Author: Jerry Brotherton

I am The Backyard Poet and I warn you that, not only will I ramble on about nothing but, I have been known to stand upon my soapbox and rant about things I care nothing about just to hear the sound of my own voice. I will try to force my opinion upon anyone willing to pay the slightest attention.

We called it the Seventies

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming18 Comments

In front of you I can now stand

To proclaim that I was there

And how this old, fat, balding man

Knew that in love and lust all was fair

 

Never sure if I’d make it through those days

It took too many things to tell me I was alive

Without you I would’ve wasted away

I depended on you just to survive

 

I searched and tried to find my own way

Struggled so hard just to reach the door

I survived those years, but sad to say

A lot of brain cells were left on bar room floors

 

Too many tears that were my fault

Too many hurts that I never meant to be

Through too many unwritten assaults

You still remained there beside me

Abuse

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming15 Comments

You are not the tears you shed

At the loss of childhood dreams

You are not the pain that led

To the sound of piercing screams

 

You are not the reason why

You had to face the world alone

You’re not the words they let fly

And turned your heart to stone

 

I know it is hard to comprehend

A future full and bright

But Just reach out and take his hand

And God will make it right

Recluse

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Free Verse, Poetry15 Comments

He locked his doors to keep people away

He locked his heart to keep from knowing the pain of love

He locked his mind to forget that he once had a choice

Because all choice has long ago abandoned him

Now he is a prisoner to his seclusion

I Pity You

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming14 Comments

If you’ve never watched a summer’s day pass

While basking in the shade of a tall oak tree

Never smelled fresh turned earth or new mown grass

Or the feel of mud between the toes of shoeless feet

 

If you have not known a Spring night’s  seductive charms

Watching moon and stars in a cloudless night

While folded in the warmth of a lovers arms

Lost in the rapture of love’s delight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are No Atheists in Foxholes

On By Jerry BrothertonIn flash, Short Stories12 Comments

“It isn’t the battle that scares you the most. There’s no time to think about death. It’s the quiet times before the fight that makes you shiver. That’s when you think about Heaven and Hell and second guess if you’ve made the right decisions in life. Even those who claim there is no God will still pray.”

An unnamed soldier

78th Engineer Battalion

1975