“Fear of death is fear of surrender to Infinity.”
~ Adi Da Samraj
In my fevered state, I sought the godforsaken
sounds of the gossamer strings of the harp.
It was hours of grave thoughts before I would awaken
to the ghostly groaning of my mind’s steep scarp.
Grief-stricken, I lie staring through closed eyes
listening to the beat of my heart echoing from the
silent monitor, praying the future that it belies
pushes me toward the gate of undefined infinity.
God knows what grand or ghastly fate awaits
my soul, with grim gargoyles adorning the path
down gnarled gardens toward and through ornate gates.
Will this be my entryway to salvation or wrath?
Categories:
scarp, dark, death, dream, fear,
Form: Rhyme
Beneath the river, creatures swim
Hope's a sliver, their fate is grim
Their fate is grim, hope's a sliver
Creatures swim beneath the river
An eagle's prey in talons so sharp
Predators play upon the scarp
Upon the scarp, predators play
In talons so sharp an eagle's prey
Soaring high above the vast plains
In the sky, where the eagle reigns
Where the eagle reigns in the sky
Above the vast plains soaring high
Their sharp eyes scan for their next meal
They set their plan with zest and zeal
With zest and zeal, they set their plan
For their next meal, their sharp eyes scan
Categories:
scarp, nature,
Form: Quatrain
The lightning danced all through the night
To wrought a festival of fire
That put to torch in blackened blight,
And scorched the forest like a pyre
Now, petroglyphs of nature’s arts
In splotchy ash ‘cross craggy scarp,
Are scarred background to blackened ghosts
Now frozen in escapement’s warp.
The energy of blackened woods
And flora from the forest floor
Has left behind the fertile goods
Of nascence sown, as evermore.
Categories:
scarp, allegory, allusion,
Form: Rhyme
Reigning in cluster the edge of steep scarp,
the flock of mine sprawls so very proud.
I’m a meek loner in the midst of them all,
for each one is happy to be in the crowd.
As I’m secluded in a ditch of sequestration,
the kinship camaraderie they show with flair.
For my innate nature I’m often jeered,
since their line of subservience I don’t tow.
In their group I’m the strayed one,
my own person, I’m the odd one.
I’m branded as an aberrant madcap,
for in my candid way I’m like none of them.
Life for me isn’t shaped for fitting in,
it’s about standing outside the heap.
In my clan a black sheep I’ve been,
making the deviant otherness unique.
Categories:
scarp, analogy, identity, lonely,
Form: Free verse
Sight, sound, feelings converge, to point sublime,
Until what once was so, is barely there.
As last gasp grasp exhales slip-away time,
Ear, eye strain to catch last glimmer of care.
Fleeting touch lost, dulls to memory bliss,
As soft caress on fingertip so light.
Begs the mind's grip to grasp what senses miss,
As feelings slip into cold heartless night.
You strain to catch the last requiem note.
The faintest whisper of a distant call,
Echoing faint, each refrain more remote,
Straining to be heard, memory's recall.
The decline to vanishing point so sharp,
It cuts to the quick of grip on cliff's scarp,
Categories:
scarp, loss,
Form: Sonnet
teeth bared
fierce snarled
claws sharp
deep scarp
maw clenched
fur drenched
eyes aimed
she claimed
mount tensed
head sensed
red heat
conceit
snug haze
new ways
day's gray
like clay
harsh frost
gas cost
weak knees
feet freeze
night walk
knee chock
cow-poke
now broke
brawl play
war sway
rope toy
stop ploy
vast flop
may drop
joy lust
no trust
clay earth
pain birth
tides beat
pale feet
Written: November 27, 2022
A Brian Strand Premiere No 53 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
Categories:
scarp, analogy, character, emotions, feelings,
Form: Footle
The steep steps go down
the winding wash,
along the plodded cobbles
between the cottages
with their smuggling hollows,
their sleet rinsed eaves.
Beyond the scarp
the bay tumbles over
shingle, shale, and scree
to a shore and its contesting tide.
Above my flying coat,
the huddled village
bobs and floats in a flooding cloud.
I could throw a stick
at the sea here
and the wind, like a dog
would fetch it,
elemental voices
return from the deep.
Now a chopping fray,
squabbles at a brim where
flurries of tern and guillemot
trawl for brill;
a pell-mell of light
roiling on a harrying spray.
Today, I allow myself to fail
here at the surging squall,
and crashing crests;
to lapse and founder -
to be redone in the one gulp
of self.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This one was written a pretty long time ago,
but recently fiddled with.
Categories:
scarp, poetry,
Form: Free verse
EXCERPTS FROM A JOURNEY IN COVID-19
This must have been one place
Where global Covid-19 stopped
A camp, perhaps.
All morning, all night
Hearing thrssh thrssh
Sounds of shaking baskets
Ears to earth under dreams
Rotating nebulae
And a rain clouds
Over the valley of perfect wisdom
More a highway
Over a ground with seed and hands.
Old women, young girls
Babies crying and a few men
Living with pure air
On the same line riding into mountais.
Their sleeps being like a Wheel
Up the Hill, down the scarp
And the unintelligible pandemic
Inside the ground.
They got up.
Yearning for Eyes
And a Heart in center
As a flame without smoke
Flashiging the light with desire
Through a bush over the stream.
Expecting to see what?
We all laughing at first, too.
Categories:
scarp, allegory,
Form: Free verse
The steep steps go down
the winding wash,
along the plodded cobbles
between the cottages
with their smuggling hollows,
their sleet rinsed eaves.
Beyond the scarp
the bay tumbles over
shingle, shale and scree
to a shore and its contesting tide.
Above my flying coat,
the crag huddled village
bobs and floats in a flooding cloud.
I could throw a stick
at the sea here
and the wind, like a dog
would fetch it,
and more will come back,
as if ancient voices
returned to us from the deep.
Now a chopping fray,
squabbles at a brim where
flurries of tern and guillemot
trawl for brill;
a pell-mell of light
roiling on a harrying spray.
Today, I allow myself to fail
here at the surging squall,
and crashing crests;
to lapse and founder -
to be redone under
a gulping spell of myself.
Categories:
scarp, poetry,
Form: Free verse
My Love, LaAnna
Your skin glows like the grape, blossoms love as the jasmine in the purest hope of spring.
My yearning heart rises to your violin voice and leaps like a lamb at the whisper of your name, LaAnna.
The evening ascends in on a great dove wing like angel food my spiritual manna.
I am calmed by your dress that I carry into the twilight of house beams and hold next to my arm.
I am filled with hope that I may dry your tears of water.
As my hands falls from my scarp, it reminds me of your heart.
In the hushed, I listen for the last explosion of the spring.
My heated heart leaps to my shoe. I wait in the crystal moonlight for your secret jasmine flower so that we may flowing as one, heart to heart, in search of the glorious yellow and spiritual ring of love.My Love, LaAnna
4/28/19
Categories:
scarp, appreciation, i love you,
Form: Free verse
In the rain, I play the harp
by the higher edge of a scarp
to see the crestfallen town down there
as sunless souls can't sing joy into the air
Miraculous notes pierce the melancholic skies
conquering the storm, in a vortex fading clockwise
restoring bliss to its former glory
in order to happily end this story
Categories:
scarp, blessing, imagery, miracle, rain,
Form: Quatrain
Looking at the scarp
Of the mahogany cliff
Cerulean tides
Calm down the racing mind thoughts
Offering a peaceful state
3-16-2016
Categories:
scarp, nature,
Form: Tanka