The May Special Guest Poet is

Joe R. Lansdale

Please feel free to visit Joe at: http://www.joerlansdale.com/

BOB

We had a family friend named Bob.
We all liked Bob.
He had a nice house,
a nice car,
a boat.
He took us on boat trips,
me and my parents,
my baby sister.

Bob was all right.
He dressed a little odd,
wore a funny hat,
and his pants were too short,
his socks white,
his cheap leather shoes
shone bright as sunlight.

Bob moved away.
We missed him.
Some of the fun
went right out of
the neighborhood,
like air out of a balloon.

We felt uncomfortable,
however,
when two years after he
moved,
someone else bought
his property,
and tore down the house.

They found the bodies
of women in his basement,
one of them a teacher,
who was said to have run off.
But she didn't.

There were three others,
unidentified,
so far,
and as for Bob,
that wasn’t his name,
or so the police said,
and they are still looking
for him.

Before he moved,
he gave us his boat.
I think about that.
Because under one
of the bench seats,
I found a woman’s
sun hat,
with a spot on it,
bright red.

Maybe it’s not blood,
but strawberry jam,
or paint,
but I stopped wearing it.

WAITING

Moving into this house,
being here for the first time,
and it still having goods
in the shelves,
and food in the refrigerator,
all of it spoiled,
I was most attracted to
the axe,
and that’s why I invited
you over,
telling you the rental
was dirty,
and that I would appreciate
the kindness,
of help with the cleaning,
but actually,
when you get here,
thinking on how you
once left me
for another man,
something I can’t forget,
no matter how much I smile,
I will be waiting,
behind the door,
with the axe.

WAKING UP

So I wake up
feeling like things
are all right,
and that I have a second
chance on life,
that I can make things
better than before,
and then I remember,
nope,
that’s not likely,
because it wasn’t a dream,
your body is still under the bed,
and my sheets,
and my hands,
are covered in blood.

POETRY READING

Life is short and sweet
and how I love it,
bright with light,
and warm as an
oven,
I love it each day,
and I can’t wait,
to see how it turns
out,
from year to year,
from date to date,
and then I go to a poetry
reading,
and I have to admit,
life seems less short
than I thought before,
it drones on and on,
and I’m nowhere near
a door.
Sadly,
I think of murder,
of all the poets,
especially the one with
a poem about a goddamn tree,
how it’s beauty
is a part of her and me,
but that would be criminal,
so I just wait,
and wish for death,
hers or mine,
whichever will end this reading,
that goes on and on,
for endless time.

Joe R. Lansdale is the multi-award winning author of thirty novels and over two hundred short stories, articles and essays. He has written screenplays, teleplays, comic book scripts, and occasionally teaches creative writing and screenplay writing at Stephen F. Austin State University. He has received The Edgar Award, The Grinzani Prize for Literature, seven Bram Stoker Awards, and many others.

His stories Bubba Ho-Tep and Incident On and Off a Mountain Road were both filmed. He is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan, and has been in the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame four times. He lives in East Texas with his wife, Karen.

Visit Joe R. Lansdale HERE

See all of Joe R. Lansdale's books HERE