Leitmotif

 

Walt Whitman’s Cardboard Butterfly

 

(originally posted June 2013)

 

words female with contours and hollows
evoke elementary tensions when
paired within stanzas to masculine
edges and ridges in mise-en-scène
headiness giving descriptive verse
didactic powers of experiential and
unthinking sensory gratification

my mind can appreciate concepts
like these but pushing such ideas down
into my fingers and out through my pen
is a whole other kettle of lyrical fish
inspiration and intellect overlap some
but are largely autonomous qualities
true poets should feel more than think

….I think

Impression

 

Image From pinterest.

 

(originally posted June 2013)

 

when time seals
shut my mind
and flesh flees
from my bone

will the mark
I leave behind
impress the
sand or stone

Oyster

 

“Colorful Sunset” by Anna Ruzsan

 

sky sublime in its sunset

svelte colors that shift

with emotion of eyes

spectrum carried aglow

upon broad vivid bands

iridescent of nacre

as if to send hope

to attack the despair

of a troubled humanity

giving organic reminder

the world is our oyster

its pearl hidden

somewhere behind

fall of night

in the deep unlit

promise of sunrise

Hobby

Model of US Privateer “Rattlesnake”

(originally posted February 2014)

 

I live among ships of an age
ships that once plied the routes
that connected the world
fought the battles that remade
the maps of belligerent kings

ships I built on my fingertips
piece upon piece sewed their
sails tied their rigging of threads
spun from passion for nautical
turns of a landlubber’s mind

yards and masts stand a cruciform
forest across worn oak surfaces
decking my den between leather
bound volumes and chandlery
relics from dead captain’s quarters

I dream of roiled seas ripping under
my feet cut by bows of adventure
foam spraying the freeboard flags
snapping with crisp salty history
made by bold maritime bones

Teleology

Untitled by Jerry Uelsmann

 

this frightful thing

comes at you

hellbent and headstrong

a steamroller

flattening memories

driven by demons

all-powerful

pushing today

with persistence

at speed of the clock

into yesterday

nothing and no one

immune to the

onslaught of change

no escape from

the new and unknown

teleology looming

definitively of

tomorrow

until this tenacious

destructive creative

machine comes

abrupt to a halt

at the brink of your

freshly dug grave

Blood Sweat and Tears

“Entry to Your Dream” by Mirek Bialy

(originally posted June 2013)

 

blood sweat and tears
are within me
unsweet ingredients
resolving my essence
but they’re not fully mine
till I give them away
expend vital fluids
decant my poor vessel
on behalf of another
some one or some thing
set deeper with purpose
who filled by my gifts
allows my becoming
partner to providence
and in the becoming
I reach a more perfect
expression of me

Detention

“Prison Window” by Kazuya Akimoto

pain is prison

a solitaire cell

pharmaceutical keys

don’t fit all its locks

a life sentence

imposed I suppose

by bad choices

genetics and one

distrait surgeon

I’d strangle if only

he’d left me a

semblance of strength

so I sit never stand

in this punishing place

in my bio-austerity

missing the mercy of sleep

finding solace in

laying down words

by the light of a

fortunate window

through which

I observe the old age

that might have been mine

Some Body Parts Age Faster

“Joseph in the Pit” by Caleb Adams

(originally posted June 2013)

 

 

thunder stumbles in the dark
bumping about the night stage
lagging its lightning quick
flashes of sight

I enjoy the atmospheric comedy
until it hits home that my feet
are also too slow and clumsy
for my eyes

Passionata

“Music in Red” by Marcia Baldwin

drumskin resonance

snared by the brush-beats

that syncopate passion

two hearts in their swoon

hand in hand for the

dance of all dances

bliss rising and falling

to rhythms of

generous urgency

teaching two lives

given truth of their troth

how a love can endure

in the keep to one tempo

Geode

Image from pinterest.com

(originally posted January 2014)

 

crystal existence
galaxies inside a stone
secretly waiting