As I read the most recent prizing poems,
I begin to understand why
Mine are not and remain
Like orphaned children
In a forgotten country village.
They perch upon a doorstep
Watching the seldom traveled road
For someone to come along who will
Really love them and take them home.
#RejectedPoems #Poetry #PoetryContests
Every sentence is a puzzle,
A challenge for skilled gamers.
Diagrammed, it presents an angular web
A Mondrian or constructivist painting.
It is a game of dominoes
Building pattern on pattern.
It is a macrame tapestry
With modifiers providing the dangling fringe.
The game board is full of ups and downs–
With slides, full stops, somersaults and leaps.
It is the X-Game for grammar skateboards,
An intricate and daring parkour for words.
#DiagrammingSentences #EnglishLanguage #Parsing
I long to talk again to you of poetry–
to speak of the subtle shifts
that may change a tide:
Why the choice of “a” or “the” is better;
why there never was
and should not be a “the”
in the first line
of Houseman’s XXII: R.L.S.
I long to talk again to you of poetry,
to speak of the subtle shifts
that may change a tide.
To share again with someone
who knows the uncommon melody
who will instantly recognize the source
of the melody’s elusive lure.
I long to talk again to you of poetry
to speak of the subtle shifts
that may change a tide.
We knew, you and I,
that there would be this longing after–
when the other of us was gone
beyond the reach of speech
or written word–
for, it is rare that a poet
finds another spirit so alike.
Yes, we knew, you and I,
and mourned before time
the inevitable silence
that one of us would bear.
Oh, how I long to talk again
of poetry with you.
#Poetry #PoetCommunity
Like snakes lying in wait
In jungle trees, under bushes,
Coaxial cable loops the stairs,
The floors and dangles
From the ceiling
Of my home.
My life is tangled, strangled
In coaxial cable.
Come save me.
Teach me again
About the sky
And how to breathe in the rain.
#CommunicationAndTechnology #HomeTechnology #TechnologyImpact #LifeWithTechnology
Dry leaves break dusty Autumn
And saltine cracker crushed
Announce her name
A shy stutterer hiccoughs,
A footstep scrapes a gravel path
With the sounding of her name
The baa-ing of sheep,
Bawling of calves,
Wail her name
Irish breezes waft
Over wet sod fields
Hearing her name
A rustle of tulle skirt,
A door latch clicking shut
Speak her name
Prickly, sweet fruit trace
Challenges with a swoop
And loop-de-loop to finish
The singing of her name
#Names #PoeticExercise #Poetry
There is, or was, a voice
At my center,
At least the center of my mind
When I was very little
I thought perhaps
It was my guardian angel
Later, I named it The Observer
Because its messages
Were like a sports announcer
Describing the actions of my life
The Observer never criticized
Though it often warned
Of potential dangers
When The Observer spoke
Silence like a gossamer curtain,
Slipped down to surround me
In the quiet of that moment
I could see almost to forever
And calm settled within my soul
Crises came and went
But at each and every one
The Observer was there
I do not try to understand
To reason to the source
Of this voice
I am simply grateful
If a little unnerved
For its voice is not the voice
I hear when listening
To my own thoughts
Down
Down into the rabbit hole
Searching for the answer
Alice, don’t you know?
You will not find it there.
Step right on through
The glass will part
To let you pass,
But Alice,
Don’t you know?
You cannot find it there.
Poor silly Alice,
Ever facing forward,
You will never find it there.
No, don’t turn around!
Now you’re forward once again,
…And it’s behind.
Through the maze backwards
(That’s a clue)
Now, try again.
Through the maze backwards…
That’s the way.
And…Alice…?
You will find it there.
#LewisCarrollandAlicestories #ThroughtheLookingGlass
#AliceinWonderland
You caught the word
With your mouth
Even as it escaped my lips
Flavored by my breath
You held the taste of it
Upon your tongue
Like a large sweet candy
Allowing it to roll about
Before you swallowed it
Making the word, my breath
And all of me
A part of you forever.
#kiss #love #loveandproposal
Lifted from the tide pool,
Malachite
Lies wet and cool
In my hand
While primordial memory
Flickers in my blood
Quivers across my skin
As I touch Malachite’s cousin,
Serpentine,
Warm and slick in the sun.
Wet tadpole ripples
Ride the heart rhythm
Pulsing in waves.
Lizard sand trails
Scrape scales against flesh.
Sediment silts into the riverbeds
Of my veins.
Cooling magma steams
In my bones.
The geometry of the elements
Spreads through my being
Like building blocks
Stacking one on one
Until I am become one solid again,
Neither rock nor human,
But something in between
I am alone on the beach
with ancient memory.
#geologytrip #evolution #gaia
For all those whose wings
Were clipped early
Before the first test flight
From the nest
Yet who persevered
Though further hampered,
Like the wanton’s bird,
Harnessed and pulled back
From each short venture
Toward freedom—
Brief moments to shine
Even in their shorn glory.
Oh, what we have missed—
The gifts you had to offer,
Even when shunned or hidden,
Still glistened in the shadows
And left paving stones of gold
For those who would see.
For all of you
Who continued to be a wonder
Though denied,
I thank you
And light this torch
In your honor
That we might never forget
And finally appreciate
Your worth
And the potential
In others like yourselves.
May they not be hobbled
In their natural power of flight,
But soar, forever soar.
#preserverance #remembranceandtorch