Tag Archives: poem

“The Call” by Charlotte Mew [w/ Audio]

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From our low seat beside the fire
 Where we have dozed and dreamed and watched the glow
 Or raked the ashes, stopping so
 We scarcely saw the sun or rain
 Above, or looked much higher
 Than this same quiet red or burned-out fire.
To-night we heard a call,
 A rattle on the window-pane,
 A voice on the sharp air,
 And felt a breath stirring our hair,
 A flame within us: Something swift and tall
 Swept in and out and that was all.
Was it a bright or dark angel? Who can know?
It left no mark upon the snow,
 But suddenly it snapped the chain
 Unbarred, flung wide the door
 Which will not shut again;
 And so we cannot sit here anymore.
We must arise and go:
 The world is cold without
 And dark and hedged about
 With mystery and enmity and doubt,
 But we must go
 Though yet we do not know
 Who called, or what marks we shall leave upon the snow.

Mole Limerick

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There once was a lady with a mole,
 And, about it, she was hard to console.
   Examples were proffered,
   Such as Cindy Crawford.
 "But mine is dead, & it dug such fine holes."

Lover’s Limerick

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There once was a Shakespearean lover,
 Who, in darkness, crawled under cover.
   Much to his surprise,
   Having no use of eyes,
 He later learned 'tweren't his lover, but another.

“Darest Thou Now O Soul” by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]

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Darest thou now O soul,
 Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
 Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?

No map there, nor guide,
 Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
 Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.

I know it not O soul,
 Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us,
 All waits undream'd of in that region, that inaccessible land. 

Till when the ties loosen,
 All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
 Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bounding us.

Then we burst forth, we float,
 In Time and Space O soul, prepared for them,
 Equal, equipt at last, (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfill O soul.

Spring Rain [Haiku]

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sweet rain scent, &
 sound of spatter on leaves, &
  one drop on the face.

Lone Fisherman [Haiku]

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one fisherman,
 boat undulating on the
  lake at sunrise.

Ruins [Senryū]

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a cow grazes
 on a plinth once reserved
   for priests & kings.

“Mock on, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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Mock on, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau;
   Mock on, Mock on, 'tis all in vain.
 You throw the sand against the wind,
   And the wind blows it back again.

And every sand becomes a Gem
   Reflected in the beams divine;
 Blown back, they blind the mocking Eye,
   But still in Israel's paths they shine.

The Atoms of Democritus
   And Newton's Particles of light
 Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
   Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.

Not the Face! [Senryū]

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a young skink's
 vibrant cobalt blue tail
  says, "Not the Face!"

Starry Nights [Verse / Free Verse Mutt]

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I’m stunned by all the starry nights
   Beyond the sprawling city’s lights:
 Swirls made of so many colors —
   The dark, the light, middling others.

What eternal infinite 
   Exists out there between 
 All those stars?

All the dust and nothingness 
   Of that cold, unbounded expanse
 Dances in the hot shell
   Of my skull.