Short Parry Poems

Emerald blades
Parry and feint in the wind.
No quarter given....

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Vouch uncloak tomes.
Tooth topcoat retro.
Parry purport perks sourf....

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Candidates debate
Thrust and parry, and thrust
  ~ Waterloo's blind date...

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Opening the front screen door
    a fierce wind played tug-of-war

  Not to be denied, I tried again
    ~ the chimney whistled in the den...

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To slash and parry your blade
And into the battle you wade
Feint, strike and advance
Though you may death chance
Your foe will still say: Well played!...

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Answer with Poetry…
tempted by Prose
Passions arousing,
feelings exposed

Silence your dialog,
 parry in verse
Now more than ever
—quenching your thirst

(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)...

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Listen to poem:

meltwater
exhaled breath
warm remnant of kiss
inescapable consequences
ramifications off-ramp.

despite en garde, parry loop,
deflect dodge defy deny and cry;
relent now, 
imbibe and savor the afterglow....

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Standing up, on top
straddling the seesaw
one foot on each side, now.
Whichever way I lean
sends the upside down
and the downside up.
Slippery slide 
to the flip-side
is unworkable.
It's lunge, parry
riposte....

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Tranquil and quiet…
 a walk in the park
Until life’s Trojan Horse
rolls in from the dark

Cancer invading,
you must parry back
Each moment recaptured
—a present still wrapped

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2020)...

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Crashing waves
white capped guilt
Stone like will
crushed to silt
Parry clouds
this driving rain
Heartbreak city
shows no pity
Looks of hope
a slippery slope
Changing lanes
while dodging pain
Reality smacks in your face
desperation to keep pace....

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I have no regard
for other poets
how could it be other

As they conscript
the words away
of which I’ve not discovered

A battle royal
zero sum
as phrases block and parry

The winner left
his voice reclaimed
— the loser most disparaged

(The New Room: February, 2024)
...

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Yield? Not to you, I certainly won't. 
I'll parry on hot coals, I'll lunge to your affront.
Succumb? I'll not breathe your air of lies,
Since no honeyed sweetness makes me compromise.
Supplicate? Then throw down your armor at will.
Once freed from this battle, you will be my love still....

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I wish I was a wee Willy Wagtail.
I've always wanted a tail to wag,
and Willy, really struts his stuff, just so. 
With a wiggle waggle
a parry, on garde, touché!
"Now that's a Tail!"

Willy Wagtail is willy-nilly, with attitude!
Flitting onto branch or wire
waggling his tail all about,
so bossy and belligerent.
"Hey what's your game?"
"Can anybody play?"...

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I waited, anticipated
Hopes were high, bloated
It was too much to ask, inflated
I lowered my sights, deflated
Tried not to be hurt, shielded
Numbed my senses, phlegmatic
Checked the date and time, could be wrong
I fought back and forth, sparred
Willed a lunge, parry, riposte, touché
But, when it came, it fizzed
The expectation feud, 
blew out the candles....

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Soft rays of morning's first light broke
through jagged edges of sleeping dawn
and glowed til becoming a golden yolk

From within my cracked and fragile shell 
I moaned in lazy attempt to stifle a yawn
not able to convince the rising to quell

I could not bargain with the sun to tarry
Although I praised with words to fawn
With his strength I'll not quibble or parry


7/24/2017...

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As an answer to the all too common vitriol and truculence
I seek to anesthetize such behavior with the gifts God gave me
From a mouth that can produce venom flows milk and honey
From a base and vile self seeking "quid pro quo"
Comes the blessed parry of a forgiving heart
When people ask why I don't act as they would
The only response I could ever give is...
"Because God didn't give me what I deserve."...

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I hold my sword in my hand.
Wield it with skill and precision.
Watching my opponents.
Knowing when to advance,
Lunge.
Slight Attaque au fer to start.
Parry.
Waiting for that opening.
Passe.
Passbackwards.
Parlee.
Position is everything.
Knows well.
 passbackwards.
Feint.
There lunge, in vein.
With quick step, yielding parry.
Prise de fer.
Coupe.
Under the intellect of
My pen.
My sword.
Touché....

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Pea Soup
A lot of party people have perfect bowels. 
What would it take to totally kaput Nork's military machine? 
Same ferocity in battle as that one bollock corporal’s? 
All along the periphery, East v West, their games of cat and mouse, thrust and parry continued. 

Warpac Hungarian Hind and Yankee NATO Kiowa getting intimate in the weeds. 
No one ever won; a draw. 
Thirty years later Korea time destination central. 
Viper v Fulcrum. 
Nothing changes but the year....

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" ...betrayal begins with trust." Quote_ Phish  

Betrayal is the cold shiny sword
of stalking deception,
sheathed in scabbard of trust.
Its two-edged blade is 
honed to razor sharp,
ready to thrust, lunge and parry
a touche touch.

Betrayal is two-faced
and unreliable.
There's a switch blade in
the hand that reaches out
trustingly and faithfully
for more of you.

So as trust grows,
beware that it sows
the seeds of scorns 
in the thorns
of treachery
and bribery....

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