The cold winter wind
Chills deeply to my bone
Sunshine does not help
Copyright © 2008 by Jake Olden Shy
Love
Love moves
to the music
in my head
A slow dance
across the floor
Oblivious
to the world
as we glide on
wings of silk and satin
Love blooms
like a flower
in my eyes
Borne of summer
sunshine and springtime rain
Unfolding pedals
spread a crimson vision
of bright vibrant passion
Love permeates
my sense of smell
A wholesomeness
in the sweet aroma
of baking apples
in the kitchen
on a brisk Sunday
afternoon
Love reacts
to my touch
A pleasant pressing
of your lips to mine
The sensefilled shudder
of your body
encased
within the splendor
of desire
Love is savored
A familiar taste
on the tip
of your tongue
A fine wine
that stimulates
the palate
and warms
the soul
Love is
in the sound
of your voice
A whisper
in my ear
“I love you”
Copyright © 2001 by Jake Olden Shy
Choices
What intercollection of life-events
Brought us to this place?
If you or I had missed a turn
Would we find our lives enlaced?
Amazing when you give it thought
How the cards had to fall
To position us for this moment
To press forward or forestall
The decisions that we make today
Will shape us for tomorrow
Will they bring us happiness
Or fill our lives with sorrow?
For the path we choose to travel
Is filled with possibility
But to act on how we feel right now
Is our sole responsibility
Copyright © 2001 by Jake Olden Shy
Wanting More
Wanting more than I have today
Something missing immaterial
Searching to place a finger
Lost within the depths
Touching nothing save vacancy
Surrounding pitch
A blackness thick and clinging
The prize just beyond my grasp
Reach and almost there
Lose a fragile hold
Plummeting back to
Wanting more than I have today
Copyright © 2000 by Jake Olden Shy
Untitled
I am a fake and a fraud
A waxing intellectual. Rattling
Off mindless prattle
Perplexing
The ignorant. Impressing
The naive
I am a charlatan and a hack
Scribbling amateurish prose
Upon sheets of dull
White paper. My words
Reflecting
What? Characterization
Of emotion? Measure of event?
My chest expands at adoration. Secretly
Guarding insecurity. Dwelling
Deep within my mind
I am no Sexton or Plath or Lowell
My lyric yearn for Longfellow
O to truly feel
As they. To see a world
Though eyes of passion
Break free of binding pragmatism
Venture out of concrete
The world of real
Into a world of feeling
Expression and experience
I don’t desire your praise
My experience can’t spawn
Greatness. I have no pain
Copyright © 2000 by Jake Olden Shy
Pickett’s Charge
Across a mile of open field
To the circle of trees beyond
Lee’s ill-fated operation
To death the men respond
General Pickett is the man selected
To lead this massive attack
With electric confidence he is certain
The Union lines he’ll crack
Thirteen thousand massed atop
The Seminary Ridge
Abreast the men begin to march
The long distance to abridge
Union soldiers dug-in deep
Watch the men approach
Nine brigades at route step march
Cannons answer the encroach
Canister replaced the solid shot
As Confederate soldiers near
Iron balls ripped through the lines
The battle raged austere
The march now becomes a run
Men charge with a Rebel Yell
Union muskets open fire
The advance is soon repelled
One commander made the breech
At a place now called the Angle
Lo Armistead broke through the line
Overwhelmed his effort strangled
For a brief tremendous moment
The Confederate colors flew
With Armistead’s men killed or captured
The remaining soon withdrew
Lee could not believe his eyes
Has God turned his face away?
Eight thousand men he’d sent to die
On that fateful day
Still, one man will be remembered
For the orders he discharged
The failure high upon the ridge
Will be known as Pickett’s Charge
Copyright © 2000 by Jake Olden Shy
Solipsistic View
I am responsible
For all that happens
To me. To you
As well I am the cause
Of the good and bad
In your life. I
Am the end-all, be-all
Of your existence.
In me you place
Your trust and devotion.
Your life in my hand
I give or take.
The world spins on axis
At my whim. My thoughts
Bring rain or shine
To the hills and valleys,
The cities and towns
Of this great land.
Great because I say so.
Or if it’s my wish,
Impoverished.
The trees grow, rivers flow
Upon my command.
This is my world.
Copyright © 1999 by Jake Olden Shy
The Other
I see within the mirror,
a glass representation of myself,
identical eyes staring back at me.
What secrets are revealed
in that reflection?
Can I truly know myself?
Is what I see mirrored
in the minds and hearts
of those around me?
or am I considered differently?
I am known by the other
He knows me in a way I can
never know myself;
in a moments evaluation
he pronounces an instantaneous
judgment of who I am.
In a flash I am reduced
to an impression; a supposition
that is reality to the mind that
owns the thought.
I am a slave to that image
if I have no further contact
with the other.
Gazing on my reflection
in the mirror, can I truly know
something of that image
unknown now to me?
Can I see what others see?
Can I be the other?
Copyright © 1999 by Jake Olden Shy
The Ride Home
Driving down the quiet Alabama road
The town growning smaller in my mirror
I remember the store where my cousin and I
walked. We bought candy on Summer afternoons
Borded-up and abandoned
I remember the old men playing checkers
outside. How they’d humor us and let us play
Frustrated when we’d beat them
I remember my father learning to
drive. The close call at those railroad tracks
Almost forgotten
I remember passing the wooded land my family
sold. Littered with mobile homes
My heart was broken
I remember my brother and cousin’s long walk
home. We stole their motorcycles for a lark
We couldn’t stop laughing
I remember the first time I played spin-the-
bottle. In that old barn.
Awkward kisses
I remember how nice it was to be there
And how much nicer it will be to get home
Copyright © 1999 by Jake Olden Shy
A Sweet Afftection
A sweet affection
Our’s in time
Our heart’s perfection
A love sublime
Copyright © 1999 by Jake Olden Shy
