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1.6k · Nov 2016
I Knew A Sailor
David Cordell Nov 2016
i knew a sailor,
ebbing with unknowns,
waves crashing fear,
his eyes closed,

i knew a sailor,
balancing into threat,
ocean spitting hate,
his hair dripping wet,

i knew a sailor,
fighting invisible power,
mastery feeding life,
his Will always prouder,

i knew a sailor,
feeling hope prolong,
separation’s pending knock,
his heart beating strong,

i knew a sailor,
hanging head reliant,
determination passing soon,
his mind becoming silent,

i knew a sailor,
breathing into end,
soft quietening looms,
his spirit with the wind,

i learned from a sailor,
who sailed better and worse,
who lived and swayed in rhythm,
who died with no remorse.
1.0k · Jan 2016
Pieces
David Cordell Jan 2016
memories made the weathered chair rock,
eyes wide with lacklustre - empty and deep,
as old woman walks 'round the block,

returning not home until nine o'clock,
night cuddles insomnia, hardly asleep,
memories made the weathered chair rock,

finger and thumb pinch 1920s frayed frock,
local teens see only the oddball creep,
as old woman walks 'round the block,

tears flow freely when stopped at the dock,
everyday starting here, ten minutes shall weep,
memories made the weathered chair rock,

girls grin as she circles a solo hemlock,
quickly in step, stride now mostly does keep,
as old woman walks 'round the block,

inside aged house, gaze freezes in shock,
relics of past - dusty, rotten in heap,
memories made the weathered chair rock,
as old woman walks 'round the block.
Thix is a poem using the Villanelle form.
768 · Jan 2016
Cycles
David Cordell Jan 2016
destruction topples creation
as close bonds split,
alliances rekindle desperations,
individual greeds dismantle agreements,
darkness defeats lightness,
boundless shackles frees death, ending life
life, ending death, frees shackles, boundless
lightness defeats darkness,
agreements dismantle greeds, individual
desperations rekindle alliances,
split bonds close as
creation topples destruction.
This is a palindrome poem. Read the same forwards and backwards; meeting in the middle, the same words are used but differ in meaning.
451 · Sep 2016
Color Blind
David Cordell Sep 2016
Color Blind

haven't got a clue,
whether black, purple or blue,
same through my skewed view
Humor
385 · Oct 2016
Appearance Of It
David Cordell Oct 2016
spinning,
out of control,
angry tornado lost amongst
still and silent winds; settled mockery,

harmony hidden by stoical acceptance,
lost cumulus trash inner peace,
fly by imbalance,
lashing,

hating,
out is infliction,
pressure above and beneath,
douse moist anguish sideways,

structural masses full and foolish,
crash lines into empty space,
hellbent to solace,
dying
368 · Jan 2016
Unto the Grave
David Cordell Jan 2016
after the ashes settle,
the wind carries a lone, torn page,
sides of faded text flanked with folds,
deep wrinkles sunk
across its base,

as
celebration
becomes
separation

and

fuzzy ink loses meaning,
in a rip of feeling,
a never-ending grieving,

is not until...

time prunes aged edges,
with adhesive affixed at affliction,
resemblance rises from its words,

before its own ashes blow in the wind.
David Cordell Jan 2016
pressure and abandon,
small soul would learn its place,
bruises, cuts, fits yellin'
beatings overlooking grace,

long sleeve turtle neck, blue jeans too,
disguised to hide the truth,
little eye told a different story,
even shut, it held the proof,

physical anger no longer verbal,
pleads denied as you screamed and cried,
deep and darkened, hurtful purple,
wore the bottom where tears have dried,

screams to keep your head bent down,
echo deeply to remind,
in the school, even -on the- playground,
his voice violates your mind,

childhood grew and had enough,
face benumbed atop burdened state,
time melted the crave of love,
filling the ladle with hardened hate,

upon an ocean of compounded lies,
years solemnly float away,
many hopes aboard that he finally dies,
as you watch him quietly lay,

no healing lives in rotten victory,
false justice tastes flat and sour,
memories still coated with misery,
no sweetness, pride nor power,

waves surround his departure,
though no rain today will release,
until a solo cloud breaks lose,
with a whispered glance of peace,

"daddy...?"
353 · Aug 2016
Dollars and Cents
David Cordell Aug 2016
artful selling swims in persuasion,
one needn't float far to soak in said skill,
as the mind is born into this ability,
for we buy our own ******* daily.
351 · Sep 2016
Inside A Shuffle
David Cordell Sep 2016
The magic exists with your perception,
For the cards always come back together.
Think life.
347 · Sep 2016
Descent
David Cordell Sep 2016
Climb down from your past,
Only what-ifs fly up there,
They'll peck you 'till death
David Cordell Oct 2016
Hug of faith tightens only when disbelief's kiss is rejected.
277 · Feb 2017
By Grace
David Cordell Feb 2017
Death lain to my horse,
Desert stranded slay,
Sweat rolling from me cursed
She who led my thirst astray

Mirages paint the land,
I believe them drops of dew,
Self lies trace the sand,
Is dryness that be true,

My legs waver beneath me,
Windless waves tilt a fall,
To my knees so I buckle,
Fleeting strength now a crawl,

Weakened neck droops in awe,
Dreams escape darkened sight,
Tears steal last drops in wake,
Wetting ground where lost my fight,

Breath slows in air around me,
Cool touch shoulders upon my back,
A soft howl swirls by fallen night,
With a deafening thunderous crack,

I gaze to cumulus whites above,
Doubts my eyes have now saw,
'Till laughter spills over coarse face,
Miracles can and do befall.
258 · Jan 2017
En-light
David Cordell Jan 2017
the ghost of success' trail drove me,
whence caught her image, I spooked,
running from my life's deepest sought.
257 · Jul 2016
Goodbye
David Cordell Jul 2016
ocean waves moved,
motion with moods of the wind,
exampling emotions beneath the dust of past,

coarse sand evoked poignant presence,
like the babbler among the quiet,
quick to know but fast to forget,

crashes casually calmed,
broken forms fallen into foam,
distilling between a silent, dual partnership,

cascading hues of purple and tangerine,
a canvas painting leading into infinite of today,
blended hints tomorrow should never come,

the parent of such art,
dried streams lain below now closed eyes,
smells of the air tranquilized pain in loss…

as the fold of her memory hugged his mind.
255 · Sep 2016
There Is A Window
David Cordell Sep 2016
unwashed with centuries,
if peered through,
or yet, into,
would tell stories,
many ages past,
boys washed in birth,
men's ended worth,
echoing into night
with distant rumbles,
preceding tears
holding granite crumbles,
or,
arrow blanketed skies,
carrying tip-rip gifts,
to brave barbarians below,
likely too,
one might see,
a tiny blossoming tree,
watered and cared by three,
all living harmoniously,
but get ahead of ourselves not,
for in this very same spot,
years before that last lot,
twenty-two horses free-spirited their own trot,
chasing cycling sunlight,
settling into stained remains,
shading history's all seeing foresight,
never shattering, she guides the reigns...
254 · Dec 2016
Murderous Inaction
David Cordell Dec 2016
wakeful captivity
chains dubious desires
beneath buried
beliefs
where dreams'
lives cease their
specious existence
250 · Jan 2017
Untitled
David Cordell Jan 2017
In the land of millennial shattered happiness,
He finds himself sunken by a pull,
Quicksand confines buries tired satisfaction,
Slicing his airway desperate for freedom's breath,

And in the end,
Promising sight bleeds into covered blackness,
And his life resumes.
250 · Sep 2016
Flaws in Freedom
David Cordell Sep 2016
perceptive illusions flutter rippled shocks,
heartbeats straddle rides into an apocalyptic mess,
fallen futures dance in rhythmless disharmony,
casual creativity capitulates cognitive collapse,

pinnacle rise bellows internal fumes,
wisdom and harmony bind to silence,
while invisible warfare wafts insidiously treasonous torments,
but blood brims beyond an emotion-ally...

...unstable pair - they are
248 · Aug 2016
Glazed Reality
David Cordell Aug 2016
doth thee see it?
pinned upon thy forehead,
truth blinded by thy sight,
angst scabbing thy ****** soul,

conditions correlating thy inaction,
reprieving evils salient of deeds,
aye, evil which thee abhor,
did praise in passive insolence - silence,

though extending ten praises to sky,
while perfection in joyous song,
devotion though earnestly dear,
message so adamantly wrong,

awash thy hands of did stray abandon,
re-read works of a Son to thy Father,
feel pain in abduction, hate, slaughter,
then ask thyself where thee falter...
246 · Nov 2016
Moments Of Reflection
David Cordell Nov 2016
the best of friends of two,
we always thought would remain,
smiles shared between us,
since day one when both were made,

mornings I could count on you,
for my mood afore the day,
cracking grins at passive slyness,
never afraid to laugh and play,

loved each other forever,
or we both once so thought,
alas sweet smiles soured,
and you saw my every fault,

how could you be so hateful,
so pensive now we're grey,
forgetting joy we'd shared,
promises so easily thrown away,

for a time I felt lost,
by pain you gleaned my eyes,
shaved away our pleasant past,
with the guise of your disguise,

until seeing you upon the ground,
our connection no longer mattered,
shards of your memory,
lying wasted, broken, shattered.
240 · Oct 2016
Once Known
David Cordell Oct 2016
I saw the moon once smile,
before the sun took his glory,
single stead cleaved,
behind jagged, broken story,

spilled ink blotched old words,
layering secrets 'neath cold night,
until cover with each rise,
hiding further 'neath new light,

was not a single moment,
two knew not of their fight,
existing in mirrored chaos
of parallels in their own plight,

I saw the moon once smile
a day before despair,
he and sun's only semblance,
be the tears they now both share.
219 · Feb 2017
Only Humans
David Cordell Feb 2017
use the end,
so they can begin,
discovering the middle,
while hoping for the end,
preparing them to begin,
in traversing the middle,
before wishing for the end,
to begin...
214 · Aug 2016
Writer's Block
David Cordell Aug 2016
stationary flashes upon white,
mirrors impressions of sameness,
insanity blinks perfected in nothingness
remedied by mistakes that waver in the wind,

like pages turned past a thumbs motion,
bent mishaps rolling into new ideas,
remembered as transparent images
behind the opaque reality they create

— The End —