"saddles" poems
mirrored fly-glass
and polished chrome
are tinted
in the blood orange dawn
running dogs of lummi
hush quiet
on this celestial
summer morn
clubman bars
and tan saddles
strapped to
the lowered hind
skull caps
and fitted chaps
for the open flow
and rich peripheral scene
concessions at the peace arch
(from the blue-coat fuzz)
black *****
and maples
cake the bow hill
and chuckanut
choppers launch
at edison
(with their metal fleck
and tuft)
a half moon rises
on the concho
and interstellar cross
cinnamon gulls
and ravens
scour the netted docks
warlock driftwood
and row homes
spot the winding
coastal roads
rumbling sounds
at the packer slew ~
with the redolence
of briny bay
alive
on the overlook
at fairhaven
Nov 18, 2017
Nov 18, 2017 at 5:55 PM UTC
I have secret skeletons
That haven't seen the Sun
From things supposedly fun
Now all they do is make me run
Skeletons exit my closet
And enter my jury box
All of whom I've met
Then put behind locks
Now they throw rocks
Or find ways to mock
They are ruthless
Until I'm toothless
I face a skeleton jury
I face the skeletons' fury
They seek vengeance
Or perhaps repentance
I play lawyer in my mind
This job has become full time
And I must laboriously linger
Through skeleton stingers
Until my mind is rattled
By skeleton saddles
They come from my past
To shatter my glass
The skeletons are attacking
My bones are cracking
Under their weight
They are my freight
They judge me
And begrudge me
I made many moronic mistakes
I left laying at the bottom of lakes
Now they are at the surface
Of my fruitless furnace
Skeletons remain
Like a stain
I look across the plain
To see skeletal rain
Precipitated by my dumb decisions
Droplets make numerous incisions
Each one callously cutting me to the bone
Until the skeleton jury is my humble home
Oct 27, 2017
Oct 27, 2017 at 4:41 AM UTC
Alta cocina in Cochabamba for eight,
It’s llama for lunch accompanied by
An Andean black rice which I find
Is quinola, which is easy to like if
You are already committed to llama.
This llama for lunch in Paprika, is good
I wonder if gauchos lasso them from two
Meters, at least, to ensure, they don’t spit
This is why Blazing Saddles used cows,
Makes the movie more macho methinks.
Mar 6, 2014
Mar 6, 2014 at 5:34 AM UTC
crisp atmosphere, special ordered
for perfect pumpkin patching, apple picking,
stout sweaters all, a blueish autumnal sky,
orange 'n red leaves delivered on time
the old uber-man-grand-pa,
hired as a day driver,
saddles them up,
three generations all tucked in a
repeating mise en scène
a replay of some thirty years earlier,
when the now-father
was about the same age,
as his boy, three years aged
and yet so impatient
asking the same question
his father perfected,
in the same sweet voice,
at about the same time,
in the same way,
a little voice from deep in
the cavernous back seat,
sighing, squeaking with an
I've-seen-it-all ennui,
some mere five minutes into
the hour's plus journey
to the 'country' bound
"are we there yet?"
titters 'n snickers from assorted adults,
but grandpa weeps words with composition instant,
so many answers to such an important question,
so serious that an admission, confession
required, due you,
grandpa still asks the same question
every day of his life
it's Sunday and longish poems per Yeoman,
strictly verboten,
God knows there's an essay unwritten
as the answer, a symphonette with
a thousand opus, by-your-command repertoire,
a pumpkin for every patch,
some answers that even may be a
young prince's carriage in hiding
but for now let this suffice,
sometimes yes, sometimes no,
and sometimes, the goal line just goes and moves on ya
so with utmost seriousness
a purposed thoughtfulness proposed,
posing said inquiry knows no age limitation,
if you have not asked of yourself this day,
"are we there yet?”
then the answer is surely,
not yet
Oct 16, 2016
Oct 16, 2016 at 5:14 PM UTC
Gold and silver battle *****
torn from swords saddles and crosses
lying beneath a farmer's field
tributes to kings and bellicose gods.
Fierce birds of prey snakes fish and bears
framed in filigree geometry
guarded warriors' savage souls.
No mercy in Mercia.
Archeologists anthropologists
historians librarians
curators and consertvators
collect confer and classify
while I just try to connect.
Jun 26, 2015
Jun 26, 2015 at 6:19 AM UTC
birches and tastsy jerky wood. resin in the immediate shubbary.... and dust and cobwwebs growing adjacent to the jerky wood. Myraid of birds, ranging from small birch-types to crows. A lingering dominant hawk. A giant possum crossing between borders carrying unborn infants. Dusty walls with abandonded spiderwebs- insect carcassases dangling, still. Pool motors revving in every direction lets of a subtle hum that compliments the planes descending and ascending oer-head
the water is grainy yet cool and healing. the sprinklers function at midnight and sometimes on the weekend. Maintinance trucks, expensive commuter vehicals, modest vehicls, unmanned vehicles, arrowhead trucks, macdonalds trucks, safeway trucks....
the earth is still wheaty and chalky adjacent the jerky trees, the jerky trees have little hairs and appetizing off red color, the bark saddles off with grace and with a satisfying tare.
Jul 18, 2018
Jul 18, 2018 at 6:24 PM UTC
The loneliest librarian is in the
heart of darkness
I saw him, old, bearded
on three sides book cases
on the open side, a desk
he faces outward into the darkness
drawing notes at their best.
Look away! in the distance
an army and her generals gather
Up ahead, a conqueror
metal jangles, saddles horse
Cries the pony boy:
I miss my mother
let me go back
what does this all mean?
Studying now, the librarian,
notes in check, own pen
scratching, no metals
only and only
his mind and an ink-filled well
Spearhead, arrowhead formation
a king and his khanate lean forward
into the permafrost, snow lashing
wind blows against but cannot stop
fierce wild will
and only the willows weep
Cries the pony boy:
Radically, may I be afraid
of the dead, arms asunder
so much love! so much love!
what does this all mean?
And far, far ahead of this army
librarian sits, silently
loving nothing, everything beside him
he scribbles notes
A love letter? tiresome if so
upon closer inspection...
At the center of the dark dark forest
where a lonely man rides in his kayak
lantern fixed upon a frame, making his boat top-heavy
he bobs back and forth across his body of water
he is haunted
he is lonely
he is a skeleton
Now grand general crosses the Styx
Ice clumps brushing gently against his ships
cold enough to **** a horse, set blood aglow
with blue, so cold it could not rot.
To valley forge!
to valley forge
to forge a future.
And pony boy cries:
What does it mean?
my father is gone, gone before this war,
he once said, it must be, be,
Did he mean...
Finally, up ahead, the librarian draws
untraceable lines, he knows the army is at his door
lonely, shaking, only the conqueror made it
and he is almost dead too.
Scared, sacredly, he finally hands the librarian his match
and sobs, softly, under breath
"Time, time is, time without,
time too
starts anew."
Dec 16, 2013
Dec 16, 2013 at 12:42 AM UTC
I think we're going extinct
I hate to even blink
...
I remember when we were in sync
But things changed
We will act strange over change
Being caged and attached by chains is voguish
Are we hopeless?
Why can we polish our pinky rings
But leave rust on our linkage chains?
Our words don't bond anymore
Our words are shackles
Our words are like crooked spurs
And unbalanced saddles
Yeah It travels
But lies are to be told
Only to smear what we really withhold
I think that we're going extinct
I hate to blink
As my eye lids flicker
More and more existence spills from our mankind
Man-kind
We're turning into the kind of men
Who emotionally melts when we see celebrities
Where's our rectitude?
I think we're going extinct
I hate to blink
Where's my natural woman?
Every time I twitch
More and more she accepts the word *****
And in no time a guy can become exposed to her hips
Where's our morality?
Are we going to expire
All because we create our entire empire with desires?
Desires and thirst that require us to hurt
We smile and we smirk
We loath from good work
We poke at nerves
We drown our minds to swerve
We absorb potion
Only to tranquil our motion
We indulge in copulation
With a stranger
But somehow for consolation
...
We are endangered
We are a few more trends away from complete annihilation
Eradication
Liquidation
Obliteration
Cancellation
Our tendencies are cancerous and if we keep being patient
We will need medication
I don't feel any radiation
To not become subject to our decimation
I think we're going extinct
My instincts tell me that
Though we're a percentage and a contributor to this nation
We are approaching ruination
My instinct senses that I am one of the few who mentions devastation
And if I blink one more time
And if we keep wasting time
We'll be wastage
We
You and I
We'll be ejected from the race
And they'll use a prosthetic ethnic affiliation for our replacement
Can we come together with cooperation
Resisting this operation
May we all stand up
Before they go through with this amputation !
Blink
Lets see
Aug 10, 2013
Aug 10, 2013 at 5:55 AM UTC
If I decided to peal paint off the upside-down radiator
for eternity,
I wonder if you would sit beside me
reading Wallace Stevens.
If I decided to nurse the convent garden bursts of peonies
for eternity,
I wonder if you would smuggle me some
David Bowie tracks.
If I decided to eat only fudge brownies and cherry Starbursts
for eternity,
I wonder if you would google gourmet
recipes for me.
If I decided to paint my own Walden in the Washington wild
for eternity,
I wonder if you would build a nightclub
next to my cabin.
If I decided to leap out airplane hatches and steal rodeo saddles and read my poetry out-loud
for eternity,
I wonder if you would be happily
married in Norway.
Jun 24, 2012
Jun 24, 2012 at 6:52 PM UTC
Embody the world!
Dream into creation!
Your touch will comfort like carpeted grass.
Your voice like the wind and streams of peace.
Your breathe like lemon grass herb, warm and sweet.
Your mind like the mountains and clouds of the wanderer.
This man walks with poncho, satchel and cane.
He claims no wisdom and wars over no land.
He saddles the wind and chants to the Gods of ever-last.
Trailing only is a smokey film produced by his pipe of eternal life.
Modest is the heart of a good man;
Keen are the eyes and consciousness.
A natural fortitude are the roots of a clean soul;
Spread are the arms of success upon a mountain.
Survey the landscapes of history,
The beautiful transforming of this world,
Divine in its nature!
Dec 9, 2014
Dec 9, 2014 at 9:00 PM UTC
He rolls out of bed
He drops out of his rack
He puts on his armour
He zips on his flight suit
He buckles his spurs
He laces his boots
He grabs his longsword
He grabs his helmet
And walks out to the stable
And walks up to the flight deck
To his steed
To his plane
He saddles the beast
He pre-flights the beast
Mounts
Gets in
Rears up
Kicks in full burners
And gallops forward
And takes a cat shot
Lowering his lance
Arming his missles and guns
He looks for dragons to slay
He looks for dragons to slay
Nov 30, 2010
Nov 30, 2010 at 9:16 AM UTC
After waking at dawn one morning when the wind sang
low among dry leaves in an elm
Among the red guns,
In the hearts of soldiers
Running free blood
In the long, long campaign:
Dreams go on.
Among the leather saddles,
In the heads of soldiers
Heavy in the wracks and kills
Of all straight fighting:
Dreams go on.
Among the hot muzzles,
In the hands of soldiers
Brought from flesh-folds of women--
Soft amid the blood and crying--
In all your hearts and heads
Among the guns and saddles and muzzles:
Dreams,
Dreams go on,
Out of the dead on their backs,
Broken and no use any more:
Dreams of the way and the end go on.
1.6k
*I want to run wild
Without saddles on my back
Galloping alone but surrounded
By rumbling on the ground
Along plains of life and death
Conquering hurdles lying still
Rocks and pebbles thrown my way
In this land foreign to all
My mane floating free
As I jump over rivers
Then up paths curled on mountains
No rider could withstand
I stand tall my neck stretched high
As I look from atop this hill
Before I run once more
Full speed down narrow roads
Headed toward the desert
Where new hurdles lie ahead
Dry dunes and oasis
Clear skies, burning sun
I look back and see no heard
No steps behind me, none ahead
This world is mine and in this desert
I will build my castle
And draw my roads
No more challenges
But me alone*
Sep 5, 2012
Sep 5, 2012 at 12:06 PM UTC
*The water tosses saddles within the mist
Scribbling a mesmerizing sunshine of gold
The rest is in her head, as it tail spins
Cold ankle shivers, waking waves of snow
Easing the sniffling sipper's imprisonment
Beneath the bungalow*
Jan 8, 2017
Jan 8, 2017 at 2:20 PM UTC
Death is dreadful
hides in shadows
seethes and battles
grim the night
Beth is bedful
rides in saddles
breathes and prattles
trim and tight
©2013 Lyn
Aug 21, 2017
Aug 21, 2017 at 10:48 AM UTC
Now there is nothing left
that's worth the mention
Yet there is so much more
I wanted to say
The years have passed
as a whirlwind
There was nothing left
that together we had
The horses The trailers
The tractor and truck
The saddles and the tack
All then gone for a song
A funeral dirge
of the saddest kind
A song about the
loss of We and Us
Destruction was there
then relentless
Only one single thing
I could keep
Just a wallet I bought
In Our last days together
Holding the picture ID's
of Our Sons
So on I alone
went through
unending destruction
As though all Hell
existed alone against me
Until I again studied
the sunrise and claimed
a new beginning
alone there
beside the sea
So sorry you're not
still here with me
With a beautiful
start-over play
for keeps
I heard for you
it went very badly
And you languish
In doom and sorrow
and grief
I hurt for you
Knowing the very
moment of
abandonment
You set loose
upon yourself
The worst of all
of your fears
Are you happy
that you succeeded
Did you accomplish
all that you planned?
Didn't you know
I would get up
and go on and do
what we did together
by myself once again?
So on I must go
to restoration absolute
of that which was
Ours then to claim
Knowing you're
gone forever
However
I am again myself
surely restored
But not now nor ever
would it be possible
To recover
Our once
precious Love
once more
We Shared Love
We Cherished Life.
-R.
(10.11.17)
-LA
-4MAR
Oct 12, 2017
Oct 12, 2017 at 12:01 PM UTC
he fancies himself
as a rodeo rider
of fillies and mares
yet he hasn't the prerequisite
riding gear
to stay mounted
in these saddles fair
the fillies and mares
prefer a rider
that is a real bronco
one who can remain aboard
their conveyances
all night
not a rodeo rider
who can only muster
an eight second flight
Sep 25, 2014
Sep 25, 2014 at 6:31 PM UTC
In my little town
dogs sleep on the street
and act affronted
when you drive on the bed.
My little town allocates resources
in proportion to priorities.
We have one school
two churches
and three bars.
The teenage boys in my little town
gather by the pond after dark
with big engines and little cans of beer.
They steal the Stop sign, stone the streetlight,
moon a passing car.
But at least
we know where they are.
In my little town some girls keep horses
in their back yards. Above the dogs and surly boys,
they cruise on saddles astride a big beast,
dropping opinions as they meet.
On the Fourth of July
the whole little town
has a big picnic.
The ducks on the pond in my little town
waddle across the road each afternoon
a milling, quackling crowd
round the door of the yellow house
where the lady gives them grain.
When it rains,
they swim on the road
or sleep there, like dogs.
On a cold morning
the woodsmoke of stoves
lingers like fog
in my little town.
We hold village meetings
where a hundred-odd cranks and dreamers
***** for a grudging consensus.
We cling to the side of our mountain
building homes, making babies
beneath trees of awesome height.
We work too hard, play too rough,
and sense daily something sweet about living
in our little town.
Nov 12, 2017
Nov 12, 2017 at 6:32 PM UTC
The edge of my soul is unsilenced
by the youthful glove of lust
Curtained wonders and curtailed tales
our songs recited and memorised on saddles
Sandals of certainty , candled yester years
My soles dared to tear a form
eyes roar in beats of a sinful stare
affixed sensations, the aesthetic nightmares
the cyclic eventful roller coaster of want
The padded faded jeans and cotton shirt
A fluent code of the cold wonderland
steers protons and affluent electrical neurons
Exploding zips, complementary zest
The **** ride on your stationed rod
My stallion, a rash, an adrenaline rush, our flight (oh la la)
At the sight of the afterglow stormy taste
our echoes astound the mountain tops
a wave of the heated dream in a cage
The aged flow of the surfacing rivers
As these words live in my mind
Flickering lights inside the synagogue maze
the cleavage fountain evaporating fumes
A showcase of undeniable holes and poles
A glorified truth tied in elastic hearts
Eclipsed as a shadowy armoured reflection
Hold my hand and fly the transient transcendence
Balance as I fall behind on the heighted prolific lines
Rehouse my day on these whispered thoughts
Time circles, time travels, time lost, time found
On this hour of attachment, catch me as I wave
Jun 20, 2016
Jun 20, 2016 at 5:06 PM UTC
these preserves are reserved for the children
infinite hours till immanent destruction
since you left i am all perspiration and fear
and gone are the tears of yesterday's inhalation
these fragrant leaves of grass are bound to our carriages
will forensics seal the deal once we are too blind for healing
in demented restaurants and lakeside beauty pageants
your saddles and mounts are rented out for our entertainment
Oct 12, 2018
Oct 12, 2018 at 4:27 PM UTC
i died just to haunt you
to breathe my smoke in your ear
and see if you remember me.
to follow where you walk
and hope to stay with you
this time,
even if the sensation’s one-sided:
can you love what you can’t touch, can’t hear -
[i know you can’t hear me,
but sorry if i wound you
with obscenities and broken hopes,
speaking in a foreign tongue of bitterness
and desire,
of the fickle fates
and fickler hearts of men] -
change partners as the fiddler changes tunes
moving with someone new,
who speaks your language
and doesn’t smoke like a dying fire.
can they dance like i did?
skirts swirling up time like water in a stagnant pond,
your winds fueling ripples -
how i cherished those lungs.
now i’ll blow my smoke signals in your ears
so maybe they’ll reach you
this time.
you ran to the plains while i tended the fires,
chasing something better -
but wild horses are only beautiful from afar.
harness them and they’ll crush you with their
meekness:
reins and saddles when you sought sweat
and wild rolling eyes,
eyes that never shut,
too filled with life to mimic death
even if just
for a moment,
wide while yours shut to block out the moon:
sometimes when you close your eyes
all you see is the sun.
[burning like a maniac,
like a man who met the devil
while drowning.]
sometimes when i close my eyes
all i see is red
red like rusted-over watches, red like
bottom-of-the-barrel
and anger,
and red like the wretched slough of time,
shedding seconds like scales.
[sometimes when i close my eyes
i imagine yours closing
in synch,
like a connection between us,
no matter how fragile.]
sometimes when you close your eyes
you find it hard to open them again.
don’t remind me that you don’t want me,
just give me one
moment
to memorize your shape -
hope you don’t mind my recreating you
from the scraps i can capture
in the meager light drifting from the sky.
smoke will choke it out soon enough
and you will be alone
with your broken wild things
and snuffed-out embers,
waiting for the tune to change again.
Mar 9, 2013
Mar 9, 2013 at 12:51 AM UTC
I drove the rental car through a tree
as we continued on towards the ranch.
Saddled up hand measured horses and rode through the park.
Monster trees would have shadowed skyscrapers.
The bravest of birds nested only halfway,
for even feathered wings stall at that altitude.
The damnedest thing was the pine-cones,
golf ball-sized spheres
falling from giants.
It's a bumpy ride on a leather saddle,
a bit painful, too.
You smirked and said you needed a drink,
hell, so did I.
Later in Eureka California we walked to Ray's Saddle,
an old western bar with a wooden red patio,
fake cowboy mannequins gracing the entrance
pistols drawn, not ready to fire.
Our dry mouths megan to irrigate,
our sore bottoms limped through the door,
and the damnedest thing;
the bar stools were rawhide saddles.
Oct 4, 2010
Oct 4, 2010 at 9:22 PM UTC
The riot time has ended
The dog days are gone too-
The warmth. Gone.
Bliss turns to breeze
Saddles to boots.
Outside to inside.
It's time for harvest to arise--
She opens her eyes,
And kisses the sky with her orange tinted lips.
The sun shys away.
As do the leaves.
As do I.
Snug. Wishing. Waiting.
For bliss instead of breeze.
Waves of the ocean replacing waves of ice.
For Summer to open her eyes.
Remove her disguise,
And romance the skies.
Oct 30, 2012
Oct 30, 2012 at 11:27 PM UTC
from a wonderful night
she came alive
oh my country
obscured in her gloomy might
her love seemed so right
the feign of her tattered story
she bears the burden of Africa
the reign of her battered glory
her body abut and juxtaposed Madagascar
I wish that I fly away
from my path
I might not stray
from the start
I was taught to pray
my dreams to soar in beautiful array
as the nation saddles in its own barrage
lamentations of 56 years' blink
I see on eagle's wings what victory brings
the joy of 36 shining gold rings
too bright to look at
naming and counting one for each
and when twilight was reach
in plenteous joy and happiness
to the people my heart outreach
compensation for years lived
in wood and ash
Oct 1, 2016
Oct 1, 2016 at 11:47 AM UTC
Day unto Day, I track my prey
Night unto Night, I stalk my victim
My hunt is not one for satisfaction
It is not pleasure or fun
It is out of necessity.
I hunt because I must,
I live in the wilds because I must,
I bring home my finds because I must.
My hunt is what keeps my family fed,
My hunt is what keeps the tanner busy,
My hunt is what keeps the leather-worker stocked,
My hunt is what keeps the saddles fresh,
My hunt is what keeps the people warm,
My hunt is what keeps the trade flowing.
My tools are crafted by my friends;
Not necessarily friends by choice but by necessity.
Fellow townsfolk keep me content because they must,
Not because I am friendly to them.
Fellow townsfolk keep my family safe because they must,
Not because they are joyed by their presence.
If not for my skills,
I would be as distanced as the wild animals,
As shunned as the insanities of men,
As estranged as the drunks,
As feared and hated as the beasts that stalk in the night.
I am not like the others.
I may be an outsider here,
But without me, they would all be outsiders to the world beyond.
How can one man judge another when the other keeps the man alive?
Mar 19, 2013
Mar 19, 2013 at 11:16 PM UTC