Tenterhooks

 

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

Speaking Autumn

 

“Autumn Trees” by Jinfeng Shi

 

throaty whispers convey

subtle intimacies

of the October forest

dry rustling voices

history calling on destiny

begging remembrance

imploring the mercies

of wisdom attend the next

burgeon of greening

by laying down lessons

the echoes of speeches

in soft worded beds

of experience tender

with time blessed with

patience in face of the

imminent silence of snow

bringing sound through

sublime months of

mute intermission

preparing the voices

indulgent of nature

for raising new music

new spoken-word songs

buds and blossoms of verse

set to sounds of spring rains

 

 

From my book Ephemera

War of Words

 

“Untitled/Structurae” by Pablo Saborío

 

stream of consciousness

battles unfold in grammarian wars

pitting syntax and colloquy

czars chuffed and vying for reign

words pour forth in waves

toward the mouths

of great critical guns

cannon fodder they fall

indiscriminately

wounded lexicons bleeding

from usage disaffected

emotional concepts that fail

their appeal to assassins who

operate rules of engagement

that favor concealment

cold critics the snipers

correctly political fitted with

tunnel-trained cultural gunsights

to pick off brave soldiers

devoted to oaths

of aggressive linguistics

the audible structures of honesty

take their formations

defending the rule-bending

word-coining

never-before-applied

phrase-turning

free verse expression of life

of its living and dying

the bayonet nibs of their rifles

keep coming sworn never

to take up retreat

from bohemian charge

at conventional hearts with

their orthodox staid sensibilities

freedom is all

and it’s worth fighting wars

to the death

for in death it subsumes and

outlasts all the ink ever written

on militant paradigm pages

the free words of free men

explode upon history

giving humanity

all that it needs to

immortalize

glory attending our fearless

brief combat to win

occupation of minds

 

 

From my books Bullets from Bones and Legacies (vol. 1)

Leaves

 

“Gentle Breeze” by Eloise Schneider

 

little green hands

speaking gestures of summer

breezy eloquence

The Catalan Lisp

 

“Barcelona” by Ana Maria Edulescu

 

softened sibilance

charming distinction

a lilting of grace-notes

touches the tongues

of poets and peasants

in liege to the pennon

of red yellow stripes

crown of aragon

ruling with sea-speak

of past thalassocracy

sweetened by language

of romance and empire

warm and seductive

as the balear sun

a language now given

expression in tangible

modernist forms

architectural phrases

of reverent eccentric

glissade by gaudí

la sagrada familia

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)

Smell of Silence

“Promise Tree” by Darcy Schneider

 

it’s not fear which sickens
nor anger which quickens
it’s more like surprise
tears stinging the eyes
cloyed vocal chords closed
no longer disposed
to utter the breeze
conversing with trees

in other words scaring
the truth out of bearing
uncomfortable judgments
retaining begrudgments
to stink in the void
life’s sweetness destroyed
in the sorrowful breach
of love’s promising speech

(originally posted December 2013)

Tyranny of Words

 

“o.T.” by Peter Feichter

 

the tiny inventions

of human machines

evolved from the

primitive allophones

heard in the cave

pharyngeal expulsions

of personal winds

come from conscience

incipient inchoate

alien audible shapes

found in fleshy escape

from inept embouchure

apparatus of lips

tongue and diaphragm

made to contrive

grunts and groans

giving meaning to

changeable weather

inside the dull mind

feral phonemes

that wield against foes

all the guttering force of

emotional weaponry

cutting and slashing

in morbid occult

sense of fear

killing bloodlessly

keeping the cave

and the caste of its clan

with no question of which

is the dominant voice

and with passing of ages

the castles and courts

of our social modernity

still bear mechanical marks

the vestigial scars

of primordium

deeply worn wounds

from sharp words

the grim instruments

tending of tyranny

ever since time

had no word for itself

Rodomontade

Painting by Charles Warren Mundy

 

 

(Originally posted February 2014)

 

political speech stains the majesty
gracing our parchments
of self-charted destiny
its narcissist pitch creates cracks
in the marbled and columned
rotunda surmounting
preserved revolution
where statues of founders
quake unto their crumbling
at witnessing man’s
most enlightened creation
despoiled and reduced to
a circus of unbridled hubris
a whorehouse where
mad rutting egos can inbreed
like vermin who scavenge
the carcass of state

Small Talk

“Hidden Meaning”
Painting by Ford Smith
From marcusashley.com

much is said
by the spaces
between worthless words

lift of brow
shift of eye
belie polite speech

the articulate pause
the momentous breath
revelations of truth