rain beats in puddles
steady as an old clock’s chime
marking storm’s retreat
early lights soften the night
as people forgot sorrow
darkness abandoned
like a lover’s hand let go
lurks in empty rooms
dull chords swell behind closed doors
urging hearts back into light
lone piano chords
wander through silver curtains
slipping down stone streets—
notes weave with the rain’s soft breath
dissolving like whispered mist
Café tables glow
lamps mirrored in rain-slick glass
offering pardon—
voices rise like waves of song
as couples embrace in light
two currents once torn
flow together at day’s end
merging once again—
storm drifts into tender dusk
thunder fades to memory
shattered awnings heal
stretching wide toward the sunset
much stronger now
roots sunk deep in firmer ground
and canvas is made anew
frayed lines grip the cleat
holding mast against the gale
canvas leaps awake
love unfurls its sail once more
steered by winds that once broke it
storm once split the mast
yet the sails held fast
love remade the seams
rekindled our dreams
under the awning
after the storm passed
after the storm passed
Categories:
awnings, angst, anxiety, lost love,
Form: Lyric
Halted growth
Battled water
Moistures talking
Above the lawless
Days first lies
Desperate sights
Knowing not what they've done
Another March
Visits the spun
Cotton bottles broke
Twice plucked thorns
And checked
Doses of fringe
Corners of binge
Testified ends
Of witness
Miracle or Martyr's
Awnings in futures
A dancing dismay
Pleasant awkward May
Categories:
awnings, character, farm,
Form: Rhyme
No use to fret, its only temporary measures
As keepers of the gloom proclaimed in press
Suspend the longing for the simple pleasures
Amidst the circumstances of distress
Awnings are lowered, tables are removed
Everything’s minimized, except the road works
Progress develops in a spiral, and it’s proved
Shall we embark soon in a fabulous epoch?
We have to benefit from the upcoming gladness
Or they’ll take over with another war
Forgetting gradually the days of sadness
We never know, what we were made up for.
Categories:
awnings, change, city, feelings,
Form: Rhyme
A descension of value bows night scenes,
the purple canopy edges its hoist,
spirits cool Platte River to lose its sheen,
Nebraskans wake to clarion fields voiced.
A loyal guest calls, it's the Sandhill Cranes,
dancing lessons, fields fattening corn orts,
pecking and choosing established campaigns.
Last state, go afoul, -- a date with the courts.
Locals aid their tally, most from afar,
It is nature's clock, all good things must end,
fly north to breed, and brood, and up to par,
A month's here, till next year, that's how the trend.
Awnings grey, triumphant stirs, the tension,
inspiring, crescendo ... the ascension.
Categories:
awnings, allusion, analogy, animal, appreciation,
Form: Crown of Sonnets
I lingered by the seaside on a cold and frosty morning,
The dark clouds overhead were billowing out a warning
Feeling them calling to me in a manner of some gloom.
That I would be better off watching them from my room.
I aimed to linger longer so took no notice of the clouds.
An imposing storm would surely keep away the crowds.
I gleefully watched the tiny sand crabs scurry to and froe,
Sensing the storm coming, weren’t sure which way to go.
I casually lingered up the stairs that led to the main street,
There I spied the ice-cream shop, decided to have a treat.
Flavour would me a momentous decision. It took a while.
Now which, Banana Rama or Choc Cherry made me smile.
Enjoying my cone, I lingered on watching folk all scatter.
Rain by now was pouring down, to me it didn’t matter.
Many were in the little café, no doubt they took refuge.
Looking over to the sea, the waves now were really huge.
Thunder crashed and lightning flashed, the rain fell down.
I lingered slowly under awnings to the other side of town.
Watched cars slowing down and splash in a puddle or two.
I lingered further, might as well I had nothing better to do.
Categories:
awnings, storm,
Form: Narrative
Somewhere in New York City was an upbeat corner building.
Painted in bright lively colors, with awnings and such.
The corner filled with a building shaped like a canister.
colorful petunias, geraniums and daisies smiled at me from boxes.
Interesting people live here, I told myself, and often.
I sat on a stoop, watching people come in and out on a Tuesday.
Making up stories about this one and that one, it was so much fun!
New York City is filled with neighbors and strangers.
In this building I pictured a large network of friends.
Because of the colors and the prettiness and the calm aura.
I wanted to live in this building when I grew up.
My career took me to the west coast, but I thought of this building often.
It was my meditation spot, and my story-idea station.
Categories:
awnings, city,
Form: Imagism
At first my collared shirts were ironed,
And I enjoyed my thought that this meant love.
Then she stopped the ironed shirts.
She gave me keys to her house and car.
Then took them back; returned by wrinkled shirts
Now the keys I turn are only mine.
Her garden has come back from disrepair.
Porch awnings are up without my help.
Today I bought two new shirts with collars.
Both are Barney purple.
At first she hung my shirts up ironed
And that meant love to me.
Now my shirts hang wrinkled on me.
I guess she lost her love of ironed shirts.
Categories:
awnings, best friend, cry, garden,
Form: Free verse
A hot day in July
He stood in the shade of the awnings of a shop
closed for lunch, the street was nakedly empty
no breeze disturbed the fine sand of time.
A cat under a car was watching him intently
perhaps the cat’s owner was the shopkeeper
then a moggy doesn’t think it is.
Only two living things in the side street existed
he beckoned towards the feline that got up
jumped over a fence, disappeared from view.
The man sensed a scary chasm of loneliness
the sun shifted and took, the shade away, nothing
for it, he needed a drink.
Categories:
awnings, cat, devotion, gender,
Form: Sonnet
Where fatso's by the fireplace
His wicked fingers teasing
A velvet suit shows ashes on
for yuling peoples pleasing
When awnings on a window top
reveal a shadow stalking
And presence through a livingroom
embark on children's stockings
That strolling down a corridor
will bring a puppy lapping
When Santa bends to pat him down
and calm him from his yapping
And move along to lend his toys
to all good girls and boys
Unloading what are gifts to bring
for promise and for joys
That every light we go to be
are Santa's for the cause
When Christmas Day means gifts to be
an evening with the Claus
Categories:
awnings, analogy, character, christmas,
Form: Quatrain
Where fatso's by the fireplace
His wicked fingers teasing
A velvet suit shows ashes on
for yuling peoples pleasing
When awnings on a window top
reveal a shadow stalking
And presence through a livingroom
embark on children's stockings
That all who come to care at Christmas
Know Santa's on his way
when all who glow by fireside
are Christian for the stay
Categories:
awnings, analogy, christmas, holiday,
Form: Quatrain
the Yanerbie Highway
The Yanerbie Highway
Is paved with white silken sands
Stretched between water’s lapping fingers
And the feet of towering dunes
The Yanerbie Highway
Runs at Southern Ocean’s side
Forever exposed to her turbulent moods
And the ebbing, flowing tides
Choose a spot
Under broad blue sky
And pull over beside
The precession of surfboards
Fishing rods, and bathers
Dogs with wagging tongues
Some chasing four wheel drives
Cruising the highway at a leisurely speed
Against a back drop
Of rolling waves and distant red cliffs
Four wheel drives with awnings
Awnings that shade smiling faces
A friendly wave, passing traffic
Possibly stop for a chat
Sometimes between friends old
Sometimes new
The Yanerbie Highway
Its silken white sands
Run along Southern Ocean’s side
Stretching into adventure
Categories:
awnings, beach,
Form: Free verse
Millions used to roam across Africa’s plains,
But, sadly, not one Gazebo still remains,
Yes, unfortunately, they are now extinct,
Their fate and Man’s greed, clearly linked.
Treasured for their waterproofed hides,
Used as Marquees by jetsetters and blushing brides,
Eyelets used to mask inappropriate holes,
Their thin straight legs used as supporting poles.
The world’s appetite for awnings was immense,
Pressure on their survival became too in-tents,
Most were poached - but some were boiled,
Corruption rife and palms were oiled.
Did I detect tears in Attenborough’s eyes,
As his films captured the Gazebos sad demise?
Let the whole world learn from this,
Not allow species to head into an abyss,
Never let us again, our powers abuse,
Just so we can enjoy shaded barbeques!
Categories:
awnings, africa, animal, environment, fun,
Form: Rhyme
Bad, Cheese
The carpet smelled old, with dust… and other things.
I sat outside your door, on the floor, smelling it.
The odorous sweetness, would never leave me,
Completely…
Until I asked God to take it away.
You had nothing to do with that.
You were evil, you are evil,
I pray you will not be lost forever,
as no one should go to hell.
Trading comfort for the price of your child.
Trading comfort for the price of innocence.
Where you also given away?
I would like to know what made you so?
What made you… the mom, that you are?
The Monster’s appetite was fed by wicked flakes of skin,
peeled back and roasted, slowly over a pit, where things moved.
You never saw it, as you preferred blindness.
How? How then could you keep out the smell?
Like a lovely meadow, scented with the leavings,
of the careless, and defiled.
Angels came,
they washed the awnings,
the windows,
and left…
all the doors wide open.
You can no longer hide the truth,
as the brightness pierces walls.
Evil is a shadow, that can not find space now,
to cast it’s wickedness…toward others.
Categories:
awnings, abortion, abuse, addiction, allah,
Form: Free verse
Sweet longing is in the air tonight, as my mind re-runs recordings,
it pricks a smile of bare delight, as my eyes address their awnings.
A pillow presses on my cheek, and another in my embrace,
and the one I keep next to me, so your scent is not debased.
That golden smile from ocean eyes, directed straight at me,
I see a while in my conscious demise, and I hope too in my dreams.
I'm not afraid to say, it's only been a day, and already it pulls at my chest,
no emotions at bay, I would never delay, I'm different from all the rest.
Sweet longing is in the air tonight, but quite soon a new day will be dawning,
and my heart will reignite, thinking of you, as I inhale the morning.
Gorgeous and wise, empathetic and kind, how did this come to be?
I'm in awe but I'll try, with a kinaesthetic mind, to be whatever you see within me.
Categories:
awnings, longing, love, romance,
Form: Free verse
Sunset Awnings
She sits
on a park bench
sharing
her wisdom
with pigeons.
He walks
slowly
one old dog
conversing
with another.
They walk
blindly seeking
“friends”
“screenbound”.
The sun sets
on life’s
experiences.
John G. Lawless
©8/20/2017
Categories:
awnings, age, life, youth,
Form: Free verse
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