madness.