Cleaved Poems

:::In Node Mode:::

                        *
                       / \
                     /     \
                    sliced
                 and whole
               a cleaved life
             in flux cast dice
           state of non being
         potential in between
        eternity's randomness
       flip a coin up into the air
      unpredictability flies there
     alternate reality hints upon
     •>•
     parallel universes going on
       realistically just one path
        life’s inevitable no math
         untangled observation
           spit out my creation
             god particle sown
              new baby grown
                chop the cord
                   use sword
                      spliced
                        \      /
                          \  /
                            *
By
David Kavanagh 
HMS

Cleaving to Divine Killick

"He will progress toward retrogression..."
Mother's heart defied such prognosis
yet it reverberated, haunting soul
thus, faith cleaved to divine pillar 
toward hope fueling functionality  
surmounting spastic bouts
conquering seizures
then beholding miracles.

Now, milestones radiate
as special child drives himself 
midst freedom bliss
maneuvering wheelchair
likewise taking steps with walker's brace 
vanquishing mother's fear
toward triumph of impossibilities
enabled by the divine anchor.

When the Tide Remembers!

The sea was a whisper before it was water,
cleaved through the wind.
I stepped into its silver mouth,
waves curling something pressing in
a wistful longing for a past I never knew.

Seagulls traced ethereal designs across the expanse
their wails scattered like fragments.
Somewhere underneath the foam,
the past was fossilized within sedimentary strata
waiting for my hands to delve deep enough to find it.

The tide came in more forcefully
and I thought of to how love in this way
always arriving, always leaving---
sometimes tender, sometimes intense enough
to split the coast in two.

When it ebbed, it left behind more than remnants of a disaster,
it embodied the ideal I sought;
calmed by the steady undulations of the sea,
gleaming in calmness;
as if the tide dredged up
on the verge of being forgotten.

The Jagged Edges

The barbs she threw at him
left jagged edges on them both
torn from deep within herself
        raw, bloody pieces of meat 
      hurled violently across the room,
          the space, the endless time.
They cleaved to him, each one
      slowly shrouding the man
until he became a prickly porcupine.
Some silent days, from weariness
      would bring respite, closeness.
          In intimacy, his spines
      would prick her open wounds;
They could not help themselves,
        They no longer had control.
And so they lived, or slowly died
      behind soft lace curtains;
        a bitter purgatory
          on the jagged edges
      of a new society.

Marriage of Two Minds

Behold us one, the marriage of two minds,
Two creatures of cross-continental births,
With force of love the universe combines, 
Find, in each other, home, a fount of mirth. 

Behold us cleaved, the union of true souls,
Embraced, dancing hearts shield us from the night, 
In our arms we find shelter from the cold, 
Move them together, to produce great light. 

Behold united lovers, one, to share,
The joys of empty hours, eternal days,
Ebony skin to paler maple hair,
Celestial beams shine out this pair to stay.

In wooded boughs and outgrown meadows run,
Lovers hand in hand, to bask in morning’s glow,
With tinted blues, the ready rising sun,
Lights up the roses, growing row by row. 

Like honey, poetry drips from their lips 
And prose milk flows, from their Lord’s promised land 
But no sweeter could that white liquor be, if 
There was no honey, free in lover’s hands. 

Already married in mind I see 
Married in body these two will be.

Flower Chide VI, Stemrise

Toward Scent fold’s vale they cleaved the green,
Where wind runs thick with things unseen.
“Is it justice you seek or just her place?”
Lotus said, his voice low, draped in grace.
The blossoms paused, their vows unsealed,
Each plucked petal quaking in truth revealed.
For in his oblique gaze, the mirror lay.
Become the wound or forge the way.

The wound was raw and the way unknown
And from that break, a voice was thrown
"Let's all go to Netherbloom and trace,
a flare to rise and claim our place".

Azure was still, but knew the storm would rise.
So, he nurtured the mosses and lichens wise.

Netherbloom was far and path was fire
still, they trudged through thorn and mire.
They reached the brink where wild roots twine,
A voice uncoiled from the Caelith's shine
“You crossed the flame; you bore the haunt
Now speak your vow, what is it you want?"

“We want equality,” they said, “in beauty.”
"Not bowed by rank but crowned in mutiny.”
said Lily with her grief filled voice.
“Let beauty be truth, not any mortal's choice.”
spoke waning Tulip, holding her poise.

Ways Of The World

Shadow black blood floods flow silently wailing in whirlpools
Volcanoes of endless enmity erupt with vengeance.
It's not humanness. Here, the mores of 'might is right' rules
Against routing quagmires, lotus buds fight for transcendence.

We shake hands like friends while minds float on clouds of fraudulence.
Amidst rocking crowds in digital sounds, we feel alone.
Wearing torn costumes of cleaved conscience, we seek vigilance.
Weeds of weariness spring up, wherefrom seeds of smiles are sown.

Like weak rams, we follow the rushing crowds to hit someone.
Who do we want to hit? Why do we want to? No one knows.
We make weapons and enable our young ones fight for fun.
Roots of truth hidden, falsehood from friendship flawlessly flows.

Why is each one who toils not the owner of their wages?
Why don't we end all dead ends that prevent our pilgrimages?

Sunset Swansong

In the misty milepost
of the penultimate pathway,
at the faint fringe
of future obscure,
the twilight tune 
reverberates the requiem
for the forlorn tree,
silhouetted tranquil 
against sundown skyline
of transient radiance,
witnessing in
the cauldron of time
the last flash 
of the decaying day, 
d y i n g…. 

The twirling tapestry 
of tempestuous torment, 
interlaced seamlessly
with the cleaved clouds 
of swarming storm,
ravages the unwary horizon, 
halcyon once,
marks the chameleon shift
of concealed colors
on convoluted canvas, 
lacerates the last corner
of the frail fresco,
c r u m b l i n g….

The deformed shards 
of the splintered sky 
spin in swirling storm, 
roll on the dismal waves 
of curled up bleak cloud, 
the remnant rays 
of sanguinity still sparkle  
in the departing flashes 
of the sinking sun,
drowning the montage
of memory,
compose the latent melody
of the unsung dreams 
with the fossilized life’s 
fading cadence,
sequistered in spectral lyric
of sunset swansong,
r e s o n a t i n g ….

Cleaving

You stripped the jungles of the world
You blew the hunting horn
You chased the beasts out of the field
You pricked the bloody thorn

You drove the leper from the streets
You martyred men of war
You stood on mountains made of steel
Molten, to the core

With words of want you praised your gods
As children took up arms
You cleaved the tumor from the wound 
– The cancer wasn’t gone

You hid the truth within yourself
You never could believe
You were the blight that wrecked the cell
Yourself it was 
You sought to cleave –

Child of God

 our light, cleaved from the bosom of God
now eternal and complete, as is He
albeit in a stage of infancy 
occupies a body
God creates
and thus in truth
ego is but an interface
for us to navigate this earth life
to ingrain in Self, love, wisdom and power

The Last Show

In the footsteps pacing the penultimate mile of mist,
at the edge of fading furlong of future walkway obscure, 
in the twilight hour the sunset swansong resonates
for the forlorn extant being silhouetted still
against the scarlet skyline of immanent transience,
witnessing the final flicker of the dying day. 

The twirling threads of turmoil entwined 
with the cleaved clouds blazing in lightning gale,
crumbling the credulous horizon halcyon once.
The chameleon transformation gets transcribed
on the convoluted canvas burning in the last corner,
from the surreal chromatic flare the ashes fly away.

The shards of the splintered sky in the swirling storm, 
roll on the weary waves of the curled conviction cloud. 
The remnant rays of sanguinity survive still 
in the flamboyant  flashes of the sinking sun,
fabricate the latent lattice of the dormant dreams
in the consumed life’s kaleidoscopic last show.

Latent Lattice

Penultimate misty mile
resonates pined
sunset swan song
of forlorn footprints
transformed to
flattened anonymity. 

In the shadow of 
cleaved cloud
in swarming storm
turmoil threads
weave ordained
webbed horizon
languished obscurity,

Convolute canvas of
chameleon conversion
deception illumines  
the last corner
patina plays
beguiled buoyant
with the remnant rays
of sanguinity.

In the final flash
of the sinking sun
latent lattice 
fabricates in delusion
unframed dreams
of petrified life
in kaleidoscopic snapshot.

Baja Aha!

In the winter of life 
Escape to waters azure
Forget stress and strife 
Baja adventure’s a  lure

Friends from bygone years 
Brothers for sure 
Through pain and tears 
We helped each other endure

At Big Daddy’s Bungalow 
A safe harbor of choice
Reunion bestowed 
Old friends do rejoice

A chance to reflect
On paths we have tread
Of the roads behind us 
And the few up ahead

With more life behind us
Than we have up ahead
It makes us give thought 
And causes slight dread 

What will we finally leave
Of substance and grace
When from life we are cleaved?
When we end the race?

The family we grew,
The friends we have made,
The impacts not few
Not the monies we’ve saved

Be Light

Spirit can only be    where body be
as cleaved together they be
   ‘til body’s breath     does cease
   and breath of soul     release.

Yet, among some
‘tis mused and gossiped: 
Though there be limits
   of rigid body space
so imposed    by Nature’s laws

Perhaps     perhaps     maybe    
and yet perhaps    a soul    may-can-drift
above beyond     the skin    the blood of earth

to fly free    free fly     
   dip and soar    into that space
   that above    where eagles fly
And see    where no edges be...

That all     where all be one     in a space timeless
   that where place    of all    becoming
all held    together
in the one     command of     
Let there be light.

Drift

~ For Mom ~


how …

to lay course
this treacherous journey
life …
when your true north
has been cleaved
from the …

heavens?







* this is a form I created called “Bookend Free Verse - I hope you enjoyed it *

Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, September 1, 2023

• Short Cleaved Poems
• Famous Cleaved Poems
• Best Cleaved Poems
• Read Cleaved Poems
• Long Cleaved Poems
• Cleaved Quotes