Best Untempered Poems

Oh seed of Dante, dost thy path
in mid-life's turning gone astray
upon a sylvan darkness hath
to tread a rut with feet of clay?

Wast thou that youth of virtue pure
who bargained not with Judgment Day
untempered green convictions sure
before life's tests induced decay?

Didst compromise and circumstance
thy dreams of...

Continue reading...

Rising from the desert sand
was a shimmering mirage
of a thousand shouts
	Heated winds of fanaticism,
	intense and blowing violently loud
Shrill calls to blood prayer seethe,
breathing fiery invocations
of a perverted philosophy
Screaming death to the infidels — 
a scarlet smeared mirror reflecting
black cloth covered savagery
Crimson prayers are the daubed...

Continue reading...

Oh my beautiful Daughters
what have you done to the men of the Earth,
turning the roar of men's' love into notes of shame and whispers,
discoloring the gallant glow of trust with untempered lust for popular worth,

I made you to be embodiment of something sacred,
a steadfast source...

Continue reading...

In the garden of my soul
there fell a seed
wondrous smooth
and dark as evening’s shadow
from which emerged a tree
tentative
its stem twisting uncertain from the soil
as a lover estranged
contriving an oblique path to bliss
unassuming seeming
yet in every subtle arc and incline
betraying desire by apprehension
its bark was gray...

Continue reading...

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by...

Continue reading...

In time, a faded letter turned to ash,
dampened teak now acrid and abused,
a timeless quarrel's scene, an ancient clash,
one paroxysm fierce, two mastheads fused.
Subsumed in fortune's cast of reel and ruse,
blended masses nursing wounds and fears
ne'er comprehending how it ended here.

What forced each flag to...

Continue reading...

The warming flames of a fireplace
Easing away the frost and the cold
The warmth massaging my face
As the sparks crack in the fires mold

The flame stretches one inch too far
Touching lightly the untempered wall
It catches and burns all things inside
Turning the walls as black as the...

Continue reading...

Who have remained steadfast
Who wield strength when beaten senseless
Who dare to taste the ugly and unrevered
Who allow emotional currents to breeze by
Who carve the hairline fracture of knowledge into deep jagged untempered faults of creation
Who pause for the soothing rumble of a child's voice
Who take...

Continue reading...

Beneath the weight of that 
Decisive 
Moment, 
your mind rifles for a memory of me. 

... a waltzing illusion 
of whispered lashes upon 
tear-stained cheeks. 
Slippery images of half grins 
and muddied promises 
left outside the door to find their own way. 

I’ve met untempered...

Continue reading...

It’s days like this that my mind returns to Raleigh

The pitch, sandy futon, and our intertwined deviant legs

Pushing for a fix

I for one goal, you for another


I would be more aware by the end of the night

of the smoothness of your forehead, and your full...

Continue reading...

Daydream: fragile as untempered glass.
Coming to life on clouds' rainy sky.
Building hopes it will at last surpass
other dreams we had and watched go by.

Wind's rustling leaves can nudge a dream,
though often found in bird's lovely song,
dandelion seeds wafting by streams,
sunset's reds massed in brilliant throng.

When...

Continue reading...

How love takes ownership with
a single kiss, 
a sigh, a movement into a world of sensuous bliss,
Your softness of skin speaks a language anew,
the warmth of your body wraps me as you pull me close to you,
and lips explore the contours with eyes closed, 
like...

Continue reading...

I was ten
And SHE was eleven
And the other was already gone long ago
But now we get happiness

Bad habits follow
Bad actions 
Bad moods

Unprepared parents make 
Untempered tantrums
The medicine is killing me
Why can’t I take control

Anger and Pain
Pain and Anger
A room filled with trash
But it's MY TRASH
MINE

Sometimes...

Continue reading...

Just another holiday coming round in the season
  as the weather changes warm to cold.
A chill upon the body cooling the spirits
  to tepid memories long passed.
Thanksgiving full of laughter
  gatherings of family and old friends
  at the table in prayer...

Continue reading...

The educational forest has thickened
 I can't see the forest from the trees,
are they Republican or Democrat?
 voices once spoke out without a doubt
a lost message loud and clear for change,
 those voices have since been silenced
by the onslaught of time and age, untempered truths.

Who...

Continue reading...