Best Cordoned Poems

My neck crooked backward,
I stand between the stacks
feeling the weight of centuries, 
the distilled wisdom of minds
who graced the earth with golden words,
words that pace the pages -
vellum, parchment, fine and common papers;
words, cordoned in lines, confined,
yet powerful tools to set one free, 
a roamer...

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She ventured far beyond Earth's realm
past cordoned confines of heart and soul
Tumbled,  as did Alice, down the rabbit hole
Drifted, like an Autumn leaf blown from an elm

She soared past distant planets, 
on paths lighted by effulgent moons
Weaved her tears among Saturn's rings
and all the...

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We decided to turn Paradise into real estate.
Trouble was, we weren’t too sure where to find it,
Though experts had located it somewhere
Slightly west or east (left or right, looking north)
Of a point midway between the Euphrates and the Nile.
According to some, it moved sideways a...

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The title of this talk today,
"Win-Win Politics of New Feminist Economics"
suggests questions,
more than emasculating 
definitively deductive
reductive
answers.

Would you imagine
a minority-identified Buddhist,
more likely as a feminist?
or culturally comfortable
with political and economic Left-brain domination,
monotheistic competing for all-consuming
ritualistic servicing?

How would you compare broad cultural trends
between East and West theology
on...

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tiny black shriekers
swarmed the evening sky above
cordoned the estate...

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Sneaking A President On Presidents Day

Sneaking President Biden to Kyiv without anyone noticing, sounds like something out of a movie.  It really happened.  He arrived in Kyiv on a surprise visit, signaling 'unflagging commitment' to Ukraine. 

The United States signals its ongoing support...

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After Bill got Brick’s emergency call about the new find under the Bywater bridge, he downed 
his coffee, shoved his files in a drawer, donned his 9mm w/shoulder holster,  traded his  
Stetson for a NYPD ball cap, made for the squad car, punched...

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Fireworks bulging from pocket decay --
Mostly the boys; but, a few girls held rockets.
Back-in-the-day, when it was still okay
To stick metallic cutlery in electric sockets.

The four corners cordoned off.
Block upon block awaiting dusk,
Impatient for that fiery cough
Of blockbuster, gunpowder musk.

And so it begins, for all...

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Penelope Alecknavage nee perskin whose death aye assay
to comprehend, this son of the late Harriet Harris - 
   November thirteenth 2016 marked her eighty first birthday
if she still lived these last eleven years - instead met crossway
where grim reaper awaited - though my...

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Onwards men 
Let us succumb 

Like a lion with its pride  
We shall certainly play our prey 

Off we March
Into the fray 

Hold your rifles to your heart 
Squeeze and muzzle out your fears 


Hold the line
Let's reunite 

Release the gas of integrity 
Let our...

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Couples desperate to gloss their matte lives
Hug each other in the hallway
For a picture baiting likes and comments
Before retiring to separate bedrooms for the night

Kids older than their years 
Feed on the gruel of smart phones and tablets
Their cyber avatars cordoned off
Live parallel lives with...

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His hair is alive,  
serpents writhing, a man Medusa of the tropics, 
as if he wore the demons 
of colonialism and injustice on his head, 
unforgetting,
a dung-brown-and-black hologram of 
the ganja-fueled reveries inside, 
the broken record of fight and redemption in his ears 
masked...

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"Write your dreams," said Carolyn Kizer,
(She, the wiser of our workshop fools.)
New rules for us, so I rise from bed, 
still cordoned in sleep to record this one 
of many in which you star, now far 
away, to help you pack, knowing you'd be 
back...

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I seem to fall in love constantly; 
Seem to find it everywhere I go, 
Half buried in the sand, like pieces of fallen moon 
Waiting me to pick it up and devour it – 
To shred myself to ribbons from the inside
The serrated edges slashing...

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Parkland, Fla.
February 14, 2018 

One more senseless mass homicide 
   twas the sole arbitrary aim
as a former student nonchalantly 
   sauntered empty hallways 
   seconds preceding blame
brazenly intent to maximize total killed 

   matter of factly telling...

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