Before Its Asking
Only a Poet
can grow lilies
in the asphalt
Only a Poet
can dry laundry
in the rain
Only a Poet
can answer a question
before asking
Only a Poet
can cheat death
— from the grave
**********
The Bravado Of Pander
Self-endowed warriors
skirt the edges of danger
Lost approbation
their instincts to hunt
Dodging slings and arrows
of outraged propriety
The bravado of their pander
— in love with itself
*********
Lost Aspiration
Freedom
an outrage
to those
in their prisons
Its arrogance
and swagger
threatens
their bars
To wander
a cell
their chosen
vocation
In lost
aspiration
dying forever
— alone
**********
Everest Measures
The great majority
content to be average
But a few stir their actions
to test limits and law
The difference between
the strongest and weakest
Everest measures
— and Sir Edmond recalled
**********
Dicere Maximus
Say It Big
Say It Bigger
Say It Biggest
— BUT SAY IT
********
Foretelling
The magic portendo
seducing the stillness
Alone in the shadows
— at home in the dark
(The New Room: June, 2026)
October
….. is mortally wounded!
It sways, strays
across the silken sky
quivering over rusty hedges
shivering through shouldered trees,
splattering, smattering
everything in blood-red.
On it stumbles,
On it tumbles
shivering over the valleys
spearing through the trees
smearing the water blood-red
while the ground offers no sympathy
just a hardened, frigid face.
On it goes,
On it flows
gasping and grasping
at clouds of bandages,
hobbling towards the horizon,
haemorrhaging life
in crimson splashes.
While winter,
no ceremony
nor propriety,
just the sly smile
of an Arctic fox,
coldly awaits October’s
shredded, dreaded last breath!
To bow my head before oppression
was never written in my genetic code.
To play the slave for a miserable wage,
and pray to the god of those slave-masters
in order to taste the pleasures of prosperity,
is nothing but a nightmare.
If I do not love you,
I will tell you straight in the eyes,
like those independence fighters
born of my genealogical tree.
I hate the hypocrites,
the deceitful, the envious,
the liars, the racists, the traitors,
and those human beings who lie down
beneath the weight of oppression.
I am the expression of a humanity
freed from the burdens
of Western societal conformity.
I despise propriety
when the environment is hostile.
When I suffer,
my demons seize control of the vessel.
I have but one life,
one journey,
one dusk,
before the reaper
comes to harvest my tainted soul.
My allegiance is to Africa,
despite the chaos that has reigned there for centuries.
I will remain bound
to the cradle of humanity
until my final dusk.
I let my pen guide me, as I pour out my soul
In this poem, I find solace, to be a form of art.
It's a way to make sense of this crazy world
To find meaning in the chaos, to be unfurled
In the rhythm and flow of each verse
I find peace, a sense of purpose
So here I am, with this poem in hand
A piece of me, that I hope you'll understand
For in these words,
The stage is set, the mic is on
The spotlight shines, all eyes upon
The poet pouring their soul out loud
A shared experience, in the crowd
To break free from the chains of society
And speak our truth with complete propriety
With each breath and every pause
The emotions rise, like a raging cause
Weaving tales of love, pain, and hope
A journey through life on an invisible rope
I have weathered storms,
and fought through the night,
For I know that within me,
Lies an unbreakable might.
Thousands of light among many homes
There's one light that reserves for you
Waiting for you that you can come in
And who cares for you that calls it home
As you resides day by day love is accustom
Courage is burning and keep light shining
Being together always is like cooking nice food
The belly is well-fed for relationship to bloom
Sometimes, rain and storm might affect light to flicker
Both shelthering hands always there to rescue necessarily
To shade light and keep the light working
In case of strong calamity the light may take off
There is a reserve charging light in case of emergency
Marriage and relationship is like light that need care and propriety.
Clever in my literacy
Impaired in my itinerary
Noted for variety
Daunting in my propriety
A jaunting of notoriety
For wanting serenity
exempted from purity
Quaint in obscurity
The bees have begun tuning their violins,
raking their wings along the sleep-filled strings
as I sit in the parking lot peeling stickers off of half-priced
books.
The roses are unfurling their red carpets,
the ants are single-filing their way across the dirt—
as if millenia of evolution has instilled in them a sense of
propriety.
Soon the bees will find their starting notes,
soon the birds will lift their voices, soon the ants
will fill the soil like an auditorium, and I will lift my head from my
book
Just in time to see the sun framing your body,
a pre-bloom dandelion perfecting its pirouette between
your thumb and second finger, a smile lifting your face like a
curtain.
Running fancy free into a field,
Chasing butterflies my path revealed,
My arms outstretched into the sky,
I am so happy--not caring why.
Cooled by a fragrant soft Spring breeze,
I trip and fall down to my knees,
Then wistfully gaze into the sky,
To watch the clouds drift slowly by.
Slowly my youthful mind escapes,
Into their billowy pillowy shapes,
As my youthful imagination rages,
Onto life’s unwritten pages.
I reminisce about these scenes so well,
But to them I’ve had to say farewell,
To blend with the accepted propriety
Of my adult world’s fast society.
Though I mostly do what people expect,
I sometimes upon my youth reflect,
And dream nostalgically of my life then,
Knowing I can never be that person again.
The pre-dawn rang
as cat choirs sang
in waring gangs
sharp and rank
before they sprang
with claw and fang.
Isn’t it an overweening piety
to think that diverse cat societies
would address conflicts more politely
observe more cultural propriety
and politic more peacefully and quietly
than our own species, which behaves violently
Are we not, in part, their masters?
Don’t we war for goals we’re after?
Aren’t some of our leaders practically gangsters?
Does any species author more disasters?
Humans are - frankly - alpha-predator bastards.
If the language of cats, we could unscramble,
and into their feral dialogs we could wrangle,
perhaps we’d see that they’re just following our example.
An Auld Lang Syne Happy New Year!
Let me tell you ‘bout my body parts
While in sobriety
They’re as old as an old farts
Oh, auld lanxiety
(chorus)
For auld lanxiety my dear
For auld lanxiety
We’ll try not to think ‘bout it
For auld lanxiety
And surely walking now’s a chore
And surely society
Will push me down on the floor
I have auld lanxiety
I no longer run about the docks
With naïve gaiety
Because my legs are just like blocks
Since auld lanxiety
(chorus)
For auld lanxiety my dear
For auld lanxiety
We’ll try not to think ‘bout it
For auld lanxiety
We use to partake in many sports
We loved variety
But my parts are now the rusted sort
Oh, auld lanxiety
But I still can lend a trusty hand
With propriety
And we can drink just like we planned
For auld lanxiety
(chorus)
For auld lanxiety my dear
For auld lanxiety
We’ll try not to think ‘bout it
For auld lanxiety
(fictional body parts)
Religion
is the death of God
conscripting Him away
Cloaked in false
propriety
enlightenment at bay
Religion
is the death of God
scriptures to mislead
All piety
a false disguise
worshipping the creed
Religion
is the death of God
whose armies rage and burn
Killing
in the name of One
—whose love they claim to yearn
(The New Room: December, 2023)
The bars of my cell are icy cold
I'll never see freedom is what I'm told
My destiny is an outsider looking in
Whenever I see her, she begins to grin
Reminding me she's waiting on my release
And my inner potential to be unleash
Time is passing by and I'm still in this cage
My body is beginning to age
One thought lead me into anxiety
Causing me to have no decent propriety
I'm determine to break the chains of my mind
So my thoughts can properly unwind
I'm my biggest critic who deciphers my uprise or downfall
And my blessings are on the other side of this wall
I clutch my fists in the rage of my mental captivity
The sting in my hand came from a key
It is the key to happiness and success
I unlock my chains and GOD will handle the rest
Deception from my own mind
Caused me to waste tremendous time
Then reality hit me so fast
I was only prisoner because I didn't bury the past
Always look forward never behind
Or else you'll find yourself lost in time.
Truth doesn’t have an owner
propriety be damned
The light from the source
directing us home
—unbroken by command
(Dreamsleep: March, 2023)
Sacred Cat Society
Known for notoriety
Princess, the Head
She's royal bred
Follows cat propriety
Princess loves to primp and preen
She keeps herself very clean
She gets her wish
Fish in her dish
Otherwise she will turn mean
Princess prances like a queen
She behaves like a spoiled teen
Catwalks around
Regally crowned
If crossed, she will make a scene
Princess plays with her fur ball
Has us at her beck and call
At her meow
To her we bow
She acts like a Miss Know-all
22nd February 2023
For Mystic Rose Rose's contest
I always think of us as young
you still blooming and me too fresh
Like the time when your little body was huge
with our boy
we really rocked the cradle back then
or that time
in some cheap hotel in a scuzzy British resort
was it Skegness
When we
both a little drunk
shook a bedstead loose from its frame
Our bodies made a wild kind of poetry back then
not gentle
We fell into whirlpools of frenzy
unholy delights flickering red in our eyes
Do you recall old girl
Such passions rekindle themselves
through time and distance
they dance on everlasting
though with much calmer flames
and a more steady propriety
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