{"id":153243,"date":"2025-11-05T13:20:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=153243"},"modified":"2025-11-05T13:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:20:44","slug":"the-view-from-the-balcony-poems-from-the-pen-of-the-sundown-cowboy-poet-lariat-of-the-balcony-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-view-from-the-balcony-poems-from-the-pen-of-the-sundown-cowboy-poet-lariat-of-the-balcony-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From The Balcony: “Poems from the Pen of the Sundown Cowboy, Poet Lariat of The Balcony”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I felt emptiness.
It was nothing new.
Hope called out to me
with her quiet seduction
and I leapt to reply
with a thunderous, \u201cYES!\u201d
Today I felt love.
I welcomed her home
and bade her stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Pleasure you. Pleasure me.
She\u2019s getting used to missing you.
I hold your heart. Think it out loud
now that I don\u2019t have you anymore.
Show me love right now.
I show you pain.
How can I take away
what\u2019s already gone?
If you still wanted me\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I never have been fond of Cadillacs.
They seem a bit pretentious to me,
an\u2019 puttin\u2019 on ain\u2019t where I\u2019m at.
But now, with you in my heart,
blue Cadillacs jumpstart my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

When the shadows begin to fall
and night is closing in,
my thoughts of you flourish
and I return to my motherland
where I find you waiting,
waiting patiently
for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All my friends tell me
I gotta get out of this town.
Mama calls me every day
to see if anyone\u2019s come round.
Even the old flames try to rekindle the fire,
but I\u2019m holding out.
Holding out
for you.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Two states away.
You are a full two states away.
It makes me miss you all the more.
Alabama and Georgia feel like
Mercury and Neptune to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You said you were with me.
I knew it was true.
But you still had to show me,
didn\u2019t you?
That truck in the roundabout
that moved so slow,
annoyed me at first,
but then, I know
you sent it to me,
for on its tag I saw
the county of its origin
and yours.
Chickasaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Make peace with your parents,
even if they lie dead.
Make peace with your children,
even the yet-to-be birthed.
Make peace with your friends,
the ones you\u2019ve hurt or healed.
Make peace with your enemies
and turn them into friends.
Make peace with your brothers and sisters.
You sprouted from the same seed.
Make peace with old lovers.
You are still connected.
Make peace with your Guide,
for the path can be treacherous.
Make peace with death,
every kind there is.
Make peace with life
on which all others depend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and that\u2019s the View from The Balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, singer-songwriter, actor, writer, and a former triathlete. He may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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