Short Starkness Poems

the starkness of oak
the limbs emulating lack
cold bites without snow
without sun, leaves, they’re held back
Oh the sting - where are Spring bees?

1/21/2023...

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The very first image I recall in my youth
Was momma a-rockin' as her contentment oozed
In spite of the hardships
During the thirties starkness
She always sang quietly remaining aloof...

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The very first image I recall in my youth
Was momma a-rockin' as her contentment oozed
In spite of the hardships
During the thirties starkness
She always sang quietly remaining aloof...

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Eternal light shines so bright
Day or night we are in it’s sight

Steadfast love from above
Forever right ours to hold

Peering into the starkness
The veil of misty darkness

Calm assurance does attend
When all we do is pretend...

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The sea carries many ghosts
Their past pain, in waves, it hosts
I cannot swim within it
The tides force me to submit

Yes, I see its rich beauty
I also see its darkness
Bones in chains are its bootie
Moonlit, despite its starkness

05/28/2018...

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Her innocence was lost in a daze of confusion.
Trusting blood and the need for inclusion.
Case is hot but turns cold with darkness.
Fading away from a Mother's starkness.
Her case was never won and remains still.
Her only solace is knowing it is not God's Will....

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when the sun rotates

backwards in the sky

and the blue goes on and on

without the wisp of a cloud

we are in the starkness of the day


when unmeasured time

passes on the hands

of a broken watch only

do we understand when these

days are gone the starkness of the day...

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Light without contrast, deep darkness
Not quite our comfort zone
Can we remain in this starkness
Coming into our own

Is complete our release
Do we flow on with ease
Unfettered, like the breeze

Old concepts recast
Light without contrast

09-May-2022
Quietus ...

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Concepts and visions cresting
   Adrift upon the wind of mind
In the recesses we fear of to speak
   Within there the storms fury rises
Blasting away the starkness of thought
   Released this unhindered internal mêlée
Then…residing in a calming respite
    It sits alone ignored
An ideological dogma...

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Cool's in the 'tude 
motivates action.
Stuff's stuff and we all have
reactions.

Gifted from birth all humans
we seek sometimes illumine
ache shuns when really
(and this may sound silly)

the light's shinin' down.

Candles in darkness
absence in starkness
let's go swing in the park, yes.
Is good for all us....

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Indifference, plague of our times
We’ve befriended darkness 
Stuporous heart deaf to love’s chimes
Our soul’s barren starkness

Enmeshed in ego snare
Dark dungeons of despair 
When hearts with hearts don’t pair

Deadened conscience 
Indifference

27-November-2021
Quietus ...

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The green and fading afternoon
as starkness sets within, behind,
long shadows creep, with twilight soon.
The green and fading afternoon
releases brute bubonic moon.
The town folks dream with peace of mind.
The green and fading afternoon.
as starkness sets within, behind.

1/31/2022...

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As night burns into morning 
New light breaking darkness
Life begins its unravelings
Horizon seperated starkness
Clouds calling their dew in
To rain upon with blackness
And clash with static cling
Growing fields of emptiness
To keep us going once again
Never expect an endlessness
All one day becoming within...

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Artists work the hardest
Trying to start this
Its where the heart is
Being modest, don't know what the cost is
Should I toss this?
Or should I char this?
Reach for the farthest
It's a star quest
In the starkness
Bringing light from the darkness
You might wanna hark this
Before the spark is
Completely thoughtless...

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he heard the golden trumpets calling
sounds coming from an empty mansard
as heat rises over his copper head
over his eponymous cosmos

the maker of secular arts
shall fall before he could rise for the first time

only because there's a leak sur le jardin
the maker shall fall deep down
bound to his cloaked heart of starkness...

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The silent moon veiled in seamless web darkness.
Bejeweled in radiance starkness,
Youthful valiant Prince Harkness.
Lost in hush briefness.
Charming, brave.
Fierce.
His, a fave.
Diligence, briskness
Each breath struck by its broadness.
Shadow soldiers walk with such braveness.
The silent moon veiled in seamless web darkness.

4/22/2024...

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No cigar— a narrowly missed success, in this poem happily missed.

COLD BUT NO CIGAR

Rainy today, cold enough for warm pajamas.
Yellow nest of autumnal loveliness.
Picturesque before starkness fills the pane.
Incisors of another season, threatening
to pinch me with impending Winter—
not so fast, dying my hair green!

10/29/2021...

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Brown and withered... 
all these branches 
Winter 
In all its' starkness 

A strange beauty, 
in shades of brown 
Winter... 
Unclad 

Tumbling brown leaves, 
in a winter sky 
Tracing your name 
Such silence... 
Winter... 
when it came 

The snow has yet to fall... 
A strange time, 
with a wintry sun 
Cold 
The whiteness has not yet begun...

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Autumn brushes her hair slowly
Letting the glorious colors
flow gently to the earth below.
Showing off vibrant colors 
 in contrast to summer's green dress.
 Out doing the starkness,
of winter's white coat.
Autumn compares the mutable
shades of spring to her fall
Giving a sigh ,end of another season.
She packs her brush 
as frost touches her tips.
...

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Names, faces, families
Everyone has a personal story
After the politics and the desperate search for answers
We are left with a list of names
And the loss of such beautiful faces
And the tears of wounded families
Our future cries out in the starkness of this senseless act
And all our love and memories respond in soulful echoes
Love is timeless and endures the pain...

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Beauteous darkness,
With a heavenly glow,
That wondrous starkness,
When stars overflow.

Late-night fantasies,
Are woven in time,
With sweet memories,
Of golden day sublime.

Bewitching lights,
Even in fog and haze,
Shine fervently bright,
As if they were ablaze.

Shrouds of darkness,
Piercing beams of light,
Many are unconscious,
Of the beautiful sight!...

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An apricot sun slowly rises
Against steel gray dark clouds
The damp coolness penetrates blooms
Ready to open proud

The star magnolia's pink blossoms
Long to release pollen
Into the spring air to mingle
With daffodil's blooms swollen

The yellow of a few stray buds
That forsythia gold
Reveals the starkness of the bark
A winter's gray behold  

Unfinished...

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starkness invading, picture windows view
the wake of an invisible house through
the maze of forest oaks becoming blue.
seizure of sure Winter eyes, long night’s coup.

of red foxes, no sightings but a twig
snapping, turns chilly heads, as moonlight wigs
out at the littered floor, nocturnal rig —
cacophony of coyotes, the dig.

                          11/27/2020...

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Adrift in your eyes
     The night is deep
I search raven skies
     I cannot speak

What is this embrace
     Held to your darkness
I touch your face
     I feel the starkness

The powers that be
     This mysterious night
Have come unto me
     Your rule they indict

I am left to grovel
     Desire unyielding
A lecherous hovel
     A whim to your wielding

8/4/17...

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Nothing behind but darkness
I can’t go forward in this starkness
Inside these walls I flee
Escapes between the pages you see
A sorrow, too great to bear
Too large is my fear
I heal in this isolation
reprieve in my determination.
Tears flow through my heart
I am sorry we had to part. 
From the haze you arrive
Together we’re alive
Reflect my pain 
Remove the stain
A light amongst the darkness...

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