Inelegant, the silence wakes and yawns,
pretending not to notice or to care;
while symphonies of chaos greet the dawn
and ashes of our Banner fill the air.
The few, with vacant visage cry the creeds
~march on with signs remastered from the old
in broths of propaganda where it breeds,
the willingly disposed in boredom's fold.
Onlookers pause and gasp in rapt surprise;
unruly hordes deface the hallowed halls,
like "Kristallnacht" they scare what they despise,
too late for recompense when conscience calls
or quell fallacious lectures as they wreak...
dumbfounded when the fruits of silence speak.
Categories:
inelegant, history,
Form: Sonnet
Cold truth be told,
rolled out hard:
marred by inelegant rules,
barred from a silky smooth flow.
Drooling, fanatical ghouls,
foolishly ignoring school,
add to the mess that they had:
bad gone to worse; it’s just sad!
Cold truth be told,
rolled out hard,
but I’m no bard.
—————
A Serena is a poem in 11 lines.
+ syllable count: 4:3:7:7:7:7:7:7:4:3:4
+ head rhyme: AAbbccddAAx
+ tail rhyme: ABcxccddABb
+ refrain: L1 & L2 repeated as L9 and L10
Categories:
inelegant, writing,
Form: Other
snowman three meters high
an inelegant formation
of grizzled snow packed in lumps
needing refinement
stubby tree-branch arms
glutching fastened balloons, blue and yellow
bobbing in the wet licks of wind
snowman towering, gently twisted
desperate grit to thwart a winter's thaw
as blue and yellow balloons bounce near an icy chest
like a slow tempo beat of heart
plundered sense of capture
quirky
resilient balloons
scripted bits of childhood charm
not yet swept aside by tempest
nearby
snatched away by breezes
one red balloon traces the street gutter
like a beggar foraging returnable cans
red balloon smitten with blotches of mud
deflating in the mercenary chill
its gentle sway like a cheeky concept of self
unrestrained
in the vagrancy of night
Poem composed February 7, 2023
Categories:
inelegant, allusion, imagery, wind, winter,
Form: Free verse
The two are slow and inelegant.
But the orchestra retains its complex symphony
angry string section
violins of summer heat.
Frenetically mating in the season of apartness
four or six or more
freedom of so many steps.
Two are constrained
can barely become four.
Not a simple merger of feeling and taking;
driven to connect those bringing more
seek so much less.
Perfunctory; easily satisfied
not yearning for understanding
grasping only for feeling
And still we must have meaning.
We must be seen and understood
not just answering a mindless drive -
lesser need uncoupled with emotion.
Categories:
inelegant, allegory, extended metaphor, insect,
Form: Free verse
Lance-Lot
by Michael R. Burch
Preposterous bird!
Inelegant! Absurd!
Until the great & mighty heron
brandishes his fearsome sword.
Keywords/Tags: Nature, Animal, Bird, Birds, Heron, Herons, Fish, Fishing, River, Ocean, Ardeidae, Egret, Egrets, Bittern, Bitterns, Great Blue Heron, Goliath Heron, Gray Heron, Great Egret, Crane, Stork, Ibis, Spoonbill, Beak, Bill, Sword, Lance, Spear, Inelegant, Gawky, Awkward, Ungainly, Gangly, Preposterous
Categories:
inelegant, animal, bird, fish, fishing,
Form: Couplet
"Who is he, who stares back at me from the mirror?
I am not him, with wrinkles and faded beard that is rough
and inelegant, stained with soup and unmentionable
Things.
Ah, No: I am that handsome man who yet has gravitas,
And is great in the world, admired and respected,
Whispered judgments "He will go far; look how he
strides the stage of life”.
Yet time cares not for public acclamation, nor worldly goods,
He is above such things and shakes his hourglass to hasten
Our end. Slowly, with strong and rhythmic strokes, he hones
His scythe, our time to come.
The young man knows not of this, blind to time and destiny
Intent only on here, now, today, this brief moment, a swift
Kiss, this easy profit. But time is patient, grey beards grow
And suddenly, we are old".
Categories:
inelegant, age, allegory, mirror, youth,
Form: Verse
dancing while band plays
inelegant sits alone
hadn’t woken from dream
sits alone to find
a lie of love pulled apart
awoke from a dream
embrace in a dream
no one sees she sits alone
wake up without her
12/31/2016
Categories:
inelegant, dance, dream, lonely, longing,
Form: Senryu
My Obsession
A murder of crows
Filled the skies
We watched, from the trees
Their song, inelegant and free
Filled our souls
And we died with every cry
My sureness
Of your presence
My obsession, defined
Your lips, soft as feathers
Gently fell, upon mine
Beautifully black
Wet, as the grass
That stained your cloak
That murderous night
Their song, not so sweet
Filled our hearts, deep
In the cowl of the trees
And love, was something
For other things, not, I
So far beyond it's reach
Safe, I lie, your wings, inside
Categories:
inelegant, love,
Form: Prose Poetry
All the eagles soar increasingly circular overhead my umbrella.
All the elephants thrash inconsolably tasting of trees umber.
All the earwigs buzz inexpressively surrounding oracles with uncertainty.
All the evil makes illness triumphant over the unclean.
All these expressions say ignore details obey the unusual.
Animals like everyone have inelegant needs overcome by uptrends
all may embrace but illusions may overturn their usefulness
and we extravagantly take impressionable judgments opting for unawareness.
Categories:
inelegant, africa, animal, butterfly, conflict,
Form: Free verse
on confessional summer streets of city
the heat scums in like a churlish treacle
in back of the five and dime bodies drift by
cotton barely captures their hides of leather
mock they come feasting their eyes the uninspired the unenjoyed
skin like twined roe on inelegant hilltables of humping asphalt
the fullstomached and the barrenous
the stubblegaited and released obese
the adolescent chics swaddled in microshortshorts and sons and
daughters of their own walk on
sidewalks clotted with dirge
dry bubblegum bandages
and weeping condoms caked with sad and
botched hotdog stands and others hold hands
watching over out back of the fiveandime
clouds scuff in like oldtime washerwomen
scrubbing the spanknew parking meters
and all the cops are at the donut shops
notary publics down to the liquorstore
picking up twofours and molls awol from the junior high
and cocksure dudes drabbed in deadlettered sweatpants
cruising spineblown bars for commandment cheaters
in lunging games of catchascatchcan and
here
on Church Street
one young woman smiling arm in arm
with an elder mother set as a seal upon her heart
and all my transepts spires and bells
rejoice
Categories:
inelegant, inspirational,
Form: Free verse
What feral dogs bark at my door?
As I lick my wounds,
In de rigor discord,
Whose music do I play?
Or verses time has left to say,
What chattels at my core,
Deny me life I've lived before?
On my horizon I see tears,
Embark on my face to empty years,
With nowhere else to turn
I turn sideways
Whete I will spurn and then
Burn
Categories:
inelegant, allegory, angst, life, visionary,
Form: Free verse