Short Tarp Poems

storm raging out there
dark gray tarp flung across sky
thunder cracks her truth...

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the red wagon prop
near the stuffed blue tarp
— logs rest underneath

10/15/2018...

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the rain delay
we best put everything away
we musn’t harp
the World According to Tarp....

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Verse
wiped angst
from life's tarp
Erased all Grief
And gave them a long furlough of absence


Written: February 12, 2022...

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Give me back
What you took
Give me peace
Give me breath
Give me what your eyes always
To promise
That tentative sweet tarp of your love
Or take the bone
And the flesh
Too...

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when she left
emerald spears
lay rusting
in the ground
partially veiled
by lost companions

 shed skeletons
stoically stand skyward
stabbing space

silence captures all
as water flakes
fall quietly to the tarp

crackling fuel 
in the room’s womb
melts the chilled void
she left behind...

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Oh the gray of day
The plump raindrop sheltered in the corner of the pane
Reflecting and magnifying the gray
Gray, gray, gray
Downward funk please leave
This raindrop has much to do
And the gray tarp is no shelter
How we need the full spectrum to create
Oh gray of day
Release one of your misty rainbows
So that I may look beyond...

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Once more, a tired tarp shields 
       and saves him tonight
from the dreary drizzle that 
       deadens his sight;

these days solitude has been 
       the trash can fire
he's been huddling around 
       in fevered desire

with fellow wanderers warming 
       weary hands,
on their fingers college rings, 
       wedding bands....

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Art of the heart
Heavenly true blue
A neon Noah's Ark
Of love letters to you

Saving in part
Holy heart from doom
Or drowning in the dark
Missing the warmth of June

Starving Amethyst Artist
With much soul food
Life of the party
Satin smile soft cool

Tender turquoise tarp
Housing lavender love
Sculpting in the dark
Indigo intimacy from above....

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an old ripped tarp argues with the wind
the NO TRESPASSING sign trembles
an underdressed scare crow ‘crazy dances”
mocking a city dweller manically hailing a cab
the warmth of the red barn lies to the field mice
offers only the emptiness of progress
sad hollow hope of grain-less silos
silent feathers watch as hunger preys
upon the return of every sunrise
an old ripped tarp argues with the wind 


©1/20/2019...

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Along the railway embankment
a flight of swallows skims the field
now touched with amber shades of fall.

I’ve walked this way before,
along the river’s willow edge,
along the railway embankment.

I’ve found the homeless camps
where no one’s home – a tarp, a mattress.
A flight of swallows skims the field

and a chill wind tells me to move on.
I have a house, a hearth, a window view
now touched with amber shades of fall....

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A vivid, smoky ache 
Tendrils of a rugged snake
Wispy fangs tear the gut
But fire smokes without a cut

And out in cold air
Ice meets the wary stare
No red can mark the skin
The heat resides within

Outside so cold and lost
Huddle up and warm the frost
Their wary eyes cool and sharp
Hide under thickened tarp

Cuddle up and hug your scars
Share light with just the stars
And beside the ill lit moon
We’ll learn to hide our wound...

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The wind whipped the canvas tarp, 
rain pricked the pavilion with the 
accuracy of a Master Archer,
weak seams were laid wide.

Upon bodies warm and wet with loving,
teardrops fell, a baptism of desire cleansed
spirits too long lost to the pleasures of the flesh.

Wind chimes rang like church bells hearkening 
atonement while in the womb-like blackness,
filled with pheromones of passion and marked 
with a plethora of moans, the lovers lay....

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A single smile can open bolted doors
uncork expensive champagne
put balm on broken souls
chase lightning and thunder away.
A single smile can stop wars
sprinkle a little hope
blunt the tusk of the boar,
give tarp and a tea to the homeless
lay a flower on a long forgotten stone
a smile can send death over the cliff
shine light into the pits of a jagged mind
change hardened hearts into diamonds...
but a smile can also hide a dagger 
or a pride of famished lions....

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Listen to poem:

The stage is set once again
a tarp put down to catch the blood
with a backdrop to accentuate
an end foretold by stalking fate

what could be is doomed to fail
except to ask hope to prevail
even as the tiresome trek
demands detours into dread

once again the faith is crushed
gods are damned in the dust
beholden to the sacrifice
their gaze observes the final price

the implement has been set
disappoint hone to an edge
waiting for the nod to slice
to the bone without respite....

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