The mountain road is sometimes flat,
but it's not ever straight.
It winds through woods -- so deep and dark --
but where spotlights await.
Mountain Road [Common Meter]
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Category Archives: Lyric
Gateless [Lyric]
![Photograph of a gate at Kothi Gulistan-i-Eram [कोठी गुलिस्तान-ए-इरम] in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.](https://berniegourley.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/img_7619.jpg)
A Wall -- one may love or hate.
But picture one without a gate.
It is our ever-present fate
to need to see from either side.
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Soul Deaf [Lyric Poem]
As I've traveled around the globe,
I've felt the music from some souls --
Those who exude, in part or whole,
a secret and sacred rhythm.
And when their tunes did call to me
I felt a yearning to be free
to dance and sing, if out of key,
yet ever so resonantly.
Who could have known that I'd go deaf.
With ear to ground, nothing was left.
It felt like a horrible theft
from all (and yet received by none.)
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Ominous [Common Meter]
What lives behind that ornate door
that's carved of snakes and vines?
I see them writhe and feel a shift
in its symbols and signs.
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Play Mind [Common Meter]
What is this cloud above my head
on such a sunny day?
You may think it foreshadows rain.
I think that it brings play.
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Armenia [Common Meter]
I once sped through an ancient land
that blurred of gray and green.
Its pastures had been neatly grazed
by some livestock, unseen.
Its mountains rugged, under clouds
whose drift could not be seen.
It felt like a long-lost painting
or unremembered dream.
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The Industrial Disease [Lyric Poem]
I heard the last gasp and wheeze
of Industry's fatal disease.
Why would we need any workers?
We don't need factories!
We'll grow it all from nanobots
in a closet where you please.
There'll be a 3-D printer, printing
printers endlessly.
You won't hear another mention
of Industrial Disease.
The question is not how or where
to make it, that'll be a breeze.
The question on economist's minds...
that strains their expertise.
Is how will slobs who have no jobs
pay for their indices?
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The Deeps [Lyric Poem]
A jutting rock
splits the river,
diverging streams
never wither,
but speed around --
smoothly flowing,
still gaining speed --
never slowing,
until they reach
the deeps.
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BOOK: “Cajun Night Before Christmas” by Trosclair
Cajun Night Before Christmas by TrosclairMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Pelican Books
As it happens, I was just in New Orleans during Christmas and stumbled onto this book, which is well regarded regionally but pretty much unheard of beyond. It is essentially the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (a.k.a. “Twas the Night Before Christmas,”) but conveyed in the Cajun dialect, featuring a Santa that is a bit scruffier and who is transported by alligators rather than reindeer. It adds a bit of humor as well as regional flavor to the poem. As one would expect, it’s illustrated in the style of a children’s story book.
If you find yourself in bayou country during the holiday season, I’d highly recommend you give it a read.
View all my reviews
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Lake Ice [Lyric Poem]
Sun-sparkles on the lake’s far end
look icy cool beneath blue skies,
but Winter shivers, I suspend,
because late Spring is telling lies.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 