4/27/10

Atonement Harvester

No one seems to notice the dandelion that grows
in the cracks of downtown Gano Street.

It lives on despite the odd lights cast from the nearby river
under the inconsistent flashes from a crosswalk box.

The artist by the walkway paints the cracks in the road
but ignores the growth, a stain of yellow on the asphalt

hanging on the edge of the concrete curb, as if
to flag a taxi ride to Wickenden Avenue.

The nurse reads a note while waiting at the light
and doesn't notice the weed leaning on her shoe.

Not one seems to notice the dandelion that grows
in the cracks of downtown Gano Street.

Rain, the dandilion dances the bobbing buoy
while the slick cars spray the civilian heels.

The architect mumbles angrily under the umbrella
crushing the dandelion with a size 5 1/2 shoe.

No one notices the dandilion grows
in the cracks of Gano Street.

A pauper boy sits alone by the crosswalk box
and notices a wilting weed covered in a sphere of hope.

In faithful silence, the dandelion sacrifices itself for a wish
scattering off to fulfill the dream of a vagabond.

4/21/10

Medicated Mondays


Glass doors shift, a quick glance reveals
a man cautiously clutching a box to his chest.

Life support? No.  As he approaches
it clicks and hisses at the register.

The smell of hand sanitizer filling my eyes.
Never in all my days at Rite Aid...

Radio is responding.  They are coming.
Must escape.  Must find shelter.

Wait, can't leave.  The cameras will see.
A boy wearing a disguise.  Looking too eager.

Standing by the register.  Smells of fast-food.
He can't be saved.  Brain washed so young.

Making eye contact, he backs into Aisle 5
"Do you need help finding something sir?"

Rushing past he brushes against my uniform
mixing the stench of dust and sanitizer.

Alone in Aisle 5.  Glass doors shift.
Didn't even make it to the Pharmacy...

Bright lights outside.  Must go home.
Must get to safe house.  By the water.

They don't like water.  Doesn't taste good.
Cars pass quickly.  Highway becomes deadly.  

Must be feeding time.  Must go home.
Close to the water.  They don't like water.

4/20/10

Toad Chorus and Fowl Play

Then, a woman from the wilderness

meanders over curiously
to haunt me with deceptive glares cascading
over the living embers between us.

Shift, the moon casts momentum on the shadows.

Soon she will begin the rite of spring
interpreted as a steady matador with a troubadour
composing a violent dance past finesse.

Onward, firefly dances amidst smoking pines.

There she weaves a path of ash
during the flotsam landing on magpies
who sit on nearby branches, silent voyeurs.

Twilight, the grey morning bruised dull

from the soft cracking coals that smell of sulfur.
Give me one more tomorrow night, feral gypsy.
One more lush breeze to breathe me a trance

A chance to vanish into the nirvana of satisfaction.



NOTES: Edited version of previous "Rite of Spring" poem.  Didn't like title.  Didn't like epigram.  Changed end stanza and wording throughout poem.  Changed title.

Lost Friend

Why talk so much, like Socrates
pulled into a whirlpool of thought last August
only to drown in an iced December?

Your blood: now tainted with bits of ink
smelling of purple-violet-violet and yellow-yellow-green
Your hands: now a bruised dandelion thicket
digits missing the flowery tops
because you had to pick them all off?

We miss your beautiful earthy hair filled with foreign stems
the days in April when you begged to dance in the rain
without finishing the ripe pear I brought you.

Now, nothing but November.  The leaves
clinging to your scarred thighs and neon lips: whispering
This scab is all I have.

4/18/10

WARNING: NEW BLOG APPROACHING

DON'T PANIC!  It's not the end of the epitaph!  I just wanted to warn that I've started another blog to hold all of my poetic writing to make it easy for me to access it through the other stuff I post on this blog sometimes.  The website is called: Epigram of a Poet

www.epigramofapoet.blogspot.com

Check it out and follow that too if you want!  I will be posting new poems on both sites, but the other is mostly just for organization.

The Rite of Spring



“In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?”
  -Igor Stravinsky

Then, a woman from the wilderness.

She meanders over curiously
to haunt me with deceptive glares cascading
over the living embers between us.

Shift, the moon casts momentum on the shadows.

Soon she will begin the rite of spring
interpreted as a steady matador with a troubadour
composing a violent dance past finesse.

Onward, firefly dances amidst the smoking pine.

There she is weaving a path of ash
during the flotsam landing on magpies
who sit on nearby branches as silent voyeurs.

Twilight, the grey morning bruised dull
from the soft cracking coals that smell of sulfur.

Give me one more tomorrow night, feral gypsy.
Give me one more lush breeze to breath.
Give me one more primitive trance to vanish
into the nirvana sea of satisfaction
surrendering the you and me.

4/14/10

The Nights and Gales


Nightingale, my owl howls forenoon for you
the vagabond cat in alleys of sympathy
and nymph waltzes on thickets of foggy glasses
to the sycamores that sign to themselves forever.

Nightingale, the tortoise embraces the raining
songs of the thousand chromatic nights we cherished
silent. Amethyst lilac in the dogwood rests
while blood-red salmon drown in a lethargic brook.

Nightingale, the fox waits for auburn clouds despite
twilight’s overcast ritual: a rose blade forged
beyond hope with ember pearls and clever neutral
in pomade as the sun slips to Tokyo heights.

Nightengale, the game mourns the animalism
we create, a heteromogenous self-shared
beast of the sky. Rasping memories of the flesh
unsought, unthought until I’ve found the utter you.

I stare from the grieving winter stage
to the fading memory of hysteria,
choosen to mourn the last living cell
lost behind your inattentive eyes bemused
by spring’s efflorescent vertebrate.
Love, the nights and gales have assembled
to soothe with hymns voicing rapture.