Long North wind Poems

Absolute deafening silence...

during and after a moderate snowfall
today January 19th, 2024,
within Southeastern Pennsylvania
and elsewhere across the Eastern Seaboard,
whereby blanket of whiteness
muffles sounds of civilization.

I hate a spoiler alert
regarding weather forecasters prediction,
especially when meteorologist
wannabe spouse doth...

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So I wrote again. This took longer than it should have. Only fair to warn you, this is a long one.

SHANGRI-LA

Prologue

The village gates stood, like old men stand

Worn with age and bent by time

Rust had...

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Enough Angelina, drop the bouquet of harebells.  
The flowers wilt as your graying hands stiffen. See, how grave
is our newborn son. We gift him a black crêpe layette.
Say Darling Edward, say, Golubushka, make me...

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These are modern English translations of ancient Egyptian Harper's songs. 

Harper's Song: Tomb of Djehutiemheb
translation by Michael R. Burch

The sky is opened for you,
the earth opened for you, 
for you the good path leads into...

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A French Narrative Poem: A wren comes to rest on a reed after the storm – Dialogue between the bird and the shrub. Translation of Rene Etiemble’s poem: Narration Française

(The very first poem composed by...

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Dinner was over an hour ago
Counters wiped clean, dishes are washed and dried
I hold my glass up to the light like a color slide,
and see the world, warped, and blurred through the half glass of...

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You look sideways at me
I look straight on at you
You glance towards me
I stare at you
memorize the stiches of your coat
they are uneven
 it must have been handmade
You look up at the sky
I look at...

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It is very impressive to go westward
in an early morning of midwinter,
because you will see a full moon 
that you have forgotten for a while
in the middle of the western sky.

[The westward moon is, perhaps,...

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Dinner was over an hour ago
Counters wiped clean, dishes are washed and dried
I hold my glass up to the light like a color slide,
   and see the world, warped, and blurred through the...

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The Spring Queen....... 
Delicate blooms 
Fresh and new 
Emerging colour too 

Her dress..... 
The colour of new green, 
finished off in blue 
Edged in snow drops 
They follow her too 

A walk through the trees...

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Smooth wood 
Worn by water and air
Never polished 
Escaped by the hands that touched it
Ropes and tackle attached streaming up towards the sails
All foreign to a land lover.
When tied at bay she seems so tame...

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The Ghost Train

North Wind, it was a howling, the sky was black as guilt
Malevolent the sheen, where upon her  moonbeams spilt
Through the murky distance, her belly glowing bright
Roaring down the line, she was roaring...

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October 1, 2021

My Vagabond Heart, wherever you are in place and time... 

This morning, upon waking, I heard the sounds of Autumn calling.
A North wind rattled my window panes, russet leaves were falling. 
As they...

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LATE NOVEMBER


                                 ...

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I warned you about Mother telling her stories.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

I warned you about the magic
of golem and djinn,
about lilac walks 
and mysterious circuses.
Stranded mice,
abandoned mice,
runaway mice,
unexceptional princesses,
all fodder for the worst sort...

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Whereas last night the full moon made the night resemble a cold day
Today clouds give the night its old shrouded, crowding demeanor.
Ghosts stalk the forest gleaming (at me) from just beyond the circle of
 ...

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Cold North wind, in the dark of night
Blowing through me, leaving its chill in my bones.
Walk with me for a while, open up your heart.
Stroll with me down these night shaded streets,
These empty sidewalks; rasping...

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This morning the sun burst over the hill warming the trees with its morning glow and scorching the grass before I could mount the horse.

 It is the warmth in the East that sets your...

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Here they are standing aloof on the backside of town
Here they are sitting on the bare, stricken ground
with strange smells filtering all around.

Smells that fill the atmosphere with an awful stench.
disgusting smells, horrible smells coalesce...

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The old house stands still.
Rot has set in.
A flying termite caught in the webs of a dead spider, sway to the shrill of a ceiling fan.
All things sway.
Dreams rise and suffocate in the mouldering mortars 
Falling...

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THEY USED TO SPOON NOW SHE IS SPOON FED
He holds a sixty-nine year old spoon to her mouth
sixty-nine years wed
sixty-nine years in the same bed
he holds the spoon in front of her gray framed head
after...

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Spring rises and is reborn
   with a warm, glowing morning sun.
May apples, marsh daisies, wild purple, yellow and white violets
   peek from the earth with round glossy greens and flowers.
Wild scallions,...

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Cap'n & the Wench *part the second*

Says the Wench to the Cap'n "I thinks I'll have Me a Tequila!" 
So says the Cap'n to the Wench "Go right ahead Me Dear~
I'll be hard a'lee ta...

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THEY USED SPOONED NOW SHE IS SPOON FED
He holds a seventy-two year old spoon to her mouth
seventy-two years wed
seventy-two years in the same bed
he holds the spoon in front of her gray framed head
after all,...

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I dreamt the dream again
It repeats
Always the same
Built on borrowed uncertainty
An uncompromising battle within me
It shakes the very core of me
Lingers for days within
Then Draws out through my mouth
Opening doors to feelings
I'd rather stayed hidden

I'll...

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