Best Gangling Poems

oh, my precious child!

let me kiss away your weep -
do not be troubled, the moon but bids good night
(stars whispering their ancient lullaby)
swallowing not, the western reach
but merely giving pause to the day, waking
so that the grateful star of morn
should adorn its burgeoning bosom
let not...

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Eyes still closed ...
          Our sated mouths slowly parted,
                    And what was once cold and unyielding in...

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oh, my precious child,
let me kiss away your weep -
do not be troubled, the moon but bids good night,

       stars whispering their ancient lullaby,

swallowing not, the western reach,
but merely giving pause to the day, waking
so that the grateful star...

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The sun-bleached exoskeletons 
of old dead trees stand like sentries
along the towpath riverfront
exfoliated and gangling.
In a former age they stood tall,
grandiose to all passerby’s
but they too are dead to recall
their once impressive colossi.
Eventually these remains
will meet their final destinies:
to fall-never to rise again-
among forgotten progenies;
yet...

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WINTER, 1948 [40 Saxton Street]

for W.W

The winter nights that pass now
are so unlike the winter nights
that passed before, that I often
struggle back in those suspended moments
when sleep grapples for a hold,
to once again hear the voices of those nights
and smell the smells that lingered
in those...

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brush in hand, he breathes life to paper ...

      columns ... bejeweled and sparkling
         like blades of shimmering grass
   piercing the night as star-flecked stalagmites
fingers of phosphorescent proficiency

  ...

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Meandering memories 
move through my mind 
like a river flowing   
to the salty sea. 

Limbs stretch lazily 
reaching skywards 
like the gangling 
branches of an ancient tree. 

Standing still in 
the solitude of 
suspended time; 
lazily picking flowers,

the hours melt away 
as I...

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Down on the pier, the midmorning bright,
Thronged wives, husbands, lovers,
And sons, friends, young daughters,
All eyes perusing the grand and gray ship
In long-simmered hope of glimpsing one face,
One much-beloved grin, among antsy sailors
Arrayed in white jumpers along the tall deck,
‘Til, filing like ants, crew at last...

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CLOWN

Hard day at the office – circus in town.
I hear the Sousas yellow, or dark Pagliacci brown
All in all I hate this one here clown,
Striding right into my space,
Hiding the other side of his face –
The hurries, the gestures,
Paint so thick it cracks when he...

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They could be heard across valleys with their screeching echo
Flailing above tree height they’d flock in their thousands - the Black Cockatoo
Like nature’s eclipse, they would descend in clouds; all great gangling wings
Flapping madly at each other, swaying this way and the other
A perch full...

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An old man ravaged by age
His gangling frame impelled against the cancerous bark of the forever weeping willow 
Lined with wrinkles of time, his ashen face unshaven
Cast down among creeping shadows

Folding my legs, I sit beside him, placing my hand upon his
Immalleable bones pressing against...

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RISE ...


breathless, calm ...

     I face the morn ... possibility

          mists crawl 'neath gangling willows

            dew drawn from the keening hem...

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I stand here 'neath these vines of old
 Wrapped by the arms of stories told
The lads and lasses, bright and bold
 A dancing brown-eyed blond
     Of whom I'd been quite fond

     I'd found her here, below this...

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Slate clouds stretch low
over urban rooftops,
sun’s hopeful warmth
vanquished:

	man with a limp
	pauses.
	his weary eyes,
	wary,
	survey that sky,
	grimy gangling
	fingers
	fidget
	buttons,
	wind biting through
	plaid jacket’s
	worn fabric;
	on, he hobbles
	behind
	shopping cart,
	cluttered and dull,
	left front wheel
	shimmying,

sere, dun leaves
and discarded wrappers
tumble, rustle
alongside
in the gutter....

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The cold air seemed to help clear his head but the lullaby was persistent and 
he could not get it out of his mind.  He walked for just a few moments
before passing the the entrance to the stable.  He thought about
going in and...

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