i haven’t shared one of these in a while so here we go. it’s what i call my ‘prose poetry.’ i take an uncommon word and write to the emotions it stirs without using the actual word anywhere within my conjuring. enjoy!
this one is from june 2023.
‘basorexia’
mother and father never taught love they lessoned set it free. i enlightened myself the anguished prophecy of borrowed wings. there remain two deaths in this life the moment you cry from womb the other you noose faith around your neck. i learned thunder keeps deep woods. broke on the falsehood limbs ascend with wind. the whisper from the colonnade corkscrewing like something vintage yet aged enough to drink. to sink is to swim i rose above kith and kin treading like the hanged man open as the fool. why does what you yearn most arrive come dimming light? and in that twilight she at last appeared. all i once thought spectral raining like truth atop the eaves. thieved of the notion i’d die a complete version of myself her palms cupped as though doves the revelation my removed piece come home. who’d have taught love might be a prayer turned thought? what’s yours never leaves it’s just hope strips the bones till you finally set free and both her green and my brown eyes knew it.
basorexia:
the overwhelming
desire to kiss
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
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subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
shameless book promotion time! one last poem from ‘a distilled spirit’ published in 2018.
i suppose what makes me proudest about ‘a distilled spirit’ is that it’s my first poetry collection, poems lifted from my booze-stained notebooks and cobbled into cohesive form. it was my launching point as i’ve refined my voice over subsequent years and that’s the most important opportunity any writer can have.
sometimes ruminations are part dream part recollection. the following poem is just that.
‘a distilled spirit’ is available on amazon for your reading pleasure. if you enjoy it, please indulge me the favor of a review.
peace!
today’s selection is:
‘mercy killing’
do you remember that day you shushed me?
silk finger on my lips stilling
my pulse
clouds fell and you
caught them, dabbed
tears from my eyes, stole the
sun's rays, stabbed them
through my heart.
mercy killing, so was whispered
still i,
i could not talk, not
with your fist down my
windpipe, sweet charm tearing
me apart.
i should have thanked you, admitted
you were never
to blame
still i,
i was the quiet one
and you,
you so insane.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
shameless book promotion time! more from my 2018 collection ‘a distilled spirit.’
this book wasn’t just about writing what i observed while drinking at bars. this book was the first time i began to dissect my inner feelings and put them on a plate to share.
i’ve had zero f*cks since.
‘a distilled spirit’ is available on amazon for your reading pleasure. link is in my profile. if you enjoy it, please indulge me the favor of a review.
peace!
today’s selection is:
‘empty, still you try’
my bones gleam
my eyes ache
as your unwavering light
searches across my pores.
you curse my resolve
while you continue your
bloodletting—
when will you learn my veins dried
a long time ago.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
shameless book promotion time! on we go with ‘a distilled spirit’ from 2018.
there’s a story written on every face but few take the time to read them. even fewer know where to begin.
start in silence. ask the bartender for a drink. then sit. expand beyond yourself. then draw in that energy…
‘a distilled spirit’ is available on amazon for your reading pleasure. link is in my profile. if you enjoy it, please indulge me the favor of a review.
peace!
today’s selection is:
‘the tree’
her face was riddled.
dug into her cheek
an empty heart
like lovers carve into a tree.
there were no initials
no dates
just old skin
rough and crumbly like bark.
she stood alone
bowed
an ancient tree in the forest
awaiting a fall
no one would ever hear.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
shameless book promotion time! continuing with ‘a distilled spirit’ from 2018.
long before i had my spiritual awakening, long before i became a reiki master, i learned the hard way that you are not meant to save everyone, not even those you truly want to save. and sometimes, not even yourself.
it’s a hard lesson. one that has served me well.
‘a distilled spirit’ is available on amazon for your reading pleasure. link is in my profile. if you enjoy it, please indulge me the favor of a review.
peace!
today’s selection is:
‘dulled’
i need to listen closely—
the pain you share
should be sharp yet
comes delivered dull, spoken
at the price of a worn tongue;
how it rends me to hear you
recall the worst of all you have been;
i sit quietly
listening to your soft grace
betrayed by the broken
fragments of your words.
i can't ever glue you back together
but i can hold you in my hands.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
shameless book promotion time! continuing with ‘a distilled spirit’ from 2018.
as i previously said, while putting this collection together i had been known for my horror fiction. my poem ‘you’ became a fusion, a dash of my horror background mixed with my emerging though still yet defined poetic voice. i wrote this over a few strong beers.
‘a distilled spirit’ is available on amazon for your reading pleasure. link is in my profile. if you enjoy it, please indulge me the favor of a review.
peace!
‘you’
in a trick of light i found you
pouring venom from callous hands
ripping faith from gibbous moon
i’ve loved you ever since.
your cruel grace matched by
even the coldest of gray januaries and
as the sun died
you spoke to me the foulest nothings
whispered from your alligator snout.
you poured acid in my ears to
quell my methods of thinking when
you knew full well
i had no free will at all.
chant a new song of turpitude
blasphemous act;
i’ll love you ever more.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
hello all! time for some shameless book promotions of which i am long overdue!
i’m starting with ‘a distilled spirit,’ my first poetry collection published back in 2018. up to that point in time, i never read poetry let alone craft it. i was becoming known for my horror fiction and prose. between projects, i’d go to my local bar and jot into a notebook as a way of keeping myself sharp. i eventually realized something. i wasn’t writing about my usual made-up horrors but rather expressing the horrors i was feeling, both within and around me. my gift of being an intuitive empath had been revealed, but that’s a tale for another day. for this telling, it was the birth of the barflypoet.
‘a distilled spirit’ is a collection of some of my first ‘bar writings.’ i knew then that somehow my voice and presentation were decidedly different and took a chance to share it. i haven’t looked back since.
‘a distilled spirit’ is available on amazon for your reading pleasure. link is in my profile. if you enjoy it, please indulge me the favor of a review.
peace!
today’s selection is:
‘perils of greasy calamari’
he didn't so much kiss her from across the bar
than he devoured her face;
the calamari i'd just eaten
tasting even greasier on my tongue.
i swear if he kissed her one more time
i'd push my fingers down my throat.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
to only hold what once we held…
‘in silence’
make theatre of this vow
a complex game of illusion
stage squeezed out from lungs
our old science exhausts the cells
we fell gracefully as children
while an astral lamp accused us
of life now seeking peace
we pencil ourselves
with sharpened expressions
thoroughbreds, the slightest hitch
all but derailing us.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
challenge accepted.
‘i can do this’
there is nothing worse
than holding in a piss
when you have important
words to write.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
bar observation again.
let me be clear about something:
i fully support the LGBTQ community! nothing but love here!
‘i love lesbians at the bar’
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
yet time and time again i stalk this graveyard of the mind.
mourning…
‘buried’
buried in everything i have ever wrote,
i refuse to resurrect you.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
hold me.
‘i’m suffering’
awakened;
what a formidable alternative
to death
subtleties weighing your whole being
an ideal only children could paint
with any sort of vibrancy
convince yourself you’ve held the secret
and i’ll signal the director: the cue
was missed.
multitudes rolled in sushi blocks
it inspires, i suppose
rounded corners and
there’s a piece to us all
a protesting hinge
that slams the door on circumstance;
i’d be delighted if you said
limbo is nothing more than
contemplatory religion
cold as it is sensual.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
i’ll show you where the real fires are…
‘bad mistake’
never hand
a rioting mind
a pen.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
this job will kill you…
‘i drank till 2am’
11pm and i have no business
drinking this fifth scotch
but it is business.
strictly business.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
i may have shared this before, but either way it’s from 2016.
when bar writing i often engage in what i call ‘machine-gun fire,’ meaning i write snippets of thoughts one after the other without pause. the irony is even though they’re thoughts they really aren’t in that i never really gave them thought in the first sense. i know, i know, i’m a complicated man…
‘puppy dog’
you leave;
i linger.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
‘my cost’
a misfortune has occurred
an inconclusive blooming flower
a strange illusion for the ghost
who feeds on more than pretty words
i’m more heinous than my faults
and if expression is merely speaking
tell me then is it worth more than my cost?
i’m not sorry for who i am
taciturn in my suspension
a suffering outlet in the art
and i am everything who i am
a temperamental superstition
all i’ve thought is what i’ve lost.
i may be virginal under so many dazzled lights
but i swear i’m conversational
when it comes to my inconsequential life
and i’m aware that all my shadows have
gone and broken out
never mailed or read aloud.
i’m not sorry for who i am
taciturn in my suspension
a suffering outlet in the art
and i am everything who i am
a temperamental superstition
all i’ve thought is what i’ve lost.
expectancy only happens
when hope is placed in all abandoned.
i’m not sorry for who i am
taciturn in my suspension
a suffering outlet in the art
and i am everything who i am
a temperamental superstition
all i’ve thought is what i’ve lost.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
the struggle is real…
‘dependency’
i hurt so deeply
then that first splash
of scotch kisses my lips
and dear fuck
i come alive
until morning.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
this poem is from 2017: playing on the beach with my daughter when she decided coating me in sand was far better than any fun a shovel and pail could provide. an eventual dust-off later and i went scrambling for my phone to type the following down.
have you ever been hit by words that come hell or high water you had to pull from your brain before they disappeared? much like my ‘observations from a bar’ writing, these are ‘in the moment’ writings. nothing profanely poetic, but the feeling captured for always.
‘little girl on the beach’
she sprinkled sand
across my arm
and in those
carefree eyes of hers
i built a castle
that would never know
of incoming tides.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
ouija not necessary…
‘i see them’
lost souls do not go
undiscoverable to me.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms
bar tales…
‘he told good stories so i bought a round’
we sit listening
to the beatles
and he reminisces
about the time
he once drove the autobahn
with the windows rolled down
tunes turned up and
by the time hey jude
slicks the speakers
i swear i felt
the winds of germany
whip my bald head.
*
#barflypoet
#josephapinto
© Joseph A. Pinto
*
'dead bird,' 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
*
instagram at joseph_a_pinto
*
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
*
subscribe to the ‘Joseph Pinto, the barflypoet’ YouTube channel https://tinyurl.com/y2stm5ms