Long Baulk Poems

The Lay of The Best Man - Part 4

I ask you this: Have you ever known a man to ‘buckle under stress’?
Or have you never seen a man have a ‘moment of madness’?
Have you not...

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(The Spanish conquerors of the
Americas read out their legal
document, the "Requerimiento",
to the Indians.  Failure to comply
meant the Spanish were free to
do what they wanted.)

Conquistadors in Vera Cruz 
found themselves a radical ruse. 
If pillaging...

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I awaken after said storm thrown weakened am I
In awe in wonderment as to where I espy

Fervent to silent as I witness this breathing space
As I slowly rise my tall in this seeing succulent heaven...

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Married life was easy and I dearly loved my wife
We thought about the next step we would take
She brought up having children, and adding to our life
We never thought could be a huge mistake :)

The...

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My wife and I discussed each other,
as if we’re mirrors talking back,
and home truths kind of struck a chord
about some body parts gone slack.
I never thought about my double chin,
and what my stomach had become...

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From far away past where silent orbs
Danced to rhythms of unknown forces forging
Newer niches in cloud then soil then rock,
Smouldering, sizzling silently as time tic toc
Ebbed away, watching life on some lifeless rock surging,
To this...

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On wooded land and open water, the gale struck hard
Plucking fallen twigs and flowers and leaves and the unwary bird
Caught unawares, a family of cranes about five or six in number
Took hastily to flight from...

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The graveyard is brighter than usual this night
With snow tinted blue in the full moon’s light
He climbs from his grave for his Halloween walk
But cloven hoof-prints in the snow make him baulk

For right here and...

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Thick gravy mud incessantly pulling at my boots,
Sucking and squelching it’s distaste at its failure with each step I evade its clutches,
Brown hail flying in all directions ripping into flesh and taking eyes,
Ears reverberating with...

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Money was getting extremely tight
And jobs in town were few
McGee was out of work for a while
But his faith in God was true

McGee was often seen  
On his front porch praying loud 
By his...

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Villanelle:  Everything takes time: take not time by the forelock

Everything takes time: take not time by the forelock
Whether in deference to the past’s foiled efforts
The tingling ergot fires our desires do unlock

Rye clavicus purpurea...

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There are sparrows in the hedgerows 
All aflutter and sounding distraught,
Twittering and constantly muttering
Over things that Man has wrought,
His philosophy over the years show
In our own cunning we’ve been caught.

‘Accelerate the growth of food,
The wheat...

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This morning I closed my eyes
They never stayed closed for long
For I was taken to a different place
It was not where I belonged

Quadrants amidst different worlds
Really opened up my eyes
And allowed me to look down...

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For you, I will see,
For you, I would guarantee,
For you, I could be an emcee,
For you, I will pass oversea,
For all of you, I could be esprited...

For you, I will walk,
For you, I won't baulk,
For...

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Into the midst of the hen flock 
Brock my brown leghorn flying cock
Mediterranean breading stock
Flew off the roost to dock

When  barnbyard dust settled you see
Hens begin cackling with glee
As soon as was able to...

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One, two, three, 
I’m walking more than before,
Now I’m headed out the door.
Walking steps every day,
If I don’t, I might decay.

Five, six, seven, 
When was the last time that I ate?
After this walk I’ll fix...

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Fastidious gildings must dot your mien:
Sizzling lips that ooze unbridled charm,
And a neck sleekest with angelic luster
To daze the eye and sun a smitten arm. 

Still deeper graces beyond corporeal eye
Shall your gold’s stoutest bulwarks...

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Badly needed Man to grab knowledge 
He would forever count a privilege 
But for the quest chose A Trusted Back Door,
For Adam might baulk or The Idea floor…

So, Smart Satan as Serpent just excelled 
And...

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Villanelle : Teach not a dog how not to bark
   (This dog the mawkish villanelle baulks)

Teach not a dog how not to bark
   Dogs bark for a lark in the dark
When...

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~In kind two young boys watched
They spy on the corner;
As baulk and walked;
then escorted a wheelchair elder;

Across a busy traffic intersection;
With a smile store clerk to my surprise gave me aisle directions;
Such a sport full...

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I adored your shape as a bottle of red wine,
But, close to spirit, you are the larger words and straight lines,
Thus crashing between logic and sense,
Whereas you, have been sold your soul to dark side....

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The melon yellow sun, burns through 
the winter forest,
backlighting it in shades of gray and mauve,
causing retinal flashes;
impeding the forward progress of traffic.
Car headlights, string out across the vista 
of days end, like reminders of...

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Please be quiet! Our class teacher said 
Pupils giggled, my face flushed bright red
I was so broken hearted
I’d just let rip and farted
That I ran out the classroom and fled

The teacher followed me down the...

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Body cavity is as fine as [s]he can be.
[S]he walks with jealousy because [s]he is not me.
I wonder why I aggravate effusively.
Is it [my] swagger?
Is it how I enthrall with [my] poetry?

A supermodel has this...

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Gilded silence, gold,
The last leaves' silent fall
Pain silent Late autumn’s
Slow crepuscule

She turns her hands in her apron
Blue patterns, blue
Her smile will never die
The swans swing south sighing

Evening comes soon, sooner,
She insists, at the stove, heat,...

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