Short Patina Poems

faded oil portraits
in gold patina frames
hide on gallery walls...

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Marc Quinn's 'Nurseries of El Dorado'*
bronzed still life chromed patina show...

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faces soften - shoulders will thin
the smile will patina
time will keep time with the wind...

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The rusting of years,
the flavor of time

Calling you back
—patina unrhymed

(Ronald McDonald House: January, 2020)...

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Is snow heavy or light
a dandelion's weightless flight
or a heavy heart sinking tonight
puffballs, snowballs and a patina of gold....

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lush lilac lilies
paint patina on meadow…
lured butterflies flit

August 24, 2020
Contest : Haiku-Color With Alliteration
Sponsor : Tania Kitchin...

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Daybreak
A dry wind pushes noisily through the trees.
A fine patina of dust and pollen age the world.
Blueberry bushes guzzle water like baby birds.
It’s going to be a hot one....

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Melted skulls and sagging sails:
what growing old with tats entails.
Few give pause to stop and think
how time’s patina colors ink.

—————

H/T to Eric Ashford’s Tat...

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The clear patina of corrosion
A signature required to reveal
The airtight seal, broken
Confused, this happened
Cuddled whispers 
Subconscious denial
Attach responsibility
Surprise 
Contort the truth
Align...

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smoothness
imbued with character
his essence
imbedded deeply
in every crevice
sweet oils
of everyday labor
lubricating
its monotony
burnishing
the hard patina
of life


©6/29/2018

for Patina Poetry Contest...

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Listen to poem:

The warm patina of old age is cherished
revered, conserved, protected as irreplaceable.
Unlike the wrinkles and scars
that deface waned youth expired.
Only time and good care
coats much-loved keepsakes 
with protective patina - 
the glaze and sheen of esteemed age....

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The repetitive saw of metal against metal,

The bashing of steel for designs,

The whir of the copper polished

And the hiss of the patina finished.

The file and sandpaper rasping on the brass

The noise all around

The hammers they pound,

As we create our own sound....

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a lay (lei)

Took a walk in poetry’s field,
many poems caught my appeal.

Planting of new notions I saw
and older verse puts me in awe.

Metaphor, hyperbole, rhyme
alliteration, form take time.

Patina on each unique write
shows poem's polish and sheds light.

January 13, 2020...

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mysterious key
discovered in the attic-
but it fits no locks

no physical locks
have embedded their mark- 
silver patina

on bedside table
it rests, inducing slumber-
unlocks subconscious

i walk through that door
apprehensive and trembling-
find my tomorrow
...

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Are you a Poet or tactician,
or “A Rose By Any Other Name…”

Are your words stained with patina,
some would scrub and some would blame

Is your Kingly verse too rough for some,
finding safety in their books

Is your verse uncut with edges sharp
—all Princes in their rooks

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)...

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Indistinct things
In night’s malaise
Mar morning haze.
We slowly die
Across far sky
On scalloped wings.

September hones
Away the nights—
Blur city lights—
Bleach pale claw marks
Above brown parks
Fading to bones.

Summer now flees—
Blanch indigo
Of afterglow—
Patina wind—
Yesterday’s sin
Of twisting leaves....

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Indistinct things
In night’s malaise
Mar morning haze.
We slowly die
Across far sky
On scalloped wings.

September hones
Away the nights—
Blur city lights—
Bleach pale claw marks
Above brown parks
Fading to bones.

Summer now flees—
Blanch indigo
Of afterglow—
Patina wind—
Yesterday’s sin
Of twisting leaves....

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Are you a Poet or tactician,
 or “A Rose By Any Other Name…”

Are your words stained with patina,
  some would scrub and some would blame

Is your Kingly ode too rough for some,
  finding safety in their books

Is your verse uncut with edges sharp,
 —all Princes in their rooks

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)...

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Ruby glow of the rose meadow 
radiates enticing grace. 
Patina of exultation paints
the petals of your floral face.  

In the fold of your embrace,
I make a bouquet of me,
place it in your alluring vase,
my heart turns into rhapsody rose.

_____________

April 26, 2023
Contest : Rose Meadow
Sponsored by : Julia Ward...

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petals of roses
waft patina in the spring air
wrap your luscious lips
quiver with my yearning lilt
in fragrance freeze words unsaid

________________

February 8, 2022
Syllable count : 5-7-5-7-7 (PS Counter)
Contest : Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue - A Valentine
              Challenge in One of Five Ways
Sponsored by : Andrea Dietrich...

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Slender ballerina legs swirl and leap
in rhythmic strides of majestic style,
while in avian grace you wade
on the rippling algal jade water.

Supple nape swivels in bracing breeze,
like a ballet star you beguile,
as sunburst sky splashes pink patina
on your flowery feathers of flair.

October 7, 2020
Contest : All Yours (Jan 27)
Sponsor : Brian Strand...

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Listen to poem:

the years have added
to my patina in ways
that were not pre-approved

they crept up
one saggy whimper
one tiny wrinkle at a time

sly and sneaky
perfidious and insidious 
emphatically inclined

till one day barely recognizable
the years took their toll
adding much to my patina



AP: 3rd place 2023, Honorable Mention 2022

Posted on November 19, 2022...

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On your stardust sprinkled mesmeric meadow,
as I walked my yearning in the diaphanous night,
my heart turned to tinsel studded sky, flashing far.
You looked into transparent me, saw an astral sight
in celestial garden where the stars blossomed for you,
strands of their patina weaved the lattice of my dream.

June 16, 2020
Contest : Stardust
Sponsor : Nette Onclaud...

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under a delightful moon
      air silvermist due to drizzling rain
  a pale patina rode wavetops
              of the mystic sea

creamy waters washed across my feet
depositing opaline conchs, whelk egg cases
    and bits of purple fan coral
  oceanic generosity
          fueled my thankfulness
      as the horizon's apricot blush
                  announced sunrise...

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Gloaming is wont to quell
the ginger smoke,
expunge the crimson flames
that surround the mill.
Lilac shadows encroach 
to cloak the hull's mossy patina.
Autumn's wild rooster,
struts its brash plumage
among fallen shingles and rotted planks
until a black hawk soars,
eclipsing feral zinnias' embers
just as calliope chimes
of a fallen carousel
disappear in taloned pine air.

5/22/18...

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