Long Sinewy Poems

The Dance of Salome
Herod bellowed out the night's festive orders..
"Bring the torches, bring the tables..
more wine, that we may rejoice,  
for tonight we revel in kindred friendship."
Herod strolled onto the terrace, nearly stumbled in...

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Our lusty voice was in the tramp of narrow, winding,
     Scree-littered, deep-rutted roads;     
 Ravens, uttering guttural croaks, slow-wheeling above      
 ...

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There was once a widow who had nothing but her beloved twin babies, Rosemary, and Ethan. The Widow loved her twins more than the Earth loved the Sun, and vowed to give them anything they...

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T Salamander enjoyed local fame
down by the creek, there with her daughter.
Prided herself on her inky black frame,
bathing each day in the cool, brackish water.
She set amphibious cold-blooded hearts
on fire, exploding, through black magic arts.
All...

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As armies continue to march their sanguinary war
lifeless lay those as sinewy gore,
pinnacled soldiers atop a land possessed
making themselves feel they've been blest
	
Bittersweet is the toil of progress
especially for those unacceptable to less
the muses in...

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To be a polylepis tree you gotta know 
You're a polylepis tree & this knowing 
Cements by being a polylepis tree,
Knowing between diagrammatic cracks
Fork'd already info knowing during descent.
Mud run through alpine meadow. Rubberized 
Crunch...

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Did You Learn Anything?

Go ahead.
Put your shoes on.
Walk outside and face the nervous day.
Know that your lungs will not resist you.
Know that your heart will still stir.
Put the key in the ignition.
Now turn the crank.

You...

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I am writing this poem to my husband ...

I met you at the art gallery
and will never forget that day
my eyes grazed over you
and I was left breathless
so handsome, though
I thought you needed a...

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There was a dense fog upon the land
not a fit night for animal nor man...
the moon did change its silvery view 
replacing it now was a blood red hue....

There just beyond thicket of the marsh...

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A Comrade like Ben

A statesman like Mandela diplomatically
suspended the necessary struggle of opposites,
gummed his fragmented land together with reconciliation….
exploiters to exploited , murderers to martyrs
imperialist to invisibled indigenes  
lives in Sandton and councils Bill...

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Written: October 1st 2023
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

In the ocean of silence, I’m stunned 
Astonish by its grandeur as I descend.
A comely curtain of conciliatory calm
Elapse the chaos, surreptitious and warm.

In the hushed embrace of the twilight sky,
A...

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for me ...

I stretch a coursing arm ...
      my fleshy tendril of electric
         actuality, spanning fingers
   wide to encompass my...

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Part Two

To have written is to leave but a mark
  nothing stands for the proud rhyming syllables
    more than his acquired business acumen
a Vaishya karmic hope

Now we stand aghast before this...

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The ocean jade, its 
white-veined waves,
flush the sponge land,
as dangled toes melt into sand.

Far across the earth ends
in a silver bright horizon...
Almost blue then, there 
the sky, the water
Transpose in sight
Coalesce inseparably
Those seas, those skies....

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Some Glimpses of childhood Memories

The town where I grew up seems much the same 
Its many features yet retained
Still central fountain that caresses the sky
Its hazy droplets against the winter dregs of sun
Gone, the regiment...

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On the precipice it stands,
loose-limbed with a sinewy grace,
body taut with an implied swagger,
face, grinning, a sun-dappled gold. 
Unclouded by the cataract of cynicism, 
its eyes survey a horizon heat-hazed with 
a thousand promises. 

As...

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The black-as-widow’s-weeds night of endless stars 
was so cold...
cruel as temperature 
plunged its frigid fingers feeling through my being
fondling my heart and soul without mercy
molesting me - taunting my will to live
and just when I...

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Cold front brings August respite
upon cusp of autumn quite
natural palliative to forget monetary plight
relieving spate of dog days of summer
seasonal crisp balm appeared overnight
evidenced of late by Jeeves

cool temperatures at night
temporarily bumping ugly
global warming with...

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Dear Heart,

You are the great fulcrum of the human machine 
So integral to keep us alive and leave us healthy 
I know you work incessantly day and night
Neither taking rest nor seeking respite

By defiance, on...

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Hand Puppets


Hard, calloused and dirty, it pleaded with me.
It had no eyes, no face, no soul.  Or so I thought,
or didn’t.  Yellowed fingernails, dirt covered and
trembling faced upward as would a beggar’s
face. ...

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guileless in my green days i climbed to the tip of my toes
to hear a tree and the wind
clap a rat-a-tat code outside my casement window

i was a follower then of minuscule choirs
small voices not...

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The fly
          buzzes
              over my bed
Spawns 
      ...

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Chasing dreams for memories,
with bold stroke,
eyes are set toward an uncertain goal
that launches souls afloat
down a river never traveled.
A river of doubt.

Under the dark forest canopy
the cacophony 
of natures symphony
is unusually silent.
Only imaginations din
rings in...

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The morning has started with a trace of a dew
An ascent through the tussock ignites the new day
Trailing huntaways eager to work on the ewes
Awaited shrill whistles loose the dogs on their prey.

A new shepherd...

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Words After New Year

The words are dwindling now
but they will come again
in time, towards this year
with the purity of silk strewn
through a ring.
I will wait for the words 
because unlike politics
these things have to be...

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