I Remember the Night

“Meteor” by Maurice Sapiro

a meteor slashed

a brief gash

in the black

waxy skin

of the heavens

soft moon-silvered

droplets bled sweet

from the wound

dripping slowly

through starbreath

down onto my tongue

thus I tasted you

even before

you existed

 

 

From my books Pieces of Wine and Legacies (vol. 2)

Solar Flares

“Solar Flare” by Dan Oliver

 

particle storms

shriek at inhuman

inaudible frequency

penetrate matter

lase holes through

the bones of minds

living and dead

mark acutely

the genomes of

all cosmic creatures

yet to be born

with the warning

that even the sun

is disposed to

explosions of rage

 

 

From my books Pieces of Wine and Legacies (vol.2)

Artifacts

“Harlequin’s Carnival” by Joan Miro

emotions have geometry

itinerant objects that occupy

psychic articulate space

between thoughts and beliefs

all these temporal artifacts

transient fleet or persistent

they bear their own

boneless dimensions

hues marking identity

recognized even by

dullest of minds

but they cannot be held

no hand can caress them

or punish their shapes

they are born live and die

by inherent volition

a mystical spark

always felt never touched

for to do so would

trigger oblivion

ripping the mind

from the heart

from the soul

leaving nothing but someone

like those we have seen

walking aimless

 through meaningless lives

never knowing the joys

of knowing the self

(originally posted October 2013)

Sotto Voce

 

“Conversation with Dusk” by John Shanabrook

 

 

whispered hatreds
rise in the steam
born of dreams
recondense into tears
that drop stains
upon conscience
softly burning small
holes that in time
reveal truth in the
shape of the heart
where all wordless
emotions congeal
into congeries good
men would rather
disown and deny them
their audible voice

 

 

(originally posted December 2013)

Anger Management

“Wizzlewump” by Frank Robert Dixon

(Regarding the plethora of hateful memes on social media)

 

which colophon appoints the page
of burning words and seething rage

the imprint of fair justice failed
or bitterness that can’t be veiled

the lines we publish tell of us
cool judgment or hot animus

our pens put forth two types of ink
one reasoned one that doesn’t think

which canon shall we leave behind
discordant rants or hymns of mind

persuasion comes a noble art
when diligence has played its part

convincing wrong of what is right
requires truth be brought to light

but outbursts of emotion die
on thoughtless pages where they lie

our book would best advance debate
when not compelled to denigrate

ad hominems will poorly brace
the argument that makes the case

last refuge of a mindless ire
paragraphs conceived in fire

rationale when laid down well
with facts will give them bloody hell

Seductions

“Trumpet” by Brian Ray Cameron

 

(Originally posted here June 2013)

 

mellow brass traces
tawny fingers of ambience
slender and shivering
silk-threaded sounds
along clavicle ridgelines
pulling at pulses below milky ears
receptively conscious of
cool burnished riffs
a cascading caress
down through untraveled channels
between tender ribs
caging newborn emotion

Apathy

“End of Indifference” by Pietra Barrasso

 

I once asked a half-god
can happy and sad
occupy the same house
the same room
the same sigh

he guessed it impossible
balked short of certainty
saying aloofly
he’d never been happy
and declined to be sad

that’s when I realized
I’d somehow stepped
straight into hell it was
pointless to also inquire
about love and hate

Heartlife

Painting by KM Schmidt

the irrational heart
cannot think so it dreams
cannot speak so it yearns
cannot laugh so it loves
cannot cry so it aches

emotions in equipoise
beating in balance
a clockwork arrangement
each feeling expressed
in its apposite time

the irrational heart
makes endogenous choices
its reflex to stimulus
mappings laid down in
the mists of the womb

it secretly operates
independent of intellect
organic magic and mystery
giving man means to
most fully experience life

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

“The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” – Blaise Pascal

Memory Stacks

 

music leaves residues

tinctures of sentiments

sleeving themselves

slipped into jackets of memory

among sights, sounds and smells

marking moments

collected and sorted

emotional niches

forever retrievable

just lay your thumb

against the right heartstring

and strum

Apothegm

“Shallows”
Painting by Rebecca de Mendonca
From rebeccademendonca.co.uk

love can’t breathe
in emotional shallows
go deep or go home