the black sand beach is no less pristine, but the mind feels it is.
Black Sand Beach [Haiku]
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Tag Archives: poetry
Five Wise Lines from Leaves of Grass
Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles.
Walt Whitman, “miracles”
The American contempt for statues and ceremonies, the boundless impatience for restraint…
Walt whitman, “Song of the Broad-axe”
I exist as I am, that is enough. If no other in the world would be aware I sit content. And if each and all be aware I sit content.
walt whitman, “Song of myself”
I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.
walt whitman, “song of myself”
If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred.
Walt whitman, “i sing the body electric”
NOTES: Numerous editions exist between the 1855 and 1892 (deathbed) edition. It’s available for free on Project Gutenberg at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322
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Frangipani [Haiku]
frangipani bloom on a barren branch; turn away, it falls.
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Nobodaddy [Free Verse]
The Nobodaddy rolls
like a sunglassed Santa Claus.
He watches things crash
with bemused satisfaction --
like a buzzed NASCAR fan.
And people cry out to him,
and he gives a spiritless wave
of vague acknowledgement --
like a celebrity tired of celebrity.
But the victims all die,
and Nobodaddy calls it a day,
a day of seeing life & death play out -
not in any grand design -
but puttering about as the living
bow to life,
and the dead play out a demise.
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Bridge Out [Free Verse]
When I was a child,
for a time,
the bridge was out.
They were replacing the rusty
iron trestle bridge
with a thick-slab concrete
monstrosity.
I could go down to the river,
and I could see the
scarred and marred
construction site,
& the big yellow machines
that sat dormant on the weekends.
But one couldn't cross the river --
not unless one was willing to get wet,
and was a better swimmer than I
(and it was autumn & the water cold.)
It was a strong current that swept
along between two steep banks.
It was not a great distance,
nor were they violent waters.
But that brown water moved with
such smooth swiftness.
I dream about the time the bridge was out,
now & again,
and wonder what it was
about those weeks
that still has meaning to my mind.
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Autumn Wildflowers [Haiku]
as leaves fall, & weather cools, i'm warmed by autumn wildflowers.
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Fruit Beauty [Common Meter]
The flawless deep green melon rind
houses a pink, bland flesh.
The rind - pitted, yellowed, lumpy -
hides fruit: red, sweet, & fresh.
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Five Wise Lines from Tagore’s Stray Birds
The stars are not afraid to appear like fireflies.
Stray birds — #48
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
Stray birds — #154
The eyes are not proud of their sight but of their eyeglasses.
stray birds — #256
I carry in my world that flourishes the worlds that have failed.
stray birds — #121
Delusions of knowledge are like the fog of the morning.
stray birds — #14
CITATION: Tagore, Rabindranath (1916), Stray Birds, New York: McMillan, 92pp.
Available on Project Gutenberg at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6524
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Under Pressure: Or, A House Divided [Free Verse]
A construction worker once told me -
for a building to last -
depends not so much on
its materials,
nor even on its foundations,
but rather on the building being
in balanced strain throughout.
A building stays up when its
parts press into each other firmly,
or pull at each other strongly,
but never too out of balance.
This web of unseen forces
allows the building stand solid
against any huffing, or puffing,
the world might throw its way.
A democratic society works the same.
It must have an establishment.
It must have a counterculture.
And these two elements must
constantly pull at each other
or mash into each other:
tension & compression,
compression & tension,
tug-of-war & sumo.
If one side is unopposed, or too weak,
the state will crumble into some kind of
authoritarianism by another name.
Destroy your enemies at your own peril.
