Dead Calm
Without friction
there is no motion
Without motion
— creation stops
(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)
Abeyance
My pen is searching
for its guitar case
a place to sleep
when the writing’s done
To rest in the dark
between flowing moments
of what might be coming
— and old verses sung
(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)
Nowhere To Hide
The haunting of our memories
never to escape
No continent wide nor ocean deep
— will shield us from their rape
(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)
Falling Into Silence
For years
I’ve had an old man’s body
Today
an old man’s mind
The past
a memory ever haunting
Tomorrow looming
— in decline
(Listening To Paul Simon: May, 2024)
Shadow Dancing
Making everyday life poetic
doggedness abounds
Separating wheat from chaff
— harder than it sounds
(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)
Again New Orleans
Waking up from a dream
inside another dream
inside another dream
inside another …
(Listening to Wynton Marsalis: May, 2024)
Tender
emerald realm ...
lungs of the earth
to span a continent, wide -
jade labyrinth of wonder and mystery.
Like a serpent, its watery namesake winds and slithers,
the strength of its back, untested,
colors and creatures of limitless kind and contingency,
peoples yet untouched by civilization,
and drowned in an ocean of foliage ...
its bounding abyss barely plumbed,
extraordinary species, as uncounted as counted,
and a tangle so snarled ...
that it hisses only at the grand Atlantic,
its mighty meandering coaxed to current and tide.
Beast of brute and beauty,
begotten of the Andes and the heavens, high -
a world begs your precious breath
and bold, boundless breadth ...
dangerous and delicate,
wondrous and wild,
untamed ...
tender.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Wild Country" Poetry Contest, Julia Ward, Judge & Sponsor.
~ Honorable Mention ~ in the "Strand Pick A, Any Theme, Any Form" Poetry Contest, Brian Strand, Judge & Sponsor.