sumptuous

seated at the feast
a banquet bitter and sweet
with treats sumptuous and rare
we eat
blindfolded
unable to eye the difference
hoping to scent out the ingredients
we gorge on delight and dismay
taking each bite trepidatiously
in jeopardy
we chew and swallow
each in turn
the taste
suffusing our soul
with saccharine suffering
or salty strength
delicate crystalline
sugar-spun sadness
or rich and robust joyousness
until we are sated or sick
pushing away the plates
to dine on dust

herald

a new year

crisp and clean and cold

freezing away 

the burning fires

of the past 

covering the choking ash

in a blanket of white 

a clean slate 

upon which to write 

the next chapter 

January heralds this

in whispered words

on the edge of hearing 

like music on a lovers lips
the moment before singing

obstreperous

a flight of lunatic feathers
floating in a riotous snow
shrapnel that falls
down around us
coating our kisses
in tiny tickles
the detritus of a
wild tussle obstreperous
pillow talk commanding
from a general demanding
with cascading cushions
as armaments in a battle royale
that both of us win by losing

jeremiad

foul winds blow
a gulf stream
of complaint and woe
and woe betide
the ones who say
it could be worse
for perspective
is his foe
jeremiads
fat and bloated
full of anger
issue forth
like the tides
upon the beach
they never cease
but whether
lows or highs
in the end, again
they always rise
and drown you
in his pride

proscribe

Head makes law
that Heart ignores
Head proscribes
conduct circumspect
so as to protect
but i am, as ever,
victim to myself
hooligan Heart disregarding
heedful Head's decrees
smuggling out reason
shifty shoplifter she is
stealing peace of mind in pieces
adding to Heart's store
while Head declaims
to guard against
a future Heart full and sore
but kleptomaniac Heart
will not reform
and Head can do no more
than issue proclamations
wise but unenforceable

zeugma

you confuse and abuse
until all is abstruse
combining and contracting
for brevity or levity
blurring and blending
in "wit" never ending
but obfuscating and deteriorating
you modify everything
until nothing means anything
you befuddle, you bewilder
you conundrum, you zeugma
enigmatic forevermore
so we all must be dullards
if we can't follow
where you go
though you meander there
for no purpose discernible
save your own ego

harry

had I known in my youth
that love would tarry so
I would have sought
a different path
focused less on fickle fellas
that wander to and fro
thumbed my nose
at lovers' woes
and held my heart more dear
more precious my time
wasted it not
on callow confederates
that valued it and me but little...
and yet,
I would not harry
my younger self too much
for in fires was I forged
in the time wasted
in the love unrequited
I found my hope unshakable
and though my heart's been
bruised and beaten
in the end
it is, I am,
unbreakable

pundit

in a glaze
of gobbledygook garnish
word salad
served in plastic bowls
cracked and warped
and wilted
overheated and rotting
lunchlady pundits
at an underfunded school
dish out disasters
and predictions
with a predilection
for apocalypse
as addicting as
sugar drenched cereal
and lazy we can eat
the crap they serve
or starve
unwilling to
pack a lunch ourselves

gravitate

objects in motion
dance through
the darkness
spheres rotate
and gravitate
towards each other
pulled by
an uncommon
attraction
a reaction
of distinction
fractured assumptions
find blissful connection

rapscallion

wicked smile/easy charm
blue-grey eyes disarm/alarm
shenanigans to quench her
thirst for adventure
rapscallion's rogue kisses
make her heart race
but settle down, girl
don't rush the pace
easy/slow as breezes blow
let it go as it wants to go
while still enjoying in the moment
the potential as it starts to foment

effete

posturing and posing
primping and prepping
proud as peacocks

bacchanalia boys and girls
bouncing from bar to bar

neat and effete or
rough and tumble
hunt their prey
with emoji and whiskey

and I sit on my stool smiling
and fondly remember the days
before swiping

thew

perfection is pleasant
to look at
but has no time
to hold me
it has to run and jump
and seems tacitly to
scold me
and my lazy Sunday ways

not for me
some marble sculpture
of a man
all thews and sinews
cut in symmetry
rock hard and rippling

give me soft and jiggling
strong but squishy
cozy and delicious
fit and fine but
not so overly ambitious

who'll walk with me
at a shared pace
hand in hand
no need to race

content
in a moment
of repose
yes
that's the man for me
I suppose

expatiate

professorial, prosecutorial
his words ring out with authority
despite their extemporaneity
as he explicates and expatiates
and dictates in spates
of laborious lectures
in which he highly rates
his own opinion
until someone
challenges him
then rather than defend
a stance
he happened upon
by chance
he blames the other
for disagreeing
he blames the light
for showing the holes
he blames and shames
and never names
himself

eloquent

he spoke truth
in words bounding and resounding
all who heard were changed
incited to joyful gladness
or hateful madness
as was their way
and still he called out
eloquent and refined
in words fulsome and fearless
drawn from a life
flawed yet filled
with striving
and in his stretch and reach
we grew
we grow
led ever upward
by words that soar into eternity

nettle

languid loungers
in the light of the lamp
a perfect picture of repose
her head upon his lap
his hand upon her hair
a veneer of calm
and peace pervading
but a closer look
the cracks will show
the peace uneasy lies
silence reigning
for each word nettled
with tiny stings
her eyes are shut
and breathing measured
so as not to cry
as he contemplates
his departure
not wanting to shatter
the moment of detente
but neither wanting to stay

qualm

now this time 

will you listen?

she laughs and shouts

"I told you so"

that voice inside my head

she scolds me 

and she cackles

"you ignored 

your qualms 

your fears

and where did it get you?

where did you arrive?"

no where at all

so this time, please 

ignore the sirens call

steer clear of the rocks

and listen, listen, listen

to the voice

she knew

limn

in the hushed dawn
of grey winter
we curl together
a pair of question marks
on plain cotton sheets
asking how and who and why
write out the answers
on bare skin
with invisible ink
that streams from fingertips
as from a calligrapher's pen
we limn our lines/our lives/ourselves
drawing words
bright and bold
telling and told
defining/outlining/opining
reading and rereading each other
enthusiastic students
curious and voracious
the morning
as holy and hushed
as a library

brogue

solid and staid
he stately walks
down cobbled streets
ballasted by brogues
through the buffeting wind
long coat cutting a fine figure
collar upturned rakishly
jaunty despite
hair dampened in
persistent mist
under grey skies
he strides 
with purpose
towards a cup of tea
and his love

chirography

a letterbox throwback
an analog antique
in a digital day
as evocative as a painting
as telling as a tic
each curve and curlicue
each downward stroke
I stroke with a fingertip
and feel your pressure
your presence
I read and read and read again
as if through study
somehow I could divine
some deeper meaning
some clue of chirography
to bring me closer to you

procrastinate

in rainbow rivers words tumble
swirling vibrant they sing
with whiskey and hope
and we stumble
bumbling clumsy enthusiastic
as we fall together
into each other
procrastinate goodbyes
in kisses and whimsy
as fingers find and cling and
swing with every step
and though it may
never be more than this
we make one of two
in this moment,
for this heartbeat eternity
of ethereal bliss

mugwump

he remained        

apart

[compartmentalized]

a mugwump watching/
observing but not partaking/
seeing but not participating

and in taking his leave (though he claimed it painstaking)
he felt no particular....pang
in departing

already begun on his next undertaking

no mistaking 

ignominious

bottle and banish
the worst of ourselves
like a message
written and corked
and washed into
the ignominious sea
to join the thoughts
we most regret
bobbing about
hopefully floating
further away
departed if not destroyed
else they wash up
on our shores
and litter us
inconvenient

fealty

I sing each night for my supper

I work each day for my pay

And at end of each adventure 

I head on my way

I wasn't made a puppet

I cut off all my strings 

I was made a traveling man

I  wasn't made for rings

A lonely life it is sometimes 

Sometimes it can be trying 

But better far a life nomadic 

Than sitting still and dying

I owe no lord fealty

I call no land home

I wander the world over

Destined for to roam 

rugose

weathered hands
lay upon the sheet
rugose like a mountain range
spotted like the shadows of clouds
as time ticks by
in the beep beep beep
of medical modernity

dross

like a prospector
I return again
to the river bank

with battered and dented
soul
raked over too many coals

with battered and dented
pie tin
poked with holes

with battered and dented
knees
that kneel in the gravel

the rocks shift and sift
and I strain and struggle
panning and picking
through the dross

weary eyes/weary heart
scanning searching
sluicing dredging
grasping and greedy
for a tiny gleam of golden
a shimmer of shine
a nugget unalloyed
legitimate

hoping with each swirl
as water slides over my hands
not to be heartbroken
foiled and felled
taken in
by the counterfeit
false shine
of fool's gold
yet again

 

bogart

he goes
with misered treasures
and his misery
held closer than a lover
a pirate
who hoards and hides
and bogarts the best
dispenses the rest
with condescending air
a parrot repeating
his wheezing whinge
without a twinge
of remorse
or regretting
not even there
forgetting where
he came from
not knowing
where he's going
but flown thither
by the wind
taken out of your sails
he blows

shibboleth

we whispered like spies
and giggled like schoolgirls
our in-jokes and secrets
of nicknames and nonsense
sibilant shibboleths
incantations of the
singular superstition
in the magic
of me and you
the price of admission
to a clubhouse for two
with a sign outside
an admonition to the rest
"Keep Out"

_________________________________________________


OK - I mentioned to a friend that the word "shibboleth" always makes me think of the West Wing episode and so she challenged me to write a poem about that, but I don't want more than one post per day, so here is a bonus West Wing haiku

Refugees in cans
Searching for asylum know
Bartlett's shibboleth

uxorial

I know nought
of matters matrimonial.
I've lived life thus far
simply individual,
but I'm not opposed to
the role uxorial
should I find a man
not adversarial
to the notion of
ending like Shakespeare
in a party nuptial -
after a discovering love
joyous and substantial,
but neither will I rush
headlong and headstrong
into situation detrimental,
lacking real potential,
for a false pictorial
of life paradisial.
I would rather
end monastical
and antisocial
than in relationship
apocalyptic, apologetic
and hypocritical.

alacrity

I should arise
and greet the day
with boundless bustle
but
a puddle of fur
blankets my feet
with murmuring purr,
purrmuring,
and dissuades alacrity
with languid liquidity
by fluffy example

quash

justice turns her face
her empty blinded eyes
look out but never see
as I register my plea
"not guilty"
"not guilty"
"not guilty
by reason of insanity"
love makes us all
a little crazy
magistrate of my heart
clears the docket
quashes earlier verdicts
and finds for me
tells the bailiffs
of my mind
to set me free
then shuts up the court
recess called for now
until new dawns, new days
new trials yet to be

annus mirabilis

i stand
look out at the horizon
know each step
to get from here to there
from year to year
must be my own
I am my own forward motion
coiled potential propelling
this year, this year
no more waiting, anticipating,
projecting, expecting
my annus mirabilis
of myself
being my own miracle
no more false idols,
false friends or false hopes
just me and the road