Long Gnarl Poems

 We Danced  written by Poet John Heck

I penned a couplet for you today.
Rather, a quill manipulated
my hand and scrawled mendacity.
The misanthrope's who read the ode
applauded with flippers on.

Such insight. Such depth.

Mussolini meets Monet...

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Late one night walking in rain-hit New York,
Full moon kept watch as I measured my way,
shops shut, such silence unknown to city,
world in grip of scary virus menace,
my ears were pricked to every eerie sound,
They...

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abominate, abhor, abuse, admonish, adumbrate, afflict, advance,
agitate, agonize, alcohol, announce, approach, awaken, bait, bark,
bawl, bedamn, bedevil, berate, betoken, bluster, bode, bother, break,
brew, browbeat, bully, caution, censure, chide, clutter, comminate,
complain, complicate, confuse, cow, crucify, DAD, damage,...

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I penned a couplet for you today.
Rather, a quill manipulated
my hand and scrawled mendacity.
The misanthrope's who read the ode
applauded with flippers on.

Such insight. Such depth.

Mussolini meets Monet and
the Mephistopheles Mambo mounts.
Call me a scribe and...

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Bathed in delightful unknowingness I keep to myself.
I am not tempted to jump into the sewer of negativity I see unfolding 
The pool that often times seem to saturate and permeate this pack.
I refer to...

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How is it that you know it?
A spark, a flash, a sudden thought,
Is it that you know how?
In the silence, wisdom links ought.
Know you how it is that?
You know it is that how?
That is how...

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Halloween 

Haunting monsters roam on an October Halloween spooky night

As munchkin stroll dress in their costumes that fright  

Large carved pumpkins laugh as inside candles flicker bright
 
Lifeless lackadaisical zombies walk the street on...

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She had many sad stories,
they were filed away, labeled,
color coded;
tales presented as apocryphal bibles.

He would listen as she pulled them out
of her droning breast,
intoned then as if reciting
poetry to an acolyte sponge.

Her stories festered the...

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He walked into my office, business in hand,
In denim baggy overalls, a plaid shirt, white painters cap, 
and grandpa's old white leather orthopedic shoes.
If I ever get to the ripe old age of 88,
I want...

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my hand rests
fingers curved
against the white page. 
the skin is dry, 
divided into cells.
small folds surround my knuckles.
my veins are a grey-green path
criss-crossing my hand.
my hand.
so like the hand that caressed my brow,
or smoothed the...

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You are all cool kids in your youngest ever age,

You make each other day like you’re out of your cage.

When I talk, you always listen.

My pretty good lessons are enjoyably missing.

 

You make arguments like...

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I got tangled up in this relationship
that offers no hope for anything but regrets,
no wedding ring on finger...
it's tucked in my jacket pocket;
woe to me if it ever dropped by accident,
I will lose her trust...

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I see gulls gliding in the air.
I watch them landing down in pair.
All around me is the sea.

I see waves beating on the shore.
I hear them gnarl and roar.

I see Dolphins in the vast expanse.
I...

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Such quaint conviction; a mess of uninformed prejudice.
In place to Hate on High, for British bird-eye views .
Inherently bias? Yes but still English.
The  Self appointed wardens, for inferiority of every
other male female, race.
 ...

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The dawn is damp and grumpy grey 
strong fungal odours fill the air.
The ground is dark with death decay
beneath the beech that's now stripped bare.

Its foliage starved of chlorophyll
so spectral span is lime to bronze.
No...

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Then I walked inside the room 
Pondering myself what I would be
After years of struggle inside the classroom
Something I should be for the rest of my life.
Grabbed my pen and wrote things down
Hard works were...

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My life is very insular, I move from page to page
never straying far from words which prance upon the written stage.

like a sputtering engine my tongue tangles on a phrase
I rub my eyes, red and...

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The Old Redbud Tree

There is a gnarled redbud left standing,
It blossomed pink year after year;
Four fused trunks grew from its base,
Its heart-shaped leaves said “dear.”

A new branch grew from one, making five,
The little tree was...

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     A thought flew by
       I tried to snatch it
     But from the air
       I...

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At the enthralled hour of All Hallow's Eve,
the night in frenzy clangour turns ghostly gray.

Billowing clouds slowly swirl in anger
round the formidable, full mysterious blood-red moon.

The eternal night ebbs with growling sounds,
prowling into thickening hours...

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tall among rich loosen soil
      scent slight quaver throughout spoiled
         sunshine fields, warm smiles it yields

   milk pearls trickle drip...

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