Ping Pong

I killed them one by one
methodically
never looking in their eyes
gun to the head
and bang
pull the trigger
and that sound
would ping and pong around me
a musical death sound.

PAUSE

I'd been quartered near to basra
we'd got rid of most of those
sorry - god damned arabs -
wearing fundamental clothes
the truth is that it got to me
and everything i've done
i thought was for god and country
and i thought that we had won.

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Life In The Suburbs And Middle Class Living

Endless the suburbs stretch out from the towns
Upwardly mobile and not looking down
Attitudes born of self-interest
Thinking the rest of the country's a mess
All in its place and nothing untidy
Crockery matching and fresh fish on friday
Sending the kids to well priviledged schools
Asking for quiet when watching the news
Having two children a dog and a cat
Dreaming of buying a holiday flat
Driving two cars, one for him one for her
Stopping the children from using rude words
Always so busy with so much to do
Worrying 'bout that strange smell in the loo
Drinking good wine but not to excess
Uncomfortable with the mere mention of sex
Nervous about the high interest rates
Angry with tradesmen who always come late
Delighted that smoking's now banned in the pubs
Worrying 'bout the new pests on the shrubs

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Life's Journey

First you take the road to memories
that looms up on your left
then you find yourself on roundabouts
that offer life and death
then take the road to solitude
and the bypass that avoids
the steep hill down to hades
which is when you'll hear the noise
of angels near the airport
all hymns and organ sounds
then take the first road on your right
the one marked 'sacred grounds'
there's a car park there convenient
and a man who marks a card
that indicates precisely
where your car should now be parked
the man who runs this parking lot
st peter is his name
will always wish you all the best
but not invite you back again

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

It Was In Tongues He Spoke

'Open your heart to the Lord', he said
Leave behind unfaithful friends
Evil spirits i command thee
To allow this soul to mend'.

Then his voice became unreasoned
And it was in tongues he spoke
Her body seemed in agony
As she screamed and cried and choked.

'Satan, you've lost this victim'
He screamed into the air
He shook the wretched supplicant
As he took her by the hair.

Outside her parents waited
For their schizophrenic child
She had once been a quiet girl
But had recently got wild.

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Beer and OP Rum

They live up at the Mission
Not that far away from here
They come down in the evenings
And we give them rum and beer.

To drink they’re not accustomed
And its then we have our fun
We set the men a’fighting
And bet on the outcome.

When you’ve no women in your township,
They are always on your mind
So the women get the harder stuff
And, drinking spirits, they go wild.

Sometimes, we fight amongst ourselves
When a younger ‘gin comes down
But mostly we just take our turn
As we pass the girl around.

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Dawn

Do you know what it's like to feel dead at dawn?
To have slept sleep fragmented and feel battered and torn?
Do you know what its like to feel cast aside?
To feel that you're nothing, no arms open wide?
Do you know how that emptiness feels?
When your own weird imaginings become more than dreams?
Do you know that weird feeling of what's going on?
When all seems a nonsense and reality's gone?
Do you know how rejection hits sharp at the heart?
And makes you feel worthless and not know where to start?
Do you think of the other or just of yourself?
When things get so painful and you're out of your depth?
Do you ever once ponder on just how I feel?
Or do you once think that my feelings are real?
Or do you define things in a different way
And just wish that those things would all go away?
Here we agree more than you'd know
These feelings I have I just wish they would go
But wish as I may it's not worth the thought
They stay there, they haunt me and torture and taunt

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I Wonder

I wonder

How many people suffer from what i suffer from

And everyone puts it down to them just being

An angry or abusive kind of a person?

So they get labelled

And misunderstood

And little sympathy goes their way

The smallest thing seems to spark them off and people steer clear

'They should learn to control themselves' these people say

So, they get angrier and angrier because they are more and more ignored when what they want is to escape the spiral they're caught in

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

This Prospect Seems Quite Heavenly

I chanced upon a thought today
A thought that would not go away
What if heaven's like here on earth?
More like a parallel universe?
So, people live in houses there
And go to work and comb their hair
And sleep at night and make love too
And eat and drink, go to the loo
A heaven marked by being mundane
And then i had that thought again
We're just on earth for life's extent
In heaven no end's imminent
Alive for ever in the clouds
But would we all be wearing shrouds?
I somehow think not for i'd guess
We'd all be doing what we do best
So deceased tailors would make clothes
And gardeners still gardens grow
Accountants would still cook the books
And chefs would be eternal cooks

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Drunken Sailor

He stood there shouting at the night
At trees and all around
He stood there swaying side to side
A madness man yet proud.

He never lost his footing once
He danced a dance wild mad
I stood there watching for a while
And wondered what thing had
Made him the drunken sailor
Had made him curse the earth
Had made him babble endlessly
How long had he been berthed?

Three years sailing, sailing hard
He had been away
He was just back
Two days ashore
Had made him act this way.

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

A Bloody Stain

I looked and saw a bloody stain as if it came from me
It was thick and red and seemed to ooze out from my own belly
Then another spot upon one leg and another on my chest
I was climbing up a stairway and just couldn’t find my breath
The red! The red was all around and had me slipping on the stairs
And now it felt like raining and was running down my hair
I then looked up and then I saw the strangest sight I’d seen
Blood droplets on the ceiling falling in a steady stream
I knew it could not be my blood but it was raining down so fast
Not gentle like the rain itself but sticky and – aghast -
I saw a sluice of redness come sweeping down on me
And then I turned a corner and that blood was blinding me
I was swimming in some entrails that I could not even name
It was like being in a butcher’s or in some suicidal game
I then stood straight and shouted – I shouted right out loud
‘I will not retreat just for fear for I am strong and proud’
I no longer climbed all frightened – an answer I did crave
And at that the top of those red steps I did find my mother’s grave
Beelzebub looked in the mirror and then he turned a page
He was now fearful for himself and of my incessant rage

[...] Read more

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!