Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
Nat Lipstadt Aug 2024
~ for spygrandson ~

with deep affection


https://hellopoetry.com/spysgrandson/


<>

I am en~titled
by him,
commissioned by his exacting wording
of this poem’s titular naming,
all my previous attempts are failures,
over designed, too artistic
for his modest self~reckoning &
bearded demeanor,
they demanded
denial with
request for
simplicity of an unflowery
reckoning,
a clean shave,
so to speak…



a potholder of simple design,
a modest picture self-drawn,
but his stories are
sorties tall,
he draws you in, worthy draftsman sketches
of words, tales short, poems complete,
tales so sweet, of characters uniquely complete,
and you think,
can they not be fictional?

and you know they’re no such thing,
ok, maybe,
some taller and a few perhaps dreamed,
the big characters of those
giants of simple men,
whose deeds were not mythical,
ok, almost mythical…

but truth of the humans of the hammered and nailed tough skin,
who built homesteads in the
plain, in mountains, by rivers that snaked,
unmapped,
except on their hearts and feet

the humans,
that made up
the raw & naked bond holders of
these United States:
bonded by character to the soil and
its curvaceous dancing topography
from
& of the center of our country,
but with eyes keen enough
to stretch from
coast to coast,
to see to shining seas

yes, true,
the grandson be he
to/of an almost mythical man,
and so took thus
his penned name,
the grandfather, a real person
of whom stories are yet told,
for no one can be sure
that & of what deeds
this spy did,
on hostile, unfamiliar,
continents,
but the photographic proofs,
I have seen…

His blood thickened by many infusions,
a cross cultural experiment,
happily not unique,
just **** rare

but enough of this;
read him,
let his
tongue take you to
the unfamiliar,
a literary Ansel Adams,
who never saw the plain(s) men & women,
unworthy of being forgotten but
forever being
celebrated


ask him for a potpourri of his short stories
of war, the bonds that men forge in combat,
tween the dead that still live on and
the living,
who have unreadable dead spots within,
they carry their dying glances,
their dying wishes,
and who are honored by him
in his continuing recollections

with walking stick in hand,
even if going outside
to “just” measure the snowy depths,
he leave markers and trailers,
for us to recall how to weep,
from love and pain,
from following generations of his
beautiful blonde
children who are poster models for
the traditional all american imagery,
but thriving within,
with  his
wanderlust, his mixed fiery visions,
and acting, singing out dramas
befitting their inherited
visions…

<>
here
I cease,
here
I weep,
at the impoverished words
scrivened in haste,
through tears of pleasure
intended to give honor
to this man,
who cedes me the pleasure of his existence,
and enhances my world
when he asks me,
unwittingly commissions!
a poem,
about
the human character,
who see himself unusually!
“as a potholder with a simple design”
and as usual,

I fail miserable…
maybe,
nick the outer edge of a bullseye target,
because the important words that he deserves,
I have not yet mentioned:

honor, loving kindness and friend.

perhaps he is correct,
but doesn’t grasp
that without simple men like him
to hold the *** upright and firm,
we all would be lesser or
even lost.


maybe,
now I am one
with
done
Nat Lipstadt my poetry is there. It just took a year to get my password reset to me. This should be the link:

Nat Lipstadt my poetry is there. It just took a year to get my password reset to me. This should be the link:
https://hellopoetry.com/spysgrandson/


sat 8/24/2024
5:20pm

written in a one fell swoop,,
hat in hand,
bowing low to reflect my deep respect,
listen to my grandchildren fuss, fight, whine and
laugh,
for that is the mixture of our
own individual humanity
Nat Lipstadt Aug 2024
all evolutions,
revolutions
to absolution
by liquid?

can we drive always away away away
our sins that are burnt into our
skin?

Without the spillage of a
witness of wetness?

is my own sweat insufficient?

product of sunrise and rays
testing the body’s hydration,
my words beckon to reckon
to emerge,
purge my seditious  sins,
my owned dissolution,
with false, half hearted acts
of contrivance contrition?

Why are
my daily confessions,
halved by inability
to give myself up a
full~on
fullsomeness,
but words available,
censored by a stub of
unwillingness
to embarrass
what little honor
left in my shrinking
possession

I am guilty of ******.

this act of admission
is legally insufficient
to sustain even
sky painted clouds
to cease moving,
there, it’s sad said,
and i breathe no easier
only comfortable that my
shame is openly accounted
for by you, my jurors…
  Aug 2024 Nat Lipstadt
Anais Vionet
The old poets haunt me
they taunt me from the shadows
following every keystroke I type -
they’re critical of phrases,
they demand narrower themes
and mock the very clichés they invented.

I remind these frightful spirits of how tenuous
life was, how I’m blindly living these experiences,
how prevalent desire is, how human it is to chase
the things we’re told will fulfill us, like goals and love.

I try and explain this Internet thing,
how the more copious my writings,
the more people it says are following me.
How I really don’t want to sound paranoid
but as hard as I try - I don’t see anyone.
.
.
Song for this:
Too Much Time On My Hands by Styx
Reelin' In The Years by Steely Dan
BLT Merriam Webster word of the day challenge 08.17.24:
Copious = plentiful, numerous, abundant
  Aug 2024 Nat Lipstadt
CJ Sutherland
From dust we are born and
to dust we shall return

Born in diapers
And in diapers.
We shall return

However, that’s not
Even our biggest concern
We learn to rationalize,
Soon it’ll be our turn

However that’s not the
worst of what is to come
Memory loss, the ultimate cost
Dementia, Senility, Alzheimer’s

True it doesn’t happen to all, Just some
Who answers the call
However evidently nobody
will know their outcome

Add in a myriad of
other ailments for good measure
The word “walk” at your own leisure  
has a new meaning it’s rather demeaning

Each person’s, inevitable fate
Life’s journey Check Mate
We learn to slow our gate
turn another page life’s gage

Yes we celebrate OLD AGE Ironic, plutonic
Chronic, crate paper crinkles like her skin
Beautiful hands now liver spots wrinkle
and black balloons they think that’s funny. Oh don’t fret honey. Just the Young ins  

They don’t understand
What it means to have a good day
No significant illness’ to speak of today
Why do we celebrate so many ask
Living with ailments, is a laborious task

We celebrate;
The life we’ve livedThe love we give
The things we’ve seen places we’ve been
The people we’ve known death shown

The things we’ve done While having fun
In our prime, another day another time
We were bigger than life, 10 feet tall
Even the gladiators eventually fall

Nobody ever ages gracefully  
Most Fight it every step of the way
The Golden years worldly and wise
We shrink before our very eyes
Our skin wrinkles sagging
The immense pain ever nagging

The wonders of age and getting old.
A word of the wise don’t believe the lies
It’s not for the weak meek its for the bold
I will age gracefully I’ll never be too old
I have the propensity for living life large

Even knowing
Sickness will bring  us to our knees
“The JUICE  is worth the squeeze”

Inspired song
1) Grandma‘s hands by Bill Withers
BLT Webster’s Word of the Day challenge
Propensity8-20-24
Propensity often intense, natural inclination, tendency, Appiness. Usually irresistible inclination, example propensity for the inability of risk.
Does anyone ever notice the older you get the  term old changes.. I remember at the age of 10 I thought 20 was old. At the age of 30 I thought 50 was old now it’s 63. I think it is old. Interesting that Worker moves. age is a relative concept you’re as young as you feel keep it real
Nat Lipstadt Aug 2024
“ When it comes to theology, philosophy
and the mystery of human relationships,
not knowing is a value I cherish.
But now, with so many lives at stake,
I’m finding it excruciating.
Jay Michaelson
February 23, 2024

<>
Certainty,
h a s
certainly transmogrified
into
delusion.

the irony is neither lost nor found,
but it is profound.

when  the delusional,
are certitudinal,
what is criminal
is
logical explicable,
because it's explainable.

I know
you know
what
I know,
and I
am certifiably
certain
you will
agree.

only the delusional
now
believe
certitude
is decipherable & deliverable,
ain’t that just
crazy
Next page