Long Curtsies Poems

(This time I've quoted my own poem titles. Everything in quotes is a title.)


"Dear reader," again, this monolog persists.
We're no longer "sparring" with figurative fists.

"The blood of an Englishman" is my last token,
"cursive curtsies" for...

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Death bids me welcome
Into his tended garden
Where quiet plots of bramble clots
House names now long forgotten.

Engravings faded, darkened serifs 
Tower over brighter plaques 
Sooted over gentleman 
Look down on neater blacks.

Beneath Death’s open garden
There nods...

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** Degas Dancers **

Painted or drawn, 
Degas arrested time.
Truly
His dancers
— even those standing,
      watching the others —
Are caught in motion,
In poised postures such
That we think we can feel them
Breathing, alerting
Their...

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Venus
Casts a tiny shadow
Upon the ghostly snow
From its candle held by an extended hand
Of a cloaked man
Who trips through the stripped trees

Follows the fresh trail of reindeer
To our second-floor windowsills
Then on to rooftops lined with...

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The sun is setting
Slips into obscurity
Now it is twilight

Day’s last glow fades
Deep blue saturates the earth
Turning darker shades

Darkness approaches
Stars pop out by the minute
Twinkle, little star

Starkness now darkness
The landscape curtsies to murk
And thus takes its...

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"By the squeaky old gate that tomorrow will find"
A scarecrow debates with the rust of his mind,
He’s stitched from the thoughts that the dreamers outgrew,
Wearing boots full of echoes and logic askew,
While time ties its...

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There was An Old Women in This Shoe...
She had so many Children that it felt just like A Zoo.
She taught Them love,read poetry,and books...
They choose anger,hatred, and would not even look.
She taught Them reading,arithmetic,and writing...
They...

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...for Ralph McTell


Gorgeous in her gown of purple silk 
     she is exquisite. 
Her partner in his patent leather
(potent lover) shoes is the perfect fit.

They enter competitions where 
they always take...

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...for Ralph McTell


Gorgeous in her gown of purple silk 
     she is exquisite. 
Her partner in his patent leather
(potent lover) shoes is the perfect fit.

They enter competitions where 
they always take...

Read More

...for Ralph McTell


Gorgeous in her gown of purple silk 
     she is exquisite. 
Her partner in his patent leather
(potent lover) shoes is the perfect fit.

They enter competitions where 
they always take...

Read More

...for Ralph McTell


Gorgeous in her gown of purple silk 
     she is exquisite. 
Her partner in his patent leather
(potent lover) shoes is the perfect fit.

They enter competitions where 
they always take...

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The ballerina with her coquetry
and prince with yawning tights his legs stump me.

Her twirl a-spin with graceful poise so long.
The twaddle of his movements poor ping-pong.

Unhandsome chin and rabbit ears so dull
But Alice charms before...

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.

   So bashful my soon to be wife

   She places her fingers into my
 hand as I help her down from the
         ...

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This genteel lady contemplates,
   A pensive glance across each page.
   Her book by choice; deliberates.
   This novel from a bygone age,
   A sad romantic love affair.
 ...

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~The Knot Garden~

Weave up and down, now in an out.
Where does it start?
Where does it stop -
The dance, this lively garden gavotte?

A circle of Thyme, like ladies fair,
Joined with royal ribbons of Sage
Woven throughout with...

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A parrot, a toucan,
a horse’s head,
and a girl in red shoes
follow a manikin
walking like an Egyptian
into the room
where I used to dream.
None of them speak.
They just rearrange
the brushes on the table
and wait for me to...

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Along bosoms of maiden moon
Embroidered wings adorn the pond;
As fairies sidestep from beyond!

Where curtsies in the forest bloom,
My breath abates until they gleam
Into the gentle trellis scene.

Soft flicker chases tinted June
When pixies wink for one...

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Elegantly it is ushered to the ground
Escorted by the warm currents surrounding it
It bows and it curtsies and it never takes "no" for an answer
Wanting to dance until the music of the moment surrenders

It is...

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When I see you, I will be in mood of happiness
When I am alone, I will feel that there is no one 
to entertain us.

You are the one who helped me in all my difficulties,
I...

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I have a live doll. 
She curtsies and twirls, dances.
Farts and says excuse me through a giggle,
Poops and pees,
Is anatomically correct. 

Little blonde doll, 
I comb her hair but it is always wild,
Sometimes I’d like...

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Cursive curtsies
greet your yearning
heart, unfurling
again after
winter's burden,
like a garden's
first crocus, a jolt
to the senses.
Lilac leaps from
monochromatic
monotony,
pickwick stripes rising
from dormant burrows,
no longer afraid
of uncertain skies.
Invited pigment
revives, 
ignited with
a tiger's pulse,
like your page
decorated in 
heartbeat artistry.
My lungs...

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Faded Farewell


The lust has faded from the Red Maple.
She now stands, wallflower-like,
amid the climactic color
of New England’s reddened cheeks.
Stepping back, she curtsies,
acknowledging beauty’s cycles.
Fulfilled by summer’s lust
she rests, sated in the dwindling
warmth of her spent...

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