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Benjamin O'Donnell (IA) / Iowa / Poetry

Poetry by Benjamin O’Donnell

The Bruce
By Ben O’Donnell

I once saw a man with a flute.
He lived in a house of wild women; their tempers were just one of his notes.

I once met a man with a smiling beard and hair just like mine; like mind, like mind.
But that man, he was kind.

I once met a man who loved to fish, his bait was smoked, drank, and laughter; the adventure was always biting.

I once enjoyed a man that didn’t care if it was a good joke or not; he simply enjoyed them. When asked to register his license plate he wrote 2FAR2C.

I once knew a man that showed me that to be a man all I needed was to be me.
It was a true wonder to see.

I once knew of a man that I don’t think I deserved.
But forever he will be there for me in my memories.

Rest..

(Very recently a man that I cared for passed away from cancer. The only thing that I was able to contribute to healing the massive loss that was felt by this were my words.)

The Ballet
By Ben O’Donnell

Leaves fall from the trees, the start of everything
No road signs

When I stare into the sun, I scream that life isn’t fair.
All alone with my darkness, nobody cares.

In the halls of my head, there is a room with a million different faces.
But none that I like to wear.

I walk the streets at night
By day, the wind pushes me down the trail

I’m a thousand miles from nowhere Even further from where I want to be
Home is where they have seen me A face that I have shared

Contentment is one of life’s mysteries
That never afforded to me

Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

I met a man at the crossroads
Knew him for a fool

He had everything for sale
But nothing worth having, to me
Choosing a direction means that something needs to matter
It’s iust one step after another, it doesn’t matter to me

Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

I met a woman from fashion
Said that she needed to change all of me, just to accept me

I do not understand what is happening
Living in the dark there is nothing to see

Begged her more than once just to let me be
Begged her never to leave me
Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

I hear voices whisper softly
They never left me

A doctor man from fraternity, told me that it was insanity
The voices tell me differently

Comfort me, it’s like they can touch me
They tell me that all journeys come to an end at the sea

The sun burns its way through water
There it waits for me

Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

On abridge at the fork
I met a toll man who wanted to collect from me

To take from someone who has nothing
The only thing there is, is their everything

Giving what they are taking will consume me
Therefore, I set myself free

Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

I don’t know which way I should have gone
Chasing a pin-prick and running from shadows

I walk the streets at night
By day, the wind pushes me down the trail

I smell smoke in the distance
And hope like hell, for the fire

Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

The sun burns from the oceans
Its sparks burning the shadows I owe away from me

Leaving me ashore
With charity

Living in the dark
Lighting struck down on me
It showed me the sun
But still I can’t see

I run too
Set me free

The Cycle of Dreams
By Benjamin O’Donnell

Before I could dream I was scared of monsters in the closet, under my bed
Everywhere,
Were lurking in the dark unknown places in my head

Then my head was filled with ideas, thoughts and dreams
Of what could be,
Even the unimaginable was open to me

And I did dream
Day and night
Of what could, of what should,
My greatest might, of what would be

Then just for a breath of a moment
I was eyes wide open to reality.
Awake in its fullest
I lived:
To busy, to fast fort he dreams to catch me ~That is exactly how it reads, but it does not look right.~

But nothing lives forever
Sooner or later one must rest and sleep again

Then I started to dream.
Of what was, what would,
Of what could have been
Nostalgia

This part of my life is filled with dreams
All the while I constantly wonder will there ever truly be a time and place where I will awaken.
Eyes wide open to live again.
Or will I eventually close them to sleep forever again?

Fire
By Benjamin O’Donnell

My power can overcome and consume all
Nothing will ever be untouched by me.

But do not fear me
Today I come as a savior
To light your sun, warm your homes, bake your breads
And fill your hearts with desire

I am fire

Once imprisoned by the gods
I was stolen and given to man: who envied my might
I am grateful and courteous
Providing for every desire

I am fire

Homes, villages, buildings, and swords
Man proclaimed to be the master of fire
My rage has never been tamed
I cannot be fully quenched

I am fire
Even in the vast cold darkness of space
I am bombs, destinations, radiation that seeps
Evermore, evermore
Before and after

I am fire

A Numbers Game
By Benjamin O’Donnell

1 time makes 2
Unless it sometimes makes 2, 3, or 4, which is rare
Something like 10,000 to 1

Bringing us back to 1
Which takes 18 years before it can be 2, at least that is what we say ideally anyways
Or is it “better ½” so it’s 1 ½

During the ideal 18 years it is said to take whole villages to raise just the 1
So we come back to the 10,000 to 1 again

At 18 the 2 which is ideally 1 ½now can join another 1 ½to make a full 2
Not 3, which makes no sense at all to me.
But then again, the 2 make another 1 again, and again, and again, again

How else were we to get the 10,000
And when the 10,000 all reach their own 18’s separately
Or together, which is rare
They too need the 10,000
together or separately
Each becoming their own 1 ½

Equaling the ideal 2’s not 3’s
To make many more 1’s
Unless the are deleted or stay a singularity
Which is now common happening with a 50/50 chance frequency

People
It’s a numbers game, a problem with an answer, an equating to be discovered

1>10,000 + 18 (I do not have the symbol that is supposed to go here.) 1 ½+1 ½=2(I do not have the symbol that goes here.)3×1, 2-3-4, (0-1)> and = 10,000×1 ½=8,000,000,00(I do not have the symbol to complete this last character which appears to be an 0 with a line over it.)

Man Made
By Benjamin O’Donnell

I woke up to a world on fire
Stars falling into the void of smoke filled skies
Sooner rather than later the seas will rise to put everything out.

When I close my eyes at night
I fall asleep to a world of hunger, of violence, of intolerance.

Everyday I walk through a world that was not made for us alone
But was made by us alone
Alone
But was made by us alone

Alone
It is not just us alone
It is all for us
Or it will be for none of us

I dream of another world
Man made
Made for man
To live as humankind

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