Eric Cockrell Poems

i am only as free,
as i allow you to be.
the respect i've earned,
the respect i have for you.
...

i will accept the validity
of your religious view when...
you lay down your guns,
and start feeding the hungry!
...

i do not wish to be great,
to turn and bow on the final stage.
i have no desire to be the train,
just a common plank on the track.
...

someone asked me what my degree was in...
well, i've been a factory worker,
a mill worker, a carpenter, a trash collector...
milked cows and rode horses,
...

i hear the cry....
oppression, enslavement,
beatings, torture, rapes,
and killings.
...

eternity, and such...
the stain in the coffee cup,
the holes in the old man's underwear.
the rough tongue of a stray cat,
...

you speak of love with an absent voice,
stumbling numbly down the stairway
to the basement where desire rumored lurks.
the man on the screen trills of wars,
...

lover, dont lie...
the stench of silence overwhelms.
the stray cat sleeps in a cardboard box,
the old oak tree groans with morning.
...

feeding the flames!
pictures, awards, titles, deeds...
love letters written in blood,
bed sheets stained by passion.
...

God died last night
and no one noticed...
they'll find the body
in a week or two.
...