to only hold what once we held…
‘in silence’
make theatre of this vow
a complex game of illusion
stage squeezed out from lungs
our old science exhausts the cells
we fell gracefully as children
while an astral lamp accused us
of life now seeking peace
we pencil ourselves
with sharpened expressions
thoroughbreds, the slightest hitch
all but derailing us.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
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subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
challenge accepted.
‘i can do this’
there is nothing worse
than holding in a piss
when you have important
words to write.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
bar observation again.
let me be clear about something:
i fully support the LGBTQ community! nothing but love here!
‘i love lesbians at the bar’
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
yet time and time again i stalk this graveyard of the mind.
mourning…
‘buried’
buried in everything i have ever wrote,
i refuse to resurrect you.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
hold me.
‘i’m suffering’
awakened;
what a formidable alternative
to death
subtleties weighing your whole being
an ideal only children could paint
with any sort of vibrancy
convince yourself you’ve held the secret
and i’ll signal the director: the cue
was missed.
multitudes rolled in sushi blocks
it inspires, i suppose
rounded corners and
there’s a piece to us all
a protesting hinge
that slams the door on circumstance;
i’d be delighted if you said
limbo is nothing more than
contemplatory religion
cold as it is sensual.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
i’ll show you where the real fires are…
‘bad mistake’
never hand
a rioting mind
a pen.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
this job will kill you…
‘i drank till 2am’
11pm and i have no business
drinking this fifth scotch
but it is business.
strictly business.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
i may have shared this before, but either way it’s from 2016.
when bar writing i often engage in what i call ‘machine-gun fire,’ meaning i write snippets of thoughts one after the other without pause. the irony is even though they’re thoughts they really aren’t in that i never really gave them thought in the first sense. i know, i know, i’m a complicated man…
‘puppy dog’
you leave;
i linger.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
‘my cost’
a misfortune has occurred
an inconclusive blooming flower
a strange illusion for the ghost
who feeds on more than pretty words
i’m more heinous than my faults
and if expression is merely speaking
tell me then is it worth more than my cost?
i’m not sorry for who i am
taciturn in my suspension
a suffering outlet in the art
and i am everything who i am
a temperamental superstition
all i’ve thought is what i’ve lost.
i may be virginal under so many dazzled lights
but i swear i’m conversational
when it comes to my inconsequential life
and i’m aware that all my shadows have
gone and broken out
never mailed or read aloud.
i’m not sorry for who i am
taciturn in my suspension
a suffering outlet in the art
and i am everything who i am
a temperamental superstition
all i’ve thought is what i’ve lost.
expectancy only happens
when hope is placed in all abandoned.
i’m not sorry for who i am
taciturn in my suspension
a suffering outlet in the art
and i am everything who i am
a temperamental superstition
all i’ve thought is what i’ve lost.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
the struggle is real…
‘dependency’
i hurt so deeply
then that first splash
of scotch kisses my lips
and dear fuck
i come alive
until morning.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
this poem is from 2017: playing on the beach with my daughter when she decided coating me in sand was far better than any fun a shovel and pail could provide. an eventual dust-off later and i went scrambling for my phone to type the following down.
have you ever been hit by words that come hell or high water you had to pull from your brain before they disappeared? much like my ‘observations from a bar’ writing, these are ‘in the moment’ writings. nothing profanely poetic, but the feeling captured for always.
‘little girl on the beach’
she sprinkled sand
across my arm
and in those
carefree eyes of hers
i built a castle
that would never know
of incoming tides.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
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subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
ouija not necessary…
‘i see them’
lost souls do not go
undiscoverable to me.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
bar tales…
‘he told good stories so i bought a round’
we sit listening
to the beatles
and he reminisces
about the time
he once drove the autobahn
with the windows rolled down
tunes turned up and
by the time hey jude
slicks the speakers
i swear i felt
the winds of germany
whip my bald head.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
don’t singe your fingertips.
‘choose your purpose’
some long to be the candle;
some the wick.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
a typical poetry writing session for me lasts between 3-5 hours. whatever comes to mind is written, the page flipped and on to the next. no poem is given a second thought or remembered until months or even years later when it’s finally typed from my notebook to computer and given a quick edit for possible punctuation, spelling and structure. some pieces stick with me while others i deem ‘throwaways.’ i consider the following poem a throwaway. what do you think? i wrote this back in may of 2015:
‘drugs are bad’
you suck me dry and not in the way
that would make me smile.
you pull that band tight round my arm
find a vein the first try every time.
you're a drug i never wanted
i can't give you up now if i tried.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
once you feed it, it never goes away…
‘squirrel’
a blue collar gets a pass with nail beds chock-full of dirt but mine go unscrubbed and i’m labeled a slob. come near me enough and you’ll smell the endless mounds of earth i’ve dug. old storms and expired seasons stain my pores. the irony how history both tears and heals the wounds. i’ve ancient footfall echoing tips of each finger yet without the cadence of her heels nothing will do. you ask what i’m hiding and i strip off my clothes to show unequivocally the nonentities up my sleeve and as long as you keep your eyes to the floor you won’t notice the disruptions in the yard. spatial memory serves me well and so she rests everywhere she’ll never be found and if bygone days realign i’ll uncover her again. painfully my ribs protrude but you’ve taken no care to notice nor do you question why i forego the lather when washing my hands.
*
squirrel
any of various rodents usually
with a long bushy tail and
strong hind legs;
to store up for future use
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
observatory poetry:
‘please, no more’
her laugh
split the ears
of all
at the bar
and drove
us to
drink.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
table for one, please...
‘slow sips’
they toast over margaritas
oblivious that a table away
a life comes apart over beer.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
this is my trauma process. i stare at it. i drink with it. i allow it to consume me. then i vomit it from every pore and lap it up again.
everyone leaves. in silence their song.
‘in my head’
i still lack the suitabilities
of physical science
my eyes of opal fire,
conversations rich in
distant ink abyss.
i pity the child
this small boy within,
who as phenomenons go
has yet vanished;
for him every straight line
magnetized in terror,
every moment a resurrection
of atrophy:
who will leave now
in what manner
and how silently?
an open mouth
begins a journey.
the mirror,
a sentence of death.
*
‘DEAD BIRD’ ON SALE AT AMAZON!
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
Poetry served raw and unedited from the moment crafted.
The large majority of my poetry handcrafted from inside bars.
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
here’s a poem from my ‘bar observations’ pile. yes, it really happened. yes, the dude shred air like nobody’s business. and yes, i got all kinds of f***ed up that night.
‘front row’
he played the meanest air guitar
i ever did see.
scotch after scotch i drank
and when he paid his tab
i begged for a curtain call.
*
‘DEAD BIRD’ ON SALE AT AMAZON!
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
Poetry served raw and unedited from the moment crafted.
The large majority of my poetry handcrafted from inside bars.
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto