"undiminished" poems
The onion, now that's something else
its innards don't exist
nothing but pure onionhood
fills this devout onionist
oniony on the inside
onionesque it appears
it follows its own daimonion
without our human tears
our skin is just a coverup
for the land where none dare to go
an internal inferno
the anathema of anatomy
in an onion there's only onion
from its top to it's toe
onionymous monomania
unanimous omninudity
at peace, at peace
internally at rest
inside it, there's a smaller one
of undiminished worth
the second holds a third one
the third contains a fourth
a centripetal fugue
polypony compressed
nature's rotundest tummy
its greatest success story
the onion drapes itself in it's
own aureoles of glory
we hold veins, nerves, and fat
secretions' secret sections
not for us such idiotic
onionoid perfections
Wisława Szymborska, translated from the Polish by Stanisław Barańczak & Clare Cavanagh
Sep 15, 2014
Sep 15, 2014 at 4:46 PM UTC
On one of the myriad bays
along the Maine coast. Keep the holocaust
at bay I said to Dave because
you’ll spend all day gathering
2,000 calories and still be miserable hungry.
An undiminished population of humans is risible.
Black spruce and balsam fir,
you can eat the inner bark
in a starvation emergency.
There’s plenty of Cornus—bunchberry—
each orange pith around the stone
worth maybe a quarter calorie.
Lots of sarsparilla but the fruits
not out yet and to date I have not
savored one. Let’s see—dandelion
of course and huckleberry but
the most important source of sustenance
would be seaweed.
Learn your mushrooms! for the protein.
Accept the situation
come the apocalypse.
I struggle against my insignificance
but it would be better to struggle
against my ignorance.
Less effortlessness, more fishermanliness.
That’s the lesson of this Maine vacation
there’s a lot you can eat when in need—
the hips of roses and the pips of grasses.
And an endless supply of seaweed—
bladderwrack, dulse, kelp and thin green lettuce.
Sep 12, 2023
Sep 12, 2023 at 6:09 AM UTC
'I'll see that plate clean,' she said,
'Or I'll send you straight to bed.'
Liver and onions lie in wait,
two choices up for debate.
'I won't hear a word till you've finished.'
It lay there still undiminished.
It's cold, unfit to eat, congealed,
and nowhere can it be concealed.
'You should have thought of that before.'
When I grow up I'll eat no more
of that cabbage, liver - lousy crud.
Give me sweets and crisps, perhaps rice pud'.
She should have thrown it in the bin.
Now I'm stuck, a locust for my sin.
I must eat all, my waists expanding.
Though Mother's gone, her ghost's demanding.
Aug 23, 2015
Aug 23, 2015 at 5:48 AM UTC
some of our teachers were awful nice
and the harbour of sweet peccadillos
(having to deal with us every day
would make anyone crazy..)
and i suppose they took refuge in
their insect collecting in abyssinia..
(pasttimes tinged in the exotic
and a nod to the sadistic..)
but love of keats and wordsworth (etc)...
miraculously remained undiminished..
(while demonstrating lethal aims and
a plethora of different pain..
one used the leg of a chair and another
gave his weaponry girl´ s names..
i guess they were just as bored as we were
how the season´ s waxed and wained..)
they still retained their soulful natures
a wonder of testament to the great genius
of elliot yeats and so forth..!
their fundamental faith undimmed...
Aug 19, 2018
Aug 19, 2018 at 8:40 AM UTC
On the sixth day of the month,
Being the fifth one of the year,
We congregate to celebrate
The wedding of the year.
Not a week too late (that was Wills and Kate)
But our own dear Phil and Gemma,
Who, in ceremony, have duly vowed
To be as one forever.
But the two of you may be asking,
On this happiest of days,
"How do we keep romance alive?
O tell us of the ways!"
Well, the secrets of a happy marriage,
They are a secret still.
But these few tips may bring success,
So heed them if you will.
If you fall out in bitter temper
Don't go to bed at night.
It will be far worse come morning,
So just stay up and fight.
A man should keep romance in bloom
With flowers and gifts that gleam,
And also, most importantly,
Keep his internet history clean.
A woman should pay attention
To those little things that matter,
Like vacuuming and ironing,
And when football's on, don't chatter!
And if your husband's eye might stray
Upon a lady passing by,
Why, 'tis only to remind him
That you're much fairer to the eye.
So it is said by those that know,
With certainty undiminished,
That two in love are incomplete,
Until, in marriage, they are finished.
Apr 1, 2017
Apr 1, 2017 at 5:49 AM UTC
You sit in silence, on lotus
deeply meditate, in the end
recount the tale of life, simple
for a moment,in a nutshell,
the sky of your mind is clear.
But materials of millions
of light years in our tale
is beyond retrievable limits,
on that no confirmation
is needed, simple logic will
tell you that the life you live
couldn't be an isolated one
every one of the neurons
of your brain, is a star in this
thickly braided, interwoven
universes, that die and take birth.
Before and after simply
must be there, but, as it is
out of bounds for the senses,
limited to a time and space
we are groping in the dark.
So what now, don't you
want to go beyond --
in to the ocean where
human logic can't stand,
and end the intergalactic
expedition with light
and darkness as references.
Break the final barrier
exploring the universe within,
decide to be the light
undiminished for ever;
embrace enlightenment
breaking the golden chain
that ties down, desires.
Mar 18, 2016
Mar 18, 2016 at 10:40 PM UTC
So tell me what you want to be
And what you think you need of me
For what you do
You will become
As habit makes it part of one
For habits grind and clearly shape
Rough edges smoothed,
some dreams may break
Then, from time to time
There’s someone who
Will melt or break a part of you
So once again your shape does change
Though it may feel you’re just the same
It may take another, looking on
To see the shape that you’ve become
So maybe that should be my role?
Some sort of yardstick of your soul?
But then again, I will change too
So perhaps we’d better muddle through
And focus on the spark inside
The flame that undiminished shines
And if, as said, that change is certain
It will never be the final curtain
So embrace the change in me and you
And love the flame that shines on through
Apr 2, 2015
Apr 2, 2015 at 8:13 AM UTC
ambience and warmth
elemental, mysterious, aglow
the scent of beeswax or fragrance
mesmerizing drips and puddles
a flame’s pin point
a keyhole in the darkness
opening to another plane
where memories breathe
and flicker within the light
like an old time frame by frame movie show
playing back the details in your mind’s eye
anniversaries commemorating lost loved ones
undiminished pain sheds yesterdays tears
in the stillness of your heart
churches light candles
symbolizing God’s presence
people light candles
in memory of loss
expressing the present tense
of their love
Dec 18, 2013
Dec 18, 2013 at 5:02 PM UTC
Though I tremble now, and my eyes glass,
And my words wander as they
Search for a final sense of this world,
Dare look beyond, for I remain
Young with joy and foolishness,
And I am stout of heart and limb within,
My passion undiminished, my love unshaken, if unspoken.
And when I am finally gone,
Immerse in the warm breeze between the leaves,
Smile at the robins chirp,
Be mesmerized by children,
For I will be there,
Incorporeal, ubiquitous,
To envelop you as I have in life and will always,
Without limit.
Jun 11, 2017
Jun 11, 2017 at 5:20 PM UTC
You wear your presence lightly,
you politely undermine it
for the folks who'd find it fright'ning
in the normal daily grind
You are jocular and flighty
wear a self-effacing grace
although your shoulders might be mighty
were they not so undermined
We met at a rehearsal
for an amateur dramatic act
to shrink the universal
to a comfortable size
They took a work of genius
the timeless peerless grandeur
and they whittled it to meaninglessness -
There I caught your eye.
"I hear you need a drummer!"
you intoned in toffee baritone
and sad, diluted Shakespeare
did evaporate tout suite
"We're gigging in the summer!"
I replied in my delight and then
I knew I'd found a friend
who might just help me keep the beat.
I found you were an artist
of broken, brittle beauty
who believed an artists' duty
was to challenge and defy
Who had washed up in the genteel
artists' village of Kircudbright
where the art is safe and snooty,
boats and trees and sunny sky
But your canvas is elastic
is electric and eclectic
as you drastically cast an angry
eye across it all
Any prettiness is sitting
on a nauseous unwellness
where the skeleton of Elvis
boogies by a butcher's stall
Well we found some fellow feeling
in our mutual defiance
casting darts at art and science
and amusing just ourselves
Made some music, sank some bevvies
wrote a book, got raging drunk
but what we managed withered, shrunk
by what we planned and simply shelved.
Well it seems that I've been hoping
that our business was unfinished
that our plans were undiminished
by the passing of the years
That some catalyst would manifest
and shake us into action
dissipate the dull distraction
of the daily hopes and fears.
But it seems that you are leaving
that your talent, brightly blazing
and the fact that you're amazing
has been missed by this wee town
Well I undersand it, ******
but I'll miss you now, my brother
and the tumbled jumbled colour
that you spun from Solway brown.
Sep 17, 2016
Sep 17, 2016 at 9:45 AM UTC
You don't even know you failed your spiritual test?
Treated me like one of your side projects – left unfinished
You were surprised to find my self worth undiminished
You only devalued yourself and now your charade is finished
So take off on some other vision quest
You'll never even see how much you were blessed
Given so much more than you deserve
You could've had it all if you'd found the nerve
To keep the true course instead of swerve
Break promises and pretend you've done your best
Tore open my eyes and showed me you're no better than the rest
Just another coward claiming to be strong
And you proved to me that my heart was wrong
For my fire in your cold world cannot belong
You're not the hero I deserve and I won't settle for less!
Feb 27, 2017
Feb 27, 2017 at 7:01 PM UTC
With my hands around you, I slept,
and drempt we acquired wings,
flew up hovered above the clouds,
followed the white storkes that seek
far away lands that are still warm.
Sky was the world we always eyed
as we wanted to live closer to it
with the wonder remaining undiminished,
we noticed the white clouds turn pink
flew above the extended meadows of clouds,
saw they change colors as time
travels with sun, then moon appears,
making us feel we need to drink
the milk she graciously sheds all over the world.
Now, we went closer to the valley of night
and heard rounds of gun fire unawares,
unmistakable smell of blood followed,
war cries heard aloud, followed by the cry of wounded people.
you were frightened and lamented,
like a dove in distress,"Why did we fly?
could have contented with what we have,
look at the humans, they ****
and feel happy that they could ****
the other person, fantastic!
but why don't they see,
that they shoot themselves, not others.
I hate this though we inhabit a world beautiful.
but who gives his whole being to beauty?
and just love one another, see that we are not separate!"
I woke up with my hands around you,
and found there was distress in your face,
wasn't it yet another bad dream, I wonder,
It's past midnight, but the gunshot, I heard-
still resounds outside,
I can't sleep any more...
Jan 25, 2014
Jan 25, 2014 at 3:30 PM UTC
for every thing, there is a time
for every song, there is a fitting moment
for every angel, a wee devil lurks
for every spring, its autumn
for every taste, there is a canvas blank
for every brush, there is a stroke unfinished
for every soul, there is a soul to spark
for every universe, a mind undiminished
for every beating heart, there is a dream to dream
for every happy day, there is a week of sorrow
for every wicked game, there is a sumptuous scene
for every yester-day, a million of to-morrows
for every tear you cry, there is a genuine smile
for every doubt you shed, there is a triumph to follow
for every faux pas, there's a saving grace
for every second gone, a million of to-morrows
Oct 11, 2024
Oct 11, 2024 at 6:04 AM UTC
a soothing constant rush
of rain falling undiminished
without break from before
the new year dawned
comforting yet unease lurks
uncommon for years and then
unexpectedly markedly today
thoughts compelled to wonder
you cannot learn from history
habits persist even in futility
mindless virus greater than
resolutions and national budgets
man plan and vow to change
enslaved to happiness and fear
his hope in his little money
adorned in cheap empty wishes
I shall be still and imbibe the peace
cloaked in the gloom's cool assurance
all the world may flood or be scorched
I'm unmoved for my flight constant
Jan 3, 2021
Jan 3, 2021 at 6:21 AM UTC
Unchained and unbound,
I'm running to no finish.
Famous loved fury,
Blood is running undiminished.
With these teeth,
The flesh I tear.
With these words,
In anger I share!
Twisted and peverse,
I'm enjoying every second.
Delicious pure obscenity,
The fires burn and beckon.
With my eyes,
I consume each emotion,
My presence is toxic,
Like an unlabled potion.
Till chains reach in,
Constrict and bind.
The passion dwindles,
Moralitys so blind.
In my mind,
I'm scared to find,
The damage that is now entwined.
In corners where no light has shined.
May 1, 2011
May 1, 2011 at 6:14 PM UTC
I am sorry I'm not reading
I am acting by the Spirit's leading
I have a project yet unfinished
my need for completion undiminished
a Christmas present for a friend
I need to frame it for to send
I think of poets while I do
and I pray for all of you!
So while I work and seek God's face
please be patient
gimme grace!
Jan 11, 2016
Jan 11, 2016 at 12:58 PM UTC
tip of the flame
is lucid blue
it’s nucleus a
golden spiral
of undiminished
rapture
look at all your bright
faces
there is an incredible sovereign joy
that dances independent of
earthly suffering, sorrow and pain
Feb 20, 2013
Feb 20, 2013 at 4:26 PM UTC
With silent tears
She begs forgiveness
From one she has never wronged.
Dressed in silver and black,
With green on the inside
She closes her eyes
Swallows her shivering soul
And clutches peace
Her beauty undiminished
Nov 9, 2014
Nov 9, 2014 at 6:48 PM UTC
Irony often oozes the blood stain
That history will use to paint
An honest portrait of erstwhile deeds
Or to turn some altered soul to saint
Few are those that exist within the mist
Who loom larger than the shadow portrays
And seldom does a shadow exist undiminished
By the dreariest of all darkest days
So when seeking blood in passionate resolve
There comes a mordant aberration of unheralded stature
Rising to fly above mortal attributes into unremitted immortality
By assiduous conviction born of monstrous evil of unparalleled scale
Born among the Carpathian mountains
From the ancient and mysterious Transylvanian forests
One who seeks blood for righteous alliterations
Not for glory but for the saving grace
A quest to alleviate all alien allagory alligned along the meandering memories of non-mordant minded men
No imagery conjured by Bram Stoker thru Van Helsing
Encompasses the unmitigated reality seen
The lifelong - still beating strong - near century long shadow of the denizen of our brightest outlook
The creation of circumstance as much as man ( unkind ) made
Maybe unheralded by too many
For such a knave am I so sorely cursed now...
With shame
I ...who have always strived
to drape myself
in the raiment of the eternal optimist
Now pay overdue homage to the true and absolute optimist
BEN FERENCZ.... Is his name
Seek out his story now ..
.while he still lives
Reach back ..
Into those dark, dreary days
To share what history gives
and you will see what he means
when he say's
" I'm Right. "
For I truly know that he is!
Keith w. Fletcher
Humbled by the humanity exhibited.
Apr 12, 2018
Apr 12, 2018 at 8:26 AM UTC
Everyone laughed,
'A younger man?'
'By how much?!!'
Jealousy,Envy,
even Pity,
abounded.
I was surrounded,
By doubters.
Waiting for me to fall.
Well,
I did.
We tied the knot,
It felt forever,
An adventure into
the Land of never.
Oh! how we loved
right from the start,
couldn't stop
the beat of our Hearts.
''You maybe older then me''
He'd say,
''Beauty undiminished
You don't look a day,
older.........''
It didn't bother him,
then.
He really gave me his all,
in words,writing,
lovely cards,
whole being,
in thrall.
We were so happy
at the start.
I never tired of gazing
at his face,
incredible Grace,
His sureness of pace.
We moved and traveled,
all over the place,
two Nomads seeking
a secure haven,
to be.
Here, there, everywhere,
no cares.
I managed it all,
Never thought I would fall.
Then one day we kissed,
It was wanting,
His cell phone rang,
the sound was haunting,
strangely.
No one there,
He said,
Yet had murmured
in a language
yet to be learnt,
by me.
Slowly by degrees,
He slipped from
my arms,
took his Heart with Him,
to bestow upon,
who knows?
some others?
Lovers?
I clung on and on,
not seeing the truth,
that somehow,
I was deceived,
then bereaved
finally,
by this youth.
for the loss of Him.
I don't regret it,
not a day,
I'd chucked all
that came before,
for Him.
But worth it,
happy from the off,
in between.
Thankful for what
we had,
What has been,
Now gone.
Jul 11, 2015
Jul 11, 2015 at 11:19 AM UTC
I was traveling along a road at night. Itt was in an area without street lights. An unidentified person was in in the passenger seat. I felt like I was on familiar road from the past. All at once we came on a a guest area it was brightly lit but more than that the light was a chromatic radiance gold firelike and as if the diviseable spectrum was seen I drove on into the darkness complaining to my companion that the brightness was too much. After a little while we we came to another brightly lit roadside settlement, it was similarly lit and this time I noticed that as I passed the light did not fade but passed through the atmosphere undiminished by the distance-a bright amber fire that was immediate even from miles away. I said to my traveling companion that it was a new light unlike any that I had known before. Thinking I was complaining he said yes it was new. Then I said that it is beautiful -the most beautiful light I have ever seen. He said: Thank you It was then very early morning and I awoke feeling a sense that having seen the light even in a dream that I had been healed. But I remembered that it might be wiser not to hope.
Mica is fools gold but it glitters not less for that; and the sea with diamonds sparkles with praise no less as it give its kisses back to the sun. If a promise is not kept is a rose arose that promises less; can I then give up a love that is too little? So I look back and forth upon a dream for all that is yet to be ..
Nov 12, 2014
Nov 12, 2014 at 8:45 AM UTC
Some thoughts I have I cannott put to paper,
they are too sad to read or hear,
Iv'e carried them inside for ever,
yet sadness lingers, as at the start,
undiminished- hard to bear
wounding the heart.
Jun 21, 2014
Jun 21, 2014 at 4:18 AM UTC
the ache in my heart
remains undiminished
pressed down by daily need
compacted into that small blemish
that scars my soul, the tattoo of emptiness
written upon the reverse of my eyelids
this is the season of loss,
the time of letting go
yet in my heart I cannot,
I acknowledge the leaving
partake once again in the grieving,
but still I know
my heartstrings still seek yours
and now people wonder,
which lover have I lost
no lover no,no, in one sense, more indeed
but we both know if we were of Sappho's breed
we could have, no would have been each other's creed
the north south and compass complete..
but we were not born that way,
the gods at play made us for different fellows
so we became friends then sisterkin,
we were joyful for each others loves, each others success,
we were together blessed with understanding deep, deepest, over tea smoked and steeped we leapt
and climbed to highest heights
and supported each other when
we fell to the depths below...
we gave each othermgrace and kindness,
perfected the art of compassionate blindness,
and then you had to up and go,
leaving me bereft in a way
that sees life in a far more muted way
so on that day, the aniversary of sadness
which even if the sun shines bright,
still to me is tinted grey,
I will again take myself to a quiet place,
and drink lots of gin and a little tonic,
smile cry and become slightly, mildly histronic,
you see now three years on I just discovered
whilst your face is clear
I can hardly hear,
your voice in my head,
it is now like a whisper in my ear,
and so it appears the world,
sisterkin dear,
is making itself abundantly clear....
you are dead, lying dead in a box...
Jul 6, 2017
Jul 6, 2017 at 4:10 AM UTC
when the world was flat
and we were few,
we looked at stars
and made them gods
to help explain the difficult truths,
to give us some measure of understanding to those concepts
to large to be held within our hands.
to find beauty in desperate times
to watch over us...
now the world is round
and we are many
most can no longer see the stars
we look to the internet to explain truth
and concepts seem to be shrinking,
to the size of a tablet screen.
times are becoming more desperate
and we watch each other...
yet the stars are there still.
behind the smog,
beyond the city lights
they hold their sentinels gaze
their beauty is undiminished.
they,for the most part are
still enigmatic, a mystery,
to be unfolded.
and we,
for all our advancement
and trappings
are still looking up....
seeking but not truly finding.
Apr 2, 2015
Apr 2, 2015 at 8:12 PM UTC