Cracker Jack Kid

Grow Up!! Mom Screamed
as she threw another dish
against the front door

I dropped my Cracker Jacks
and ran over and stood
in front of mom’s
next throw

MOM, that’s enough now!!
Put down the plate, before you hurt
someone!

She halted her rage
And began to cry
And then fainted
On the dining room floor

my Brother
and my baby Sister
run over to MOM
As I rushed out the door
Out into the street
and stopped DAD before he
put his car into gear
to leave

I pleaded with Him
“MOM has fainted!
You’ve got help . . . .
Oh Please . . . Come Back . . . .
DAD Don’t leave us!!”

HE rushed back
and held mom in his arms
Until she awoke
Or until the wounds healed
Or until the hurt sailed
Out into the open sea
You see, I Don’t Know!!

That day, I must have gone into shock
because the reason for the pain
that caused Mom’s rage
is still unknown to me
yet somehow the anger
of that day, I still hold

Oh, Yes - I do recall
That my cracker jack
days of being just a kid
were all over

I threw away my GI JOES
And my Hot Wheel Toys
Then I turned my toy box
Upside down and threw out
My Model Airplanes
my first editions
Superman, Batman
and MAD magazines
and I even gave away
my teddy bear
to the kid next door

I threw away my entire collection
of Autographed Photographs
My FAN CLUB memberships
from Bewitched
Leave-It-To-Beaver
The BOWEY BOYS
and even my Baseball cards
were trashed and gone forever!!

I threw ‘em all away
Cause I had to grow up
I had to grow up!!
And not be like
My father no more!

- Claude Barrett - March 2008

(added 10.08.08)

L’Chaim - To Life?

I screamed in agony and despair;
I felt so horror-stuck, alone!
Overwhelmed with the grief and the loss!

I wanted so much to be held again
to tell my girl friend – that I love her
that I didn’t mean all those hateful and nasty things
that I had said to her on the cell phone

Instead, I was closed up inside a stainless steel cabinet drawer
and labeled – “Traffic Fatality - Alcoholic Intoxication”!

The night I died, I was driving too fast on a dark country road.
Oh, how I wish I had a friend who had taken my keys, or someone
- who - I could have called - for a ride home.

The deer caught in my headlights was the last thing I saw
That’s when I drove off the road - My car struck a group of trees!

The deafening sound of the crushing car, as metal folded in on itself
never registered in my brain. The car’s engine falling into my lap
and severing my spine, should have been enough to sober me up!

I only realized what had happened when I looked down
and saw the gushing blood escaping from a deep abdominal wound.

When the cops found me two hours later
and pulled the sheet over my head, I screamed; I am not dead!
Call an ambulance; get this fucking engine off my legs!

But after another 2 hours, when the firemen finished cutting open the car
and had pulled my broken body out - I realized there was no going back.
It was all over!

My Dad had to identify me; he held up pretty well
considering what had happened; Dad only past out twice.

When I arrived at the morgue, my brother froze up;
he couldn’t bring himself to look at me.

My mom, she couldn’t stop sobbing.
I just wanted so much to wake up and tell everyone that I was alright!

At the funeral, was when I decided, that I really wanted to live!

Please God, I will be more careful, loving and kind,
even with myself. Please God, give me another chance,
I am only 29 years of age, and I had my whole life ahead of me.

I love my life, please God, give one more chance! Please!

- Claude Barrett - June 2007

(added 10.08.08)

My Nephew

Young man
Drove off a narrow road
Unfettered at last
Finally at peace
No bondage
No dependency
Calm as the misty
dew morn

Heavens’ perfect
Round transparency
Boundless across
the clear sky home
Song to him before
As he crossed over

Love’s sweet song
of eternal truth
Echoed acrossed
the canyon walls
And raindrops
on a river streams

Awakened his soul
from its deep slumber
into the harvest
of a new day born

- Claude Barrett - June 2007

(added 10.08.08)

Give Me Liberty or Death?

Yeah, Man - I'm down with that!
Let's Tag 'em with a GPS marker
A microchip identifier
inserted under the skin
with a hypodermic needle

Like the government has
for all the livestock
and domesticated animals

Somebody's' got to protect us
from all the Terrorist, the Illegal
Immigrants, the Suicide Boomers
Child Abductors and Molesters,
Hybrid Hackers, Socialists
Deviant Liberal Democrats
wannabe Criminals
and Enemy Combatants

I bet you Dollars to Donuts
Guantanamo Detainees
Abu Ghraib Prisoners
Who have all ready been
abused and degraded
and allegedly confessed
have been tagged!

Guilty or Innocent!
Doesn't really matter
No Habeas Corpus Here
Thanks to our Burning
Constitutional BUSH!

They all look alike anyway?
Better safe than sorry, Right?

Anyway, it is just another
body piercing, a silicon chip
implanted under the skin
in the back on your arm
along the belly of the muscle

A really smooth operation
Honest - I didn't feel a thing!

All paid for by your
Already strangled tax dollar
And our Xenophobic Right Wing
Ultra Conservative Rogue Nation
Yeah, the good ol' U.S. of A.
Red, White and Blue!

Do you think it can't happen to you?
just Vote for McCain and Palin!

They will not only give us four more years

They will do you even better!

Every time your ass crosses a border
passes through a security check
an airport terminal, a military base
a prison, a hospital, a university
a grade school, a play ground -

Our Government, the home of the free
and the brave will know;

just like George Orwell foretold
in his novel 1984

and just like our Government did to
Martha Stewart with a GPS anklet!

Big Brother will know
WHO you are and WHERE you are
WHO you've been sleeping with!

And every minute of the day
you will be looking over your shoulder
while the video cams follow
you around the city, capturing
your every move on tape!
Every time you're late
to work, to church, to your
PTA meetings

Every time you're late
to pick up your kid from school
late for your AA meetings, late to report to
your parole officer;

Caught speeding? Getting Greedy?
the little microchip GPS tag imbedding in your arm
will start to hurt, intensity level increases with every passing
minute, until it knocks you off your ass, like a tazer!
Incapacitating you until the COPS hand cuff you
and throw you into jail, and deny you
your Bill of Rights! No Phone Call for you
no legal representation for you

That's what Big Brothers are for
To save the day and keep us all safe!!

"Can You Hear Me Now??" GOOD!

- Claude Barrett - September 2008

(added 09.30.08)