Poetic Justice: A Collection of Politically Incorrect Poems and Short Stories

By Jeffrey Pipes Guice

This sometimes meditative, sometimes irreverent book of poems and short stories is volume three in Jeffrey Pipes Guice's series of poetry collections. In Poetic Justice, he shares his thoughts and interpretations of what he sees going on in society, using images found throughout the world, specifically on the Internet and social media. Using an

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885900614

Jeffrey Pipes Guice

Having grown up in the internationally loved city of New Orleans with all its delicious food, unique music, and eccentric and sometimes backwards culture, Jeffrey Pipes Guice realized early on that he wanted to get out and see the rest of the world. After spending years working in Washington, DC, and New York City, and traveling extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as visiting some interesting places such as Yemen, Havana, Jerusalem, Moscow, and Argentina, and even spending time in Antarctica, he came to realize that he never really stopped long enough to discover himself, who he is on the inside, and who he wanted to be as a son, a father, a friend, and a companion. This third collection of Jeffrey's poetry and short stories is based on his inner journey and where he is in the current chapter of his life. It is book 3 in his ongoing series of poetry collections.

Book preview

Preface

While I always wanted to compile a collection of poems and short stories, I used the downtime of the Covid pandemic to finally get to writing. Most of my poems or short stories started with a thought or an image. I describe my writing approach as method writing whereby I immerse myself into an image and then try to understand what that person or place depicted might be thinking, allowing my imagination to completely take over.

I used my first book Defining Moments to discover myself. It contains nine different chapters to reflect various topics, or some of the several sides of my eccentric personality and view of my small world. After finishing Defining Moments, I decided to delve into each chapter to further understand my thoughts, my happiness and my fears, and everything in between.

My second book is called Poetic License. My second book allowed me to go deep within myself, to put my thoughts about trust into words. I wanted to address my feelings about friendships and love, and the pain associated with misunderstandings, and whether some relationships are salvageable, to try to repair them, or to simply breakup and then move on.

This, my third book, is titled Poetic Justice whereby I share my thoughts on what I see going on in society around me, using images that are openly available on the Internet. Each of these images moved me in a different way. I wanted to find a way to understand what these images meant to me, and to voice my opinion.

It's an exciting time to be an American. Self-expression and social interaction have never been more available to our collective society as it is now. Nor has our self-expression ever been more scrutinized. While our country was founded on the principle of freedom of thought and the ability to voice our opinion, I am finding that conservative opinions and the ability to share these views are being taken away from us, now more than ever, by others who share different opinions.

While I don’t expect you to agree or disagree with my point of view, I do hope that my poetry and short stories allow you, the reader, to look at your own world a little differently, with an open mind. I hope your discovery allows you to find your own answers. I also hope that we can agree to be respectful towards each other if our opinions might differ. Our civilization depends on both respect and tolerance, now more than ever. Thank you, in advance, for reading my books.

I want to confess that I have still not arrived at the answer to my question, which is how many poems does one have to write before they can consider themselves an actual poet or writer? I guess it's up to the reader to decide. Enjoy!

Jeffrey Pipes Guice

New Orleans, LA

Am I Next?

Why are our children so afraid…

Of being shot while outside playing…

We just want our kids to simply be kids…

Is what all the families are saying…

How many kids have to be shot…

Before the politicians feel our pain…

How many babies have to be buried…

How many lives before we refrain…

We’re failing all of our children…

We’re losing them each and every day…

What will be left of the next generation…

If they can no longer go outside and play…

Is it simply part of our culture…

Are their lives lost before they begin…

I’m sick and tired of burying children…

I no longer have any tears within…

When Comedy Was Funny

Who else remembers when comedy was funny…

Before the jokes became so obscene…

Sure, there were some innuendoes…

But the best jokes were always pretty clean…

Before it all got so darn political…

Before it became so us against them…

When we all truly laughed together…

When Johnny told the perfect gem…

It was all just good humor and timing…

Not like now, with cursing and hate…

Today, the jokes are all about anger…

It's no longer fun to stay up late…

I miss the old jokes from Johnny…

And Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin, too…

When Flip Wilson dressed up like Geraldine…

When Don Rickles joked about being a Jew…

I miss Bob Hope and his zingers…

I miss Ray Romano and Dick Van Dyke…

I miss Red Skelton dressed like a clown…

And riding onto the stage on a trike…

These days, comedy is no longer funny…

Late night comedy truly sucks…

Comedians used to be in it for the applause…

Today's comedians are only in it for the bucks…

Their President Was My Dad

The country called me John John…

Their President was my dad…

He gave his life for the country…

He was the only dad I had…

It was hard growing up with no father…

There were other men in my life, it's true…

But he gave his life for the country…

The good old red, white and blue…

The country called me John John…

Their President was my dad…

He gave his life for the country…

He was the only dad I had…

We will never really know what happened…

On the dark and fateful day…

Whether Oswald acted alone or not…

He's no longer here to say…

The country called me John John…

Their President was my dad…

He gave his life