Poetry Festival

 

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Wiltless

Tulip sways

In a gnarled garden

Petals flushed with fire, edges bruised

Perfume drowning in stench

Withered nettles, soured earth

Breeze carries traces

Damp decay, rust-bitten thorns

Hungry for what they cannot become

Dirt clings, acrid, insistent

Mocking sweetness with charred musk

Roots below ask a strangling question:

Why bloom when ruin is law?

Still, the stem

Stretches upward

Honeyed scent spilling

Into poisoned air

Refusing to wither

Refusing to yield

Rot is not the only ending

Beauty, once breathed

Lingers

Scorpion Jelly & Jellyfish Wine

In a parlor by the shore where the waves tickle toes

Lived a crab with a smile and a shell that just glows

“Step right up,” he motioned, with cups set in a line

“For tonight we shall sip on our jellyfish wine!”

With bubbles and giggles, it sparkled in the glass

A drink full of whimsy poured 'mid the tall grass

“Now come closer, dear friends, grab a cracker or two

For the feast I’ve got planned is all splendid and new!”

The carton of crackers ripped right open with glee

With a sprinkle of salt from the depths of the sea

But wait! What is this? The jar opens with a pop!

It is scorpion jelly, sure to make you hop!

“Oh my goodness, dear me!” said a fish with a flair

“Will we dare to sample such a curious fare?”

“A dab on your cracker,” the crab urged with a grin

“Here’s a bite full of zing, let the tasting begin!”

They nibbled and chuckled, with each munch bringing cheer

As the latest flavor flowed, there was no more fear

So remember this story whenever you dine

Serve your scorpion jelly with jellyfish wine!

The Pastel Waltz of Springtide (Nonet)

Springtide awakens with pastel charms

Zephyrs waltz in flourishing fields

Earth shakes off its wintry rest

Bright petals claim the land

Golden sunlight spills

Birds wax in song

Flowers grow

Life now

Free

Sun. Sand. Salt.

 

Sunken Meadow State Park

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

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When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

Danse Haiku: Act XII

Scene 1

Behind the cool glass

Aquamarine panoply

A guppy pageant

Scene 2

In the grand foyer

Shining armor on display

Sentry at the door

Scene 3

On eager pages

Words wait in the thesaurus

My pen makes them dance

The Library Rhinoceros

The library's calm, where pages turn slow

A rhinoceros tiptoes from row to row

No one looks up as it quietly paces

Past aisles of wisdom and silent faces

With skin like old leather, thick and serene

It blends with the books, oddly unseen

Horn bent like a question, unspoken, profound

Yet peace is the only deafening sound

Not a chair stirs, nor a glance it does meet

For the rhino moves gently on curious feet

A creature of strength, of power so grand

Yet here in the stillness, it chooses to stand

Among all the knowledge, cautiously dwells

A spot where whispers and wonderments swell

The world rushes by, but here in this place

The rhinoceros lingers, a symbol of grace

Anatomizing Mona Lisa

She sits

Ensconced in chiaroscuro

Liminal being enshrined

In clandestine tableau

Dwelling in ambrosial space

Where silence outspeaks oracles

Her visage, a simulacrum of stillness

Her eyes—merciless auguries—trace steps

Across a landscape where sands of time

Have ebbed and effluxed

Her rictus—

Dare one deem it a smile?

Sibylline curve of lips

Meaning coiled in questions

Neither yielding delight nor despair

A covenant, a susurrus

On the cusp of respiration

Drapery of her vestments

Descends like a pall over the cosmos

Each pleat a wrinkle in a fabric of enigmas

Her hands repose in quiescence

Akin to a river that has mastered

The alchemy of forbearance

Resting as the alabaster of ancients

Invoking the wisdom of aeons

To cradle the weight

Of unspoken truth

Beyond her—

Ah, the wilderness

Panorama of serpentine pathways

Craggy escarpments and placid waters

Yet it is she, not the realm

Who remains the zenith of every gaze

Locus of all mysteries

Paragon of paradox, an eternal sigil

Awakened

By the skilled

Strokes

Of Leonardo Da Vinci's brush

Zephyr's Sigh

Your laughter lingers, gossamer-thin

Like silver threads in twilight spun

Each word you speak a cadence soft

In dusk’s milieu, where we are one

Your touch is woven from the wind

A zephyr’s sigh in the open wild

You are the sea’s immortal hymn

So fierce and tender, undefiled

Within your eyes, the stars converge

A galaxy of quiet charms

Your breath, the pulse of ancient trees

Wrapped in nature’s hopeful arms

Take now my heart, for all it's worth

And bind it fast in love’s decree

For in your promise, I'll remain

And soar with you, forever free

Happy Valentine's Day!

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