The 'Share Some Poetry' Thread

2

Comments

  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    Ms. Haiku wrote:
    It looked like a clump of small dusty nettles
    Growing wild at the gable of the house
    Beyond where we dumped our refuse and old bottles:
    Unverdant ever, almost beneath notice.

    But, to be fair, it also spelled promise
    And newness in the back yard of our life
    As if something callow yet tenacious
    Sauntered in green alleys and grew rife.

    The snip of scissor blades, the light of Sunday
    Mornings when the mint was cut and loved:
    My last things will be first things slipping from me.
    Yet let all things go free that have survived.

    Let the smells of mint go heady and defenceless
    Like inmates liberated in that yard.
    Like the disregarded ones we turned against
    Because we'd failed them by our disregard.


    I love Heaney's work!
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Imagine you wake up
    with a second chance: The blue jay
    hawks his pretty wares
    and the oak still stands, spreading
    glorious shade. If you don't look back,

    the future never happens.
    How good to rise in sunlight,
    in the prodigal smell of biscuits-
    eggs and sausage on the grill.
    The whole sky is yours

    to write on, blown open
    to a blank page. Come on,
    shake a leg! You'll never know
    who's down there, frying those eggs,
    if you don't get up and see.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Chiyo-ni


    touching
    the fishing line-
    the summer moon
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • JamalJamal Posts: 2,115
    My favourite poets atm are you guys ...
    sounds korny, I know, but maybe it's because you guys seem closer to me than any poet in any book. (interactivity tends to have that effect :p)

    I mostly read Dutch poetry and Latin poetry and filosofy mostly ... so I'm not sure if you guys would have any benefit from me naming some stuff :)
    Surf little waves big... Charge big waves hard

    - Antwerp '06, Nijmegen '07, Werchter '07
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    Who built Thebes of the seven gates?
    In the books you will find the names of kings.
    Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?
    And Babylon, many times demolished
    Who raised it up so many times? In what houses
    of gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?
    Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finished
    Did the masons go? Great Rome
    Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom
    Did the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song
    Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis
    The night the ocean engulfed it
    The drowning still bawled for their slaves.

    The young Alexander conquered India.
    Was he alone?
    Caesar beat the Gauls.
    Did he not have even a cook with him?

    Philip of Spain wept when his armada
    Went down. Was he the only one to weep?
    Frederick the Second won the Seven Year's War. Who
    Else won it?

    Every page a victory.
    Who cooked the feast for the victors?
    Every ten years a great man?
    Who paid the bill?

    So many reports.
    So many questions.

    Bertolt Brecht, in Poems 1913- 1956, London: Methuen 1979.
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    "What a huge snowflake!"
    But as I spoke my hot breath
    Made it disappear.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Just how many nights,
    despite my endless pleading,
    have you refused me?
    But to surrender my hope
    is more painful than waiting.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    I thought that my voyage had come to its end at the last limit
    of my power-the path before me was closed, that provisions
    were exhausted and the time come to take shelter in a silent
    obscurity.

    But I find that thy will knows no end in me. And when old
    words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from
    the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is
    revealed with its wonders.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • So, has anyone got any good poetry sites for me to scope out, I'm really into philisophical poetry.
    no matter where you go,
    there you are.

    - brain of c
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    So, has anyone got any good poetry sites for me to scope out, I'm really into philisophical poetry.
    I don't know sites, but if you have an example of philosphical poetry that you like, then maybe I could direct you to an author that might interest you.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. Haiku wrote:
    I don't know sites, but if you have an example of philosphical poetry that you like, then maybe I could direct you to an author that might interest you.

    Ok, cool, Thanks! I'll get looking.
    no matter where you go,
    there you are.

    - brain of c
  • Put this on the first page:

    “Where are you from?”
    It was a question more difficult
    then she knew, or intended.
    There is nothing left there...
    I've been away too long for that.
    My hometown has become
    a construct of the mind,
    a physical place no longer.

    It is all real, all still real
    the people, the locales,
    the events, beads on a string.
    My mind has strung them
    artfully arranging them:
    A creative construct tied
    not to geography and time
    but to memory . . .

    Stuff that makes you think, makes you doubt your reality, and doubt your doubts. Love is a powerful emotion, but it is irrelevant to me.
    no matter where you go,
    there you are.

    - brain of c
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    The "Where are you from" line reminds me of an Elizabeth Bishop poem. Her poetry "works" with word choice, and how it flows, but I doubt it would make you think of the bigger picture beyond the bigger picture of poetry. Lucille Clifton poetry exposes layers of the immediate image of the poem, and how it fits in the larger scheme. Langston Hughes poetry includes that also, but from a different time period, and he was part of the Harlem Renaissance so the beat of his poetry is different. His poetry is grounded in the time period and location with analysis of the big picture, which is why it may interest you. If you can take out a Langston Hughes or Lucille Clifton book from the library, I would suggest it.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    From "The Lover of God" #2

    You innocent,
    so careless with your lapful of red flowers,
    eyes searching the moonless woods
    for his eyes looking back.
    Not there tonight. No sound but the bees
    rummaging through the twilight, whispering.
    You startle like a deer, Radha.

    Where will she quench herself,
    this flower-burdened girl?
    I have no unguent for her burning.
    No hands but his can cure her,
    no hands but his can catch
    her chain of flowers and hold her still.

    She grabs my hand, not knowing
    it's mine, night bird about to cry out
    to the whole forest, since she can't see him
    or feel the after-tremor of his touch
    subsiding in her body.

    Look, the wind's undressing you,
    scattered moonbeam, hold still-
    it's not his longing that loosens the cloth.
    Talk to me, tear-spangled one,
    quit looking down the empty path.
    It's late, it's dark. Not even his shadow lies there.
    Be quiet now. I'll sing to you.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    i speak of love that comes to mind:
    the moon is faithful, although blind;
    she moves in thought she cannot speak
    perfect care has made her bleak.

    i never dreamed the sea so deep,
    the earth so dark; so long my sleep,
    i have become another child.
    i wake to see the world go wild.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    The mists rise over
    The still pools at Asuka.
    Memory does not
    Pass away so easily.

    Akahito
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Threat

    You can live for years next door
    to a big pinetree, honored to have
    so venerable a neighbor, even
    when it sheds needles all over your flowers
    or wakes you, dropping big cones
    onto your deck at still of night.
    Only when, before dawn one year
    at the vernal equinox, the wind
    rises and rises, raising images
    of cockleshell boats tossed among huge
    advancing walls of waves,
    do you become aware that always,
    under respect, under your faith
    in the pinetree's beauty, there lies
    the fear it will crash some day
    down on your house, on you in your bed,
    on the fragility of the safe
    dailiness you have almost
    grown used to.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • oldermanolderman Posts: 1,765
    A MATCH - A. C. Swinburne

    IF love were what the rose is,
    And I were like the leaf,
    Our lives would grow together
    In sad or singing weather,
    Blown fields or flowerful closes,
    Green pleasure or grey grief;
    If love were what the rose is,
    And I were like the leaf.


    If I were what the words are,
    And love were like the tune,
    With double sound and single
    Delight our lips would mingle,
    With kisses glad as birds are
    That get sweet rain at noon;
    If I were what the words are,
    And love were like the tune.


    If you were life, my darling,
    And I your love were death,
    We'd shine and snow together
    Ere March made sweet the weather
    With daffodil and starling
    And hours of fruitful breath;
    If you were life, my darling,
    And I your love were death.


    If you were thrall to sorrow,
    And I were page to joy,
    We'd play for lives and seasons
    With loving looks and treasons
    And tears of night and morrow
    And laughs of maid and boy;
    If you were thrall to sorrow,
    And I were page to joy.


    If you were April's lady,
    And I were lord in May,
    We'd throw with leaves for hours
    And draw for days with flowers,
    Till day like night were shady
    And night were bright like day;
    If you were April's lady,
    And I were lord in May.


    If you were queen of pleasure,
    And I were king of pain,
    We'd hunt down love together,
    Pluck out his flying-feather,
    And teach his feet a measure,
    And find his mouth a rein;
    If you were queen of pleasure,
    And I were king of pain.
    Down the street you can hear her scream youre a disgrace
    As she slams the door in his drunken face
    And now he stands outside
    And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
    He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
    What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
    Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
    And his tears fall and burn the garden green
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Our minds buzz like bees
    but not the bees' minds.
    It's just wings not heart
    they say, moving to another flower.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Blues Haiku

    when we say good-bye
    i want yo tongue inside my
    mouth dancing hello.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Scientists

    The beauty of nature is suspect.
    Oh yes, the splendor of flowers.
    Science is concerned to deprive us of illusions.
    Though why it is eager to do so is unclear.
    The battles among genes, traits that secure success, gains and losses.
    My God, what language these people speak
    In their white coats. Charles Darwin
    At least had pangs of conscience
    Making public a theory that was, as he said, devilish.
    And they? It was, after all, their idea:
    To segregate rats in separate cages.
    To segregate humans, write off as genetic loss
    Some of their own species and poison them.
    "The pride of the peacock is the glory of God,"
    Wrote William Blake. There was a time
    When disinterested beauty by its sheer superabundance
    Gratified our eyes. What have they left us?
    Only the accountancy of a capitalist enterprise.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    I meant Czeslaw Milosz
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    i feel as if i am at a dead
    end and so i am finished.
    all spiritual facts i realize
    are true but i never escape
    the feeling of being closed in
    and the sordidness of self,
    the futility of all that i
    have seen and done and said.
    maybe if i continued things
    would please me more but now
    i have no hope and i am tired.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    Pablo Neruda

    Inclinado en las tardes

    Inclinado en las tardes tiro mis tristes redes
    a tus ojos oceanicos.

    Alli se estira y arde en la mas alta boguera
    mi soledad que da vueltas los brazos como un naufrago.

    Hago rojas senales sobre tus ojos ausentes
    que olean como el mar a la orilla de un faro.

    Solo guardas tinieblas, hembra distante y mia,
    de tu mirada emerge a veces la costa del espanto.

    Inclindao en las tardes echo mis tristes redes
    a ese mar que sacude tus ojos oceanicos.

    Los pajaros nocturnos picotean las primeras estrellas
    que centellean como mi alma cuando te amo.

    Galopa la noche en su yegua sombria
    desparramando espigas azules sobre el campo.

    Leaning into the Afternoons

    Leaning into the afternoons I cast my sad nets
    towards your oceanic eyes.

    There in the highest blaze my solitude lengthens and flames,
    its arms turning like a drowning man's.

    I send out red signals across your absent eyes
    that move like the sea near a lighthouse.

    You keep only darkness, my distant female,
    from your regard sometimes the coast of dread emerges.

    Leaning into the afternoons I fling my sad nets
    to that sea that beats on your marine eyes.

    The birds of night peck at the first stars
    that flash like my soul when I love you.

    The night gallops on its shadowy mare
    shedding blue tassels over the land.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • AliAli Posts: 2,621
    this poem reached out to me,reminding of my love requitted in nightly visions.
    it's like our "story"...Donne is AMAZING..AND...

    if youre looking to purchase some copies in print,ceck out Dover Thrift publications under google.I'm planning to pick up some 20 books or so, and their prices and selection are amazing.ENJOY!....allison

    Legacy

    When I died last year,and dear,I die
    .As often from thee as I go,
    .Though it be but an hour ago,
    And lovers hours be full eternity,
    I can remember yet,that I,
    ..Something did say, and something did bestow;
    Though I be dead,which sent me,I should be
    Mine own executor and legacy.

    I heard me say,tell her anon,
    ..That myself (that is you,not I)
    ..Did kill me , and when I felt me die,
    I bid me send my heart,when I was gone,
    But I alas could there find none,
    ..When I had ripped me,and searched where hearts did lie;
    It killed me again,that I who still was true,
    In life,in my last will should cozen you.

    Yet I found something like a heart,
    ..But colors it and corners had,
    ..It was not good,it was not bad,
    It was entire to none,and few had part.
    As good as could be made by art
    ..It seemed;and therefore for our losses sad,
    I meant to send this heart instead of mine,
    But oh,no man could hold it,for 'twas thine.

    j.donne
    A whisper and a thrill
    A whisper and a chill
    adv2005

    "Why do I bother?"
    The 11th Commandment.
    "Whatever"

    PETITION TO STOP THE BAN OF SMOKING IN BARS IN THE UNITED STATES....Anyone?
  • AliAli Posts: 2,621
    Read Richmond Lattimore's translation of Homer's Iliad. Now that's real poetry. Isn't it strange how the oldest poem we have, is almost incalculably the greatest?
    Christina rossetti and dante gabriel,my cousins,....:)

    CHeck out some at the Tate Gallery finns!

    hearts,
    ali
    A whisper and a thrill
    A whisper and a chill
    adv2005

    "Why do I bother?"
    The 11th Commandment.
    "Whatever"

    PETITION TO STOP THE BAN OF SMOKING IN BARS IN THE UNITED STATES....Anyone?
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,279
    We Real Cool

    The Pool Players.
    Seven at the Golden Shovel.

    We real cool. We
    Left school. We

    Lurk late. We
    Strike straight. We

    Sing sin. We
    Thin gin. We

    Jazz June. We
    Die soon
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • AliAli Posts: 2,621
    Boom Is Hot,
    I Am Not,
    He Drinks Snot,
    Like Him Lot.

    Bill's My Man,
    Heaven On Hand,
    Pj's My Ban,
    In Dis Lan.


    Poet:allison Vigh.
    A whisper and a thrill
    A whisper and a chill
    adv2005

    "Why do I bother?"
    The 11th Commandment.
    "Whatever"

    PETITION TO STOP THE BAN OF SMOKING IN BARS IN THE UNITED STATES....Anyone?
  • Grandmother Rattler

    who coils in my bones
    what were you thinking
    that summer night
    when you found the warm road
    on the edge of the canyon
    and stopped just there
    exactly at the center
    where the pickups and cars
    and evening walkers would see
    your spiral upon spiral,
    hear the singing voice
    of your tail,
    see your black head
    rising?

    When I stopped my car
    and walked up to you,
    arms spread and hands open,
    why didn't you move?
    Why didn't you slide down the stones
    among the white oaks
    and single tall stems
    of soaproot?

    When those white people stopped,
    leaned out of their truck,
    whistled and hooted,
    did you not recognize Owl among them
    calling to me over and over,
    "Kill it! Kill it!" I would not, of course,
    but still you would not move
    even to save your life
    but sang all the louder,
    your body quaking
    with rage.

    The woman came out
    of her house just there,
    saw you, ran back,
    picked up the heaviest shovel
    she could find, pushed her way pat
    where I tried to shield you,
    and said she would kill you
    if I would not,
    she said she had horses down the hill
    that might get bit, or she might die
    if you were allowed
    to live out the night.

    O Grandmother.
    What did I become?
    The German mother who closed her ears
    to the sound of neighbors
    as they choked and burned?
    Uniformed boy in a silver room,
    his finger hovering over one small button
    to kill thousands he will never see,
    elders and infants he will only know
    by the magic devil word "enemy"?
    I know only this.
    I took the shovel
    wanting to spare you a death
    at their hands, brought it down edgewise
    on your soft red neck, cleanly sliced
    the head from the body,
    felt a shadow pass
    over my womb.

    Ever since
    there is a dream
    where opals outline
    the shape of diamonds
    on my back.
    My mouth opens
    and your high
    whistling hum
    bleeds out;
    my tongue
    licks the air.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    there are sparkles of rain on the bright
    hair over your forehead;
    your eyes are wet and your lips
    wet and cold, your cheek rigid with cold.
    why have you stayed
    away so long, why have you only
    come to me late at night
    after walking for hours in wind and rain?
    take off your dress and stockings;
    sit in the deep chair before the fire.
    i will warm your feet in my hands;
    i will warm your breasts and thighs with kisses.
    i wish I could build a fire
    in you that would never go out.
    i wish I could be sure that deep in you
    was a magnet to draw you always home.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
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