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23h · 111
on the footpath
Here sat on a kerb looking every which way
catching proverbial breath and recalibrating
my bearings from a longish journey - still
no longer longing for a telltale day now
pining away atop a window sill
shadowy sheets cover,
dark shining lips purse;
pointy ears ***** skyward
as corn stalks pondered
chanting scarecrows curse
in a sea of belly-up bream
6d · 53
Going, not gone
flaw-bearing retinue
fore-bearing revenue
insolent foreboding

load-bearing attitude
unyielding fortitude
latitudinal aspirations

Going on in unblemished grace
Onward with a freshness true
Its fullness eternally perfected
Newness spouting varied hues
Growing, all the while, giving chase
Nov 12 · 334
deck the halls
renseksderf Nov 12
As pumpkins rolled off from the scene,  
And Diwali lights snuffed out clean,  
Christmas came early,  
In a fashion so gnarly,  
Don't blame me, 'twasn't I that set up the tree!
renseksderf Nov 9
Lift your gaze, feel the fire in your soul,
Travel back to where your spirit thrived,
Relish the echoes that make you feel whole,
In every word, a pulse of life derived.

For in the silence of unwritten lines,
We find the truth that eternally shines.
renseksderf Nov 7
flush that goo away and open the windows wide,
allow those smells no place to hide!
Nov 6 · 37
if you please
renseksderf Nov 6
from this moment onward,
you will be my eyes, abroad:
so be on time and even earlier
envoi
Nov 6 · 195
learning to swim
renseksderf Nov 6
imagine your surprise

as you irrevocably realise

everything can be bought

and everyone has a price

what exquisite shock ensues

when you take off $ signs

unveil powers of exchange

and begin to live accordingly
¥£€$ whichever works in your locale
Nov 3 · 45
keloid rise
renseksderf Nov 3
Broken trust lingers,
keloids bloom on tender skin—
time’s sharp hand caresses.

Only mem’ries remain,
etched deep like ancient rivers—
heart learns forgiveness.

Light seeps through the cracks,
wounds become a part of me—
scars, my final strength.
haiku sequence
renseksderf Oct 31
An unlit candle,
a matchstick, waiting in vain—
neither will ignite,
unless one strikes the other,
shadows linger, dim and cold.
tanka
Oct 20 · 41
Lmrk2410aa
renseksderf Oct 20
A number's just a simple sign,
Yet deeper meanings intertwine.
Like scars that tell a tale,
Each figure's more than pale—
A life lived in each line, so divine!
Oct 15 · 32
a rude remorse
renseksderf Oct 15
Of the many things
that have been a regret
"putting down the pen"
has been most rude.
Oct 13 · 33
The Burden of Upgrades
renseksderf Oct 13
Not all upgrades are a welcome sight,
For many don’t enhance or truly prove;
Yet status quo might yield a different light,
When deemed "a waste of talent" in the groove.

More than past reckonings, a heavier weight,
Now seen as waste of space, of breath, of time.
A shift from promise to a darker fate,
As hopes once bright now seem to barely climb.

In shadows cast by others' sharp disdain,
The worth we carry fades beneath the strife,
Yet still, we yearn to break from this refrain,
To find our strength and reclaim what is Life.

So let not labels bind us in their thrall,
For within us all, a spark awaits the call.
Oct 12 · 25
A Familiar Stranger
renseksderf Oct 12
A barely audible creak greeted me
As I entered this still unfamiliar place.
His figure approached, step by step, slowly,
Aged and wizened, his steps marked with grace.

But for his slouch, he could be any man,
Now so much smaller than my childhood fear.
Not the monstrous terror of long ago,
A different presence, yet so close, so near.

There I stood, a deer caught in the light,
Shaking off the shadows of my fright,
In the haze of ill-served remembrance,
Realizing that I loved him all along,

A bond transformed by time’s gentle embrace,
From phantom fears to love's enduring song.
renseksderf Oct 11
In London’s solemn Poets’ Corner stands,
A stone of memories, carved by gentle hands.
Eighty-five years since its first debut,
Yet names were incomplete, a hidden rue.

Amidst the shadows of a war-torn night,
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne lost their light,
The dots above their names—a simple grace—
Forgotten in the haste, in that troubled space.

Sharon Wright, with keen and watchful eye,
Spotted the error, wondered why.
“Have they not earned this small tribute,
To mark their legacy, resolute?”

With a stonemason’s tap, the dots took form,
A celebration of sisters, in art reborn.
Painted with care, the correction shines,
Echoing the strength of their woven lines.

From Bradford’s heart, where their stories bloom,
Wright sought to banish the lingering gloom.
For every tale of love, loss, and strife,
Deserves to be honoured, enriched with life.

Now near Dickens and Austen, their names align,
In the warmth of remembrance, their spirits entwine.
Eighty-five years later, at last they belong,
A tribute to brilliance, a sweet, timeless song.
Oct 10 · 101
A Rare Edition
renseksderf Oct 10
In Kilmarnock's print, a treasure lies,
A first edition, where history sighs,
From eighteen eighty-six, its verses flow,
Robert Burns’ heart, in dialect aglow.

Poems Chiefly In The Scottish Dialect,
Whispers of love, and nature’s effect,
Expected to fetch a princely sum,
Fifty to sixty thousand—oh, how it’ll hum!

Once just six hundred, a modest start,
Three shillings it cost, a work of pure art,
Yet within a month, the copies all gone,
Burns' voice, like a lark, sung sweet at dawn.

“To A Mouse” and “The Twa Dogs” share,
Stories of life, in the Scottish air,
At twenty-seven, with passion he wrote,
A legacy penned in each heartfelt note.

Now just eighty-eight copies remain,
A glimpse of the past, a poet’s refrain,
As the auction approaches, the whispers grow loud,
For the magic of Burns, we all stand so proud.
Oct 8 · 86
be-lightedly
renseksderf Oct 8
being an unlit candle
an unlit match stick
will surely not suffice
neither the twain shall meet
unless you strike one
the other remains and
unless the lit shall kiss it
the other still abides
renseksderf Oct 6
Yesterday’s spoken word

Today’s unvoiced silence

Tomorrow’s welcomed regret

press Play and tap Mute

Flickering screen brings slumber.
npc: non-playing character
Oct 6 · 29
verse on a hill
renseksderf Oct 6
A known quantity bereft of quality;
a name of little beyond its letters,
by road’s shoulder perhaps guide

to openly weep a slippery *****
of once having known someone’s art
yet lay hold naught of their heart

eternally flowing river of kindnesses
shall meander, thoughts ever caress
even when words and faces now drift

a familiar feeling remains here still
years invested this regenerating gift
lines and verse ever ascend that hill
Oct 2 · 140
dream slices
renseksderf Oct 2
once nimble fingers
grasp at lithe reeds
as they slip and dance
in a breeze’s lullaby
ever present companions
as days turn into nights
Oct 2 · 38
Look out tomorrow
renseksderf Oct 2
The mailbox is usually empty
What with the P.O. Box and
social media, emails, SMS
all so many differing ways
to keep ourselves in touch.
But this day’s walk down the
drive had changed the day!
A notice arrived, in paper
from hospital’s renal unit.
This path may lead clear
or perhaps to dialysis or
even a kidney transplant.
So look out, Tomorrow
quite surely here we come.
Sep 30 · 37
by fiction of pen
renseksderf Sep 30
fictionalising that pain
only in writer’s quill remain
inkwell daily welling over
one that never need run dry
on pristine sheets shall ever cry
there a field blanketed in clover
under pregnant sky contain
descends yon seasonal rain
there be legal entities by fiction of law and there too literary entities by fiction of pen
Sep 29 · 188
mail carrier’s bill
renseksderf Sep 29
leeward of a lean-to hill
iambic cadence thrill
amber flecked lemonade
morsels don pleated frill
bring on tend’rest brocade
while at windward dale
wizened cheeks go pale
Why do we always mess with the postman?!
Sep 28 · 181
rue the hay
renseksderf Sep 28
all have gone far and wide
there, a fair distance away
where no eye spy nor stray
only hindsight dare confide
even sproutlings coy in Spring
no fresh joys will they bring
still from Sun, buds cannot hide
Sep 10 · 52
summer fête
renseksderf Sep 10
just like open sunlit skies above
which kept our days ever bright
whose bare-all gaze shoved us
to sanctuary from blistering glare

we always kept our shadows in sight

tents and those world tree ash boughs
carried us to roman candles of night
matsuri: our own non-roman holiday --
summer may be gone but these remain
Jun 8 · 85
sea sponge fraying
renseksderf Jun 8
by the sea face in face
a child’s visage open
fraught in fear, freedom and friendship
predators, salt, sand
waves crash, rocks cut
chest crushing breaths
from watery garden sea sponge plucked
beside shells and stones
by a farcical display
feigning, fawning, flaunting: fearful now
petulant sand in shoe
soaks nothing better
no return, no exchange
Jun 7 · 162
piano old
renseksderf Jun 7
frost laced teeth of cracked leather
course through bare back thighs
frigid sheen of yellowed ivory
caress tentative fingertips
nose, cheek and ear
incline then enquire
old smell, old sound
ancient piano sing
Feb 18 · 151
long distance for now
renseksderf Feb 18
Three years, three months and three days
Perhaps it’s a random amount of time
But in three hours this flight will take off
Gotta take three minutes to freshen up
And look away for for three seconds
No worrying now about free pushbacks
Let’s put up memories with thumbtacks
All adds up in life’s measured advances
Feb 14 · 82
rosy cheeked
renseksderf Feb 14
why are you so easy
to be walk passed
but then so difficult
to completely forget

a cattle brand that
sears waking memory
scathes dreams of night
what remains of you

are rumpled bed-
clothes at sun-up
and crumpled sheets
on litter-strewn desk
Feb 13 · 66
think of them
renseksderf Feb 13
give up shallying; on finding and sharing
what could be thought of as inner beauty
when these hirsute thoughts bristle again
berating what little of self regard remains
it’s but an exaggeration to point out hate
when clearly it wasn’t my poem but myself
that lay on literature’s butcher-block altar
Feb 12 · 70
think of you
renseksderf Feb 12
for whom threadbare scraps
are treasures under your table
deserts, ever undulated dunes

in picture-book perfect gales

stripping away like sandpaper
perhaps the sting of salt rain
shall sterilize this wanting within
Feb 11 · 91
think of me
renseksderf Feb 11
think of me, of us, some time
bandying of thoughts will do
let them sidle up close to you
just as we did not so long ago

then come and gaze again at

the light residing in my eyes
then tell me if your reflection
shines with crystalline truth
some time, think of us, of me
Jan 4 · 332
a lonely light
renseksderf Jan 4
a lonely light
shall be the only
one to shine upon
a poorly lit spot
until its image
reveals a well
hidden spark
Nov 2023 · 360
Autumn coffee run
renseksderf Nov 2023
Right in front of the koban
Star-B’s cramp and crammed
Not for the presently starving
Perhaps not or the Summer
With its heat reflecting tiles
Where else is boxed contentment?
But where it’s found in a moment.
*koban = police box/kiosk/stall
Star-B’s = Starbucks Café
box = bento = compartmentalisation
Nov 2023 · 82
Not in November
renseksderf Nov 2023
Here again, there again;
Staring at an empty page
Like a wait for a balloon 🎈
To pop 💥 as it rises high
Up it goes into the sky ☁️
In the end we won’t find
Out, nor shall we ever -
Never been that clever.
Nov 2023 · 102
perspicuity
renseksderf Nov 2023
Hello
PeOple of the once
EThereal metamoRph
Your moment has now
arrived; PERiwinkle
adornments on your
china on display,
SPecific to table placements
ICarian silhouettes on
placemats, UnIcorn-lined
doilies in conTrast Yell
out: 'perspicacity.'
Your aid and companionability
see us through it all.
published elsewhere in 2020
Nov 2023 · 166
recital
renseksderf Nov 2023
Ribald footprints

of a silent, brooding zitar

rendezvous with an ebbing tide

recalcitrant thoughts wash away

along this sandy shoal.
throwback online poetry
Oct 2023 · 715
absinthian reveries
renseksderf Oct 2023
from misty stupor

faceless sentinels are roused

absinthian rev’ries
Oct 2023 · 95
cemetery
renseksderf Oct 2023
Entering through resplendent gates,
to where countless dead seek final rest,
and those alive muse the touch of soil:

Where commemorating stones are monumental;
a reminder to all creatures that waste away
in vessels that perish beneath a hundred years.

Where manicured gardens court Repose
whose silence disturbed by a lazy breeze
interrupts one's meditation.
throwback Ocdtober
Mar 2023 · 153
stairs
renseksderf Mar 2023
though stairs above, unlit
well at each landing glows
where spiralled shadows fly
its bridge curtails its distance

through yearning measured steps
their creaking shrugs off decay
Mar 2023 · 149
going, not gone
renseksderf Mar 2023
flaw bearing retinue
fore bearing revenue
insolent foreboding

load-bearing attitude
unyielding fortitude
latitudinal aspirations

Going on in unblemished grace
Onward with a freshness true
Its fullness eternally perfected
Newness spouting varied hues
Growing all the while giving chase
Feb 2023 · 520
star signed
renseksderf Feb 2023
somewhere overhead
the smaller bear sits
my constant companion

whose trajectory lights up
carries forward my story arc
brings us our own constellation

revolving as sundial shadows
in the darkened doorways
will always ever be in transit
Feb 2023 · 167
more than counting sheep
renseksderf Feb 2023
it's quite sad, so sad

when afterthoughts don't count

lopsided in the mind



where fore thoughts do abound

it's like gazing intently

at those flat rainbow lollipops



what spins you round and round

emptying memories we've had

and new thoughts find
Feb 2023 · 134
hidden valentine
renseksderf Feb 2023
Valens, you are esteemed worthy,
at the Via Flaminia you lay:
Valentinus offered up in faith.
Your deeds aren't known in our day.

In this life you wed young couples;
an act the Emperor would not permit.
And though your grace the monarch received,
your execution he did transmit.

Alas, with clubs and stones they came,
challenged by your fortitude great;
whose blows did not complete the deed -
your head severed at Flaminian's Gate.

These days we celebrate Valentine,
dedicate and plan for those we love;
oblivious to how it all began-
the depth of love known only Above.
Feb 2023 · 158
tongue in cheek
renseksderf Feb 2023
enough of you
and all of me

before letting go
this consider--
once posted, one
may thus wonder
is there a reader at the other end of this poem?
oh, sure there is

but the privilege
of knowing their thought process and journey
is theirs to keep
or to you share
at their behest
so now let’s see

enough from me
and now to you
Feb 2023 · 415
pinch and a punch
renseksderf Feb 2023
on the first day of the month
we flipped all calendars in sight
and one on the sitting room wall
brought but a moment’s flicker
as the floral display exchanged
my dad’s now absent voice replayed
his botanic wit and joy displayed
what then was a random comment
during our regular video calls
but now no longer to be so
in another couple of months
shall mark the first year of his passing
a pinch it was of a fond memory
a punch in the gut of new reality
Jan 2023 · 217
basted glow
renseksderf Jan 2023
droplets of honey--
your words varnish
my waking mind,
coaxing me to
leave all, behind

gone, but ever remaining
never learning
held, ever close but
never belonging
cradled light - metaphed demise

on a spring morning
melting, paraffin wax;
now a shadow of a
hand, held tight
in the deep of night
Jan 2023 · 101
aubade (2023)
renseksderf Jan 2023
in the finality of this hour
as all of this shall disappear
while these broken words become clear
our dearest thoughts bloom like a flower
having been watered by many a tear
fear is but momentary, please don’t cower
spare a thought, plant seeds of good cheer
peer at what still may be for us here
so through ensuing years our hearts steer
as the first streaks of the year tendril through our awareness...
Dec 2022 · 163
Am I not your cup of tea?
renseksderf Dec 2022
I may not be

your cup of tea

but I am your

bottle of *** --

most definitely...

so ease up that grip:

Stop strangling my neck.



Let My liquid conflagration

scorch your lying condescension

again and again and again.... without fail.



If you but remember to be true

to what lurks deep within you

I will assail your doubts

And numb their fight,

Send insanity to flight.

No, I am not your cup of tea!

And more's the better for me!
to be taken with a grain of salt, although it isn't tequila..., no slice of lemon required...
renseksderf Dec 2022
an orange sat contentedly
or so it seemed to a quick eye
its skin glowed invitingly
reflected table top sheen
only to bring a belated sigh
when all at once it rolled
and rushed and crashed
on a cold polished marble floor
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