My friend Mike Steeden possesses a consummately creative imagination. His writings never fail to exhibit the brilliant workings of a truly artistic mind. Please enjoy this latest offering from his blog.
Source: THEN THERE IS MAGIC
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All posts for the month January, 2016
“Sleeping Child” by Archibald A. McGlashan
the child is me
returned to his morning
restored to his wonder
regained of his innocence
second chance
a rebirth unexplained
reimagined from
one dying dream
the child is me
become tabula rasa
receptive to imprint
of brand new ideas
treat him kindly
each person he loves
knows or meets a de facto
new teacher new mentor
to learn from their
patent unwitting example
from even their casual
passing connection
the child is me
soft and eager for life
fresh as spring in relief
of a long painful winter
what shape will
accrue to this new
iteration of character
carried to manhood
what better a
man will be manifest or
was the dream but a prayer
to endure one last night
the child is me
soul asleep in his peace
of departing as clean
as when he arrived
From my book Human Waters
“Antarctic Painting 23” by Dafila Scott
majestic angularities
jagged clean and pristine
antiseptic whiteness
paints prominent peaks
blue virginal shadows
infer ancient clefts
undercutting high glacial
primordial ridges
no man ever climbed
aurora australis
spectacular spectra
electrified ethers
in pulsating waves
emblazon the heavens
sharp thunder cracks stab
sheer vertical slabs
calve loose with a roar
mammoth slices of ice
plunging into the sea
giving shuddering echoes
resurfacing masses
emerge hissing groans
unsteadily heaving
chaotic collisions
debriding deformities
scraping and knocking
until they attain
a transient settle
finding odd fluid plumb
gargantuan monoliths
now floating reborn
timelessness seeps
from crystalline crags
its dominance speaks
with cold condescension
man’s prowess too lean
to succeed ambivalence
motives too mean
and powers pathetic
to reckon with nature
beyond his inconsequence
From my book Range of Motion
“Cubist Play”
Painting by Susanne Clark
full throated voice
a resonant range
that emulates all
human octaves
emotively strung
metabolically tuned
timbre richly endowed
by Italian cured
maple and spruce
bred to purpose
gorgeous curves
of pure sound
breathe and echo
expansively inside
a beautiful belly
and torso exquisite
of delicate convex
enlightened and carved
by ancient-taught
masterful hands
no wonder each
bow-stroke draws deep
sympathetic vibration
within every listener
bringing its music
beyond the attention
of mind and of ears
to register inside the
heart and the soul
to quicken the very
substance of marrow
From my book Human Waters
Dear Readers,
If you are unable to see any of the images that normally accompany my posts of poetry, it’s because of problems on my end, not yours.
I am struggling through a laptop update to Windows 10. In the process, I seem to have lost about 2,000 picture files. Even if I can recover them, it will be impossible to reconnect them to my prior posts.
This technology stuff frankly overwhelms me, but I appreciate your patience.
– Paul
“Textura Chrysalis” by Bruce Marion
a promise, like a poem
is an unborn deed
conceived through
the conjugal union
of words with intent
placentally nourished
by juices of truth
developed by forces
of resolute honor
the promise innately
full bent to become
the poem possessed
of a need to arouse
will yours burst from
its syntax shell
whole and innerved
to deliver its life
on an expectant world
or will it decease
curl and wither within
its unfortunate husk
in the end
it comes down to
the skill of your will
From my books Range of Motion and Legacies (vol. 1)
“Snow Laden Pines” by Richard T. Pranke
gloved evergreen hands
tall sartorial groomsmen
in white tie and tails
escort winter’s bridesmaids to
witness her solemn hushed vows
Volume 13 of my Collected Poetry
I am pleased and excited to announce that my 13th full-length collection of original poetry has been released to book markets by Stonewood Press.
Onionskin: Lyrical Layers
“This is the thirteenth full length collection of poetry presented by the uniquely sophisticated voice of Paul F. Lenzi. A wide ranging assortment of original poems that explore the nooks and crannies of our human experience. Essentially a free verse journey with occasional side trips into haiku. These poems are provocative, stylish and easily digestible. They are also remarkably memorable. Rich with artful syntax, “Onionskin” stands up to the very best of contemporary American poetry.”
This 272 page volume is now available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle versions, as well as at Barnes & Noble. Similarly available are my 12 earlier books:
• City of Pawns
• Range of Motion
• Two-Cornered Rooms
• Pentimento
• Music of Scars
• Bullets from Bones
• Bohemian Scents
• Inside the Smoke
• Pieces of Wine
• Ephemera
• Small Noise
• Squaring the Circle
If you would like signed or inscribed copies of any of my books, please contact me by e-mail at pflenzi@aol.com
– Paul F. Lenzi
Sydney Opera House by Jorn Utzon
architectural features
should obey austere laws
that form follows function
that style follows substance
or fall to indictment
as criminal ornament
so said the modernist Bauhaus ideology
bleeding on doctrinal liberal arts
and business school mantras
structure in train to strategy
but I must confess it leaves suffering cold
my personal warmth for aesthetics
keep your unnatural boxes of steel and flat glass
give me organic character
show me corbels and canopies
contours and clefts
that will quicken my courses
like curves of a confident woman
From my books City of Pawns and Legacies (vol. 1)
“Perplexity” by Claudia Goodell
a riot of sameness
possessing illusions
at distance of difference
self-similar shapes
not of one two or three
but a fourth finely
fractioned dimension
right there just in front
of mathematical
Mandelbrot minds
but behind out of reach
of Euclidean eyes
here lies nature
evolved with
atomical symmetries
playful and modest
disporting in chaos
of quirks and complexities
finding itself more
predictable than it
intended revealed as
recursive of motion
and form adding
knowledge to laws
of quantum disorder
taken together
the concept of fractals
annuls intuition
allows mathematicians
and scientists insight
to see the more sharply
events that are probable
giving philosophers
poets and painters
new visions of
all that is possible
From my books Human Waters and Legacies (vol. 2)
Poesy plus Polemics 