Last Friday’s date with Miss Information
Turned out to be wonderful,
She was not what I expected.
Her name is Sophie
And she’s never been woke
Somehow making it all the way through school
Without contracting the post-modernist contagion.
Bright, beautiful, well bred and read
She goes by Ms. not Miss
And if dreams come true
One day will be my Mrs.
(9/24/25)
I’m an Asian
So, I’m civilized!
-Really?
I’m a European; an American white
I’m an Oceania and I’m civilized!
-Really!?
I’m an African
Victim of apartheid
An oppressed black
But, I’m civilized!
-Really!?
I’m a highly educated
Preacher, saint-type motivator
First-class nation of the continent
Aristocratic; elite business tycoon
Yes, only I’m civilized crown
I’m a Muslim; a Buddhist; a Hindu;
I’m a Christian, a Jewish, and a civilized true
I believe in God and holy revelation
I’m religious and a harvester of civilization
I’m an ultra-modernist
I’m a hybrid atheist
I’m the super-food of civilized myth!
-Really!?
-Really!?
-Really!?
Civilization- sneered trade of cultural stage
Famine of fancy in the definitive heritage
All stand on lame peaceful feet to mislead
And invite you to learn from the ownership
Oh! By this word, all are a funny trader
everywhere crawling as hidden viper!
©Mahtab Bangalee/Feb'25
I am weary of politics,
its plastic people
and the endless lies,
the glorification
of the outrageous antics
of the rich and famous,
the intolerance
and exclusivity preached
by most religions,
sensationalist media
who seek to deceive
and divide for the sole
purpose of ratings.
I am tired of excuses
and the way in which
honest people are exploited,
the power of big corporations
and angered by the mistreatment
of our planet. I am sick
of the promises made
by a world addicted to wealth
and the necessity to own
the latest must have gadget
and the modernist doctrine
of the primacy of the “self”.
We have lost our way
by abandoning the sacred,
the soulful connection
to the earth and what lay
beyond. My old and perhaps
naive mind imagines an ideal
where the world and life is not
configured to serve our most
unholy needs
but to those that will lift us
towards the greater good.
dawn dual duel
two poets
a face-off duel joust
free verse rhyme verse
a modernist traditionalist
mull and muse tell it true
prompt a reaction lay it out there
lover of words, jarring lover of pattern, rhyming
readers response individual readers all delight alike
anything goes on loose lines strict punctuation and meter
memories jogged and jangled memories lovingly recalled
stark and confronting language beautiful nice melodious words
leaves reader's questions unanswered readers cherish the poems like songs
10 free steps 10 syllables
bang bang
both dead
duel done
babel babble
Celia from 'A'
tenures the lot
Standing near those Grey
Bay's rocky scabs
slapp'd by tide
Stagnant water
Green at the feet.
Into time too
From womb birth'd
briefly hearts
Remark regularly,
Geiger counter
Measuring, drone
Circulating
A style that too
Tho pound for
Pound bests itself
Croons when moored
Hits the deck when able;
Dies. After all, that's
Part of circulations
Verse & volt what
Did they do
The songs from strings
The blood bells the
Thin pines at work,
’44 ash magnum
Coiling skyward?
Till tomorrow The Spectacular
Not a thing about it jocular;
Does keep wasting Nature's Wondrous gift
While rugged terrains giving new lift...
Steely replica of Dynamite:
It has been the same show of might;
The weakest of them all still iron
And that's the reason it is Lion...
Caterpillar at work vibration
But it's a prelude to foundation;
A couple of Day's Disturbing Earthquake
For tomorrow's structure that won't shake...
In movies crushes one like a car
And real or not the bloke turns a star!
So, would you still fault Caterpillar,
Modernist flaming sword and pillar.?
SIMPLE AESTHETICS
fused elements
of flat-painted
colour
tensions
fit neatly
next to each
other
&
balance
atop
a flat plane
a modernist
sensibility
deceptively
locked
together
NOTE:THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE using spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols ,the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and responds thus making this enigmatic form a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood is inherently variable.
Copyright © Brian Strand
William Robertsan individualist
yet a homely art modernist
Originally doing poster design
so pioneering Vorticist was just fine
Patrick Henry Brace US modernist
at painting did not persist
His semi abtracts did not sell
and suicide was his death knell
Modernist Fernand Leger
elievdd in art as social care
His genretook a moral view
for pure aesthetic he did eschew
Pierre Puvis Chavannes
in his day,a modernist man
He painted on a very large scale
on public buildings*. he left a trail
*https://www.wikiart.org/en/pierre-puvis-de-chavannes/fresco-for-the-decoration-of-the-pantheon-saints
Don't look back
In this theater of modernist art
And wish what was
Worth being hung
Worthy off the space on
wall and hanging holes
it was hung
Patronage in thrones have
spent well earned coin to see
In order to say they have
Been kneeling before like the
grace of ages
Was and is till this day
The artist is remembered for
Yet never wishes they we're
Because it was a throwaway
A B-Side track
Never expected to attract
But somehow did
thinking like Stein but
drinking beer from a stein
remembering German days
not Paris
contradicting and refuting
Gertrude's flowery words
for
a muse is a muse is
but
don't
include
my Musa
The first thing we learned is beauty is in
The eye of the beholder.
Paintings or pictures can be done in
Oils, watercolors, pen,
Charcoal, pencil, marker,
Crayons, and chalk.
The place was so quiet it was like bein
In church. We saw walls and walls of old
As well as new paintings in frames
With names
That were bold,
Historical,
Modernist,
Filled with simplicity,
Inspirational,
Comical,
Illogical,
And abstract works of art.
We found some that were hypnotic,
Rythmic,
Had personality,
Morality,
And were naturalistic.
We did explore,
Took notes galore,
And we learned it is hard to be critical
In describing some one else's work.
Art is attainable
Even explainable.
It is universal
And at times controversial
Yet, the day we spent at the art museum
Was sensational
And memorable.
The boy gets teased for wearing Holy Keds
And never Michael Jordan tennis shoes.
A field trip for a Friday afternoon:
Today, it’s modern art, the locals’ wing.
Head down, he tags along behind his class.
At least he is polite, his teacher thinks.
The parquet floor makes crackling under foot.
A landscape hangs along a barren wall.
“In modern art, emotions bring in shapes...”
Not listening, as usual, she thinks.
“Look, that’s my home!” he shouts aloud and points
“No, that’s the modernist O’Keeffe!” she scolds.
And herds her charge with open arms past guards
And docents under disapproving eyes.
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