Posted in Creativity, Culture, Writing, tagged creative writing, modern poetry, Poetry on 30 Oct 2018| Leave a Comment »
We keep it out
shunned
banished
beyond the electric glare
past heavy curtains
behind double-glazed panes
We fear
its cold
its dark
its unspoken secrets
I say
open the drapes
shut the lights
put flame to a candle’s wick
and let it in
Invite the night inside
forget its chill
forgive its inky mien
offer it a seat
and pour a wee dram
Enjoy its quiet
the stillness of its nature
and listen closely
as it whispers
of secrets
eager to be known
Let it in
—————-
k
Posted in Creativity, tagged creative writing, modern poetry, Poetry on 07 Jun 2018| 1 Comment »
Posted in Seattle, Writing, tagged creative writing, modern poetry, Poetry, vignettes on 26 Apr 2018| Leave a Comment »
sparrows greet us
escalating commuters
as we rise to the surface
grey-faced warriors
morlocks in the dawn
they sing to us from
guano-stained signs
hopping word to word
to teach us their lyrics
of sunrise and birth
Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, modern poetry, modern society, Poetry, vignettes on 28 Feb 2018| Leave a Comment »
I don’t want family
I don’t want friends
I don’t want a community
I want a world
A world where we all treat each other
like members of the community
like dearest friends
like cherished family
I want a world
k
Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged columbine, gun control, modern poetry, Newtown, nra, parkland, Poetry on 16 Feb 2018| Leave a Comment »
if you
say it’s “too soon” to talk about guns
say laws and bans wouldn’t stop it
blame it all on mental illness
are against common sense gun control laws
vote for people who refuse to act
pay dues to the NRA
value your right to own an AR-15 over the lives of children
accept slaughter as the “price of freedom”
then you are complicit
Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, Poetry, vignettes, Writing on 21 Jul 2017| Leave a Comment »
summer’s iron hand
beats me with light
with heat
my mind winces
whipped dog shying
hiding in darkened corners
then, for a few hours
clouds bring respite
moisture’s brief touch
salves my skin
saves my soul
Posted in Writing, tagged 2016, creative writing, New Year's Day, new year's eve, Poetry, vignettes on 30 Dec 2016| 5 Comments »
I did not wind the clocks this month. They tick down to silence, measuring out the year’s last hours with ponderous chimes.
This New Year’s Eve, the house will be quiet.
No television. No dropping ball. No music. No crowds.
No friends. No crackling fire. No pop of effervescent wine. No clink of crystal. Not even the ticking of a clock.
All will be silent, and I will sit on the stoop in the frost-rimed dark beneath the moonless sky and will wait.
Listening.
I want to hear it, you see, and want no other sound to interfere.
I want to hear this obscene alliance of Time and Death, this year that has gorged itself on family, friends, and icons, that has snuffed out lights of culture, killed dreams, thwarted hope, I want to hear it die.
As it lays before me, I will kneel at its side. I will lean into its abattoir scent, my ear close to its gasping mouth. I will hear as it exhales its final breath into the void.
And if it does not come, if at that silent stroke of twelve this baleful year somehow breathes on, then as I ring in the New Year, I shall wring out the old, my hands around its throat.
This year shall end, if I have to do it myself.
k
