Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Writing, tagged gratitude, love, modern poetry, partnership, Poetry, Relationships on 26 Oct 2023| Leave a Comment »
I have walked
From land to land and star to star
I have walked
Through lifetimes and histories unwritten
I have walked
Learning living loving leaving
One place one life one breathless moment
For the next
I have walked
Though not alone
For with each step each thought each dream-built notion
Through crepe-hung heartaches and clean-scented joys
To lead to follow or simply to be
There has been you
We
We have walked
Posted in Gardening, Poetry, Seattle, tagged autumn, fall color, fall colors, Garden, modern poetry, Poetry, seasons on 21 Sep 2023| 2 Comments »
sumac, feathered fronds waving, hear it first
autumn’s gentle rapping on the garden gate
put on parti-colored togs to greet the arrival
nearby maples eavesdrop on the reunion
catch half the meaning but all the sense of joy
don festive gloves on five-fingered leaves
sweetgum and dogwood wake with a start
having overslept in summer’s waning sun
leaves blushing with groggy embarrassment
wisteria, in denial, refuses to join the fun
and with tendril fingers in viny ears
will sing la-la-la until their guest departs
evergreen elders tower over the festivities
enjoying the youthful exuberance at their feet
preparing for storms they know will come
Posted in Creativity, Gardening, Poetry, tagged context, creative writing, gardening, history, modern poetry, Music, Poetry, praetorius, renaissance music, Writing on 17 Aug 2023| Leave a Comment »
Walking my garden paths
fingers inspecting leaves
snips cutting spent blossoms
I hum a tune born
four centuries past
across continents
and seas
I wonder if the author
as he wove his tapestry
of notes and voices
imagined his music
would live beyond his life
persist through time
as empires rose
and fell
I wonder if he
as the ink dried on
quavers and triads
imagined his melodies
would grace the flower-scented air
of distant gardens
in a land
unknown
Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged creative writing, Creativity, modern poetry, nonsense poetry, Poetry, Writing, writing tips on 03 Aug 2023| 5 Comments »
do not put vowels
in the dishwasher
as they are made
of air and intention
and will likely melt
consonants are built
of sturdier stuff
and may go in
the upper rack
punctuation is best stored
in the garage with
nuts and bolts and
other fasteners
words once crafted may be
machine-washed and tumble-dried on low
but avoid fabric softener
unless the water is
especially hard
take time assembling
phrases and sentences
aligning them to the meridian
in a clean well-lighted place
free from excessive drafts
paragraphs benefit most
from a finish on the line
in springtime when the
breath of the waking world
begins to blow
non-fiction requires precision
and regular maintenance
so for peak performance
tune to 4° before
top dead center
patience is recommended
when assembling fiction
to ensure tight seams
and a proper fit
stir poetry
over low heat
until reduced
by half
k
Posted in Culture, Poetry, tagged atheism, modern cu, modern poetry, Poetry, social contract on 13 Jul 2023| 2 Comments »
it’s broke, so broke
I wake and feel
each day’s harsh edge
broke like torn tin
sharp and hungry
unforgiving
why so angry?
so harsh, so cruel
as if people
weren’t people
as if kindness
had no value
we want we want
it’s all we know
we take we take
it’s all we do
our circles shrink
collapse, darken
into a void
I don’t believe
in souls or gods
though I did once
a long time past
but then people
showed me their truth
and it seemed best
to believe them
Posted in Poetry, tagged aging, creative writing, modern poetry, Poetry, quiet living, Serenity, Writing on 08 Jun 2023| Leave a Comment »
he took the time
looked up at day’s end
at sun-fired clouds
watching
slow subtle shifting
rose red orange
spark flame ember
glowing rusting cooling
he took the time
enjoyed the splash
of shadowed flights
on the sunset canvas
hard-edged jetliner dark-winged crow arrow-fast songbird
from farthest to nearer to near
all the layered worlds
sunlight to twilight
that lay between
his eye and the heavens
he took the time
not for the beauty
filling the space
between his heartbeats
but to give time its due
not to be spent filled wasted
but lived in
a constant transition
a string of nows
reaching
from dark to dark
without end
Posted in Books, Culture, Poetry, tagged book collecting, books, modern poetry, Poetry on 18 May 2023| Leave a Comment »
I get rid of things
gadgets that lie unused
plants that don’t thrive
clothes that no longer fit
I discard, donate, sell
from pasta makers to cars
wanting the unusable gone
wanting the usable used
Better a new owner
a new set of hands
to work them
a new set of eyes
to value them
than the darkness
of my understairs storage
Except for books
I get rid of things,
but books are not things
Books
read and unread
are hopeful promises
treasure maps of the mind
histories yet unknown
friends unmet
I will spend my remaining years
inhaling their aroma
hearing the rustle of their leaves
taking them in
adding them to the thing
that is me
k
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 