Winter Walk
December evening crisply cold
solitary stroll in falling snow
with soft breath starflakes cloud dispersed
soundless feet through lamplight of old globes
like full moons lifted in Atlas arms
along the muffled avenue
mellow yellow puddles gleaming at their feet
and I remember Lux flakes as they drifted
glistening
from the gaping box into the steaming was...
Thursday 30th December 2010 12:31 pm
First Love (revised)
At her bedside is a photograph
herself at eighteen
a portrait of ripe youthfulness
her lovely face cast sideways
with a sophomorphic smile lips half parted.
slanted eyes enthralled by first love
charmed charming
ardently sincere
a birthday gift to someone long ago
with a private message in flowing script on the back.
She stares long at the ph...
Sunday 19th December 2010 4:35 pm
november robin
up
there
chatted
the wee bird
high viewing frosty blue
its blushing breast
in filigree twigs
...
Friday 19th November 2010 7:21 pm
The Written Word
Consider:
Energy of thought is a palpable force
And must be expressed.
So Language evolves - a living thing.
We honour the first storytellers and the bards.
But - symbols scratched from stone to paper
Power more influence
Than a person can effect in a lifetime.
Communication across Death
Is a privilege we barely notice.
A book rend...
Thursday 11th November 2010 4:46 pm
Creation
Of one clay is Man
While rises renascent Sun
One Light - One Love - Life
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Friday 5th November 2010 10:51 am
the little leaf
clinging tenaciously by its needle toe
the dry golden leaf
trembles and twists
a tortured dance in the chill wind
and refuses to let go -
afraid to die
the breeze reconnoiters
draws back and whips again
wheezing up the trunk
rifling the raggedy branches
into a twitching frenzy
but the little leaf holds on
the shifty ...
Saturday 30th October 2010 4:53 pm
Lines on Picasso's APERITIF
slim flower head
red pollen bold
erect on scarlet stalk
whispering scented smoke
green breath absinthe moist
wormwood curled
the perfumed whiff of rosy cunt
pressed at bay
damp
between satin thighs
more sleek than silken stockings garter strapped
tantalizing roads to mossy fields
ungated
arm like a swan’s neck
imperious
...Wednesday 20th October 2010 5:52 pm
The Velvet Conversation (FREEDOM)
What do I want? What do I value?
What do you reject?
What matters to me? Whose opinions do I heed?
Whose do you ignore?
I no longer care what anyone thinks of me,
or my actions.
You realize, of course, that you have fixed
the anomaly of your state.
You are trying very...
Sunday 10th October 2010 7:31 pm
Hebden Bridge
Nice woman
urgently requires
car transport to
WOLer's Big Weekend
in Hebden Bridge
pleasant companion
seeks no longstanding commitment
likes to laugh
not much luggage
any tram terminal or local station
in Greater Manchester preferred
respects time
and, oh yes, will share petrol costs
please respond below
...
Friday 1st October 2010 1:06 pm
Martini On The Rocks
After a double martini
the very air is more intense.
The distant shore sinks into the deep lake
darkly stained by heavy pines
and cumbrous clouds low-slung.
Silence is a symphony heart-heard,
the sough of needles, sighing reeds.
Chill wavelets lip the pebbled beach,
stir mossy shadows, smell green.
In the cool twilight pale daisies
light a path...
Monday 27th September 2010 9:19 pm
Usufruct
Lucretius said:
All life is given to us
Just in usufruct.
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Thursday 23rd September 2010 8:15 pm
The Parting
The Parting
My heartbeats measure the night.
How many weeks now has sleep mocked me?
How many months?
Late in the breathing hours when
My blood’s rhythm drowns my mind,
When I softly touch oblivion
My hands betray me.
Through my fingertips pulses
The feel of you.
My treacherous hands throb down your body
Until their a...
Sunday 19th September 2010 12:18 pm
Bite the Bullet Participation/Tagging!
Dave has reminded us to TAG our entries with BULLET to make a grouping which we can access easily if we wish to 'vote' at the end of the month, or even just to enjoy them as a theme unit. Please check to make sure you are included in the special list. For new WOLers, join right in. The theme is Bite the Bullet and it is wide open to personal interpretation, using any poetical style. The TA...
Friday 10th September 2010 4:26 pm
Bite the Bullet
Bite the Bullet!
Hey, little boy-man,
Run for your life!
There is pleasure and pain
In the arms of a wife.
Possession you hate -
Obsession is fate -
Reality late -
And
nobody
cares.
Tuesday 7th September 2010 7:20 pm
Clever People
Clever People
Clever people can be cruel.
They see vulnerable feelings
In others
And manipulate those emotions
To control
Continually.
Clever people can be witty.
They see the weaknesses
Of others
And lampoon those failings
To cut
Condescendingly.
Clever people can be blind.
They never see
In themselves
Cri...
Tuesday 31st August 2010 5:08 pm
Ocean Thoughts I
Ocean Thoughts 1
North Shore
The purple shoals brood
Like surly monsters
Crouching hunching
Tensed to heave their giant hides
Out of the azure sea
Dimpled droplets erupting
With a roar
Flinging fish
And flashing razor teeth
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Sunday 29th August 2010 2:11 pm
Midnight Gardens
MidnightGardens
"Well? How did you get out of it?
I knew you would; but how did you do it?
The car’s headlamps
Spotlighted you centre stage
All thighs and torso with fine rich legs.
I thought you looked magnificent."
She was halfway down the road
Almost past the point of suspicion
When the car swung boldly around the bend.
The piercing gla...
Tuesday 24th August 2010 5:01 pm
To Hell in a Hand Basket
To Hell in a Hand Basket
Who
has not been to Hell
in a hand basket?
The Game is
Surviving
with Self-worth
and the Capacity to Love
still intact.
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Thursday 12th August 2010 7:45 pm
the little leaf
the little leaf
clinging tenaciously to its twig
the dry yellow leaf
trembles and twists
a cruel St Vitus’ dance in the teasing wind
and refuses to let go -
afraid to fly
the shifty breeze reconnoiters
and strikes again
wheezing up the trunk
rifling the raggedy branches
into a twitching frenzy
but the little leaf holds on
...Sunday 25th July 2010 12:37 pm
Cliches
Clichés
Naked
She lay on the ivory carpet,
Stretched out,
Her head propped on one arm.
Deliberately
She circled the crystal rim
With her finger tip,
And dipped her tongue
Into the ruby wine,
Smiling mischievously
At the man seated on the sofa.
The red liquid glowed
In the single lamplight;
Her thighs gleamed golden
On the cr...
Sunday 18th July 2010 4:02 pm
Grandma at the Window
Grandma at the Window
Grandma sat at the window
For hours,
With her laced brogues planted
Her hands gripped in her lap
And her pale lips prim,
Staring into the street below.
When I was seventeen I thought:
What does she see down there?
What goes on – to interest her
So intently – for hours?
I wanted to push in front of her
And block the wi...
Monday 12th July 2010 12:10 pm
Beloved
As children they grew up together,
Bonded by friendship so deep
The passage to love was marked
By effortless consummation.
Their love was godly.
Fate forged shackles with no key.
But families fractured;
Communities convulsed;
Countries disintegrated.
Upon great tables in small rooms
Politics scissored flags – land – people -
And st...
Sunday 4th July 2010 10:28 am
Sapphic Stanza
Hear the faint chimes
Sapphic stanza: 4 lines - consisting of 3 lines of 11 syllables each (hendecasyllabics) each measured in the same strictly prescribed feet - /,///,,/,/, and the final prescribed line using 5 syllables - /,,//
Hear the faint chimes, music of nodding bluebells,
Tinkling-glass tones trembling on restless breezes,
Soundless ...
Monday 21st June 2010 3:38 pm
Spenserian Stanza
Spenserian Stanza: 9 lines, 3 rhymes in strict sequence - ababbcbcc, iambic pentameter - ,/,/,/,/,/, line 9 Alexandrine - ,/,/,/,/,/,/
Upon the Winds of Change
Upon the winds of change our courses flew
And us across the heaving seas did send.
It mattered not what dreams each would pursue
For Fate decreed what we could not portend:
That once again our r...
Friday 18th June 2010 8:52 pm
Pandora's Box
Pandora’s Box
inconceivable
untenable
unbelievable
inhumane
nonsense words -
ideas already
conceived
held
believed
executed
spineless words that fret the tapestry of Truth’s
complexity
multiplicity
duplicity
all woven into what?
...
Thursday 20th May 2010 12:26 pm
Morning on the Mall
Morning On The Mall
Fresh morning gold floods cement meadows.
Early cars swing into a seven A.M. huddle,
Close to the concrete caves that swallow
Sunshine down their shadowy throats.
“Good-night” “Good-night” the guards clock out,
With that chronic bounce of light lunacy,
Squinting...
Saturday 15th May 2010 5:49 pm
Bedroom Games
Bedroom Games
I
stinging whip
heel in the back
smarting slap
twist of bonds
linked collar
paddle smacking
II
...
Sunday 9th May 2010 5:06 pm
flashback
flashback
for six days
the sky breathed
naturally
serenely blue
washed with dimpled sunshine
dappled clouds of long ago
whimsy on lazy wind
eye comfortable
content to be weather vanes
too soon
giant jets
score the atmosphere with carbon plumes
criss-crossing tic-tac-toe
skewed by schedules
and altitudes
...
Thursday 22nd April 2010 2:53 pm
Old Woman Waiting for a Bus II
I am trying the 'objective style' (I think). Does this version have any merit?
Old Woman Waiting for a Bus
II
in the gusty dusk
old woman at the corner
perilous geometry pitched on compass toes
defying phantom wheels
like a still life - tightly ...
Thursday 15th April 2010 7:37 pm
Old Woman Waiting for a Bus
Old Woman Waiting for a Bus
Half a block away
I spotted the old woman at the bus stop.
She was leaning into the road
At a clear forty-five degree angle,
As though frozen midway
In the act of flinging herself
Under the wheels of a phantom coach.
Her anxious face was pressed towards me,
Unblinking, her mouth taut,
Oblivious to sharp wind gusts that...
Wednesday 14th April 2010 3:33 pm
Coffee and Critics
Coffee and Critics
Five essays on poetry!
Tone – voice – intent – paradox – politics –
Innocence – character – neurosis – truth –
TRUTH!
Coffee break!
Said a friend last week, ‘They grow coffee beans
Vanilla-flavoured now, you know.’
‘Sure,’ I chuckled, really flip,
‘And almond and orange and hazelnut, too.’
‘That’s right,’ she sa...
Saturday 3rd April 2010 11:56 am
Poverty Is
Poverty Is
Poverty is a
Flood of public tears when cheap
Mince goes up 5 p
Poverty is to
Hunt by busy roadways for
Berries and wild greens
Poverty is the
Dock where kind fishermen toss
Squealing heads to you
Poverty is the
Necessity to sew plain
Smocks for little girls
Poverty is to
Hold the old fridge...
Saturday 27th March 2010 4:38 pm
To plumb the depth of soul ( a villanelle)
To plumb the depth of soul we all must go,
And on our journey never swerve nor tire.
The final truth we all must naked show.
Despite reluctant steps which painful grow
While plodding past prescribed doctrinal mire,
To plumb the depth of soul we all must go.
Beware the mocking friends now laughing low,
Resisting dusty earth or ashy pyre:
The final truth we all must...
Monday 22nd March 2010 1:03 pm
October Road
October Road
The morning highway crisps
Through the late fall fields,
Rich red flickering boldly
At the edge of the rimy woods.
Dappled cows, flanks close
And steamy, breathily pull hay
From the leaning ricks stacked
High in a frosted field.
Bundled on a rocky hillside
Fat s...
Thursday 18th March 2010 12:17 pm
The Argument
The Argument
You could not.
Yes, I could.
You would not.
But, yes, I would.
You should not.
Why?
You will not!
*************
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Friday 12th March 2010 4:22 pm
The Colour of Death Is Gold
The Colour of Death is Gold
I
Mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September.
I returned to live with her.
She received the bulbs for her eighty-fifth birthday,
In November, from one of my sisters.
‘Happy Birthday, Mum! Look, we brought you flowers,
Or the promise of flowers,’ she laughed.
‘They’ll come out in bunches, like our families.
...Sunday 7th March 2010 5:42 pm
Communion
Communion
Grayly, unfocused,
I left the highway for the graveyard
Of the summer corn;
Away from bizarre headlights dissecting
The wet twilight,
Into the sharp stubble where
A dank wind rattled the bones
Of harvest.
From the invisible grass
A mottled rabbit with drooping ears
Padded around the puddles
And disappeared again
Into...
Thursday 18th February 2010 5:10 pm
Vanilla Sex
Vanilla Sex
Come
Dine on me
Dip your tongue
Delicately
Into my cunt
I offer fine cream
Warm and fragrant
Rich and smooth
A dish for kings
Or slaves
Come
Swirl your tongue
Over and around
And into my swollen lips
Come
Lick with lingering delight
My luscious perfume
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Wednesday 10th February 2010 10:51 am
Children of Despair
Children of Despair
Children of despair
Conceived in heat and nakedness
Mosquito mental mad
Children of despair
Thrown out in agony
Bloody blinding black
Child of my heart
Slimy solid passing
Waxen withered wail
Child of my dreams
Ripped from me in breech
Crumpled caved condemned
Children of my l...
Saturday 6th February 2010 3:54 pm
To Fellow Poets
To Fellow Poets
if my mind worked
like your mind
where is the joy in that
because your ideas
broaden my ideas
you thrill me
perhaps I would not say it
exactly so
but enough so
to understand your thrust and pull
to glory in your view of things
all things
...
Wednesday 27th January 2010 11:31 am
Summer Storm
Summer Storm
At seventy miles an hour
They sped down the highway
Wind whipping back desultory talk.
Green slid by – trees and farms and meadows,
With odd punctuation of a one-light town.
He fixed the centre line.
She sighed, and stared across the fields
To count dilapidated barns.
Smoky blue chicory veiled the ditches
Fed by tongues of fire lily s...
Monday 25th January 2010 12:04 pm
Directions
DIRECTIONS
‘Am I at a CROSSROADS?’ she wailed,
Dropping her face into her hands, despairing.
‘Well,’ a little voice spoke up, from somewhere,
‘You didn’t say T JUNCTION.’
‘Whaaat! What’s the difference?’ she moaned,
(not quite altogether but alert enough to question).
‘Choice,’ said the wispy voice.
‘Three instead of tw...
Monday 18th January 2010 11:40 am
Waiting for Mummy
Sometimes,
I hide in Nana’s front yard,
Watching for Mummy’s car.
I can hardly wait to see her.
My Nana is wonderful,
But I love my mummy.
Sometimes,
When Mummy parks
She just sits there,
With her nose on the wheel
And her shoulders funny.
Then she pulls her stuff out
And walks slowly around the car,
Looking for ants, I think.
Nana’s gravel goes c...
Thursday 14th January 2010 1:19 pm
Force Seven
Force Seven
In the lusty wind the cables whine
From pole to pole bending the matchwood
Wands by the throat fiercely.
Riding at high mast the grim-eyed beetles
Clamp their spiked boots deeper and check
The safety lock on their leather girdles.
With unnatural fingers they fumble for the
Lurching wires that clash spitting sparks
And lunge apart merrily hissing.
...Monday 4th January 2010 4:42 pm
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