She is Poetic Form
She dances like long form prose. Lips soft as a sonnet, her locks of hair flow like free verse, lingering sweet poetry. She has rhythm, such rhyme, limerick, beautiful haiku.
Her soft voice speaks in ballad, ode, softly singing lyrical into your ear. She writes in blank verse with lambic pentameter, each of her stanzas flowing like an epic river.
Couplet, villanelle, and cinquain. She loves writing words of all kinds, one's that will bring you harmony, like acrostic, sestina while waiting for someone to read her quatrain.
She will love you like a narrative, an epigram. Her heart is filled with notebooks filled with words kept together like crumbled paper.
When she leaves this earth, mourning, loss, and reflection. She reads her elegy aloud from above ~ redemption isn't dead, each word written and read is still alive like soliloquy.
Self-inflicted
An autodidact in self-harm,
she gets hopes up, smitten, blushing.
Though not for her, she'll crave his charm.
His deflection-- cold, crushing.
She hates herself, her unchecked smarm.
Alarms and flags-- they mean nothing.
She'll run straight to, all good sense fled,
when they're her preferred color… red.
Mine gerund farming, tilling, and harvesting illogical weltanschauung
Twas accursed destiny
since birth (maybe coded in
deoxyribonucleic acid
since time immemorial) alas and alack
nascent emasculation abominable barrack
emergent deus ex machina,
one common Joe biden his time
for no particular
rhyme nor reason
revisiting mine days of yore,
when protectiveness courtesy
older sibling come
from behind ruthless counterattack.
All equivocation aside,
she/her thirteen plus months
and twelve days
constituted chronological senior gap
eldest sister struck like diamondback
against bullies who targeted me
as a poor defenseless “scape goat”
surrogate "mother" role
assumed tubby exact
protectorate viz pseudo fullback
against cruel foo fighting beastie boys
hurling black barbs
firing verbal slings and arrows.
Escapist exploits to cope
being brutalized, and traumatized
synonymous when Brian Williams,
(not the newscaster,
but neighborhood school chum,
who shared same namesake)
we imagined ourselves
courageous dauntless explorers
while toying with his beebee gun.
Mein kampf one after another
against relentless barrage of flak
comeuppance effected giveback
pummeling spongiform mine
now sixty plus shades gray matter
fisticuffs sister didst highjack
proxy mated mothering
kept corporeal essence intact
jilting nefarious nemesis aligned
jumpstarting, maligning, and stalking.
This fee-fi-fo-fum
bling ordinary bean sized Jack
err runt (arrant) cowardly
(fee lion) dorky and nerdy lad
owning nada knick knack
paddy whack give my dog a bone
a fide scaredy cat,
he/him an aging baby boomer
older married chap doth adumbrate
satisfactory accomplishments lack
king, where crazy
quilt aimless wandering
described purposeless multitrack
thus, sympathetic, and empathetic
to hue men/women nonblack
or decimated aborigines
once populating Australian outback
existential nihilism would,
undergirding hypothetical
unwritten paperback
with little need to prevaricate,
nor appear as quack
pot, one measly Homo sapiens,
who accrued millennial
palimpsest gestalt zeitgeist
where, punctured, and zapped
disequilibrium created
psyche dust rack
asper protean (in utero)
multitudinous setback
soundlessly resonating
with concussive thwack
as this rickety ship of state
(never confused as fêted junket)
unwanted emotional ballast to unpack
asseveration, asper assiduously
preferably welcoming
dry suction no vac
jarring this pawn (knight wannabe
in his bishop rick) torrid
me psychological wrack
king within (castle keep)
complex edifice shackled
in dungeon with repast constituting
present day long winded conversations,
where she volubly talk yakety yak.
Elusive ephemeral ethereal expansiveness eye (I) witness timelessness
Analogous to Möbius strip -
measured passage of existence
seems to defy any beginning or end
(unless Artificial Intelligence
supersedes developers smarts
of computer technology
evincing brain power
designing sophisticated machines
that enslave their creators)
incorporating figurative
uber plug n play
genetic material imperceptibly
becoming modified to offer
advantageous lyft to maneuver
weathering adverse circumstances
which series of unfortunate events
proffered entry point
for Lemony Snicket
an underappreciated character
only took precedence
with Homo sapiens ascendent
bursting forth upon
the figurative pedestal
presiding over domain,
sans Earthly covenant
a bajillion ago,
where fits and starts
pitted proto humans
at no immediate advantage,
yet merely, thru
dint of accidental
happenstance ever so
imperceptibly amassed dominion
over every other species
cue Homo erectus
an extinct species
of archaic human
from the Pleistocene,
with its earliest occurrence
about two million years ago,
specimens among the first
recognizable members
of the genus Homo
as became evident
throughout the vast sweep of
anthropological
evolutionary incidental
plucky perturbations, provocations,
and/or pullulations arisen by
spontaneous circumstantial grant
ting quasi consciously
coalescing into nasty,
short and brutish bipedal hominids
deliberated focused intent,
where forethought
co-opted indiscriminate
chance facilitating kent -
state manifested rubber
baby buggy bumpers
activated, aggrandized, and
allotted destiny meant
to lurch incrementally
i.e. hierarchical designation
present day primate
predecessors practiced negligible
fletched, notched, and
worsted nimbleness orchestrated
(equal parts gall and genetic
giftedness), whatsapp operant
adaptation toward
survival rippled quiescent lyft
minutely nudging overt salient
traits ineluctably
manifesting, outflanking,
and proffering
quintessential urgent
biological scrimmage quietly testing,
and wrestling, whence yen
(to secure rootedness
favoring survival of the fittest)
zeroing what didst warrant
winning formula
to adapt adroit edge
pitted by dictates of nature
grappling iron
grip, viz literal hedge
fund and kickstarting toehold
upon tenuous ledge
(oft times succumbing to danger)
falling into abyss
of anonymity pledge
kindled acquired innovative tool
such as a primitive sledge
hammer instinctively
resigning animal instinct
death be not proud not
before inculcating
survivalist tactical wedge.
The Dragon’s Son
The fading fire of a dream
It would seem could blaze anew
In the hearts of beaten men.
Prophets again spoke words true
Of a son of the dragon
Who would gladden and inspire
And rouse the people from sleep,
No longer sheep. Filled with ire
They sharpened sword axe and spear,
For ’twas clear the hour had come
Of the once and future king.
Bards would sing and beat the drum,
Pluck the harp and trumpet sound,
Declare found the anointed,
The one who would wear the crown,
Bringing down disappointed
The servant of the false king.
They would bring the captive lord
Before his throne. ’Hail Owain!
For ’tis plain steel’s in thy sword
My warriors thou didst route:
Without doubt you are the One
Whom God has blessed. Noble heir
Of Arthur’s chair, thou hast won!’
Thus Mortimer bent the knee
That all might see foe made friend.
Bolingbroke quaked, and fear felt:
This friendship spelt his near end.
Unless…Was hope to be found
In one who clowned with Sir John?
Could Hal a soldier become
And find wisdom yet, newborn?
Mortimer, Lord Percy too,
Henry knew, could spell his doom.
If with the Welsh they joined arms,
With what charms could England bloom?
So Shrewsbury, it was to be
Where Destiny played His part.
Hal met Hotspur, won the day,
And thus the play found its heart.
Not Cymru’s bards, but Avon’s:
The ravens, alas, are black,
And bleak the outcome for Wales,
Though the tales will e’er come back
To keep the fire of a dream
Alive. A gleam of maybe
Of a once and future king
Still we sing, yearn: to be free.
Commentary:
A slice of history… In the 13th century, Welsh independence came to an end, with the conquests of Edward I of England. Over a century later, in 1399, Henry Bolingbroke became King of England, overthrowing Richard II, and reigning as Henry IV. Bolingbroke’s claim to the throne was tenuous; and many of the English and Welsh lords regarded him, with some justification, as a usurper. In 1400, Owain Glyndŵr, a Welsh lord, a descendant of several Welsh royal dynasties, and a supporter of Richard II, quarrelled with a Bolingbroke loyalist, his neighbour Baron Grey of Ruthin. Glyndŵr’s grievances were ignored by the English parliament, and led him into open revolt, declaring himself the true Prince of Wales. The revolt spread quickly, and Welsh bards viewed him as heir to the legacy of King Arthur (the Once and Future King of prophecy) and the pre-Conquest princes of Wales.
Early Welsh successes included the Battle of Pilleth in mid-Wales in 1402, at which the English lord Edward Mortimer, one of the most powerful of the English barons, was captured. Mortimer changed allegiance, and entered into an alliance with Glyndŵr, as did Lord Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, the most powerful northern English Lord. The three allies agreed to divide England and Wales between them (the so-called Tripartite Alliance): Percy would rule in the North, Mortimer in the South, and Glyndŵr in Wales and the Welsh Marches. The political situation was grim for Henry IV. However, his son Prince Hal (the future Henry V), despite having spent his younger years as an impressionable and dissolute wastrel under the influence of Sir John Falstaff, turned out to be an excellent field commander. He defeated and killed Henry Hotspur (the son of Lord Percy) at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1405, preventing the three opposing armies from joining up, and turning the tide against the rebellion.
Despite having lost his English allies, and having seen with the support he’d garnered from the French also coming to naught, Glyndŵr continued the rebellion for more than a decade, establishing a Welsh parliament, and making plans for the first Welsh university: but eventually the English crown regained control of Wales. An outlaw and a fugitive, Glyndŵr refused the offer of a royal pardon after the rebellion had finally collapsed. His date of death and exact burial place remained unknown: like Arthur before him, Owain Glyndŵr became a figure of legend. Yet the dream of Welsh independence he had rekindled never entirely died. Welsh nationhood, and the survival of Welsh culture and language to the present time, owes more to him than perhaps any other individual.
As for ‘the Bard of Avon’: William Shakespeare gives Glyndŵr a small role in his Henry IV: Part One. Together with Richard II, Henry IV: Part Two and Henry V, these history plays tell (from the English perspective, almost two centuries later) the story of the events leading up to and in consequence of Henry Bolingbrook’s usurpation of the English throne.
I too, am human
I'll probably never hold you just right when you need it the most. I'll probably never kiss you like I should when the time calls for it. I'll probably never say your name the way you whisper mine, but I'll try. I am flawed, but in the most honest form. Love has shaped me and cut into my bones, so I will try to be all of what has never been given to you in your life. I promise you I will try harder than the ones before me. You not only deserve it, you encompass all things I've never had the honor of knowing. You are unique beyond description. You are masterfully handmade from a single star. One that I wished upon before my body knew my name. It's been you, and will always be you who I open and close my eyes to see. No matter if the night tries to take you away from me. No matter how far the distance is between our fingertips, I will give you the parts of me that have been hiding patiently waiting for someone to finally recognize I too, am human.
I Hope this isn’t too Late
One of these days, I'm going to find you before it's too late, with a thousand smiles and full reverie. You've been in my dreams for years now, a constant delight to hold when alone is all I've known these past few lifetimes I've lived. I want to know how the Sun looks on you and how the moon looks in your eyes at twilight. I want to watch you in your garden and learn your hands better, as they move for the things they love. I hope it's not too late to love you, and maybe love isn't enough to make a reality out of such things. What sweet torture it is to know you exist here with me, yet I have not felt a single breath of you fall so softly on my shoulders of which I have never carried a queen like you. I guess in moments of despair, we all wish and hope for what we want and need to find us, to hold us all the same. I hope this isn't too late.
Each Key Punched
I can feel you beside me, watching each key punched and each word revealed to see your eyes, lips, and body become its structure. A daring and darling muse you are, keeping me from falling further into my own negative thoughts and closer to the reassuring energy you are. I've never met you, but feel you as close as my shadow knows me. I can smell the spring in your hair as you tend to lay amongst the flowers when you're in need of recharging and calm. A kindred spirit you are, existing within reality where I am without you, but never far away. Your closeness is the beating heart inside the core of the earth, and mine is breaking through my goddamn chest to get to you, I know I could close my eyes for this lifetime and still find my way to you. Something I shouldn't do, but wanderers like me all have a home they are trying to get to.
Breathing life into the Sea
She tries so hard to make ends meet. It almost seems like nothing will ever fall into place. But it doesn't deter her from being who she needs to be for those around her. There's something special about her and how she continues on against the onslaught of negativity she faces. In her world, the cape never comes off. She always gets what she wants, because that's just who she is. Do not talk down to her when speaking about life and love. She's experienced both more than you've had heartbeats. It's all about balance, and that means making sure her glass is always full. If you have a reason for not believing in her, you'll regret it. You see, not everyone can swim underwater while breathing life into the sea.
Memorial Day May 29th, 2023
Enshrined for all posterity
mine benediction for reverence,
whereby conflict resolution
ameliorated courtesy peaceable solutions.
An adulation, concatenation, encapsulation,
gratification, introspection, et cetera
encompassing poignant episodes of mein kampf.
Flagrante delict adulterous sordid behavior
automatically linkedin with Lothario;
an unscrupulous seducer of women,
based upon a character
in The Impertinent Curious Man,
a story within a story
in Miguel de Cervantes'
1605 novel, Don Quixote.
Hard to fathom where yours truly
got (seedy – CD) drive and moxie,
after willingly assenting
to pledge sacred marital agreement
courtesy justice of the peace
and Magisterial District Judge:
Henry Schireson
925 Montgomery Avenue,
Suite 100, Narberth, Pennsylvania
19072-1913.
He subsequently and immediately
pronounced myself and the missus
as newlywed groom and bride
freshly minted husband and wife
July twenty fifth nineteen ninety six
until death do us part.
A couple years later,
we acquired our first computer
then snazzy top of the line
state of the art COMPAQ presario
running on Windows 98 operating system,
a belated wedding anniversary present,
whereat wide-eyed, I quickly disc hoovered
plethora pornographic websites
expending energy and time crafting
which hashtagged electronic ejaculations recognized
now as crude sexually explicit
classified personal advertisements
forsaking welfare of marriage and fatherhood
to mine innocent beautiful two little girls.
I blatantly, egregiously, indiscriminately...
whiled away hours shucking off
essentially grievously ignoring
paternal and husbandly duties
instead prioritizing re: cultivating,
cavorting, frolicking, inviting...
romantic (née dangerous) liaisons.
These days majority of time spent online
constitutes crafting anecdotes of mein kampf,
albeit reflecting categorically imponderable poetry
and/or stream of consciousness prose
veritable anonymous readers
probably roll their eyes
at mine trademark double entendre,
yet bard arse (with shaky spear) knows
how inapropos I consider ogling attractive girls
for instance while grocery shopping
with the missus at Trader Joe's,
nevertheless job of this punster
his wordplay accidentally doth impose
so please pardon moi harmless
momentary lapse of rhymed reason
as mine handy dandy
blue veined ribbed slimy fleshy hose
does double duty in tandem with magic wand,
lifelike snaky entity that actually grows
particularly necessary when
burst of fiery secretion flows
intense spray powerful enough
to pulverize knees and elbows
subsequently witnessing yours truly to doze,
an ideal juncture to figuratively close
silently wailing analogy to Moby Dick
regarding how yesterdays
prurient laced introductions
to rhyme in retrospect embarrassingly blows.
Herewith to enliven anecdote ever further,
I inject humorous tidbit
just gimme moment to unload and reach
into psychological metaphorical knapsack
particularly blue slimy hose, my keepsake
to forcibly remove dingleberries
birthed courtesy emergency pit stop
without means and ways to clean derriere,
a feeble and futile attempt.
Haint no fallacy
yours truly subsequently secured
more powerful giant accouterment,
while clinging for dear life
perched atop ledger
or edge er domain of clawfoot bathtub,
(ah how convenient and timely
smallish size Jacuzzi getup to appear)
and lemme figuratively
continue (closing) pathetic riffraff
(apropos of nothing) riffling around
mostly strewn with random tchotchkes
and odd bubba's zayda's knickknack
such as ahh... look here hocked wares,
acquired ready to receive paddywhack
giving dog(gerel) bonafied chops.
Without warning be alert
and on outlook for non sequitur
verses asinine blather to blurt
plus quite juvenile grown man here
averse to prick thought processes of her/him
who might peruse frivolous inane gibberish
cuz precious effort ye exert
to comprehend written contents
alluding to metaphorical little squirt.
I chose to memorialize, alas and alack
atypical/unusual fond memory -
argh, a sudden nostalgia attack
many... countless years gone back
livingsocial at 324 Level Road,
elapsed good times, I can never buyback
Gambone builders demolished complex edifice
currently repurposed mansion manse courtesy
vinyl city as Stella's Way
boyhood address above,
frequently seen dramatically transformed
into aforementioned place name, which property
originally christened Glen Elm,
(within national registries)
yours truly cannot easily callback.
Noggin houses storied detailed information
though I experience exercise in futility
searching Internet, said webbed wide world
absent information when Leipers lived
circa early nineteen hundreds, though
if mine perchance eyes espied absent estate...
slack jawed stare would repeatedly
sow sadness weighing me heart
heavy as coalsack
accompanying sorrow with
attendant flood of tears,
would make an immediate comeback
impossible mission to stopper
feeble, futile and lame counterattack,
where sentimental reverie would
carry me far away to Old Virginny,
for no particular rhyme nor reason
e'en attempting to write
recollections might trigger
tsunami immanent grievous childhood memories
recollecting watching silent home movies,
while chomping on crackerjack
when I had real teeth,
boot the Missus axed me to enliven herself
regaling humorous instances, thus I cutback
to... hardy potty times, the major drawback
x amount of time elapsed
summoning special occasions
(surgeon general's warning
such mental revisitations)
fraught with onset, where perilous flashback
will moost likely
violently grip cerebral cortex
analogous to puny chap (me)
knocked unconscious courtesy
searingly robust fullback,
nevertheless impossible mission
to restrain waterworks I intend to hijack,
and hoop fully succeed tamping tears
strong suggestion as encouraged by hunchback
from Notre Dame Dublin
known within these neck of woods
as storied Paul Bunyan
also alias Philanderer,
(especially among superficially
prim and proper, but
actually debauched women folk),
whose services regarding payback
best abide, adhere, and afford
to pay forward credo fore playbook.
Said burly lumberjack with severe scoliosis,
nonetheless quite self evident
his outsize implement,
(ye need not axe further questions)
extinguishing problematic residue
iterated further within mine playful ramble.