Long Cistern Poems

April 9th, 2024 would be ninety fifth birthday poem for dearly departed papa

The following words crafted soon after the soul of me daddy set adrift into the empyrean realm joining the rank and file of...

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April 9th, 2023 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Borne aloft into the netherland
the body bearing thee soul   
of Boyce Brandon Harris
birth name given to my late father
buoyed aloft united with spirit
of mine late...

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Twice told toilet tale – a cheeky execrable gross fable

which poetic product best be affixed 
with hashtag STINKY label.

As a young whippersnapper
and one precocious lad to boot,
I discovered common combustible materials
found in the bathroom.

At opportune...

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Coincidence or not, virtually every married couple I know that is comprised of two farm - or small-town - raised persons is thoroughly enjoying as close to an ideal life as can be expected in...

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April 9th, 2021 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Elysian fields embraced dada's soul
which rocketed into aerospace
(courtesy General Electric satellite)
just a tad more'n six months ago,
nevertheless melancholy
still plucks mine heart strings.

Mine psyche still situated awry
placid countenance...

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pitty-pit-pat, pitty-pit-pat ...

dark attic, echoing ... tenderly
rain on tin roof above,
her nana's voice, ages hence -
lives ago, really ... calling …

       "Little Tea Pot, Little Tea Pot -
 ...

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Future time traveler looks back one century ago

The following poem tweaked 
courtesy original author who crafted
literary endeavor some couple years ago.

Now circa August 20th, 2122, 
or 1930 military time,
yours truly attempted 
drafting id est feeble...

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Every summer Mother’s folks would take us to their cabin. ‘Twas neither big nor fancy. Had no furnace. No TV! 
The cistern pump beside the sink was all there was for plumbing. So primitive…and yet...

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My dreams became galling
To my fratricidal brothers
My father's favor appalling
Birthed from different mothers

"The master of dreams is coming."
Down the cistern they tossed me
Their plan to kill me numbing
My dreams engulfed in irony

Reuben discouraged their plan
They...

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KING DAY
(A Retrospective Perspective)

			     David said to Solomon his son, be
			strong and of good courage, and do 
			it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the
			Lord God…will be with thee; he will
...

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                 In the vast expanse of 
forgotten time, the now balances on the strings 
of eternity, cryochron-ology 
of the...

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THE STENCH OF INSOMNIA

   narcoleptic deities in charge of the world
   are tangled and detangled in the threads of time 
   
   they are sardonic and bitter...

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Like cheap market cloth in dirt-stained cheap hands
Love's been abused, narrowly defined, broken
Like a cistern into selfish small strands
Until its only a silly token
Of our greed. But I see God image still
In you, a high...

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Couched in the
     concept of a well,
     (which supplied the water
     for faded glory of "Glen Elm),"
     my boyhood...

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Early/mid afternoon May 22nd, 2020...

Raindrops percolate Perkiomen Valley watershed
pleasant reprieve versus quite warm temperatures
yesterday found yours truly averse attempting re:
ding outside, the secluded alcove visible looking
thru single bedroom window here, once upon time

former Schwenksville Elementary...

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Loving life hid beneath rim of cool ceramic bowl
Tree frog claimed proud place, toilet's homely hole
Enamoured by his simple palace making stance
I bend to peer at his green grip toe stick, entranced

My ordinary admonished by...

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What obstacle can there be between a boy and infinity?
Behind the old brick house, among countless fig and persimmon trees, 
next to the concrete cistern and under a beautiful bright summer sky, 
the boy was...

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That’s it the battle is won, the toilet can fight no more
Three weeks ago the flush would overflow.
And kept leaving a puddle on the floor

I looked in the book, it said I needed a spare...

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So full of empty between the ears;
void breeze reasoning,
zero thoughts a-blowing

Banished to the barren cornfields,
multi-grain years of accumulated wisdom
bear no pleasant, golden-age yield

Black sky intellectual famine
was lost cause shuttered-in, 
by a blight of self-centered locust...

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We spoke the history of Flankers under the roof
Of your old school
And I, O I went interviewing for the proof
I have that little book lost somewhere
But in my heart I read it still
The little brown...

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*What Gods there were
I did not know then,
And was not concerned with them.
But I do know now,
HE can come to us in any form.

Attacked by the dragon, Cancer,
Threatening to take away
My one talent to speak.
I...

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a notarized copy of this testament
is on file with my attorney
in case of my untimely unearthing
by the invisible background
driving another stake through my lactating heart
but back to our comatose semiotic narrative
The Eel king rips off...

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vi. etching, detailing (ala fresco),
vii. plus trimming living room ceiling,
viii. shingling (while fiddling) on the roof,
ix. tiling the kitchen floor,
x. building a cistern for brethren,
xi. wood paneling many rooms,
xii. building custom made toy chest,
xiii. stringing...

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Light is sweet and good for the eyes to see the brightness of the Sun,
For if someone lives a thousand years, may they rejoice in all of them.
But let us remember, for a thousand years...

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Well I just can't decide
 if I wanna live or I'm gonna die
It's hurting like a disease
 and I really need to fly
So I'm searching for a reason
 to give life one more try
But all...

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