subtext

My Poetry and Commentary on Life

  • This Writer’s Beginnings: EarlyYears
  • Bread Loaf Influence
  • Rock and Roll High School
  • About

Designed with WordPress

  • to write’s to define the ineffable

    by

    fear, poetry, storytelling, ways of knowing, work, writing
    a quick tic
    in the dirt
    to repair
    memory’s sieve
    take note
    make a mark
    to contain
    a who
    a what
    some thing
    there—not here
    not us
    not me
    some thing
    nebulous
    looming
    fearless
    palpable
    hunger

    (February 25, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • You Flipped the Coin

    by

    assignment, chance, choice, control, existential angst, poetry
    no escape
    you either do
    or you don’t
    either way
    you did
    and so be
    with or without
    your consent
    or cognizance

    (February 22, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • left to the side

    by

    borders, erato, eros, interrelationships, loss, love, muse, poetry, time, traces
    “Ghosts move about me
    patched with histories.”
    –Ezra Pound
    I am your ghost—a remnant
    of a story displaced,
    an imposed narrative
    suppressed, yet present—
    a palimpsest of whispers,
    side conversations in the dark
    I linger nearby—haunting
    the alleyways, the halls,
    the edges of  memory—
    a cause to an effect
    intertwined like roses,
    or mist rising from the earth
    I cannot be exorcised—
    nor dismissed—I’ve entered
    your voice—your words
    are echoes of words
    I spoke before I turned
    to a story you still tell
    (February 22, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • muse’s kiss

    by

    creativity, desire, erato, hope, life, literature, poetics, poetry, romance, writing
    each time after a few days
    sometimes after a few hours
    I worry that it is over
    that the desire will remain
    but only silence will flow
    from your lips and I
    will not speak again
    yet somehow I keep it up
    I plow so to speak the fecund
    field open up the darkness
    like ink and dip my pen
    into the well of being
    o muse long may you use
    my tongue for your pleasure

    (February 20, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Love Poem

    by

    aging, erato, eros, love, poetry, sonnets
    What does it mean to be in love
    for years? Not the day’s arduous plod
    through the house, certainly not
    the tired snips and complaints
    over a simple dinner. It is
    the simple dinner. The collapse
    of the world to a moment of calm,
    in the ritual of food. Love redeems.
    Love wades past the inconsequential
    muck that clots along a boot’s heel,
    until it carries us to drier ground.
    Love is the hand reaching for a hand
    through time, the glance across the room,
    each morning’s brief farewell embrace.

    (February 18, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Half-Life

    by

    communication, erato, eros, love, poetry, traces
    Eventually, the echoes of white noise
    finally subside; the conversations
    we never had, which played
    on for years, vanish, and I remain
    with nothing to say, nor anyone
    to whom I could speak,
    even if I could summon
    the courage to say what I should
    have said before you left.
    (February 17, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Still

    by

    erato, eros, happiness, love, lust, poetry, tanka
    my hands reach for you
    to pull you close through the night
    my life’s one desire
    I need you to sing for me

    to arc your voice into stars.

    (February 14, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Valentine Manifesto

    by

    love, poetry, sappy

    In this age of hate, a love poem
    becomes a political act. To claim
    someone other than you, different
    from you, not you, can transform
    you away from your self is truly
    a revolutionary statement. To move
    beyond Jesus’ – love your neighbor
    as yourself – to love someone more
    than you love yourself is a radical
    act of empathy;  as if you could give up
    who you think you are and become love
    of another, love for the other and survive.
    To trust yourself enough to trust another
    human wholly is to transform the world.

    (February 14, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • no attempt to savor

    by

    life, poetry
    sated on bitterness
    I gulp down what’s offered
    as if safe compliance
    could provide for a cure
    within puddles I drown
    no deeper swells to swim
    whiskey’s no less than water
    to keep a devil from sin

    (February 13, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • cognizant for the moment

    by

    abstract, acceptance, attention, home, love, paradigm shifts, poetry, resolve, sonnets, transition
    the ephemeral flutters
    like feathers along a raven’s neck
    inconsequential
    yet aware of each new wind
    in which to lift aloft
    the jet black wings pull
    into the air resisting
    gravity’s cold collapse
    to fly as he wills
    no more to the edges
    the distant distractions
    to turn a black eye from home
    no more  fleeting presumptions
    to tear away at my heart
    (February 12, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • One Vision

    by

    broken, change, conversation, erasure, frustration, paradigms, poetry, sonnets, ways of knowing

              “Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak’

    –William Shakespeare
    I must confess my difference,
    since silent acquiescence
    and remorse is not enough.
    I must accept my submission
    and perform the right ritual
    at each prescribed station.
    I must explain each misstep
    along the way to arrive
    at the heart of my wrongs.
    I must take these knives and
    with a calligraphic slash
    inscribe my myopic heart.
    The sentence is written for me,
    and nothing will change.

    (February 10, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Valentines

    by

    erato, eros, half sonnets, happiness, love, lust, poetry, sevenlings
    Three Sevenlings
    1.
    Decades have gone passed
    since we were young and
    walked through Paris streets.
    Nude, you walk toward me
    whisky in your hand;
    the bed sheets crumpled.
    I desire you still
    2.
    Every evening, we
    discuss the mundane—
    love’s soft ritual.
    Your touch lessens fear,
    holds me to center,
    burns away the fray.
    I find peace with you.
    3.
    I can’t sleep tonight;
    you have gone away.
    One night is too long.
    Even in silence,
    I want to be here,
    because you are here.
    Here we still are.

    (February 8, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • making sense

    by

    abstract, control, meaning, memory, poetry, sonnets, ways of knowing
    memory ‘s either an affirmation
    or a whip snapping overhead
    keeping one tight in the traces
    who are you to contradict
    the space into which you’ve fallen
    or the laughter you’re allowed
    your ontic scream’s absorbed
    the ground’s soft and wet
    no shadows flicker the wall
    the past rearranges simple
    explanations into present
    comfort’s inevitability
    until another delusion
    reshuffles to fit again
    (February 6, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • at the end

    by

    aging, definition, identity formation, poetry, sonnets, time, worn
    a collapse an implosion
    what sense of my self
    remains as crumpled paper
    or  crushed containers
    I beg enough time
    to look inward or outward
    to bleed out or staunch
    the flood onto the floor
    each moment matters
    the mundane and tense
    adrenaline fueled turns
    hold no difference
    I am not a monolith
    I am not your construct

    (February 6, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • A Fool Gains Self-awareness

    by

    acceptance, change, clarity, desire, erato, eros, melodrama, poetry
    His soft gestures
    of seduction fell
    unnoticed, or, at best,
    unremarked, saving
    him from himself
    through his awkward starts
    and vague stutters.
    From fear or prudence,
    he let go of what
    he never had. He now
    brings a dull clarity
    to how he wants to
    remember that moment’s
    infatuation– the seven
    year obsession still
    whispering in his ear
    like the slow pulse
    and flicker that remains
    the next morning
    from last night’s fire.
    (February 3, 2017)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…




«Previous Poem Next Poem»
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • subtext
    • Join 407 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • subtext
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d