WAYNE J. KEELEY - POEMS

Wayne J. Keeley is a practicing media attorney, author, professor, producer and director. He has produced, written, and directed award winning documentaries, commercials and educational programs, in addition to screenplays, stage plays, and teleplays. He is a five time Emmy nominee and two-time Emmy winner. He is the author of the legal thriller, Mahogany Row and the audiobook The Titanic Chronicles. Together with his Emmy nominated wife and muse, they have co-authored the novel Going All In and Deadraiser. They also co-produced, wrote and directed several off-off Broadway plays and have a feature film, The History of Everything F/K/A Kissy Cousins Monster Babies on the festival circuit which will soon be distributed nationally. More information on Mr. Keeley's Background can be found on his wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Keeley or 
his IMDB page  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0444544/?ref_=pro_nm_visitcons​

BONE YARD
​

Granite markers chiseled
With bold face lies
Erroneous, encapsulated descriptions
BELOVED SON – TAKEN FROM US TOO SOON
Ha! A junkie and thief was he who
Drove his parents to divorce and despair
BELOVED GRANDFATHER
A notorious panderer, philanderer and adulterer
BELOVED GRANDMOTHER
The bestowed moniker could have been earlier
Were it not for the abortion at sixteen
BELOVED FATHER
Who was a raging, abusive alcoholic to everyone around him
BELOVED AUNT AND UNCLE
An incompatible, loveless, fruitless union, coupled only in inaction and denial
BELOVED DAUGHTER
Consumed and denigrated by the dark demons of anxiety and depression until
She could no longer endure
AND best for last
BELOVED MOTHER
In name only, an egg donor, no patience or love to give, wire hanger strict
Whose remorseless and cold heartedness now reign supreme
In Dante’s most frigid level of Hell
Stone tablets liveried in false facades
That neither signify the end of Sound nor the End of Fury
But rather the idiotic mendacity buried be beneath.
​

THE ACTOR
​

​alone I stood
apron ahead
boards and polished wood 
‘neath my tread
tonight I will be more than me
liveried in bold armor with a new persona
for all my friends, enemies and critics to see
I must prepare for the battle ahead
by conquering the myriad and confusing lines
caroming around in my head
and for a brief span of time
I will fight to the death
in synch and in rhyme
after the final volley is over
the last claps of thunder diminish
now laid bare without disguise or cover
my part in the sun will be finished
strength and reserves depleted
I will return to just being me
naked, vulnerable, but not defeated 
​

BLACK DOG
​

he was sitting there, on his haunches
at the foot of my
bed
his short cropped black fur
was sleek and hoary in the moonlight
that
dared to shine on his countenance
mouth closed, shielding the deadly
daggers
for now
he was patient
oh so patient
waiting to launch
to
devour
to conquer
and so I pretended to sleep
​

Duchenne DAD
​

Same Hair
Same eyes
Same dimples
Same quirky mannerisms
Same taste in music
But not mirrored reflections
Distanced by years and states of health
And the hovering shadow of Death since birth
Conjoined souls, bonded by blood, DNA and memories
When music’s untimely notes end for one
It ends for both
 

​Soft Comes the Dawn

​Soft  comes the dawn,
Stealing  quietly over the earth,
Usurping  its predecessor with
All the assurance of a triumphant
Gladiator


 
And  you, like the infant sun,
Usher  in a ray of light where
None  had existed before;
Dispelling  the lonely night with
Your  warmth until darkness itself
Is  forced to succumb

Soft  came you into my life
Slowly,  like the dawn as it emerges
Into  full brilliance
Did  I become aware of you…
 

WAITING AT THE DMV
​

Sitting at the DMV waiting to renew my driver’s license, fiftieth in the queue
Thinking of all the wasted moments, all the things I could and would be doing
No Nook, book, Kindle or extant newspapers and magazines to kill time
Constantly refreshing my phone and trying to connect to a non-existent wi-fi
There were worse things in life than waiting in line for forty-five people at the DMV
Going to the dentist was worse of course than being now number forty-three
Drinking that bitter, foul tasting liquid laxative the night before a colonoscopy
Sure, there were worse things than sitting, watching and waiting
Like accidentally sharting and soiling your underwear thirty thousand
Feet in the air on a non-stop flight to the coast was much worse
Feeling your head brush the underside of a toilet rim as you purge
The last three shots you consumed at your buddy’s bachelor party
While vowing on your dead grandmother’s soul you’ll never drink again
Was a hell of a lot worse than being thirty-six in line
Tick tock, tick, tock, tic tock, watching the clock
Suddenly completely understanding Einstein’s
Theory of Relativity that time moves more slowly
In governmental facilities than the outside world
Now twenty-nine in line and still not feeling fine
Why do you never see celebrities at the DMV?
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga must drive after all
Almost to the teens when a booming masculine voice
Calls out a greeting to the elderly lady in red in front of me
“Helen!” says he, “long time, no see.”
As big as the real Sasquatch, he sits next to her
His wide girth and buttocks covering two seats
He relays his condolences and apology
For missing her husband’s funeral a year ago
Heart attack followed by massive stroke
I was into the single digits when Bigfoot
Asked about her youngest son
Killed himself. Depression over
His father’s death, a felony conviction
And not being able to get a job
If he had just hung on, his conviction
Was overturned on appeal
He asked about her eldest son
Whom he had coached as a kid
Pancreatic cancer, gone in two months
An incredulous, anguished moan
From the behemoth beside her
She was a few numbers ahead of me
When she said she just
Finished chemotherapy
Breast Cancer
Her number was up
She strode up to the desk
Smiled and chatted to the clerk
She was still smiling as she
Turned and left,
I didn’t care
About waiting
Any
More.
​