New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
Then and Now
A Six Pack of Sonnets
Aaron Wilkinson
I
Remember back when, being young, you dreamed
Of growing up. No rules, no school, no sweat.
Then time went by the by and you’d forget
The play you made with smiles that brightly beamed
From faces bronzed beyond belief. It seemed
That only getting older ever set
You free. Now grown, and forty grand in debt,
The scarcity of Joy, where once it teemed
Unchecked across your face, is called “the norm.”
You’re old enough to reminisce and know
That summer holidays were luxury
And someone else’s wage once kept you warm.
A lesson learned by everyone If so,
Perhaps it means there’s something wrong with me.
II
At seventeen my life was figured out.
I’d get from out my mother’s watchful eye
(Immortal Youth forbade her son should die
Beneath her yoke) and write. Success without
A moment’s thought to polishing or doubt
That publishers would flock to me and buy
The rhymes thrown off my tongue to fly
Into their files while managing the rout
Of charlatans dismayed. The truer skill
Was mine. I’d take the world by storm and prove
This former Mormon boy need only choose
To leave his father’s God and drink his fill
Of liquid bliss to find the righteous groove.
Now all that’s left is nothing left to lose.
III
A muse can feed a mind with rhyme and song
But flesh is fed with meat and bread. Dismayed
That I might waste my gift by being paid
For common work it seemed there’d be no wrong
In crawling home to Mom where I belong;
The kid who only dreamed of getting laid,
Who thought he knew it all and had it made,
Who never hit the books before the bong.
I want to be a school-aged boy again
And realize that life is played for keeps.
Then maybe I could learn the rules I missed
For counting out a meter with my pen
And pay attention like the other sheep
Instead of wasting time and getting pissed.
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