Tag Archives: Vers Libre

A Day in the Life of a Hobo [Free Verse]

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I saw an old man
nestled in a nook
beside the sidewalk, 

a plastic jug 
of night diesel
beside well-worn, 
second-hand boots,

combing greasy hair
with parted fingers, 

and rubbing his eyes -
child-style -
with loose fists.

He was awake at an hour
to get to a job
that he didn’t have.

Instead, he’d amble / stagger
along the riverside,

taking frequent stops 
to taste the bathtub concoction 
made in the bathtub 
that he didn’t have.

And somewhere,
at some undefined hour,
he’d drift into 
a restless death-slumber
to repeat it all again —
“Groundhog Day” style.

Yellow Shadow

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The fallen leaves
of a sheltered tree

form a shadow
made of yellow,

a pointillist shadow
painted yellow, 

‘til the wind blows
angled and low

to send that shadow 
on its way -

or ‘til the leaves
turn brown and crisp…

whichever comes first.

Squishy [Free Verse]

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Nothing is straightforward,
or simple.

Everything is a messy mix
of shades

blended in swirling clouds—
chaos clouds.

Those who can redraw the world
with sharp, angular boundaries 
are the masters of self-deception:

for all deception is self-deception.

Jack-o-Lantern [Free Verse]

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Taken in Szentendre on October 30, 2022
How does one master menace,
carving optimal malignancy
into a festive orange orb?

Sometimes the faces intended
to convey happy holiday blessings 
are the most creepy and disconcerting…

you know, like with real peoples’ faces.

Sometimes the faces intended
to torture souls and rend psyches 
are over-the-top and campy or silly…

you know, like with real peoples’ faces.

How does one master menace
on a festive orange orb?
Taken in Budapest in October of 2022

Ujpest Train Bridge Memorial [Free Verse]

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flowers & greenery
&
little bottled candles
form a memorial
on the train bridge 
crossing the river

but the most soul-chilling 
is the stuffed toy rabbit,
standing weathered & unkempt,

it testifies that someone 
saw the deceased 
as a tiny child

was she a tiny child,
or just so remembered?

so many questions float on
as that cold river glides below

Emerson’s Wave [Free Verse]

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Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not.

Ralph waldo emerson, Self-reliance
Is there any angst that we will tumble off
a cliff that we should have railed off 
long ago?

-- Nuclear War --

I fear that wave has rolled onward,
and we have lost that angst. 

Do we not fear:

blast wave disintegration?

fire that turns wet things 
-- such as ourselves --
into instant ash? 

clumps of hair in the hands
of the neutron-cooked?

If we've forgotten to fear such things,
we are surely doomed.

Jo-Ha-Kyū [Free Verse]

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Eye-to-Eye.

circling
&
jockeying for position,

playing with the distance
through subtle shifts,

then testing the distance,
engaging in exchanges

Thrust - Parry - Retreat - Repeat

moving faster,
the interval of exchanges 
ever shortening

then --
in one instant --

it's done.

In the Temple [Free Verse]

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i enter an empty temple. 

it’s not silent.

footfalls resonate
&
floorboards creak.

but flickering flames
&
sleepy-eyed Buddhas
are quiet enough

in an hour,
the monks will filter in
with great punctuality:
monks, young and old.
(i would say, “and ages in-between,”
but they all seem young or old.)

there will be chanting,
and the din of finger cymbals
and deep-toned drums.

and i will leave
for the solace 
of the world 
outside the temple.

Hawk, Psych! [Free Verse]

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the hawk's head-shifts are precise
and follow in rapid succession...
and then cease

it lifts one feather at a time
as if sniffing its pits

it shifts from talon to talon,
and then once more

it seems to be settling in,
getting comfortable 
for a long stakeout...

and then it's gone,
diving off the ledge,
disappearing into the city valley

Weightless Birds [Free Verse]

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tweets & cheeps

i hear them all:
dainty expressions 
of tiny birds

i hear them amid
the neck-stretched caws
of jungle crows
& amid
the circling 
screech hawks

weightless birds:
flitting & jumping, 

flitting with wings
blurred to invisibility 
&
jumping:
bounce - bounce - bounce