Long Regimented Poems

Death Does Not Discriminate

The plains are now silent, a brief moment in time, and we steal every second we can,               ...

Read More

We’re in Paris, staying with my Grandmère (Grandmother) for a few days around Mother’s day.
Peter (my bf) is getting to know my Grandmère. They’ve started to relax and enjoy each other. This time, when they...

Read More

The delegation arrives in a procession of handsome, barbaric lineage
rugged in animal accoutrements and subdued in the presence of the future's skin,
the women, fine in wild beauty are bejeweled in beads, white and blues
that accent...

Read More

The face behind the harlequins gaze
hides the scars of yesterdays man.
Born in an Attercliffe slum
in the rags of fathers graft,
with a pencil for a voice
stolen from milk mans note. 
. 
A boy in possession of...

Read More

I was born unto a woman and a man, and a government,
this was the Trinity, these were my employers,
entrance into this magical melee was acknowledged with a certificate of birth,
and with nefarious numbers, debt digits,

from...

Read More

Villanelle: Whose terse lines lie entangled in the colophon
  
 for the author - male or female, prince or pauper, playboy or priest - of the
   THIRUKKURAL*, the reputed "bible" of the...

Read More

Venice, Italy, is a crazy shamozzle of new and old 
Where junk, graffiti, decay, stunning beauty, 
     history and culture poverty and opulence, all reside side by side, bobbing. 
Water dominates...

Read More

Dedicated to the Officers and crew of
USS Columbia (SSN 771)

Goodbye Sun

We are welcomed by men in 
immaculate whites
Through a hatch
we descend a steep ladder
into "The Last Slider"

From a narrow corridor we enter
into the brain and...

Read More

Potential I Presume More Limericks

Big and tremendous come to mind.

Tremendous, stupendous, upend us.
Gargantuan, passion, trashing.
Immensive, aggressive, sensitive.   
Ultimate Utmost, out grossed, horrible host.
Pittance, sentence, repentance.
In effect essential, provocative, potential, quite intentional.
Necessity, complexity, anxiety.
Court Municipal, Peter Principle,...

Read More

Friendship in a Covid world. (C) Arthur Abrahamson January 2021 

My Facebook friends photo stares back at me from the blue tinted screen

A 13 -year-old photograph, the hint of a smile, looking cool looking ...

Read More

Today a white dove flew across a dimming sun.
As it gently descends below the horizon
I gazed down below from my Apartment.
And I see people up and about their businesses.
Only a few months earlier, 
The space...

Read More

A thousand bees never settling down,
buzzed within his head.
Their confused drone, into a ruffled rumble grew, 
lengthening into frenzied drumbeats,
taking the might of roaring waves
or gaining the momentum 
of a plane, prior to take off.

Mind...

Read More

The face behind the harlequins gaze
hides the scars of yesterdays man.
Born in an  Attercliffe slum
in the rags of fathers graft,
with a pencil for a voice
stolen from milk mans note.

A boy  in possession of...

Read More

The Materials of
Criticism

- by  Bob Atkinson

to look upon a word
fixed art
for value of the
whole or parts
begins a journey
demonstrated
to frustrate each of
the five senses

do we? could we? can
we?
here in the "here
and now"
produce our cultural
standing
by lining...

Read More

SHOOTING DOPE WITH PUDDLE WATER
I was walking through puddles of oatmeal
As other folks drove behind a steering wheel
I was stuck in a park putrefied by puke
With no apologies nor lies I wished to rebuke

I was...

Read More

When words quiet my mind and awaken
my spirit, I feel the seasons of life
harmonize. But tedious thoughts and busy 
days return too fast, so I pocket the retrievable
words, the simple notes of poetic music; my...

Read More

I am The Artiste. 

I draws lines by cutting carcasses, among other things.

I am the crazed dancer, down pouring a diaspora of red essence and entrails as I sporadically spin.

I am the antagonist; the anti-hero...

Read More

Small rolling hills, valley plots,
nothing regimented,
graves not scattered, but placed
among natural features.
It’s beautiful here
especially in the Fall.
The Maples are tall and burning bright.

There are new graves among the old.
I thank all of them
for being here...

Read More

A LADY, A LOVER, A LIAR, A LIFE

All her life she had been someone else’s someone
Her daddy, her husband and then her sweetest son
Yet she was a butterfly pinned in a coffin of glass
While only...

Read More

A LADY, A LOVER, A LIAR, A LIFE

All her life she had been someone else’s someone
Her daddy, her husband and then her sweetest son
Yet she was a butterfly pinned in a coffin of glass
While only...

Read More

Power and Form

Power and form—the two intertwined elements of human existence. Our words, sometimes sweet, other times sour, leave a lasting imprint across the tapestry of humanity. We often say “yes” to please others, driven...

Read More

In retrospect you can never
make sense as to why it happens.
A minute late sets a sequence loose
towards some catastrophic event,
or if you miss a step taken to complete
a simple task, you'll begin
to fall apart. So...

Read More

It’s 5am, and the alarm clock screams
As I reluctantly open my eyes 
Starting my day with a regimented routine
Before the sun even begins to rise.

As I dawn my vest and uniform of blue
And pin the...

Read More

When we were young, we'd freely roam
While supervision stayed at home.
We played the seasons' major sports
On vacant lots and playground courts.

No tryouts or permission slips.
No uniforms or coaching tips.
No judges, umpires, referees,
Or grownups whom we...

Read More

The storm was unrelenting,
Possessed of a fury unmatched by anything he had ever seen.
The wind blew the rain towards the ground in regimented and precise layers,
Legions of droplets descending on the earth like some vast...

Read More