Red Clay Poetry

12/28/2025

Don’t go asking me for more time
Valuable to me to spend getting high

I hear you asking me for more
Of all I don’t have so you won’t feel ignored

Each of us has questions to ask
About the effort we throw towards the fool in our path

So here we go again round and round
Only to wind up on shakier ground

You know I’m possessed of dragons teeth
Unlikely to filter anything screamed

What waste much more time on this circus show
Asking for answers, I’m unlikely to know

06/03/2025

Dust in the Corners

It's just my life, I tell myself,
Alone and cold, of fragile health.
Intended to last under awful heat,
No reward, no retreat.

I need a place in myself to call my own,
A quiet place, no sorrowful moans.
I need two arms to catch the fall,
As I pick up after one and all.

Where would I go? What would I do?
Chaos insists I remain confused.
Not a far enough place in the world to run,
Veering away from the rising sun.

Where is the safe place to let me in,
Where is my fortress of glory and ruin?
My heart's a great hall with a fire in the center,
Keeps me warm against all that is bitter.

04/07/2025

Woods

Run the mountains high boys,
Search the high and low.
For those that're lost in the deep dark woods,
Where on earth they'd gone.

Up there to Black Creek Holler?
Folks'd seen them wanderin' there.
Maybe up yonder to Wiseman's View,
Fixin' to spend the night with the bears.

Mountains 'round here are always full
Of lonely quiet without sign.
Easy in there to get turned around,
Get to runnin' out of time.

Loved ones leave the lights on,
Callin' out the names.
'Til here they come with those were out searchin',
Just like as was prayed.

03/20/2025

Better off Alone (March 2025)

Let me tell a secret
Are you one that I can trust?
I gotta put this load somewheres
‘ Fore I like to bust

I hear that I can trust you
And I've known you a year or two
So I guess I should have known
You’re just gonna tell me what to do

I ain't no ones friggin’ problem
To show ’em all how right you are
Next time I'll shout it to the stars
At best the Lord will hear

I reckon trustin’ your soul aloud
Comes with a hefty price
No gift of the heart, plenty tolls
Won't go down Yonder twice

10/04/2024

Water

All my memories swept away,
A million gallons in a single day.
If I should die before I wake,
Bring me back to that special place.

So then hold tight the shovel,
Work hard the hoe.
Deep under the mud
Is where we need to go.

There are stories there
To be restored, unearthed.
Our task is begun,
It tests our worth.

Lift up your gaze to the glorious peaks,
Why we settled in the hollers and creeks.
To live here and die in love and peace,
No more time to worry and weep.

07/21/2024

A Lot

Hangin' out in the parkin' lot,
That Walmart down from the school.
Havin' a smoke on a humid mornin',
Try to figure me and you.

Been a long time roamin' the town
Since you done throw'd me out.
I ain't done nothin' to bear the weight
Of all your screams and shouts.

So here I am leanin' on my bike,
Love and a helmet's all I got.
I guess this is what I had comin'
For noticin' you were so damn hot.

Please, I beg, don't crush my dreams
Like a Marlboro under your boot.
Baby, please, give us one more chance,
For us I want only good.

I'll sit here under this southern summer,
My penance I'm ready to give.
Don't leave me here on hell's front porch,
When it's with you I want to live.

Sun is high now on my pain,
I taste your Evan Williams kiss.
Can't tell if it's sweat rollin' down my cheek
Or tears for the one I miss.

So take me back right quick,
I don't wanna love you alone.
I swear to God I'll keep treatin' you good,
Don't let me believe you're gone.

07/08/2024

A Lot

Hangin' out in the parkin' lot,
That Walmart down from the school.
Havin' a smoke on a humid mornin',
Try to figger me and you.

Been a long night roamin' the town,
Seein' you done throwd me out.
I ain't done nothin' to bear the burden
Of all your screams and shouts.

So here I am leanin' on my bike,
Love and a helmet's all I got.
I guess this is what I had comin'
For noticin' you were so damn hot!

Please, I beg you, don't crush my dreams
Like a cigarette under your boot.
Baby, please give us one more chance,
You know for you I want only good.

I'll set here in the Southern Summer,
My penance I'm ready to give.
Don't leave me here on hell's front porch
When it's with you I want to live.

The sun is high now down on my pain,
I miss your Evan Williams kiss.
Can't tell if it's sweat rollin' down my cheek
Or tears for the one I miss.

So take me back right quick,
I don't wanna love you alone.
I swear to God I'll treat you good,
Don't let me believe you're gone.

04/20/2024

Lights (Lights On Brown Mountain redux)

Up high on Brown Mountain over Linville Gorge
There are lights told of in Cherokee lore.
Kinfolk seen them lights up in the night,
Over Brown Mountain where them torches take flight.

Not found in no book tells from where them lights came,
Maybe's long lost souls light the night with their flame.
Folks of good learnin' can't figger the tale,
Gazing in wonder at the starry trail.

Cherokee lived there since mountain time started,
They tell that those lights are their dearly departed.
Hard memory from the trail where they cried,
Memory of the land for they died.

Sometimes the dim trek up to the view,
But seen, not believed, reveals nothing to you.
It's there, through you heart, that the old lights are reckoned,
Like a birthday dinner with family beckons.

Go see the lights that drip out of the moon,
By the rocks where the river of many cliffs looms.
Stand next to someone who can look but not see,
Lights that must be believed to be seen.

04/04/2024

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02/02/2024

Dark of night
All alone
Seeking safety
Find only stones

Wish I was a garden
Growing tall
Not hungry and scared
Feeling small

Destiny calling
My name so soft
Quiet now
Don’t point out the lost

Back and forth
Boat on the sea
Lightening strikes
Please set me free.