"taloned" poems
He thought that he had been evicted like a raucous Irishman, late once again on the rent, his belongings and furniture strewn on the lawn
His cold, deadly stare and ruffled red, said the same, with haughty indignation written all over him
As could be expected with any eviction, belongings strewn to the street, it started to rain; large splattering drops falling from the sky with an audible impact, adding insult to the injury
But he was just a child, set free and off to learn on his own, his perch and roost along with his chair, moved to his new home
He had outgrown the large screen porch, which was such a ridiculous place for an Owl anyway
Wood and glen gone, surrounded by girder and screen, locked into the realm of old peoples coffee and cigarettes
Tucked up into the eaves ignominiously, or sitting on the lamp, grooming flesh from his over large and taloned feet
He would sit silhouetted by the dim red glow of the bulb, relaxing, until a noise would spin his head and he would become hooded and glaring death
The lamp added a glow to his eyes, which already burned with a raptors fire and he would become the personification of evil to the world of prey
Low and crouched, wings slightly spread; he would become the terrifying story that small warm animals tell their children at night to keep them in line and safe
But now he has been moved outside and all of his familiar belongings with him, or most anyways
Now he perches outside, either on the rough, twisted branches near his roost, or his favorite chair, and contemplates late into the night
But it seems that he prefers the comfort of his living room and he rests on the arm of the chair, quiet and pensive in the still and humid darkness
He stares at me while I smoke; the white plumes drifting like iridescent fog into the moonlight, while I observe him from his former home, illuminated by the dim lamp light
His saffron eyes gleam in the darkness, his dark form robed in that of the raptor, wings held down, with the tips outstretched like fingers
He stares at the lamp, standing like a pedestal against the wall and I wonder to myself
Does he want his ****** lamp moved out there too?
Aug 29, 2014
Aug 29, 2014 at 4:44 PM UTC
If only we could fly like
those that tweet or hoot
without aid of jet or
parachute
For I sure don't like
wings that boom and roar
just so they can take off
and soar
Ah, to fly without petrol, diesel
or fuel
Oh, to halt that taloned midair
duel *
Birds they don't pollute
the air
nor need they any airline
fare
So if only I too could rise
and glide
and let the wind be my
sole guide
I'd be happy to fly all the
way to 'em' faraway stars
if I was assured I'd risk
no charring scars.
Flying without aviation
formalities
I could be sightseeing
many more cities
Ah I so wish to fly just
like a jay or jackdaw
Then I'd fly across all and
every border
For I'd know nor follow
no man-made law!
If only we needed no darned immigration pass or visa
We could have visited so many more touristy places
Say even the spectacular and popular pyramids of Giza
And we could have known different cultures and races
Ah, a stylish photo next to the leaning tower of Pisa
And return with exotica like a framed pic of the Mona Lisa
Feb 26, 2019
Feb 26, 2019 at 12:20 PM UTC
Storms are raging, lightning striking all around.
Ugly faceless beasts, rising up out of nowhere.
All want a piece of me.
I fight alone, I cannot fail, I cannot concede.
I have to fight, the alternative is too… everything.
These are no beasts from a work of fiction.
They’re incorporeal but they are very much alive.
Only I can see them, but I can’t.
I know they’re there.
Anxiety, the first, scratching away at the nape of my neck,
Almost like some taloned spectre,
Cold and slick.
Wants me to scratch,
Wants me to give in.
The Low, the negative, the constant.
Not sadness but the absence of joy,
Nothing has relevance.
Devoid of rational thought,
The Low has won today.
Hopelessness, the last, like a warm duvet on a cold day,
Inviting me to lay down under it,
Inviting me hide my head under the cover and forget all else,
Too easy, there is still life outside the head.
Embrace the chaos,
Storm straight into the fire again,
I refuse to burn; I refuse to lie down,
I refuse to let it win.
This is a good fight and it’s worth fighting.
Too many have lost the fight,
Gave into the pill or the water,
My anchors are in the hearts of my loved ones.
I will survive to fight again tomorrow.
;
Dec 7, 2015
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:30 AM UTC
With eyes of black obsidian
And eagle's beak of nose
Black turban of the Taliban
Worn everywhere he goes,
Warrior of God's mountainside
Mujaheddin, known by name,
Pashto is his verbal tongue
And Allah's quest, his fame.
Razored knife in braided belt
Long"Jezail"musket points to sky,
A gimlet glint to garnet gaze
One thoughtless move , you die.
Gliding fast from rock to rock
Gazelle like in his easy grace,
Silent as an adder's strike
Assassin black with turbaned face.
For centuries invaders came
To vanquish this stark land,
Persians,Romans, Russians
And British redcoats tried their hand.
And recently the Yankees
Came with automated war,
To find themselves engulfed
And fleeing for the exit door.
Inexorable Afghanistan
Has bleached their bones as one
Vendetta for the insult
While there's air to breath and gun.
Like Shah Massoud, the warlords
Descend from mountain cave
To slaughter all who venture
Be they terrified or brave.
Tribally disconnected
From Islamabad to Kabul,
Tajik versus Pashtun
Versus Koranic Islam's rule.
No prisoners are taken,
The women always use their knives
And ravines echo shockingly
As tortured slowly lose their lives.
But the sunsets are glorious
Valley mists by morning rise
And row by row of fractured peaks
Rise in grandeur to blue skies.
And the children croon to goat herds
As they graze high meadow's green
And above the taloned goshawk glides
Ever watchful and unseen.
Hulks of Russian gun ships
Litter valleys and the plain
And the ghosts of many nations
Walk these dusty roads of shame.
For the legacy of the Afghans
Is a ****** litany of war
And the road to their tomorrow
Is paved with promises of more.
Marshalg
Wanganui
30 December 2009.
www.worthyofpublishing.com
www.hellopoetry.com
Jan 3, 2010
Jan 3, 2010 at 9:15 PM UTC
When eagles fly lambs bleat,
Taloned shadows circle.
Plunge streak,
Grounding impermanence;
Life, death,
Impersonal but personal.
Sep 3, 2010
Sep 3, 2010 at 8:16 PM UTC
My fears
are a flock of blackbirds,
that swarm
the extremities of tree limbs,
but by your grace they dissolve into the sky,
their low caws dispersed by the brushing of the wind.
and there,
in a house finally my own,
no longer supporting there taloned feet:
i am thankful.
Aug 17, 2010
Aug 17, 2010 at 3:06 PM UTC
How sick and green it creeps inside,
and brings dark thoughts and fears beside,
a beginning so pure and new,
that no true reason could eschew,
the envy that epitomes,
the horrid beast called jealousy.
It grasps with darkened tendrils black,
and seeks in fevered mind to wrack,
all semblance of humility,
and give to greed stability.
To clutch the heart in taloned paw,
and feed all hope unto its maw.
Jan 16, 2014
Jan 16, 2014 at 2:14 PM UTC
Lucifer was my first lover,
Now I have a twisted fantasy seeping darkness into my head.
I can no longer grow brain cells but I can now grow horns.
Splitting out ot my skull like thorns from a branch.
There's dried blood dripping down the crown of forehead again.
Dancing with the devil is child's play.
He's wrapped a chain around my neck.
Belts upon my arms, ties around my legs.
I'm fully undressed and unholy.
Light the circular fire while I become my purest form.
Lay me on dirt while the embers silhouette around me.
I'm burning like amber, illuminating the nights sky.
This is a ritual, I can take it. I'm not human, I'm reborn.
Mephistopheles' forked tongue spits gasoline over pale skin.
Imp's are beating on drums as the ceremony begins.
Sacrifice me, I am the chosen one.
Beat me until I believe.
Face down in damp soil I'm a mural against the green.
The mausoleum next to me will guide my spirit where it needs to be.
Lily-livered eyes cremate excervasion into my flesh.
Taloned hands drag my body to the crypt.
Bathe me in others as unfortunate as me,
Then dress me in Ivy so those in the underworld can see:
I'm the "Purest Form Of Innocence."
The one who was once "Me" has finally become "We."
The Archfiend tells me to kneel and I obey his every command.
Falexn eyes control me to undress myself once again.
" Filia Diaboli" He calls me as he places his hands on my head.
I feel my body ascend through the dirt I used to lay.
And when I open my fawn eyes, I'm in the real world once again.
Mar 2, 2018
Mar 2, 2018 at 7:47 PM UTC
Such anxiety that has me bound.
So tight I can’t breathe.
Dispel this fear that I’m nurturing.
These thoughts that have my lungs
in its taloned clutch.
*Let not its grip tighten more.
Let not the flame be extinguished.
Let not the last dregs of my strength flee.*
Grant me the courage to once again
triumph over the siege that has me...
All bent misshapen and twisted in knots.
Oct 3, 2018
Oct 3, 2018 at 11:35 AM UTC
it gnaws on my brain rabidly,
with its razor-like teeth
what is it?
i don't know
all i know is that it makes my breath catch in my throat
as if it's being held there by taloned claws,
my heart beating as though it's being used as a drum
and this...this thing
haunts my dreams
it causes nightmares
of losing everyone i love
it also takes my will to live
and smashes it between its palms,
so that my mind is whirling
but is void of the ability or motivation to take action
what is this creature?
how can i defeat it?
surely this is not a part of me
but it seems like
no matter how much ice i press to my skin
no matter how much control i have
no matter what medication i'm on,
it returns
and in returning,
steals my mind
Aug 19, 2016
Aug 19, 2016 at 2:00 AM UTC
The moon bled, deep red reflections on the water
Yesterday's eve, where madness was only rumors
Maybe two streets down, or the cobbler's son
Before the priests, before the cross came down
Before the fires, which burned cold
Frost clawed from oceans depths, undying rise
Creatures of horrors, and blight
Ripping forth from within, tearing hosts
Something formed then, in my father's pride
It crept out, changing organs flesh to else
Growing within, stretching changing physiology
Ready to burst, I can feel it soon
Creatures lash about the night, creening
Violence against nature, a gift from elder gods
A virus, illness budding out of Bon Homme
Couldn't what be birthed, stay home?
But I could feel it, strengthening
Memories of someone else, mother's child
Flashes of night, gods falling from the sky
Swallowed by the sea, drunken until mad
My toes touched, webbing cool
I drifted, floating my eyes
Clear, studied sky, breath choking
Taste the water, breathe the sea
Back to the sea, back to the sea
A bakers wife, bread no taste for me
Husband slaughtered, black priests to see
Worship the Sea God, turn or die
To me, I found them torn
Protecting mine, I cleaved them all
My husband's eyes, between taloned nails
Drunkened, blood drugged and mad
Oh! But I wasn't alone, chaos ruled the eve
Worshippers in ****** haze, gore filled the streets
Flashing in and out, my mind sane and not
Acts became memory, desire fuel
All those that fled, unpursued
Driven by fear, only half crazed
While we devoured the town, each other
But dawn found me cowering, changed
Now my mind grows, a shadow of my lord
My body turns, gills for my lips reach
Drinking the salty sea, breathing deep
Cleansed and born, anew
Mar 10, 2016
Mar 10, 2016 at 10:07 PM UTC
fury
of the lion:
golden warpath garland
thundering soul set forth by roar
sovereign savanna rex, pride in plain sight
majesty unkempt like his mane
heavy the head that wears
the primal crown...
fury
vision
of the eagle:
corneal coronas
scorch earth from soaring apexes
taloned streaks of lightning tear assunder
the prey of a thousand yard stare
she is a feathered seer
perched in a nest
vision
venom
of the viper:
his husk made of mica
syringed fangs apportion wisdom
slithering past Achilles' heel to heart
from perceptive directions hissed
strait tongues fork in the road
coursing in vein
venom
Feb 8, 2016
Feb 8, 2016 at 12:23 PM UTC
To fly or not to fly, that is my burden
For who can run my mile or test my trail
Here draws my grief, true cries so clearly sudden
Will I lift myself on crows wings? Vile.
Nay, my soles must prove their purpose their self
Sand slithers through glass domes leaving traces
My dusty bootstraps be taken off shelf
A timely sojourn to the waves that call
Love awaits me in caved lemon groves
Salty waters I must wander to fall
Into your arms to live once again in that trove
Feet must carry me for new wings to soar
Trust makes them mine, your tired eyes glisten
Dragon’s scales and tales of forgotten lore
Float above your strong shoulders, I listen
For the sound of smoke rings breaking away
From your lips as you loft those wings so high
Fear eludes me, as wind frightens the day
I bask in their shadow, as they do try
To bear the weight of my draining presence
Reaching up to feel your reptiled jaw
Nose fills with namesake blood incense
A monster they cry: breaking natural law
Four taloned feet make mine seem so small
My lovely creature, I see your true beauty
Gems call to me, so into your nest I crawl
Feeling safe, your cave a new home for me
The wings I own are so fragile and weak
Lift me farther from the seventh circle
Take me with you to the highest of peaks
Strap me onto your back with gold buckles
I beg you to fly me away and save
Me from this horribly lucid dank fate
Steal my body from this forgotten grave
Wait til night time seeps through the sky, though late,
On your wings pull me to the stars above
Take me with you on the grandest of flights
Let me show you tales of true life and love
Take me with you to a place of great heights
Jan 27, 2015
Jan 27, 2015 at 2:43 PM UTC
Being eaten alive cannot be
that terrible. It was a tempting idea,
as I thought on the vultures
that wait there upon the fence.
As I thought on the beaks
snapping at my ventricles, claws
grasping with taloned ferocity deep
into the pit of my stomach.
It cannot be so bad.
Inside the bar, I sip
on scotch and soda
I was out with a woman;
an older beaut that led me
in magnificent circles
of conversation till
I found myself drunk and
without a word to say. Slightly
later in the evening I
ran into an old flame that
I never wished had gone
out. --Yet as they do,
so did she--
This vulture was stunning
in the lamplight of the
plaza, asking me over a drink
how I came to have this woman out,
in all this time without one.
Boredom was my only answer.
Its tendency to draw me in,
with an excusable neglect to
realize the futility of such sport.
She knew, merely in the look she
gave me. She knew the ***** secret of the
skin that grasps and yearns for that almighty friction.
She knew, for indeed she played the
game well enough. Many men have found
her since me, and many more would
seek her out and find her, until I was
merely a tally on the mark. But she
knew that moment, over scotch and soda,
how bad the vultures had me, she
knew that moment, sitting there upon the fence,
that she led the charge.
She never said a word, finished her drink,
took a dance with a man I'll never know.
The woman I came with stormed home,
enraged over something I'll never know,
and the world danced around me to
a tune of which I'll never know.
Instead, I sat over another scotch and soda
and wondered how
bad it could possibly be
to be eaten alive.
Apr 2, 2014
Apr 2, 2014 at 2:38 AM UTC
perhaps
you grace my world with soft words and warmth
a tiny light in the midst of a hurricane
or a blizzard that freezes my mind raw
shivering from the lack of anchored sea and
buffeted by the continuous waves, breaking self into smithereens on the taloned rocks
perhaps
the split ends in my hair are actually undercover friends, tiny reminders of what-needs -to-be
of molasses in my throat, coating my lungs and clinging to my breathing
like a shadow of a former life or long-lost friend
who time and haunted emails have not re-traced
perhaps
it's a moment of perplexity, of the out-of-place standing like a lamp-post in the street
sight choked by nostalgia
perhaps
his oblivion.
Apr 26, 2016
Apr 26, 2016 at 10:11 PM UTC
Silent she slips in
Resolute the new day
Steps of eiderdown
Path rendered muted echoes
As sparkled snow sugars tongues of lovers
A petaled hand extended
Fragrant cherry blossoms
The blush
The rush
Will cupids lacquered eros wax
When the breeze of romance
Roars ferocious
Lions prowl on taloned claws frigid
Before the frail Paschal lambs
New birth awaits the cadence of spring rain
And jonquiled mornings pregnant with dew
Little girls skip minuets
Plait the maypole
Festive in buttered eyelet, whispered taffeta and crisp dotted swiss
Dreaming of castles and gilt armor
Bind this heart of mine in gold and champagne roses
Love and gunfire burst on the palette of the night sky
Sonic color settles shrieking freedom
The haze of summer days
The wind warm, your breath warmer
She languishes heavy lidded
Pine pitch fragrant in her hair and sweet strawberries in her mouth
Fireflies flit teasing
Tepid water waits for stain glass wings to grace the surface
Taut the day holds her breath
As rumbling thunder promises the cool monsoon
Chase away the dog days when the atmosphere clings heavy
Sleepless nights of croaking toads and the drone of mosquitoes
Breathless for the heady patter of rain
Herald the skies of burning blue
Above a cacophony of color
Cottonwoods in petticoats sunflower yellow
Crimson maple and dusted ash
Dance beneath the harvest moon
Thankful
Life is a gift to be unwrapped
Surprise exquisite
Like the first star sparkling on your horizon
At the end of the day.
TL Boehm
02/01/10
Sep 30, 2014
Sep 30, 2014 at 4:03 PM UTC
Shivering bones that show joy in what doesn't exist
Hooped fingers dusting flakes of insecurity from your eyes
Shadowed in the mist
Casting taloned wisps of cursory
Into the already sodden air
The deluge of heat from the flames
Lay memories of dispersed feelings to rest
Curling the hair on your skin in its fervid ferocity
Rusted metal
Drawing its sisters from your flesh
Like water from a spring
Cold
Cold and thin
Crushing daisies beneath our feet
When the placid pleasures become too much to bare
And all over again you failed that day
Apr 7, 2015
Apr 7, 2015 at 2:13 PM UTC
Broken, I crawl to you, dragging sins and shackles over barren ground
Offering nothing but putrid flesh and blood to satiate the hungry grave
No strength to raise my tear streaked face to Heaven
The wreckage of my life crumbling in your weathered hands
You could crush the shattered remnants of my soul
Beyond salvation, I lie lifeless waiting for your Sacred Breath
How long have you sorrowed as I wasted precious breath
Aspirations dropped like autumn leaves scattered on cold ground
My skin screaming curses and lies to fracture my temporary soul
Clawing the earth ferociously, I dig my shallow grave
Precious flesh and bone you’ve woven shredded in my taloned hands
I am lost forever falling far from your Heaven.
Yet in solitary moments you called to me from Heaven
My spirit cried out, I strained to hear your whispered breath
You broke my fall and sheltered me in your mighty hands
Dropping hope into my heart like seeds on fertile ground
You rescued me from my self made grave
You erased my shame and restored my soul
You remember the divinity within my soul
Reminding me I am a resident of Heaven
Never intended for eternal death in a shallow grave
You give me the spark of life with your Holy Breath
I am strong in you and planted on solid ground
You dress me in bridal white and cleanse this blood from my hands
And I will glorify You with every work of my hands
You are the mighty Protector of my soul
No longer condemned, I stand for you on solid ground
Sending sweet songs of adoration to Your Heaven
And I will praise You for your love with precious breath
You set me free from torment, from the grave
You remove the sins and shackles of a permanent grave
Remove the residue left by the ***** ground
And I will love you as you love me with every breath
I carry your Divinity in the center of my soul
Your precious sacrifice prepares a place with you in Heaven
My spirit soars no longer sentenced to return to barren ground
Your precious breath sets me free from the grave
Uplifted from the ground by your strong hands
The grave doesn’t claim my soul, I am yours in Heaven.
From the Vault of lost poems circa 2007/2008
TL Boehm
Feb 5, 2016
Feb 5, 2016 at 11:35 AM UTC
Look in to the mirror
Only a little light is lost
But that light isn't lost
It's caged, imprisoned
Sandwiched between
The silver and glass
It claws out, etching
Long black scratches
On a mirror walled
Never moved, hanging
In the dark, late at night
A thump, dark noises
Under the bed, the closet
Behind the closed door
It's not all in your mind
It's that bit of light
Turned insane, trapped
So long in the abyss
That, I see as I gaze
That not light staring
Back at me
A pool of not darkness
Ethereal flesh, claws
Of light, scratching
Like a chalkboard
But on glass
That noise in the night
Reaching from the glass
Out, against the wall
It makes sense, of a sort
To reach out, break the glass
But the wall, it stops
Leaving only a scratch
Only, of course,
During the day
Dust of a hundred mirrors
Not reflecting night
Bumps and thumps
Slamming shut
And jumping
You from bed
But the light is trapped
Imprisoned, locked in
To a flesh not its own
Testing, flexing it's taloned hands
Grasping, lingering
On a silvered surface
Screams caught
Etched on the surface
Of our minds
Aug 30, 2014
Aug 30, 2014 at 10:17 PM UTC
I have winnowed words from red earth
Birthed mad poetry in silence
Rumbled under sullen skies
Cast my cries to the birds of the air
The cadence of mind
Blind expectations
Venerations
The ache of angels and soliloquied
Mantras of savants and idol fools
I’ve plated my thoughts with bits of
Sugared glaze to coat the rendered
Offering dolloped in the sickened
Fawning
My voracious ego tasteless
Vinegar on the palette
The sweat of my brow spat out
In a shallow glass
The circumstance of banality
Nothing more than the dull ache
At the base of your spine
You dismiss me by degrees
Inconsistencies
Secrets grow fangs and
Spider themselves webbed
Close to the bone
Crunched underfoot
Weary words spin in the thin air
Senseless surrendered chattel
Trace my petty dreams in the dust
Of the space between
You and me and we
Will never grasp the significance
Of a blade of grass
Or the depthless black ocean
Where your terrors luminesce
On the cusp of a pirate moon
You breathe the algorithms
Temporal
And I have lost my taloned grip
On your poet soul
TL Boehm
04/2013
Feb 7, 2016
Feb 7, 2016 at 4:12 PM UTC
Literary critics don’t always like
The poetry what I do do,
They say it should all be recycled;
Flushed down the nearest loo ...
They say they cannot find a metre;
Although one works for the Water Board,
They dance all over my dignity;
My self-confidence they have floored,
They say me grammar is somewhat bad,
I think the word they used was appalling,
Their taloned claws, grip sharpened knives,
They give me quite a mauling.
But kind, gentle reader (grovel),
I’m sure that at least you understand;
That my thoughts are erratic explosions,
Not controlled, orderly or planned.
As long as my simple poems
Make you ponder, weep, or smile
I’ll carri-on regardless,
For it would all have been worthwhile.
Jul 10, 2017
Jul 10, 2017 at 3:55 PM UTC
How difficult it is to quit being
God in this dangerous swirling world
Called life which arises from the ego
State with conscious and preconscious thought
Realms that rapidly flow from moment to brief
Moment presenting a false linear
Image of perception perceiver and
Perceived as three distinct intermingling
Entities where in truth only a oneness
Does exist here and now but quit i must
To loose the hold of bone deep taloned fears
Which are a cause and caused resultant in
This present mind of dreamer and the dream
Sep 13, 2017
Sep 13, 2017 at 7:29 AM UTC