Best Recited Poems
A visitor—
icicle fingers
tapping on my windows' pain—
white blanket in tow
Hurting enough, I paid him no mind
so he kept tap, tap, tapping
‘til cobweb-like cracks appeared:
a final, gentle tap
shatters my windows
My rainbow world
now smothered, pallid,
forced into boredom and slumber,
sunlight chased away
and I am never the same again…
Soul gets plunged deep in the cold
blinded by whiteness, numbed with simplicity
there is an eerie stillness,
almost as if no one dared to breathe,
even the barren trees refused to quiver
brittle dendrites seem to claw the sky
futile though, for they are frozen,
grasping at nothingness,
clouds stubborn and stoic,
brooding in silent grayness
…and then from within, a filigreed whisper escapes
palpable and brave~
it weaves its way through the branches,
gathering strength wherever it went
it beckons to the sky, which in turn
gives in and celebrates ~
letting dainty confetti fall
white, yet amazingly graceful
each flake falls softly on the ground—
a fashionable brocade
trees softly sway now,
and dance to a winter song
the sky weeps with happiness
for seeing a glimpse of life—
diamond teardrops
they catch a bit of evasive sunlight,
of which I thought I’ve lost
and give birth to miniature rainbows…
all this time, Sunlight was there
I just
never knew
how to
catch
it.
an audio of me reciting this poem
http://www.4shared.com/music/Q_tqp2LEba/suncatcher.html?#
http://youtu.be/X5lfjFatgZU
Floating in the sky...
Changing patterns fill my eye...
What will you become?
Vagabond and wanderer...
Riding wind so high,
No matter where it blows.
You thumb your way to places
I have been and some I'll never know.
Chameleon...
Changing shape and color,
Hiding your identity,
Until you speak with beauty and power.
First, a turtle, moving slowly.
Crawling and paddling in peaceful grace.
Next, a shark swimming swiftly
Consuming those around you.
Finally a dinosaur...
Your neck and tail extended
So I will know your name...
Forgetting you're a cloud.
Vagabond and wanderer...
Just vapor in the air, traveling everywhere.
Marshmallow treat
So soft and sweet...
Then dirty and dark...you loudly speak.
Rain, thunder and lightening are your friends.
It's pleasant when your anger ends,
And rainbows arch to show me where you've been.
At night, your shadow hides the stars
And makes us wander where they are.
You choose to show selected few
The moon and stars...romantic you.
Sunrise...you meet the sun with colors of the day.
A canvas. A pleasant palette
Where light can play.
Sunset...you form a beautiful pillow
To gently catch the sun.
So rays may rest til morrow come.
Vagabond and wanderer...
Tomorrow let me see your face,
Another chance ...
To watch you dance...
Until you catch a ride...
Shift shape...
And hide.
Don't tell me I'm beautiful when I've done something different with my make-up
Don't call me beautiful because I've bought a new bra and you can see it through my shirt
And never tell me I'm beautiful
Because I've lost weight
Tell me I am beautiful
When I am brushing my teeth
When I have toothpaste on my chin from trying to talk to you at the same time
And all you can think about the whole time I'm talking
Is how you want to kiss it clean
Don't tell me I'm beautiful when I've done my hair the way you like it
Don't tell me I'm beautiful when I'm angry and you want me to stop being angry
Don't tell me I'm beautiful because I look good in heels
Tell me I'm beautiful because I look like I feel beautiful
Because my vertebrae are aligned like stars tonight
And I can't, stop, looking, up
Don't tell me I'm beautiful to brag to your friends
Don't tell me I'm beautiful to stop me from crying
Don't tell me I'm beautiful when I'm drunk, when I've packed my bag, when I'm leaving
Tell me I'm beautiful when I'm reading
And the words reflect in my eyes like fairy lights
And there is nowhere I would rather be
Don't tell me I'm beautiful when the door is locked
Don't tell me I'm beautiful with your trousers around your ankles
Don't tell me that I am beautiful when I'm on my knees
And if I'm not
Don't tell me I'm beautiful to get me on my knees
Tell me I'm beautiful when I am on my feet
When I am on my feet despite these goddamn bags under my eyes
Tell me I am beautiful when those bags look like hammocks and all you want to do is crawl inside
And fall asleep with me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk0e0L0v8ag
She sent me a message while I was walking Mr. Reilly,
She said “Look up, and tell me what you see.”
I thought I would impress her with my poetical ways so I answered,
Bus zooming by…
Brown leaves on the sidewalk ahead,
And a shadowy figure that Reilly and I will soon pass,
The smell of the Indian bakery warming my insides on an autumn evening.
“I love fresh bread,” she said, “What do you hear?”
Crisp slate grey sky,
And the wind gently shaking loose more tan and brown leaves,
And cars sliding by,
Each with its unique sound of tires on asphalt,
Creating its own steady hush.
She then messaged, “You’re very good at this,
I’m going to read that again!”
but I went on…
A few drops of cool rain,
The rain here, even when it’s pouring,
Seems to be made of a lighter liquid.
It’s not the hard thick drops of a West Texas down pour,
And it’s almost disappointing when
I don’t have the residual layer of dirt on my windshield after the rain,
Almost.
They say there is thunder in the springtime,
But I suspect they don’t know what real thunder is,
Here in California.
In the West Texas springtime,
When entire sky is filled with all the mountains,
That are missing from the landscape,
You can feel the power and,
The threatening posture of the storm,
But you take up the challenge and face the lightning,
And it fills you with excitement,
And if you have a lover,
It is during these storms that your fantasies come true.
Silver flashes across your lover’s skin,
Passion filled faces caught in the strobe of lightning,
And the pounding rain beating on the windows.
The mix of cold wet air,
And the sweaty heat of deep kisses and breath.
They don’t know what they’re missing here,
In California,
But I do,
And maybe someday I’ll have her.
Michael F. Lewis
11/29/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToCr_Xo1LPk
TURMOIL
My heart breaks within me-
deep inside I weep;
peace is so elusive my mind
cannot sleep-is love so unreal,
is it out of reach;who will be true
to me and their promise keep;
if I say a prayer,will faith take
a leap-do you have an answer,
to life...fathoms' deep.
Listen to me read this poem on youtube under the name ichthyschiro
AUTUMN MOMENTS
Over the stubble ,
carrion crows---
the gamekeeper heads
home for tea ;
apples overhang
the orchard wall;
drapes,about to fall
bright bonfire-coloured
leaves aglow
overnight,
the first heavy frost;
dahlia petals on the lawn,
dew-sodden;
in the October dawn
Michelmas
daises,limp and old,
midst fading leaves,
now spotted gold;
Summer petals
the landscape
in a scarlet shroud;
dank fog envelops
the night;
and hedgehogs snuggle
in dormant pose.
Listen to me read this poem on youtube under name of ichthyschiro
CHAGALL EKPHRASIS
A fantasist,alive upon canvas,surreal
and yet..so very real his love-for her-
not concealed.There..floating for all
to see..childlike, innocence his lady
in white,for us to wonder..and delight
Inspired by Chagall’s ‘Lady in White’
KLIMT EKPHRASIS
A kiss,Klimt’s symbol of love nouveau,
suggestive rather than descriptive,yet
of time immemorial.Love upon a cloud
of gold,lost in that moment where time
does not exist.One with the other,alone
and yet..desire..and need in love’s power
then to exist.
Inspired by Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’
Listen to me recite these ekphrasis on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
Always too soon, too slow, too fast, too late,
Young Eros takes aim, pulling tight his bow.
True Lovers discover eternal fate.
Grinning as tension is released and straight
Flies the deeply piercing crimson arrow.
Always too soon, too slow, too fast, too late.
Knowing his prey may never consummate
While bound by promises. Steeped in sorrow
True Lovers discover eternal fate.
His indifference to joy and pain innate,
He fills with pleasure the wounds we hallow,
Always too soon, too slow, too fast, too late.
They, bleeding passions once dormant, fixate.
Their future once sure, now lost in shadow.
True Lovers discover eternal fate.
Love holds no promises of tomorrow.
When blind Eros strikes, full hearts turn fallow.
True Lovers discover eternal fate
Always too soon, too slow, too fast, too late.
Michael F. Lewis
4/14/2013
Recited:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JepmRbt5MY
What intimacy is its cause,perhaps
an immaculate conception of words;
too swift to comprehend,see or
recognise.The moment is there
and then is not.Gone with the wind
the seed of idea remains, to
germinate and gestate,fanned by a
mental fragrance of elation.Slowly
self-transcending a word into a phrase,
a sentence to a strophe;a rhyme
rides a waterfall of cadence,
into a chasm of verse. Terse or
long, the sonnet becomes a little song,
struggles to arrive.Thrust forth upon
my page;a bastard-born of pain,
ancestry unknown,no more to roam
Hear me read this poem aloud here http://youtu.be/GiD8JdYi-jw
and my other video poetry at this link
http://youtube.com/ichthyschiro
FLIGHTS OF FANCY PHRASIS 2
Lady’s mantle with butcher’s broom
dwarf cornel cotton grass so thin,
yellow travellers joy,with buttercup
on sunspurged ,petty whin.
Creeping jenny over silverweed
groundsel& cudweed,balm,rockrose
and agromony with thistle prickly green.
Good King Henry,goose fat red and a full
fat hen,in moschatel with mistletoe
and eyebright mustard so white.Thyme
&teasel so tamarisk in water-peppered bogbean;
grape hyacinth with forget-me-not in a
sea of lavender blue-green.Honesty
cuckoo flower,flax fumitory & fleabane;
musk marsh marigold&daffodil
in scentless mayweed.Yarrow ramson scabious
feverless,&plantain true with pepperwort,
cress seabeat burr buttered blue.
From Flights of Fancy 2003
Listen to me recite this part phrasis on youtube under my pen name ichthys chiro
AN ELEGY FOR ENGLAND
Posturing politicians pursuing their
pompous persona,oblivious of the
obvious,contemptuous of the common
man,and common sense that therein abides.
Such bella-donnas,a deadly night-shade
in their braying bubble poisoned our
enfranchisement,those hard won rights
we and our forefathers sweated blood,
tears & long years to achieve.
Without a glance or referendum obliterated
on the altar of ego,subsumed to the
domination of the bureaucratic oligarchy
of Brussels.
O England,that once fair land,alas
now forever laid bare.
Listen to me recite this structured prose elegy on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
Aye 'ee is fierce and hale.
Four mile to work,across the vale;
No slommakin' slattern 'ee,
Okkard as an itching flea.
Eee'd fetch hosses to boss's yard,
Garmed with mud,as thick as lard,
Cla'holt of 'em wiv a rope,
On is own,allus could cope.
Niver sees 'im vexed,or aggled,
Even if drenched and bedraggled;
In lightning 'e wore niver frit,
Though the whole sky wore fork-lit.
Grew peas that kidded well,
Allus 'ad a tale to tell.
Dialect from around Aylesbury Vale ,England in 1940's
Listen to me read this in this dialect on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
SUMMER DAYS
Watch a swallow swoop
and pass above an old meadow,
lush with grass. Speckled starlings
sing with delight over flying ants
in nuptial flight. Buckthorn in a dense
hedge screen. Ceanothus ,shaded green
Jasmine,Honeysuckle,Bittersweet
scents to mingle in summer heat
Clouds of teasels spiral tall
'midst dancing grasses against a wall
wandering wasps picnicing un-checked
onto perfumed petals,paperwhite
first intoxicate,then delight,
high above Cauliflower clouds,nimbus
topped weep a shower of warm tear-drops.
PASTURES GONE
buttercup yellow
kissing cowslips
dandelion,poppy and daisy,
corn marigold
cow parsley and clover,
a willow that weeps
and meadow-sweet,
deep in a forgotten pasture.
Listen to me read these poems on youtube under name ichthyschiro
SCENES OF A CARELESS BOYHOOD
The sound of water,escaping dams
willows,old rotten planks,slimy
posts,brickwork,old timber props
wet ditches,sedges and silvery nets
towpaths without gates,horses that
tow barges collared with crimson fringe.
Wheat and thatched cottages and cornstacks
grasses in flower,bogrush bulrush and
teazle,so tall.Bindweed,wild carrot,
hemlock in bloom,cow parsley,plantain
bramble in June.
Poppy,thistle mallow
and hop.Purple heath,hills and swift
running streams,true clear freah and
brisk as champagne about to pop.
phrasis form ( From Constable letters to Rev John Fisher)
*A Phrasis is a structured verse where the poet uses selected prose phrases of another writer’s(not a poet) to compile unique poetry therefrom as a tribute thereto,the word phrasis is Greek for phrase.
Listen to me read this phrasis of mine on youtube under the name ichthys
Whence Wordsworth
danced with daffodils
the world of poetry
moved on with
symbols of the inner man
new poems soon began
verse was freed
to explore
imagery
and the like
then
hand in hand
together were
soon to reach
Eliot's waste land
So empty now of
flowers to
while away
the
hours
because
Without a voice it cannot sing
No echos in the heart will ring
Come read,contemplate,give it time
Euphony ,floats on tides of rhyme;
Set free from custom's tyranny
Alternatives in poetry,
Lineation and enjambment
become the poets's intrument.
Beware ,sans pace in patterned verse
Vers Libre may scans as prose, or worse
And stays a writer's curse
Listen to me read this poem on youtube under the name ichthyschiro