Short Riff Poems

Strumming the guitar,
His soul speaks through every riff:
Dialogue of strings....

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an erotic riff
a lake
a walk
an evening gift 

Maurice Yvonne
05/11/2014...

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Henri de Touulouse -Latrec
a painter with a body a wreck
Known for mixing with riff-raff
in local bars  & 'caff'...

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In the lonely house
She must give body and soul
To the old riff-raff
Heaven will send her true love
He said maybe next year...

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Did you ever wonder if;
Happiness was just a myth?
Stroll across the meadow mist.
Listen to a morning riff.
In sweet bird song it exists!...

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It still burns like fire in the sky - 
Smoke on the water still sustains, 
As charts of stellar hits pass by 
Riff of Deep Purple fore’er reigns! 
...

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The pulse of a guitar riff 
you just can’t wait to start,  
our song is a drumbeat,
loud and avant-garde;
the rhythm of heartbeats merging 
and shivers that never stop....

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the first riff jolts     then progressively gets softer
while putting random bossas     afraid of rocking proper

such vanillaness
in his articulations
all for the mainstreet...

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mind song riffs*
joining the back beat
nature clicks
timpani** 
drums of black thunder percuss*** 
then the sky opens



*riff a short series of notes
  which create a melody
**skin covered drums
***to tap on...

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Tina Fey as Palin;
Alec Baldwin’s Trump:
Both coaxed many smiles
From a nation in a slump.

Add to that McCarthy
With a spot-on riff on Spicer.
Laughing on these gloomy days
Just couldn’t feel much nicer!...

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The big city at night is a scary place to be
Full of characters who are totally out of their tree
They come out at night
The riff raff take flight
Like men with long hair wearing polka dot capris...

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What is the baseline 
  of your life?

How deep is the chord structure 
  of your meaning?

What is that riff that no raff 
  can destroy?

How long is your drum roll 
 —at the end?

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)...

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Sharing space with myself
  replaying ‘what if’

Symbiosis conjoins
  the jazz in the riff

The progression regressive
  separation be damned

My shadow imploding
  —in a joyous ‘I Am’

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)...

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The riff smiled first,
as the raff smiled back

Each knowing the other,
the white from the black

“They’ll never accept us,”
they both would exclaim

“The ‘grays’ have the mantle,
defiled and profane”

(Dreamsleep: May, 2021)...

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Flying to the melody
My mind flows adrift,
Waking in rapture,
Taking in the next riff,
Walking down a flower-drenched aisle,
Rewind,
Life in slow motion,
Stories on rotation,
Just lying here,
Lying motionless,
Good morning,
Good morning....

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The sound of a single guitar string is a haunting sigh.
A chord will bring the beginnings of a smile as other sounds pass by.
Ah, but the arrival of a riff brings laughter as a song is nigh.

6-6-18

For Silent One's contest When Three Lines Are So Much Better...

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“Replay the riff in G,”
Robby said to Ray

“Come in a half beat behind,”
they both said to John

Then the three looked at Jim who said…
“Lay it all down,
turn it all over,
and pull it all back”

(8901 West Sunset Boulevard: West Hollywood California, 7-21-1966)...

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Pounding each key
like a Fender Rhodes
the computer bent and wailed
Bits and bytes
of encrypted language
messages derailed

Memory freezes
last chance rebooted
restart zero-sum
The riff uncapped
its printout fading
—typeface on the run

(The New Room: 8/6/2023)...

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come, quiet my body
it speaks in loud tones
calls upon you
sings and shouts for your

attention

thighs clash to be seen
arms string, strung
riff by air penetrating riff

come, quiet my body
with a lullaby from your
body, whisper me hush
give  me soft, pleasing

attention...

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Painted up with that color I love,
baited with a pair of blue shutters;
Fated to call this vacant dwelling,
sacred shelter with just four letters;

Replay of a riff from the back porch,
a taste of that song got me homesick;
Betray my gypsy heart for a dream?
‘Stay, this is home.’ the seductive lyric....

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Hope shone through this acoustic shell 
as pipe dreams drifted through ripples
nestled amongst the glorious trees 
chords riff some strummed an original lick
as they frolicked in harmony upon a dim lit sky
their beauty flourished through fragrant cracks 
perfumed lavender replenished these restless hearts...

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Image

Who am I
if not this scene
I’ve seasoned
with my sweat?
Repeating lines
to improvise—
an image 
to impress.

My heart’s a sound
that’s underground
but never skips
a beat.
The life I live
is rhyme and riff
but dances with— 
out me.

March 31, 2017
for The Book of Love Poetry Contest...

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Looking into my windows,
Reveal charred sanctuaries.
Caught up in my willows,
You’ll never escape my trees.

Innocence I lack
Shows in my tire.
I looked back,
I was on fire.

Fingers grow stiff, 
Shedding emotions. 
While a frigid riff
Invokes new potions.

I'm in pain 
And can't move.
I'm in vain;
That I can prove....

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A red bounds to halt
ears radar,
and the Nulla Nulla 
rolls to beats of thunder
and smash tribute, 
in a lightning
conducted heaven


An invite of ozone 
in the showered mist
heralds,
a first riff,
as black opal clouds,
open 
to concert


A drop hits,
the emptiness 
before the tempest,
consumed silence


--------...

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Listen to poem:

Exuberance bobs, bops and bounces
on a trampoline of joyous elation.
Its riff a catchy refrain
that sticks in the brain,
prods and pokes receptive minds 
into action and reaction.
Like a buoy rocking on waves,
to and fro,
up and down,
side to side,
Just can't sit still,
all aflame and glowing, 
sparking with joyous jubilation....

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