An Otherwise Empty Parking Lot Outside An Institute of Higher Learning

Volatility unprovoked

First comes fire

Then there’s smoke

It’s in this hell that I awoke

Bludgeoned, tired

On aggression, I slowly choked

The cement, crimson soaked

Left with air as my sole desire

All regrets were then evoked

It was here I softly spoke

Yet each world only grew their rage higher

And they laughed…

As if this all was but a joke

Acumen

It's another Tuesday and the wonderful Hedgewitch is hosting Open Link Night over at D'Verse.  Stop on by, read a wealth of amazing poetry and get even more involved by submitting one of your own.

To be clever, I penned the most epic of tales

I was coy, with my use of ink

As I toyed with shades, deviating from black to pink

To the letter, I smiled at my freshly painted grail

I scrawled the most impressive verse,

With words so grand, ‘twas impossible to rehearse

For the better, I chose for my masterpiece to set sail

Upon my very own flesh based canvassed skin

With the very first character, from chest it would begin

But was this wisdom? Never, for from each line would grow a tail,

Moments after composition, I would stand for hours in admiration

While the mirror’s smirking grin would purvey its mocking adulation

So soon I’d grow much redder, upon recognition of my errs

Where the text written on me, the mirror could not see,

Only divining the reversal, a hieroglyphic incomprehensibility

And there it rest, severed, embittered and stale

As the wet rag would cloth me, erasing the scribbling clean,

A solace ranged o’er me, for my acumen, forever’d go unseen

  

Whirlwinds At Sea

Over at D'Verse, it's form for all time once again.  This week Beth Winter was kind enough to share the form of Staccato.  I'd like to thank her and Gay for manning the bar tonight as we tread down this rather musical journey.  I've tried my hand at these before, but never knew exactly what I was doing, that is other than trying to grasp the form through reading others poems.  But now the form is detailed out with examples, making it almost cruel not to give it another shot.

It was a lot of fun.  I did find the syllabic restrictions a bit tough to conform to, as it just so happened I had a few really good lines that happened to have 9 syllables in them or 11, but no fear I've saved those lines for the future.  I've been suffering through a bit of writer's block the past few days, so perhaps, at least I'm hoping, that this was just the elixir that I needed to rekindle the old wheels upstairs.  If not, well it will come, and in the meanwhile I was able to learn a new form. Thanks again to everyone over at D'verse, you guys and gals are great!

Traveling along the ridged shoreline

Stopped to watch the rippling of waves divine.

Time Slows! Time Slows! As gaze meets sea

Ceding, breeding, feelings in me!

Never been so deeply entranced this way,

Time Slows, as all worry gets washed away!

This time every ill has been set aside,

While drifting still along this timeless ride.

Whirlwinds! Whirlwinds! Swirls under sky

As fabled songs of sirens die!

In a haze, but fearing naught, as unsheathed

Whirlwinds guide, safely past all rocks beneath

Death Merchants

The merchants caustically advertise

The many methods to which you can subscribe

Debts, inherited, transfer too

The disconnect exists, between prey and predator

The predator’s not always the only one hunting

Crosshairs are one-size fits all

The soft palette, breaks upon contact

The rigid frame, cannot budge

Are not inherent constraints, still constraints?

The merchants of death live for the kill

Each asset obtained is another line to their will

Always the hunted, always on the hunt, always hunting

But still we try, but still we’re tried

He Wore A Heart of Orange Upon His Sleeve

She wore the yellow in her lace

Indoctrinated by the ever changing faces

That imbued her mother, as she grew-

Lacking all pigmentation, if not Blue

He wore the dust of heralds

Adhering its pink upon his heart,

Of which, since that fated dawn, he could only sing of her in carols

A soundtrack to love’s play, and Sisyphus became his part

She danced the reddest predilection

Enraptured by his persistent, amorous intent

Yet engrained are the evils, alive in her tapestries’ reflection

She damns affection, for the avarice of hesitance

Many stanza’s later…the spectrum’s cycle still would spin

She blankets herself in the blackest blur

Aged now, she has grown, but his pursuits have since died

And the clocks had sealed their lips, once apathy’s languor flecked eye,

If only she’d known, if not for decline, he’d still move boulders for her 

Well another Tuesday is upon us, and with it comes another week of wonderful and brilliant poetry over at D'verse.  This week we're all in for a treat, as one of my favorite poets, Tash, will be hosting Open Link Night.  Anyone who enjoys reading some great original poetry should be sure to check it out, and while you're there, perhaps you'll feel the urge to share a poem of your own.  Happy OLN!

Where Once Walked Marsh

Where once walked marsh

For questing’s grail

Worldly weights hinged upon-

-Our unpropitious victory.  We could not fail

Complication unlaced her dress,

Prompting route to fork its trail

To the right, a hazed fog split us half,

Spawning a hash of Dilaudid canaille

To port, suspicion’s fever flared complicit,  

As rancor stirred in dubiety’s gale

Where once walked marsh,

Through vales unkempt

Sifted sway of silted limb

Marred by visions dreamt

The never ceasing eyes of foliage

Pry through vine and draw contempt

Stanchion’s fossils ivy-covered,

Memorialize winnowing’s failed attempt

All shapes of creatures never seen,

Swarm the fringes of the verdant kempt

So close, now to free, yet whispers echo from the brush,

Stating, “escape you may, but you’ll never be exempt.”

From what, is all most can muster

But linger long and the thought(s) will show

Where once walked marsh

Has since been shadowed by snow

So many years have now past,

I’ve forgot how to know

In a journey of thorns, some prick while others defend

And for what, a hero’s welcome home?

At first the honor was the dignity,

The seduction and the glow

Perhaps it’s just to make the days gone appear worthwhile,

So near the grail, instead of elation, concessionary eyes back-roll

Onsets of the beholden by,

Grandeur’s chains endured through pride

Footholds first, is oft it’s last

To survive the many cracks,

One must be swift of mind

And strong with staff

But even then, the ankles may snap

Insets appear-thought not of (yet)

(yet), once renewed is now remanded back

To hope to hunt for hope

A plague to the optimist

A battle scar for most others

Where once walked marsh infused with hope,

That path, is found to be, paved by the smoke of ghosts

Where once walked marsh in boyish tread

Now stands but one of hundreds dead

Here left to hold the treasure and bring it home

To pay homage to the man now seated in the throne

As memories sort the better part of days

I often wonder if they think much of those 1000 men

Once cheered as Gods as they left bay

I wonder if they think of much, all that was lost by us,

It’s been so long I doubt they do

But I’d like to think back and pretend they do to

To the ships set to sail in the harbor

The revelry and the returning promises

Seems like all that’s gets me forward

Is a pursuit to remember, “whend-we-go”

Claudia is hosting Open Link Night over at D'Verse tonight.  The doors open at 3:00pm, and seeing it's a 1/4 past right now, the doors, I would guess to already be open.  Check out the OLN, read a ton of amazing poetry.  Every week seems to outdo the week before, which is really saying a lot, because the very first week was great.  The number of poets submitting their work has dramatically increased, which means more poems to read and more experiences to be had.  Anyhow stop on by read some great poems and if you'd like submit one of your own, I'm sure they'd love to have you:)

For my offering this week, nothing experimental as I've been doing the past few weeks, but I'm hoping you'll enjoy it.  It's a journey piece, epic poem or whatever moniker you'd like to call it.  It's loosely inspired by The Odyssey as well as Norse Myth. Varying from typical myth I thought I'd forego the battle scenes, perhaps allude to them, but make this more of a mental piece, dealing with the emotions of the questers.