Ore occlusion occident.
Zephyrus blue pshent.
Ichor wicker nicker sent.
Bent to leave a dent.
Chaotic code core commode.
Resonant red road.
Cackling crest cockerel crowed.
Roundabout reload.
Serendipity sprite see.
Toll trill tympani.
Yucca yawndrift yellow ye.
Xiphoid xylem xi.
Ravine ricochet relay.
Dread dead dawning day.
Alabaster planchette play.
Houses holy hay.
Fricasee flock frailty fold.
Broken bow old gold.
Baneful bell blossoming bold.
Cross child city cold.
Heliosphere haunt gaunt jaunt.
Grimace gore gauntlet.
Warlock whippoorwill weird want.
Blackening blind bet.
Psychology psychopomp.
Cheer career severe.
Dervish whirling stump sump stomp.
Pump it out of here.
Watch white wailing widow.
Frequency freak mystique.
Nuclear fine fission glow.
Tan the table teak.
O wind, have you been waiting?
O widow, wailed for long?
O wasteland, silver plating?
O will within, burn strong!
Nicker, wicker, ichor.
Fate, Fortune, fancy-free.
Blood of heart, run thee thicker!
Gibbous moon, smile at me!
Golem, shall we pack the bags?
Well, we're wearing rags.
Singularity, smile a-sags?
He who loses, brags.
Yes, and when we older grow:
Carrion feeds the crow?
Lava bursts from, volcano?
Unsteady its flow!
Elder race, did you leave trace?
Basalt towers. Doors.
Panels in the sky, thy face.
Falcon? How she soars.
Weapons wild electrical!
Blast them through the drains!
O causality, thy call!
Wait not for the rains!
Rematch. Planned. Numerous. Strong.
Eyes of glass, thy spark.
O eruptions, last thee long!
Help them fear the dark!
Chaos, steps of pyramid.
Ancient orb thrown down.
Forbidden zone? It got rid!
King without a crown...
Impeach, O impalement?
O brass bull, burn the air?
Ancient torture, man? Lament.
Life is just not fair.
Blister up inside me, rage.
Boil within each vein.
Shatter, scatter, serene sage.
Agony, thy bane.
Berserker, thy story.
A hundred swords to one.
Covered in red glory?
It's gory, O my son.
Repayment? Before you die?
Debts to multiply.
Work or shirk or slick and sly?
Fry or fly, firefly?
Traps. They seem to set themselves.
Nose of mine, sniff out.
Cemetery, safe on shelves?
Deep delves, run red rout.
Fastener or flickering fog?
Sea-cliff, draped in mist?
Humanity, twice a cog.
Abyss, how you kissed.
Legacy, brutal thy blow.
Honored thus? Guess so.
Beggar, cryptic chains of woe?
Untouchable? No.
Ichor, wicker, nicker, knock.
Lines of chalk, thy block.
Silkworm, work with the cornstalk?
How the crows will talk...
Peaked like a gambrel roof.
Gambling for dun gold.
Axion, axiom, aloof.
Red ochre, old sold.
Cairn by the roadside?
Stacked rocks, a cache prepared.
Treasure someone tried to hide?
Looks like he got scared.
Snow, cover the landscape.
O ice, freeze others out.
Mellifluous, monster? Gape.
Crowd, you saw the rout.
Wasp and hornet, stingers sharp?
Yes, and barbed as well.
Angel, do you play the harp?
Demon, dwell in hell?
Chaos, birth in me a star!
Dancing free and fine!
Gaze, through haze! From near to far!
Belladonna, wine!
Resonance, a game of chance?
Let us play to win.
Downpour, between drops we dance!
Flippers, flick thy fin!
Ichor, wicker, nicker.
Thicker than water, blood?
Well, it's in the liquor.
Get sicker, O my brood.
Xiphoid, grip and push upward.
Solar plexus, wait.
Guts of mine, thy life is hard.
Fortunate, O fate?
Upon the meadow where you were born,
I make a vow to stay by your side,
And though my heart in anguish is torn,
Tear-filled eyes remember our last ride.
You breathe hard as you lay in the grass.
Your heart beats like the thunder of earth.
In its own time, life will let you pass
To look for the mare who gave you birth.
Reins are hung on a hook in the byrne.
Your stall is empty. It leaves me forlorn.
I, the pupil, from your strength did learn
The joy of life the day you were born.
Your body once hot, now becomes cold.
The sun fades as the clouds become thicker.
Good-bye, my friend. Our rides made us bold.
Just nicker once more, softly nicker
....softly nicker...
Night, drape deep in slumber.
O dream, to nightmare turn?
Multitude, legion, number!
Death, dearth to discern...
Rule of law in wasted land?
Show them, when ye stand.
Orderly, cold countermand?
Break before bed, band.
Young fools making with the schtick?
Candle, burn out quick.
Light both ends and nicker. Wick?
Bone within me, pick.
Wound in heart of warrior?
Stray, become the cur.
Dynamite, how to deter?
Blades and chimes a-whir.
Terrible to live? Oh, yes.
Blossom, O my stress.
Torment, foment thy best guess!
Who would be the less?
Ululation, ugly, meld.
Hound, bay in the street.
O for yearlings on the geld!
Bill, pay self with beat.
Fallow field in autumn?
Rickshaw on the move?
Congregation, sing a hymn!
Inspire to improve...
Light my way, O autumn skies.
Tough turbulence, roll, soul. Endeavor, smoky skies.
Wanton, golden bowl? Veer. Rapture, raptor hawk?
Gibbous frost, allure, dark moon.
Cloud castles, arrive through, vortexes. Nexus.
Crystal blue-hued gusts, blow.
Sunbeams, waterfalls, heaven's tumbleweeds.
Cluster up damp, urban life.
Troubled, vagabond?
Too late, frozen? Repent? Up!
Folly of summer, blaze high.
Strangers in a foreign land, stand.
Riddle, red. Dead? Inside? Pride!
Forever, eternally, always.
Chill month, outlander? Deeply.
Oracle, paint portraits in far stars. Read.
Blot out, eccentric mind. Oar? For? Lore...
O bleak ink ocean, splatter at will. Chill.
Weeping wolf, winter.
Nicker, mare, wicker, man, ichor. Box...
They are coming this weekend
I have known for two weeks
Why clean ahead?
Why clean at all?
Isn’t it time they knew
Their mother HATES to clean.
I snicker and nicker to myself.
Snorting now.
They already know.
~~~~~~~
Pals
Their faces are still there;
caricatures and cameos,
amigo mugs and jug ears.
Cheering, jeering chums
that would phone at four in the morning
to garble drunken thoughts,
make momentous plans,
or borrow ten quid.
The oddball humorist
and part-time suicide,
the drama queen
contesting her own shadow,
the poet who never wrote a poem.
The mon ami that drank for you
when you could drink no more.
Long after the late-night rides,
I see their features pressed against
softly glowing bus windows,
as London transports them
to other decades, even to far Ohio;
their lips silently mouthing –
warnings perhaps, or
maybe just trying
to cadge another ten nicker.
Their faces are still there;
caricatures and cameos,
amigo mugs and jug ears.
Cheering, jeering chums
that would phone at four in the morning
to garble drunken thoughts,
make momentous plans,
or borrow ten quid.
The oddball humorist
and part-time suicide,
the drama queen
contesting her own shadow,
the poet who never wrote a poem.
The mon ami that drank for you
when you could drink no more.
Long after the late-night rides,
I see their features pressed against
softly glowing bus windows,
as London transports them
from other decades, even to far Ohio;
their lips silently mouthing –
warnings perhaps, or
maybe just trying
to cadge another ten nicker.
~~~~~~~
Authors Note: "nicker' and 'quid' are Brit/cockney terms for
pounds sterling - money. "Cadge" as in - scrounge.
He was fiery black and fast as the wind
and dominated his herd tenderly
yet he had ties, silken cords, him to bind
to her that graced his life preciously
He would greet her with a joyous nicker
as he galloped down the slope and whirled
she gave apples from basket of wicker
then he would spin and away he hurled
This magnificent stallion gave his trust
to her alone, her of soft hands and voice
who gave him freedom which was only just
the other people turned his soul to ice
They gave each other much love and respect
freedom was the gift they could both expect
She has a cowgirl hat and a set of spurs,
And sometimes she's as gentle as a cat that purrs,
Imagine that....she's my way with words,
And her and I together'd tame a buffalo herd,
Yea! she's the cats meow...can make a racehorse nicker,
Make a wolf pack howl...when our hearts are gettin' quicker,
When we go downtown to dance and drink some liquor,
We get unwound..meet friends...the mood gets thicker,
Imagine that and also this,
I can't resist her country cowgirl kiss,
And that is that and this is this,
She can't resist this country cowboys kiss,
Yea! she's the cats meow....can make a racehorse nicker,
Make a wolf pack howl...when our hearts are gettin' quicker,
When we go downtown to dance and drink some liquor,
We enjoy the sounds of those drums and guitar pickers.
And that is that...along with this,
I can't resist her country cowgirl kiss,
Imagine that...she's my way with words..
Yea! her and I together'd tame a buffalo herd,
Yea! her and I together'd tame a buffalo herd,
My baby has a cowgirl hat......Imagine that!!
A bolt of pain
Stabs at my sorrowful heart.
Paralyzed with fear and knowledge
I kneel at the side of an old friend.
My eyes swell up with tears
As I stare at the faithful loyal horse
Lying helplessly at my feet.
His once round smooth belly
Now rough with bony ribs
Heaves up and down with great effort.
His once gentle dark brown face
Now gray with 38 years of age
Winces with pain.
Too weak to rise,
He rocs his nose up
Stretching his neck
and reaching out to me.
A quiet muffled nicker
Is al lthat escapes his throat
As he gives up his effortless struggle
And lays his head back in the snow.
I close my eyes racing back in time
Back when Red and I were young.
when my eyes open once again
The life flows from my dear old friend.
Only images flash through the eye of my mind
Of the horse I knew when I was only nine
Through my haunting, never-ending doubt,
The tears of love and loss flow out.
Still stands time,
As silent as a mime.
How could I possibly make it through?
I absolutely have no clue.
She groaned as she flailed and thrashed,
Into the walls of the barn she crashed
I ran into the house and up to my room
The whole place was like a tomb
From the other room noise did I hear
The sounds just, seemed so near
Down the stairs and to the window I ran
Next to the horse I only saw a man,
In my Daddy's large hands rested a gun
The whole thing was almost done
From deep within the horse came a nicker,
Her life was only a flicker.
What was to happen next the horse knew
In the scene I saw was just those two
A shot rang out
As my mind quickly takes its route
Through the memories of old
Her tender soft head I wanted to hold
I cried and cried
As I stared at her red blood that had dried
The whole thing was so unclear,
But the end of her great struggle was here.
I awaken in the dawn
to the canyon's morning song
I hear the hawks good morning cry
High in the trees, ancient voices sigh
Sister owl settles in for a rest
A whitetail fawn gives her legs a test
Somewhere down canyon, ancient drums repeating
Patient ponies nicker in greeting
Mourning doves & quail in lilting harmony
Add the final notes to this morning symphony
I sit silent in the twilight, as the day grows long
reveling in the canyon's evening song
I see the ancient campfire's glowing, in the darkening sky
High on the ridge, a coyote choral begins its cry
Sister owl takes to flight, carrying messages into the night
A hunter's moon rises, bathing the canyon in its light
Some where in the shadows, ancient voices calling
As I wish on a shooting star falling
Cicadas & river toads in raucous cacophony
Add the final notes to this evening symphony
© June 2004
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