Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
 Dec 2020 Medusa
Carlo C Gomez
Roger of Wendover
wrote of your audacity,
a chronicle, a fable in lore,
whereupon your face was softened
for the Coventry poor.

Tyranny of taxation,
a sovereign's oppression,
one husband's aggravation,
and so he gave to you
but one condition.

After the butterflies,
before the sunlit emprise,
no mask to disguise,
not a thing to prevent
prying eyes.

Only your decree
could now protect your
ladyship's modesty,
keep your name from
this sordid tale of infamy,
yet, what did Tom see?

It shan't be denied, it rests
indelibly in Flowers of History,
alas! along cobbled streets,
all of them you defied,
thus with head held high,
you rode in all your glory.
 Dec 2020 Medusa
Where Shelter
a tall masted sailboat plods its way
across the picture window, under power, moving slow, 5 minute mile,
seagulls trail behind, periodically dive bombing the roiled wake, thinking, surely, men’s finding machinery may better than their own,
we,
taking anything to make the new days poems & troubles easier

so it goes, the interplay between man and a natural world,
so it goes, finding fish, our sustenances, a dance perpetual,
so it goes, divining spirits sensing a vision, bring me music,
a spiritual so apropos that who can doubt God’s existence?

”With the water
Sweet water, wash me down
Come on, water
Sweet water, wash me down


Tried my hand at the Bible
Tried my hand at prayer
But now, nothing but the water
Is gonna bring my soul to bear”^


so the birth-day begins, sunrise poems & troubles sure to follow,
in serenity commences, perhaps a sunset bookend to match,
but in between, surely poems & troubles, all of life’s stuffing,
signs and guides, surely, at least, the day’s poem is completed...




—————————————-
^ Nothing But the Water (II)
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
first poem of the day


Fri Aug 21 2020
8:40am
S.I.
 Dec 2020 Medusa
Nat Lipstadt
~dedicated to the old poets here~

the addictive pairing of certain words, a line,
a lyric, slap-snapping you to full attention,
unfailing decades of instant recognition,
an adrenaline + caffeine shot that powers

a chance, a tensile injection that causes

the lips to commence a new choreography,
the fingers to tap, a jumbled, hurried, embattled
disorderly mess that regenerates, reformulates,
concords into agreement, a harmonic consistency

a geometry of many differing angles that equate

a hard physical, a soft mentality in a singled work,
coexisting in a sacred state of singed confluence,
though imperfect, satisfies mathematical boundaries
of a random outpouring, crowning the stripe inspiring

the spark that finally satisfyingly silences an ignited

filament a-glowing for years, that holy happens
to cross your antennae, fulfilling the need to honor,
the sacred geometry of chance, the honor to need,
the joy of saying, at last, this unwritten debt, paid!


————————————————————————-
(1) a favorite of many years, a lyric from “The Shape of My Heart” by Sting

(2) Dec 3 2020 2:53pm  NYC
We all want to be profound
Reveal some hidden common ground
Search for it through words and prose
Strive to touch both nuns and hoes
That's why they keep poets around
Displayers of the common ground
Right before we tear it down
And build a tunnel underground
Or a bridge, maybe
The problem with poets
You see
Universally known

They can't leave well enough
Alone
I used all the stones you threw at me to build and fortify
My castle
Thank you
I suppose
For being such a hassle
At first
I thought it was confidence
But now
I see
You're just too ****
Pushy
Best to push
Away from me
Because I don't push
I kick.
Ya see?
Your imaginary arms
Wrap around me
I feel you there
Always
What you would say
What you would think
I adjust accordingly
And try to live up
As I imagine you'd want me to be
I am not the type to build up your ego
With false praise and compliments
I don't go out of my way
To accomodate
Your issues or irrational concerns
I won't play mind games
Or accept them from you
It seems that's what you are used to
You hesitate before you speak
Judging what you'll say
And I can't help but think
Liars do it that way
But also
Maybe
It could be
You're used to being inauthentic
Because you needed to be
I suppose in time I'll see
Next page