Hello Poetry
Submit your work and get some sparkles! Create free account
"stilted" poems
once more layers of casing are torn papers culled windows gleam sheets smile the cost is high if not see when to stop can I find north after all I’d asked so life’s paths once veiled in yesterday's grime dispatched to the winds reveal another vision refreshing as spring rain seeking every fissure quietly lodged boarders not paying rent evicted as another corner begs mastery along with a neater place it dawns on me atrophy is the order of things vacate for a few short paces and face it all again wrenching me from the lulling status quo of my stilted blindness
0
Aug 28, 2018
Aug 28, 2018 at 6:49 AM UTC
A Stilted Blindness
The spider Queen, aloofly vain! She rules a silent ruthless reign, with black-bead eyes like pearls of rain that damp the depths of her demesne. . . . A spider spins, with nimble feet, a sticky web of grim deceit that drapes the corners, dark, discreet, in catacombs of her retreat. Her jointed legs (in number, eight) traverse the threads with stilted gait, but often more she'll lie in wait within the hub of her estate. Shy spiders live their lives alone ensconced within a silky throne; unless a transient guest comes flown, their lives bide empty, monotone. . . Well, now and then, a sullen breeze may twitch the toils, begin to tease – yet nothing's caught and nothing pleas, so patience's bid at times like these. But then again, when stars ignite, may maunder by a gnat, by night, be taught a dance, a writhing rite, within a lace of death, wrapped tight. Sometimes a spider's in the mood and waits awhile, whilst being wooed – and then, to later feed her brood, the widow slays her mate for food. In time a spider dies, 'tis true, bequeathing but a residue entwined, devoid of retinue, in fibers decked in silver dew. . . . One asks "What purpose serves the GNAT – to feed and make the spider fat? Well, 'tis perchance just naught but that within a mindless habitat. . . "Yet, what's the aim?” you may inquire, “at the heart of MAN's desire. To which goals should WE aspire reaching high and reaching higher?" We've, through the ages, left the mire, trundling wheels and taming fire, doing deeds that must inspire, nursing needy, calming crier, … Such things as these, most may admire: - placid dove and war defier (some are bolder, some are shyer) - patience (mess-up mollifier); - humankind (Life's justifier) - charity (charmed self-denier) - tolerance (proud pacifier ) - love of Life (folk unifier). What more could we, as flesh, require? Needless kneeling neath the spire? Childish chanting in the choir? Preaching hell's impending pyre? No, Death's the only rectifier, comes the instant we expire, nothing after, sentience prior. So, treasure Life and don't deny Her.
0
Oct 6, 2014
Oct 6, 2014 at 1:29 PM UTC
The Gnat
The spider Queen, aloofly vain! She rules a silent ruthless reign, with black-bead eyes like pearls of rain that damp the depths of her demesne. . . . A spider spins, with nimble feet, a sticky web of grim deceit that drapes the corners, dark, discreet, in catacombs of her retreat. Her jointed legs (in number, eight) traverse the threads with stilted gait, but often more she'll lie in wait within the hub of her estate. Shy spiders live their lives alone ensconced within a silky throne; unless a transient guest comes flown, their lives bide empty, monotone. . . Well, now and then, a sullen breeze may twitch the toils, begin to tease – yet nothing's caught and nothing pleas, so patience's bid at times like these. But then again, when stars ignite, may maunder by a gnat, by night, be taught a dance, a writhing rite, within a lace of death, wrapped tight. Sometimes a spider's in the mood and waits awhile, whilst being wooed – and then, to later feed her brood, the widow slays her mate for food. In time a spider dies, 'tis true, bequeathing but a residue entwined, devoid of retinue, in fibers decked in silver dew. . . . One asks "What purpose serves the GNAT – to feed and make the spider fat? Well, 'tis perchance just naught but that within a mindless habitat. . . "Yet, what's the aim?” you may inquire, “at the heart of MAN's desire. To which goals should WE aspire reaching high and reaching higher?" We've, through the ages, left the mire, trundling wheels and taming fire, doing deeds that must inspire, nursing needy, calming crier, … Such things as these, most may admire: - placid dove and war defier (some are bolder, some are shyer) - patience (mess-up mollifier); - humankind (Life's justifier) - charity (charmed self-denier) - tolerance (proud pacifier ) - love of Life (folk unifier). What more could we, as flesh, require? Needless kneeling neath the spire? Childish chanting in the choir? Preaching hell's impending pyre? No, Death's the only rectifier, comes the instant we expire, nothing after, sentience prior. So, treasure Life and don't deny Her.
Continue reading...
70
On the face of it, there isn't much about this bird To stop me in my tracks.              Brown, oblivious, busy with the ground It totters along on stilted legs Probing among the frozen fields. It's the name that's the trouble. Childhood hours spent copying pictures From the Readers' Digest Book of Birds Call to mind the name, 'Curlew'. In my house, though, birds had Scots names and my dad, a linguistic David Bellamy Urged us to conserve these rare words or lose them forever. Goldfinch?  Gowdspink! Starling?  Stuckie! Blue ***  Umm... But the undistinguished gentleman before me was definitely a whaup. Curlew or whaup? Which is it to me? The English of books or the fading Scots, maybe closer to the bird's wild home? Textbook reality or romantic poetry? Or both - can the creature sit in two states at once? "Schrodinger's Curlew", I think with a smile. ("Schrodinger's Whaup!" bellows the bit of my dad that lodges in my head.)            Here, under a cloud of my own breath In the low winter light,             Neither seems quite adequate. And then, untouched by my musings The bird spreads its wings and lifts, Naming itself, with a long, pure note           And my heart, in two states,            Leaps              and breaks.
0
Nov 26, 2010
Nov 26, 2010 at 12:03 AM UTC
Schrodinger's Curlew
Your Feet precarious heels into high heels into high heeled shoes the stilted amazement
0
Apr 2, 2014
Apr 2, 2014 at 2:04 PM UTC
Wearing High Heels.
*we are witness to atrocities committed by regime over its peoples over time* 1. we are witness.. shattering glass of reality arranged into chosen shard-feeds like omni-gov surveillance into meticulous mind-grafts spluttering eternal-stats for public mind control spewing mini-truths of perpetual war raids disillusionment of history forever rewritten control supply-and-demand create dark-cloaked dilemma and monitor shortage and famine make-believe elements so well played to auto-frenzied latch thinking is degraded and actions.. well, less said 2. diligent and loyal yet harbour secret-hatred feed visions stilted by politrix deception and manipulation propaganda is the oleaginous-game by wand-over-mind totalitarian is the kingpin-holder of cards and yet, who is really being played! eternal marionettes on a conveyor-belt can't even play with yourself alone your **** your **** your every move.. watched - surveyed - and studied by that ubiquitous-bulge eye you cannot escape right opposite your low hard-bed you're broken into popping-parts that YOU won't recognise! thoughtcrime-police is gonna accost ya get up, comrade.. get UUUUUUUUP! 3. we are witness life-tube covered in darkened vapour-swirls we are witness children conditioned to watch their parents.. too closely we are witness truth so smothered, now re-fed by repeat-metaphor we are witness dictata.. dictata.. we are witness austere existence in a tacky one-room flat we are witness subsist on black-wheat and imitation-repast we are witness regurgitate the party-dialect on and on and on (after a while, we end up half-believing.. ) *only the clock which strikes thirteen can smell the charred-reality as leftover-truth is shoved into incendiary obsolescence* tick-a-damn-tock and that would be.. one S T - 26 sept
0
Sep 26, 2013
Sep 26, 2013 at 11:53 AM UTC
we are witness..
*we are witness to atrocities committed by regime over its peoples over time* 1. we are witness.. shattering glass of reality arranged into chosen shard-feeds like omni-gov surveillance into meticulous mind-grafts spluttering eternal-stats for public mind control spewing mini-truths of perpetual war raids disillusionment of history forever rewritten control supply-and-demand create dark-cloaked dilemma and monitor shortage and famine make-believe elements so well played to auto-frenzied latch thinking is degraded and actions.. well, less said 2. diligent and loyal yet harbour secret-hatred feed visions stilted by politrix deception and manipulation propaganda is the oleaginous-game by wand-over-mind totalitarian is the kingpin-holder of cards and yet, who is really being played! eternal marionettes on a conveyor-belt can't even play with yourself alone your **** your **** your every move.. watched - surveyed - and studied by that ubiquitous-bulge eye you cannot escape right opposite your low hard-bed you're broken into popping-parts that YOU won't recognise! thoughtcrime-police is gonna accost ya get up, comrade.. get UUUUUUUUP! 3. we are witness life-tube covered in darkened vapour-swirls we are witness children conditioned to watch their parents.. too closely we are witness truth so smothered, now re-fed by repeat-metaphor we are witness dictata.. dictata.. we are witness austere existence in a tacky one-room flat we are witness subsist on black-wheat and imitation-repast we are witness regurgitate the party-dialect on and on and on (after a while, we end up half-believing.. ) *only the clock which strikes thirteen can smell the charred-reality as leftover-truth is shoved into incendiary obsolescence* tick-a-damn-tock and that would be.. one S T - 26 sept
Continue reading...
56
and bright knights the phoenix spread her smouldering wings the Sphinx dethroned future kings the Queen of Hearts a heartless nag Baba Yaga the stilted house . the hag brave Beowulf dragged down to drown the monster Grendel by him was slain Io was a cow despised watched by a creature with one hundred eyes the lawn is made a land of gnomes mushrooms grow in garden homes where are all these things indeed? they are in books just look and read!!! SøułSurvivør aka Write of Passage aka Invisible inc Catherine Jarvis
0
Feb 12, 2015
Feb 12, 2015 at 3:19 AM UTC
of dark daze
She ain't depressed, she sings all day Songs of another devil Saw a dog, stilted awning dance Stay, another day Still awake, dreaming Sleeping at daybreak though Silky and delicate Submissive, absolute danger Salted, assaulted, decompression **** another detail written Seasonal affective disorder Sadly attained death
0
Dec 30, 2013
Dec 30, 2013 at 9:49 AM UTC
Sleeping After Dancing/Seasons Always Diverge
Rue thy feeble fate. Fear the day when thine own eyes Fail to see beyond thy hand. Requiem for the rest-easies such as Thyself shall not come as welcome Praise, but as fire and brimstone, Blood from the grimy grindstones of The weary working, ready to rise And crush all unworthy opposition With their hilts of red-hot rage, Raising swords of liberty to the heavens and cutting down the opression that has stilted their air. Weep for this is thy fate: Thy death means justice for those who Have been defeated countless times, Under a blooming, burning sky defeats Pile up like stars, simmering, waiting to Become supernovas and take every puny Universe down in their own glorious Descent, like Icarus to the sun, a sweeter fall could not Exist on this lonely planet, Into the unforgiving waters of victory. Justice for those angry folk who by merit Have earned their own place, not by Some system that hands it to them, but By grit and toil alone, By the fierce madness that is Existing and not completely Giving in to the ruin of being human, Following the words that A wiser man than I spoke, that life is Struggle, that the only constant in this Life is the pain that all of us try to ignore In the futile attempt to block out the Tragedies that haunt us daily. Face thy fears, coward. Thou miserable wretch can't look thyself In the mirror, but can claim that we as a Species have hope for peace on Earth and Goodwill for all. What dost thou know of goodwill? When didst thou give a single moment of thought to the happiness of anyone but thyself and thine selfish  avaricious interests? Thou shan't claim to know what is holy and just, yet scourge the very pious people that thou imitates; thou shan't slaughter the devout on a temple whose bricks are molded from hypocrisy and deceit. Rue thy feeble fate, Because thou deserveth every blow, every cry of mockery, every disgusted eye and every hideous pitiful moan that thy gravestone will inspire, and even Dante himself could not have imagined the flaming of the hellish unredeeming pyre that will be thy afterlife; rue thy fate for no morals, no intercessions, no pleas or entreaties to be spared from the filth and maggotry that thou hast built thy very house upon canst save thee now.
0
Oct 14, 2018
Oct 14, 2018 at 4:17 PM UTC
reckoning
Rue thy feeble fate. Fear the day when thine own eyes Fail to see beyond thy hand. Requiem for the rest-easies such as Thyself shall not come as welcome Praise, but as fire and brimstone, Blood from the grimy grindstones of The weary working, ready to rise And crush all unworthy opposition With their hilts of red-hot rage, Raising swords of liberty to the heavens and cutting down the opression that has stilted their air. Weep for this is thy fate: Thy death means justice for those who Have been defeated countless times, Under a blooming, burning sky defeats Pile up like stars, simmering, waiting to Become supernovas and take every puny Universe down in their own glorious Descent, like Icarus to the sun, a sweeter fall could not Exist on this lonely planet, Into the unforgiving waters of victory. Justice for those angry folk who by merit Have earned their own place, not by Some system that hands it to them, but By grit and toil alone, By the fierce madness that is Existing and not completely Giving in to the ruin of being human, Following the words that A wiser man than I spoke, that life is Struggle, that the only constant in this Life is the pain that all of us try to ignore In the futile attempt to block out the Tragedies that haunt us daily. Face thy fears, coward. Thou miserable wretch can't look thyself In the mirror, but can claim that we as a Species have hope for peace on Earth and Goodwill for all. What dost thou know of goodwill? When didst thou give a single moment of thought to the happiness of anyone but thyself and thine selfish  avaricious interests? Thou shan't claim to know what is holy and just, yet scourge the very pious people that thou imitates; thou shan't slaughter the devout on a temple whose bricks are molded from hypocrisy and deceit. Rue thy feeble fate, Because thou deserveth every blow, every cry of mockery, every disgusted eye and every hideous pitiful moan that thy gravestone will inspire, and even Dante himself could not have imagined the flaming of the hellish unredeeming pyre that will be thy afterlife; rue thy fate for no morals, no intercessions, no pleas or entreaties to be spared from the filth and maggotry that thou hast built thy very house upon canst save thee now.
Continue reading...
27
The shadows dividing yesterdays fell down upon today, from happiness to sadness, against each they do betray. Borrowed free will, low on spirit isn’t enough to take me through, careless past was dancing in freedom if only today was too. Ever reaching for a childhood I hold on so **** tight to the hopes that wrapped up those fears and got me through the night. But there’s nothing left to reach for just a stilted grown up reaction, where multiple masks hide the facts so I lose myself in that distraction. Too many rhymes to purge the pain and maybe set disenchantment free, to arrive today, sight still blurred but not buried by debris. Remembering simple illusions bonded with post traumatic stress, provoked contradictory reactions when untangling the mess. To rewind the clock and polish the dust wont take me to contentment, just cut me open and deepen the wounds then bring me more resentment! Decaying memories, twisted by time prey on any random second, that sometimes even looking back doesn’t need to be beckoned. Still, I look behind in the hope that I can breathe in just the thought, at the wreckage of my time so far and all the battles that I fought. Take some answers from the past and tie them with tomorrow, to create a new chapter of equilibrium where I never need to borrow. But I know myself and how I play, I need the black to colour the white, the sorrow always grounds my smiles and I can revel in the fight. I write it all regardless of pain or which one is the lethal dose, timeless in my quest to destiny, I’ll spend it chasing ghosts.
0
Aug 11, 2010
Aug 11, 2010 at 9:26 AM UTC
Chasing Ghosts
The shadows dividing yesterdays fell down upon today, from happiness to sadness, against each they do betray. Borrowed free will, low on spirit isn’t enough to take me through, careless past was dancing in freedom if only today was too. Ever reaching for a childhood I hold on so **** tight to the hopes that wrapped up those fears and got me through the night. But there’s nothing left to reach for just a stilted grown up reaction, where multiple masks hide the facts so I lose myself in that distraction. Too many rhymes to purge the pain and maybe set disenchantment free, to arrive today, sight still blurred but not buried by debris. Remembering simple illusions bonded with post traumatic stress, provoked contradictory reactions when untangling the mess. To rewind the clock and polish the dust wont take me to contentment, just cut me open and deepen the wounds then bring me more resentment! Decaying memories, twisted by time prey on any random second, that sometimes even looking back doesn’t need to be beckoned. Still, I look behind in the hope that I can breathe in just the thought, at the wreckage of my time so far and all the battles that I fought. Take some answers from the past and tie them with tomorrow, to create a new chapter of equilibrium where I never need to borrow. But I know myself and how I play, I need the black to colour the white, the sorrow always grounds my smiles and I can revel in the fight. I write it all regardless of pain or which one is the lethal dose, timeless in my quest to destiny, I’ll spend it chasing ghosts.
Continue reading...
24
delicately, our dragonfly conversations dance in Japanese gardens, where jewelled concrete pagoda’s stand stilted, like timeless geometries, in greening water then wind rustles timidly through creek beds and pebbled leaves; bells ring like wine glasses at a dinner table and we feel our arm hairs stand on tiptoes, pricked up to weary voices (chanting monks, those that sit in circles monkishly chant, in unison “there are three meanings of loneliness”) here, chanting also, we find ourselves again not alone enchanted in the fragmented daylight. but then again, I turn, apathetically, and declare “let us rest in the immense imagery of our imagination for it is easier to sleep, as rain creeps closer to our doorstep, than to ***** barricades, levies and trenches around our house” Oh, but the way the light reflects upon the Japanese trees is so splendidly delicate, and our delicate conversations feel all so perfect… so now please, time, lose me in your whisper.
0
Jan 28, 2013
Jan 28, 2013 at 3:28 AM UTC
Delicate thoughts of Japanese Gardens
Sabungan                                              Cockfight Sa pula!                                                  For the red! Sa puti!                                                   For the white! Anopaman dumating                          However they come piliin ang magiting                              choose the valiant tumaya sa tindig                                   gamble on their carriage pagpaboran                                           and consider bawat katunggali.                                 each competitor. Sumiping sa dilim                                Make love with the dark at sumigaw                                            and cry Kristo! Kristo!                                        Christ! Christ! Panoorin ang laban                              Watch closely the battle sarsuelang mapanganib                      this dangerous sarsuela kawatang sumasanib                           a thief takes over sa aking piling                                      inside. Sa bawat kong hiyaw,                          Every shriek ang kada tuka, laslas                            each peck, a slash nagmula sa dahas                                of ruthlessness and lumilipana ang daing                           cries all around dumadaginding ang bagsik                echo ferociousness bawat laban pilit.                                  of this stilted struggle Kristo! Kristo!                                       Christ! Christ! sigaw ng sabungero                             screamed the sabungero at ako'y tumigil.                                   I stop. Sa pagpanaw                                        When all is gone manalo                                                   win matalo                                                    lose walang pareho tumingin                    no one sees evenly sa aking balahibong                            my feathers pula at puti                                           of red and white sa alabok                                               on the surface dust kumalat                                                 they lay lumipad                                                 they fly lumahong taimtim.                             and vanish without a thought.
0
Jun 5, 2016
Jun 5, 2016 at 11:36 PM UTC
sabungan (cockfight)
Sabungan                                              Cockfight Sa pula!                                                  For the red! Sa puti!                                                   For the white! Anopaman dumating                          However they come piliin ang magiting                              choose the valiant tumaya sa tindig                                   gamble on their carriage pagpaboran                                           and consider bawat katunggali.                                 each competitor. Sumiping sa dilim                                Make love with the dark at sumigaw                                            and cry Kristo! Kristo!                                        Christ! Christ! Panoorin ang laban                              Watch closely the battle sarsuelang mapanganib                      this dangerous sarsuela kawatang sumasanib                           a thief takes over sa aking piling                                      inside. Sa bawat kong hiyaw,                          Every shriek ang kada tuka, laslas                            each peck, a slash nagmula sa dahas                                of ruthlessness and lumilipana ang daing                           cries all around dumadaginding ang bagsik                echo ferociousness bawat laban pilit.                                  of this stilted struggle Kristo! Kristo!                                       Christ! Christ! sigaw ng sabungero                             screamed the sabungero at ako'y tumigil.                                   I stop. Sa pagpanaw                                        When all is gone manalo                                                   win matalo                                                    lose walang pareho tumingin                    no one sees evenly sa aking balahibong                            my feathers pula at puti                                           of red and white sa alabok                                               on the surface dust kumalat                                                 they lay lumipad                                                 they fly lumahong taimtim.                             and vanish without a thought.
Continue reading...
34
hearing Shakespeare, my-own-voice crack'd, stilted, stuttered-shut by the mocking silence of still waters on the brain poverty exposed, raggedy verbiage for a raggedy man's frayed fringed garments ashamed of every word I ever wrote, not even ten survivors, not enough to pray collectively for muse~forgivement **** hush me not, no chairs turned, the public has not texted, new tattoo: write on for audience of one a necessity, a life sentence a single topic, a subject, a life, mine, still unmastered, decades of trying poverty exposed, unmasked for what it is worth, or what it is not
0
Mar 5, 2014
Mar 5, 2014 at 4:05 PM UTC
Hearing Shakespeare
You're building up a palace For the world to see How great you are But do they know how loud the echo In your walls.... is outdone By the echo in your soul? All pretty things to fill your life And make you feel so useful But yet, your day is dark and grey And you still feel so blue Oh, the echo in your soul. Refrain Why don't you stop.... Why don't you-ooh stop? And tend your heart Oh, feed your mind And fill up your soul, oh With beauty that Cannot..... be seen. It's easier to see your faith by showing But then you're stuck in a rut You'd surely nev-er-er leave Outdone by the echo in your soul The echo in your life The echo in your smile Oh, the echo-oh.... in your words. It's harder for you to totally live your truth For, it's not how you LOOK, but HOW you look Take off the trappings and reveal And see who you really are See what you really are See what you have become! And now you're feeling all alone in a crowded room You try to sound intelligent yet make no sense Your stilted humour is outdone By the echo-oh....in your soul. Star Toucher, 26 March 2013
0
Mar 26, 2013
Mar 26, 2013 at 11:46 AM UTC
Echo in your soul
1. Late-spring's dilemma Is unabridged and sweet; Beardtongues and fuchsias peer through grass blades: Blotches on the bristly canvas. Camellias? Still in April. 2. Slices of rye shift on my plate; Miramar’s war machines whip overhead; My mouth opens into the Gulf of Kuwait; The toast becomes Moldering lips of Pendleton. 3. There’s a single-story house on a hill That to helicopters Looks like an easel. Great canyons open To the south and west; the street clings to time— A pianist’s metronome Waltzes crosswise on an eardrum. 4. The eucalyptus bends the deafening breeze. Are you still dredging Coronado's cradle? (The tide Disintegrates the illimitable skyline.) 5. An unlit Anza-Borrego beats about my ears, Stars piggybacking the horizon. The cacti shrivel: Glitter in a hurricane. 6. End-of-spring guesses Prey upon a betrayer’s conscience. Stilted, they flash ephemerally.
0
Jul 27, 2014
Jul 27, 2014 at 10:04 PM UTC
The Cruelest Month
not rooted, not foundational, but transitional, I mean - tabernacle. Following cloud and flame, and restless for Jordan. not stilted not intellectual but relational, more than routine ritual. Led by spirit, filled by flame and restless for Jordan.
0
Apr 16, 2019
Apr 16, 2019 at 12:32 PM UTC
Cloud and Flame
it’s simply awesome how much energy is spent to document the newness of the news no matter how repetitive may be the words of the reporters the hype needs to be built no matter whether right or stilted driven by fear the topic might be wilted a minute later and half an hour later you hear the same with minor variations adorned with various speculations so that the viewers may get the illusion it’s NEW – though it is old, and just repetitive an endless loop of hyped-up trivialities of who did what and when and why maybe with whom or not makes you aware that even new banalities rarely include what really matters to the majority of people on this globe
0
Jul 8, 2016
Jul 8, 2016 at 5:10 PM UTC
the newness of news
Hands that look sunburned at first blush count the silent ticks of a cognitive clock grasping and releasing in stilted syncopation: one-two-three-five (must avoid the four) Did I remember to lock the front door?  Out of bed—again—freezing feet tumble down      into slippers awaiting the circular inevitability.  Again, again.   Pad, pad, pad: light shuffling accompanies the one-two-three-five pounding in the head; that mind ricocheted with worry— worry about the front door, the evil intentions of four, insidious germs and subsequent scrubbing-scrubbing-scrubbing in bleach and Comet.  Pad, pad, pad to the front door. It’s one hundred and thirty four steps, so take a baby-shuffle: still avoiding the four. Cold, unyielding brass ****  Locked. Deadbolt? Check.  Creeping black. Chain lock?  Check.  Crawling germs.  Oh, god. Pad, pad, pad to the kitchen. Clorox-fume greetings in the sparkling sink from twenty-three minutes before.  Never twenty-four. Clorox on the cracked fingers, blistering out that imperceptible blackness I know it’s there blackness choking, bleeding in the bleach. Scrub brushes, pumice, and fingernail files wear down the nubs where the blackness may hide. “Shh” the steaming water soothes as it stings, scalds.  “Shh.”  Burn it all out; conclusion so comforting.  So predictably round. This is the last time I can do this tonight.  Pad, pad, pad back to the bedroom.  Downey quilt beckons in lover tones, pleading pillows nudge against that head, that infernal head still panicking amongst the softness: Did I remember to lock the front door?
0
Sep 8, 2010
Sep 8, 2010 at 2:14 AM UTC
Obsession
Hands that look sunburned at first blush count the silent ticks of a cognitive clock grasping and releasing in stilted syncopation: one-two-three-five (must avoid the four) Did I remember to lock the front door?  Out of bed—again—freezing feet tumble down      into slippers awaiting the circular inevitability.  Again, again.   Pad, pad, pad: light shuffling accompanies the one-two-three-five pounding in the head; that mind ricocheted with worry— worry about the front door, the evil intentions of four, insidious germs and subsequent scrubbing-scrubbing-scrubbing in bleach and Comet.  Pad, pad, pad to the front door. It’s one hundred and thirty four steps, so take a baby-shuffle: still avoiding the four. Cold, unyielding brass ****  Locked. Deadbolt? Check.  Creeping black. Chain lock?  Check.  Crawling germs.  Oh, god. Pad, pad, pad to the kitchen. Clorox-fume greetings in the sparkling sink from twenty-three minutes before.  Never twenty-four. Clorox on the cracked fingers, blistering out that imperceptible blackness I know it’s there blackness choking, bleeding in the bleach. Scrub brushes, pumice, and fingernail files wear down the nubs where the blackness may hide. “Shh” the steaming water soothes as it stings, scalds.  “Shh.”  Burn it all out; conclusion so comforting.  So predictably round. This is the last time I can do this tonight.  Pad, pad, pad back to the bedroom.  Downey quilt beckons in lover tones, pleading pillows nudge against that head, that infernal head still panicking amongst the softness: Did I remember to lock the front door?
Continue reading...
38
A stilted stay, a pregnant pause, as shadows sharpen midnight claws. A dimming dome oppressed by night, smiles weakly on this parasite. It enters as a Trojan horse, along a crawled collision course. Its hollow husk holds silent spies, who have no room for alibis. This craven creature starts to nest, in memories you'd long repressed and darts behind your mood's eclipse, a smirk of sadness on its lips. From weary womb the beast begets, its offspring weaned upon regrets. Until it stirs with needle teeth, to tear the tenderness beneath.   It stalks from shade, a grievance grown, to steal the thoughts that were your own. Its brittle bark a bare refrain, before it leaps and snaps the chain.
0
Aug 7, 2014
Aug 7, 2014 at 12:59 PM UTC
Host
*The odor of blood drops in drapes, figures half-lit form false shapes; the bed on which I lie and the windows welcome what the delicate line knows: the open imagination's well-kept trade that many shrug off with a stilted stare or cough, throwing discredit on what honest hands have made. All that dreamlike inspiration becomes a beautiful conflagration: the smell of emblematic men and women slain, and flickering lights from where thought's shadows came, issue out of the creative heart's desire that's uncontrollable, requiring an artistic toll, like the worn fingers of the bard that plays the lyre. But that's what poetry's about, a deep and draining silent shout; the hand is left cramped and consumed, the heart's violet blossoms begin to bloom: sedative perfumes slide over your wearied frame – half-memories abate, the odorous dead dissipate – you're deserted, yet the halcyon heart flares aflame. Symbols come and symbols go: the disfigured trees obscured by snow, or simply standing against the wind or windless heat; a cherished friend, loved ones who’ve passed and the Lost Lyricist; the Muse that eludes the damp room in which it broods; an image of stream near a stony tower’s twist. Find here, dear reader and friend, a testimony sung over again. I write this text to release me from broken thoughts and anger’s sum: all that childhood and adolescence approved. The unvoiced thoughts of a boy caught by cast lots inked to find something beyond evanescent truths.*
0
Jul 5, 2012
Jul 5, 2012 at 9:31 AM UTC
(Introduction)
*The odor of blood drops in drapes, figures half-lit form false shapes; the bed on which I lie and the windows welcome what the delicate line knows: the open imagination's well-kept trade that many shrug off with a stilted stare or cough, throwing discredit on what honest hands have made. All that dreamlike inspiration becomes a beautiful conflagration: the smell of emblematic men and women slain, and flickering lights from where thought's shadows came, issue out of the creative heart's desire that's uncontrollable, requiring an artistic toll, like the worn fingers of the bard that plays the lyre. But that's what poetry's about, a deep and draining silent shout; the hand is left cramped and consumed, the heart's violet blossoms begin to bloom: sedative perfumes slide over your wearied frame – half-memories abate, the odorous dead dissipate – you're deserted, yet the halcyon heart flares aflame. Symbols come and symbols go: the disfigured trees obscured by snow, or simply standing against the wind or windless heat; a cherished friend, loved ones who’ve passed and the Lost Lyricist; the Muse that eludes the damp room in which it broods; an image of stream near a stony tower’s twist. Find here, dear reader and friend, a testimony sung over again. I write this text to release me from broken thoughts and anger’s sum: all that childhood and adolescence approved. The unvoiced thoughts of a boy caught by cast lots inked to find something beyond evanescent truths.*
Continue reading...
40
The stilted conversation The formal tone of voice He's too polite to not reply He feels he has no choice. I reminisce and chatter Babbling on and on But then I finally realise His interest has long gone. I gave the hand of friendship But that was not to be We’ve hit a void, an emptiness Now memory, set him free!
0
Nov 25, 2015
Nov 25, 2015 at 6:43 AM UTC
Goodbye my Friend!
I’m not afraid to admit very few things she thinks, head nestling on the window, over the sleeping Atlantic, eyes, like drowsy oceans, swelling over combers of clouds: she watches herself drift away     *do I arrive             or depart (a return or restart) to the city of light that has warmed, since girl dreams were born, the tomorrows of my lamp lit heart?* yet what could I do, but dawdle and pine, write this and offer art: and hope it speaks mine, am I not a wonder? keen, sonorous in stride, industrious, strength, brimming with pride; bonafide, –zut alors you and me, divided. I abhor the wind that blew          (your delicate cloud)                from my Rhine. is your love sewn in guilt, cold repentance and blame, is your sweet foolish heart, here chained to mistakes? what if you are a photograph, captured among many, held by each but for one fleeting frame, (will you forget my antiquated name?) which of your colours: Manet unsentimental, or Impressions in variation, french vanilla in tumble, or, contours, postcards, and maps, shall fleshen our past– these stilted and dwindled days. I think, for me, forever in evening, in fear of the fast falling night, or moving slow, pale window glow, afternoons, sunlit in the space, between grace, clocks, and tunes: I fumble like a stone to breathe l’espirit of you. I know and you know.  I suppose, unfurl in a brave new start, above bonds of looming crows, blankets of Western valley snows, the beating red of my radio spire; think of a lingering dusk, when you see that Eiffel tower on the lush fields of March, but imagine us as that point, over fresh Champs du March, a glimmer at the peak, on the flat earth, apart.
0
Dec 17, 2012
Dec 17, 2012 at 5:08 PM UTC
Farewell to Your Dissolving Back: Prelude for la Fille aux Cheveux de Lin
I’m not afraid to admit very few things she thinks, head nestling on the window, over the sleeping Atlantic, eyes, like drowsy oceans, swelling over combers of clouds: she watches herself drift away     *do I arrive             or depart (a return or restart) to the city of light that has warmed, since girl dreams were born, the tomorrows of my lamp lit heart?* yet what could I do, but dawdle and pine, write this and offer art: and hope it speaks mine, am I not a wonder? keen, sonorous in stride, industrious, strength, brimming with pride; bonafide, –zut alors you and me, divided. I abhor the wind that blew          (your delicate cloud)                from my Rhine. is your love sewn in guilt, cold repentance and blame, is your sweet foolish heart, here chained to mistakes? what if you are a photograph, captured among many, held by each but for one fleeting frame, (will you forget my antiquated name?) which of your colours: Manet unsentimental, or Impressions in variation, french vanilla in tumble, or, contours, postcards, and maps, shall fleshen our past– these stilted and dwindled days. I think, for me, forever in evening, in fear of the fast falling night, or moving slow, pale window glow, afternoons, sunlit in the space, between grace, clocks, and tunes: I fumble like a stone to breathe l’espirit of you. I know and you know.  I suppose, unfurl in a brave new start, above bonds of looming crows, blankets of Western valley snows, the beating red of my radio spire; think of a lingering dusk, when you see that Eiffel tower on the lush fields of March, but imagine us as that point, over fresh Champs du March, a glimmer at the peak, on the flat earth, apart.
Continue reading...
70
I SOUGHT a theme and sought for it in vain, I sought it daily for six weeks or so. Maybe at last, being but a broken man, I must be satisfied with my heart, although Winter and summer till old age began My circus animals were all on show, Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot, Lion and woman and the Lord knows what. II What can I but enumerate old themes? First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams, Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose, Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems, That might adorn old songs or courtly shows; But what cared I that set him on to ride, I, starved for the ***** of his faery bride? And then a counter-truth filled out its play, The Countess Cathleen was the name I gave it; She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away, But masterful Heaven had intetvened to save it. I thought my dear must her own soul destroy, So did fanaticism and hate enslave it, And this brought forth a dream and soon enough This dream itself had all my thought and love. And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea; Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said It was the dream itself enchanted me: Character isolated by a deed To engross the present and dominate memory. players and painted stage took all my love, And not those things that they were emblems of. III Those masterful images because complete Grew in pure mind, but out of what began? A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street, Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can, Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving **** Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
0
1.6k
The Circus Animal Desertion
I SOUGHT a theme and sought for it in vain, I sought it daily for six weeks or so. Maybe at last, being but a broken man, I must be satisfied with my heart, although Winter and summer till old age began My circus animals were all on show, Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot, Lion and woman and the Lord knows what. II What can I but enumerate old themes? First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams, Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose, Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems, That might adorn old songs or courtly shows; But what cared I that set him on to ride, I, starved for the ***** of his faery bride? And then a counter-truth filled out its play, The Countess Cathleen was the name I gave it; She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away, But masterful Heaven had intetvened to save it. I thought my dear must her own soul destroy, So did fanaticism and hate enslave it, And this brought forth a dream and soon enough This dream itself had all my thought and love. And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea; Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said It was the dream itself enchanted me: Character isolated by a deed To engross the present and dominate memory. players and painted stage took all my love, And not those things that they were emblems of. III Those masterful images because complete Grew in pure mind, but out of what began? A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street, Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can, Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving **** Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
Continue reading...
42
I I sought a theme and sought for it in vain, I sought it daily for six weeks or so. Maybe at last, being but a broken man, I must be satisfied with my heart, although Winter and summer till old age began My circus animals were all on show, Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot, Lion and woman and the Lord knows what. II What can I but enumerate old themes? First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams, Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose, Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems, That might adorn old songs or courtly shows; But what cared I that set him on to ride, I, starved for the ***** of his faery bride? And then a counter-truth filled out its play, 'The Countess Cathleen' was the name I gave it; She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away, But masterful Heaven had intetvened to save it. I thought my dear must her own soul destroy, So did fanaticism and hate enslave it, And this brought forth a dream and soon enough This dream itself had all my thought and love. And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea; Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said It was the dream itself enchanted me: Character isolated by a deed To engross the present and dominate memory. players and painted stage took all my love, And not those things that they were emblems of. III Those masterful images because complete Grew in pure mind, but out of what began? A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street, Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can, Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving **** Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
0
1.5k
The Circus Animals' Desertion
I I sought a theme and sought for it in vain, I sought it daily for six weeks or so. Maybe at last, being but a broken man, I must be satisfied with my heart, although Winter and summer till old age began My circus animals were all on show, Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot, Lion and woman and the Lord knows what. II What can I but enumerate old themes? First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams, Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose, Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems, That might adorn old songs or courtly shows; But what cared I that set him on to ride, I, starved for the ***** of his faery bride? And then a counter-truth filled out its play, 'The Countess Cathleen' was the name I gave it; She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away, But masterful Heaven had intetvened to save it. I thought my dear must her own soul destroy, So did fanaticism and hate enslave it, And this brought forth a dream and soon enough This dream itself had all my thought and love. And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea; Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said It was the dream itself enchanted me: Character isolated by a deed To engross the present and dominate memory. players and painted stage took all my love, And not those things that they were emblems of. III Those masterful images because complete Grew in pure mind, but out of what began? A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street, Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can, Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving **** Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
Continue reading...
43
LIMBO There is a perch above the earth, That some reside Not quite as high as the sunrise But just beneath the cool of the night sky I deny that I feel envy to those above I But I do imply that my mind sometimes Fantasize of tippy toed extensions Squinting eyes and hands high to the heavens as I grasp at the precipice thrilled at the benefits That awaits an individual such as me A monumental moment most men may miss Due to the maleficent molded macho make Of there guarded guile jilted while stilted Elevation of ones own ego But we know it’s a heavy task To wear that mask when Peaking up at that perch Only makes your neck hurt But the toll to reach that elevated road Is as simple as letting her know You’d rather be home Just you two alone Two heads on one pillow Curtains drawn and windows closed Night till dawn with flesh exposed Just three words to let her know “Ascend with me” Then of you’ll go And that my love, is the space above Atop the night but below the sun That I seek to reach once you get home Love XIN
0
Oct 22, 2012
Oct 22, 2012 at 8:26 PM UTC
LIMBO
Creating a poem was hard to do It had to rhyme all the way through Choosing what you want to say The words must fit in the right way You must be wise, and of course clever To succeed in this endeavour The special thing about a poem The rhyme of verse, that alone It makes you think, touches the heart You cannot but help to love this art The thoughts they flow, images race Everything falls into place It matters not if you're unknown or have fame As long as the last words all sound the same It's the rhyme, that made me Fall in love with poetry But now poetry is high brow Stilted words Fragmented sentence Fill the spaces with thought To find the meaning RIP the poor rhyme
0
May 15, 2016
May 15, 2016 at 3:35 PM UTC
Pity The Poor Rhyme