Long Brownstone Poems

COFFEE
       HOUSE 
       BLUES


I am
in the A.M.
Am I ?
I think I am!

It is A.M.
in the coffee house
down on MacDougal
down the stairs
behind closed doors
another...

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Walking Meditation
                    by Odin Roark

“And I thought marriage was hard.”

Taking Meditation for a walk
nags me with...

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It looks like a simple brownstone building,
Not much different then any other but it’s residents,
Are of the haunted kind, not made of flesh and bone.
In every window a wind chime stirs, gently caressed by
A chilling...

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Buttonhole Daisy 
            by Odin Roark

My city bud and I
How we love the long walks
Daisy beneath my chin
Tucked securely in a buttonhole
Me with discovery...

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COOKING WITH JIM                      

actually, with him in spirit, in the kitchen 
of his quaint...

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The old screen door still welcomes me, a familiar song I've heard before..
But oddly now, it's out of tune, a strange new wail of some despair
After this,...who'll pass this way?
Will they use the rug and...

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Where will I be?
When your plane bursts the clouds
On its way back home
To your boys’ embrace and Asia 
Dissolves
Like a forgotten stopover
On another ticket to Destination 
Life.

So where will I be?
When the softness of your...

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Earth's multi-tribal sanctuary,
like any flexible multi-generational home,
like elastically resilient residents
of a nineteenth century
three-family brownstone,
or a centennial extended family farm,
positively grows gratitude
for HereNow integrity
of further co-operative covenanted potential ways
and means to restore Paradise peace intent
for all...

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Germany post World War II,
torn, impoverished.
Ruled by Marshal Law,
imposed by the victorious.
Occupational forces walk
the rubble streets.
Civilians cower
in fear,
in hunger,
uncertainty.

A farm boy, Ohio bred,
cook in the US Army.
Young, handsome,
veteran to his country’s cause.
Viewed the hunger daily,
with...

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When we walk the campus
			to what used to be the center,
			we might miss the venerable place.
			Taller piles of brick and towers
			obscure the central space
			of Western Pennsylvania brownstone.
			Who hasn’t heard the poet moan:
			“Present concerns shroud the...

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They’ve found a body in my back yard. I
imagine what a dead house would look 
like. A stillborn Brownstone with its Jurassic 
sandstone hiccupping fossils and family 
feuds. Terrace houses would ripple rumour
and rife gossip...

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NEW YORK-STYLE HUNGARIAN STEW

In the darkest corner of her living room, 
she waits to eat. A stone’s throw away, 
her ex lives with their kids, his goulash 
wafting reek into her open windows. 

Through the...

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We were in love in an intense way for such a short time
I thought it was forever, which shows you how naïve I am
For listening and believing, and trusting a handsome devil – you.
I knew...

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Infection Sublime
                 by Odin Roark

with his lone return
on this New York street
in middy’s humid heat
he did see shutters closed
behind...

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Concrete and Tarmac

Betwixt concrete grey and tarmac blackness
creeps the wand’ring eye of lazy sunrise
drawing inland sweet hint of windblown fresh
awakening the breaking surf’s curled sighs
blue docks echo a seagulls lonely cries
grounded beneath dark ever shifting...

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Life's passions all absorbed on green grasses 
as the innocent treasures tamed and measured
accordingly we shy away the aftermath of past
stoned bridges enhance the connection point 

while the cold calmness unwind the myths 
for our...

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I have a dream. No, not that kind of dream, a different kind – a girl kind.  And no, not that kind either.  A love kind. Who is my dreamboat? That would be...

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In the heart of Harlem's nocturnal embrace,
where the moon's silver threads interlace.
Streetlamps hum a jazz-filled tune,
underneath the city's ebony dune.

Brownstone whispers, history untold,
in the rhythm of the Harlem night's hold.
A symphony of footsteps on cobblestone,
each...

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by Robert(Bob)Moore © 2016

Do you remember Dolly Blue, 
Carbolic soap and brownstone too
mam at the copper, stick in hand
to stir the clothes, so they’d look grand

squeeze out the water, through the wringer
be careful though, don’t...

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ghazal

Gracing the walkway, decking her brownstone with pleasure;
gorgeous escorts welcome folks to her throne with pleasure.

Strong roots like muscles fix these plants tightly to the fence.
Each stalk seems to bow, flexing its backbone with pleasure.

Familiar...

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Cry not my darling love, dry your tears and eyes,
Still I cradle you in this smog infested sky.

Though our home got up and left, left us here alone,
Alone my dear you ne'er will be, together...

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Remembering days of young- long ago 
Adventurous me, I yearned for playtime 
Playing with my siblings on mounds of snow 
To the peaks of high mountains I would climb 

'Neath fallen oaks rotted stumps, I...

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Stone baked, these brownstone tenements
reflecting Summer’s scorching sun
absorbing humidity’s hubris
laying wilt in heat’s distortion.

Front stoops a refuge for the old
a broken pipe respite for the young
beach day of inner city slum
children of the moment seizing...

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Sometimes when matters are in the gray,
it ain’t always black and white
There are times when emotions are deep blue,
canary yellow thoughts can make us wanna fly, shy away
Then, bright orange glowing memories
bring gentle, evergreen smiles
As...

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Against gray walls, soft light reflects
Her memories, her endless quest
For contentment, not so complex
Her gentle soul always felt blessed

She recalls all the times of hope
Against gray walls, soft light reflects
Faith is with her so she...

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