Spitting Cobras

Thorny, Growing Things

         Thorny, Growing Things Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  A sonnet wants to go somewhere, not just Within itself.  It travels in its thought And themes.  It wants a wider wanderlust Perhaps of...

Grasping Your Soil

              Grasping Your Soil Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The acrid root of love has gilding on It.  Wrinkles on it are not hidden by The gold.  They look like shrivels that are drawn By greed. ...

Though ’Twere 10,000 Waves

 Though ’Twere 10,000 Waves Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  If you were near a distant loch, away The miles from England where I dream of you, Dream daydreams of the hair on you, Strathspey Between us,...

Olympus and Mount Helicon Inside Us Always

Olympus and Mount Helicon Inside Us Always Our singing starts when mind and heart awake A pen or tongue.  The singing might be notes Or words, composer or the poet.  Blake Or Brahms begins inside us.  Singing floats Out from our fingers or our mouths.  The lips Then...

Behaving

                    Behaving Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  If I could be my Prospero, some hours Perhaps, perceive the cosmos through his eyes While hiding underneath a shrub from showers Of English...

Nosebleeds in a Coffeehouse Might Help

Nosebleeds in a Coffeehouse Might Help “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked” Howlers annoy.  The “poets” speak their lines In limping prose and then expect the rest Of us to call it verse.  There should be...

Spitting Cobras

              Spitting Cobras Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Spitting Cobra | The Toxic Sprayer The darkest planets are the ones you taught Me I should fear.  Pink holes of blackness are Their realms. ...

Missed Less than Non-existent Mist

Missed Less than Non-existent Mist Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Though raised in 1950s fear of war, Atomic war, and 1960s threat Of it, I almost never think of it, no more Than thinking of an early...

Planets for Poets

             Planets for Poets In days, millennia, in centuries, nights To come, will poets think of you beside The widened oceans?  In rock coves and bights Will writers sing of your inflowing tide? Will poets sing in depths, in time Much deeper yet because in coasts...

Blue and Lavender Might

    Blue and Lavender Might   If rain were lavender or blue, our ways Might take us back or forward in our space/ Time.  I might learn to dance sand merengues MERENGUE DANCE BASI Y DEISY Along a Caribbean blue-fringed grace Of waves.  If lavender, the rain might make...

Maine Morning Message

     Maine Morning Message Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  We think of Maine, New England and the snow, The snow that comes so soon in winter or Fall, even, locked as hard as Allah’s No Until the power...

Cute Kitten in a Dream

          Cute Kitten in a Dream Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  You know how dreams are.  Hallmark isn’t what They aim for.  Roses and perfume?  Forget That stuff.    Their nightmare purpose is to glut...

Elijah Translated in a Blazing Chariot Becomes Undying

Elijah Translated in a Blazing Chariot Becomes Undying Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem                     We spend our days translating English from Trash phrases into tongues of fire and flame. We save...

Transfusion not Transmigration

Transfusion not Transmigration I need transfusion of your blood from you, Inserted needle in my veins, the flow Of red and white cells from your heart and through My person and my spirit.   Help love grow Throughout my body, giving what you can Inside my being, giving...

Unkindly Stopped

        Unkindly Stopped Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  A hearse draws up. Though it is black, its team Of horses is electric lavender. I know therefore that it has come to scheme Against me.  I must be...

Margaret Redux

                  Margaret Redux Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The dreams of her are coming fast and thin. She fills my bed with foreign images Quite unrelated to her, more a twin Of monstrousness. ...

Two

                      Two For A. Y. Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We always knew, or felt we knew, that love Is not just heart, that it was mind as well, Some kind of mind at least, perhaps above The...

No Conversion Therapy

     No Conversion Therapy His eyes hold blacks that Jesus wished to be When he loomed next to Lucifer, the blacks That oceans hold beneath each night-time sea, Not surfaces but depths that only lax Hearts know.  His eyes hold feelings blacker than Unfallen angels...

A Wombless Vacuum Lacuna

 A Wombless Vacuum Lacuna Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  It seems I yell out nothings, nothings, not One thing the universe desires.  My clouds Are chocked with ambiguities, more clot Than what most...

Cat Lustre

                     Cat Lustre How long does glow upon a black cat’s fur Last once his steps are gone?  He disappears In night without a moon.  Does gloss turn blur, Or worse?  If fur goes where there are no spheres, Does it then sublimate to nothing through...

All-embracing

                    All-embracing Ideas that come from wombs which give them ears Because these thoughts have listened well before They speak, these hear the screaming in your tears Before you feel them.  If ideas have more Than auricle and cartilage, the nerves...

Claire Austin

                      Claire Austin Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Some snow is sifting down, white snow, not quite As white as winter snow, an orangey pink Where snowflakes joined their stems.  The...

Haumaea, Hawai’ian Goddess of Fertility

Haumaea, Hawai’ian Goddess of Fertility Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  File:Haumea Rotation.gif – Wikimedia Commons If you were making worlds, the spheroid ones, Those almost perfect spheres like...

Encoded Uncertainty

               Encoded Uncertainty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem     The tiny poet sits up on the lap Of Mama, neither clueing what the years Ahead will hold.  A family never has a map Of futures, no...

Advice from the Cavern at Delphi

 Advice from the Cavern at Delphi Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Let feathers of God’s silence lift your ears Above the blare, the skirl near you, the sound Of Thursday prose.  Await the...

Fire Inside His Will

                 Fire Inside His Will His eyes have Titan clouds inside them, clouds (Prometheus in color) long before He met the beak.  His pupils have white shrouds Like cataracts to hide from him the war Between all gods and men.  This means his hope Lacks clarity...

Adolescent Philosophy Is Wet

     Adolescent Philosophy Is Wet Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  When hair on chest is not quite new or old Long after armpits make announcements, too, Young males are dragged along in being bold In...

The Purpose of Preying Plumes

The Purpose of Preying Plumes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Do fledging on your heart and feathers on Your mind.  Your eyes might need some feathers, too. The point is flight beyond yourself, a swan...

Whoever Heard of Surging Love in Holland?

Whoever Heard of Surging Love in Holland? Can deep romance occur in boring, flat Terrain?   Not even in Italian fields With cypress trees, tight shapes, can hearts combat The boredom of a sort that never yields The passion that romance requires.  No notes Of music can...

Similar Sense Twin Sonnets: Paired Poems

Similar Sense Twin Sonnets:  Paired Sonnets                  A Fair Lot with Bucephalus “How fair a lot to fill           Is left to each man still.”                                                                        ~ Matthew Arnold “Sohrab and...

Over Millennia

                Over Millennia The autumn, with tall steppings like giraffes, Brings colors taller, taller than the rest Of seasons.  Graceful, slim months come like laughs Of palettes, legs and necks in step and blessed Like warmer spots, a million autumn leaves Upon...

Loveliest of Trees — an Antidote to Autumn Foliage

Loveliest of Trees — an Antidote to Autumn Foliage Imagine drinking saké underneath The cherry blossoms.  Saké and the food Are not about our deaths and joys — a wreath Of loss and life.  This day is for the brewed Sak-ura-flavored drinks, the pink of blooms, The...

No Matter Where You Bathed

   No Matter Where You Bathed Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  No matter where you bathed, the water would Have turned to gold, a liquid gold that gods Would know.  Your black dream hair was like a hood,...

Things Fall Apart When We Fail to See

Things Fall Apart When We Fail to See Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Some poets aren’t the prophets of the world. At times these poets come too small.  When Yeats Pronounced a dissolution deeply swirled...

God

  Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The purity escapes, is hard to grasp Unless you do it with your handless soul. The purity escapes.  No latch or hasp Can hold it since you know the unseen whole Is...

Silence is Only Silence

              Silence is Only Silence Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The moon has never made a pond grow dark Or deep, or punched a hole in it, nor made A poem underneath the wet, or shark To lunge.  If...

Out of Joint with Petty Time

     Out of Joint with Petty Time Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  If you are filled with contradictions, you Have hope and not despair alone.  You may Not be a Hamlet with a prince’s view Of kings and...

Ghost Sharks

                         Ghost Sharks Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Ghost sharks are sharks and not.  These sharks, these fish Pre-dated sharks and rays for eons.  Ghosts In their appearance they look...

“And Man Became a Living Soul”

 “And Man Became a Living Soul” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  ~ Genesis 2:7 Consider what your soul wants most of all, The bhumisparsha not required.  The palm Holds fingers pointing out to...

Heaven and Earth

      Heaven and Earth “Eternity is in love with the productions of time.” ~ William Blake When gods get bored, they leave eternity And step through gauze-like curtains into time. While being trapped in their supernity, They yearn for thrills on earth and...

My Hermitage Where I Sit in Isolation

My Hermitage Where I Sit in Isolation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Perhaps I’ll build a hut just off a trail In Appalachian mountains far away From everyone and everything, derail The rush, block out...

Words Do Not Have to be Gilded on Ivory

Words Do Not Have to be Gilded on Ivory Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem        The tatters down below the lines he writes Take on a meaning.  There the smudgy stains Incurred inside his shopping bag are...

Transcendent Escape from Silliness

     Transcendent Escape from Silliness Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Why are people called Buddhas After they die? Because they don’t grumble anymore, Because they don’t make a nuisance Of themselves...

The Western Pure Land

      The Western Pure Land Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Amida made a vow to save us all, All creatures in their incarnations.  Love And mercy lift us.  Other saviors fall Far short of such...

Leaden Jewels

         Leaden Jewels      “When the half-gods go,      The gods arrive.”      ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Abandon the religion you were taught. It seemed like diamonds set in white gold rings, But now you see the truth.  Some truths are not Religion if they lack...

Like Us and Not

                Like Us and Not Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The moon becomes its crescent shape, then full, Then phases back to crescent.  In the day It disappears.  The ocean feels its pull. The...

The Women Trapped in a Convex Volcanic Mirror

The Women Trapped in a Convex Volcanic Mirror Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Obsidian, a lump of ancient black, Is held against a woman’s palm.  She grips Its roughness in her hand, its flesh quite...

Adoration

                    Adoration Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  I want the night to lose its blindness, take Its blindfold off for angels’ searing sight. I want a fissure caused by earth’s crust’s quake To...

“A Man of Original Inactivity” ~ Ikkyū

“A Man of Original Inactivity” ~ Ikkyū A nothingness is where we come from, writes A poet, and we go to nothing, then Insists we’re like a bird, in that, in mead flights Through Viking halls goes out the window, men Not noticing.  It flies from night to night, From...

A Disappearing Fact

             A Disappearing Fact All sins in every place and every time Are sins, not matter what.  The sins long past Are hard for us to realize.  Each crime That we have not committed like the vast Ones, Buchenwald  and Auschwitz, we can not Quite deal with, never...

Matthew Parris

              Matthew Parris Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Perhaps you have a favorite columnist Who writes with wit and cleverness about The news.  I do.  For years he hasn’t missed The most important...

A Little Child Shall Impede Them

  A Little Child Shall Impede Them Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The mind, says Buddha, waits as blank and mild Before its birth as crystals made of snow. The mind waits flawless, waiting for a child...

Just Being Yourself, According to Your Nature

Just Being Yourself, According to Your Nature Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  I’m sorry, Henry David.  Pleasure for You differs from the pleasures of the rest, But . . . pleasure’s pleasure.  At your...

Composition

Cmp  siti   n Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Not Christmas Eve, not Easter Evensong, But just a Tuesday near cathedral bells Come snows as melodies, produce a throng Of beauties, whisper in their sacred...

Know Thyself Inside

            Know Thyself Inside Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Most men and women feel that utter Truth Lies somewhere far outside them like a star Beyond another galaxy.  A sleuth More like a saint or...

Pre-Vatican II

                    Pre-Vatican II In Lascaux caverns far inside the dark Where flambeaux flared the only light, a hand Stroked holiness along the stone.  The stark Necessity for human minds to brand Eternity with what they worship found Fulfillment. Nearly physical...

Tree Surgeon, You Did Not Heal Thyself

   Tree Surgeon, You Did Not Heal Thyself Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  If you had been a tree, the problem would Have been your roots.  Your height reached up as high As Absalom suspended.  Fatherhood...

White, White, White

      White, White, White   “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh”   He wore a diadem of frost, a ring Of snowstorm.  Both of them protected from The little thing called love.  They meant he’d cling To more important things. To overcome The little trash of love a...

Icicles

            Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The tears from cavern ice spears slide down, more Like snow, that brief.  The entrance where they drip As saltless weeping is like melting hoar Frost caused by...

Like Laocoön and his Offspring

 Like Laocoön and his Offspring Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He sculpts a statue where the brow of stone Is filled with something more than words or lines, Much more than marble poetry, more groan Than...

Paradox of Coleridge’s Liberty

Paradox of Coleridge’s Liberty “the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man                                    Down to a sunless sea.” ~Coleridge, “Kubla Khan” “Art submits itself to law in order that freedom may be brought out by contrast.” ~...

Poetry Competition and Demolition Derby

               Poetry Competition and Demolition Derby Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem        The only competition in the world Of poetry that matters is the fight Between the heart and mind.  If they are...

Three Caskets of Dreams

    Three Caskets of Dreams  “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” ~ The Merchant of Venice The mind stores every memory at least Three times.  You do not have to speculate. You know exactly why.  Collapsed and creased Deep down in brain...

Mass Loaded Vinyl Cage

                   Mass Loaded Vinyl Cage Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem          He sings, a member in the burning rungs Of seraphim stacked high around the throne Of passion.  Fizzing, flaming,...

Amaranthine Beauty

        Amaranthine Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Eternal skin does not exist.  That’s wrong. Eternal beauty begs to be rehearsed, Again, again.  Eternal beauty, strong As death, as wide as...

For TikTok, Instagram and not . . . Eternity

For TikTok, Instagram and Not . . . Eternity Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  A buried sundial, buried in the ash Of Pompeii’s death, saw time not marked by sun For nearly two millennia.  As trash In...

The Force of Dreams

              The Force of Dreams I dreamed of you last night.  I dreamed and dreamed, Yet more, as if there never had been dreams In me till then.  Reality it seemed Had never been reality.  Green dreams Of Eden never could have been like you There in this night of...

Reflected Down on Africa

        Reflected Down on Africa Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  He built a white, moon garden on the edge, That cliff down towards the Great Rift Valley’s floor. White roses bloomed in curvings toward...

Mrs. Lindon and Beyond the Veil

Mrs. Lindon and Beyond the Veil Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem    Fanny Brawne, later Mrs. Lindon Avoiding ghost temptations to go through The curtain made of voile of silk between The living and the...

Screwtape Messaging

        Screwtape Messaging   “Never let a fool kiss you and never let a kiss fool you.” The oldest voice, the voice of open thighs, Is part of whispering, shouting. urging need. Ears hear it, almost, it’s so loud.  The eyes May Braille it if they want to.  Written...

Petrified Voices in the Verses

       Petrified Voices in the Verses Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The older voices call in me.  The smell Of marble mined for sculptures, dust of stone Is in the words.  White bearded throats compel...

Moon Garden in Kenya

         Moon Garden in Kenya The half-moon had a nightmare.  Lovebirds bashed Around inside their cage set up beside The Great Rift Valley.  Thorns of roses slashed The air despite their pure white blooms.  A bride (That dark-haired spider) ate her husband fresh From...

Patriotism for Putin

                Patriotism for Putin Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The soldiers have hard skulls, each made of steel. Unfortunately, though, for them they lack The power to cry.  Because they do not...

The Slither

The Slither In a Station of the Metro The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough. ~ Ezra Pound   Two Years Later The eyes of shock remain Electric sockets burnt out in the skull.   The beauty of man never disappears But drives a blue car...

Epic Schmepic

                 Epic Schmepic To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. ~ William Blake The scales of sonnets and of haiku tempt Some readers to reject the smaller forms As less...

Coursing Length

              Coursing Length              With nerves of gold prepared by pent up heat He waits, with nerves of gold beneath that skin That lengthens most, he feels the heart-pulsed beat. With highest purity of carat sin He waits, has waited far too long.   The wait...

The New Jerusalem Comes Down to Earth

The New Jerusalem Comes Down to Earth Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem          Despite a vampire novel trying to Describe what Paradise is like, despite The sacred texts and sacred visions through...

Bastet

                    Bastet Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem    Cats do not need to look at us with eyes Like hieroglyphs, with sideways glance.  We know Cats’ stance already.  Cats have astral skies Inside...

A Religion for Bergamot, Lemon, Iris,  Jasmine, Rose,  Patchouli, Vetiver, Opopanax, Tonka Bean, Frankincense,  Sandalwood, Musk, Civet, Ambergris, Leather, and Vanilla

A Religion for Bergamot, Lemon, Iris,  Jasmine, Rose,  Patchouli, Vetiver, Opopanax, Tonka Bean, Frankincense,  Sandalwood, Musk, Civet, Ambergris, Leather, and Vanilla Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  If...

Traditions

My sun is made of vellum.  They accuse It.  But what if this is so?  It sends out flares That scare away eclipses since their Muse Is garbled freedom.  I prefer the stairs Of Jacob to defamers’ ladders for Wild salmon and the loosest leaps for spawn. My moon is made...

Still, Still, Still

         Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Narcissus was the lucky one, escaped The dirtiness of others in him, round Him with their sweat.  Their mouths gawped and he raped Them never touching.  Facing...

Internal Truth

               Internal Truth Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Time stops.  It touches all the space between The planets, comets, stars and galaxies.  Time spreads Yet stops, eternity like this, unseen But...

Internal Medicine

               Internal Medicine Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  And you will say: ‘Love! Love! without your wound being closed. ~ Lorca, “Towards” (Hacia) You strip the skin and flesh first.  Then you...

Almost Timbral Moonlight as in a Theremin

Almost Timbral Moonlight as in a Theremin Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Sliced moons shine up in space and far below On things that now forget the sunlight, warm They might be though, still.  Air...

Silent Sirens

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  Don’t let the silent moment pass.  Reach out And grab it, with the fist your mind can make. Reach deep and seize time.  Hold it.  Make it shout Its sermon or its...

Lacrimae Rerum

             Lacrimae Rerum Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  “Lacrimae rerum” (“tears of things”) ~ Virgil, The Aeneid, Book I, line 462 “Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity”; and “The main...

Sublimation from the Depths

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ~ Jeremiah 17: 9 If all our poetry could face the stars, Would that cause roots of...

A Rejection of Stigmata

                      A Rejection of Stigmata Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  The peony in April sun feels light Upon its petals.  That is shining weight Unfelt.  The pink embraces springtime, slight As...