“The Oscar Statue” by tezebe
shallow courtiers
donning crowns for applause
pretending we care
From my books Bohemian Scents and Riverthink
Shallowness
All posts tagged Shallowness
Painting by Sir Anthony Hopkins
stretched between maybes
tremble tissues of batwings
extended suspended from
overhead recesses dark and
theatrically cavernous damp
taut and fraught with the
flopsweat of uncertain endings
anxiety shudders with cold
possibilities membranes
divide when from then hanging
curtains of skin in proscenium
attitude blinding the actor
to obvious outcomes no sense
of the audience all of his choices
of speech caught on tenterhooks
black iron forgings catch drop
of the drapes veined in turn
with their coursings of pulsing
soliloquy colloquy obloquy
no loss for words among thespian
creatures the trick is to draw
down the right form of rhetoric
this is no time for embarrassing
truths from some too-honest
leadership life and blood loyalties
hang in stark balance and
consequence augurs for quick
stepping out to the footlights
performing whatever deceits
keep concealed the real nature
of sharp-toothed insectivores
From my book Ephemera
Image by pauklein
on a catamaran
where the waters are green
I acquired a tan
that attracted a queen
she so loved my shade
that she gave me a crown
then I started to fade
till I lost all my brown
and the last thing she said
as I knelt at the log
was “Remove his pale head!”
and the axe cut the fog
(originally posted November 2013)
“Return of the Flame” by Rene Magritte
What fame is there
In tawdry scenes
Reality not drama
Famous figures
Behaving badly
Naked of inhibition
In the public eye
Fallow morality
Captured crudely
By the public lens
What shame is there
When character
Of lazy virtue
Shows transparent
No makeup masks
No costume cloaks
Conceal the truth
Iconic clay
Too limp to stand
Folds in on itself
What blame is there
For undeserved
Celebrity
Which part is ours
In sordid plays
Enjoying fools
Felled by folly
Miscast lives
Deluded by
Self-importance
Or is the headline
All that matters
(originally posted December 2013)
“The Oscar Statue” by tezebe
shallow courtiers
donning crowns for applause
pretending we care
“Bruised Fruit and Tart Meat” by Carol Bass
shunned by the shallow
put off by rudely scarred life
unchosen ignored
sadly never to enjoy
ripe flesh sweetest of all
Crown Made from a Tin Can
Illustration from
zefisblog.blogspot.com.au
we punish real heroes
with silent ambivalence
casting instead our bright
diamonds and pearls into
settings on vulgar tin crowns
worn by heads of celebrity
spurious icons whose claims
upon fame are but vacuous
shallow reflections of values
that coarsen the culture
that cheapen the measure
of man by his meanest
ignoble ambitions
Iron Tenterhooks
Found in archaeological digs at Jamestown
Photo from historicjamestown.org
stretched between maybes
tremble tissues of batwings
extended suspended from
overhead recesses dark and
theatrically cavernous damp
taut and fraught with the
flopsweat of uncertain endings
anxiety shudders with cold
possibilities membranes
divide when from then hanging
curtains of skin in proscenium
attitude blinding the actor
to obvious outcomes no sense
of the audience all of his choices
of speech caught on tenterhooks
black iron forgings catch drop
of the drapes veined in turn
with their coursings of pulsing
soliloquy colloquy obloquy
no loss for words among thespian
creatures the trick is to draw
down the right form of rhetoric
this is no time for embarrassing
truths from some too-honest
leadership life and blood loyalties
hang in stark balance and
consequence augurs for quick
stepping out to the footlights
performing whatever deceits
keep concealed the real nature
of sharp-toothed insectivores
Photo from
thepersonalrevolution.ebsarver.com
dodgy-eyed smile
backhanded compliment
brash innuendo
Poesy plus Polemics 