The apparition of these faces in a crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
“In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound [w/ Audio]
Reply
Tag Archives: Vers Libre
Be Water [Free Verse]
The floating feather
that eludes my grasp
isn't haughty or gleeful.
It just rolls, slips, glides,
and is gone.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Mountain Envy [Free Verse]
Ah, the mountain!
Old enough to know
When to stay quiet,
And disciplined enough
To stick to it.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“The Dawn” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]
I WOULD be as ignorant as the dawn,
That has looked down
On that old queen measuring a town
With the pin of a brooch,
Or on the withered men that saw
From their pedantic Babylon
The careless planets in their courses,
The stars fade out where the moon comes,
And took their tablets and made sums--
Yet did but look, rocking the glittering coach
Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses.
I would be -- for no knowledge is worth a straw --
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Spillage [Free Verse]
What spills from the brush?
What shapes are made
on the page?
What curves? What lines?
What crosses? What binds?
Who will chase after the sparks
of meaning in those wild marks?
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
The Dance [Free Verse]
What force dances one
into this lovely state?
Light & ecstatic,
Blissful but calm.
Each breath a drug
that sends delicate
shimmers rippling
through the universe.
What force, indeed?
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Swimmingly [Free Verse]
Swim through the world
- effortlessly -
Don't crave speed;
Maximize the glide.
With each stroke,
Sail as far as the limbs
will send one.
Don't thrash. Don't splash.
Don't gasp.
Feel the catch. Feel the pull.
Don't let short, wild motions
exhaust one.
Breathe!
Be wary of drag.
Put less effort
into propulsion,
And more into streamlining --
Shoot through the void,
without struggle.
Never lose sight of the value
of a good glide.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“Sometimes with One I Love” by Walt Whitman
Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with
rage for fear I effuse unreturn'd love,
But now I think there is no unreturn'd love,
the pay is certain one way or another
(I loved a certain person ardently and my
love was not return'd,
Yet out of that I have written these songs).
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“The Taxi” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]
When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me,
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of
the night?
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
High Seas [Free Verse]
Rolling boat
on roiling seas:
heaving and creaking
&
pitching and listing --
Decks shifting between
untenable states,
Crew tying in,
tethering to what might
become the anchor around
their collective necks,
pulling them all to the depths -
'til the last bubble spills
upward from a nostril.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 