Heading Homeward Bound by Ron Porter ©2019

Seven women in my rear view mirror
you know I could have loved them all
but, I heard the highway calling
caught my hat and got out in the wind
I'm looking for a time called "Yet To Come"
where I can be nobody's friend
cause I spent enough time in Right Here
shootin' pool with pals and drinking beer

 
a rich man only wants for more money
a poor man needs only comfortable shoes
keep your eye on the dealer and the cashier
there are way too many ways to lose
I think I'll smoke me another burger
and eat at least one more cigarette
all I want is to make it home but,
I just don't know where that is yet.

I wrote you, I mailed It by Ron Porter ©2019

I wrote you a letter that had no words
about the love and pain I felt for you.
I mailed it to an address where nobody lives
cause it was the only thing I could do.
I went home and sat in a room where 
you were not there, and there's just one chair,
drank coffee and played some solitaire.

Hours run together; years flow by like a river.
I remember old times; memories make me quiver.
My love for you is constant and true
As constant and bright as the Northern Star
Remember, I told you it would never fail?
You never replied to my wordless epistle;
Maybe, baby, it got lost in the mail.

It’s A Lollipop by Ronald S Porter ©2019

Big Jim bought the farm tonight
outside the Rise And Shine
He took a bullet in the back
sittin’ in his Cadillac
Shady Sadie started cryin
and went running down the block.
Now, all the nickle-dime rustlers
all the boosters, hos and hustlers
have started salivatin,‘Cause,
they know his house ain’t locked.
A big screen TV for the taking;
there’s jewelry, iphones and his stash.
maybe even a pile of hidden cash!
man, it’s got folks’ hearts palpitating.
Everybody is moving and, quick;
it’s a lollipop and they all want a lick,
before the po-leece force shows up
and, starts in with the investigating.

Happy Fool by Ronald S Porter ©2019

Before I sang the heartbreak blues
Before I put on my travelin’ shoes
Back when I believed true love lasts forever
What a happy fool I was.

When I did not know hearts could be turned cold
When I hadn’t learned what people will do for gold.
Back when I believed love can conquer all
What a happy fool I was.

Now I’ve been schooled in deceit and malice
Now, I know how to shield my heart in callous
Since truth taught me to be a skeptic and cynic
What a wise but sad man Am I

Too long lonely; too much alone
Despite the disappointments I have known
I choose to believe love still waits for me
And I will, once more, a happy fool be.

Kissed In The Night by Ron Porter ©2019

romantic love seems long ago
that dizzy, dancing, flying, falling feeling
more addictive than heroin;
sweet a s sugar; thrilling like cocaine
now memories are all that remain
of the breathless anticipation
and the passion filled abandon

Now without the substance to hold
left to cling to only memory
I do not sadden i feel no loss
rather I rejoice gratefully
that romance love once called my name
and kissed me in the night

It Ain’t That Funny Leroy #3 by Ron Porter ©2019

Hunger rides a crippled horse
poverty is a car without wheels
in a wretched house, no wolf is at the door
but a whole pack lives on the second floor
broken windows; empty dreams
screams and sirens stalk the streets
down the way a broken playground
on rusty children’s equipment skeletons play
there’s not enough take home pay or whiskey
to relieve the dismay, pain or suffering
Popeye chicken bones , like bread crumbs
lead dead men back to hollow homes
mannikin-like ghosts crowd the night
and, every single, living person feels alone
it hurts all the way down to the marrow
buried deep inside the broken bone

Hard Luck Story Blues by Ron Porter ©2019

Here you come with your sad, sad, song;
telling everybody how I broke your heart.
I wasn’t the only one who done some wrong.
truth is: you got a real good head start.
Now you’re walking around all pouty,
with fallen face; looking all forlorn.
Come on now; that just the breaks.
Sometimes it breaks good;
sometimes it breaks bad.
You ain’t the only one angry, hurt and sad.

Don’t act like you gave me something so
rare and special, that I had never had.
I guess it just surprised you to find
that I could could hit and quit it;
do without it and forget it.
And never really give a shit I left it behind.

It’s not like you gave me anything
that many others never got to get.
You were no shining angel when we met.                        So you got your hard luck story;
well baby, I got mine
We can compare our love scars
over a bottle of good red wine.
But, we’ll have to that some other day
‘Cause, right now I just ain’t got the time!

No Mr. Rogers Here by Ronald Porter ©2019

Burning angels plunge from the skies
a choking world convulses and dies
thunder roars from the throne
rivers of blood rise in the streets of the city
moans of the innocents; the mothers' cries
over broken babies, pierce to the bone
All is despair; the four horsemen race;
the enemy comes; all hope is gone.

 
The life of the cosmos flashes before the eyes
of the dead , who have all died in vain;
who all died in battle; in screaming and pain.
Fighting to gain salvage for the good
and the television media talking head
sends words of placation to the walking dead,
who stalk both city street and wild wood.
Good morning boys and girls;
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Love Never Lasting, A Sonnet by Ronald Porter ©2019

 Love, like honey from the rock; it pours out pure and golden.
Sugars the mouth, sparkles the eye, does the heart embolden.
Love invigorates mind and body both with joy it brings.
It brings smiles; fires my heart; raises my spirit eagle’s wings.
Love: a dawning sun, dispels night; lights life; forms an armour.
Ever rising, it’s currents uplift, gifting my hopes to soar.-
Far above this weary world, away from earthly sorrow.
Filling each day it brings promise of happiness tomorrow.
Yet Love seems ever fated to end; always much too soon
Cool of new day always give way to  searing burn of noon.
The radiant beauty found in Love’s clear crystalline light,
Evades me and then fades into the deep darkness of night.
I puzzle that love which proves  to not be everlasting
Leaves me both sadder and richer with every passing.

Walk In The Rain, A Retourne by Ronald Porter ©2019

We walk in rain along the lake shore
The nighttime sky, so dark and gray
We can discern neither time nor tide
Things look different in the light of day

Love is a limitless landscape
Heartbreak-a wasteland barren and dried
A heart filled with hope finds escape
We can discern neither time nor tide

A bowl of fruit sits on the table
Two apples, a banana, one single grape
trapped here inside of a fable
A heart filled with hope finds escape

The wounded watch with a jaded eye
Our horses nicker in the stable
Both joy and sorrow cause me to cry
Trapped here inside of a fable.

We lift beseeching hands to the sky
Surrender all our pomp and pride
Both joy and sorrow cause me to cry
We walk in the rain by the lakeside.

Down Home (A Black History Moment) by Ron Porter ©2014/ 2019

Under the Arkansas moon
scent of magnolia in the air
I have seen the hanging tree
the whipping tree
and the wishing tree as well

In the Piney Woods' dark hours
see neon twinkles of lightning bugs
I've heard the Bear Cat's far off cry
sound like a hungry baby's wail
the torment scream of a dying slave
or echos of lovers mourning loss

Way back down home
rich black dirt fertile and warm
hide the bones,teeth and tears
Earth blood sanctified, watered by sweat
of whip driven cotton pickers
and sharecropping growers of corn

it ain't quite that way no more
the old law has gone away
and it ain't coming back
cause every house has a rifle
a pistol and a shotgun
and a memory

of the whipping tree
and the hanging tree
and wishes are just fantasy
desires of little children
underneath that Arkansas moon
way back down home.