‘have pain, will travel’ these high hats make funny shadows of my hands three for the price of one like auras illustrating the way i feel dark, grey and just a whisper. i have no business writing under this light it will only fuck up my sight, really but anyone wondering what i might be up to will bear witness to my laborious squinting, my dogged approach, and not realize the sheer amount of despair i carry. * #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights ...
Mar 07, 2024•31 sec
‘when will she’ she brought the woods into my heart but she insists on standing outside our forest this lone tree without sun this bent thinking of hers. when will she realize she has every right to sky and no seed goes punished. of all the limbs i could choose i choose hers to wait under and when it becomes too much i’ll cup all she spills and gently nourish her roots. when will she learn whichever way she leans is the direction i am after. * #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copy...
Mar 05, 2024•37 sec
‘curtain’ veiled silence enlightens the nuances tonight a young woman appears animate, she is pale and fainting by inches, i know, my cranial base a window but without the view. what covers my eyes a phantom illusion; she’s security issues while i a letter without return , address and in this imaginary flesh i try. the abyss comes forged in alabaster not the barely sufficient perpetuity for which i strive. the woman loves a charmer but i am a workshop, solemnity like cardboard steeped clear of w...
Feb 29, 2024•50 sec
‘corner’ i don’t want to be here anymore. i’m not afraid to admit it. i’m not afraid to say it. i’m tired of the constant dismissals. i’m tired of actions not matching the words the cowardice, the absolvement of blame, the walking away like i hardly ever mattered, or was, or will be. i’m tired of my role. i’m tired of my mask. i’m tired of writing in a pad whoring myself under the pimp of a hand. * #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * ...
Feb 28, 2024•36 sec
‘komorebi’ for once i lost the words. for once all in my world drew its breath. you, cross-legged atop your blanket, me, little boy bursting from my chest. the portrait brushed around us so lush in pause. “on my final day this is where i wish to end,” but a playful frog took my thoughts before i vented. and the lake you longed adopted i immediately made my own, a mirror i had lacked all my life. my throat hitched. i turned my back so you wouldn’t see. you know me, my leaky eyes, my emotional com...
Feb 23, 2024•2 min
'final test' drink till all goes spinning riches a combustion within the head rejuvenated spark a circle an expression of deafness, immediately night flutters and a pedestal above the strange and fantastic, this imperceptible ghost. multiplied the fall a stiff wire my shadow jumped top bottom, almost incarnate, now the others disorient the pale of my spirit and regrets like a hasty man’s mistakes. but my own, severed, twitching and awakened; the idea i am trying to read language again words full...
Feb 20, 2024•57 sec
(volume up) ‘no title’ left hand receives. the universe’s temperament presses with its giving hand against my throat. why did i come here to drink? assessment of my days like a piano hits the wrong notes. four stools down the maestro taps a blue pen. unforgivingly. jesus bathes under mosquito corpses. the last draft of my story requires a final edit. with a whoosh the front door opens, so quiet as it closes. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Re...
Feb 15, 2024•39 sec
‘in a hotel away from eyes’ the haunt is recognizable staring back i know this from when i was young the father, the son, neither ever holy, like stray dogs followed the ghost of which so many but now only one. the watch gone missing though like cicadas the spinning hands buzzed and interrupted unseen thoughts, until finally manifested too late. “i don’t want to die” but by then cancer claimed him, a cheap stripper breasts squeezed together for a last fleshly feel. lately my watch has been slipp...
Feb 08, 2024•1 min
‘the light in the dark’ every story has a start. so this is what that is. a start. or maybe this is the end, because a start does not necessarily begin cleanly. so this might very well be the start of the end. and if you think i’m being poetic, i’m not. i think i’ve reached the point where i can be honest and say i’m existing, and that’s just not life, right? every day struggling to find meaning while excuses add up. why am i staying when my worth has been proven less? it’s a bitter pill to swal...
Feb 05, 2024•2 min
‘abditive’ part of the sham is participating in it. so pour the masquerade like a cold one into glass. drink it slow or fast. doesn’t matter because the bloat will follow you home. all they say heads your way but never is it meant for you. like bubbles children try to snatch from july sky, it floats just close enough to delight then gone. every one of those conversations a soap slick residue atop your skin. nothing short of an unnatural phenomenon. so stick it out with that glassy smile of yours...
Jul 19, 2023•41 sec
‘and i know’ and i know that you don't want what i want anymore. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
Jul 06, 2023•9 sec
‘approaching’ the moon approaching the transformation begins this beast now a wilder thing. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto
Jul 03, 2023•11 sec
it’s nearly summer vacation so now what’s your excuse?? ‘can’t stop me’ when i get the call that my daughter’s school is closing due to inclement weather i stay up late and drink like it’s the first day of summer vacation. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto...
Jun 20, 2023•11 sec
‘piggies’ and just like that she makes her feet home in my lap says boy rub my piggies i came a long way for your palms well i never had no market now i’m stocking shelves i wanna keep her fed and i love her tongue in my mouth so she tastes me inside out and knows she no longer walks alone and if my baby wants me i’ll carry my baby home i am home, i am home for my baby i am home, i am home for my baby and just like that she steals my heart away in her eyes says boy always blind me tired of moon ...
Jun 14, 2023•2 min
the bottles, the empty bottles… ‘at 2am’ i'll put this as succinctly as i can: you treat me like shit. disguise your shortcomings if you must (and you must) preach the honor of your duty (i no longer listen) the only role i have ever asked is that you actually see me instead you have left me wayward twisting in restless sleep drowning in bottles; i am not above saying i have failed. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front S...
Jun 09, 2023•34 sec
someone teach me the reasons and not the lesson… ‘filipendulous’ tired. spell it. two vowels and thirty-three bowed vertebrae like overpacked luggage from my spine. i’m good keeping possessions but what i own ain’t mine. a chest with a hole and no room to fit in. one more scotch or bourbon don’t ask for reasons i wouldn’t know where to start and if i did you wouldn’t listen. a shadow scabbed over shouldn’t be picked. so what to do when the lies itch? hard work pays off in the end, my father once...
Jun 07, 2023•58 sec
and this is why i love writing from bars. i think i need to go on tour… ‘she’s just angry’ cries: he used me he took all the best i was. she sucks angry on her cigarette the way she sucked angry on his dick. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto...
Jun 01, 2023•13 sec
moments are few but here is my one… ‘avoidance’ mother and father took the tines to my eyes but never time to soothe my tongue and so much of my embryo goes unanswered like why did i grow into who i am and why do i see now what i’ve been blind to before and who the fuck nourished me when most obviously my bloodlines ran thin? i am not yours and clearly i am so wayward how could i ever put forth a signal to be heard? generations ensuing my cells will never know the pliancy of my flesh but my daug...
May 31, 2023•42 sec
perfectly whole yet not quite together… ‘monachopsis’ a thousand interlocking pieces yet none hold the smooth to slip me in. a shape with projection i seem to push the mass away. even if we lock would i ever want to conform to your spatial monotony? i hear what you’re saying but it’s falling on deaf ears. you want me here but a path leads from the sash i’ve left open. inch turned to gap. the draft never turned your head to notice so neither will the guilt when i move on. it’s a pretty picture wh...
May 24, 2023•42 sec
‘death no matter’ these people they think i die to drink no, no friends i drink to die. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto...
May 23, 2023•11 sec
do you stay well after the curtain drops…? ‘playbill’ fifth act. we find our protagonist once fool now hanged man center stage and all unfolding behind eyes does so unaware of severed cords to facial expression and while heart trembles worrisomely to outcomes beyond measure he’ll suspend expectation and keep forever his surrender waiting. 'playbill' a poster announcing a theatrical performance #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From...
May 18, 2023•26 sec
where are the fresh voices and deliveries? why is so much presented for the eyes and not crafted from the heart? ‘beacon’ we live in a world of posers and followers desperate for the free and brave to liberate us from all the shit. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto...
May 16, 2023•10 sec
he’s interesting— he’s well-traveled he’s a musician on weekends he’s single but he’s not my type. i listen to her words and shake my head sadly knowing she’ll find a reason to take him up on a night out. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto...
May 12, 2023•26 sec
looking thru the glass. and seeing nothing… ‘assassin’ something’s swimming in my snifter that shouldn’t be. maybe part of a bug or yet another piece of myself i’ve been forced to swallow and now repeats in untimely fashion like when i want to forget the knife holes in my back. usually i ignore all leaking down my spine but it’s hard when all i want to really say goes whistling through. i’m sure if i had you alone you’d see i’ve crossed your name off from my list. a concise unshaking line that s...
May 10, 2023•1 min
you figure things out the hard way… ‘yes isn’t always the answer’ yes isn't always the answer i couldn't figure out what he meant but it became clearer after several shots of irish whiskey look, sometimes you have to grow balls and stick up for yourself be a man and not some compliant pussy that rolls over to your woman. he suddenly got a text from his wife and hurried home. i poured whiskey down my throat stumbled in at 4am walked into walls pissed in the sink and caught holy hell. #barflypoet ...
May 04, 2023•38 sec
and here hanging is a wardrobe of uncertainty… ‘gallimaufry’ here, there, you left your face and if only i knew which expression belonged. eyes constantly turning, mouth always churning and one nail is not enough to raise you up and into light. there’s a plastic to your condition that doesn’t agree under the ridges of my fingertips. i can’t collect you any longer. i can’t listen to the fabrication of your syllables mimicking the drop of my lids. i can’t take that drawl of a head nod pretending y...
May 02, 2023•59 sec
'change of scenery' shoulders slumped he left his house there his posture straightened along with his optimism. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
Apr 27, 2023•10 sec
'muffin' it’s the kind of wind that runs through your house like an intolerable child bored from their mind, the kind of wind that brings about pause and makes you question all the warmth you’ve allowed to escape from your life. the kind of wind that pairs best with chili because like you it comes together in a mess. i love you, she says, and you know it’s only because she’s devoted to separating your thoughts from your head. outside the boughs frown like the curvature of your body, bagged atop ...
Apr 26, 2023•38 sec
‘trampoline’ clear sky thins the smoke from the eyes but exasperation dries the slick out from the tongue. no piecing together of clever words can ever detract from the lines you hurl and cool cheeks betray bleats of a mourning heart. higher and higher you’re always at it say you’ll stop just like an addict keep me down as long as you rise up. on and on you’re so dramatic flip the script it’s your bad habit here’s the blame you’ll only pass the buck. and you go up. and i go gone gone and you go ...
Apr 19, 2023•45 sec
‘words like ghosts’ 'go live your life, she told him. but he didn’t know how without her. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
Apr 18, 2023•11 sec
