white capped peaks appear then go
cresting mountains blue and green
with prayers that triton’s spear won’t show
we cross what lays between
old skalds tell of the tempest’s wrath
this realm no man’s to own
if careless of the swell and trough
you’ll reap the seeds you’ve sewn
with wary looks cast overboard
caulked timbers flex and cry
and oaths that seek divine accord
entreat the leaden sky
I promise I’ll go between no more
I’ll not sail again I swear
but then I itch to leave the shore
to once more be out there
so I’ll live in fear of her cold embrace
of the pull and her sway over me
when she calls my name with guileful grace
my mistress of the sea
Categories:
caulked, allegory, beauty, faith, imagery,
Form: Rhyme
Bitty birds scuffle and flounce
under the roofed-in.
Barn dusted, rafters crust and whiffle.
Snuffle go the whiskered,
the mousy muzzle's
all along the bent beam wood.
A pepper powdering
in the chink-lit sunbeams.
In this his tumbled castle-keep
youth sky-larked a being
a ghostling ally sight unseen
there in the day-baked barn.
Long days he communed and lazed
in dim swaddled and idle ease
stretched-out and dream-basked,
seeped in the tar caulked wood
steeped in a gown-shadowed glow
with the evening-come nightly
jackdaw and crow.
Categories:
caulked, poetry,
Form: Free verse
I do not like to see my face floating
At the foot of a ewer,
nor in drops of water, nor in the glassy eye
of a slaughtered goat.
I am beautiful, but water and cloudless gems
distort, they are torturers of disfigurement.
Since I saw my reflected beauty
I have been unable to mirror that perfection.
I have ardently endeavored
to emblazon the beacon of that first time,
when I, suffused in beams of crystalline air,
beheld my countenance clear
yet now I am caught, caulked, and diked
forever dogged by a stark magicking
from ever parading that delicate radiance,
that inaugural art of my gift,
my exquisite features.
Yet ever my mind’s eye returns
to that translucent and timeless time
that empyreal morn, so fine and fair
where I beheld what I thought was there
and believed upon it.
Categories:
caulked, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Such a beautiful mind, lone blossom in a sty
one to many times taunting the tempest's ledge
now the muse wears a crown of his ashes
caulked memories to fill the holes of our lives
Your fireflies have brightened the crags of time
while all the pretenders pretended to listen
but now its painfully clear that they didn't
now your final wish is a cryptic gift to the sky
Our stark walls now decorated with your spirit
with dream catcher and the keeper of stars
garnished in the pigment of famished petroglyphs
your soul making paths to the center of our heart
Your life was brief but much deeper than a sad lesson
I believe you're very much deserving of heaven
Categories:
caulked, life,
Form: Free verse
Hallow walls mutter the sounds apart,
The whitewash mask of a time once lost,
One side the current rushing in quite sure,
Other alone the tide that broke away,
Look through peepholes and slivers of light,
Cold air in but warm heavy breaths out,
Condensation on the latex paint washing,
Sins and crimson more regrets in past,
The living meet the long gone between,
In the yellow and bulk core left hot,
Drilling through biting through punching,
Until two sides meet call it open concept,
Though conceptual does not adhere here,
Not here or there nor once upon everywhere,
Even peripheral now stare blank and close,
Because holding hands isn’t enough,
And peeling back layers of grime and plaster,
Isn’t going to be enough to merge these fates,
Under the popcorn ceiling caving in and closing out,
These six scraps might block my sight,
Even if you lock and shut and close and brick,
Brick me up and in and stuff up my mouth,
I’ll rat my way out and squirrel my way up,
Ill bite and break teeth on cinder blocks,
Nails caulked with paint chips and charm,
I’ll be there anyway it’s not a choice anymore.
Categories:
caulked, deep,
Form: Free verse
Adrift
upon the vagaries of life.
I have sailed this sea
prayed for a hint of breeze
a whisper of hope
a passing cloud’s shadow
run through the troughs
of crested confusion
withstood the fury
of its nameless demons.
Sailed –
toward an unreachable sunset
growing ever nearer
run full sail at sunrise
fleeing the darkness
sat - becalmed
deafened by the silence
shouted into the emptiness
of doubt.
Mended
tattered canvas,
caulked with dusty rope
aging cracks of voyage
tarred and oiled
split and cracking masts
held pains polished
rudder wheel.
Set sail
into the darkened sky
seeking passage
through the jagged rips
for storms will rage
a failing fury spent
as sailors sail
into a future’s end.
John G. Lawless
10/8/2015
Categories:
caulked, age, life, metaphor,
Form: Free verse
Walk a mile in my two shoes.
Stalk days, while men spy through views
Talked. Stay! Aisles thin by new pews.
Balk! Weigh miles, when eyes, who choose
Caulked ways, file sin. Cry blue blues!
Chalk gray smiles, then try to schmooze
Gawks. Pray vile kin die. True dues!
Categories:
caulked, introspection,
Form: I do not know?
tar caulked wooden floors
rowing with thirty two oars
within sight of shores
Categories:
caulked, adventure, history
Form: Senryu
I am building a boat.
Full of dreams.
Glossy wood and caulked seams.
Figure head, sharp bow.
Cutting the waves, like a plough.
Generous beam, shaped like a dream.
Sheer, such beauty never seen.
The hull, like the female form.
Handles any storm.
Billowing white sails overhead.
Across the sky, around my head.
The wind, a driving force.
Keeping me on course.
Deck awash with foam and spray.
Seagulls screaming as they play.
Waves crashing on the shore.
With a mighty roar.
Hear the song of the sea.
It's calling me.
Comments.
I have always had a boat.
And love the sea.
I was in the British Royal Navy.
As a medic during WWar 2.
And also the Merchant Navy.
Sailed my yacht "Tango"
All over Europe.
This is the first boat I have built.
Made of ply and resin.
A kit from an American boat firm.
Which I can recommend.
Categories:
caulked, inspirational, sea, sports, boat,
Form: Narrative