Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
813 · May 2011
"Swimmingly..."
Joel M Frye May 2011
Fish jumps from water
onto dock; thrashing, flailing,
inches from relief.
811 · Oct 2021
immolation
Joel M Frye Oct 2021
what does a survivor do
upon the re-entry into life?
810 · Jan 2011
Lady Chasing Rainbows
Joel M Frye Jan 2011
There's a vision in the lightning of a springtime thunderstorm,
a thought to be rekindled one cold evening to stay warm.
The sun was drinking clouds away, the last few droplets flow,
and far away, a lady chasing rainbows.

She ran to where one started but just as she drew near,
the first would melt away to mist.  Another would appear.
She sought in vain to see the colors' origins unfold
which meant much more to her than pots of gold.

I watched the prisms tease her, saw her fall and fall again
until the clouds reclaimed her, and I lost her to the rain.
To this day I wonder...and for all that this man knows,
somewhere there's a lady chasing rainbows.

Should her flight be finished one fine day she'll comprehend
no gold nor truth is to be found by chasing rainbow's end.
There's beauty in the doing, not in the wondering how.
Expressions of the future are created here and now.
So in another vision of that bright and stormy show -
there will be a lady making rainbows.
Nothin' to it but to do it...right, Hildy??
805 · Oct 2014
Cleared for takeoff
Joel M Frye Oct 2014
Each fear is a dove,
a homing pigeon released
in care of Spirit,
805 · Feb 2011
here we go loop de loop
Joel M Frye Feb 2011
Fear the Mobius
strip mind: one continuous
loop severely kinked.
My world with a twist...
2-19-2011  JMF
Joel M Frye Mar 2011
Would that my words would lift you from yourself
and take you far enough away to see
the wonder-fullness of your soul; the wealth
of wisdom, love and generosity
bestowed by you on those who cross your path,
should it be for a moment or a year.
Too close to see yourself, you'd think I'm daft
if I would tell you; you'd choose not to hear
the loving words of praise, be cracking wise
about senility, or loss of mind.
I shake my head. Pray that within my eyes
reflects a tiny glimmer of how kind
and gentle you have been when I've been lost;
how grateful am I that our paths did cross.
799 · Dec 2015
Mirror, mirror
Joel M Frye Dec 2015
Hot steamy shower
allows the words to simmer;
poem on steamed glass.
799 · May 2017
Don't Fear...
Joel M Frye May 2017
The Reaper may or may not be our friend,
depends on how much pain needs be reduced.
In time each one of us will meet our end;
we live as if we've not been introduced.
To Whom It May Concern:
When you've stared down the barrel long enough, you learn to ignore the vision...but you still listen for the click of the trigger.
799 · Aug 2014
I, yi, yi....
Joel M Frye Aug 2014
to be the first person,
singular
to write of
one's experience,
the essence of
life's own blood,
the pulse of people
coursing through
the constricted byways
of coronary cities,
the exclusive cancer
of cliques
voracious, feeding
on those around them,
to observe
humanity
with a certifiable,
clinical detachment
without use
of the interminable,
insufferable
first person
singular.
798 · Mar 2015
She's tied up right now....
Joel M Frye Mar 2015
teasing sweat
from every pore
of your body
you writhe against
invisible bonds
your limbs held
by my voice
and sensation alone
I will torture you
gently with sweetness
till you vibrate
and ring out
like a struck gong
796 · Apr 2015
Bear Food
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
General Tso, rice,
shrimp eggroll, two potstickers,
*** of jasmine tea.
NaPoWriMo day 12...slight case of burn-out setting in.  ;)
792 · Apr 2015
Hoc Ptu
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
I was known for an
operatic clear of throat;
a Flemish tenor.
What a Walloon....NaPoWriMo day 17.
787 · Feb 2011
Vaya con Dios
Joel M Frye Feb 2011
I can but reach a hand your way;
nothing says you have to take
it up.  It's all I have today,
but grab hold hard, for god's own sake.
That path I know; you've gone astray
and farther on, the going's rough.
Times like this I can but pray,
and pray that that will be enough.
It's the best anyone can do...
2-1-2011  JMF
786 · Apr 2015
57
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
57
Pawing through
the dusty box
of memories,
well-covered now
with a thinning coat
of gray hair.
Rummaging,
setting aside years
better suited
for a Goodwill bin.
A few keepers;
but must pare down
the hoarding
and prepare
to travel
light.
Another year creeps in on cats' paws....
786 · May 2011
Need...air...
Joel M Frye May 2011
To write is to breathe;
gasping for words to keep from
soul suffocation.
784 · Jan 2016
Entrepreneurship
Joel M Frye Jan 2016
Opened Frye's Paving
Company...specializing
in good intentions.
:-/
777 · Jan 2016
Controlled Burn
Joel M Frye Jan 2016
Can't see the pathways through the crush
as forest's canopy makes night;
an overgrowth of underbrush
prevents new sprouts from reaching light.
Some cleansing clearing is in store
creating space to feed new life
by burning down what heretofore
had nourished nature.  Now it's rife
with rotted stands of misshaped growth
untended, harboring disease.
I strike the match. The fire is both
destroyer, bringer of a peace;
the aftermath of smoldering soul
with ashen truths to make me whole.
775 · Apr 2015
Two Left Feet
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
The iambs in pentameter will dance across the page,
But in fourteeners limp along, with extra two feet left.
Once in another lifetime, writing sonnets was the rage,
The iambs in pentameter would dance across the page.

It seems the sonnet-writer now will only show his age
As more and more write free-verse, leaving formal poems bereft.
The iambs in pentameter will dance across the page,
But in fourteeners limp along, with extra two feet left.
NaPoWriMo day 3.  A fourteener triolet.
774 · Mar 2011
haiku 3.10
Joel M Frye Mar 2011
whispered aroma
of salt and oysters, perfume
of ocean mother.
767 · Mar 2016
Avalanche
Joel M Frye Mar 2016
Hard to say
where it begins.
A snowflake,
a step,
a voice...
too soft,
too small
for most
to notice.
One memory
cascades gently into
another, tumbling visions,
recherches du temps passe.
Gaining mass and momentum,
they still look beautiful and innocuous
from a distance, until you observe the trees
and boulders swept up into the blinding current

and it's upon you

and it fills your eyes your lungs
with suffocating whiteness
tossed about head over elbow
muffled tears on the desk

and if you're lucky

when the onslaught stops
you can dig out an air pocket
take a breath
burrow to the surface
and go on with your day.
I got a glimpse today, oh boy....
766 · Feb 2011
We are not blood
Joel M Frye Feb 2011
We are not blood, but blood we have become.
Not by way of rituals arcane,
but common trials on common trails we've run.
Spirit calls us both; we must stay sane
to aid our brothers, sisters on their way.
We may be relatives in law, by name;
we grow in kinship, stronger every day
the journey's shared. I'll tend the gentle flame
which lights your path, and shows me paths of peace
unseen, untrod by my unsteady feet.
And as you offer souls their pain's release,
you channel Spirit, make relief complete.
My spouse, your sister, made the crossroads where
our travels could merge close enough to share.
To Tammy, my sister-in-law and sister in arms.  Go as a channel of The Peace.
2-26-2011  JMF
763 · Jan 2016
Erosion
Joel M Frye Jan 2016
You
run your(selves)
foaming
over imperfect
jagged
boulders
water
healing, abrading,
breaking me
into round
handfuls of
careful heft,
scattered along
freshly carved
sandy bends
(where more
than a few are
said to have
struck gold),
waiting for
wanderers
to seek a stone
that fits
and skip it
onetwothreefourfivesixdang
across peaceful you
calming as we 
luxuriate,
spread out,
slow the flow
inevitable
inexorable
loss of us
both into
impassive
sea
For the peace-bringers in my life...thank you.
762 · Jul 2017
haiku 7.17.17
Joel M Frye Jul 2017
Sheet-metal thunder
rattles through bluest skies
and brightest sunshine
Welcome to Florida....
758 · Sep 2016
Family
Joel M Frye Sep 2016
How to find the words
for a feeling you've never had
and have always missed?
Joel M Frye Jan 2011
If I could reach your heaven with my language born in hell;
profound profanity to give to try and touch your soul.
Without intent to damp your light with darkness I know well,
come feel my leaden love that needs your hand to turn to gold.
Your laughter kindles comfort greater than these lines should tell
or I'll slip and whisper three small words too strong for you to hear.
So let your light and love shine in my solitary cell
that I perpetuate to keep from deafening your ears.
The highest virtue I could give from hunger I can't quell
distorts into a vice too base for you to comprehend.
To stave off soul's starvation: crumbs of thought on which I dwell;
the haunting consolation of your voice calling me friend.
Alone - with words alone expressing what I could dispel
if I could reach your heaven with my language born in hell.
Early poetry from my Poe era.
751 · May 2011
My touch of madness
Joel M Frye May 2011
Dissociative:
look over your own shoulder
as you live your life.
Also means always having a
poet around to talk to.
Tanka...tanka vurrry much.
748 · Apr 2011
haiku 3.31
Joel M Frye Apr 2011
Sky black as midnight;
wind screams in wild agony,
driven through houses.
A tornado touched down about 1/2 mile from my work yesterday; I pray never to see that kind of sky that closely again.
747 · Mar 2011
poetic reality
Joel M Frye Mar 2011
i walk a fine line
drawn between challenging read
and scrambled word-hash;
incomprehensible and
sharp-edged cutting clarity
746 · Mar 2015
Ivy is my hero
Joel M Frye Mar 2015
a tendril of tenderness
creeps up the fortress wall
undoing slowly years
crevasse by crevasse
rooted between rocks
lifting hungry leaves
toward a fecund feeding sun
strength in patience
striking no heavy blows
crumbling barriers
with subversive
embracing
love
746 · Apr 2011
Look deep into my lines....
Joel M Frye Apr 2011
we are who we'd most like to be
we are what we project
we see but what we want to see
the real becomes suspect

we read a life between the lines
that may/may not exist
confessional or fictional
the reader takes the risks

readers fall in love with words
and think they love the poet
the poet fills a fantasy
and rarely will they know it

the poet seeks a balance 'tween
their lives, their art, their craft
controlling readers' impulses
would drive most writers daft.

so if you think you know someone
by reading line or four
the romans have a line for you
it's "caveat emptor".
There's no group for doggerel, so poetry it is.
744 · Mar 2015
Guardian
Joel M Frye Mar 2015
My unrelenting guardian of the years,
to claw the scales of blindness from my eyes
won't spare the consequences of my fears.

Bankrupted soul, emotional arrears
will send me seeking you in anguished cry,
my unrelenting guardian of the years.

Removing self from lover's touch come near,
avoiding agony of being passed by
won't spare the consequences of my fears.

A draught of venom cloaked as cup that cheers
is snatched away before I drink it dry
by unrelenting guardian of the years.

The flaying of my own back, copious tears,
repeated penances all gone awry
won't spare the consequences of my fears.

When called upon for strength, he will appear;
should I refuse the help, he'll let me lie.
My unrelenting guardian of the years
won't spare the consequences of my fears.
743 · Dec 2014
Broken Poet
Joel M Frye Dec 2014
My focus shattered into fractals
without kaleidoscopic sense.
No sensual words, no image tactile
having meaning two days hence.
742 · Jan 2011
Kathie's Song
Joel M Frye Jan 2011
I would be content to be a constant star,
or better still, a constellation
shining brightly in your nighttime from afar;
a trusted guide, an inspiration.

Inner motivation pushed me from my place
and sent me hurtling through the skies,
chancing an encounter with your whirling grace
and the shining smiling of your eyes.

Now not driven, only being drawn to you
by planetary force - not gravity,
but stronger still - the sight of someone being true,
the steady pull of honesty.

Plunging, reckless, through your atmosphere of care,
drinking in your warmth until I glow
and burst - a billion blooming wishes everywhere -
too briefly, brightly burning as I go.

I have been condemned to be a shooting star,
one who deals in days and not forevers.
Time too short to catch enough of who you are
to last throughout a thousand nevers.
(c) 1985 Joel M. Frye
741 · Apr 2015
Round Brilliant
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
The table set,
the stars are aligned.
Each bezel refracting inward
girdling your soul with a halo of light.
Even lower facets form a temple,
a pavilion displaying the
elegance and focus of
the culet that
is you
.
NaPoWriMo day 9...a visual poem.
741 · Apr 2015
A Bitter Course
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
Another
brave soul
capitulates; here be
dragons.
Everyone
faces their
greatest
horror
in good time,
just so long as they
keep on
living.
Many like myself will
not be deterred,
opting to embark upon a
pilgrimage of pain.
Questioning what
remains in my
soul
thickens and sets
up my
very blood
with
xanthan gum.
You're next, o
zealous one.
NaPoWriMo day 10...an abecedarian poem.  Haven't felt this much like a contortionist since I wrote an acrostic.  ;)
738 · May 2011
First impressions
Joel M Frye May 2011
You walk across the restaurant, sit down
and fold your legs precisely so your dress
conceals the barest minimum.  Around
your shoulders, silkiest of wraps caress
one side, and wantonly slides off the other
to leave a naked arm spaghetti-strapped,
suggesting what might later be uncovered.
Your eyes meet mine, warm mysteries.  So apt
from what I know of you this point in time.
We speak of writing, theater, and Bach,
mingling voices, counterpoint sublime;
laughing undercurrents as we talk.
I want to say you needn't try so hard;
it hits me you're not trying...you just are.
732 · Feb 2016
Formal resignation
Joel M Frye Feb 2016
There is nothing left;
a voice without an echo.
Thanks to those who've read.
Just hopelessly out of touch.
732 · Apr 2015
Une nuit enchantée
Joel M Frye Apr 2015
Naked, moaning softly, bathed in sweat,
jaw agape and panting. Such a sight;
a perfect beauty I'll not soon forget.

Charming evening's prelude to a night
where passion grinds your voice to feral growl,
jaw agape and panting.  Such a sight.

The gentle purring now belies the howl
from shattering release that takes you whole
where passion grinds your voice to feral growl.

Your strong yet silken legs enfold my soul,
as you recover life from petit mort,
from shattering release that takes you whole.

No need to contemplate what's still in store,
I'll hold this waking dream until we sleep
as you recover life from petit mort.

Tomorrow's work and worries all will keep,
I'll hold this waking dream until I sleep.
Naked, moaning softly, bathed in sweat,
a perfect beauty I'll not soon forget.
NaPoWriMo day 16...a terzanelle.  Some dreams are still lovely after 30 years of mornings.
731 · Jan 2011
An artist (To Rusty)
Joel M Frye Jan 2011
An artist does not
just throw color around;
an artist layers, mixes,
blends tint upon tint,
          shade upon shade,
aware of the need to create depth.

Life needs depth.  Without depth,
without layering soul upon soul,
your thoughts on mine,
          my feelings upon yours,
life has no color;

black upon white,
with touches of gray
for added monotony.
729 · Mar 2016
Flicker
Joel M Frye Mar 2016
Some nights I sieve my
soul for a droplet of light
to know dark's not won.
729 · Mar 2011
Was a good night
Joel M Frye Mar 2011
A fleeting glimpse of who I was,
a second sight of youth regained
was paradise to blinded eyes;
a gift of passing time detained.
A shaggy bear with angel's voice
was how a critic once described
my work. Through age and not by choice,
the golden tone grew tarnished, bled
of grace and wings. Last night...last night;
the angel burst through graveled throat,
dipped, soared in unfettered flight
through every song and spot-on note.
Expressive, strong, no cracks or strain;
what joy it was to sing again.
I retired as a professional musician 5 years ago because I couldn't perform to my standards.  It's nice to meet them once in a while.
729 · Apr 2011
haiku 4.20
Joel M Frye Apr 2011
Clouds blot out sunshine,
believe they've ******* sun; he holds
ace of tomorrow.
728 · Sep 2016
poppet
Joel M Frye Sep 2016
She does not ask for much;
a piece of paper,
a few markers,
time, and a mind at peace.
Her patience is maddening.
Dot by dot,
fantasies form,
sprung from her forehead
fully grown and armed
with the colors she imagines.
Her gray eyes clouded
with concentration,
for every jab of her hand
must strike true,
a felt-tip Seurat.
Her life a study in pointillism, too;
each day filling in
an outline, dark and light
commingled, colored by
those who come and go,
the users and losers,
the bruisers and the healers.
Self-portraits abound;
the smiling face and glowing eyes
she will show the world
painted over the pain
she has known
from loss of blood
and faithless friends.

A word to the wise:
Though her unicorns and pegasi
are strikingly beautiful,

her demons can be quite real.
723 · Mar 2011
Cynic's Guide to Poetry
Joel M Frye Mar 2011
shattered hands, ribboned skin
blood-soaked, sliding down
the unforgiving edges
of ungraspable beauty
     keep on reaching, kid...
     that's what heaven's for
"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" - Robert Browning
723 · Jan 2011
Love Poem
Joel M Frye Jan 2011
I have offered to feed you my spirit
in exchange for a leash on your soul,
a moment of body to body
in half-hearted search to be whole.

You reach out, still tied to your freedom;
I cling and confuse it with care.
We honor the contract as written -
the other will always be there.

What price do I pay for pursuing
a love only I can perceive?
Pardon me as I pull the last ounce of
the flesh from the bones that still breathe.

What price do you pay to be lonely -
to avoid love yet need it so much
that you struggle to keep on embracing
the friendship that ends when we touch?

A delicate balance of wishes;
it's hard to tell losses from gains.
My prayer for a shift in my favor...
your hope that the balance remains.
(c) 1985 Joel M. Frye
717 · Feb 2011
Winter wonderland
Joel M Frye Feb 2011
What gently falls around me now
and settles soft upon my soul,
fleecy coats on autumn's boughs;
drifting, shifting, white and cold?

Deeper, deeper, piling high;
at least chest level at my door.
I dare not venture out, for I
might lose myself forevermore.

Each a crystal, each unique,
when multiplied by billions they
inundate my world with bleak
and heavy stillness. Children play
in brilliant sun and cloudless skies;
the blizzard blows behind my eyes.
2-9-2011 JMF
suitable for framing or stealing
716 · Nov 2016
No poem
Joel M Frye Nov 2016
if my words find no
melodious note
without accompaniment
then they are no poem

if they drop the chalice
meant to hold the last drop
of beautiful
then they are no poem

if they cannot feather in
the edges of madness
with strokes of reason
then they are no poem

if they gush unrestrained
and i cannot direct their flow
so they merely flood one's mind
then they are no poem

if they cannot pass
the judgement of their maker,
the Bosporus of his craft,
then they are no poem.
705 · Mar 2011
Little River
Joel M Frye Mar 2011
a piece of flotsam, tumbled, pounded
on the rocky river bank, she
scrambles, slipping off the rounded
mossy stones of misery
no purchase gained, no breath recovered,
no graceful saving branch nearby
just searing icy pain that hovers
circling, striking mercilessly

a passerby hears desperate pleading
sees her in above her head
as he wades in the flood's receding
settles back to riverbed
she's leaning, gasping, sobbing, asks
how'd you escape the undertow?
he said don't feed it power it lacks
let it flow and let it go
G'day, Kate....
3-8-2011  JMF
705 · Dec 2015
One universe over
Joel M Frye Dec 2015
exactly one day and a lifetime ago
you stood before me with your lips hung ajar
awaiting my kiss, with you eyes lidded low

at the age of eighteen how'd we possibly know
one moment could reach so impossibly far
exactly one day and a lifetime ago

if i knocked and walked in and recaptured the glow
of our love in your heart, it would not have been hard
awaiting my kiss with your eyes lidded low

one kiss in one heartbeat would alter the flow
of our lives, of our dreams, what we were, what we are
exactly one day and a lifetime ago

we meet again, smiling a pleasant hello
you lean in and offer a cheek from afar
awaiting my kiss, with your eyes lidded low

One universe over I kissed you, and so
you took my hand.  I drove you home in my car
exactly one day and a lifetime ago,
awaiting my kiss with your eyes lidded low.
What do I say?  In another universe, we've had a lifetime together.
704 · May 2011
Wellspring
Joel M Frye May 2011
My poet's eye is tired;
please, muse, raise my spirit to
Spirit...grant me life.
Next page