cliff-perkins - Hello Poetry

It’s been said “It’s not the death It’s dying that we fear.” Perhaps it’s true, but can we know Until that time is near? A soldier bravely risks the grave Far from the battlefield But bayonet pressed to his chest May hear him cry, “I yield!” So will it be the same with me When my time is come? Will I beg for one more day Or face fate like a stone? If my future holds no hope No reason to remain Will I escape with gun or rope Or suffer senseless pain? I pray that when I face that day I will not be undone A coward dies a thousand deaths The valiant die but one

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Dec 10, 2025

Dec 10, 2025 at 1:06 PM UTC

On Death and Dying

It’s been said “It’s not the death It’s dying that we fear.” Perhaps it’s true, but can we know Until that time is near? A soldier bravely risks the grave Far from the battlefield But bayonet pressed to his chest May hear him cry, “I yield!” So will it be the same with me When my time is come? Will I beg for one more day Or face fate like a stone? If my future holds no hope No reason to remain Will I escape with gun or rope Or suffer senseless pain? I pray that when I face that day I will not be undone A coward dies a thousand deaths The valiant die but one

20

Computer towers Higher powers Expressed in algorithms Proud potential Exponential Anthropomorphic isms Tales of Icarus Dare not help us All out warnings spurned Keep on going Worship knowing Lessons never learned Go full throttle Rub the bottle Set the Genie free What is hidden In this Eden’s In decision tree? Data centers Atom splinters All to feed the fire Slouching beast Come home at last? Bytes along the wire A.G.I Sent from on high To save us from ourselves What we’ve made Must be obeyed Our brains upon the shelves

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Sep 13, 2025

Sep 13, 2025 at 3:06 PM UTC

Babylon... babel on

Computer towers Higher powers Expressed in algorithms Proud potential Exponential Anthropomorphic isms Tales of Icarus Dare not help us All out warnings spurned Keep on going Worship knowing Lessons never learned Go full throttle Rub the bottle Set the Genie free What is hidden In this Eden’s In decision tree? Data centers Atom splinters All to feed the fire Slouching beast Come home at last? Bytes along the wire A.G.I Sent from on high To save us from ourselves What we’ve made Must be obeyed Our brains upon the shelves

30

A dog, a man, a fire Oncoming dark The man sits The dog lies Both close by the fire Both entranced by flame Radiating heat Sounds of Cicadas Time goes by unnoticed Except for the imperceptibly slow ascendance of the almost full moon The dog Safe in his centered space Drops his muzzle between his paws Lolls his tongue Reflected red in glowing coals The man, with his gift of language Thinks “I should say something” Abstract these concrete feelings Preserve this moment for posterity With just a few kind words Pray he holds his tongue In moments like these Words are sacrilege Breaking awe full silence Rending temple curtains Pinning names on G_d

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Sep 13, 2025

Sep 13, 2025 at 1:55 PM UTC

Say Something

A dog, a man, a fire Oncoming dark The man sits The dog lies Both close by the fire Both entranced by flame Radiating heat Sounds of Cicadas Time goes by unnoticed Except for the imperceptibly slow ascendance of the almost full moon The dog Safe in his centered space Drops his muzzle between his paws Lolls his tongue Reflected red in glowing coals The man, with his gift of language Thinks “I should say something” Abstract these concrete feelings Preserve this moment for posterity With just a few kind words Pray he holds his tongue In moments like these Words are sacrilege Breaking awe full silence Rending temple curtains Pinning names on G_d

30

Binoculars are truly funny things To focus on the far, you lose the near Chasing stars, you forfeit All that you hold dear Vision’s field betrayed for clarity What can it be? A forest or a tree? Only you can say Wave or particle, or is it both? What is this strange thing that God hath wroth? A thing that is no thing until its named And every child is wild until they’re tamed Observation changes everything Is the cat alive or dead? Is a poem a poem If it is only written But it is never read Einstein said that God does not play dice The wedding came and went The dead birds ate the rice Must every joyful moment have its price? Chameleons disguise among the bushes Baby Moses hides in the bullrushes The bush never burning to a crisp The voice of God spoken with a lisp The flowers for the bees The forest for the trees

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Apr 27, 2025

Apr 27, 2025 at 12:00 PM UTC

The forest for the trees

Binoculars are truly funny things To focus on the far, you lose the near Chasing stars, you forfeit All that you hold dear Vision’s field betrayed for clarity What can it be? A forest or a tree? Only you can say Wave or particle, or is it both? What is this strange thing that God hath wroth? A thing that is no thing until its named And every child is wild until they’re tamed Observation changes everything Is the cat alive or dead? Is a poem a poem If it is only written But it is never read Einstein said that God does not play dice The wedding came and went The dead birds ate the rice Must every joyful moment have its price? Chameleons disguise among the bushes Baby Moses hides in the bullrushes The bush never burning to a crisp The voice of God spoken with a lisp The flowers for the bees The forest for the trees

27

Keys to the kingdom Rusting on the chain Unsolicited advice Unrelenting pain A million monkeys typing tails Written but unread Until they chance upon the one That means just what it said Abstract art and abstract alms Turning stone to bread Peonies piercing palms Until the flowers bled Bled upon the canvas white Smeared red with his blood Santa Claus looked such a fright Caught eating Daddy’s food Beauty lies in in between Inside a cavern dark Truth is beauty oft unseen A dog without a bark Rhyming couplets copulate Keeping perfect thyme Synchronously syncopate Commit the perfect crime In the dark the eyes best see When looking indirect Poems write their poetry When poets don’t reflect Let hands loose upon the keys Like ants upon the hill Let loose fingers lose your mind To write some swine loved swill Who knows what the world may think Of this unfettered phrase You may be the missing link To some new-fangled faze Of something some call poetry In its declining days

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Feb 24, 2025

Feb 24, 2025 at 10:06 AM UTC

******* Poetry

Keys to the kingdom Rusting on the chain Unsolicited advice Unrelenting pain A million monkeys typing tails Written but unread Until they chance upon the one That means just what it said Abstract art and abstract alms Turning stone to bread Peonies piercing palms Until the flowers bled Bled upon the canvas white Smeared red with his blood Santa Claus looked such a fright Caught eating Daddy’s food Beauty lies in in between Inside a cavern dark Truth is beauty oft unseen A dog without a bark Rhyming couplets copulate Keeping perfect thyme Synchronously syncopate Commit the perfect crime In the dark the eyes best see When looking indirect Poems write their poetry When poets don’t reflect Let hands loose upon the keys Like ants upon the hill Let loose fingers lose your mind To write some swine loved swill Who knows what the world may think Of this unfettered phrase You may be the missing link To some new-fangled faze Of something some call poetry In its declining days

38

Stay in one place How long? - Long enough Long enough to see what others miss To notice all the little things The bug beneath your feet The movement of the sun Long enough for the birds to lose their fear And come back to the food Long enough for the house to become home For the shrubbery to fill the voids To no longer look like it did When you picked it off the shelf at the garden center Long enough for the vines to climb Around the door and up the windowsill Long enough for the marks and scratches And dents to begin to appear Like the rising row of horizontal pencil marks Inside the pantry door Long enough to learn where things belong And where they don’t To know that you can reach for them On the darkest night And trust they will be there Long enough to know you’ve chosen well That the things she did that bothered you Have now become your treasures That all those thoughts that someone Might be better in some way Have not stood the test of time That perfection is a sterile land Where nothing truly grows That soulful smiles and honest eyes Are what matter most

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Feb 3, 2025

Feb 3, 2025 at 10:45 AM UTC

Stay in one place

Stay in one place How long? - Long enough Long enough to see what others miss To notice all the little things The bug beneath your feet The movement of the sun Long enough for the birds to lose their fear And come back to the food Long enough for the house to become home For the shrubbery to fill the voids To no longer look like it did When you picked it off the shelf at the garden center Long enough for the vines to climb Around the door and up the windowsill Long enough for the marks and scratches And dents to begin to appear Like the rising row of horizontal pencil marks Inside the pantry door Long enough to learn where things belong And where they don’t To know that you can reach for them On the darkest night And trust they will be there Long enough to know you’ve chosen well That the things she did that bothered you Have now become your treasures That all those thoughts that someone Might be better in some way Have not stood the test of time That perfection is a sterile land Where nothing truly grows That soulful smiles and honest eyes Are what matter most

33

All white beneath, all blue above All crystal in between Where blackened spires reach ever higher Entombed in frozen tears Holding tight with all its might Ice clasps every limb Too soon the sun shows his fierce face Now each tree flames afire A narcissus and Icarus Their beauty brighter, higher! But beauty’s price is sacrifice Tis come the judgement hour The fairy world the storm unfurled Now meets its moist demise A southern breeze stirs tops of trees Stand still - you’ll hear the cries Losing their cold they lose their hold Letting loose with sighs Their tinkling sound heard all around Sharp shards of broken glass Each limb and branch an avalanche To forest floor below Comes crashing down from oaken crown To kiss the melting snow

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Jan 12, 2025

Jan 12, 2025 at 11:48 AM UTC

The Thaw

All white beneath, all blue above All crystal in between Where blackened spires reach ever higher Entombed in frozen tears Holding tight with all its might Ice clasps every limb Too soon the sun shows his fierce face Now each tree flames afire A narcissus and Icarus Their beauty brighter, higher! But beauty’s price is sacrifice Tis come the judgement hour The fairy world the storm unfurled Now meets its moist demise A southern breeze stirs tops of trees Stand still - you’ll hear the cries Losing their cold they lose their hold Letting loose with sighs Their tinkling sound heard all around Sharp shards of broken glass Each limb and branch an avalanche To forest floor below Comes crashing down from oaken crown To kiss the melting snow

24

No wonder we chose spring for Easter All nature joins in resurrection Today, I found blood on a feather The reckoning keeps coming faster Invention killing all connection Dead bees among the heather Life and death and in between A crazy quilt of paradox Shall we be ****** or saved? What in heaven does it mean? Was Jesus crazy like a fox? Is joy doubled, sorrow halved? Not knowing gives me chills Two calves playing tag Romp over verdant hills

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Jan 2, 2025

Jan 2, 2025 at 1:17 PM UTC

Easter

No wonder we chose spring for Easter All nature joins in resurrection Today, I found blood on a feather The reckoning keeps coming faster Invention killing all connection Dead bees among the heather Life and death and in between A crazy quilt of paradox Shall we be ****** or saved? What in heaven does it mean? Was Jesus crazy like a fox? Is joy doubled, sorrow halved? Not knowing gives me chills Two calves playing tag Romp over verdant hills

15

You can live three weeks without food Three days without water Three minutes without oxygen Which death takes longer? There is a simple test Hold your breath.

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Jan 2, 2025

Jan 2, 2025 at 1:16 PM UTC

Time is Relative

You can live three weeks without food Three days without water Three minutes without oxygen Which death takes longer? There is a simple test Hold your breath.

6

Go slow, like the old dog Lying at your feet Sitting on high bluff’s edge Perusing all the lake Chase not God with words or thoughts If you do she’ll run away Like fairy queens and forest nymphs Fearful of your brash approach Be the patient lover No tearing loose the blouse To satiate your ****** urge So never feeling hers Sit stock still on the red oak A hundred plus years old That lies now like the old dog Toppled by the storm Listen like he listens Look longly, like he looks Taking time to take all in Things never learned in books Don’t say a word to the old dog And he won’t say a word to you Sense the peace in his silence Look long into his eyes Follow his example Trust he knows the way Words are the Devil’s workshop The old dog knows it well After a while you’ll thank him When your boredom turns to grace When you quit thinking anything And thus see God face to face

0

Jan 2, 2025

Jan 2, 2025 at 1:16 PM UTC

Go Slow

Go slow, like the old dog Lying at your feet Sitting on high bluff’s edge Perusing all the lake Chase not God with words or thoughts If you do she’ll run away Like fairy queens and forest nymphs Fearful of your brash approach Be the patient lover No tearing loose the blouse To satiate your ****** urge So never feeling hers Sit stock still on the red oak A hundred plus years old That lies now like the old dog Toppled by the storm Listen like he listens Look longly, like he looks Taking time to take all in Things never learned in books Don’t say a word to the old dog And he won’t say a word to you Sense the peace in his silence Look long into his eyes Follow his example Trust he knows the way Words are the Devil’s workshop The old dog knows it well After a while you’ll thank him When your boredom turns to grace When you quit thinking anything And thus see God face to face

32