John McKinley Pride Jr. Poetry & Art

"Roots" The earth begins to shake away; the ground breaks in two. The waves begin to separate; the child sleeps so deep in the roots. Awaiting for another day; seeking for another day another day to break free from the roots. I can’t save you, I can’t take you, I can’t be there, I can’t say when, I can’t say were, The child soon moves around breaking through the hallow ground of yesterday; the roots still attached; pains the only thing the child feels now. You can’t save me, You can’t love me, You can’t kill me, I am deep with in your roots; you can’t see me you can’t break free from the roots You can’t save me, You can’t take me, You can’t say when, You can’t say were, The pain will soon go away and all there will be left is the roots. By John M. Pride Jr. 4/30/96

"My Lonely Disgrace" My tears grasp part of me that never feels and they will never let me go. This is it, this is where my head begins to spin and my defense falls like a plague. Oh, your beauty let it shine upon my face again and keep me bound upon my knees forever. This heart can be warm again, it can grow again and these veins that run cold can flow with true love again. Shine your beauty upon me like before, like vines my arms reach for you; like flowers my eyes open to you and like a gentle wind you speak to me. Grow with in my heart and grow with in me; find this way to never loose me, find this way to find the words I need to say that will never leave my lips again only to fall from me and never reach you. These tears they roll on and down my face descendant in grace I fall, fall, fall from my lonely disgrace. By John M. Pride Jr. 1/2/06

"Forty Winks" Down My head goes, tightly my eyes close, to dream away and never come back to the awakening world. When I sleep, I can be in my own fantasy, when I sleep I can fly through the sky and when I sleep I can fall in love, in my dreams stars don’t fall from above but rain falls back to the sky. The people don’t walk forward they walk backwards; there’s no evil just pure good and the ugly people are considered pretty. The obese is considered skinny, there is nothing cruel about my dreams and yet it seems no one is screaming. I let the angles sing and the clouds roam; I walk through what most people don’t believe but have never known it to be and yet if they would fall fast asleep they would not be deceived by the forty winks they do not acquire during there weeks of restlessness. By John McKinley Pride Jr. 4/28/’05

"Ocean Colored Me" Under the ocean it gets kind of cold, but not tonight; your ocean colored me. What were you looking for? Someone to hold you tonight? Your ocean colored me again, wave after wave, drowning me again and again. Feel these wet kisses through the slight breezes giving by the sea. Your ocean all around me; pull me under deeper and deeper, till I find the treasures of you to mean more than gold to me. I will fall into your aquatic love, to believe forever in your waves of adoration and then fall slowly asleep in this abyss of loneliness. By John McKinley Pride Jr. 2/28/’05

"Jaded Ivy" The words spill out on to the page, but they don’t seem to go anywhere. No eyes or mouths can figure them out, brains of those who read it burn and fizzle trying to knead it in to there own ideas of what the words should be. Were does this go? How does this fit? No, no, no the words are all wrong, this should be here and that should go there. Trying to find some mathematical problem deeply imbedded somewhere in the words I bleed. It is not science nor is it a puzzle to figure out why we are here; it is words put to paper to shout out loud and clear to the whole world I am here. To see that the soul has nothing to fear, to peek out of your heart at the demons that have built up inside of you and say here I am bearing it all; all for you to see my love, my fears, my happiness and my loathing. Wait, wait a hush for just a moment; I will shut my mouth or do I shudder when I think silence must become me because of the words that come from you, thinki

"You Shine" You shine; yes you shine like the sun as I gaze at you In adoration I see the sky blazing blue. You shine true, crazy love shock to my flat line, You never bring me down, you keep me high and steel in my mind. Shaking in my soul I never stood alone, you sink in to me And sooth my dry skin; like treatment upon my burnt tattered heart you bring me through. You shine, you shine and I’ll make you mine sky and all; I’ll fly into you and never descend again. Your love shines, shines for all times. By John McKinley Pride Jr. 4/20/’01

"Naked Sleep" She said she thought of me and I told her the same, pictures would flash in my head of her and I in bed. Thoughts wouldn’t go away; it wasn’t watching the sun set it was dreams of naked sleep. I would hold her tight and think of her like an angle; naked sleep it won’t leave my memory, making love to her through the night hoping I was doing every thing just right. Naked sleep it has me and it will not let me go; it’s just her that I want, no one else she had my mind going and my temperature rising with my heart racing on fire. I thought I was going to explode I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t rest, I could only think of her and naked sleep. I didn’t know if I should weep or feel like a creep because all I could think of was naked sleep. With her on my mind and naked sleep all the time all I really wanted was her all this time. By John M. Pride Jr. 5/2/96- 3:06am

"Death Gently Smiles" I do not have the time to listen to you spade yourself; these feelings are alive with hate. Let us stand here for a while; let us think about this for a while; did you know we die? We really die. Think about it while I gently smile; stand up to a knowledge, a thought in your head; yes, it might slow you down some. A little change might take away some of the pain; Every time you do, I would look in the mirror at my ghost. I am still with out peace; I see it in the death of you. You are truly paralyzed by the heap of lies you have piled upon my back; you’re standing at what feels like the factual beginning; which in truth, death gently is smiling upon you, like you smiled upon me, in my end. By John McKinley Pride Jr. 4/25/’96

"The Feet of a King" Your feet felt the love of a mothers touch; your feet felt the waves of a raging sea. How can I follow in your steps when your feet felt the touch of a broken sinner’s tears and the brush of her hair? Your feet felt the stairway to Pilot’s judgment; oh Lord, how do I follow? Your feet felt the rocky trail to Calvary and the nail of my sin; oh Lord, how can you love me so? When my feet have felt nothing but the soft soles of my own shoes, a promise from me to you oh Lord is that the day I see you; your feet will feel a kiss from my lips only worthy for the feet of a king. By John M. Pride Jr. 8/6/08 _____________________________________________________________________________________ (This is for my Danish Friends/Dette er for mine danske venner) Fødderne af en konge Dine fødder følte kærlighed til en mødre touch; fødderne følte bølger med en rasende hav. Hvordan kan jeg følge i dine skridt, når dine fødder følte et tryk på en brækket synders tårer o

"Knowing Splendor, Has No Time" There’s a crack in the sun; no time to look back in splendor. We’ve always been on the wrong track with the dreams to see and the dreams to put away. For all the days, you were far, far away, climbing a bean stock high in the sky never to look back. You’ve found a name like any other name, but don’t let it flee your mind. Keep these names no one else wants; charm the clouds in all their curiosity on this bird that flies south for the winter. Make sure you’re in the center of these timeless sands that pass through your hands; these memories will fall like the leaves from a winter oak; you’re finding that life goes at a fast inhuman pace. The rain can take away all the splendor of this world, but it doesn’t keep secrets from tomorrow or what could be wrong with today; only to know it was there yesterday, when you asked yourself, “What’s time like no time at all?” By John McKinley Pride Jr. 3/2/’05

"The Answer To Time and Trouble" Sway like the tree, sway and feel free; sing like the Blue Jay and enjoy the day. Do not fret over the little things; there is sure to be bigger things ahead. Enjoy the day and do not borrow tomorrow’s troubles; do not save them up in a bank of problems. Your numbers would just add up to worry; for you have your whole life to be scared of what could be and what could not be. We are not promised the next day or even today; they do not even exist; only in the mind or in the dreams of a child where everyday is a greater adventure than the last. So, I say enjoy the day to its fullest and know that the sun is not your enemy and time stands still for no one. By John McKinley Pride Jr. 2007

"Sincere and Motioning" There's this slow downhill motioning it's keeping me trembling while this leprechaun keeps riddling, fiddling, spindling and playing his violin. These fast cars are motioning, settling in my parking lot mind. There's a girl speaking and the words she uses are sincere. I watch the people out on the street, words seem mean, but he's down on his knees this time motioning and sincere. This sincere motioning, keeps me trembling, riddling, fiddling, spindling. As fast cars go around the words he uses seem sincere and the words she uses are moving. Watch the people go down, sincere and motioning. By John McKinley Pride Jr 4/4/'97

"To My Only" To my only friend, to my love; you are true to me; as I am a lie to you. You are all to me, where I am only half to you and you are my day as I am your night. You are the sunlight so warm and grand; I am the moon light no feeling at all, cold and bland. You are my everything, my float, my rock and my heart when I need it. You are my rainbow so full of color and delight, to where I am a black and white T.V. that never seems to change. Yes, you are my life support and my crutch when I need some one to lean on. You are every beat of my heart; with out you I cannot even breath or think; life would be oh, such a bore without my beautiful wife who helps me soar. By John McKinley Pride Jr

“To Love Again #1” A pure love is what I ask for; an innocents unknown. A pure love that stands true to the stories told to me as a child; A pure love that is able to outlast time; outlast the turns of the earth and brings its worth; A pure love that stands tall up past the heavens; the beats of the heart that cannot be counted; A pure love not grown but created by the warmth of blood that runs red through the veins that were once sealed shut; A pure love that stretches out past eternity stretches past who I am; Reaches my soul, and feels my void; this hollowness with in my chest that only echoes those words from far away. Only mouthed by the lips that I long to kiss, again and again teasing my mind vibrating chills deep with in my spine. Melts me down and builds a fire with in me that lifts the weight off my back, tears me apart and brings me to my knees. Conceives waterfalls in my eyes and brings me to the truth. Oh to love again is all I ask for; all I ask for is a pure love. By J