Short Unvarnished Poems

Without a coat of experience,
the young receive unvarnished,truths...

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perfume bottle spills
memories bubble champagne --
unvarnished heart cheers.
 



6th April 2019...

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Short Verse 
Under a sand stone 
I found the unvarnished truth 
Alas it was subjective
Not a gold hued axiom 
A truth void of arguments...

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One unbiased through a lense seen clear
Objectively,subjectively unvarnished in form
No quantum entanglements at all devoid of expectation
Free flowing electrons prism like in possibility
The other a one eighty of the above
...

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A dash of wood varnish
A- twiddle-lee-dee

A coat of wood polish
A-twiddle-lee-dum

An Easter red bonnet
A twiddle-lee-doo

We shall be 
Like unvarnished wood
Blessed by the carpenters hands
Then, he shall smooth out the rough edges...

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bones are bones, when left alone …

          our marrow - the love, unvarnished,

               but sun-to-sun, the blood's undone

     by time, and the truth, so tarnished.






Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, September 8, 2022...

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Days come alive and I breathe
fresh scents of freedom, of sacrifice
floating fearlessly from your moon
your aura, an attraction anointing 
my glisten, an unvarnished truth
waiting to explode/explore within
a weekend of assertations
held firmly in the depth of your eye...

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Ze French, they are haughty
    Kremlinites, vulgar, crude
  Le artiste charcoal sketches
    in the unvarnished nude  

  Brits keep a stiff upper lip
    Pointy-shoed Italians think they are hip
  Ukrainians fight like the dickens
    their stockpiles reduced to slim pickens...

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Rimas Dissolutas
Unrhymed stanzas
Rinse and repeat
Envoi garnish

Attractiveness eludes us
Tiny dancer
Awkward on her feet
Reputation tarnished

Pirouette complete
Beauty unvarnished


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A Rimas Dissolutas with 4-line stanzas and an envoi: abcd abcd cd...

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SILENT BEAUTY

Unobserved beauty
Deep in the forest, they thrive
Bluebells make no sound.


 HAPPINESS

Cloud nine called to me
Happiness captured my mind
Unvarnished laughter.


 LOST DREAM

Brilliant dream shattered
Claimed by a new day dawning
Never to return....

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The cold, unvarnished truth
          is often held back

   from the malignant narcissist
     out of reluctance, if not fear

  of how deep it's knife would cut;
easily inflicted wound never heals


Bite Size Poem No.21 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Line Gauthier
Date written: 09/17/2021...

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Exposed and bare,
stripped and stark-

a body without a soul is nude...
an unclad essence in the dark.

Unvarnished and unsettled,
raw and unprotected-

me without you- defenseless...
an overt still rejected.

Within my natural modesty,
I've found a reason to be prude-
a manifestation and oddity,
I'm more hidden in the nude.

November 13, 2016...

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You want the blood,
not just the skin—
a poem that bleeds,
raw and open, like a wound
that won't close.
You want the truth,
sharp and unvarnished,
a mirror held up
to your own dark,
secret places.

I then will give you the bruises,
the way pain curves
around the bone.
You want the soft parts
exposed, a body laid bare
for you to feel human again....

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Making sense of it all…
our grandest myth

Wisdom born of age,
bleeding youth’s betrayal

Questions dry unvarnished,
cold naked in the night

Darker darks reface the cliff,
all edges sharper cut

Two images, clearer than before,
preying in deadly contrast

Wonder imprisoning the day
—fear stalking the night

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)...

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Making sense of it all…
  our grandest myth

Wisdom born of age,
  bleeds from youth’s betrayal

Questions drying unvarnished,
  naked meanings

Darker darks reface the cliff,
  edges sharper cut

Two images, clearer than before,
  preying in deadly contrast
  
As wonder divides the day,
  —fear stalks the night

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)...

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Draw back the curtains at your wake
To welcome in October
And heartily libation take
Lest the old crows find you sober

Invite your fond familiars in
Each cat and rat and magpie
Ignite your jack-o’-lantern grin
And kiss the moon at midnight

Fling far and wide your festive gold
Let no leaf go unvarnished
Stoke hearth and heart against the cold
Lest silver linings tarnish....

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Red beacon, burnished landmark

Rustic domiscile, ruddy stable


Sentinel on the scenic route

Natural redoubt with primitive clout


Wooden canvas, organic sculpture

Unvarnished facade with homespun charm


Fabricated equine loft

Habituated shelter for rodent, fowl


Free-flowing form in static realm

Leased to the fertile land you adorn


Pastoral heirloom, cherished monument

Essential dwelling, nostalgic mold...

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I am
a windmill, dilapidated but still rotating, creaking,
Lake Windermere off season, quiet and autumnal,
a tooth ache throbbing, an irritation, black decay inside.

I am
a foot stool unvarnished, one leg uneven, rarely used,
a penny farthing holding up traffic, out of time and season,
a pop song, mimed.

I am
an apple, red amongst a bowl of green.
I am one line short of a verse.

I am a letter unopened and unread,
returned to s-...

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The artists

Alfred, my chosen father, who denied
The paternity has his statue erected in Faro
At last, they honoured him for being glorious
Brought colour to an otherwise gloomy town.

Graffiti made by the likes of Banksy charms,
Most of the rest is scribbling on a wall.

I know little about a painter but Caravaggio
Spoke the unvarnished truth about our life.
His critics like to point out he was illegal too
What else to expect from a truth-teller....

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Artists

Alfred, by chosen father, vehemently denies
the paternity and has had his statue erected in Faro.
At last, he was honoured for being glorious
bringing colour to an otherwise gloomy town.

Graffiti made by the like of Banksy charms
the rest is scribbling on a wall.

I know little about painters except for Caravaggio 
he spoke the unvarnished truth about our life. 
His critics like to point out that he was illegal too
what else to expect of the fearful....

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