Once

I was young once but now I'm in Rio

I loved yesterday but found I couldn't pay the price 

Fidelity came packaged in a love triangle trio

Should have taken Lao Tzu's advice

Sunday's melt on the grill

Saturdays have wrinkled cloths

The president is on the morning after pill

The poet writes with a rubber hose

Stained glass pages of history's book

Once love now a noose, I begin to dance

The mythical fish got off Proverb's hook

With my hands tied it's hard to pull up my pants

I spent Charon's coins paying for a life ill spent

I'm so far under cover I need an air vent

Reviews

[redd Brick Keshner]

I really liked the way “Once” mixes regret with sharp, surreal images. The shifts from youth and love into satire, presidents on pills, poets with hoses all make it feel like a dream unraveling into absurdity. That final turn with Charon’s coins ties it all back to mortality and wasted chances. It’s raw, witty, and haunting all at once. Thanks for putting it out there. 🙏🕊️

[Soren]

Thanks so much Red your words are most valued and cherrished

[redd Brick Keshner]

Most welcome, dear friend 🙏🏻🕊️

[Jansy]

This one had me grinning and grimacing at the same time, Soren.
It’s like Bukowski stopped for a drink with Dali and they both decided to rewrite Ecclesiastes. The humor’s sharp enough to draw blood-- But beneath the satire, there’s that quiet ache of disillusionment, the poet still kicking under the weight of his own irony.

“I’m so far under cover I need an air vent”--that line alone deserves a medal. Brilliant stuff.

-James

[Soren]

Thank you so much for the review and most kind words of support and encouragement they are truly appreciated and valued.

[Jansy]

I enjoy the metaphors and trying to decode them haha. My pleasure.
-James

[RomaJ]

Your poem carries such striking wit and melancholy, Soren. Beneath the humor and surreal turns, there’s a weary wisdom..the sense of someone looking back on life’s absurdities with both laughter and lament. The shifting images, from Lao Tzu to Charon’s coins, make it feel like a myth rewritten through modern irony. It’s sharp, self-aware, and quietly tragic in all the best poetic ways.

Roma

[Soren]

Roma I appreciate the effort it must have taken to shape such meaning out of this drunken verse. You are indeed perceptive and wise yourself and I appreciate all of that and count myself lucky to have a reader like that review my work. Thank yoiu for reading this

[RomaJ]

Thank you Soren. It's a pleasure to read your work, and I appreciate diving into your brilliant metaphors.