“Day and Night” by Modern Art Prints
daylight dimensions blaze golden
draw life into relief
against endless darkness of
death in the night
From my book Bohemian Scents
Darkness
All posts tagged Darkness
Image from Pinterest – Artist Unknown
diminishing days
will succumb to
starvation of light
under insolent press
of insurrect midnights
slow purpling hours
who crawl among
fears of an anxious
sparse leaflessness
naked and shivered
demoralized landscapes
in grief for green
summer of memory
suffer the coldness of
deep-breathing darkness
that penetrates limbs
stills the sap-flow
in desolate heartwood
arboreal dreams
chilled and finished
by icy insensitive
slander of seasons
finality comes in its turn
bleak and barren
to each living tree
to each forest
who wonder throughout
these long lingering nights
if they’ve known
their last spring
if they’ve seen
their last sun
“Grieving Women” by Albert Bloch
nell’oscurità
della notte
luogo e tempo
per le abluzioni
di lacrime
una purga del
il dolore dal
ceppo paralizzante
su giorni
dolorosamente zoppicando
tenendo
falsi posture
d’allegria
nell’oscurità
della notte
luogo e tempo
per un lavaggio
d’emozioni
prima di ciò
scoraggiato
profondo blu
il discolor
di guai
può impostare
macchia permanente
sul cuore
nell’oscurità
della notte
luogo e tempo
per questo privato
indulgenza
spazio
all’interno tristezza
per amore o
la sua simpatia
spazio
per la gioia genuina
per trovare il sonno
nella mente
“Untitled” by Clyfford Still
some days
the mind
is too small
for a thought
to stand upright
no room
in the dark
for the least
bit of light
days like this
should be
sealed up
in little
green bottles
of airless
narcosis
to smother
where not
even poets
can breathe
“Nightfall” by Trevor Jessop
some nights roll in
grab the ground
and refuse to let go
cop an attitude
daylight be damned
fuck the fiction of sunshine
its central conceit
that illusion of blue
when the truth is
the sky has no color at all
the bright light of the day
so pretty with pretense
serves only to show
ugly patterns of scars
the grim record of wounds
men inflict upon time
stark behaviors revealed
in the skin of their sin
worst of all is the cruelty
inherent in sunrise
its sharp yellow edges
with wanton abandon
decapitate dreams
murder sleep in its beds
night would never
give showcase to shame
never sully the lull
of a satiny moonglow
a softer world cast
in more delicate deep
chiaroscuro existence
a filtered reality set up
as time and as place
in which even the
artists of war take their rest
some nights roll in
in full rigor
of righteousness
make valiant stand
hold horizons as prisoners
intending that soul-weary
damaged mankind
sleep the sleep of the dead
for as long as it needs
to gain ethical healing
awake and emerge
all the better ingrained
with a newborn nobility
ah but alas in the end
notwithstanding the
strength of its virtue
sweet darkness of nightfall
must too soon and always
succumb to the blaze
of a merciless dawn
“Melancholy” by Nancy Willis
darkness falls victim
crystal candle explosion
opulent murder
(originally posted January 2017)
Image From wallarthd.com
I miss the late sun
rods and cones
perked by sworn affidavits
of light upon broad
panoramic existence
I miss the long day
sight degraded
by limited aid of a
tingling protracted
ballet of electrons
I miss what I know
to be there in the night
or is this instead
a believing not knowing
what dawn will reveal
I miss what I see
of my context
the nearness and
distance attending
my place in creation
I miss what I learned
in my evening hammock
from edified scripture
of imminent birth
by the light of one star
I miss what I thought
I could see plain as day
before realizing nothing
is quite as it seems
till it’s seen in the dark
“Mushrooms 2” by Murielle
sin grows in cellars
unlit and unholy
the devil’s own
dank fetid bowels
pale mushrooms
bloom buttons
wicked spores
seeding deeds
paint their stain
upon souls weakly
stemmed without
ethical means
to resist their
dark harvest
(originally posted January 2014)
“Oil Lamp” by Pierre Bonnard
the lie
enjoys root
in the cold
unlit heart
lives and
grows in
the chilly
dim mind
all it takes
for the truth
to be seen
warm and
real is to
consciously
turn on
the light
* * *
“Everything is shown up by being exposed to the light, and whatever is exposed to the light itself becomes light.” – St Paul
“Light is the symbol of truth.” – James Russell Lowell
“Plato’s Cave” by Carol Blakney
does the light disappear
once the flames
are abruptly extinguished
we creatures consigned
to live blindly
among good and evil
no longer equipped
to discern the distinctions
suspicion and fear
overtaking our
every encounter
compelling the
animal reflex
that has us retreat
to the refuge of caves
Poesy plus Polemics 