Jill - Hello Poetry

5d

Carlo C Gomez

aubade

delphinium migrant blue,
and into night
we follow,
toward the residue
of morning,
where there's no time
limit to grief.

you wake with
electric intervals,
something's wrong
with yesterday,
in your head are
galaxies like grains of salt,
and they fill up the sky.

these red metallic balloons,
that come to you
when you are ripped open,
whether it’s by pain
and heartache
or you’re falling in love,
these you can’t close
yourself off to.

but what you actually want
is to bypass them,
and try to reach that
dawn serenade,
which is floating
above them,
as if golden electric ribbons
which don’t
demand repayment.

#morning #romanticism #love #grief #daytime

5d

William A Gibson

Copper Cough Charm

~a jump-rope chant~

Black silk handkerchief,
what ya’ gonna’ hide?
A pox that knocks on the church’s side.
Preacher won’t preach where my daddy died.
Angel forgot which soul to guide.

Both arms wrapped in moccasin skin,
open the gate and let her in!
Snake-bone hag with watery eyes,
count to ten when the baby cries.

One for the moon,
and two for sin,
three for the teeth with the rusted grin.
Four for the girl with the copper cough,
dancin' in the attic with the light turned off.

Five, six,
skillet ticks.
Seven, eight,
shut the gate!
Nine, ten, count again—
bathe him slow and cool the skin.

held him close till the fever broke;
air curled white from pinewood smoke.
Chewed the haw and bit the sage,
wrapped his bottle in a bible page.

Ghost stood watch on the porch out back,
shadow thin and eyes coal-black.
Sayin', I’m fine, don’t mind the cold,
died last spring but ain’t been told.

a creole jump-rope chant, written as a companion piece to https://hellopoetry.com/poem/5130798/rusty-nails-brick-dust/

#jumpropechant #creole #southerngothic #hoodoo #fever #conjure #folkhorror #elegy #spell #lore

5d

Shay Caroline Simmons

Four Leaf Clover

Four leaf clover talk to me
Tell me how my luck will be

In the rain
I'm the girl
with the flower garland in her hair
I'm the ball
that someone
left dangerously on the stair

Four leaf clover talk to me
Tell me how my luck will be

In the fall
I'm the girl
with a jack-o-lantern for a face
I'm the book
on the bed
but I never think to mark my place

Four leaf clover talk to me
Tell me how my luck will be

In the night
I'm the girl
with a yellow candle burning bright
I'm the stray
in the road
watching all the passing pretty lights

Four leaf clover talk to me
Tell me how my luck will be

2025

5d

Shay Caroline Simmons

Arabesque

I am the spine of a book, pages open on either side.
I am steel rails down a valley that two greening hills divide.
I am the corpus callosum, of two minds in every thought.
Am I sleeping or here wakeful, one eye open, one eye not?

I am the nest with two birds calling, both the same but different still,
I disperse myself in potions, both the doctor and the ill.
I am the worm who grew two wings, one of blue and one of gold,
Meeting in the middle when in flight and when in fold.

2021

5d

Nat Lipstadt

The Concision

the briefness of brevity,
the quality of giving
and indeed, it is a-quality,
a luxury item so affordable,
yet, so totally, rarely purchased,

When
giving up the
requisite,
only the lonely, but
always the critical,
relevant or necessary
exquisite
in a few words

Let us practice:

I love you,

but only the very
first time, in a memory
bronzed and burnished,
putting to shame the way
too short modesty of
forever…

uttering a precious
precision of a soulful

thank you

to a passing
stranger, who runs
into your home afire,
saving all of your
family's lives

could go on, and on,
But that would not be,
A Concision,
instead,
a concession, to the

very few times in a day,
in the world's entirety,
when those are the words,
are only the only,
a sufficient holy,
a devout summary
spectacular,
akin, but only a
just, derivative of,
a sincerely uttered:

Thank You God^

nml

upon re-awakening
10/5/25
7:47 am flight

^
words I uttered upon
hearing a voice in my
head, saying it's good
enough, just send it,
with apologies to my favorite atheist

#concision #briefness #nml #nat #lipstadt

6d

You've Been Timetabled

HP Writers Spotlight: Pagan Paul

~
October 2025
HP Poet: Pagan Paul
Country: UK

Question 1: We warmly welcome you to the HP Spotlight, Paul. Please tell us about your background?

Pagan Paul: "I am from Bristol, England. I have always been a Free Spirit and never really settled into the society into which I was born. I am neuro-diverse. I am generally quite a shy and private person. I also write a little comedy and love listening to old comedy radio shows. I like cheese (especially vintage Chedder)."

Question 2: How long have you been writing poetry, and for how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry?

Pagan Paul: "I have been a member of HP since August 2016. I started writing poetry in around 2012, but not regularly. I think it was around 2015 I became more prolific and took it more seriously."

Question 3: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you).

Pagan Paul: "My inspiration comes from many sources. Nature, mental health, relationships, experiences, articles, books and my interests. But also from the mess that is my mind."

Question 4: What does poetry mean to you?

Pagan Paul: "What does poetry mean to me? Escape and expression for my creativity. Its a chance to write down things in a way that makes more sense to my neuro-diverse mind as well as to explore and experiment with ideas, concepts and imagination."

Question 5: Who are your favorite poets?

Pagan Paul: "I do not really read much in the way of classical poetry (Byron, Keats etc) but do tend to read some from ancient Greece and Rome like Callus, Praxilla, Virgil etc. I also tend towards the more abstract or psychedelic poetry of James Douglas Morrison. As mentioned I am a fan of comedy poetry by people like Spike Milligan, Henry Normal and Pam Ayers always raise a laugh."

Question 6: What other interests do you have?

Pagan Paul: "My main interest is music and the consumption thereof. I listen to a lot of different music from different genres. I have always regretted never learning an instrument or music theory. I also read a lot, especially with regard to the ancient world. The old myths and legends and folklore are also a source of inspiration for my poetry."

Carlo C. Gomez: “We would like to thank you Paul, we really appreciate you giving us the opportunity to get to know the person behind the poet! It is our pleasure to include you in this Spotlight series!”

Thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed coming to know Paul better. We most certainly did. It is our wish that these spotlights are helping everyone to further discover and appreciate their fellow poets. – Carlo C. Gomez

We will post Spotlight #33 in November!

~

Below are a few of Paul's most favorite poems and links to each one:

Moontouched:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/1756684/moontouched/

Judderwitch 2 (Monsters):
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/1923972/judderwitch-2-monsters/

Comfort Blanket:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2532170/comfort-blanket/

Night Train to Dawn:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3696368/night-train-to-dawn/

Pyramid Spell:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4839012/pyramid-spell/

Also the YouTube link below is for a video of Paul's poem 'For Hours of Time' (July 2023) set to music for solo violin and choir by American composer Sy Anderson.

https://youtu.be/mpGcrWHwb7g?si=5loGIGzfUcGVN7VN

#hellopoetry #spotlight #series #interview #2025 #poet #pagan #paul

6d

Carlo C Gomez

Time is a Different Animal

Once upon a time
There was more than enough time
To pony up
To horse around
To leap frog

Once upon a time
You could chicken out
Or worm your way in
You could cook your goose
And eat it too

Once upon a time
You could cry wolf
Or clam up
You could count sheep
Or tell a whale of a tale

You could get the monkey
Off your back
Then live high on the hog

But time has outfoxed us all
Nowadays time is on the lamb

#time #animals #satire #commentary #sarcasm #humor #metaphor