Promises to Keep
(On the Occasion of my Uncle Bill's bench dedication) This day is all we have to live our lives And we live it thru honor, To love the...
top of page
Michael Barnes
- Oct 7
Going for a Walk on a Sunny Day
Who casts the light upon these trees thru which they stand and shine? The air, I feel but cannot see the blue, above that we agree is...
90
Michael Barnes
- Sep 13
Fall Where They May
Follow in my life path I think I'd like that Thoughts racing thru my head I think I should write that, Identifying the way you feel Won't...
140
Michael Barnes
- Apr 30
Resting in Columbia
Let's keep it above board don't always have to think deep don't have to search for every reason except why i lose sleep. Let's keep it...
231
Michael Barnes
- Feb 28
Nothing
There is a nothingness Inside One that feeds on nothing, Needs nothing. One that begs no begging Relies on no one but myself. And if this...
333
Michael Barnes
- Feb 10
Preying
I walk on frittered grass Beneath A cast iron sky Only one jacket worn-- a fool's plan, But this far out from the door, I'll labor on....
250
Michael Barnes
- Dec 25, 2022
The Eve Upon Christmas: A Hungarian Tradition
Twas the eve upon Christmas And the night was near snow We packed in the warm car To my Aunt and Uncle's house we go Driving along...
382
Michael Barnes
- Oct 11, 2022
The Night Before A Trip to St. Louis
The night before A trip to St. Louis, The dishes done The clothes packed The zippers drawn The little bottles got A tiny band around 5...
332
Michael Barnes
- Sep 21, 2022
Oh, The Silence
Long day End of a long week Went for a drive To bide me some time And buy me some things. Purchased the lot And turned to go home And...
577
Michael Barnes
- Sep 19, 2022
Autumn In Atlanta
No longer autumn in Atlanta It's December in Decatur A rainy, cold front Swept the land I wish I'd heard this second hand I'll never...
351
Michael Barnes
- Aug 4, 2022
Open
Facing this day I leave my heart open, Like a door ajar, In spite of this day The sun, my skin, and all it scorches I leave my heart...
453
Michael Barnes
- Jul 14, 2022
When I Get Here
You can't top the West coast The perfect places-- Los Angeles and San Diego I'll let them be, there. I've got a good view North of...
380
Michael Barnes
- May 20, 2022
Family (on the occasion of my Uncle Bill's Remembrance)
Those who love us Must one day leave us, And to those who we love We must one day leave. Memories-- Tiny scenes that extend as wide as...
484
Michael Barnes
- Mar 20, 2022
A Good Spot
Of all the talk Politics and movement This one rose And that one fell This group's cursed While that group's lineage endures All that...
220
Michael Barnes
- Mar 11, 2022
A Part of the Night
I walk to my balcony The edge of the parking garage Outside my door Of the apartment building, I own the space, On borrowed time, I get...
291
Michael Barnes
- Feb 20, 2022
Hiding In The Open
I hide in plain sight The merge of the skyline Moon and shaking trees To my eyeline Stopped in mid-step The from work to car to home...
220
Michael Barnes
- Feb 7, 2022
Carve A Life
I am thinking with my soul I was thinking with my head How could I explain to others How I got to where I'm at, I was spinning round in...
331
Michael Barnes
- Jan 8, 2022
Shining Yet
A beckoned solitude--rejoice The neighbors are in full voice I hoist the window up a touch To join the seasoned air The whistling,...
220
Michael Barnes
- Dec 21, 2021
Passing Thru
I saw an old friend I said how've you been? He chose the awkward path and actually told me: He said I'm suffering man, I've really been...
372
Michael Barnes
- Dec 20, 2021
The Wrong Thing
Most times, I click the wrong link I thought the wrong think I drive the wrong way Long stops on short days I meet the right person and...
231
Michael Barnes
- Dec 15, 2021
In the Land of the Living
A fight against the light The dark has gone away, I can't wake up, With all the spots to hide And blankets to cover me, My body's made of...
180
Michael Barnes
- Oct 23, 2021
Filter the Truth
Save your grace For Sundays and seders And seek your savior's grace, So you can save your place in heaven's line, If you believe in that...
314
Michael Barnes
- Oct 3, 2021
My Paradox
(written in 2012) I learned from the martyrs of before me And now I'm here To tell you my incomplete story Told thru every stinkin'...
192
Michael Barnes
- Sep 11, 2021
The Little Turtle
I kicked the ball, all done my run, and walked the sidewalk by the wayside of the common tracks of streetcars, vans, and trucks. Round...
331
Michael Barnes
- Aug 15, 2021
The Wind Can't Run
Lethargy in the wind an empty current, a lazy river of air, like it's tired of blowing, it wants to run thru the field pull grass...
180
Michael Barnes
- Aug 3, 2021
Who Am I To You?
Inspired by "I Am The Antichrist To You" by Kishi Bashi The song that's playing casts a brutal light on all my ungotten wanting. All the...
311
Michael Barnes
- Jun 22, 2021
Santa Monica
There's something for everything Sun block for a chapped lip, Polish for a plastic shoe Candy flavors in the coffee cream Almond joy, ...
661
Michael Barnes
- Jun 18, 2021
Car Body
It seems much of my time Goes to maintaining my body Like I'm an old classic car Made in 1988, out of production now. I have to replace...
341
Michael Barnes
- May 16, 2021
Breathe Deep
There is a quiet in my spirit, I heard it outside first. Beyond the yelling The panicked driving In the cashier's teen-face telling them...
352
Michael Barnes
- May 10, 2021
On the occasion of Meghan and Scott’s wedding
Life is what you make of it, and love, the same. Without love, life is a lonesome road. So we fight the lonely moments In the face of...
363
Michael Barnes
- Mar 17, 2021
Down the Shore
For meters on end the air hustles to a stop, a hurried silence on a walk. I pass a tree-- each leaf rustles in my passing tinkering off...
543
Michael Barnes
- Feb 19, 2021
A Wolf and The Sheep
In speaking of things lost, I believe that I once believed, And I will believe again, In myself. We cannot go so far from home That there...
310
Michael Barnes
- Jan 11, 2021
Humanism
Concerned with what I'm compelled by Me, human, from the hands of God commanded, A bundle of tendencies, a bale of habits, I lean when I...
230
Michael Barnes
- Jan 5, 2021
Always Just Begun
Your love is a financial burden-- When you hear those words You know the strain between your ears Is not just a chainsaw in the distance....
151
Michael Barnes
- Dec 5, 2020
You Can't Take It With You
You can't take it with you Into the next round These friends you've made These lives you've led These truths you spun, and wove into a...
262
Michael Barnes
- Nov 17, 2020
Early On You
We will all our heads look sunk and strange once we're in the ground, so while we are above it best we keep them on our shoulders. Cool...
331
Michael Barnes
- Oct 20, 2020
A Changing Light
Decay disguised as beauty crept under the facade of the autumnal equinox it’s more common, i find that with growth comes death, a...
332
Michael Barnes
- Sep 9, 2020
November 2 by Ray Mullineaux
Tomorrow, remembrance of dad’s passing; this morning, the sunlight streaming across the gingko leaves loosens the frost’s hold to free...
250
Michael Barnes
- Aug 26, 2020
I Used To Write
I used to write in scribbled words in warring fits in twitch-prodigeous nueron flits a passion mixed with madness fixed on changing my...
421
Michael Barnes
- Aug 7, 2020
Slathered Thru the Slats
At night thoughts aggregate in the brain like a pool of water in the left hand corner of that dark space beneath the sink. am I a Charlie...
331
Michael Barnes
- Jul 14, 2020
Click
It is a mindless transport aubducting me from my spot. Take my mind and insert it where yours has been. All of you are my makers— think...
310
Michael Barnes
- May 13, 2020
Own the Day
Too many hours own the day. To do the things I wish to do, I make a list called “things to do,” and I become spoiled for choice and...
330
Michael Barnes
- Apr 28, 2020
Multi Verse Poetry Podcast 3
I read three poems that I have written and I break em down for ya'. - The Middle Ground Of Lore - A Rainbow Above A Gravestone - There Is...
150