Long Gautier Poems

Forever extinct seems the age of classical poetry,
With all its cheers from caves, cottages, marble domes and temples,

When now a country honors not classical bards:
O Hugh MacDiarmid, Petrarch, Ono No Komachi, Thomas Chatterton, Robert Browning,...

Read More

The boy was aged about eighteen,
Pale and pensive, 
Weary and frail in appearance. 
He could have been 
Goethe's Werther, 
Senancour's Obermann 
Or Chateaubriand's melancholy hero, 
Embraced by a generation, 
And about whom Sainte-Beuve said:
"Rene, c'est...

Read More

(after Théophile Gautier)

Carmen is sleek and slender, with a trace 
of gypsy swarthiness around her eyes. 
That sinister black hair engulfs her face. 
There's something hellish in those slick brown thighs. 

When women look at...

Read More

Winter finally moves his lumpen sluggish weight,

Spring is like a shy dryad shivering in his arms

Wind's whippets droop to trifling whine

Sullen rain hisses to a grizzle.

tiny fruit buds swell enough to moisten lips.

First daffodil maidens...

Read More

I decided to try my hand at writing poetry
Not realising that the whole wide world would see
A poetic talent that I never knew I had
Until some kind folk they said that it wasn't bad
So I...

Read More

MEN

Men come in many shapes and sizes;
Masquerade in different guises.
Some are short; some have great height.
Some are fat while some are slight.
Some are bald, some have long hair.
These things are neither here nor there.
Some men...

Read More

He dreamed he could fly on gossamer wings,
and understands now why the sparrow sings.
It all seemed so real he never thought twice,
that a joy like that would come with a price.

He thought to himself I'm...

Read More

THE CAT, THE DOG, THE MOUSE AND THE RABBIT HUTC>/center>

When passing the pet shop window, I saw a wondrous sight.
The pets were having a party, far into the night.
The cat was smoking a home-made spliff...

Read More

You wrote your deepest passionate thoughts, dear Mama,
Odes, or a sonnet, penned without undue drama.
I sang those lyrics many times, calling your name
They were your legacy; never sounded the same
As when you gathered us toddlers...

Read More

EARLY TO RISE (COLLABORATION)

Early to bed and early to rise,
So my mother said,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
So, come on, get out of bed.
Assumed if it rhymed it must be true,
So I rose from...

Read More

Mon Dieu she shrieked, I watched him standing there,
Beneath the Gogh, the suit was Weatherill.
He sipped cognac (Eden de Gautier)
And on his arm some filly from Brazil.
You heard, of course, poor dear, she knew the...

Read More

Follow the flame of quaint yesteryears.
Turn on your mind and look around the room.
Imagine tepees, dirt floor cabins
speaking history of honeysuckle blooms.

See the Lakota do their Ghost Dance
by the quaint fire of the moonlight.
See the...

Read More

Turn Away Dreams

Up late
Full of yawning
That was yesterday's dawning
This is now just on rewind repeat
How I hate the hours without sleep

Late mornings, later moonless shadowed nights
Unreasonable enchanted soured tasteless delights
Unyieldingly nightmares commanding attention
How I loved...

Read More

I will love you for the rest of my life, 
Feel your hair against my cheek, cascading 
Over my shoulder, the brush of your lips 
The warmth of your breath, whispering 
Tender words I needed...

Read More