Long White whale Poems

Word Fantasy in F Sharp Minor  (3 Movements)

1

(Andante con moto)

Hey man. Take this.

I got it last night,
under a fractured street light,
with shattered pieces of clear glass, scattered
at the nexus of an obscure dark freeway...

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I would help man evolve toward God’s Dreams for this life
And not strive just for mites (some ascribe to have worth?)
(In God’s Will) let us humbly trust Grace is God’s Gift
To a sinner who can’t...

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Black is the oceans of the heavens, gleaming with the coral reef of
Stars, serenity amongst the voids abyss, it is fathomless, a
Universal sea eternal, beauty set upon the heights divides.
A rushing torrent of vastness ever...

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I am a young man, to Nantucket I've traveled
never before have I been out to Sea,
here in the Harbor, I've spotted the Pequod
I knew then and there, that ship was for me,

Ishmael is my name,I...

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So Disappointing!

If I disappoint you, don't you disappoint too? 
And this even on nights when we both 'whoop-de-doo? ' 
Just like Adam, like Eve, the first verse of a song
Where words say, one ‘came early,...

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Covered Dishes 

2

Into the tattooed tavern 
we sauntered dreamily,
squinting our delirious eyes, while
blinking rapidly, and flinching from 
the electronic glare of spit-polished mirrors,
shining as an insane sun would, 
without reflection, without resonance,
hanging on a purple...

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I’m the latest ghostly tale of a Dead Sea non-person
A son of a slave seed; 
I Diaspora bled from wooden callousness,
inside a cadaver pale white whale — 
born half-dead on arrival
Bosom fed green pasture promises,
amber...

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There's strange noises round these parts
Tales of zombies too
Haunted cabins, ghostly sights
All sorts of witches brew

We all laugh when we hear stories
Stories that we know aren't true
There's a drink that folks all know
And it ain't...

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“Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early” – Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian Balladeer,
from The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

A song by Gordon Lightfoot I would hear
in 1976, my newborn...

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The sleeping beauty surrounded by lackluster roses-
She receives rest I never shall,
Whilst I work my hand and mind to bone and broth.
The star-crossed lovers staring down from the heavens-
Blissful and gay in each others presence,
And...

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The best poetry stays silent and deep
It cries for attention below still waters
Each one melting into oceans weeping

I still fish poorly in infinity’s pool
With no reward that satisfies
How the fishees goad me cruelly

Titles of poems...

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Yarns Of A Seafaress

Hemingway's famous "Old Man and the Sea"
Simply couldn't hold a candle to me
    I caught Ahab's great white whale
    Did some surfing on his tail
Made him...

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Dedicated to my beautiful sister, Dr. Barbara Voglino, with thanks for introducing me to some of the greatest literature ever penned.  Love you, Sis!


The bedroom we shared,
Always quiet as a tomb

Until my sister Bobbie...

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(Or, The Whaler) 

Everybody wants a piece of my action
Everyone wants a piece of me 
Time is money — no satisfaction 
All I want is to get myself free 

I became famous — 
Vulgar and...

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As I’m driving down the street in Brentwood,
Nashville’s richest neighborhood,
The police pull me over, oh it’s still a common occurrence,
I can hear the sirens and the lights flash on in cadence,
Oh it’s usually something small,...

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Clink-clink
Black panther eyes peering 
thru the concrete canopy
What do they see in the blood-smoke midnight air ... 
safari sound waves shocking,
moving the ghetto leaves
What do the tree leopard tar-pitch, onyx ears hear ... 
a white...

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 Life, I think, is a bit of a paradox.
Floating through this desolate void devoid of context and explanation, (some might suggest value as well, I suppose); 
I conclude these idiosyncratic murmurings of bothersome almost-people...

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When I am up, every sky is a boundless, cloudless expanse of brilliantly blinding blue.

When I am up, I am William the Conqueror and William Shakespeare and William Jennings Bryan all in one.

When I am...

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Bob and Hannah went to fish in Wassamassaw Bay.
They told their mom they would return for church so they could pray.
But both of them lost track of time, returning way past noon.
The sun was down...

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It is cloudy today, with a good chance of daydreams
I'm prone on my back, and my chores have been done
Instead of a nap, there is something that seems
to call for attention and offer some fun
Imagine...

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The Atlantic was an ocean once unexplored,
even the Romans with their naval might, took no interest in conquering beyond;
so it remained an incognito in their minds:
perhaps its wrathful waves kept them away: they made very...

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Poetry will not keep you warm
Not like a cat nestled between legs
But, it hunts down manic thoughts
Gnashes the static till the mind gives 
Chases a thought till claws are bloody
Keeps you drenched in sweat
Yes, she...

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Arrogant autocratic Ahab
Sails set seaward
Heartless harpoon high
 
Wind wracked Waves
Revenge rage regret
Wretched white whale
 
Opaque Ocean oblivious
Deep dark dangerous
Titanic terrors traversing
 
Captain callous cold
Blood bought bonds
Obsidian oaths ordured  
 
Foreboding fears fester
Sacrosanct silent seas
Motionless...

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The work of a teacher is never done.
To think, that one must traverse a sea of minds.
Academically rowing against pop culture.
Nowadays, that's next to impossible.
Still, every weekday morning, they set sail
And prepare for the battle...

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Off, with all the luxury and arrogance that is man,
To a place where the sun dies beyond land’s end,
Through the foam and spray that christened you,
Yet, failed to cleanse your original sin.

And with bones of...

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