Long Meaningfully Poems

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Many of us have a favorite possession from when we were young, and this 
93-year old gentleman is no exception.

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Note: This is the 2nd half of one of my MANY long story works, and the 1st half can be accessed, of course, at "poems by Mark Stellinga" on the soup.
My wife and I were...

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THIS IS THE SECOND 1/2 of my "Tiny Town Events" piece, posted separately, (one half at a time), due to Poetry Soup's poem maximum-length requirement.
To enjoy the entire story, you'll need to first go to...

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This is a tale of one of the orneriest dudes there ever was, and how someone much smaller, but easily more clever than he was, managed to cope with his belligerence.  

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Justin Case - the weirdest guy in the all of Buxton county - did a lot o’ crazy things that most would never try,
And even weirder - just before he’d do the things he did...

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I'm very lucky...writing poetry soothes my soul -


Rhonda was the only child of Ron and Debby Baker. 
Debby was a widow.  It was 1952…
And having been away from ‘41 to ‘43 -
fighting on the...

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We sat in our respective chairs, a group of friendly neighbors, chatting back and forth while people milled about the goods.
This was not the first time that we’d had a monster garage sale, so we...

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FYI:  I'll be posting a bunch of my AUDIO files over the next few months, most from my 4 new AUDIO-CDs, along with many more text files from my several books of verse. (Only...

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How terribly awkward it so often is when ones relations are faced with seeing to the daily survival of those they most care about - young OR old - 



Sooner or later the day will...

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This piece has a fairly tricky rhyme scheme =  a-a-B /c-c-B


If All of the Weird Ones Were Cropped


I was sittin’ alone in a booth in a deli in Cody, Wyoming one day, 
When a...

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Please don't share this
pledge to inter-religious allegiance
with your straight white monotheistic worshiping
friends and family,

But, just between us panentheistic ecofeminists,
sometimes,
not often enough,
we would be healthier and wealthier
to reflect together upon

Internal polytheistic integrity communications,
bilaterally organic both/and dipolar
internal/external...

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Having been tortured by “pretty please” looks - which she knows I can never refuse -
Me and my Labrador left for the park, for a walk that I knew we could use.

Our park isn’t big,...

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What a gratifying experience this was...


While sitting at a readers’ desk in Bobby Booker’s Bookstore, waiting for the latest composition I’d composed
To reach the eyes of - Bob himself...the so-called - “God of Verse”...the man...

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Driving down a country road one sultry summer evening, with headlights sweeping through the little clouds of dust ahead, 
Caused by cars that led the way…or met me in the night…I scanned the ditches, left...

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I heard, a couple days ago, the Austin Armadillos 
spent thirty million dollars for some slugger named Peru
Whose last year’s on-base-average, from the year before, had doubled 
from a pretty wimpy POINT-O-ONE - to a...

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I sat and scanned the massive world that I alone would reign. 
To me, a kingdom, large and long, yes…this was my domain.

Where I was King and Lord of all the land that I would...

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Nelson Cedrick Thunderwood, a colonel in the army, has served his country faithfully for thirty-seven years. 
I doubt if there could be a medal Nelson hasn’t won, and he’s earned the admiration and respect of...

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Twilight was softenin’ the warm summer sky
As the sun fled the fields with ‘er gold,
An’ the fellers were gatherin’ for bourbon an’ rye 
Where the tales of McHenry were told.

Whenever the moon was as full...

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There once was a boy named Prince Polyculture,
which he knew he was not,
and maybe even not-not,
which would be not a prince,
not.

This was confusing and caused Prince Polyculture to suffer bouts of stress and anxiety and...

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Early last October, on a cool and breezeless morning, one o’ my grandsons, Grant, and I had a half a dozen lines 
Bobbin’ near the cattails, in a small secluded bay…catchin’ perch and crappie…when the...

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My esteemed Rinpoche
repeatedly impresses upon me
Our humane democratic vocation
to become an enlightened individual.

Which sounds like a polyculturing lot,
for absorbent 
co-acclimating residents and guests
of Earth's cooperative green/blue hermitage
To accomplish 
in solitude,
in one semi-lifetime,
demi-deathtime.

While this seems ambiguously...

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“His fastball, so they tell me, has been clocked at 105!
His ERA is 1 point 4!   The guy can really pitch!
I heard he’s making more than any athlete alive,
doing what…when baseball started…didn’t make...

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Acknowledging the essence of near-death experience realistically
through reading about its characteristics mindfully
as regards presented historical reports numerously
and research of its circumstances done clinically---
I’m made aware of its truth that’s perceived individually.

Thus, my heart prays for...

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Baby,

You have become a fixture in my mind...
treading lightly... meaningfully...  with purpose.
with each traverse, the words and wisdom you impart
leave an indelible print..for one so..might i say youthful.


I've often wondered why my intrigue hasnt
diminished......

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