Coming to Terms

 

“Decision” by Sharon Sieben

 

decisions to make

despite his reluctance

a man gives his word

his only possession

that has any worth

a man makes his mark

to certify change

monumental momentous

one thin sheet of paper

four corners of contract

delimit the sum of the pain

hard elements stoically

formed into cold resignation

a coming to terms

with the fiends of necessity

one hand to heart

with the other to heaven

a man gives his word

to commence with the

shatter of yesterday

gather the pieces of

life as he knew it

deliver them unto

the mercy of fate

with a prayer

she will make of them

some new tomorrow

with aspects at least

of a honeyed contentment

to sweeten the

swallowed regrets

Kismet

“Fate Tempting” by Jeff Christensen

life patterns
unpredictable
light and dark
speckled hours
days nights
shaping years
arbitrarily
sequenced
now subtle
then lurid like
splotch and spot
chaos of an
ocelot pelt
skin of time
map of feats
broken circlets
stretched taut
for the race
some call journey
whose triumph
though ever a
time and space
accident
moves upon
purposeful bones
supple mind
and an eye
who can see
the big changes
before they arrive

Prizefight

“Prize Fight” by Albert Bloch

 

ego strides right on in
all Dan Post ostrich skin
tree-trunk legs and cleft chin

packing serious heat
hands rough as concrete
it yanks fate to its feet

now fate is no mark
it’s developed the dark
deadly skills of a shark

so fate doesn’t flinch
doesn’t back off an inch
and they clash in grim clinch

rain down mighty hard blows
toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose
fury builds as blood flows

after vicious long hours
fatigue overpowers
these broken-down towers

nodding cagey assent
they retreat this event
bearing deep discontent

I’m the one left to tend
them and see to their mend
though neither’s my friend

still I’ll wait for the rise
of new fight in their eyes
to learn who claims me prize

 

 

(originally posted March 2013)

Destiny

X-Ray Telescope Photo by NASA

(Originally posted February 2014)

 

 

I remember when pain
was an athletic choice
not a sanguinary sentence
imposed by a starburst
whose bleeding mass
fell from its immanence
water weight crusted
jagged energy piercing
the bones that protected
failed centers of me

Oedipus Tyrannus

“Oedipus Rex”
Painting by Max Ernst
From wikiart.org

ancient dysfunctions
free will and family
accursed by fate
kings and killers
move blind to the truth
their sharp limitations
the weakening flaws
human character
suffers in every age
eyes as useless for sight
as the mind is for wisdom
the soul for its grace
when abuses of power
ensue tragic politics
leaving no path to
redemption save exile
life among myths offers
no one the hope for
catharsis in irony

Double Down

“Gambling Scene at an Inn”
Painting by David Teniers the Younger
From kipar.org

step right up my good friends
I’m the dealer of days
take a chance on tomorrow
bet your dreams buy your plays

if you win I’ll assure
you the finest estate
if you lose I will choose
what will hang as your fate

but I’d give you one chance
double down for my stake
of all dreams from all men
lost to gambling’s mistake

if you win they’re all yours
every whole every part
if you lose then I’ll take
all the hope in your heart

Choices

“Multiple Choice”
Painting by Priscilla Powers
From fineartamerica.com

the future comes closer
one choice at a time
unsettling to realize
not all of them are mine

Vortex

Daily Madness #5 – Dead Flowers”
Computer graphics by Lexical Pixies
From lexicalpixies.com

(75-word microfiction)

She stands alone, pensive and still, despite the unexpectedly cold rain. Steamy wisps of a suddenly disappearing summer rise from the freshly turned earth. A paper cone of mourning flowers limps soggily from her hand.

How does a season change so abruptly? Joy become sorrow? Excited visions of tomorrows displaced by haunting images of yesterdays.

Fate moves with shocking speed. But she remains steadfast in its vortex, fearing any step forward will disconnect memories.

Impact

Photo from flickr.com

makeshift crosses on the side of the road
mark the places where blood became tears
in the mangles of metal and moments
unlovely uncertainties shuddering fate
briefly glimpsed cast with long lasting shadows

Prizefight

“Heenan vs. Sayers 1860”
Drawing by Thomas Nast

ego strides right on in

all Dan Post ostrich skin

tree-trunk legs and cleft chin

packing serious heat

hands rough as concrete

it yanks fate to its feet

now fate is no mark

it’s developed the dark

deadly skills of a shark

so fate doesn’t flinch

doesn’t back off an inch

and they clash in grim clinch

rain down mighty hard blows

toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose

fury builds as blood flows

after vicious long hours

fatigue overpowers

these broken-down towers

nodding cagey assent

they retreat this event

bearing deep discontent

I’m the one left to tend

them and see to their mend

though neither’s my friend

still I’ll wait for the rise

of new fight in their eyes

to learn who claims me prize