Long Bayles Poems

Papa's condemnation of prejudice...

and subsequent grim statistic one
(among millions, or more)
tragedy with feted kiss
Yarraka Bayles darling son
hoop fully experiences bliss,
yet more vehement rage
against machinations (think 

with little effort cruel humans)
trumpets, tools, thrives...
wreaking psychological havoc -
case...

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P S its POETRY WRITE ON WRITE ON CONGRATS TO MY FELLOW POETRY SOUPERS PART 14



Martha L. Kiser                 ...

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She said that the stars were listening.
She said that her gift was a curse
but that was four years ago.
She said that she hoped
we would understand.
She added that she was proud
that her daughter had a child
but...

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It's like a flamin' maze out here
where I'm looking for a name,
where hawthorn hedges line the fences,
and the crossroads look the same.

I'm up and down seems every road;
I've criss-crossed east to west,
as well as going...

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This morning weighs more than it should
a preponderance of sorrow and joy
about what I have and what I lost
and the moon to the west hides before the storm.
Astronomers say the universe, too, weighs
more than it...

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The morning breeze 
whispers through window.
and a song plays in my head
again and again and again
while a new poem yet unmeasured stirs.

I ponder the many ways
to say love and affection.

My mind’s eye sees
glistening lakes and...

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It could have been a jester
wrapped in shrink wrap
or a prince who danced
who spoke to me.
To go or stay
I didn’t know.
I didn’t know
as I drove to see a friend—
we’d just worked together
at a store but...

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The dead-end street in front of the house
is still, and I notice leaves have fallen.
The roommate said last night no one
came here for trick or treating
and now a cold wind blows.
I just moved in here...

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On a morning stilled
an oak shadows the yard
as leaves wait to fall
but summer lingers
another day.

I write a love poem
to someone once met
at a blues bar
one summer during
college days,

but crumple it
put it in my pocket.

It was...

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I
The friend in the deli
of the Piggly Wiggly
in Lodi show me her nails
strikes up conversations
when I come back to town
for a second week of work.

I tell her about the work
on utility lines on county roads
where...

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She came to me when I brought in carts
and she was filling online grocery orders.

I gestured to her and handed her a poem
just written the other day, but I just
had to share it with her
line...

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You opened your heart for me
on a Friday evening
after I worked in Green Bay.
My friend who lived near
Milwaukee said you
were the best place
to be in Wisconsin,
the forests
and tourist shops
that lay between
the bay and Lake Michigan.
I...

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The dryer hums,
and my clothes are drying.
It rained earlier, but now
the sun is peering through clouds.
As I awaken, the morning is still.
I sit at a table in the front room
and it creaks.
When sifting through my...

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I look out the window at the tree
in the back yard next door
just behind a small yellow house.
Its crown is still green, but I 
know leaves will fall. 

A dump truck
with a flashing yellow strobe
crawls...

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As the sun bleeds through a haze
a bird off somewhere sings.
For how long, I ask.
How long before it’s gone?
A leaf falls from an oak
as a branch sways.
I’m waking to a quiet conversation
and the chair I’m...

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I turn off U.S. 30
at an exit for Ames
and see Jack Trice
Stadium expanded.
Memories stir
of football games
the jubilation and sorrow
found on the field
more than forty years ago
where campus heroes were made.
Three blocks away from campus
The Towers...

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The night whispered as I stirred
and I lingered under a warm blanket
before walking barefoot 
through a narrow hallway.
I’d been sick in the morning
angry at work-
and I didn’t know why.
Earlier in the night a friend and...

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Sunlight leaks
through the curtain
after I’ve thrown off the covers.
Downstairs the television flickers
as a roommate sleeps
on the couch.
He was talking politics
last night.
I went upstairs
and read a poem.
This morning
I walk into the kitchen
and turn off a dripping...

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birds gather and sing
they’re lined outside my window
as I awaken to the touch of sun 
and a faded dream
I cover my head with a pillow
a soothsayer says a new life
I wish for a miracle
now that...

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Light through the window
eases me out of bed
and as I rise
birds sing.

The refrigerator hums
and I walk into the kitchen
while inside lines linger
my dreams.

I walk barefoot over
the worn carpet
and close my eyes
listening to the morning speak.

I...

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He hits the snooze alarm twice
before getting up. He’s already
been up three times during the night.
Two cats are waiting for him downstairs
but for now they leave him alone.
He wistfully looks out the window
as gray skies...

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Alone, I could see the lights
strung on top of Mercy Hospital
from anywhere
in the northside of Davenport
the reds and blues and greens
and I believed there was magic.
I was a senior in high school
out for a drive...

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in the early light of day
i rise from shadows of dreams

two days ago a cousin i hadn’t seen
called to say my aunt had died

at the age of 101 who
time and time thought about me

and a...

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A soft breeze whispered
as I stood near a spread
of fields
where my heartfelt story was told.

I recalled the beginning.
The middle was unfolding
and I didn’t know the end.

My assignment 
of controlling traffic here
would last two weeks

yet a...

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yellow leaves litter
the street after
a touch of rain
asphalt glistens
I drive alone
I listen to Public Radio
a story told
a man lives alone
betrayed
and my tires sing
as his story is told
about how he lost faith
day by day
I drive through
the...

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