floating and leaving no trace
under the tree, the shadows crawl
but not a single bird will fly
above the leaves nor near the wall.
under the tree the shadows crawl
and in the house within the hall
a cat naps, but she’d rather lie
under the tree. the shadows crawl
but not a single bird will fly.
—–
hollow man
with bones so fragile
that you break
–you shatter
under the weight of what if
why not–when–why–why
hollow man
your shoulders sprout wings
leather hard
paper thin
too fragile to beat–to lift
to bear empty weight
hollow man
every breath a strain
a rattle
a wheezing
crushing an empty chamber
that once held a heart
hollow man
you struggle although
failure is
a small sleep
and even a hollow man
can see the sunrise
—–
i am full
i contain multitudes
does it matter if what i say
contradicts
what i said before
i didn’t say that
very well
do i contradict myself
it’s one of the multitudes
at fault
a singular wit
mouthing off
i’m sure
one word out of line
and the train jumps the track
o captain!
these contradictions
are hard to take
harder still
to reconcile
with the crowd in my mouth
and you thought
keeping my wisdom teeth
would put my incisors
out of alignment
what about all those souls
—–
By a weird coincidence, my Zen a Day calendar had this quote by Walt Whitman today, which is what I thought of when I saw Jane’s Challenge:
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
–Walt Whitman
Jane Dougherty Writes
Poetry challenge #14: Take a favourite line
the fresh-turned earth smell
rosemary, sun, and water
–a new pot, new style
RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 80, Style & Fresh
she wrapped the scarf
around his neck
and then around her own
the red scarf
was long enough
and the weather
cool enough
to warrant such a thing
no need to bundle up
under the full weight
no need to bear it
all on her own
so much better to
share the warmth
to create a short
woolen bridge
between them
as they sat and watched
the sun go down
The Friday Haiku
—–
coffee on her breath
sun rising real in her eyes
two morning kisses
the abandoned heart is beating
it struggles on, but not in spite,
or beating, rather, not to spite
but because it knows nothing else
dreading the silence of the night,
the abandoned heart is beating
to hear itself, steady rhythm
the only comfort it has left
cold darkness too, this loss of words,
a handful of half-told truths–though
the abandoned heart is beating
it will–can not beat forever
these days are soft sun-filled hours
and gray clouds hiding silent stars
that whisper, it is a lie that
the abandoned heart is beating
Here’s one of my infrequent posts.
I just posted something a little spooky. Probably not too spooky. But here’s the deal. I love Halloween. So I’d like to offer a challenge to anyone who still reads this (my stats indicate I don’t get many actual visitors). We have exactly one week until Halloween. For each day, pick a Halloween theme and write a poem. For example: a trick, a treat, something scary, a Halloween memory, anything as long as you can relate it to Halloween. Tag it with “halloween challenge” so I can find it.
No prizes. Who am I, Rockefeller?
Day three of the challenge. I’ll repost the rules, one last time. See the first post if you want to see who I tagged.
In a nutshell, here are the rules:
1. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.
2. Share one new quote on three consecutive days on your blog. They can be from anywhere, anyone, or anything that inspires you… Which means, it can be from yourself, too!
3. On each of the three days, nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this mission impossible endeavor (if they dare!)
Here’s my quote for Day Three:
“Oh you’ll have your heart broken… Is that what you’re waiting to hear? It’ll be broken, all right. But you’ll never get anything done if you walk around with an unchipped heart. That the way of it, boy.”
–Peter Straub, Shadowland
This book a was a revelation to me when I was a teenager, and this quote has remained with me for almost forty years. I’ve never found it to be contradicted.
Day two of the challenge. I’ll repost the rules, although I remind you, I’m not following the rules. See yesterday’s post if you want to see who I tagged.
In a nutshell, here are the rules:
1. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.
2. Share one new quote on three consecutive days on your blog. They can be from anywhere, anyone, or anything that inspires you… Which means, it can be from yourself, too!
3. On each of the three days, nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this mission impossible endeavor (if they dare!)
Here’s my quote for Day Two:
Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those which a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might form of the outside world.
–Buddha
Another great quote about the ultimate nature of reality. I’m something of an agnostic about metaphysical matters, and I’ve always felt that people should be agnostic. In fact, they shouldn’t feel that they know. Every single person I have met who is sure about what the universe is all about has turned out to be closed-minded and judgmental, and not just about metaphysical matters. I honestly think science holds a lot more answers than any other discipline because of it’s intellectual rigor. But that’s because the driving force of science (and the truth behind this quote) is always we don’t know, but we should try to find out through experience.
Words and Feathers 