Best Poems Written by Eric Erb

Below are the all-time best Eric Erb poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

View ALL Eric ErbPoems

Details | Eric Erb Poem

What Remains Are Only the Values of Culture

their youth are blaring rock bands from ipods
in electricless village bamboo shacks
their adults bemoan the loss of culture

our youth are blazing on ahead, consuming
in never sleeping cities of credit and commerce
our adults are lost in mezmerizing ragas

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016


Details | Eric Erb Poem

The First Fire

Small shards of Flint stone, picked from the quarry’s rubble
Blacksmith-bent bit of iron, wrapped around my fisted knuckles
Strike strike strike spark!
Charred cloth poised to catch, glowing grows with gentle breath
Introduced to fine fibered tinder, Suddenly aflame, yabba dabba doo!

20161024

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

Fuel of Life

How you burn the fuel
 of life-  As faint slow smoulder
Or raging bonfire?

20161030

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

Her Shoes

She slips her feet
Her soft soles
Into high heeled shoes
Rises up into her power
So she boldly strides
Courtroom decides
She thinks it's in the shoes
It's not the stilettos
But what's in them

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

Elephant

Little elephant guy Ganesh
Facing out up on my dash
The traffic cars seem to part
And speed me on my way

And as the miles roll away
I notice he has turned
now he's facing me
On this endless highway

As I come up on the backs of trucks
Elephants of the highway road
Under his carved watchful eye
The truth begins to unfold

Behemoths keep their pace
Much too slow for me
No room for the passing
What will this strain avail?

So I let his presence guide me
This figure serves to remind me
And the blockages he removes
Are the ones inside me

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016


Details | Eric Erb Poem

A Riddle

Two wooden gangways
Jutting out onto the waters
Identical in every way, and yet…

Boats have long since ceased to come
What once arrived every day
No more the fisher’s poles and traps
Come to reap the bountiful bay

Yet there they are, rising still
Above the water, bridging bounds
Between the worlds of water and land
Lapped by waters gentle sounds

No difference between them can be discerned
Solve this riddle young acolyte and you’ll become
The bridge of all that was ever begun

20161021

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

A Sonnet: On Boundaries

Dawn draws her line along mother earths face
And she turns to bask in her lovers light
And so Dawn comes in turn to every place
She brings us forth from the long dark night

Here is where the ocean meets the land
Vast and deep and so different from the dirt
Crashing on the rocks, lapping against sand
Pebbles pushed to and fro, the globe she girt

Steepening mountains come to abrupt end
Where they scrape against the blue blue sky
the cliffs stand and harbor no foe nor friend
And here the very earth just falls away

this is where the day unfurls
this edge is where souls uncurl

20160623

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

Winter's White Cloak

Winters white cloak
Rent torn sliced open wide
Thrown aside
Expose the black top
That wounded hem
Where the white fields end
Crusty and soiled with exhausted specks
And detritus of Vulcan

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

The Palinend

The Palinend
the Palinend is a form of poetry that the last word of each line is spelled backwards from the last word of the line before.

as such it always has an even number of lines.
ideally the words are spelled exactly, but the order of the sounds is paramount, that is, deer and reed is ideal, but dear and reed are still properly within the form.

Minimally there should be at least six syllables per line, and at least six lines per poem.

A variation would be where the reversal would be spread across more than one word.

Here is an example:  Steve Irwin, Moses’s Mom, and Me  

in amongst the Nile reed
she trusts what she held most dear

out along the barrier reef
is where he faced his fear

though through this world we strut
it is in God that we trust

thus we discover how powerful we are
in this moment, or any era

if i can stay in the now
then i’ve truly won

In this example, the first two couplets are good examples as they have the sounds in order (but not the exact spelling)  The third couplet is weak, Strut and Trust are not exact reversals of each other.  The fourth and fifth couples are spot on.

here’s another: reward

the part of me most reviled
is the part that will deliver

so with my spirit i will tinker
and together my parts will reknit

so i’ll dig back into that dark drawer
and there find my great reward

  This one is a bit tighter, as all the pairings are exact.

If you give this a try, please post a link to your effort here in the comments, or at erbiage.wordpress.com/2016/11/04/the-palinend/

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2016

Details | Eric Erb Poem

How Can It Be

Eighteen yellow roses arrived today
The forth of September, with walnut tree
leaves Falling like snow, twirling to the ground
Nineteen years ago Rose arrived that may
The eighth of may, with black pekoe tea
Leaves twirling in my cup, spun my world around

Each year another yellow rose joined the spray
In our marriage we just grew more free
Under Each stone turned, more love we found
Each year another since our wedding day 
entwined together, she taught me how to be
Over my stone heart she always astound

Seventeen times that annual bouquet
September fourth, under the walnut tree
Under love lightened hearts we danced around
Twice she got stents and god, did I pray
For life without her I just could not see
Third time, no charm, left me gagged and bound

Sixteen weeks since she left this world, that day
The fourth September dying walnut tree
Dried yellow petals, weep dull lifeless sound
yet
Eighteen yellow roses arrived today

Copyright © Eric Erb | Year Posted 2018

12
Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace