Archive for the ‘poetry’ category

Quotidian

April 19, 2017

Quotidian

I am asked to write about love
as an everyday object,
and I think of our down blanket, which we use all year
in the mountains, though you grow warm about as soon as you take root
while everything human in me seems cut off
from its grounding–I’m talking feet but also
metaphorically–

And I think too (still waxing symbolic) of our lack
of bathing suits, an aspect of the isolated streams
in our mountains, the way that lack allows us
to really feel flow’s
caress and grip;

and okay, it’s a little precious
to talk of love in terms of down blankets and lacks
of bathing suits–even though I could go on at length
about loft and stretch–
because honestly it would probably be a lot more interesting if I’d just move
to the bodies beneath
the down blanket, the lack
of bathing suit–
to the lavender caverns of muscle (yours),
the pales of lugubrious flesh (yes, those would be
mine)
and whatever it is curves as gently
as a feather
when it rests,
what keeps afloat a head (let’s call it
your shoulder),
what blankets a shoulder
(let’s call it
my head),

that what
that touches both our sides
that warms,
that bares–

 

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Very drafty poem for April and Sanaa’s prompt on Real Toads to write of love in the context of an everyday object.  Pic is mine–it wasn’t really drawn for this poem, but I like it!  All rights reserved. 

patio, grass, sky

April 18, 2017

stucco knobbly as charcoal briquets
the smell of hot dogs some idyll
of summer–sweating to
burst–

then that grass
dashed out on–for it was evening and we were neon
with it, free, it seemed late June, forever–
whose blades felt like 1000 leaps
softly landed–

that grass that laid down on, breathing
after a game, smelled
like a history of flight,
which is not made of nearly so much sky
as one might imagine–

 

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drafty poem for April, Real Toads open link; pic mine, all rights reserved. 

Getting Over

April 17, 2017

Getting Over

Some look for fences
even in open fields; how else
to find wings?

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drafty poem for April for Isadora Gruye’s prompt on Real Toads to write above obstacles – over, under, through–drawing is mine, all rights reserved.  

Easter (American Sentences)

April 16, 2017

Easter (American Sentences)

March–skirt puffs up
like blossoms
blown back–Easter–
the net on
best hats.

April–sun crossed the nave–Easter–
waves of short white gloves almost
too warm.

Old lady’s
Easter–
even the memory
of Death’s held hand
unclasps.

Its palm warm
as blossom, soft as
worn gloves, lets go for today
all stones.

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Draft poem for Kerry O’Connor’s prompt on Real Toads to write a poem using Allan Ginsburg 17 syllable American Sentences.  Drawing mine; pastel on paper.  April 2017, all rights reserved. 

Villanelle of Voices Overheard in Payback 2017

April 15, 2017

Villanelle of Voices Overheard in Payback 2017
(obviously, the “we” here does not speak for me.)

Rights for you? A damned disgrace.
So, why not just shut-the-“f” up
as we put you in your place

because we hate your [insert] face–
we leave the blank–you fill it up–
rights for you a damned disgrace.

Oh, maybe we’ll allow you space
to overflow, then wash, our cup,
as we put you in your place–

Your proffered talent?  Total waste!
Don’t tell us that our science sucks–
rights for you are damned.  Disgrace,

to us, but egg on face.
Ho ho, ha ha, it up we yuck
while we put you in your place.

Don’t care if our cum leaves a trace–
at least “true” rape should shut you up.
Rights for you a damned disgrace–
just let us put you in your place.

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For Rommy’s prompt on Real Toads to write in the voice of a villain.  The picture (mine) doesn’t really go with the poem, but I am using it because I find that reading books is about all that gives relief in these depressing days.  Obviously, the “we” voice doesn’t speak for me here.  Hopefully, it doesn’t speak for very many in actuality–

 

All rights reserved. 

Chemical Attack, Syria, April 2017

April 5, 2017

Chemical Attack, Syria, April 2017

Walls left
in place and cores of joist
but seeping through the doors
of perception a fog of more than war, that takes
all space, all time–no place can escape
one’s skin, no line stand long
between lungs, breath; no barricade bar
this death.

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For April and Real Toads prompt by Bjorn Rudberg on space time.  Heartbreaking what is happening. 

Drawing mine, based on Goya.

Persisting

April 4, 2017

Persisting

They didn’t want her to find
any treasure.

When her eyes went out, she went
feelingly,
learning with hands’ crawl the touch
of ore.

But when her hands were taken,
such methods worked no more,
her mouth could not walk, her tongue despaired of carrying
even the smallest gems.

In the sway of that dismemberment,
something gave way
to wings, the black beads of
blinkless eyes,
and though, this was wondrous
in itself, it took her some time not to miss the stones
she’d so long pocketed,
song still foreign to her,
words no longer familiar.

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Poem of sorts for April, 2017, open link prompt on Real Toads, hosted by Marian,

Pic is mine, pencil on paper, all rights reserved for poem/pic, as always.

To the Moon, 4 a.m.

February 19, 2017

To the Moon, 4 a.m.

I thought I was the only one up,
but there you were, turning the kitchen windows
into blue stairwells.

My eyes climbed to the surprise
of your brightness, a not-quite-sphere of light that redeemed
this whole muddled night,
the unexpected that was exactly
as it should be,
for which I thank you,
(for which I thank you.)

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A poem for Kerry O’Connor’s moon micro poetry challenge on real toads.

Another version for those interested.
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To the Moon, 4 a.m.

I thought I was the only one up,
but there you were, turning the kitchen windows
into blue stairwells.

My eyes climbed to the surprise
of your brightness–a not-near-sphere of light that redeemed
this muddled night, its inconstancy
as reliable as the breath, or death, a circle not
wholly seen.

 

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Pic is mine; all rights reserved.  Thanks so much for stopping by. 

 

No Wall – Tourists in Berlin, ’65

February 12, 2017

No Wall – Tourists in Berlin, ’65

The wall was made of riddled cinder block with barbed wire atop;
my parents bought me
a pipecleaner-bodied doll in a dark felt
uniform, supposed to be
a border guard, his nose incongruously
round, his eyes incongruously
googly, the ones we saw shadowed
about the eyes, at least so they seemed
at the checkpoints.

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Draft 55-word poem for Marian’s prompt about a wall, posted belatedly to Real Toads.  Pic (such as it is) is  mine.

1984/2017 Poem

February 5, 2017

1984/2017 Poem

My fear too
would be rats.

I can’t even write
of the pinkish paws, bucked gnaws–

Oh, Christ, what is happening
to my country?

What cage are we locking
ourselves into, what mask is strapped about
our temples

so that even as we cannot
look away
we cannot save
ourselves.

That type
of mask.

 
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55 word poem (minus the numbers) for Kerry’s prompt on Real Toads; prompt based (if desired) on George Orwell’s 1984, specifically Winston’s greatest fear. Graphic is mine; all rights reserved for it and poem.