'give that fucker a handkerchief'

that sonofabitch sat at the end of the bar

sneezed his holy fucking ass off

sprayed the air with shards of snot

while he mangled lyrics to

bennie and the jets

and as every explosion tore apart

the inner linings of his nasal membranes

what remained of dense brain cells

dirtied the motherfuck of the walls. 

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

from my collection 'A Distilled Spirit'

'the tree'

her face was riddled.

dug into her cheek

an empty heart

like lovers carve into a tree.

there were no initials

no dates

just old skin

rough and crumbly like bark.

she stood alone

bowed

an ancient tree in the forest

awaiting a fall

no one would ever hear.

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'mercy, please'

what impression have i left on you?

what will you see

when i'm a shell of myself and

you're coming into bloom?

will it be a happy thing or 

a ghost that fills your heart?

i pray i have done enough to

walk beside you all through life and beyond—

for all my faults,

i have lived only for you.

(for my daughter)

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'edits won’t help you'

i say much

with little.

you say little

with much.

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'extinguished'

hold to our darkest hour

the only light these embers

burnt before our time.

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'antiseptic'

it is not the acidity of

the coffee that i taste rather

your words repeating themselves.

a fine scotch early this morn 

would do rather nicely killing

the bad taste in my mouth. 

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'no sense'

familiar only with boys 

and their dry humps,

she had no sense of a

man and a good fuck. 

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'wolf'

when i revealed to you the beast

a fearful exhilaration you had

within your heart;

when i revealed to you the man

you simply tore me apart.

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'anchor'

oh how you tread water

oh how you kick to survive

but they pull you back in

don’t they, with their tangle

of ineptitudes and lies.

oh how you tread

but the tide has come rising

and you’ve really no clue 

how to swim. 

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.

'death before our time'

i never wished to bury you

not even as i sang your funeral hymn

it became all too apparent

that you needed out of your misery

a mercy killing 

the humane thing to do

though i questioned my judgment

as dirt filled your throat.

i wanted you forever;

still do—your ghost provides comfort  

on days i am lost and the grace

of your soft touch still lingers

atop my skin.

all i have left

this mound of dirt i have dug; 

your voice fills these death chambers—

a reminder of things once 

good. 

#barflypoet

#josephapinto

www.josephpinto.com 

© Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved.

*

Poetry served to you raw and unedited from the moment crafted;

all poetry is older work and chosen at random unless otherwise noted.

*

‘Scotch and Scars’ and ‘A Distilled Spirit’ in paperback and Kindle ebook at Amazon.