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Best Poems Written by Marshall Defor

Below are the all-time best Marshall Defor poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Marshall Defor Poem

. . . .and all of a sudden, the burden of responsibility weighs heavy on my shoulders. as commander of war, my fingers shake as thoughts run wildly through my head: thoughts of gaps in formations of navy ships overlap with estimates of how many i can keep from passing away in tragedy. i run my fingers through my hair. . . .and all of a sudden, her estranged mom is passing away in tragedy. and i know that her inner child is trembling. the hardest part is knowing she feels small, alone. from thirteen hundred miles away, i cannot be there to hold her when things get tough for the small one inside her, whose one desire is to be loved by those whose only job it was to demonstrate the beauty of a safe connection. . . .and all of a sudden, he loves me back. i feel it. my head rests in his lap; i feel his fingers run through my hair from thirteen hundred miles away, and i finally feel safe. i look up at him, and my breath catches at his beauty. you are so beautiful, i tell him. he smiles, chuckles to himself: even in a fever dream, you can’t resist telling me that i am beautiful. i can hear something like awe in his voice. . . .and all of a sudden, i am utterly alone, gasping in pain. i find myself praying that i am not passing away in tragedy, that my body returns to a homeostasis that keeps me from feeling like this all of the time. head pounding picks up pace. fingers shift from hair to burning forehead. i pray for a burden of responsibility that weighs heavy on my shoulders: i pray to remain on this earth for a few more years, until i am able to hug my mom, until i am able to pass away from this life without too much guilt.

Details | Marshall Defor Poem

Ars Poetica: Brother

someday, he will sit stiff
on our piano bench 
to which he has grown accustomed, and i,
home, will sit nearby 
in our cozy armchair, 
an old accomplice to my posture.

     i can’t remember the last time i saw him relax
     this boy, this impossibly-almost man.

he will play me what he is able
of the opus he meticulously composed
in the year since we last met,
in the year since he told me
he wished he knew who i was,
who i had become since moving away. 
i can still feel his excitement in the message 
i received last month once he had finished.

i will revel in every chord progression, 
every stylized transition,
and any idiosyncratic modulation,
exemplifications of his desire to see G*d. 	
 

     and i will congratulate my brother,
     for i have grown to admire the passion
     with which he worships the One Who Loves.

and i will ask to read him a poem.
and during these moments, we will glean
a piece of each other that we usually cannot hold.

     i think this is what love can look like:
     distant hearts drawing near, speaking
     a language without words, the language
     that lets them feel they are not alone,
     not so different after all.

Details | Marshall Defor Poem

Sunrise Ritual

an early mourning stroll, and hours spent passing through as many neighbourhoods,

and sometimes you sob so
violently that you cannot contain
noises breaking past your lips, sounds
usually repressed. sometimes you can only
sob while pacing the streets, and sometimes you
must spend hours shaking, shaking, pacing the streets.

step after step. you roll your shoulders, gasp;

     i think of making you a playlist. i think about the order of the
     songs so i can communicate to you my witness. oh,
     how precious you are. my Love, we sit on secrets. there is more 
     to say, that which surpasses language. perhaps, music could help 
     approximate; and Dearest, i digress. 

     not a playlist. i decide upon a poem instead, 
     gracelessly splattering ink
     in an attempt at abstraction,
     to bring another viewpoint of Love into focus.
     just for you.

the house gardens contain miracles.

wrong pillow. neck knot.  ache.

Best Poems Written by Marshall Defor

Stopper

Fever Dream 2020

Ars Poetica: Brother

Sunrise Ritual