Poetry Blogs (2020, sonnet)

I tried to write a sonnet. I was quite proud of it, but it didn't win.

Engaged since birth against one deadly foe,

A mortal combat all must surely yield,

No clemency or kindness can we know,

No soul alive will leave this battlefield.

The lines of combat proudly crease my face,

My hair turns slowly, unabashed, to gray.

I must accept with honour and good grace,

to b...

Read and leave comments (4)

A man loves freedom outside his own abode

Not quick to drink but virtues soon are lost

How fast luck moves! Escape though? ‘Twas so close

Pulled over, cuffed, he learned this liquor’s cost

Now should he leave this fearful site unscathed

He’ll prosper after papers set him free

The luck remained and helped him walk that day

Yet cells contained inmates in need of leave

Surviva...

Read and leave comments (0)

Father Thunder cracked, Mother Thunder struck! 

through a cosmic tango, your divine birth!

And into a mad stellar chase I broke

begging to glow as your mirror on Earth...

I plunge into the ocean after dark,

and swim in this indigo-silver trance.

I relish in your splendor, hear the lark

his, a song of sorrow and jubilance.

though bittersweet it couldn't ever spoil

this ne...

Read and leave comments (10)

Straddling a life between town and country,

I remember you once stood on a snake.

You never saw it as we were shouting,

Until you moved and it slithered away.

Once you walked into a concrete column,

As I told you to hurry and catch up.

But you were focused and a little solemn,

Just searching for green anoles close up.

So many times you fell into a pond,

And I had to pull...

Read and leave comments (2)

In Memoriam

The gravestones in this place are wet with tears

Of children, wives and husbands who have stood

Beside dark holes that swallow up their fears

Replacing ice water where once flowed blood.

November skies are grey and hold no lights,

The flowers flattened in a winter gale

That whips away dark thoughts the widow fights

To keep hidden behind her mourning veil.

Read and leave comments (3)

The soft blown snow that fell five days ago

Crisp frozen now by these five frosty nights

Still blankets all the fields and moors to show

Where pheasant clattered off on noisy flights

While footfall of the lesser birds is scribed

Less deep; and here a small bank vole has run;

There passed red fox and rabbit side by side

Though time kept them apart and saved the one

At the wo...

Read and leave comments (0)

We see them on the news most every night,

pontificating, make believe they’re wise.

Myself, I think they talk a load of shite!

Does anybody understand these guys?

They tell us what to do and how to feel,

persuading us they know what’s best for us;

that we should acquiesce and let them deal

with everything, and not create a fuss.

They stroke us like a pet they woul...

Read and leave comments (1)

a sonnet

That thou may'st happly spend your day

Fair maid amongst the northern hills

With books and study that will oft defray

Your time and thought in winter's chills;

That there is pleasure 'mongst your shelves

Oh lady in your cottage home

Tis proven by each and everyone who delves

In dusty library vaults to hunt a tome;

That thy bookish studies are good I swear

Read and leave comments (2)

As evening’s chill descends to icy night,

A plaintive cry rings out a mournful tune

Through trees disguised in coats of wispy white,

To resonate ‘neath iridescent moon.

The heavens fade from blue to vibrant black,

And stars appear, to shimmer distantly,

Illuminating as the wolves attack

Their prey, despite despairing bids to flee.

Then silence shrouds the land and...

Read and leave comments (1)

I whispered the words I had come to say;
In humbleness I broke the deep silence,
Perfectly knowing the size and the weight
Of the questions, and of your prescience;
Having said what I came to say, I rose
With hardly a recalcitrant feeling,
Your wisdom is greater than mine I know,
Strictly righteous are all of your dealings.
How famed are your powers of cognizance,
They are sung all about,...

Read and leave comments (0)

And what of the children as yet unborn?

Who speaks out for them and will take their part?

As the world watches the hellbound handcart

Spiralling downwards with future stillborn.

When our great great grandfathers walked the land,

It should have been simple to chart a course

Keeping hold of hopes to husband resource,

But now supply is outstripped by demand.

So what ...

Read and leave comments (1)

Read and leave comments (2)

A sheet of ice on black pavement gleaming

As frost, settled on shrubs, illuminates

A white powder morning and activates

The sound of grass, underneath feet, crunching.

I with my twin brother wander, beaming

Along the path untouched, to what fascinates

The mind of two children and resonates,

Bridging the gap between awake and dreaming.

For brief moments the world was fr...

Read and leave comments (2)

A Wee Dram

The dancing flames lick gently at the grate,
a bottle splashes amber to the glass,
soft chimes reminding that the hour is late,
aromas drift of peat and harsh deer grass,
the smoky mist of morning, with each pass.
The glow of bonfires as I gently kiss,
letting the rich swelling flavours amass
and burn upon my lips, no thoughts but this –
“how can something so bitter bring suc...

Read and leave comments (6)

I've published a new ebook, and you can get it for free at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/489438

It's the first part of a trilogy called God The Banana, an epic verse-novel written as a sequence of 437 sonnets. Here's the first one:

Picture a diamond spinning against the dark,
flinging back the brilliance of a sun.
Move a little closer - you’ll be stunned
how lakes and oceans ...

Read and leave comments (2)

It can be said that fate waits for no one

It is almost a certainty in fact

But darkness with its spring heels waits alone

In a recess seldom visited, we go there in shade

Curtained we go there and raise suspicion

We go when there is blood to sacrifice

We come back when there is left only bone

Like the needless prayers of a mother

We disappear in...

Read and leave comments (0)

This is an ekphrasis on L'Agonie by Felicien Rops.

Sonnet on Death

Demons clutch at your rib-cage ladder

Grasping the arteries, choking your veins

Your bones are now fragile and ready to shatter

Oh dear, you're looking quite pale.

Your bloodless skin is as thin as paper

With cavities where worms slither in.

A struggling heart still resisting the Taker

Read and leave comments (2)

Sonnets are meant to be about romance

and love.

You know? All that's good.

But why should form be contained,

can one not make love to the page

in their own expression?

I can,

and will.

Imagination like a dodgems car,

wild yet bumpy.

And I guess that's what love is,

you can try to steer in the right direction

but there will always be obstacles...

Read and leave comments (0)

Some folk are born with knowledge of their goal.
I've met them, though I'm not like that myself;
I'm wandering through life, a placid soul,
content to leave adventures on the shelf.
I've loved and lived without a way to know
the field where I should strive to be the best:
to pan for gold, or be a CEO,
or cure disease, or conquer Everest;
        and likewise, you're a Poohstick ...

Read and leave comments (5)

Among those born as humans on the earth
within their mind the mirrored planet lies:
the universe contained behind their eyes,
more tangible with every day since birth.
Within, each place you love is held for you
perfected; every friendship dwells therein;
and if you dare, a thousand tales begin,
and if you close your eyes you'll see it's true.
        Within that place a forest ...

Read and leave comments (3)

They say my future follows on your past,
commanded not to love you by the wise.
They say he never truly lives who lies
a captive still, and by your charms held fast:
your warmth was torn by chilly morning air,
through daytime heat your image in my eye
would ever grow, would wane, would never die,
and with the night, you’d once again be there.
       You took my life, and took aw...

Read and leave comments (1)

This moment, I am God upon this town.
I compass every window spread below:
each pinprick point in total looking down
a pattern only overseers know.
I feel the human flow and ebb each minute
perceiving both with every passing breath;
each lighted room has home and hoping in it,
each darkening a sleeping, or a death.
        And nothing, nothing makes it wait to darken;
        ...

Read and leave comments (1)