outside lies the snow
each flake its own uniqueness
beginning descending moisture, bifurcation
eructing tendrils, forming, unpredictable
as is the dichotomy of life
the triumph against entropy
limbs lie empty, skeletons
leaves of feathered frost
birds are few
lost in the hemispheres, patterns
and for all the answers
more questions await in chaos
the quest for God's hand
wondering thru the majesty
this white coat of winter
where beneath the monotony
lies the uniqueness of creation
the snowflake and i share something
the ubiquitousness that is God
it is struggle enough
to understand this hand
some things in my life
were meant to be accepted
winter
God
Fergus Fall 96
Categories:
fergus, introspection, winter,
Form: Free verse
i was searching for survivors
in all the right places, finding none
my deepest wishes dissipating
probably for the best i always tell myself
watching it come apart
was half the pleasure
as well as half the pain
never needing a rhyme, nor a clue
and will leave none here
it is best these parts are played
upon non-existent fields
where the scores are left to the wind
turning in the snow, heel to toe
the season is leaving
soon the angels where we laid
will fill the gutters
from there to stream and river
flowing into a vast and nameless sea
in depths where light never graces
the seasons have no meaning
and time gives an illusion
of just another corner
one more step into yet another direction
prime numbers and infinity
seeking some perfection
in depths that only darken memory
the shadows within reality
where chemical reactions replace the light
the warm human touch
and deaden the senses
when the winds whisper a name
and the integers fill the day
no different than the insanity you bring
to a table set for one
Fergus Falls 2000
Categories:
fergus, destiny, goodbye, i miss
Form: Romanticism
trust is a precious gift
once broken
we may never repair
shards that cut to the bone
a heart empties
love is sometimes
at its best a vertiginous climb
of heavens and hells
so enduring yet fragile
a bouquet graced vase
becomes the mistake
lying on the floor
the detritus of a receding faith
why is it sometimes
i can feel his footsteps
walking away from our bed
and i do not really care
you are his paramour
so why not mine
i go to the zoo
watch monkeys copulate
work on acceptance
animals possess an honesty
humanity rarely achieves
such is life at times
deposits you at its doors
with a horizon of jaundiced eyes
where faith struggles with its death
join hands with perfidious Janus
Fergus Falls 96
Categories:
fergus, true love,
Form: Free verse
is this then my fate
watching the scurrying crabs
rearranging sands, counting the waves
the wary eyes of the magnificent frigates above
your eyes were to me
exotic birds of aquamarine
whose free flight
stole my thoughts
my breath
my heart
now i have a horizon
where the world disappears
the universe begins
azure is more than a color
how ironic
how often said
love is blue
herein are only remembrances
of shared happiness
a gentleman never tastes bitterness
in what was not meant to be
i had a professor once, well more than once
who explained that we needed
to reach into the depth of being
to write poetry
that sentiment was to be avoided
as some shunned member of society
a useless masked whore
this poem is my gift to you
not to impress a world i could care less about
but to validate the point
sentiment is the foundation of poetry
innate to the heart's wings in the quill
that fills the dreams within
or walks in mourning upon the beach
Fergus Falls 2000
on Youtube:
Tom Waits - "The One That Got Away"
Categories:
fergus, heartbreak, loss, love,
Form: Romanticism
the conversations are rolled into the corners
stretching into a fifth dimension
perpendicular to all points
this is where i love you
curled back upon itself
unavailable to the eye
the physicist’s graven image
produced at energy levels
no longer on demand
counterfeited
lying useless on the floor
moments escaping
till you do
back into the visible spectrum
where the colored quarks
come to rest upon
a mask i have come to know
all too well
and given up all hope
of ever removing it
we chat in silence
the quietude in our pervading existence
is what we ultimately share
the empty spaces between galaxies
collisions that are temporarily ignored
a cosmos enveloped in its own existence
a life to be never seen
conjectures upon a table filled with mathematics
and nothing more
the weak force begetting pyrite
once radiant and full of promise
now lies a barren moonscape
awaiting expulsion, embers now ashes
fate in the coming winds
Fergus Falls 2000
Categories:
fergus, heart, loss,
Form: Romanticism
you spoke of boundaries
allowed me but secret gates
acknowledged only in the shadows
my ability to separate your reason
from your logic
and that is what you
never cared for in me
words
you gave me many
that idled away
i loved you with blindness
i have but betrayed myself
but my desires desire no more
the curtain has fallen on the soliloquy
time to take the bow and leave
there are no floral arrangements
waiting in the dressing room
only the emptiness that was always there
this has you clinging
to what is already gone
desire is an empty street
where there is no address
the morning light never touched
upon your breasts
and in the end
we were emptiness
the worst of kindred spirits
sometimes when i look away
and i cannot remember her flower
there is a part of heaven in oblivion
where neuropathways slowly die
Fergus Falls 95 The Patient Stones
Categories:
fergus, betrayal, desire, introspection, woman,
Form: Free verse
Down here you will see
The remains of Fergus McKenzie
Who wanted to live fancy free
Mrs. McKenzie didn't agree
A funny epitaph poetry contest
Sponsored by: Jesse Rowe
9/12/18
Categories:
fergus, death, grave,
Form: Epitaph
Like a mess of hooting school kids freed for vacation,
They come honking and scolding
Long before you see them they come honking and scolding
Hidden from sight by leafy trees,
They are loudly scolding, urging, bragging,
“Get flapping”. “My turn to lead.” “Your turn to lead. “Let Fergus lead,”
I imagine.
When at last overhead I can see them and they are honking, without rhythm.
Honking, and forming lines;
A long line at first, a perfect line,
Then a splinter slides astride
And two perfect lines form, a skewered vee.
A flying wing it is now, yawing left, and then yawing right,
Sensing the wind’s direction, its velocity,
Looking for a helping wind. Looking for a lift.
And honking and scolding.
They pass behind more leafy trees and they are gone,
Still honking and scolding,
Still searching for the streaming air.
And going southward.
Categories:
fergus, bird, nature, october,
Form: Blank verse
O circus, circus
the ox and his Fergus.
The whale took a bite of the moon.
The carnivore gasped to see that chomp.
And the pig civilized the baboon.
Categories:
fergus, irony, moon, nonsense, nursery
Form: Light Verse
THE DAY FERGUS THE FROG CROAKED
(A Children's Rhyme by Joan Donnelly Ellis Oct. 2015)
Fergus the Frog was lazy and fat and a worshipper of idleness
He'd lie on his lily pad all day ...refusing to work ....didn't care to play.
Had no interests...no not one.
One afternoon a visit to the swamp Uncle Fred made
Saying Fergus you are useless and better off in a grave
Precisely in that moment a crocodile scooped Fergus up
Both Lily pad and frog slid in croc's mouth headed for lockup
Croc closed his mouth on the pair as Fergus kissed his rump
As croc swallowed his noon day snack of shiftless frog juicy and plump
That's precisely when the reptile begin to jump
He leapt to a branch on a very small tree
Where lizards and snakes slithered to get free
Then crashed head first in the mud down below
He lie there stunned for a moment and rose real slow
He coughed so hard out from his open mouth flew a slimy green lump
It was Fergus the Frog that staggered to the nearest stump
Then crashed on the lathered shore
With a heave and sigh critters watched him die
Now Fergus Frog is no more
Categories:
fergus, children,
Form: Rhyme