Long Degas Poems

To the proud parents, Anna and Theo
A serious lad, silent and thorough
A clan of preachers
And dealers of art
From the southern Netherlands came Van Gogh

When sent to school, he did not want to go
The separation led...

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You know me as a poet, and writer of poems sad,
I take poetic license, violating rules and conventions;
telling a story using figurative language, I share,
     my life's journey and sorrows in...

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*** OF AND ABOUT IT ALL ***

Life’s  so much a-coming or a-going,
With hours of waiting or flowing
From now to next
While we step about, hopefully blessed —
On a quest for things major or minor to...

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Love So Stated 


Mother said uncounted times,
“Sally, I know you better than you know yourself,”
But, if that were true she wouldn’t have said so,
For it hurt — much — and I cannot believe she 
Meant...

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You know me as a poet, and writer of poems sad,
I take poetic license, violating rules and conventions;
telling a story using figurative language, I share,
     my life's journey and sorrows in...

Read More

As the ravens fed Prophet Elijah by the brook
you brought gentle words to nourish our souls.

Like the paintings of Monet, Van Gogh and Degas
Your creative artistry of poetry touched our beings.

As the great works of...

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My Pet Poem, THE BETTAS

Like everyone else, I felt sorry
For the bright fish in the tiny cups,
Too many for too few homes, impossible
To think they’d not die there —
Sad,’cause it only follows:
Birds meant to fly,...

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There is a corruption we all should abhor,
It starts on the left, and corrupts to the core,
Cancer of the soul, if left to go on,
It takes bit by bit, ’till the whole soul is gone.

Makes...

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I walk along the margins, of the shoreline of the sea,
              gathering abandoned shells, in search of a sea star;
  ...

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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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Poppy judges me up and down 
and takes the smile I force upon her.
She shines back, with teeth decayed and brown,
from under her aluminum bed-sheets.

“We are better together”, she murmurs in my ear, 
And I...

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My wide wide window, a source of joy
Revealing trees in summer green dresses,
Leaves fluttering like Degas dancers,
And rippling heat waves rising from grassy ground.
A dove dares to land on a hot metal feeder,
And pecks his...

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Night Rider  

I was riding around a pan- handle flat landscape
and as far as I could see it had millions of coffins, some expensive
others looked home-made.

The sun was forever going down but threw rays...

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*** Bucket List ***

   I want to discover the regions that rise
Up from between blades of grass and climb
To alien atmospheres; I want to examine for traces
  Of fingerprints left on guitar...

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The gathering place 
A room with square toed silk shoes moving in time and grace 
Soft shadowed faces, skirts in lace
Ribbons in their hair perfectly in place
 
A pallet of colors captured in France 
Were...

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Amor no me degas que ya  no me quieres  
Yo estaba pensando, sobre nosotros
Todo el noche,
Solita, aquí estoy en la cama
la luna que encanta áreas oscuras de mi cada
soñando con mis ojos abertos
Rasgones,...

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The Ballerina and the paedophile 

The Ballerina, at the left in my Degas print it hangs
in the hall and I have neglected to look at it for some time,
has moved to the centre stage where...

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If a dog is stopped from pooping, is he DEterred?
Has your hair all of a sudden DEparted?
Donald Duck's pay cheque was once DEducted
To get a seat at a concert, do you ever use DEceit?
Have you...

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If a dog is stopped from pooping, is he DEtured?
Has your hair all of a sudden been DEparted?
Donald Duck's pay cheque was once DEducted
To get a seat at a concert, do you ever use DEceit?
Have...

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Musee d’Orsay grasps the hands of time.
The clock crowns; its gears move around.
Gallery-goers lookout and grin 
from Paris-Orleans to Montmartre;
the clock crowns; its gears move around.
Each eye’s drawn from inside scenes 
to the site of...

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I watched her as she danced
her entire body
ached with artistic beliefs 
and organised thoughts
fractals of light
shone
through the bottom seam of the tutu
as she looked down at her pointe-shoed 
feet
she adjusted the edge of her tutu,
the...

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Mysterious blue dancer
Not dancing for fame 
But just to claim a name
Dancing through the dark shadows 
That lie upon the earth 
Prepared for the dance ahead 
Not knowing which way they may fall
Gliding across the...

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