Long Softens Poems

The weight of the water is heavy in my chest, a force pressing against the ribs. It rises when I don’t expect it, like a flood breaking through cracked, neglected seams. The truck of my...

Read More

Lost In the Mists Parts I - IV

                           ...

Read More

A whirl, a gust, and a thunderous boom commenced,
Heartened by the latter soreness of silent night,
Shackled through the chill blows above,
A tempest, a storm,
Threshing the world,
Shaking the Prison of Plot,

The waters of the Holy Spirit...

Read More

(Lights dim, single spotlight illuminates the speaker, dressed in simple attire. Voice starts trembling, building in intensity)

Can forgiveness mend
a childhood, mine 
fractured in the dark? 
Where the scars are a map, inked 
not just in...

Read More

Note: To view the final poem refer to my poem 'We Are So Drawn...'

Here's my work product for this sad, strange poem that I've just completed. I 
include the syllable and rhyme scheme notation I...

Read More

Frost leaves my heart feeling cold and clammy, like a icicle hanging down from a gutter, dripping liquid sparkles as the sunlight softens the edges of my feelings and frees my thoughts to believe in...

Read More

So many leaders leading astray on course for what and why
                    Luring monsters and devils in...

Read More

Darkness. 
Eyes widen more and more,
trying in vain to see.
Then other senses compensate, 
I hear the faint rustle of dry leaves. 

My body caught in the shock of fear, 
refuses to move, 
but I feel...

Read More

LAO TZU ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS I

Be Like Water
by Lao Tzu, translation by Michael R. Burch

The highest virtue resembles water
because water unselfishly benefits all life,
then settles, without contention or needless strife,
in lowly cisterns.

Weep for the Dead
by Lao...

Read More

I _ 
have been thinking and pondering my life so far
     as I meander back to sad places and faces 
the past is who I am today in truth
  ...

Read More

A walk upon a path to the forest that spreads out beyond
This is adjacent to a pond that has many venues
Seeing spectacles of sun flickering amongst the hemlock trees
That aligns this path which leads to...

Read More

This poem is in a style called haibun which uses prose to tell a story, with haiku places
within to bring the story deeper. The haiku must stand on it's own as well as fit into...

Read More

I lie in the dark waiting to be controlled 
I listen to the sounds of feet as though my box is being patrolled 
My strings lay limply waiting to be pulled 
Thy master thinks I...

Read More

In the dark she is waiting, 200 kilos of velvet
separating one world from the other.
It was art to her, she was under no pretence,
she was an instrument, and she made the other instruments merge in...

Read More

 Part 3

9th Delerium: Emptyness
Water wheels in wastelands... turning,
drowning relics in the slum
Rumpled rags of fashioned burlap... burning,
lit by bandits blind and dumb
Pastured prisons, ponies bridled ... yearning,
forest fairies under thumb
Sounds inside of cauldrons coughing......

Read More

The warmth no longer comes
it seems to only leave.

The furry ones, all
caught in hypnotic disbelief:
hardening ground's
taken root
where once
gardening grounds
(forsaken, mute)
were once and again
makin' fruit.

Each beast, shaking
like a leaf
(though, truth be told
I've only ever 
seen 'em...

Read More

Deep pain bores into scalp as eyelids struggle to open;
Glaring sun menaces eyes as they face the sky boldly.
First thought dawns on me like elixir; I'm alive!
The vast blue sky seems to smile upon my...

Read More

War after war in the name of his sovereign king
 
A seventeenth century fury, devoid of all shame
 
Through pistol, cutlass and rapier, the world knew his name
 
So too does the Reaper, and beckons...

Read More

Something about the month of May
Through early dawn unto the day
From dusk to night's twinkling play
Of all nature's beauty on display
The Star's own star shines on so bright
Like the sparkle in her eyes alight
I chance...

Read More

He caresses my heart and soul each morning
When the sunlight reflects across the dawn
Reaching into my thoughts with a blessing
Gifting me with joy, serenity and acceptance
Reminding me that His love is always with me

He kisses...

Read More

The moment winter softens into spring and all is melting, the first flower is the
white snowdrop poking through the snow, quickly followed by johnny-jump ups.
They are so cute and delicate in my patch of garden,...

Read More

In the book of Genesis, God warns of the forbidden fruit 
He said if you eat of this fruit you would surely die 
Not a physical death, but that of the spiritual kind, which is...

Read More

Troubled soul, that’s not whole
Anymore and a shadow, that’s got a hold.
So, scared about the dare
From the demons’ pair
With a snare.
Feeling grounded and pounded
By the demon howlin to bound me
And dragging me round.
Being depressed but...

Read More

It starts in silence.
Deep down.
Where listening lives.

Not words—
older.

Older than moons wept for their orbit.

She stands.  
No mask.  
No shield.

The world draws—  
at her edges.

And she…  
glows.  

Shimmers to the slow...

Read More

What obstacle can there be between a boy and infinity?
Behind the old brick house, among countless fig and persimmon trees, 
next to the concrete cistern and under a beautiful bright summer sky, 
the boy was...

Read More