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| Photo by Tumisu |
The Death of a Poet
I read my obituary
Accolades run afoul to lighten the souls of the living
Trite clichés, forgotten kin, melodic tributes
Boring and meaningless
Upon a granite stone etched for an eternity
I was but a ‘A faithful husband,’
‘A good father,’
And ‘Never Forgotten’
They have it all wrong
If they had read my sonnets
Mystical offspring scribbled on napkins
Consuming stale coffee in late night diners lit by neon lights
They would have known
Had they paid heed to my limericks
Nonsensical rhymes of fairytale fantasies
And polka-dotted panties created to amuse only me
They would have known
Had they inhaled my free verse
Painstaking hours spent
Creating worlds of exquisite harmony
Carrying the reader on endless voyages
Guided by the inspired lyricist through emerald forests
Royal seas, white-capped mountains
And never-ending dreams
They would have known
Had they met my only mistress
One called Haiku
A quiet damsel
Her beauty lies in brevity and endless seasons
They would have known
More than a husband
More than a father
More than forgotten
I am a poet
I read my obituary
I should have known
The Voiceless Quill
Just Words
It is never just words
Word after word
Side by side, lyrics are born
Authoring songs of lovers
And brokenhearted forever forlorn
Word after word
Life is inhaled into stories of faraway lands
With notorious kings and talking frogs
Beautiful maidens wandering the shadowlands
Word after word
With quill in hand
A weary poet struggles to find
The perfect word
An imperfect rhyme
Word after word
More powerful than sticks or stones
Breaking bones
Words traverse the soul
Fracturing the spirit with unending scars
Word
Just one word—
A solitary word will sharpen a mind
Seduce the dreamer
Encourage the friend
Or shame the same
One single word can draw a smile
Change a life…
Or end one too soon
It is never
Just words
Glass Lover
Cold glass against my palm
Fingers embracing memories
Curled in anticipation
Grasping what you hold inside
Amber liquid glistening under a bare bulb of secrecy
I listen for intruders who will take you away from me
Unwarranted fears wrapped in phony concerns
Hidden behind their smiling faces
Whispering words disguised as encouragement
They don’t know you
I lift your mouth to my lips
Your bitter-sweet aroma invades my nostrils
A relic of nights holding a glass lover against my pulsating heart
Abandoned by all others, you never forsook me
I have longed for your taste
Your warmth violates every nerve
Until the room spins like Dorothy’s Exodus
I fall upon the land of dreams of white nothingness
Blacked out again
Until we meet again
Under the bare bulb of secrecy
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Photo by Geralt
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Only I
Cold ground greets my run-down body
A smooth stone serving as my pillow
The world hushes
Lending her ear to a night owl crying from the towering pines
“It is I,” I answer the inquisitive bird, “Only I”
The dark sky fills my vision
Ten thousand stars drenching Heaven’s canvas
One for each day you lived
Celestial chaos blurred by the tears of my heart
Pushing them away, I focus upon one star
Searching, searching
From friendless star to friendless star, I etch pathways
Linking hope to hopeless
Wrecking chaos to find answers within empyrean frames
Precipitous passages denying hope of seeing you again
Form begats form
Reviving chaos with each passing line
Castles in the air fading like morning mist
Are you there within the shambles of my life?
Why did you die?
Leaving
Only I
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