Poète Maudit

 

“Death of Chatterton” by Henry Wallis

 

consumed by the feather-pen fire

antithetical phoenix

destroyed in his very creations

accursed immolation by libertine ethos

deranged in a beautiful suicide

posthumous poetry

sewn with audacity

sparking the timidly well-mannered

hearts of the book-in-hand world

 

 

From my book Bohemian Scents

Dust in the Wind

Painting by George Ram

it’s come to pass
the page has turned
the last chapter
stands open
its many ways
ready for
saying goodbye
without matter
to which one
it chooses to use

no writ ending
is needed
to eradicate
all of the tale
that preceded it
already evident
meaninglessness
of the story
the time-taught
ephemeral nature
of flesh and blood books

the snuffed candle
will miss not the light
the read page
not the passionate pen
the heard speech
not the earnest intent
even narratives
sung to a music
exquisite of echoes
will dissipate
faster than memories

where goes the
shadow in darkness
what happens to
careful laid
dust in the wind
who will care
give a damn
for the author
of episodes
worthless outside of
their moments mere
chapters of yesterday

************************************

“She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.”

— Shakespeare, from Macbeth

Tomahawk Man

Edgar Allan Poe – Image From Pinterest

 

(Regarding Edgar Allan Poe)

 

brooding themes settle

in deep raven inkpots

then spill themselves

rashly on Turkish ambitions

macabre in their telling

morality plays

to the unhearing ears

of beloved young

saltwater tombs

with a bellringer’s voice

degraded through time

beneath rising irony

scathed by vile anecdotes

swarming with rumors

of deviancy finding vent

within acid critiques

until conquered by death

when a rescuing worm

slithered up and devoured

the angelus chorus of

bronze tintinnabulum

 

 

From my books Bohemian Scents and Legacies (vol. 1)

Zeitgeist

“Alter Zeitgeist” by Susett Heise

 

is the poet a man of his times
channeling culture
stroking his page with a populist pen
conventional wisdom affirmed

if so then I cannot in conscience
consider myself of the class
call me something other than poet
I brook no convention

a poem should surpass the mundane
if it has any art it should contravene
culture should shake it or break it
or take it to thoughts wildly new

it should fly on surprises of language
not mire in idioms
pull truth through metaphors
rich with provocative notions

the best poem is never self-evident
rather it leads to discovery
readers will find their own meanings
unaware they’ve become its coauthors

should a poet achieve such success
that his work becomes
part of the zeitgeist
it’s time that his readers move on

****************************************

“A poet’s work is to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” – Salman Rushdie

 

 

From my book Ephemera

Pulp Western

Portrait of Louis L’Amour by Fred Pfeiffer

 

(Regarding Louis L’Amour)

 

unclean heroes
find dust and mud
mission in antique
morality tales
standing up against
black hearts the
scorched soulless
gunmen of lawless
frontiers leather
loyalties animate
bile and bloodlust
for rustic cut justice

stark panoramas
give stage to droll
sagas of sage and
saguaro red rocks
tower prominent
primitive sentinels
marking old trails
through meandering
canyons dry gulches
where rustlers and
outlaws hole up
between felonies

crude prairie towns
stick built for vice
homely housed
behind false fronted
dens of iniquity
gamblers bordellos
all manner of rogues
painting intrigues
in violent colors
fierce clashes of black
hats with white hats
horse opera clichés

romanticized virtues
play out in saloons
with brass spittoon
etiquettes aces and
eights stained by
gunsmoke and guile
famous figures who
temper the fiction
familiarize history
rowdy raw characters
give great escape
from a dull afternoon

 

 
(Footnote: L’Amour’s novels of the American west have sold more than 200,000,000 copies worldwide)

 

 

From my books Ephemera and Legacies (vol. 2)

My Barnes & Noble Author Page

Paul F. Lenzi – Author of 24 Books of Poetry

 

Take a look to find all my books available through Barnes & Noble HERE

My Amazon Author Page

Paul F. Lenzi – Author of 24 Books of Poetry

 

Take a look to find all my books available through Amazon  HERE

Two Takes

“Pretty Girl” by Mario Rocha

 

every poem a synthesis
disparate fragments
who forfeit distinctions
find grander expression
as elements of a new
whole more profound
than a sum of its parts

every poem a replica
image depicting the poet
presenting cohesive
coherent new insight
an evergrown codex
that sharpens relief
of a naked laid mind

 

 

From my book Pieces of Wine

Propaganda

“The Surreal Books” by Jonathan Wolstenholme

 

authors are despots
every book a cruel
tyranny of words
pulling minds with
cunning persuasion
to viewpoints and
falsely built
historiographies
rendered in ripe
propagandas of prose
leaning into desire
for some better ideas
some new answers
to questions that
rise discontented in
unanswered prayers
of a desperate mind

 

 

From my book Pieces of Wine

Poetic Faith

“Suspension of Disbelief” by Rick Ladd

 

we fellowship of fools
asleep in blind faith
born of lazy beliefs
a pernicious affliction
predisposing we headless
we heedless enablers
abetting the surrogate
customs of turpitude

it takes work to believe
what minds will not grasp
conscientious commitment
legs rooted like treetrunks
in rich moral soils
those are the stalwarts
the clear title heirs
to creeds of the poets

a muscular reading
without preconceptions
discovers the secrets
of verses arcane
intellectual liturgies
mapping the methods
of minds who create
different paths to the truth

___________________________________

“That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment,
which constitutes poetic faith.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

 

From my book Ephemera