"thirtieth" poems
It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood
And the mussel pooled and the heron
Priested shore
The morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
Myself to set foot
That second
In the still sleeping town and set forth.
My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
Above the farms and the white horses
And I rose
In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
Over the border
And the gates
Of the town closed as the town awoke.
A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
Blackbirds and the sun of October
Summery
On the hill's shoulder,
Here were fond climates and sweet singers suddenly
Come in the morning where I wandered and listened
To the rain wringing
Wind blow cold
In the wood faraway under me.
Pale rain over the dwindling harbour
And over the sea wet church the size of a snail
With its horns through mist and the castle
Brown as owls
But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud.
There could I marvel
My birthday
Away but the weather turned around.
It turned away from the blithe country
And down the other air and the blue altered sky
Streamed again a wonder of summer
With apples
Pears and red currants
And I saw in the turning so clearly a child's
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
Through the parables
Of sun light
And the legends of the green chapels
And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
These were the woods the river and sea
Where a boy
In the listening
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide.
And the mystery
Sang alive
Still in the water and singingbirds.
And there could I marvel my birthday
Away but the weather turned around. And the true
Joy of the long dead child sang burning
In the sun.
It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
O may my heart's truth
Still be sung
On this high hill in a year's turning.
12.2k
November is the cruelest month
Reminiscence forced of things far gone and
Bitter foreshadowing of what is to come
The leaves have lived up to their name
The trees, a shell of what they once were
The grass clings to its last hope
The temperature makes its empty threats
The beauty of Autumn deteriorates
She is haughty and cruel
We were strung along for so long
But like all good things
Her presence is too fleeting
We try to rationalize her departure
We didn’t need her anyway
Her sister is far more beautiful
Autumn was never committed
We will look for someone else
What luck!
Her sister is coming
Her name is winter!
But alas, how could we love
Someone so bitter and cold?
November is the cruelest month
Joy is attacked in a dark alley
Melancholia does the mugging
Bitterness steals the Hope
November tears apart the heart
With a ruthlessness unseen
In any other month.
The days are soon so short and cold
The landscape is so barren
There is a hint of snow
But it is more like rain
It is so unfortunate to see
Nature’s beauty going all to waste
The thirtieth is here
Judgement Day has arrived
It is only possible to conclude
July was great if too hot indeed
January hard but nearer the end
September its usual lovely self
One month stands alone in its horror
November is the cruelest month
Oct 20, 2014
Oct 20, 2014 at 11:08 AM UTC
The sunlight winks from behind the umbrella of leaves and mangoes overhead. It tickles your cheekbones like the first, second, thirtieth good morning kiss. Your sandals are worn. A woven basket rests heavy on your hip, in your hands.
Your fingers, slender and worn by the earth, trace the contours of my face the way they search for meaning in a dictionary. Gravity. We inch closer. Have you always had a widow’s peak? Your hand finds it rightful place over my heart. I kiss you for the thirty-first time today. You taste of plantains and milk. You smell of sweat and the sun. My hand relishes in the traces of heat on your cheek.
One mango drops from your possession. Unripe, but soon to be opened up and worshipped as it is meant to be. Your fingers grasp the yellowing heart and press it against my lips. I rest against the trunk and sink my teeth into it. Liquid sunrise trickles down your wrist onto my blouse. The leaves create shadow puppets on the ground, the story of two young fools swaying in the shade of a tree.
Aug 12, 2021
Aug 12, 2021 at 6:32 AM UTC
In high school
we learn of logarithms, iambic meter
how to balance an equation between zinc oxide
and excess hydrogen gas–
only to find there was no reaction to begin with.
We’re told that colleges get to know you
through three letter acronyms—ACT, SAT, GPA…
and our name is somewhere in the application.
It’s repeated to us to the point of meaninglessness,
like a perpetually chanted word:
Grades, scores and testing, testing, testing.
The students they want know everything
that will be forgotten by their thirtieth birthday.
I anticipate the day
that our Geometry teacher is to write an essay
on the individual’s struggle
against a systematically inhumane society
in Orwell’s 1984
only to receive a “D” under the scrutinizing eye of
the honor’s English teacher
Or, perhaps, the day someone in charge
is faced with some insufferable fate
the textbooks call chemical stoichiometry,
thirty years after repressing memories
of having to memorize the periodic table
Socrates once said that the youth today
will be the demise of civilization.
We contradict our parents, are smug in the face of authority
and tyrannize our poor teachers—
a youth who will ultimately leave behind a world
too damaged for our children to inherit.
Funny he said this
roughly 2,000 years ago–
I think my dad said something like that last year.
But, until the day we grow up to pay taxes
and marry someone we despise,
we’re just stupid teenagers.
Nov 1, 2012
Nov 1, 2012 at 11:37 AM UTC
Just picked up my thirtieth pair of glasses
(perhaps you call them eye glasses).
Progressive, photo-chromatic, temples with wrap around cables.
Same round frames since I was sixteen (first saw them in How I Won the War).
I don’t mess with what works. We fit. No need to look further.
Had my eye on the prize.
They give me perfect sight. And I waited years to get perfect sight.
Always needed glasses. Finally got them when I was eleven.
Big family. Immigrants. No health coverage. So, no glasses.
Couldn’t see the forest or the trees. A genetic thing too.
Several sisters and brothers are as myopic as moles.
Mammy and Daddy never wore glasses (which is not to say they didn’t need them).
All granny glasses are wire rims with a golden finish.
All of mine were. These ones are round black wire rims. I’m being so adventurous.
I remove them (singular is a monocle) to shower and go to bed. I never ask to try on someone’s frames, and I never loan mine for a second (Period)
I also have a face that has grown so accustomed to glasses, that my eyes have surely deepened into my skull. I don’t recognize myself on my driver’s license, health card or passport (Why do they insist on that? I’m never asked to remove my glasses upon surrender of any document for visual verification).
I’ve yet to regret the wealth I’ve spent.
Their cost could pay the rent
For a third world family for years.
It would feed and clothe a village, I’m sure.
I'm not blinded by how good I've got it here.
Apr 17, 2021
Apr 17, 2021 at 11:35 AM UTC
I'm getting my glasses removed
Tomorrow, on thirtieth June
Words cannot describe what I feel
Sight without them would be a boon
To see clearly as soon as I wake
Looking at the time with no strain
Yet I'm scared- will I lose my vision?
Or will this be the end of my pain?
A surgery's a strange affair
I'm afraid- but I won't say a word
Lord, I pray, grant me the strength
To deal with whatever will occur
With the grace, the will of your smile
With the patience of a tortoise
To amble gently towards my end
With steadfast feet, and a bit of poise.
Jul 29, 2018
Jul 29, 2018 at 11:03 AM UTC
I remember the day I met you.
On your thirteenth birthday, in fact.
Bright smiles and a mouth full of braces,
you were the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen.
You were so eager to learn
that you’d stay up until the late hours,
keeping me company while uncovering the wonders
of each note.
“It’s time for bed,”
your mother would scold,
and we’d reluctantly say goodnight.
You came to visit though,
again and again.
In return I’d whisper in your ear,
help you learn a new language.
You picked up quickly.
When your little sister
took a pen to my leg,
you were irate.
She etched a flock of sparrows -
nine of them, to be exact.
But I liked it.
It made me feel loved.
Until one day, you left.
Your final song is one I will never forget:
Clair de Lune.
In the aftermath,
every once in awhile someone would spot me and
tell me how beautiful I was,
but then wistfulness
turned to pity
as neglect took over.
Abandoned, I fared the elements
by myself for twelve winters
without your touch.
I stretched and I waned,
growing old prematurely.
My tune turned melancholy.
But even twelve years hadn’t erased
the memory of your fingerprints
on my keys.
Your wife found me again at an estate sale.
She shipped me home for your thirtieth.
You didn’t recognize me at first,
but by habit you reached down
and felt for the sparrows.
/I found you./
Jul 12, 2018
Jul 12, 2018 at 11:19 AM UTC
On the night you left,
the northern lights outside my window
illuminated the floor of my bedroom with soft red
and green light.
And I pictured you
My love
Driving
Sailing away
And the aurora
Guiding you like a lighthouse
Westward
Through the calm spring air.
I close the curtains
And take a deep breath.
Feb 12, 2015
Feb 12, 2015 at 12:00 AM UTC
First line says it all
Second line says more
Third line is a little different
Forth line makes you sure
Fifth line takes you places
Sixth line has never seen
Seventh line is hasty
Eight line is a little obscene
Ninth line grasps the tone of Eight
Tenth line will make you blush
Eleventh line will stop and pause
Twelfth line will fall into the hush
There may be a thirteenth
or fourteenth or fifteenth line
a sixteenth or seventeenth
that might have left you blind
An eighteenth line that made you yawn
A nineteenth that made you smile
A twentieth that made you stop
reading for a while
A twenty first or twenty second
that commanded you go back
to the start
Or a twenty third and
twenty forth line
was what grabbed your heart
The twenty fifth line
undid all your beliefs
The twenty six line
walked down old streets
The twenty seventh and twenty eighth
crossed paths that were parallel
The twenty ninth and thirtieth line
knows stories it will never tell
Yet only the first line is read
the last line is the lie
that forces all the other lines
to just sit idly by
Apr 13, 2014
Apr 13, 2014 at 7:25 AM UTC
i am told that i will live to
see my thirtieth birthday
my thirty-second, if i'm
lucky. the statistics are
stacked against me, and
it's hard to build a future
when you will die in ten
years, a decade of waiting.
it's hard to dream when
you are a countdown.
Nov 29, 2018
Nov 29, 2018 at 2:02 PM UTC
To my wife
'tis your beauty I love best
Not ever nothing less
Twill never fade to nothingness
'tis my wife to whom I adore
It's her who still takes my breath
Her sincere eyes in my opine
Light up darkness with shine
Her scents my nasal bloom
Captures my mind like an ***** boon
Her very essence makes me high
One droplet sends me soaring t'sky
I'm certain to my minds eye true
There will never be another you
So for the thirtieth time
An ode for you my pretty Valentine
thank you
Feb 8, 2018
Feb 8, 2018 at 6:13 PM UTC
So many times,
have I wanted to die.
I've lost count of how many plans
I've had for suicide.
At some point,
I just wanted to jump,
to the depths of sea.
Or off myself in the woods, maybe.
Just toss myself from the thirtieth story,
and leave my body
for passersby to see.
And with all these failed attempts,
to be free from this loathsome life,
I've come to realization,
That I need to treasure this beautiful lie.
In order for me
to truly be
set free.
When the time comes to uncover
this terrible veracity---
That life's nothing but an endless maze,
wherein death is the only key.
Jul 9, 2017
Jul 9, 2017 at 9:13 AM UTC
Okay...
I've just finished another masterpiece
I go and hit submit
This shouldn't take very long now
Before the comments come rushing in
Okay...
It's been a couple minutes now
And I haven't gotten one
Is there anybody awake at this time
Can't they see what it is I've done
1) Do you think that they still like me?
2) Do they even know I'm here?!
3) Did I post my poem at the right time?!!
4) Did I make the writing clear?!!!
5) Could the site be on the blink?!!!!
6) Are the worlds computers down?!!!!!
7) Did I miss the second coming?!!!!!!
8) Is there anyone around?!!!!!!!!
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Okay...
I'll check it once again
Is this the third or thirtieth time
My mind can not comprehend it
Are all these people blind
Okay...
Now I'm on the check it 30 second cycle
It's a crazy loop I'm spinning in
Pretty sure I wouldn't be here though
If someone would please comment
Apr 2, 2013
Apr 2, 2013 at 5:54 PM UTC
Two thousand graves all in narrow rows
Which one is my dad's? God only knows
Who is buried where, no one could be sure
Please tell me mummy why dad went to war
My poor dad was flown out early one morn
Mum was pregnant, I still hadn't been born
Wasn't long, he looked down the barrel of a gun
Dead at twenty two and never got to see his son
Ambushed they were, certainly never had a chance
Had absolutely no warning as the enemy advanced
Machine guns, grenades, cannons and lots of mortar
Just before dawn, it was like lambs to the slaughter
Two thousand died that day, mostly young men
Sure hope our country never suffers like that again
Lonely women at home pregnant or with a small kid
Such a tragedy should never reoccur, heaven forbid
Today is dad's thirtieth birthday and we shed a tear
Should be with me and mum celebrating with a beer
Why must they fight, do countries have to go to war
Not just me without a dad but many thousands more
Only a kid and I'm walking around the cemetery in a trance
Can't all the world leaders just try and give peace a chance
War has made me lonely and my dear old mum is a mess
Trying to find dad's grave but sadly she'll need to guess
Jul 19, 2014
Jul 19, 2014 at 9:41 PM UTC
(when living nightmare pierced real time
thus engendering the following rhyme)
adrenaline powered stealth bomb blast
with the noggin of this, ah... ur... bane chap,
which debilitating anxiety doth outlast
means to cope (thunder and dumb struck)
with stranger mental things
at expressed vertigo, nausea, racing heartbeat
ogres recreated tormented, torpedoed, tortured
most decades from my yesteryear,
which aye presumed long passed.
now, within my head "guerilla"
warring faction
lobs a grenade followed by "bombs away"
broadside finding this body electric doing
a kamikaze nosedive into sick bay
where major organs suffer direct hit
analogous to a giant fist
smashing pumpkins,
sans thine flesh as if clay,
which psychic sortie plagues my ability
to function reduced
tub bing bedridden one day
approximately one week ago
from this thirtieth of April
tooth house sand ate teen gray
ting, grinding, and grounding with figurative
threshing blades employed
to winnow chaff from hay
literally crushing willpower,
where invisible jaws
of sharpened steel interlay
atop pulling stalwart garrison strafed,
(akin to a crash test dummy) named Jay
Walking to become blindsided
obliterating every last trace to stay alive
hence, this emergency transmission,
viz this bloke communicating
desperate plaintive wail,
that I haint okay
with plea PLEASE HELP
this tortured soul on verge pray
begging tubby rescued before drowning
like a panicky gull clay pigeon,
and buoy albatross
strangling me far distant from any quay
quickly sinking spirits,
abducted via fiendish runaway!
Apr 30, 2018
Apr 30, 2018 at 5:42 PM UTC
Nazis On The Streets Of Sweden
(1st draft – there may be others
We have illusions, all.
But most of us don’t want to ****
I looked it up.
I asked some simple questions.
Google told me:
**** symbols are allowed in Israel!
Also in the USA!
Prohibited in Germany,
Allowed in Finland.
Austria is definite. No! no! no!, no! and no!
Some countries have no laws at all –
Apparently no views
Or views so lax
They seem to non-chalate* the facts.
Neo- Nazis plan to march
The streets of Sweden,
Thirtieth September, twenty seventeen.
They call themselves a neo –
Their philosophy is old as ******
Old as Wagner, long before.
False ideals, inner lies but outer dealings
Hates delusional, baiting plentiful.
March occurring on Yom Kippur,
Near a synagogue, to boot.
Their aim: to root out, root out, root…
Annihilate, decimate, eradicate,
Means inhumane,
And most important,
Based on lies!
Statistical, imaginary, fantasized.
Nazis on the streets of Sweden,
We do not believe in you!
*non-chalate: I’ve made a verb out of the word nonchalant
because such was needed and could not be found in the dictionary.
Nazis On The Streets Of Sweden 9.30.2017
Our Times, Our Culture II;
Arlene Corwin
Sep 30, 2017
Sep 30, 2017 at 8:04 AM UTC
Okay...
I've just finished another masterpiece
I go and hit submit
This shouldn't take very long now
Before the comments come rushing in
Okay...
It's been a couple minutes now
And I haven't gotten one
Is there anybody awake at this time
Can't they see what it is I've done
1) Do you think that they still like me?
2) Do they even know I'm here?!
3) Did I post my poem at the right time?!!
4) Did I make the writing clear?!!!
5) Could the site be on the blink?!!!!
6) Are the worlds computers down?!!!!!
7) Did I miss the second coming?!!!!!!
8) Is there anyone around?!!!!!!!!
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Okay...
I'll check it once again
Is this the third or thirtieth time
My mind can not comprehend it
Are all these people blind
Okay...
Now I'm on the check it 30 second cycle
It's a crazy loop I'm spinning in
Pretty sure I wouldn't be here though
If someone would please comment
Sep 5, 2018
Sep 5, 2018 at 7:20 PM UTC
To aerate, babble and procrastinate
decluttering man cave *******
welcoming this temperate
(Billy me) idle March thirtieth
tooth house sand nineteen
eventually to accomplish
sorting thru lifetime
worth miscellaneous
papered material former
rainforest, I banish
to the shredder repurposing
once upon a time
stately majestic humongous
dignified cub billed bearish,
yet stern silent taskmasters
razed forest mongers left blemish -
fueling the roaring engines
of western civilization
paper products service
material world feeding bookish
appetite, sans (ironic
knotty twist) printed
hot off the press bulletins,
bestsellers inform boyish
wordsmith, how vast
treeless tracts hasten
global abomination, chopping
degradation, lamentation... brownish
blotches encompass inert naked,
torchered, and zapped
originally pristine realms
overrun by sawyers brutish
Paul Bunyanesque (sporting
as good) fellas carved
cleared, and cropped enormous
swaths back when bullish
intruders displaced indigenous
peoples crowing manifest destiny
as mantra to appease expansionist
predilection frenzied cultish
zero sum game to annex
unbroken wilderness promulgating
feverish gold rush to demolish
wantonly scorching Earth,
whereby present day burgeoning
population irrevocably establish
ruination ushering ominous augury
permeating mine mortal mutterings.
Mar 30, 2019
Mar 30, 2019 at 4:02 PM UTC
Warm winds blew on the thirtieth day of March
And all the coldness of men's hearts was expelled
The inklings of love that were ignited begun their search
And men of stone and crust were equally compelled
Nov 12, 2021
Nov 12, 2021 at 8:47 AM UTC
You're the one who suggested
the park picnic, obviously. We got the food
from the M&S at King's Cross after you’d arrived,
wearing the bracelet I'd bought you
for your thirtieth half a year ago.
You really didn't have to. I knew that,
but did anyway. Happy tears flashed
in your eyes. In mine too.
Although we both know, we ask
how we've been. Much the same as always.
Work colleagues fancy a drink
on Fridays - it's a pass. Skin’s breaking out
again - it's hormonal. Turns out we're both
reading Emily Henry because everyone else is.
Falling into line with the masses.
Bookish FOMO, you say. I emit a giggle at that.
A group of others play football nearby;
tote bags for goalposts. I doubt a wayward kick
but I move the share bag of cheese
and onion closer to my crossed legs.
I almost don't hear you ask *really better now,
I worry you know.* I know you do but again,
my throat becomes clogged. I never tell.
The light licks your shoulders and I think of drinking
the sun one day without rosy blotches
on my skin, heartburn on the hour, every hour.
Jun 25, 2024
Jun 25, 2024 at 10:28 AM UTC