Long Hardwood Poems

I have a little story to tell you ... it's absolutely true, of course, at least as far as I'm concerned, but you can take it as you wish - as a tale, a fact,...

Read More

“I’m reluctant to share my secret, but being we are the closest of friends, I will share my secret with you. But before I do I’m going to ask you to pinkie swear that you...

Read More

I. a dark awakening

Shuddering awake feeling the freezing cold fingers still around my throat, struggling to catch my breath struggling to focus.

Finding my air. Shaking myself awake, shaking fragments of dreams from my mind, imagery...

Read More

The following is a collection of selected critiques of the work of Zoltan Goliath and Otis Trench from a variety of media outlets. The views expressed therein 
are entirely unsolicited, uncompensated and unexpurgated, 
representing the...

Read More

Day one; I leave the coast following the great black river.  Its meandering slow water sneaking slowly and silently past the ancient pines and hardwood trees gathered near its banks like a band of...

Read More

‘tap, tap, tap’

your petite knuckles
gently attacking my door -
I envision their French-painted nails
dancing in the shine of
the hallway light
like a row of bishops bowing to the Pope
(your sensual sacrilege)
I don’t make a sound
though my eye...

Read More

Bruce

A lumbering man, 
audibly achily, stepped to the
floor’s center.
Had there been a spotlight, he’d’a shone.

His arms unfurled.
His hips spun.
His soles, silent
as he padded here,
then twisted to place a foot there.

A phoenix swooped, festooned in fire’s...

Read More

The wind blows in my hair
Pushes it to my face
Can't think about that now
I have important things to do
Get inside
No

I have to sit outside
I have to think
Inside is choices
Inside is freedom lost
Out here I have...

Read More

Sturdy oak creaks as my weight shifts, hands tangling in my hair.  

My chair scrapes hardwood as I begin to pace. 

Processing... Processing...

The flickering lamp casts strange shadows on the walls. 

I sit back...

Read More

Written: November 27, 2024, For Contest Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
                         ____________________________
Whimsical...

Read More

"come on, get your coat off, its bloody ten too"
not even eleven and there forming a que
"just a barmaid" thats what they say
service with a smile, expected all day
we are more than just pint pourers...

Read More

It’s another day, yes, another day
Another day to watch my cronies wandering around
meandering around aimlessly, flippantly like
they have no care…no care in the world
and just like that…bludgeoned by a badly worn cowboy boot!
Guts all over!

One...

Read More

Its been a show of force since my ancestors first swam over the umbilical.
A strain of Loathing rings in our ears, A dog-whistle held by my personal demon, it's engraved with my name.
I smile when...

Read More

With feet rooted into the bones of the Earth,
the old man squatted on his heels and began his work.
He lifted his saw and placed it on top of a block of hardwood.
And then he began...

Read More

I am standing outside my bedroom, on the precipice of lost innocence.
Wide eyed, and barefoot on cold hardwood.
Someone is hammering on our front door.
My father, looking a bit annoyed, shuffles anxiously down the stairs.
Tussled hair,...

Read More

She struggles to provide the essentials
Everyday
Every waking moment is like a cast iron weight around her neck
But this was her flower
And if her only option had been wringing a damp rag
This little flower would surely...

Read More

How to Feel When Your House Burns Down
The home you are raised in is a mother tongue. 
I was four when it was built, an age when innocence
turns river water and all that lives within...

Read More

With the palms of well-worn leathery hands that in younger days guided a Tall Ship round 
the globe many times with the help of stars that still twinkled in his eyes, the old man made...

Read More

The time had come, we were agreed
To discontinue paying rents.
We'd make our plans and then proceed
To buy or build a residence.

i said an older house I'd choose.
A little house and lot would do.
The first of...

Read More

    Besides noticing a few people who quickly turned away into the stores, (like a cockroach when the light switch is activated.) Penney also noticed that she had forgotten her bra. Well,...

Read More

Somewhere on the hardwood 
Play grounders said you were good 
Talent agent brought you indoors 
They were really fir sure 
In between the flashing lights 
Gleaming and bright 
Loud noises 
Drowning out sociable voices 
You...

Read More

the worker bees buzz &
the management, the authority figures,
crunch down the boots 
on the backs of us all
tossing crumbs & wanting
better production, faster pace,
silence (no talking, only work) &
for us all to be company whores
dedicated...

Read More

A Tale of The Last Dance

                             ...

Read More

My voice
Alive with tone
Yet sharply censored
By a mind's take on years
Of historical notes

Tongue no longer sweetened 
By optomism
Or spiced with
Mischievous humor
Suddenly all I taste is
So dry
So predictably dull

Night steps forward quickly
Like a woman whose
High heels...

Read More

(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...

Read More