subtext

My Poetry and Commentary on Life

Designed with WordPress

peripheral

by

lament, liminal, poetry, sonnets

a slow meander away

a side shuffle

a step aside

head askew

eyes cast up

then quickly down

soft- soft- listen

more occurs between

what’s said than said

reticence means more

than mere acquiescence

to which ever god’s present

here along these margins

crows circle in lamentation

(April 23, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
egg moon

by

change, dance, liminal, moon series, poetry, ritual, transition

the procreant surge

dances with the moon’s shadow

beneath the new grass

(April 22, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
what we say we see

by

change, interpretation, meaning, poetry, sonnets, ways of knowing

Each time a tale’s told,

living memory

stumbles toward death;

we interpret all

we know for ourselves

through myopic eyes;

hold close all that’s dear

to ward off change;

while change transforms

what we know as true

like light on a lake shimmers

the mountain’s reflection.

Beyond entropy nothing is static;

stories change and we change.

(April 21, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
happiness takes courage

by

dance, doubt, fate, fear, happiness, poetry

I know I should roll

and be happy within

the stumble bumble

of talk and step

to enjoy the fool

I have become

yet I know I will

turn and struggle

stand still and listen

to the niggling voices

which lick and whisper

beneath doubt’s laughter

too easy to say what should

as fear stifles what would

(April 21, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
proximity’s not necessary

by

abstract, fragments, interrelationships, language, memory, narrative, poetry, traces, writing

decaying parchment

scattered on the floor

within fragment’s hints

whisper a mind held

still in a brush stroke’s

partial rendering

signs retained in ink

no need to hang on

every word we hear

memory’s beyond

the living fossil

inherent in us

memory’s no more

true than our desire

to shape past’s beliefs

to fit our present

like light in shadows

through diaphanous

curtains at sunrise

her soft breath lingers

at your tone deaf ear

a line vanishes

before it’s written

(April 19, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
dream journal #29: the other

by

desire, dream, erato, eros, life, love, poetry

in his wayward and whimsical

wandering he watched

her approach and wondered

up to the moment

and then again

beyond the moment

on into the next

who she was

who was she

as she met him

and met him again

with a kiss

who was she

who she was

and then again

and then again

with a kiss

who was she

who she was

with a kiss

until they were old

without knowing

they were old

together

(April 16, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
after the moment passes

by

life, poetry, sonnets

to begin is often too difficult

my love’s true origin spits and sputters

as a fire fails to devour wet wood

teeth gnaw and gnash upon all of the words

I cannot say when I am around you

I am a shadow a ghost a vacuum

the moment a bubble stretches then pops

splattering into the wet winter grass

I desire so much more than what I am

without any knowledge of where to start

so we part as if ever together

into divergent exchanges of time

I am where I am despite my desire

like damp kindling scattered across the ground

(April 15, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
as if Sisyphus

by

abstract, broken, control, existential angst, metaphor, mythic

parables become

you inside enfold

each hesitant step

as dust rises in

a swirl to create

an aura of earth

as guardian beneath

a waxing moon

your stomach’s full

the fire’s warm

sporadic experiences

transform along lines

of thought as if grace

will find a way to saddle

wisdom upon your back

until you’re broken

to the bit and smiling

(April 12, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
kiss your mind

by

conversation, erato, language, poetry, traces

drafts drams and dribbles

of a conversation I sip

and savor as if a bit

of bourbon lingers upon

your lips I longed to kiss

before once more we

slip to silence

(April 7, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
in vino veritas

by

communication, life, poetry, truth

effusive truths roll

off your tongue until

another too speaks true

then oh no you take

offense meaning

defense to protect

what you know as true

to be as false as the truth

you do not wish to hear

(April 7, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
cracks

by

broken, control, existential angst, fear, poetry, tension

here I am

off meds

and troubled

within the fear that fear

will crawl into each

moment’s crevice

like blood

slipping to the floor

until there is not

a difference between

myself and the wall

(April 5, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
We Find Meaning Where We Look

by

abstract, identity formation, interpretation, lists, poetry, social construction, sonnets

“reanimated by appropriation”

–Susan Howe

I put on other’s clothes

friends lovers conspirators

guises to disguise

myself to myself

random increments

casual in their sediment

like laughter in the dark

somewhere not here

lists compiled then

disaggregated in detail

still lack a cohesion

just words juxtaposed

we whisper together

as if we knew more

(March 321, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
After the Story Ends

by

erato, memory, patterns, poetry, silence, sonnets

memory’s a curse

for not forgetting

I remember with clarity

conversations and causes

stumbled apologies

for unnoticed slights

for I noticed you

with detailed exposition

and framed narrative

and I remember you

across the crowded room

your laughter and passion

as you spoke to everyone

before speaking to me

(March 29, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Hope

by

change, happiness, hope, poetry, sonnets

“When I awoke it was noon.”

–Arthur Rimbaud

each morning before the alarm

before the sun before I am

fully awake I rise as if

I could somehow steal

time from the day before

it begins as if I could hold

for a moment the moment

like a bird within my hand

and feel life’s pulse flutter

through me like waves

along a calmer shore

less fraught with worry’s

wreckage less cluttered

with my mistaken regret

(March 27, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
exegesis on the way home

by

abstract, charm, community, control, dance, interpretation, metaphor, poetry, tension, ways of knowing

“on the edge of the sand they danced by the light of the moon”

the owl and the pussycat

an old story allows

for improvisation

key moments open doors

to thought of course

must not be omitted

they provide anchors

to hold a mountain’s face

as wind buffets throughout

our tangled vision’s hair

between those moments

of unremarked repose

unfold the thousand days

within a thousand moments

where one must attend

within a softer light

to follow each shuffled step

to move along again without

a singular momentous fall

a dancer’s grace’s required

to negotiate a toe turn

with smoke’s dexterity

to leap each rubbled crevasse

and land in a hard lurch

with enough of a balance

to stumble down our path

with but a hint of surety

flowing at our unstable feet

(March 25, 2016)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…