Sesquarmillennium

“The Reader III” by Tamara de Lempicka

 

Time for a pause from my poetry to acknowledge a remarkable milestone for this blog. Today it surpassed 350,000 reader visits. To say I am dumbfounded would be an understatement.

Bless you one and all for taking interest in my poetry. I never would have imagined receiving as much enthusiasm and encouragement as you have given to me.

It’s becoming more difficult for me to write every day, so I have taken to re-posting many of my earlier works. I hope I can continue to sustain your interest and the many friendships born of our interactions.

With utmost gratitude and affection,
Paul

November Morn

“Breath of Dawn” by Anna Armona

 

pieces of sky
rise up through the trees
carry light of the morning
awaken the forest
towering pines
stretch their arms
mountains yawn with
first murmurs of birdsong
brown moose and red deer
arise slowly from
soft-needled beds
already the fox and the hare
wide awake and alert
to the scent of each other
cold rivers emerge from
their hiding to take on
the clean brilliant glints
of another new sun

yes another new dawn
all the sights and the sounds
of circadium signal a
promising day in the offing
what more of a reason
could creatures like men
ever find to be thankful

 

 

(originally posted November 2015)

Dispositive

 

“Falling Shapes” by TheChariot77

 

 

you sling my shoulders with your grapples

climb the back of my legs with your barbed-wire toes

coming higher and closer intent

for the unguarded portals that lead to my brain

I can’t reach behind me to swat you away

my arms just don’t work that way anymore

so I do the one thing I can think of

to keep you from reaching my vulnerability

with a rush I leap backwards and heave myself

crashing the window

for an instant I feel your fear crunch against glass

that explodes as we fly through its showering shards

you still cling for your life as we sail through the air

for seconds or centuries

deafened by the updraft our downfall creates

I’m surprised to see others are falling beside us

people who died in the near and far past

escorting our flight as they reach out

and yank you away from my flesh

overwhelmingly soothing relief floods my senses

I see you in pieces below on the ground

and notice the wind in my ears growing softer

I’m slowing

more floating than falling and find

I’m embraced by the ghosts who still love me

who judge me unworthy of punishment

not so much innocent

moreso not guilty

deserving to live yet another new day

invested with trust of their faith

that I’ll make good their gift

of my soul saving rare

second chance

 

 

(originally posted May 2013)

Match

 

Image from HDWallpapers

 

 

(The following poem represents my 1,000th published post since I launched “Poesy plus Polemics” eleven months ago. I can hardly believe it. It’s almost as if my long retired and dormant mind has erupted with new urgent purpose. As I work on my third book of poetry, I realize I won’t be able to keep up this pace, but I fully intend to wade into 2014 with all the gusto I can muster. Thanks to all my dear followers and readers for your unexpected and most gratifying encouragement.)

I first lit this match
knowing nothing
of how long or bright
it might burn

in my time I have
held it to dismembered
faces of infamy
cowered in corners
believing their sins
and I learned from
the shape of their shame

with its meek lumen
glow I found maps
giving secretive routes
to indigenous purpose
for civilization and
syllabus families of
broken-sleep scholars

cold caverns
warm grottoes
revealed to my years
future histories
ringing in echoes
of batwings and
bailiff’s batons upon
cell-bars of quandary

it guided my climbs
over mountainous
creeds of philosophers
steeped in screed
rubble of rhetoric
sallied to mystify
dull-minded centuries

pirates and princes
bastards and barons
cavorted within
its free-curling smoke
painting hat-feathers
charcoal with products of
intrigue’s combustion

shadows rose
in oration
to mock predilect
faith in healing
by shamans
with rattle and bone
exhortations

aboard riverboats
stealthy incursions
enabled my espionage
into firelit heartlands
of madness
ensuing the failures
of putative titans

my dim circle of light
walked the wounds
of paved intellects
shone upon beds
banked in streets
bearing bodies of
unrealized dreams

it imagined vignettes
into sentient existence
pulled life from dead words
through the gasp
of slight finger flicks
shocked by their
first breath of air

but now and again
moreso lately
this trivial flame
flickers close to extinction
despite my best efforts
to shroud it from
ill-minded winds

at a thousand thoughts old
that it flickers at all
is some miracle
needing a younger
and hungry
new light
to illuminate

 

 

(originally posted November 2013, to mark 1000th post on this blog –

as of June 2017 I have published 3800 posts)

Poesy plus Polemics Anniversary

Time does fly. Today is the 4th anniversary of this poetry blog. Through writing more than 3,700 posts, I have found this experience to be at once challenging and fulfilling. For this ailing old geezer, it has also been quite therapeutic. It provides me with a special sense of purpose that retirees rarely enjoy.

To all who have taken time and trouble to visit this site and read some of my work, I send my heartfelt thanks. Without your continuing support and apparent enthusiasm, I would long ago have folded this endeavor.

Thanks also to all those faceless enablers at WordPress who’ve provided me with such an excellent user-friendly platform. It nicely suits my decidedly non-technical skill set. And it’s opened my world to the affections of a most stimulating global community.

God willing, here’s to another 4 years of blogging.

– Paul

A Personal Note

“Friendship in Blue” by Anahi Decanio

Dear Readers,

Once again, I take brief pause from poetry in order to acknowledge you – the amazing members of my WordPress community. Next month will be the 4th anniversary of Poesy plus Polemics, which now reaches into more than 150 countries.

On this snowy early winter day in New Hampshire, I find that more than 12,000 of you are now loyal followers of this blog. On more than 270,000 occasions, you have gone out of your way to visit and read my work, leaving behind nearly 50,000 comments.

Few traditional paperback writers enjoy such affirmation. We contemporary poets and authors are blessed with this modern technology that allows our words to instantly reach so many appreciative eyes. The personal connections and friendships made possible by the internet are, for me, a continuing source of encouragement and inspiration.

It is impossible to adequately express just how much you all mean to me. All I can do is promise to keep writing poetry, as best I can, and hope you will continue to enjoy what you read here.

Meantime, I take this moment to humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have already given to me.

Affectionately,
Paul
December, 2016

Dear Readers

“Friendship” by Kenneth Baldwin-Smith

Dear Readers,

Once again, I take brief pause from poetry in order to acknowledge you – the amazing members of my WordPress community. On this spectacular autumn day in New Hampshire, I find that more than 10,000 of you are now loyal followers of this blog. On more than a quarter million occasions, you have gone out of your way to visit and read my work.

Few traditional paperback writers enjoy such affirmation. We contemporary poets and authors are blessed with this modern technology that allows our words to instantly reach so many appreciative eyes. The personal connections and friendships made possible by the internet are, for me, a continuing source of encouragement and inspiration.

It is impossible to adequately express just how much you all mean to me. All I can do is promise to keep writing poetry, as best I can, and hope you will continue to enjoy what you read here.

Meantime, I take this moment to humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have already given to me.

Affectionately,
Paul
October, 2016

Acknowledgment

“Friendship” by Irene Boubakary

 

 

Dear Readers,

It’s time I take brief pause from poetry in order to acknowledge you – the amazing members of my WordPress community. As I yawn toward the dawn of this late summer morning, I find that more than 9,000 of you now follow this blog. On more than a quarter million occasions, you have gone out of your way to visit and read my work.

Few traditional paperback writers enjoy such affirmation. We contemporary poets and authors are blessed with a modern technology that allows our words to instantly reach so many appreciative eyes. The personal connections and friendships made possible by the internet are, for me, a continuing source of encouragement and inspiration.

It is impossible to adequately express just how much you all mean to me. All I can do is promise to keep writing poetry, as best I can, and hope you will continue to enjoy what you read here.

Meantime, I take this moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have already given to me.

Affectionately,
Paul
August, 2016

Quarter Million

Audience – Free Clip Art

Dear friends and followers,

The number of reader visits to view this blog of mine has now surpassed 250,000.

It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around that statistic. But as to my heart, it is filled with gratitude. For any and all who have taken the time to drop by and read my poetry, I thank you most sincerely.

The incredibly large WordPress community is populated by countless extraordinary authors, artists and poets. It leaves me rather stunned, and quite humble, to realize that so many of you have found something of interest on this site.

Thanks to WordPress, poets, especially, have never enjoyed a more robust, engaged and enthusiastic venue in which to present their work.

I only hope that I may continue to earn your interest in, and appreciation for, my poetry.

Affectionately,
Paul
June 8, 2016

Awful Red Mist

“Holy War” by Nancy Merkle

battlefields bathed

in that awful red mist

tragic essence of

lost generations

indelible sacrifice

fouling the landscapes

of history duty-bound

blood oaths incurred

of their ultimate price

unforgettable youth

given unto the crucible

flesh and bone tested

for depth of conviction

for purity tending the

ancient-held principles

turned to the terrible

powder and smoke of

the bullets and bombs

raising visceral fears to

the stature of bravery

medals and crosses and

flags the mean trappings

of gratitude left upon

battlefields bathed

in that awful red mist