Poems from your favorite poets

mikalina

Annabell Lee - sung by Stevie Nicks

http://youtu.be/CsfzwhsDnWs


Poem by - Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea....

mikalina

Poem by EE Cummings sung by Natalie Merchant

http://youtu.be/ELMq2jzWyKo


maggie and milly and molly and may

by E. E. Cummings


maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea .....

USARAY

My Horse's Wish
Barbara Dunn-Reeves


Could you bed me down with kindness on the soft, sweet words of love.
Could you ride me in man's finest, with hands light as a dove.

Could you teach me with old wisdom by the laws of just and fair.
Could you be my friend forever with a trust so true and rare.

Could you meet me on the morrow, with grasses green and sweet.
Could you free me without sorrow on the plains of loam and wheat.

Could you say farewell with honor on the day my life is through.
And remember me forever, as I shall remember you.

vogonpoetbythelake

From:
The Four Faces of the Universe
An integrated View of the Cosmos

By Robert Kleinman

PROLOGUE

Fellow travelers
Crossing a Gobi expanse
Feasting on starlight.

THE PSYCHIC FACE

Leaning supinely
Dreaming of worlds yet unborn
He drifts in silence.

THE PHYSICAL FACE

In slumbering skies
Stars burnish the gloom of night
With soft evenglow.

THE MAGICAL UNIVERSE

Regarding herself
In the dark mirror of space
She beholds the stars.

mikalina

Motherland... sung by Natalie Merchant

http://youtu.be/A2JbLUVt0Z0


Where in hell can you go
Far from the things that you know
Far from the sprawl of concrete
That keeps crawling its way
About 1,000 miles a day?

Take one last look behind
Commit this to memory and mind
Don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place
When you leave
Keep your heart off your sleeve

Motherland cradle me
Close my eyes
Lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe
Lie with me
Stay beside me
Don't go, don't you go

O, my five & dime queen
Tell me what have you seen?
The lust and the avarice
The bottomless, the cavernous greed
Is that what you see?

Motherland cradle me
Close my eyes
Lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe
Lie with me
Stay beside me
Don't go

It's your happiness I want most of all
And for that I'd do anything at all, o mercy me!
If you want the best of it or the most of all
If there's anything I can do at all

Now come on shot gun bride
What makes me envy your life?
Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free,
What's that like to be?

Motherland cradle me
Close my eyes
Lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe
Lie with me
Stay beside me
Don't go, don't you go....

vogonpoetbythelake

Escapist --- Never

He is no fugitive --- Escaped, escaping,
No one has seen him stumble looking back,
His fear is not behind him but beside him
On either hand to make his course perhaps
A crooked straightness yet no less a straightness,
He runs face forward. He is a pursuer,
He seeks a seeker who in his turn seeks
Another still, lost far into the distance.
Any who seek him seek in him the seeker,
His life is a pursuit of a pursuit forever,
It is the future that creates his present,
He is an interminable chain of longing.

Robert Frost

Byrnzie

Charles Bukowski - The Shoelace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e6AKChtEPY

a woman, a
tire that’s flat, a
disease, a
desire: fears in front of you,
fears that hold so still
you can study them
like pieces on a
chessboard…
it’s not the large things that
send a man to the
madhouse. death he’s ready for, or
murder, incest, robbery, fire, flood…
no, it’s the continuing series of small tragedies
that send a man to the
madhouse…
not the death of his love
but a shoelace that snaps
with no time left …
The dread of life
is that swarm of trivialities
that can kill quicker than cancer
and which are always there -
license plates or taxes
or expired driver’s license,
or hiring or firing,
doing it or having it done to you, or
roaches or flies or a
broken hook on a
screen, or out of gas
or too much gas,
the sink’s stopped-up, the landlord’s drunk,
the president doesn’t care and the governor’s
crazy.
light switch broken, mattress like a
porcupine;
$105 for a tune-up, carburetor and fuel pump at
sears roebuck;
and the phone bill’s up and the market’s
down
and the toilet chain is
broken,
and the light has burned out -
the hall light, the front light, the back light,
the inner light; it’s
darker than hell
and twice as
expensive.
then there’s always crabs and ingrown toenails
and people who insist they’re
your friends;
there’s always that and worse;
leaky faucet, christ and christmas;
blue salami, 9 day rains,
50 cent avocados
and purple
liverwurst.

or making it
as a waitress at norm’s on the split shift,
or as an emptier of
bedpans,
or as a carwash or a busboy
or a stealer of old lady’s purses
leaving them screaming on the sidewalks
with broken arms at the age of 80.

suddenly
2 red lights in your rear view mirror
and blood in your
underwear;
toothache, and $979 for a bridge
$300 for a gold
tooth,
and china and russia and america, and
long hair and short hair and no
hair, and beards and no
faces, and plenty of zigzag but no
pot, except maybe one to piss in
and the other one around your
gut.

with each broken shoelace
out of one hundred broken shoelaces,
one man, one woman, one
thing
enters a
madhouse.

so be careful
when you
bend over.

rollings

That Bukowski...

chadwick

Byrnzie wrote:

Charles Bukowski - The Shoelace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e6AKChtEPY

a woman, a
tire that’s flat, a
disease, a
desire: fears in front of you,
fears that hold so still
you can study them
like pieces on a
chessboard…
it’s not the large things that
send a man to the
madhouse. death he’s ready for, or
murder, incest, robbery, fire, flood…
no, it’s the continuing series of small tragedies
that send a man to the
madhouse…
not the death of his love
but a shoelace that snaps
with no time left …
The dread of life
is that swarm of trivialities
that can kill quicker than cancer
and which are always there -
license plates or taxes
or expired driver’s license,
or hiring or firing,
doing it or having it done to you, or
roaches or flies or a
broken hook on a
screen, or out of gas
or too much gas,
the sink’s stopped-up, the landlord’s drunk,
the president doesn’t care and the governor’s
crazy.
light switch broken, mattress like a
porcupine;
$105 for a tune-up, carburetor and fuel pump at
sears roebuck;
and the phone bill’s up and the market’s
down
and the toilet chain is
broken,
and the light has burned out -
the hall light, the front light, the back light,
the inner light; it’s
darker than hell
and twice as
expensive.
then there’s always crabs and ingrown toenails
and people who insist they’re
your friends;
there’s always that and worse;
leaky faucet, christ and christmas;
blue salami, 9 day rains,
50 cent avocados
and purple
liverwurst.

or making it
as a waitress at norm’s on the split shift,
or as an emptier of
bedpans,
or as a carwash or a busboy
or a stealer of old lady’s purses
leaving them screaming on the sidewalks
with broken arms at the age of 80.

suddenly
2 red lights in your rear view mirror
and blood in your
underwear;
toothache, and $979 for a bridge
$300 for a gold
tooth,
and china and russia and america, and
long hair and short hair and no
hair, and beards and no
faces, and plenty of zigzag but no
pot, except maybe one to piss in
and the other one around your
gut.

with each broken shoelace
out of one hundred broken shoelaces,
one man, one woman, one
thing
enters a
madhouse.

so be careful
when you
bend over.

byrnzie, i love this poem. thank you very much for sharing this with us. incredible. i best find me some books on this guy

Byrnzie

chadwick wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

Charles Bukowski - The Shoelace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e6AKChtEPY

a woman, a
tire that’s flat, a
disease, a
desire: fears in front of you,
fears that hold so still
you can study them
like pieces on a
chessboard…
it’s not the large things that
send a man to the
madhouse. death he’s ready for, or
murder, incest, robbery, fire, flood…
no, it’s the continuing series of small tragedies
that send a man to the
madhouse…
not the death of his love
but a shoelace that snaps
with no time left …
The dread of life
is that swarm of trivialities
that can kill quicker than cancer
and which are always there -
license plates or taxes
or expired driver’s license,
or hiring or firing,
doing it or having it done to you, or
roaches or flies or a
broken hook on a
screen, or out of gas
or too much gas,
the sink’s stopped-up, the landlord’s drunk,
the president doesn’t care and the governor’s
crazy.
light switch broken, mattress like a
porcupine;
$105 for a tune-up, carburetor and fuel pump at
sears roebuck;
and the phone bill’s up and the market’s
down
and the toilet chain is
broken,
and the light has burned out -
the hall light, the front light, the back light,
the inner light; it’s
darker than hell
and twice as
expensive.
then there’s always crabs and ingrown toenails
and people who insist they’re
your friends;
there’s always that and worse;
leaky faucet, christ and christmas;
blue salami, 9 day rains,
50 cent avocados
and purple
liverwurst.

or making it
as a waitress at norm’s on the split shift,
or as an emptier of
bedpans,
or as a carwash or a busboy
or a stealer of old lady’s purses
leaving them screaming on the sidewalks
with broken arms at the age of 80.

suddenly
2 red lights in your rear view mirror
and blood in your
underwear;
toothache, and $979 for a bridge
$300 for a gold
tooth,
and china and russia and america, and
long hair and short hair and no
hair, and beards and no
faces, and plenty of zigzag but no
pot, except maybe one to piss in
and the other one around your
gut.

with each broken shoelace
out of one hundred broken shoelaces,
one man, one woman, one
thing
enters a
madhouse.

so be careful
when you
bend over.

byrnzie, i love this poem. thank you very much for sharing this with us. incredible. i best find me some books on this guy

Everyone should have some Bukowski on their bookshelves. I recommend a book of short stories called 'Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness': http://www.amazon.com/Erections-Ejacula ... 0872860612

Or one of his later books of poetry, such as 'You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense': http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Times-That- ... 0876856830
Or, 'Betting on The Muse': http://www.amazon.com/Betting-Muse-Char ... 1574230018

rollings

~~~
at their best, there is gentleness in Humanity.
Some understanding and, at times, acts of
Courage
But all in all it is a mass, a glob that doesn't
Have too much.
It is like a large animal deep in sleep and
Almost nothing can awaken it.
When activated it's best at brutality,
Selfishness, unjust judgments, murder.

What can we do with it, this Humanity?

Nothing.

Avoid the thing as much as possible.
Treat it as you would anything poisonous, vicious
And mindless.
But be careful. it has enacted laws to protect
Itself from you.
It can kill you without cause.
And to escape it you must be subtle.
Few escape.

It's up to you to figure a plan.

I have met nobody who has escaped.

I have met some of the great and
Famous but they have not escaped
For they are only great and famous within
Humanity.

I have not escaped
But I have not failed in trying again and
Again.

Before my death I hope to obtain my
Life.

~~Charles Bukowski
.."What Can We Do"

mikalina

Always a favorite ....

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

chadwick

Kubla Khan
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Xanadu did Kublai Khan
A stately Pleasure-Dome decree,
Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers was girdled ’round,
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But, oh! That deep, romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill, athwart a cedarn cover:
A savage place! As holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath the waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her Demon Lover!
And from this chasm with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this Earth in fast, thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced,
Amid whose swift, half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail;
And ‘midst these dancing rocks at once and ever,
It flung up momently the sacred river!
Five miles meandering with ever a mazy motion,
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean.
And ‘mid this tumult, Kublai heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the Dome of Pleasure
Floated midway on the waves,
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device:
A sunny Pleasure-Dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such deep delight ‘twould win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome within the air!
That sunny dome, those caves of ice,
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry: “Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle ’round him thrice,
And close your eyes in holy dread:
For he on honeydew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise!”

rollings

chadwick wrote:

Kubla Khan
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge


...So twice five miles of fertile ground...

... As if this Earth in fast, thick pants were breathing,...

very cool poem

Chip McFlennigan

rollings wrote:

~~~
at their best, there is gentleness in Humanity.
Some understanding and, at times, acts of
Courage
But all in all it is a mass, a glob that doesn't
Have too much.
It is like a large animal deep in sleep and
Almost nothing can awaken it.
When activated it's best at brutality,
Selfishness, unjust judgments, murder.

What can we do with it, this Humanity?

Nothing.

Avoid the thing as much as possible.
Treat it as you would anything poisonous, vicious
And mindless.
But be careful. it has enacted laws to protect
Itself from you.
It can kill you without cause.
And to escape it you must be subtle.
Few escape.

It's up to you to figure a plan.

I have met nobody who has escaped.

I have met some of the great and
Famous but they have not escaped
For they are only great and famous within
Humanity.

I have not escaped
But I have not failed in trying again and
Again.

Before my death I hope to obtain my
Life.

~~Charles Bukowski
.."What Can We Do"

Dear Rollings,

I dig you.

Love,
Chip McFlennigan

rollings

“She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by-
And never knew.”

― Shel Silverstein

Byrnzie

rollings wrote:

“She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by-
And never knew.”

― Shel Silverstein

What's that video clip all about in your sig? A tornado?

rollings

Byrnzie wrote:

rollings wrote:

“She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by-
And never knew.”

― Shel Silverstein

What's that video clip all about in your sig? A tornado?

yes, it's a tornado. it appears to touch down right in front of them, it's like a personal tornado.

Do you see it rip the tree apart and fling it?

Byrnzie

rollings wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

rollings wrote:

“She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by-
And never knew.”

― Shel Silverstein

What's that video clip all about in your sig? A tornado?

yes, it's a tornado. it appears to touch down right in front of them, it's like a personal tornado.

Do you see it rip the tree apart and fling it?

Yeah, it was kind of weird, like the tornado had a human aspect and ripped the tree up with it's hand or something.

rollings

a severed hand