Wednesday, March 1, 2023

BOB MACKENZIE

 


Godiva

 

she rides through the autumn

some slender Godiva

 

she hides in her gossamer veils

the white horse beneath her

 

rides into the ether

behind her the universe sails

 

and she doesn’t know who she is

and she doesn’t know what she does

 

she’s just some lost Godiva

gone naked into the mist

 

she’s just some lost Godiva

vanishing into the mist

 

Pinewoods Lament


In a little log cabin in the Rockies

Where squirrels and whiskey jacks play

I long for my home down the valley

And for you though you've gone away.

 

I remember when you and I were young dear

And our love shone as bright as the sun

We'd lay on the grass near your roses

And I'd feel our hearts beat as one.

 

Your pink roses still grow wild on the hillside

And the wild flowers bloom every year

And I hear your voice in the pinewoods

Soft whisper that tells me you're near.

 

Now you lay there peaceful beneath the roses

Where the wild flowers bloom every year

And I know for me you are waiting

As softly I shed another tear.

 

Through the pinewoods the breeze softly whispers

Calling me to lay down by your side

And I'll be with you by the springtime

Beneath your roses growing wild.

 

"You took the words right out of my mouth

it must have been while you were kissing me"

                                               (Jim Steinman)

 

Holding My Breath

 

Why are you holding my breath

making me wait 'til I can live again

waiting for me is like death

you know I can never be just your friend

 

What do you want me to do

how can I wait 'til you tell me yes

not knowing if maybe is no

how can you leave me in such distress

 

Why are you making me wait

knowing full well how much I love you

do you think your love is just bait

you know I am already hooked on you.

 

Can't you see what you do

don't you know how I feel

oh how you make me reel

from the wanting of you

 

while you're just holding my breath

 

Out Of The Inkwell

 

and then it came to me

I have never known you

 

I see you like a dream

image painted in light

flashes behind a glass

darkly but face to face

 

the light dims and you fade

as a film fades to black

mirror world without end

reveals my face slowly

 

I become that shadow

seen through this dark glass

inkwell that births a clown

face to face with myself

 

Voices In The Wind

 

children wait in the walls

walk through empty hallways

are heard in sundown winds

live forever in the woods

 

come to me each child cries

we wait here for our release

our school is out forever

come to us and set us free

 

each voice on the wind cries out

bring me home to my people

bring me back and set me free

do not let me stay here longer

 

a thousand cries ride the wind

a thousand more are waiting

cries of spirits hid too long

waiting in the walls and woods

 

no priest had the right to erase

no official the power to redact

the spirit of a living child

in a wall or in a field forever

 

thousands wait in the walls

walk the vacant hallways

cry on the wind for justice

insist to be heard at last


BOB MACKENZIE


BOB MACKENZIE grew up near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in rural Alberta with artist parents.  His father was a professional photographer and musician and his mother a photo technician, colourist, and painter.  By the age of five, he had his own camera and ever since has been shooting photographs and writing poems and stories.  Raised in this environment, young Bobby developed a natural affinity for photography and for the intricacies of language.  He now lives and writes in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Bob’s writing has appeared in more than 400 journals across North America and as far away as Australia, Greece, India, and Italy. He has published nineteen volumes of poetry and prose-fiction and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies.  He's received numerous local and international awards for his writing as well as an Ontario Arts Council grant for literature, a Canada Council Grant for performance, and a Fellowship to attend the Summer Literary Seminars in Tbilisi, Georgia. For eighteen years Bob’s poetry was spoken and sung live with original music by the ensemble Poem de Terre, and the group released six albums.


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