Best Parenthetical Poems
i love you ...
to the cold marrow, i do
beastess of black
the art of you, ritualistic, raw
all your names wrap me, winged and wondrous
tempt me, tepid, dragon
i dream of the chase ... in timeless space
wispy, winding the world
biting my tongue with a bitter citrus
or dripping with rhythmic, parenthetical perfection
dance for me ...
break at the score, residue-righteous
engendered non-generically
come, venerated venom, and strike true
crimp, shine, bubble, breathe
sing my veins ...
hot, horrid whore of the haggard heart
neuron-nasty and aflame
a receptor conflagration, divinely devilish
i - Mad Molly's bastard son -
curse you with all i know
and woo you with my innocence, lost
i nail you to a cross of considerations and care
only to worship your ruin
the lion's paw to your Androcles, merciful
acid tears to wash your feet ...
blood to bind.
I am teetering at the brim of progress
The self I spend to be of worth
Is the same self that I had to earn
And to what end?
I ask,
At what fee?
The ones that stand down do so for free
And all that’s left is work for me
(Fr ,
PdV)
I hauled up, masochistic Sisyphus
All they did was balk
Scatter, Jack and Jill
Emptily talk
About how hard, how far
Never
I could not
And then for an instant I was on top
[King parenthetical]
They stood with their calculators
Screaming
But negative RTlnKeq ???
Kb T times ln W ???
Enthalpy minus T entropy,
Gives us the standard energy ???
I saw the people finally sap
It was halfway forward to halfway back
I felt something snap
And I fell unfathomably far
To a different bottom
A different problem
I stood intermediate at the foot of the unknown
Before a taller peak to dethrone
--
Note: Gibbs Free Energy (delta G) is a thermodynamic parameter used to describe reactions and stability in chemistry. It is common to see a diagram of delta G vs. reaction progress. These free energy diagrams consist of continuous curves with peaks and troughs. The lower the energy, the more stable.
Unfortunately you have to have significant background knowledge in chemistry to understand every reference.
Parenthetical;
Lovers caught
in ones and zeroes.
Teeth clutched in furious fists,
Miles high above the mists,
Eyes thrust on identity’s this,
A smile wandering far amiss.
So this is the face of a simile,
Resting peacefully in eternity,
Here’s a figure of stoic rectitude,
Reflecting over mass ineptitude.
Of time I once knew,
When my lady a sword withdrew,
A flirt upon an ocular lance,
Its mark on earth to live or dance.
It is but an unseemly error,
This wholly world of fluid terror,
Think not twice or multiples upon it,
Suffer the stones that bite to hit.
For once upon a broken time,
There was a cheapened hollow dime,
Whose mother eyed a parenthetical ghost,
Truth attired in a burning roast.
This then is the tale,
Of memories and mountains yet to scale,
Birds, mice, pearls and dice,
Plain secrets to unlock life’s holy device.
Living is more than getting the most,
Dying comes later in the laugh of the host,
He whose voice know’s of no other,
Sees the face of man’s earthly mother.
Its not make believe following the rules,
Nor a farce to question social tools,
A question of policy expressed in a letter,
A conceptual echo though hardly better.
Our day is here high to boot,
To laugh with the wind like an uncouth hoot,
The unborn faces of earthly flowers yet to come,
To rise, to whither, blasphemy for some.
Broken clocks with wooden blocks
And the power is out again.
Cold burning hands lifted up with a little
sacrificial parenthetical nonsense
"Yuletide noreaster winding down"
Of course it will be cold - it always is.
And there will be red numerals flashing
in the morning.
Isaac is having his nightmares again,
Feeling like a tied down goatskin.
maybe it is just that Old Testament slang.
Some say single syllable saliva.
Some say killing time on Mount Moriah.
Now a fifth of gin in the pillowtop linen,
May be worse a sin than to kill kin.
And the blankets are tangled thickets,
The alarm clock is tuned to AM radio.
No logical place for this line in another scribing on the
same theme, so I put it down here, looked at it for a moment.
Decided to let it stick, not raise the bar or ante because there’s really nothing more to it.
Yet, I wonder if you might like it or if you think it needs a different treatment.
Perhaps it only deserves a parenthetical mention in a margin somewhere,
a fringe note on someone else’s clatter?
(But I try pretty hard never to criticize another’s work.)
What more to it than this desire to judge and be judged,
compete for air space and time?
After all the world seems to be getting
quite crowded with talent or advanced ideas.
Mediocrity just isn’t cutting it any more.
So, if a neck sticks out for you, perhaps it is only because
it’s dog tired and don’t want to fight you anymore,
mastered a waste of time,
it seems, to some degree, a pedigree.
Does this consummation constitute a talent?
Perhaps patience requires waiting for the virtuous topic to
suggest itself, but if I lay in wait I might never write anything at
all, and then who would I be?
How to begin…
Trying – whole thoughtless years, then,
Boom compulsive composition.
Perhaps there’s something –
Here, what do you think?
i am a broken down clown
living my life like a silent film
moving quickly with no direction
as i apply the makeup to my life's
gymnastics, i begin to see the signs
of corrosion and deterioration
i sit and think of her as everybody in
the world that has ever loved me despite
my flaws and my faults
i make a small but explorable incision in the
centermost part part of my gut to see if anything
exists there still
i realized immediately but tardily that i have not worked
hard to become financially comfortable but worked smart
to be unabashedly afraid
Parenthetical phrases help you read between the lines
S-P-E-L-L it out letter for
L-E-T-T-R.
Nothing to the imagination
Don’t get it? Just look it up
Online, between the lines.
Read the Spark Notes, they’re almost as well written
Write nonsense, discuss complex
ideas and trivia.
I knew that! But I forgot it back when
Imagination ran away with the spoon
instead of me! I was so traumatized, I couldn’t handle it,
So I covered my eye with hair and turned to a poetry book
Full of stories of my suicides and how terrible my
Middle class suburban life has been!
Can’t you see the depression? It’s sewn into the seems of
my pants that are about the tear!
Driven mad by gibberish tears.
meaningless juxtapositions for the sake of
contradiction. I think therefore I’m confused.
Just tell me what it means so I can go
Back to being oblivious! Just accept it,
because you refuse to comprehend it.
Bertrand Russell
was intrigued by systems theory,
appalled by systemic racism
within himself and others,
corporations and churches
not recognizing each other's wisdom
also found in temples and synagogues
and community investment banks
and poor houses.
He was also interested in political philosophy,
power of aristocrats
anticipating growing personal economic despotism
offering no respite
to green/blue democratic EarthLovers.
A contemporary of Einstein's,
who shared Russell's political philosophy
and perhaps his interest in 4Dimensional
prime NonZero-entropic space/time
co-arising dipolar bilateral
spatial/integral
physical/metaphysical systems
also sort of bicamerally structured
Russell writes,
"The reason physics has ceased to look for causes
is that, in fact,
there are no such things.
The law of [unilateral linear] causality
is a relic of a bygone age,
surviving, like the monarchy,
only because it is erroneously supposed
to do no [win/lose, either/or leftbrain dominant reductive] harm."
Here, Russell's parenthetical analogy
betrays his political philosophy
favoring natural/spiritual green/blue co-arising systemic democracy
of We The Healthy MultiCultural EarthPeople
causing and effecting
monoculturing
narcissistic aristocratic collective fantasies,
anthropocentric Naked EarthExploiting Emperors.
Causal systemic power travels down to up,
like root systems toward flowers,
nutritionally before,
secondarily, communication flowing back top to down,
like seeds embedding in Earth's co-invested future
multiculturing fertile soil
bearing multi-regenerational anticipated win/win fruits,
Dipolar co-arising in polyphonic apposition
more normatively nurturing
than win/lose bipolar challenges of monoculturing,
too aristocratically self-delusional
short-term empowering aggressors
leftbrain straight white western male predators
on organic polycultural matriarchal fields
of original nature/spirit win/win systemic energy
in which each individual ego
is EarthMother sacred
eco-politically born
For growing systemic
democratic cooperative green energy,
power,
empowerment,
enlightenment
of integrity's systemic multiculturing potential
for climate health,
internally ego-inspiring spiraling spiritual
as externally natural rooted
organic ecosystems of life
reversing monoculturing death.
A CONSIDERABLE CONQUEST
So this is when love becomes a contest
each a victim and seeking after their conquest
it was so easy back then, no name calling
no detours, children crossing or rocks falling
it was as if for years we both needed the other
each of us with bad attitudes and memories to smother
it was that spark, lightening, or neon florescence from above
and before there was war there was love
each counting the days, the numerals and years
at a social gathering neither of us could say “cheers”
it was if there was a gentle breath we were chasing after
an easy breath to fill our lungs and fill a room with laughter
but it seems six bottles of expensive perfume wasn't the solution
and dozens of flowers gave neither of us absolution
as it turned out the roses were made out of glass
alas one day they were smashed precisely like our love and what has come to pass
so you write me parenthetical notes with a secret inside
and with me being chased by the big bad wolf and no where to hide
your fangs come out when you think you're not winning
and whenever you believe i'm a sinner simply sinning
so this is what the ends turns out to be
I blame you and you'll blame me
your touch was once so comforting and tender
and as for the contest and the conquest you win because I surrender
© 2012......copyright PHREEPOETREE ~free cee!~
deafening silence
of midnight -
parenthetical barking
1/8/2022
She has everything you don't.
(we never had what they have)
Sleep is more important than me?
(it's 1 am & you're not my lover)
Why ask if you weren't interested?
(my father was missing & politeness)
I'm tired of trying.
(interesting role reversal)
Form:
i love you ...
to the cold marrow, i do
beastess of black
the art of you, ritualistic, raw
all your names wrap me
savage, winged and wondrous …
tempt me, tepid dragon
i dream of the pursuit
wrought in timeless space
wispy, winding the world
biting my tongue with bitter citrus
or dripping with rhythmic, parenthetical
perfection …
dance for me -
break at the score, residue-righteous
engendered non-generically
come, venerated venom
and strike true -
crimp, shine, bubble, breathe
sing my veins ...
hot, horrid harlot of the haggard heart
neuron-nasty and aflame
a receptor conflagration, reborn
divinely devilish …
i - Mad Molly's sullied son -
curse you with all i know
and woo you with my innocence, lost
i nail you to a cross
of considerations and care
only to worship your ruin
the lion's paw to your Androcles, merciful
acid tears to wash your feet
and blood …
to bind.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, February 7, 2021; update November 24, 2023