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Howard Manser Poem
blind minions do not hear
deaf disciples cannot see
callous subzero frozen feelings
breed gibberish jarring jubilee
this bloody blind-eyed messiah
rode to town astride an ass
belching barking oratory
for an aimless lower class
a starry-eyed astrologer
alchemist extraordinaire
summoned shrouded quatrains
revealing he baffles with a flare
loitering lotus-eater
puppeteer par excellence
self-indulgent Machiavellian
pitched fabricated arrogance
adroit and ambidextrous
he summons the mercurial mass
conjuring decrees and fairytales
dictating his rules pass
lose not a bloodied hammered head
resign yourself to a running retreat
le guillotine administers
swift sweet and replete
no man speaks of that not heard
or sees that left not read
bony fingers point with indigestion
reflecting in fractured mirrors
Posted April 18, 2020
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
I had occasion to move this day
from the house I love for which I pay
to the Shambles Motel I now called home
on Third near State between Fourth and Roam
in the travelers presidential suite
from a paper plate I nibble a treat
enjoy my suds in a plastic cup
better warm so they bubble up
the carpet is made of synthetic wool
carefully shorn from a plastic bull
designer patterns adorn the floor
strains of rainbows approach the door
curtains are conveniently green
just in case its mold that’s seen
windows seem a translucent gray
keeping out the light of a sunny day
an ice box of pastel white
is almost clean just not quite
little remains from my host’s last guest
removing it now is likely best
my bathroom is clean by guarantee
overlooking what I might see
toilet water is a pallid yellow
an unknown remnant of an unknown fellow
on the night stand is cordless lamp
that during the day works like a champ
but in the dark I must say
I can’t find the switch, there is no way
a romper room mattress kind of soft
the apparent victim from assault aloft
the bed is great most of the time
it vibrates slow for the cost of a dime
sheets are clean from what I see
without lights they are home to me
snug as a bug in shaggy rug
lacking only a toad and a honey’s hug
here is a home that is worth a note
with a swimming pool, garden and a roaming goat
Patel my friend and curry too
spice of life, how do you do
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
aurora borealis
necklace around
twinkling northern lights
among flickering stars I see
dreams of you
my life
swirling night twilight
you come again
seduce
release me
muse demure
mesmerize
hypnotize
beckon with allure
take me to your bosom
against your breast once more
me you own entrapped
committed and engaged
in surrender
once again enslaved
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
careless hands roaming ways
lost in wisps purple haze
cryptic days secret nights
southern daze northern lights
careless hands restless feet
half not whole incomplete
rambling round cubic curled
resident netherworld
careless hands roving eyes
purposes in disguise
broken hearts no repair
sans remorse without care
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
rains clear
the moon shines bright
facing west
thoughts take flight
with a crumpled pack of cigarettes
judgments muse minor regrets
torrential showers dry my eyes
me and myself judge a shallow I
the past has passed
no future set
judgments squandered with some regret
a new day’s dawn bringeth light
lumination transcends plight
obligations shorn of debt
rationalized sans regret
hand me a key to unlock the sky
I seek the stars in the halo you ply
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
“Never forget
everything Hitler did
in Germany was legal.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
drop by drop lady liberty bleeds
red on white and blue
common sense vexatious
verboten spins askew
“We can and we must
write in the language
which sows among the masses
hate revulsion scorn and the like
toward those who disagree with us.”
- Vladimir Lenin
yesterday is ever-present
jarring brass voices carry it on
high-pitched illustrations
shutter the light from daybreak’s dawn
futures refuse focused reflection
engineering a blinding bluff
slick slogans snap fruitful echoes
crisp shrill voices retort rebuff
history passed to relegation
forecasts foreshadowing
revolution commands sharp perspective
voices interlaced with messaging
proclamations masked in silence
druids among ruins sanitize
starry-eyed men moralize
reworded histories are harmonize
lose not a bloodied head
resign yourself to running scared
la guillotine administers
justice swift and sweet
no man speaks of that not heard
or sees that left unread
bony fingers point with indigestion
at reflections of the living dead
attack the truth
harangue and splay
dissect and display
on an altar, the public tray
horizons pushed beyond the edge
driving a flying steel wedge
bait stains and fosters rot
grumbling boasts a rusting plot
lines crossed with grit and grime
rant and rave focused chime
call the blind to indict the slime
committing uncommitted crime
-
unspoken analysts said
les misérables are the walking dead
ill-bred still unread
they chant refrain mantra bred
rabid rabble inflame decay
peal mock alarms in disarray
paint rant in shades of purulent grey
breeding vipers able to slay
party lines made me sick
venom fomented from every prick
poison struck acting quick
wounds fester in politic
lesions dressed in Oleander
ooze toxin poised to pander
infected by casual candor
amplifies targeted slander
headstrong, at school I played
danced the dance and portrayed
sang the songs joined the throngs
the left was right to right the wrongs
truth died anonymously
sacrificed ceremoniously
falling prey to the knave
buried deep in an unmarked grave
snub the pundits chase them away
jerk their chains hold them at bay
once more and again today
cast off the chains unlock the fray
false flags majestically planted
are true lies taken for granted
straw men hanged and effigies burned
a nation divided its citizens churned
courts upheld
justice succumbs and expelled
“Those who cast ballots decide nothing
those who count ballots decide everything.”
- Josef Stalin
silhouettes set against the moon
marauding peril speaks to impending doom
through the mist, visualize
blood-red blazing vacant eyes
muscled henchmen, a Trojan horse
well-provisioned to run the course
--
prowlers target withering prey
actors draped in shades of grey
brandishing scythe blade and sheath
with hammer and sickle concealed beneath
cloaked in a promise and veiled deceit
the weak seek asylum in favored retreat
Quislings count the fallen heads
of wanton walking scurrilous dead
while wagons shadow and assassins ride
accommodating the cowards that hide
seeded slurs have demonized
principles a country crystallized
free speech and the Bill of Rights
pay the price of appetites
to satiate carnal greed
with the need to watch others bleed
henchmen ride the roads once more
perhaps this time to my front door
should I allow and let him in
embrace sit down and dine with him
or capitulate with blinded eyes
to all the founders theorized
shall I prize their lives to live
knowing so little that I can give
to draw breath for another day
missing not what slips away
I sanctioned them to do their job
too messy was their rule by mob
my hands are clean, I’m satisfied
they passed the rules I ratified
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
echoes and silhouettes mingle in chime
rebound reflecting ripples expounding
kaleidoscopic sketches that merge in mime
with sharp room light bounding
reflections crash against pallid ash
streaming pictures focus as waves that splash
gray sound horizons in tornados swirl
frequencies vibrate to sounds in the night
silhouettes dance with a hurricane whirl
fusing rhythms sonic flight
with pen and paper weigh bittersweet
against the storms kept sugary sweet
syncopation teases fabrication
solid vibrations join stars and skies in reply
flowing waves orchestrate the occasion
twin heartbeats in ally
echoes broadcast
bridge yesterday and the past
B814I
February 13, 2020
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
grandpa, a hard rock fisherman
and fractured fly rod journeyman
eyed a fish in the morning mist
kissing with giggle and lemon twist
he said he saw a bobbing head
round and fat with locks of red
six feet tall as the tale is told
and painted in a mermaid gold
by hook and line the gossip spread
buttered like a loaf of bread
the silver hook that reeled us in
were the white pearl dentures left to him
anglers hail this fishy tale
marked on a scale from two to ten
we weigh the wink with a childlike grin
tossing the lines that drag us in
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
today the past is now present
jarring brass voices carry weight
high-pitched illustrations
shutter light from daybreak dawn
future tenses refuse reflection
engineering a blinding bluff
seeking slogans fruitful echoes
crisp loud voices snap rebuff
the past passed to relegation
discreetly forecasts novelty
waiting for fresh perspective
voices laced with parody
language marred messaging
puzzling pundits pontificate
message mongers stifle voices
waiting for the phoenix to rise
mis’ry merchants manufacture
crafted paper pledges
baiting dunces to suicide
bards, poets and manic court jesters
silver-tongued foxes oft’ report
incestuous machinations
chilling wind numbs the dying
lying flaccid vocally bound
blinded targets hear no warnings
the deaf fall with no reprieve
parents dance to order
children chant a mantra’s song
in droplets
oceans swell
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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Howard Manser Poem
rootless on sapphire seas
tides dishonored then begrimed
a keel eroded, relentlessly thinned
barnacles disguised with time
drifting toward dark horizons
battered and barely alive
distant isles beg an appearance
pleading I arrive
beyond the rotting corpses
mired and run aground
anchored in the muddy depths
the Sea of Despair surrounds
fire-ravaged rigging
scared by flame and age
fail to bear the sails
billowing before winds of rage
salt-breached stores
neglect to nourish my
bloated belly filled with spoils
hunger pangs defy
lost upon the derelict
to no port do I belong
barren brown sandy isles
without an oasis or scarcely more
countless swells deftly erode
a deceptive sandy shore
dreams once charted a treasure map
leading me to distant virgin coasts
linger now in the swirling mist
reflecting fading failing ghosts
flailing from the yardarm
I beg reprieve once more
in the distance lays the land
of a milk and honey shore
riding waves of swirling crimson
on churning deep blue azure seas
surrender not to marauders
pirates or itinerant thieves
blues swirl destroying dreams
hurricanes batter weakening beams
darkness reflects in fractured mirrors
as blues drift through sapphire seas
B709I
Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020
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