“Solitary Dreamer” by Gordon Meggison
prose is a conversation
whereas poetry is prayer
tongue-tied masses left
mute in the cold
From my book Pieces of Wine
Reading
All posts tagged Reading
“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
“Man Reading” by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
writing seems such a solitaire game
between you and a deck of words
you deal them out
onto your paper or screen
and look for the hooks
to connect them in sequence
expressing the feelings
you find in your mind
but isn’t a solitaire game
meant for pitiful lonely
the chronically bored
a device to splice
sleep onto staying awake
escape from rude news
all the bray of the day
and parts of life best ignored
yet unlike a solitaire game
that dies on new turn of a card
writing lives for as long
as alacrity strains
to offer those clever-set
phrases and lines
to other eyes lonely and bored
in their solitaire game of reading
(originally posted March 2013)
Photo from pinterest.com
fire plays on the hearth
snow limning the mullioned panes
drinking poetry
(originally posted December 2013)
“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
“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
Unknown Artist – Image from pinterest.com
we are what we read
the facts and the fictions
that spring from the
soul of a writer
attach to our genome
adsorb to our helices
polymath layers that
coat our identity
dressed to step out
into civilization
we are what we read
a literate essence
whose worth all depends
on the worth of the thoughts
taken straight off the pages
we choose to believe
pages run with the
ink and the sweat
someone else spent
enriching our ken
* * *
“Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.”
– Ben Okri
“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
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
“At Sea with Joseph Conrad” by Bill Bragg
leather overstuffed chair
perfect for cradling Conrad
in weary old landlubber arms
and reclining into his
dark-reaching maritime
manly adventures
Poesy plus Polemics 