Sop

The river hugs the valley
exploring every twist,
engorged by all the passion of their
long tempestuous tryst
yet damned to watch the future
eroding in the mist.

Structure

Amidst the trees a rusting hulk
whose sagging framework seems to sulk
submits to the prolonged decay
of those that live beyond their day;
the undergrowth has claimed the bulk
and soon, it will just fade away.

The morning sun is snugly warm
caressing this diminished form
that strives to make some distance ere
the westward skies are filled with glare
or shrouded by a sudden storm
negating efforts to prepare.

So many thoughts, such little time
confounded by infernal rhyme
that counteracts the urge to quit
until there’s been a proper fit
despite accumulated grime
and ailing girders sure to split.

Downtime

Hi everybody, hope your summer is going well. I am enjoying my first full week of vacation since the year 2000, if you can believe that. I've been doing things around the house, riding my bike, reading, and above all - RESTING!

Well as my friend Shirley noted in her comment, the poem below was inspired at a very specific place, and while it could be seen as a figurative place, it is an actual physical place that I love to visit as well.

So I started to think about all the poems inspired by my walks there and found this little one (which was also published in the Taj Mahal Review), and this one as well. It is a magnificent hilltop overlooking the sprawling Mohawk River Valley, just awe inspiring.

But I also remembered all the things I've thought of while riding my bike like this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or even this and figured I'd leave some links to read through as I'm going camping for a few days. Take care!!

Mount

I journeyed from the depths below
to that shrine where wild flowers grow
and clouds come close enough to know;

I beckoned one to socialize
but it ignored my squeaky cries
preferring the untainted skies

then left without a second glance—
consoled by blossoms’ breezy dance
I managed a forgiving stance

forgetting what it means to frown
just long enough to cast eyes down
and watch a monarch leave it’s crown

to also fly away scot-free,
somehow escaping gravity
and all the hapless fools like me

that wonder on such perfect days
if we could ever thusly raise
ourselves above our worldly ways.

Let Down

I watched the jumbled colorful mass
anointed by a nobler gas
ascend beyond where eagles dare,
but even the loftiest still need air;
as turbulent clouds of grayish white
obscured the rising from my sight
I knew its hence uncharted flight
would falter sans that valiant knight—
deflated dreams descend to dirt
when champions become inert.

Diminished

I long for the moon
while embracing the sun
every morn like a lover returned,
for each time I swoon
and my pulse starts to run
means the pale one’s advances were spurned;

but late in the night
as I pensively peer
at the radiant face I adore
I am stung by the bite
of a burgeoning fear
that our triad will soon be no more.

Vertical Contrition

My affinity for steel
makes me question if I’m real
if my flesh is just a peel
beneath which sprockets squeal,
but when I try to kneel
the anguish makes me reel
and I embrace with zeal
the truth that I can feel.

Flip

For every bad day there’s one not so bad—
the trick is remembering that when you’re mad.

Crash

How small I must seem
to someone up there
who chances to look at the ground
while I fight the gleam
to triumphantly stare
at a race resolutely profound—
but what good are planes
or cars and the such
how well will they get us around
when Man at last drains
what we covet so much
not one precious drop to be found.

Herd?

Suspended twixt the magic and mundane
I hang upon articulated lines
while music courses through each rhythmic vein
like whispers through the undulating pines
that carry far beyond the chosen plain
to help compose fantastical designs
discernable to any that will choose
to listen with the ears we seldom use.

Sedimentary

The moon was so new that it shone
like a sliver of hope in the sky—
the wink of an omniscient eye
dismissing the need to atone
for even the craggiest stone
with a penchant to coldly deny
the truth,

despite being perfectly blunt
albeit not terribly round
or (some would say) deeply profound.
Embedded faults command a grunt
but sometimes it’s more than the brunt
that keeps you on the ground—
Ah, youth.

Pets

I read the wry rebuttals on the board
as highly educated minds dispense
their over-written tripe and then commence
to gripe about who may have truly scored
an instant classic; and there’s the old coot
(of course) proclaimed as ‘He Who Knows It All’
concocting quips with aggravating gall
that make you wish you had a gun to shoot
him dead. But then, you’d more than likely miss
and have to suffer through his evil taunts,
or worse yet hear stories of anal haunts
while he recounts his boyish backdoor bliss.
I try to fit in, but never quite click—
it seems I’m inept at stroking a prick.

Resolution

With what eyes do we see?
In what light do we limn
the mysterious whim
of our own destiny?

Are we partial to clay?
With what tool do we shape
or conveniently scrape
imperfections away?

Is the model the key?
Is it balance we seek
as we grow more oblique?
With what eyes do we see?

Rebel

It’s easy to see
how a plea to be free
could be signed on a day such as this
the sun’s bright and high
each breeze like a sigh
of barely containable bliss.

What creature could stand
a governing hand
compelled to cavort in a crown?
There’s so much to do
and days are too few
to squander one tick bowing down.

No Catering

I spared a sprig of thyme
from the order I had scrambled
aware the only crime
would be in never having gambled

for struggling by corporate rules
is much too all consuming,
I’ve had my share of fancy fools’
pejorative presuming—

so belly up and grab a plate
the fare is quite delicious
without the risk of gaining weight
from richness that’s pernicious.

Misread

Gestures of humility
mistaken for hostility
will over-complicate a simple matter—
pleasant country platitudes
do not deserve an attitude
when all that was intended was to flatter.

The Art of Alienation

Hey all, how goes it? Me, well I'm slowly getting myself together. I have recently been through much bullshit at work and it was getting to the point that I wanted to snap, literally. I felt the rage burning inside like never before in my life and it was making me miserable. Anyways I hope I haven't offended anyone in any way and am posting this rendition of the Incredible Hulk I did in honor of the new movie and as a way to say goodbye to the monster I was becoming inside. Hopefully it will 'draw' some responses (sorry couldn't resist)