My poetry is like the jazz of writing: lazy and unstructured, and nobody likes it -- not even me.

 
Sept 15,  2025

Shut out the dawn
Shut out the dawn
Shut out the dawn
Curtains drawn
Sun, go back to where you’re from
Back over the hill to the east
I don’t want you on my lawn
Sucking up the dew
Sucking my dreams out of my
Slumbering head
My heart beating in time
With the clock on the wall
I can hear them both
One ear against the pillow
Thump thump thump
Tok tok tok
This is why I distract myself
With screens and such
Books, TV and even phone calls
All to drown out that
Relentless timer
Even my brain is in on the plot
And does its best to distract me
From the sickening thought
“You are going to die,
It’s an eventuality.”
Like cream going bad
Like summer coming to an end
One day
You know not when
Someone’s gonna walk up to you
And say:
”Do you remember Paul Lazaro?”
“Well, he remembers you, pal.”
We are all on that list.
Fuck it. I guess I have to accept it.
One day, he’ll be coming after me.
But can’t I sleep in for a while?
How many cookies
Will I get to enjoy before that 
Happens?
I guess there’s a finite number
To everything.
Every goddamn stroke of the clock
Or brush of the toothbrush before
My tooth rots away
And fails me at an inopportune moment
And all those blades of grass
Some of which I will cut today
Some, inevitably, I will miss
Even as I endeavor to
Manicure the perfect lawn
If distraction is the whole of it,
Then what is life?
Have I driven my point home yet?
What’s in this for you?
Are you being entertained?
Shall I do a soft shoe
And snap together a Lego castle
For your amazement
Out of these crude puzzle
Pieces, my words?
Stick to a theme...No, don’t. It’s boring.
Too much of the same
Every goddamn day
Oh, sorry. Should I cuss?
Ask the cats.
They don’t seem to mind
As long as they get fed
Isn’t that about it, then?
Our line in the sand?
Give me bread
Give me bread
Or off with your head!
And now, my dearies, back to bed!