Getting Through

All the rules you thought you learned
are based on spans that can’t be burned
but once you join the wretched ranks
their pyrotechnics roast your planks
until you stand succinctly spurned
marooned upon eroding banks

and whether you use steel or stone
you can’t rebuild what you don’t own
so just get used to where you are
and never let encroachment mar
the inner path you walk alone
for it can take you oh so far.

Currency

Still waters run deep
or so people say
the trick is to keep
stagnation at bay
in order to reap
what fathoms can pay.

Extra

Is selfish the same as self centered
can a doorway be closed once it’s entered
is chaos the key to conformance
will truth undermine the performance?

The planks that we’re all forced to ply
may help a seasoned star enthrall
but mummers fade before the eye
of those behind the lucent wall,
directed to a quick demise
unless they learn to improvise.

Backfire

The bed is barren
the banks austere
no thirsty Terran
finds succor here
devoid of dew at dawn and dusk
the weary world a withered husk.

We gather for
the sacrifice
to try once more
and pay the price
our angry gods have yet to heed
disgusted by our brutal breed—

we squandered all
to try and slake
our lusty gall
convinced we’d make
a planet purged of petty strife
instead of this barbaric life.

Infliction

I fondly think of her
and how she makes desire stir
with one strategic stab
existence seems a bit less drab
she gets beneath my skin
transforming grimace into grin
and grinds between my bones
eliciting exquisite moans
with sharp intensity
she radiates through all of me
the fierce imperative
to grasp each day and truly live!

Speak Louder

Contentment isn’t something you can simply wish to be
though chosen words can mask its errant seed
and such is the predicament that plagues humanity
we’ve learned to disregard each others need

by spouting milquetoast maxims that don’t mean a goddamned thing
while smiling because we think we’ve tried
oblivious to how a rote response can sorely sting
instead of warmly holding those who’ve cried.

Possible Scam Alert

I received a strange but official sounding email the other day, the body of which is right here:

During the month of July, the International Blogging Recognition Council (IBRC) had the pleasure of reviewing your blog Average Poet. Your blog was referred to IBRC through our Refer-A-Blog program. "Tailoring" was the topic that the Council reviewed. Based on the review, the Council has recommended that your blog receive IBRC’s designation of “Recognized Blog”. IBRC reserves this honor to those blogs that effectively connects with the audience and promotes the sharing of ideas and experiences.

We invite you to visit our website at www.ibrcblog.org to learn more about IBRC and our “Recognized Blog” award. Congratulations on your accomplishment.

Sarah L. Tolten
Review Committee Chair
International Blogging Recognition Council


I never heard of the IBRC but was excited until I checked their site and realized they were asking for $45.00 to receive this recognition. I didn't bite and since then have found this article which raises many questions. I sent an alert to Rob at PU but have received no reply so just letting the few that read this blog know, be careful.

Knuckles Down?

There are those that know a lot of facts from books
and those that learned to deal from honest crooks
but the one that you should trust to make you dough
has the touch to knead ingredients just so.

Pillar

I know you believe you understand what you think I said
But
I’m not sure you realize what you heard is not what I meant.

~Robert Grant~

It’s quite unclear what makes a man
that others follow if they can
what circumstance or hidden trait
endows him with that certain gait
which clearly speaks to anyone
intent on getting something done
they absolutely can’t afford
to not have this one strut on board.

Smoked

Promethean pretenses prance upon a plainly plebeian page too delineated to deftly dance or awaken an atomic age irradiated beyond repair by fallout from the flame affair.

Yellow

The jaundiced shade

cold lemonade

or a buttercup bestudded glade,

a daffodil,

canaries *trill*

the morning sun that breaks yon hill,

a bumblebee

and soon you’ll see

the streak where my spine used to be.

Here are some other colors I've explored:

Blue Green Red Orange

Test

I set the bait
and drop a line
then calmly wait
for any sign

that there’s a bite
upon my hook
and then I fight
to drain that brook

of all the fish
within the hole
that have a wish
to taste my soul.

Visionary

The oath he swore
couldn’t help him save
the pupils of war
so they dug his grave,

how many more
must be consigned
to dying for
the truly blind?

No Crock

Every minute that we live
is sixty chances to forgive
but if we choose to sit and stew
a leery lifetime turns to two.

Turnabout

I think of all I could have been
then look at what I am
remembering with sorrow when
I didn’t give a damn

so many people tried to help
though I just turned away
a cocky unrepentant whelp
determined not to pay,

and now I turn my pockets out
divulging all my shares
but like the me that used to pout
nobody really cares.