tho' I am but the sparrow's twining strains
the palette and the pen of whisp'ring souls
I'm sweeter still if dashed upon the shoals
or bleeding from the hem of day's remains
tho' I may weep from all a scoundrel feigns
for what each soldier's dying breath extols
it's grander even morning's meadow rolls
as spindrift tossed upon the grassy plains
oh I am found the coursing thru all things
as warm within your veins, as sunset's sky
my constancy to love and swoon and hate
to stir in hopes or see what passion brings
so guard me close or open me and cry ...
I'll bound and thrum and patiently ... await.
Copyright © 2020 Gregory Richard Barden ( rewrite )
The distant cold hum
of a refrigerated embryology.
Morning eggs arrayed
in their cartons,
domed power-plants
in laboratory-white.
I crack a shell open,
by cautious habit
check for any telltale spindrift of red,
a sign of incipient life
or the Sunnyside-up face of death.
Sly low tide sneaks up to smooch the smooth shore
that holds old footsteps left behind us
and lends itself to sand castles
standing guard until high tide
plovers dart on fleet feet
across sodden sands
spindle-legged girls
hunt conch shells —
starfish
found!
Blue
waters
glistening
aqua appeal —
white horse sea-magic
spindrift manes rise from crests
awakened from lowest ebb
high tide arrives on thunder hooves
body-surf Neptune’s steeds to the shore —
my wet hair dries to sun-bleached beachy waves…
let me ...
you are The All
your need is my pleasure -
your pleasure, my need
i, water to your vessel
rain to your bloom
your fingers are the spaces in mine
your body, the bread of my desire
the altar of my sacrifice
let me fill my hollows - sip your wine
please, let me ...
you are The One
the reef i break myself upon
the soft sand beach that receives me
i, your spindrift ...
washed shore-ward by the storm, life
you are my mercy ...
bind me with your sorrows
let weep, the blood of pain and passion
wrap me in your wings
and let me.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden
Soaked by a spectacular spindrift,
liminal lingering leaves me locked up;
My eyes, a glass covered in sea salt;
Warm spray masquerades the rim.
Liminal lingering leaves me locked up,
waiting on tempestuous mavericks;
Warm spray masquerades the rim,
sprinkles intrude and steal the sip.
Waiting on tempestuous mavericks
to deepen this dance of distraction;
Sprinkles intrude and steal the sip
stifling the potency of chosen poison.
To deepen this dance of distraction
every wave is a wondrous swoosh;
Stifling the potency of chosen poison,
disguised as such intricate beauty.
Every wave is a wondrous swoosh;
My eyes, a glass covered in sea salt.
Disguised as such intricate beauty,
soaked by a spectacular spindrift.
A lonely life it’s not easy being a fisher’s wife
but loneliness can be a compassionate companion
unbridled spite of bucking boss-mare-waves followed you ashore
her turmoil roiled the blood in your veins
and no amount of vodka
could flatline her seething heartbeat inside you
I saw her in your storm-full eyes eyes the color of stormy seas
you wore your hair in dark waves like hers a windblown tangle
I saw her in your storm-full eyes spindrift and steel blue —
rage of the Bering Sea against a canvas-sky the portrait of your eyes
your tongue-shard slashed at me like a broken bottle in hand
word-squalls blew and fist-storms
flew like splintered glass
piercing me to my marrow till I glistened
but… I could never glisten like her unblemished face at dawn
years of boss-mare-waves ground you down – razor edges worn smooth
your storm-tossed-heart now floats.. a lost raft on a tamed tsunami
your flat-sea-eyes the ancient blue of glacier ice
frosted over dull yet with a faint glow of stories you can’t tell
as you search a cognitive wasteland for words as harmless as sea glass
Black and White – 3-18-24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black and White
Black and white come in focus -
Absent of prime –
A slice of life exposed through the lens,
A flash-dance of story, a masquerade ball.
No sunrise of sepia - clouds absent of platinum,
Lavender drained from lilacs, sky robbed of blue,
Red-orange stolen from sunsets.
Spindrift frozen like frost,
Candlelight shines undimmed and eternal,
Stark either or – life or not -
In shadows, snow or mountaintops,
Ghosts on boughs of ebony wear gossamer.
Wrinkles and lines banished from smiles of youth
While the lens loves some visages
As eyes without color look back from albums.
Positive to negative. Negative to positive.
Photoplay in wedding smiles or tears of a clown
Moments of the soul held in tenderness
Protected in scrapbooks of black and white.
As wild as unbridled seas,
soft as mist, a spindrift tease.
Night stars swoon and fall from skies;
constellations fill her eyes.
Every leaf stirs in her wake,
bottom to top, mountains quake.
Beaux like grapes bunch on her vine,
blood in veins she turns to wine.
Kisses sipped, her cherry lips.
Saké nip, rock ‘n roll hips;
tongue-and-groove celebration,
sensual saturation.
Her riptide lures sand from shore,
tsunami, when she wants more.
I am Seraphim voyaging to descend
Spanning the lake of invisible water
A spindrift of twirls of huffing wind
Falling-in Fall leaves gathered on a rusted altar
Blissing in delicate spirals I bend
Just where the river ends
Exalted and brilliant within intangible halos
I light the world then setting slow
In golden hues I fade then falter
Sublimely reimagined I do delight
To evaporate into the glow of night
Painting the moon with vestiges of the coming day
Etheree 10- 12-23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waves ~
Waves
Glide in
On white wings,
Fleecy whitecaps
Flutter in rhythmic
Rhapsodies of seafoam
Swell across the naked sands
Hypnotic serpentines slow dance
Surges of rising tides bear spindrift
To sparkle like crystal frost in sunlight
Ebbing billows crescendo in withdrawal
As the shore clings to the waves caress
Tidal pulse bids the shore farewell
Leaving sandy signatures,
Lacy ripples of ebb,
Tidepools overflow
Driftwood harvest
Seaside gifts
New waves
Form
A blue watercolor washes in brilliant white
sky in the sunshine while you lose sight;
melting into the sea soothing ride downwind
rumbling spindrift of the waves by the wind.
Mama and her six-kitten stand on the pier,
on a fishing net, watching their biggest fear.
They're being left behind, abandon, alone nobody near.
Their family leaving on a luxury liner
navigating out; believed there was no love finer.
Unconditional embracing love, cease to be.
Farewell pleading meows drawn-out towards the sea.
nocturnal retreat
mauve tackles midnight
lavender echoes whisper ~
song of the rooster
curly coral clouds
dressed in a burnished bronze blush ~
ebony snoozes
round rosiness yawns
in wispy gossamer hush ~
the sweet scent of pink
puffy plumes of gold
like lush heavenly spindrift ~
nocturnal retreat
6/6/23
Cadence
Nature dances in the cadence of grace
In hypnotic snows descending
Or raindrops steady patter
In symphonies of metered tides
That match the rhythmic heartbeat
Drawing spindrift of the heart into fusion.
Grace never slumbers in hibernation,
Nor does the pulse of consecrated mercy sleep
Abiding in the orbit of the seasons
Harmonic vibrations of celestial seeds
Flow from the eternal’s pulsing passion
In steady beats of melodic call and respond.
Grace breathes in measured breaths of compassion
In the tempo of prevailing winds
In sync with chirping poetry of avian songs
Like forgiveness breathing in then out
In even patterns of enduring peace
Nature dances in the cadence of grace.
2-3-23
Contest: C Words
Sponsor: Constance La France
oh, heaven …
the enigma of her face ...
its melting mysteries and moody veneers -
when shadowy and despondent
like a brumal, aching, mist-muddled beach
wild tresses framing it
like a surf-swept seaweed
sandy spindrift
left tossed by her squall
then …
the haze lifts -
irises - star sapphires, shimmering
glistening like the wash of the Milky Way
her smile blooms forth
as a dazzling midday meadow
splashed thick with bluebells and promise
and all that manic magic ...
cinematic surprises from there-to-here
rages of rouge, bawdy blushes
and pale complexions, pitiful
the multitude of transitions and tones -
all my undoing
and all divine …
oh heaven.
( this is a simple form I created called “Bookend Free Verse - I hope you enjoyed it )
Time Like Crashing Waves
Time, like waves crashing on a smooth-faced sand,
Leaves imbedded ripples on shores of memory
And drop-offs marked with steep undertow warnings
In foamy filigrees etched on recollection
Of abandoned shells searching for lost pearls
Rogue of ever rolling thunder reveals
A pulsing tide of perpetual motion
A seething thrust in ebb and flow unstoppable
The hidden undercurrent of volcanic change
From dawn to dusk and through midnight
Rolling breakers storm the beachhead
In gyrating riptides rhyme and rhythm
In white caps dripping with sweet juices
To expose beauty hidden in the shallows
Veiled beneath blistered wild gales
Spindrift masks forgotten sandcastles
As flowing swells returns dreams
To the impatient pounding waves of decades
Elusive in the mists of unrelenting surges
Sinking into whirlpools, forgotten in new tides.
8-12-22
Contest: Simile
Sponsor: Hilo Poet
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