Long Unhitched Poems

~~~
Dappled grey horses
sweat crusted and weary
hooves drifting dust
lift a day
passing dreary
The harness bells faded
reigned in at the rill
a cool running brook
near the base of our hill
~
My eyes
I'm a lad
scant older than four
brought visions to mind
full...

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An old Point Man phoned, “Do ya think you can do it?.  
Driving doggies and cows from the flanks of Mt. Stewart?"
Fattened on grass for a year they had stayed. 
“Move a river of...

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Ol’ Kiley, he’d gone out a ridin’,
Just to clear his weary head—
‘Bout the workin’ of this busy world
And how it done changed the spread.

Seems things they were just changin’ too fast,
And new owners had fired...

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1. Betrayal builds up with great energy
winning my man
comes with a heavy bill of cost.
The third, trying to make us two unhitched
brings out thunderous evil from a Timpani
coveting from a loved one
makes her a dipsomaniac
and...

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Life is entanglement plus time,
A Gordian knot of opportunities,
Each ravel a riddle to solve
or a battle to be won.

We grab and pull at the gnarls,
Greedy fingers seeking solutions alone.
Though the more we worry them,
the tighter...

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Wickedlandia

Where evil reigns, ‘n willful blindness is sovereign
Callousness, insouciance, cruelty shall reign
Decency, empathy, honor, integrity feigned
Citizens merrily fawn, whose rulers they cheerily deign

In the valley of tyrants, heroes are vanished
Comrades betrayed; poor souls fully famished
Cores...

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Every man has a mission
An objective
To carry out the orders of the commanding officer
What will be the plan after this war is over?
Shall we begin anew?
Can we place this ugly Godforsaken place behind us?
We all...

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With his old hat cinched firmly on his head.
    He pulled his six gun and let loose its deadly lead.
Just one shot was usually all it ever took.
    As...

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In a small Iowa town, picturesque,
as some would put, is a farm
so let me continue on a bit,
and I'll spin a Holiday yarn

Down a long country lane, not far from town,
there was a farm, not...

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Magician bored with trick familiar
Simple slip knot and pin worked a treat
Letting him escape from tank on stage
When dropped in with hands tied behind back.

The slip knot and pin, hidden from view
Meant that no matter...

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FAE IN MY SHADOW

Still night air,  heavy and wet. 
Damp my skin; I rise,  I sit. 
Cloudy dreams lie in shadow. 
Whispers of laughter. 
Promises of a kiss. 
The sound of hummingbird wings....

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The steersman dry-heaves
into rolling scuppers,
the skipper dozes fitfully in his sodden berth                       ...

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A most wonderful thing, natural observation
Copulating on the wing, butterflies on mission
Mostly pure white on this summer day –welcome cool -
Like delicious Autumn, but breaking the rule
Of long hot summers on the Eastern Cape
Mostly white...

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Leathery words harshly spoken
Voices shrill and highly pitched
Without reason, without token
Indulging in subjects quite unhitched

Without cause, without fiction
Mounting on with no restriction,
Reaching deep some unknown weakness
Leaving one shocked and speechless

Barbarous phrases meant to harm, 
Surging...

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Wind sweeps down the side of the mountain
Crosses tracks and flings itself across the river,
First slapping against the sides of the tugboats
Causing the deckhands to shiver and curse
As they check the lashing between the barges,
Several...

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If I took my heart out of its cage
you would think: "ah offal, just meat,
fresh blood if I eat it quickly."
.
Crazily, you call 'need' love,
you're crazed, heartless,
a cannibal, a crippled dog
baying at a savage moon.

Limp...

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Simple words left unsaid
this blindness of pride
unpinning the twine
a haunting


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Draping her shadow
crescents of blood
thickens to drizzle
a river of mud to
his presence


———-


Gloried divine
Savior to sole
unhealed in misery
no growing old
the revelation


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Centipedes crawling
pains again
poisoning floods
these misty rains
in exorcism


———-


Easing...

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