Ah, the mountain!
Old enough to know
When to stay quiet,
And disciplined enough
To stick to it.
Mountain Envy [Free Verse]
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Tag Archives: Vers Libre
“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.
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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?
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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?
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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.
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“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).
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“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?
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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.
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Evolution [Free Verse]
Anywhere copies are made,
but copies aren't exact,
selection will take place.
Some erroneous copies will
be more beloved than others.
Some errors will propagate.
Some errors will die out.
Thus is language,
thus is chemistry,
and thus is life.
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Raising Chaos [Free Verse]
Raise chaos:
That's the job of intelligent life,
to make nice & orderly things
so they can crack and shatter
and eventually end up pulverized
to dust --
A fine, granular dust that will blow
across the universe.
First, the bowl must be made:
Some potter must shape and glaze
and fire it with care,
Turning sandwiches into art...
and waste heat --
entropy slow and fast.
All so someone can crack or chip it
(with ease and lack of intention,)
starting it on a path to being sand
grains a world away.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 