Land of Tacenda
I bite my tongue
I felt the responses churning in my stomach but
I bite my tongue
The words rose up to my chest, my heart beating in anger
I held my bark
The words reached my tongue, my mouth turning sour to the taste
I looked up in your eyes ready to berate
But instead my tail was between my legs
I had entered the land of tacenda
Better left unsaid than argue with a wall
Better left unsaid than start a war
So the land of tacenda welcomed me with a warm chant and a soft embrace
No more yelling no more screaming just once again put back in my place
Yellow leaves flash the window,
a fringe on the green,
too early for the tourists,
the peaks still serene,
been aching to escape from
telephones and cubicles,
only noise is my own thoughts
so meandering and dull.
Just the wind as it’s blowing
my hair all around,
the wild turkeys scatter
at the engine sound,
people say that I wander,
they all say I’m wasting gas,
sitting there watching football
to make the afternoons pass.
But the air and the silence
brings peace to my mind,
or maybe I just glimpse it
stolen piece of time.
I know the trees don’t feel so,
know that they don’t feel a thing,
just illusions on the thoughts
of a tired and caged thing.
Got no task that needs doing,
no weight on the nerves,
no social obligations,
just time well-deserved,
some say that it is aimless,
so I guess they know the truth,
but so then is their worry,
and I do not need them too.
All the echoes and the empty,
the bucolic scene,
just speaks to the point of it,
it just lets me be.
No reason I justify,
nothing I must account for,
existence for its own sake,
if just a few hours more…
In a time before the Eukaryote cell
Simple cells floated, and all was well
A garden of Eden in blissful flotation
Then innocence lost, onset of predation.
Big Bacteria attacked the small who were closest
Protists engulfed prey with phagocytosis.
Then plants arose, and to eat them, herbivores
Those herbivores got as big as a Brachiosaur.
Dinosaurs became birds by evolution
Hawks and Eagles were nature's solution.
They ate small mammals, natural balance.
No garden of Eden for a squirrel in the talons.
Herbivorous wombats became Marsupial lions.
A wolf marsupial evolved, such weirdness in science:
Looked just like one, evolved in same way
We think that in packs it ran down its prey.
Why can't nature leave its offspring alone?
Why endless fear, a danger zone?
Why must the predator evolve from the prey?
Can't we all get along, before judgement day?
In predation at least, there's no ill will
Some predator is hungry, wants to eat his fill
Intraspecies is where most evil arises
Home Sapiens specifically give us surprises.
Look at the nastiness once out of the garden
Nature should beg us for pardon.
They say energy never dies
but never said it'd stay for the entire ride
hand in hand, losing their minds
Even in the darkness
there's nowhere to hide
thought that when their worlds decided to collide
the pain would finally subside
Did they ever really try?
or did they just shut down inside?
countless excruciating tears they've cried
yet still numb
from losing so many loved ones that died...
time after time after time
consuming lust filled emotions
had them drowning in eachother's souls
but fears fueled the endless lies
that their bruised egos told
slowly making their hearts turn cold
so unaware of the true dimension
they belonged in
a place they created together
as their souls continued
intertwining & binding
defining forever
manifested their own demons
trying to protect themselves
from expected cruel intentions
boy, were they relentless
made nothing but a huge mess of this
love & desire
mixed with fear & anger
created an unextinguishable fire
adding fuel to the flames
whenever he was inside her
one anothers new drug
they couldn't get any higher
Written: August 28, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Brian Strand
Note: Creating a clerihew suite (a connected series) allows to convey a hilarious biographical narrative or analyze a historical event from several perspectives. Because clerihews are so brief, connecting three or four of them creates a lighthearted narrative arc.
********************
The teenage William Shakespeare
found himself steered by sudden fear
When 'Anne Hathaway' said 'We are to be wed'
he packed up his quills & to London he fled
When writing tragedies at 'The Globe'
he wore a truly fancy velvet robe
However it caught fire during 'Henry VIII'
burning the theater right down to the gate
The aging wordsmith William Shakespeare
felt the English language was so austere
So he invented the words eyeball and swagger
just to find a rhyme for a bloody dagger
When it came time to bury William Shakespeare
his lawyer shed a real dubious tear
For he left his wife no money or bread
only his clearly favorite second-best bed
Spared a change—
Spared a week, spared everything that made me weak.
Spared the week that made me weak.
Spared the people who think I am a “geek.”
Spared the light that made me weak,
From a dream that wasn’t supposed to find an end,
Because there was nothing to seek.
Library
Off to bury
Minds, spending time
Reading, soaring to imaginative levels
Harvesting curious ideas, challenging the devil
Experiencing many worlds, action always in a swirl
Around their setting, where the conflict can be upsetting
But when, the story comes to an end, happiness wins over the sin
If not in a hurry, destiny, visit the library, where the imagination will come alive, and cry
A good book is the way, to carry a day, under the sky blue, enjoying fantasies that are cool
Now I will never be dirt free
You've covered me head to toe
It's in my hair and in my mouth
Stuck like gum in the roots of my hair
A sour taste like a lemon or a not-yet-ripe strawberry
No matter how much I bathe
You’ve done the irreversible
The unforgivable
I am treated like a garden bed
Used in the spring and neglected in the winter
You use me to grow new things
like roses and fruits and berries
I hope everything you grow wilts rots away like the maggots that fill your sick mind and sick heart
You are an earth worm, but I am not your filth to consume
No matter how much you change
Now I will never be dirt free
moonlight
cascades
over the falls
landing on the boat
covered, floating
in the ebonic sea breeze
I am in there
so are you
if you so choose
both sleeping
something about
Hawaii
unhurries the heart
waits for
floating leis
lazily drifting
in the ebb and flow
of forever after
Winter cold bitter
Escape icy elements
Ruby red warm fire
Embracing the home sweet home
Illuminating loves light
I'm hurting, I'm wounded –
looking for an escape.
This life’s become unbearable –
there's nowhere I feel safe.
If only there was something –
(that) could take away my pain.
I searched for any remedy –
(that might) make me want to stay.
I drink on any antidote –
I'd stitch me up myself.
I'd literally do anything –
to find something that helps.
But I don't have the tools –
nor do I have some type of potion.
The ways, they come and go –
I'm overwhelmed with my emotions.
So, if I were to find something –
that might make me feel sane;
something to bring me peace –
and calm the noise inside my brain.
I'd probably believe it first –
that it were just a dream.
I don't think that I would believe –
that it were what it seemed.
I'd likely think it were a hoax –
just lies coded with glitter.
Not all that glitters is real gold –
so what makes this thing differ?
Don't get me wrong, I'd try it –
I’d risk it all for new found hope.
If there were just the slightest help –
I do anything to cope.
I’ve found an all new low –
is it just me, or am I dying?
I'm running out of options –
so tell me: what else is worth trying?
I was driving a station wagon, Dad on my right
Mom, young kids, and dog in back seat
Construction ahead, a warning light
In my mind I keep the scene on repeat
I saw the truck in my rearview mirror
It was going fast, I was going slow
I couldn't accelerate as it got nearer
It climbed on our wagon, in Idaho.
It forced the rear of the car into asphalt
The rear doors sealed, but the dog did a vault
Mom lifted the kids over, seared her skin
Moved sideways and a flame shot up where she'd been.
We all made it out, and Mormons took us in
Kids made Mormon friends, and we regrouped
Took an airplane the rest of the way to the coast
Not a story of which I can boast.
Dad's summer teaching had to cover the cost
But we won something, not just lost
We found strength and friendship where we didn't expect
From people whose kindness I'll never forget.
Now every flashing warning light
Takes me back to that July.
A rearview mirror, one long breath,
The line between life and death.
Besides the Mormons, I also thank fate
Death has to come, but death had to wait.
I love poetry
Where else can tragedy
Become so achingly beautiful
Horror made ethereal
Tears like jewels
Fall musically to the floor
Even demons dance to
The rhythm you create
Nightmares shrink
Into phrases on a page
Finding haven in quatrains
Freedom in metaphors
Structure in meters
I escape into this
Fantastical world
Parallel to the harsh
Reality
I can not control
Escape
Do you ever just need an escape?
An escape from reality?
Your past?
Your present?
The thoughts inside your head?
The overthinking of every little thing?
Every mistake?
Every miss spoken word ?
Everything unsaid?
Every regret?
Every small thing you could’ve done better?
No matter how big or small
Each moment replays in your head,
Wondering
what could I have said different?
What could I have done different?
What could I have done better?
But you gotta escape from those thoughts
Find a way to block them out
Do anything but face them.
But it all ends the same
You just keep thinking and thinking,
Until it eats you alive ,
Then you’ll realize
You gotta face it
And eventually,
You will
Dewy trees hold me at night for now
Clapping branches of loud entropy
I am sheltered by its vaned vow
A green truth for me and the poppy
And those poppy’s will grow ever tall
Then be torn by a kids naughty
And as I lay till the cold fall
My hair will wilt and seeds will cry
For they have only the spring to bawl
As for the hair, I’ll make some lie
About dew and poppy seeds
At reality i will never try
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