"enjoined" poems
some of us walk insistently,
instinctively, and instantly to
and upon the edged path,
this physical nexus & abstract mental locus,
a cliffside enticing rock strewn trail,
drawn of men, by men, for men
(yes, men are people too, still)
enthralling views,
down to the riverside,
where eyes intuit the
beauteous aroma of
precious precocious
precarious precipices
and the near-stench of
mortality
amidst
wafting scents of inane undesirable need,
hints of destruction, or,
alternating eager relief,
like a ****** infused, instant attractiveness,
making weakness in the knees, all too real,
trembling with a delicious accented edge of
a fresh, familiar scent, fresh baked bread,
an all enveloping consumption need now!
to
crave what we fear,
to fear what we crave
our cravings are craven,
this twisted sense, annuls
our common sensibility, yet,
titillates our pleasured imagined relief,
releases, our unsated, even better,
our insatiable curiosity to tremble,
an entire body enjoined by vibrato~
enticing tremulations, shaken and stirred,
this danger choice releases something primordial,
escape? a reckless wrecking so deeply designed,
it has its very own designation…death wish
multitudes of easy choices afforded my senses,
and by accident, all mine chosen, all nearby,
I travel the esplanade près de the East River,
where even if calm is the sole visiblilty,
undercurrents and the unpredictable passage
of container wakes and the larger freighters
will hand you down, so easy, to become parcel
to a littered river bottom of centuries’ artifacts
but even more tempting, the balcony,
a hop, skip and a jump unlocked,
mere ten steps, no need for a running start
why it’s the “height of convenience,”
he ruefully winces, and not even any
TSA lines or inconveniencing “conveniences”
Why this calamity seems so desperately desirable,
Why this unabrogated feat so featured, nay, even
feted in our hot? cold? bloodstream
“Why just men?
*I don't know,
Perhaps,
it is all I know.*”
Dec 5, 2023
Dec 5, 2023 at 5:42 PM UTC
romantic callings
spanish bayonet
dagger plant
adams needles
jealously guarding
with expansive labor
a plant nurturing
most startling to find
new life
from adjoining steps in
unbroken broken ladder
rocks then plants
animals finally us
dedicated partnership
from evolution's mist
simple pollen deliveries
flower unto flower
cells and eggs
carefully enjoined
in pistil cradle womb
symbiosis of light
awaiting birth of spring
plant and animal
mutually interrelating
humble
and most hidden
might we extract
insight for our time
nurturing our awareness
expanding sacred ladder
one spiritual step
recognizing now clearly
ladder becoming whole
guarding still nurturing
welcoming spring light
emulating and repeating
a yucca mother's pattern
stupendous birthing
young yuccamoths
her amazing
our enlightening
brood
(with appreciation for genesis 2:15,
and for advice from a real life
yucca momma)
May 16, 2012
May 16, 2012 at 6:14 PM UTC
my wedding photo hints of some foul play
of death, destruction lurking, looming 'round
as four have cracked or burrowed under ground
while two remain who yet have lived to stay
for two by two the years have counted them
who've left this picture someone has condemned
and neither they nor evil can be found
from left to clockwise tragedy has struck
this picture taken in 2004
a blissful wedding day with bliss in store
has seen no bliss yet only jet black luck
for two years is the pattern found within
as if installments paid for unknown sin
and two by two the years have taken more
2006 my brother passed too soon
at thirty this was not his time to go
from one disease a cure does not yet know
and from his loss we still are not immune
as one by one his organs fell asleep
until he too slipped through, we couldn't keep
and he was just a prelude to this show
2008 my grandpa, ninety-five
had lived a healthy, fruitful fulfilled life,
outlived even his loving doting wife
by eight years more the man remained alive
for two years of his grandson was berieved
whose name he often spoke of as he grieved
an old man overwhelmed with burdened strife
2010 the blissful pair had split
whose wedding day this picture to us bore
after six years her joy had been no more
explaining that my throne no longer fit
for i'd become a burden to her cause
and cut off, bleeding freely without gauze
i cannot find the life i had before
2012 my father's heart had failed,
in April he was saved but for a spell
until in May his heart one last time fell
despite all of our efforts as we railed
and as it were, a grandson he'd not see
a son of my wife's flesh enjoined to me
now how this pattern plays i cannot tell
the back row in the picture's marred complete
the front row bears the two that now remain
this pattern of two years i can't explain
but if continues more will see defeat
the clockwise movement left to right is done
now right to left the foreground move will run
2014 promises new stain
the next in line, my mother in two years
and two years after her my aunt is left
then i will be of everyone bereft
an orphan, fate fulfilling all my fears
by this 2016 none may laugh
but one, this silent chilling photograph
completing all my family's great theft
(C)2012, Christos Rigakos
Sep 24, 2012
Sep 24, 2012 at 2:10 PM UTC
Sorry your flowers are late
I purchased them each one and the color was representing the many individual friends a delightful blue
Iris was no other than S.P. when dark shadows gather as they sometimes do she is the bluing of
Beautiful contrast this rich blue spreads from point of origin to the eye engulfing all visible ranges a
Small but great blue lifts the very shadows up until the sun vanquishes them by golden light then the red
Hues embolden of richness many times it is spent but never squandered and its riches never diminish or
Disappear in friendships ever rewarding garment he endures R.P. Violet this friend this light was
Adorned in grave clothes to join her loved ones of all generations but her influence warmth and the
Kindness that cannot die lingers it wafts across fields it passes through airy open window you smile
Unknowingly because she is by your side and not ever more so than your birthday precious one her
Initials are N.V. yellow so rich it blushes the wind this shear fabric so light it waves as pure silk you were
Given this gift early in life its folds hold so much treasured moments grasses trees houses playful side
Walks a stream of memories that bind you in the same vase others have beheld your combined beauty
Of thought and action I.M… The green of a soldier is enjoined by the mist it drifts it has patterns truth
And faith walks within this creature that has stature her face calls the night bugler all is dispensed
Within her voice is the kindest authority to all duty is understood in its deepest meaning G.H.E. then we
Come to multicolored piece of finest art true this grandness walks by your side and more so in your
Heart vestures sown with silver in glowing gold if an ever the hair turn to silver the cold black of youth
Will tower into all sunsets and grand children will always bring rays of joy and laughter happy belated
birthday Roberta
Sep 2, 2012
Sep 2, 2012 at 1:07 PM UTC
When my wife’s great Aunt ‘Dora died
We received a strange bequest.
Not land or Gold or Mallomars
Just an ornate box, covered in dust.
Her will strictly enjoined us
from opening the box.
The sides had cryptic puzzles
That served it as strong locks
The box was rather gaudy
Carved from finest sandalwood
Inlaid with golden letters
a Greek would have understood.
We both took very seriously
The task to guard this prize
To keep this family heirloom
preserved from prying eyes..
Ten years it stood there in our room
An enigmatic guest
And often I would ponder it
while I was getting dressed.
Until one dark December day
In the Millennial year
Curiosity overcame my wife
And she succumbed, I fear.
My Darling, being curious,
Solved the riddles on the side
She was just prying up the lid
As I ran inside..
A disembodied Banshee screamed
The air was thick and red.
I rushed to close the box back up
in existential dread.
Still, the world seemed little changed
As I sequestered hope.
The radio said by 5-4
George Bush had won the vote
I think on all that’s happened since
As things have gone to Hell
****** wars in foreign lands
Discord at home as well.
Since then twin towers crashed and burned
And Wall Street did the same
Do you think it could be possible
Aunt Pandora’s Box shares blame?
May 12, 2013
May 12, 2013 at 3:11 PM UTC
I’m unevenly placed, skewed,
Strewn as if across a battlefield of green arching upwards
Into a firmament no kinder than the dirt below.
Glory; glory, triumph, and victory
Gallop through the head of the sweat-glossed, sandal-clad
With the fervor of an enjoined nation
Working
As
One.
What can be defined as the perfect cause?
What can be defined as just too much loss?
Nothing, no one, withstands the majesty
Of a waving, battle-torn flag, resting upon
The crest of a hill with grace gracing
Every
Single
Rip.
I can glaze over the different shades of red
That permeate the legacy we will all
Come to know as legend, as the workings of but
A tale, in some lands. Yet I know the secret, the wish
Hidden behind the untouched folds, the proud wishes
Between each enjoined thread, the ideals of a
Solitary people who with me, wish for a better
World
For
All.
One can only hope
We will be remembered.
Jan 13, 2017
Jan 13, 2017 at 8:58 AM UTC
Once upon a time,
The night of rendezvous with him
Went like the scent of daisies everliving.
Eyes...
Selectively rising to meet mine
Wearing meek and hesitant makeup
Concealing the flushed feelings
Towards one another.
Lips...
Enjoined to avoid bursts
Of cackles loving the latter's
Oblivion
Dissembling yet verifiable
Between us.
Alas, 'eternity' shall never persist
For this remains a pipe dream
Shackles of his indifferent family
His aura bipolar to mine
Alas.
Carpe Diem
A sole motivator
Diminishing the mirage of hopelessness
Flourishing his debonair charms
Spell bounded and cherished
Today.
The End
Far afield
The Story
Began to see daylight
Jan 18, 2014
Jan 18, 2014 at 1:55 PM UTC
.
Cloud covers the sky,
Flashes shimmer through,
Golden rims surrounding blue.
Your breath was lighted language
I could hardly breathe, nil airs,
The earth was smothered on highs,
My only breaths broke out into sighs.
Our breaths enjoined us once unto sun
For you, my deathly lad took all,
I look into wee, empty, cold heavens,
See shout out names of babes forsaken.
In heaven is a moon taking breaths away
Sep 5, 2016
Sep 5, 2016 at 11:01 AM UTC
Tied
as if woven:
an intricate lacing.
One thread
no more
than the other.
Separate,
each a single strand.
Enjoined,
a strong tapestry
of infinite beauty.
Its texture rich,
its hues brilliant;
Simplicity in its grace.
Try to explain....
...it unravels.
Never one easy thread.
Sep 22, 2013
Sep 22, 2013 at 2:56 AM UTC
So enjoined,
Across from me,
Two lovers,
recent college graduates,
seeking first career employment,
Conjoined, before interest,
One hundred and eighteen thousand dollars of student loan debt,
One twenty-nine year old Honda
Holding all their stuff
On a side street where we eat
I picking up the check, pray,
"God help them,
God help our nation."
Feb 4, 2012
Feb 4, 2012 at 12:39 AM UTC
The walls codify what the white-peaked vista
peeping out over teal seas, allowed to pasture--
somebody's transient, blooming, ranging thoughts.
A heart leaping, often imperceptible, both of the world
and of us,-- we need to pen the loved.
So our wants, they are already turning to concrete.
A path sprouts up from where you plant one foot,
lightly, on the green, ever-reaching growth of plants,
white cities climb outward, a garden of footsteps
from where the hill drank the sea and enjoined
that meeting with a rose, a temple.
Desire must be willing to want its own outcome, death.
We met on the ramparts of the new city of which
whole lives are built up to find. And now?
There are no ladders from top to bottom.
The sun just setting is just the same as a wild poppy,
hanging in the green whose outcrop already is beginning
to disassemble this stronghold back into hill and sea.
Apr 22, 2012
Apr 22, 2012 at 1:17 PM UTC
Vibrating Words
In our
speaking and hearing
words akin to solid things
oftentimes standing alone..
the weight of many nouns
fills our logic and comfort
our progress and pain
until now..?
new times demand
enjoined conversations..
resonances which reach
to levels obscure..
processes and verbs
waking sleeping nouns..
each word an experience
simple vibration
or nothing at all...?
Jan 8, 2013
Jan 8, 2013 at 11:15 AM UTC
Brushing past you
on the floor,
glancing quickly
to see you smile
your eyes light up
as do mine.
When I think of us
as we drank
from each other's eyes.
Our mouths enjoined
straining, as we dwell
in desire.
Distraught happiness.
Pained pleasures
as we drown,
slowly,
in one another.
Apr 2, 2010
Apr 2, 2010 at 4:30 AM UTC
two souls enjoined by God become one flesh,
no more are they a husband and a wife,
one body, all its capillaries meshed,
one heart, two lungs, one breath, one beating life,
oh, we are interwoven, every thread,
like lovers' fingers interlocked in time,
as slowly flesh cleaves unto flesh in bed,
we are but one alone, not yours, not mine,
though when from me you tear yourself away,
our tapestry becomes unraveled, cringe!
how is it you are whole still, as you say,
while I remain a curled and tattered fringe?
our love once fragranced every single breath,
now torn, it seems alone I bleed to death
(C)2010, Christos Rigakos
Mar 27, 2012
Mar 27, 2012 at 10:39 PM UTC
In a night so black
as ash, fingers of white marble climb
up in circles
along the edge of the bed.
The legs do not only carry body,
but also silver sparks of light where
hands are touching skin
and where the dark is enjoined to a second place.
Life will find new forms here -
Castings pain, sorrow. But also a joy
- molded in the color of copper -
is slowly getting contour.
Oct 15, 2013
Oct 15, 2013 at 9:40 AM UTC
love was the heart loud pounding in the ears,
and beating out the chest, it longed to be
enjoined unto another many years,
and these, the only things, it craved to see:
the goodness in one's heart, the gentle eyes,
a kindness radiating from one's soul,
a charity unspoken, undisguised,
it sought to join with such, becoming whole,
today love seeks the guile which one could say,
the suits of status, trinkets sparkling bright,
the methods of the wealthy plied by day,
virility cold practiced in the night,
oh, love, which once probed oceans wide and deep,
you've run aground upon a shallow reef
(C)2012, Christos Rigakos
May 4, 2012
May 4, 2012 at 10:14 AM UTC
Our bodies sway to the music,
twirling,
sliding,
hopping,
on the slick wooden floor.
Our hands clasped together,
in this melody,
our feet draws intricate patterns,
as beautiful as the galaxies
in the expanse
of the cosmos,
on the slick wooden floor.
Our hearts beat faster,
and faster,
blood rushing in
our veins,
our breath mists
as we feel our energies
ebb away.
Our bodies exposed
to each other,
caressing,
holding,
each fingertips,
embedded on our
heated skin.
Our bodies touching,
our hips swaying
to the music
as we dance on the
slick wooden floor.
Our sweat drops,
our clothes crumpling,
as we dance along
on the slick wooden floor.
Our senses tingles,
becoming sensitive,
to each other;
each touch,
each whispers,
each exhalation,
everything within us,
are enjoined.
We move
in sync
with the tempo
of the music,
on the
slick wooden floor.
The exhilaration
of this dance,
will forever
be remembered.
Dec 20, 2015
Dec 20, 2015 at 11:05 AM UTC
This love,
I have this love that was never suppose to be mine, it was suppose to be a treat to myself when i needed it time to time. But instead it turned into a jones and i needed my fix. You were not my regular cup of tea bt it was coo cause the the slower i sipped, the more i enjoined the taste. See how you got me hooked. That one night, turned into another and then it turned into days.
You see this love, that was never suppose to be mine, turned into something that i thought was gonna be a waste of time. But alittle faith and a little effort goes a long way. You see now you are my everything, i do, i never thought would cross my lips.
You see this love is real and its forever mine, if you know what i mean can i get a clap one time
Jun 5, 2016
Jun 5, 2016 at 1:29 AM UTC
Come into the presence or company of ~
..DAVAO
LATE MADAME "DOLLY " OF GENSAN N RD PAWNSHOP
HAVING A GREAT ADVICE
EXPAT OF BRITAIN
"WILLIAM WALLACE!
NOTREDAME WRITERS!
KOREAN MENTORS
WITH A PHRASES " MANG-MANG"
ENJOINED WITH GREATER COURSE
AM, ALWAYS BE ME!
FREEDOM IS SERVICE,
SO~ THUS FAITH!
Dec 20, 2023
Dec 20, 2023 at 11:47 AM UTC
Domino’s as their fingers,
the numbers
eating from the menu,
squares and rounds
enjoined but not sequential
In the Jazzy Cat Café
(tail curled in my mouth)
You weren't there
The sun had dried all the tomato’s,
I was calling you unanswered
missing the rythmn of your character, and
how you reached me with each impulsive smile
remembering earlier how...
we’d climbed eleven steps to your apartment,
and entered not really sure of where to next...
In another room;
(wooden floored)
was stored a blackboard menu,
a hostess said her welcome
in the way that Sultans sometimes spin
I asked for panini without the mayo
the waiter stirred the perrier
the singer sang without destination
and implied no journey
I heard her song and
watched her lips
missing
all the ways
that you might sing
MChallis © 2015
Jan 12, 2015
Jan 12, 2015 at 6:21 AM UTC
three years and the wild severed
her heart from mine—
and she told me that “the air
had the brittle scent of October”
dreams parallel dreams in the shortest of hours;
we listened together for the advent of rain,
for the unfurling of flowers.
time and time lost held the fragility of her eyes;
now woven, now frayed, her caress
wondered of the fabric that holds the current
of the world…of the crisp delicacy of
tomorrow.
“love is held only by the greyest of skies” softly i replied,
for i knew
that three years and the wild had enjoined
her heart to mine.
Jan 3, 2018
Jan 3, 2018 at 3:05 AM UTC
Oh, what is love if not but what it seems,
The chain that binds two hearts throughout the year,
And not merely a latch to hitch one's dreams,
Unhitching when the dreams no more seem near?
And what's a lover but a partner-soul,
Enjoined to share just one earthly abode?
Where one departs, it leaves an aching hole,
To which the other sings their bitter ode.
Yet often love's a means to reach one's end,
The other finds their love is not a wheel,
But merely woven fabric quick to rend,
When profit will not gain one's business deal.
Commitment is a promise carved in stone,
That lasts until the flesh departs from bone.
(C)2014, Christos Rigakos
Feb 19, 2014
Feb 19, 2014 at 11:55 PM UTC
Shall we all stand idly by as our country erodes
watching day to day as our freedom wanes
and our precious republic fades to nothing?
Have none the courage or foresight to care or fight?
Shall we sit back in idle content
as shackles are slowly forged around our ankles?
I say not! I say that this thing that we have,
this unique experiment called freedom,
is too great a thing to perish.
We are a nation of kings;
Every man born to rule what he can.
We, America, took the sovereignty of the monarchs
and then set their crowns upon the head of every citizen.
Shall we now give that crown back?
Shall we cede the freedom paid for in the blood of our ancestors?
I say not!
I say let the battle be enjoined!
Let the forces that work against us,
against freedom and liberty,
meet us on those bloodstained fields of freedom;
For we will fight and in this fight prevail.
Let us march towards those fields now,
with honor
for the many who have fallen there before us.
Let us take this sacred duty,
the protection of the freedom of all men,
and march toward our destiny.
We are all the new sons of liberty.
Mar 25, 2014
Mar 25, 2014 at 4:40 PM UTC
By: Cedric McClester
I don’t want to be
The devil’s advocate
But Carly Forina
In the aggregate
Looks like a demon
And better yet
She’d be a president
We’d live to regret
Donald Trump
Might have made a case
When he enjoined us
To look at that face
Who would elect her
And in any case
Her Hewlet Packard tenure
Was a disgrace
Anyone can provoke
Massive layoffs
Like a non-contender
For the playoffs
She says she’s a savior
Former employees scoff
It’s campaign rhetoric
She should knock off
I’ll give it to her
She’s very well spoken
But a business genius
She’s got to be joking
Which prompts me to ask
What has she been smoking
By the end of the race
She’ll clearly be broken
Cedric McClester, Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved.
Nov 11, 2015
Nov 11, 2015 at 1:37 PM UTC
you get the picture: a picturesque
fashion house analogy - the analogue
cue the sole identifier alleviation off analysis
with duo both character-and-narrator,
the analogue, the supposed it,
third party agglomerates -
to breed an analogue is
half the fathom rekindled to a pursuit;
nearing comparison is hardly
a comparison at all.
what love is given is what love
is governed, all other love is
a papier mâché -
for each twist and every turn,
a hum makes trebling feel a resonate
to encounter an arcane trill,
and via the Halloween analogue en-masked
thrill a devil's curb to mind that
the 20th american century was a foetus
of serial killers to plagiarise a recurrence
of death accompanied with their un-fulfilment;
most of 20th century culture was born
from american's outer reaching uttermost frontier
without a game of indians and cowboys,
and hey-halo-dimmed-asking the boys enjoined
for a skeleton alphabet -
clavicle through to vertebrae.
Apr 24, 2016
Apr 24, 2016 at 8:57 PM UTC