Jim Brearton

Markets Will Crash

Markets will crash.
Children will still go to the beach.
A summer day will always be warm.
His words will mean the same thing.
If I saw you sleeping
I still would not know
what you were dreaming.
Young ladies still pretty
and boys fresh
without speaking.
Leaves will shake and
smoke will rise up a chimney.
Ice is where we once swam.
Someone's heart
will be torn
and hurt as badly.
You know you're a part
of all that will be.
Eyes on the past
trip us now
just like before.
We lunge to go further.
The same things we see
but cannot touch
are closer.
Always a new word to learn,
and something we've done
that needs to be
forgiven.
Catch me if you can.


Party Like It's $19.99

A long time ago
lost in the mists of history
was the twentieth century.

We have nothing to do now.
I'm down to writing the Official Guy Manual.
Here are the chapters:
1 mowing lawn
2 watching girls
3 shoveling snow
4 getting hair cut
5 watching TV
6 drinking
7 sports
8 cars
9 stupid love stories

The longest chapter is the last.
Most guys never heard of love
until it hits them like an 18 wheeler
and they are reduced to
the intelligence of an opossum
wondering what went wrong
and what to do next.
There are no screen passes for this--
no cover three zones
or easy questions like:
Move the infield in?
Bunt? Steal a base?
Guys don't know what to do.

{Poetry by Jim Brearton}