Best Briefest Poems

He just appeared to me, like wispily curling 
Chimney smoke, 
One grim and early morning in the very midst of 
Decembers briefest days, on the highest slope,
Toiling through my daily round; where, slowly 
Driving up past the Whitethorn hedgerows to 
Ascend the snowy Heys, I...

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Notes: 

This poem is related to the performance, impermanent art "This Progress"  by Tino Sehgal - a choreographed conversation in the Guggenheim Art Museum where the visitors walk up the spiral ramp talking with people of ascending ages prompted with the question "what is...

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Slowly he opened the drawer and looked inside.  Some time had passed since he last gazed upon the cloth that lay there.  Years perhaps.  Yes definitely years.  The blotched rusty brown stains, yellowing its whiteness, spoke of its age.  He...

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I see phantasms floating through the billowing early morning mist
where I stand alone by the black water as its ever 
probing tongue licks gently at the granite rocks that line the shore.
Like stone sentinels the fog creates images of snow leopards that seem to stalk...

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Denial is a can of peas
whose contents
should never be indulged
beyond the expiration date.
Yet there I stood, 
evidence screaming reality
at my eyes, their gaze steadfast
upon the wailing baby girl 
before me in her bassinet.
My mind then confidently knew
that what lay there
could have never come
from briefest self-indulgence.
Still,...

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Memories, Long Sad Journey,
     
Bitter cold that Saturday morning, late in November 1969, I could see my breath parading before me. No breakfast as I had quietly left the house and started my slow walking trek back to our old home....

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chieftains trade their loyalty behind the clouds
  high mountain king Carrantouhil commanding his Macgillycuddy Reeks
  men of begotten rank, scheming skulduggery
  secrets hide out of sight, Comeragh mystery shrouds Coumshingaun
  flighty earls flee from the Lough Swilly shore
  priests conspire,...

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There comes a time,
in the early, but
not so early, morn

when, and this is key,
if a portion of an instant
rationed a morsel of a moment -
but a crumb of that fell free
and it cast a deep shadow
whose depths made mockeries 
of spelunk;

which you may remember 
you'd...

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Beyond the distant saddened sight,
inside this lonely broken place,
I see the light that slowly fades,
the flame that burns like love's gaze
into this empty soundless space,
the void of mind and thought and name,
where all has gone and naught remains
but,
as time dreams past in impassioned reverie
will the...

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Medication paused a day
the balm of urge then delayed
with a will to live without
if only for the briefest time

until the need comes again
sight unseen to other folks
yet more present than concerns
voiced for the abstinence

when that fix to ease the pain
sometimes a scratch or bloody gash
demands...

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II.
Liesel spent months worrying about this,
about dark minions and young souls that hurt,
she even started fearing for herself
for questioning the teachings of the church.

She did not want to damn herself to Hell,
but she couldn’t believe that it was true
that a loving God would punish children
for...

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True love does not care
True love is a dragon sleeping deep within the realms of our souls
Hibernated until awakened by its other half
Once alive it is an uncontrollable beast on the hunt
It destroys any notion you have held of love before
True love is simple and...

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It starts out and ends up with Love
   for a partner you think the world of
Yet the middle poses daily tests
   where the verdict of a marriage rests

To list all these tests would take a book
   So let's just...

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The wick aflame on dust whirls
About the trying brilliance of the room—
Eyes burned eyes on hidden places, firesome

Throughout the glass rocked in wax—   
A kisses' shadow casts glow on the phantasm;
For this christening's blow on the last

Briefest whim
Cracked whispers
Shaken

The wick aflame on dust...

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My husband ventured out today,
His virus on the wane.
He only took the briefest walk
But didn’t much complain.

For he was thrilled (and so was I)
To see him well enough
To leave his snug cocoon and have
The strength to strut his stuff.

He won’t be running marathons
And this I...

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