in the middle of the night
on a frozen platitude
it was simple and sublime
just a thinkin’ ’bout you
in the middle of the night
Thoughts
my expression
airs profuse
ensnaring me
in silent noose
these ceaseless cries
of reckless poise
pen pointless vies
of restless noise
recycled prose
composed of pain
in spiral throes
bereft of shame
enmeshed in mire
moshing through muck
long since retired
from flying fucks
abundant piles
of errant swill
redundant guile
imperiled still
suffice to say
human am i
the price i pay
cannot deny
this truth unmoored
of my behest
a heart obscured
by art beset
but dare i say
i shall persist
for here allays
the impetus
to quash this voice
would surely gain
naught but the vice
of life’s abstain
so hear these words
but heed them not
for rest assured
they are but thoughts
Sharing Is Caring:
In the Key of Beauty
there is beauty in all things
for it exists within our words.
one mustn’t hazard any
further contemplation.
the time to speak is now.
resonate sonorously
with prosody profound.
each soul must
sing its song.
imbue your voice
upon the world
’til your heart
rings the truth of love.
with harmonic resolve.
Sharing Is Caring:
Listen, For I Have Kept A Fanatic Heart -by Ray Smith (Poetry Magazine Feb 1944)
Some poems seem to reflect the very essence of our being on an intimate level. This is the poem that I most relate to. The poet, Ray Smith, also happens to be the grandfather of my primary source of inspiration in my personal life. My wife, Mira Meunier. Ray was a poet who enlisted in WWII to serve as a combat medic. He fought in several of the most noted battles, one of which was the battle of the bulge. It’s interesting to see the marked change that took place in his poetry from the period before his deployment to the period after which he had experienced the horrors of warfare. This transformation can be observed in the poems published by Poetry Magazine during those years found here https://www.poetryfoundation.org/search?q=ray+smith&refinement=poetry_magazine&page=2 for anyone who might be interested in reading them. He would become a decorated soldier, having risked his life on numerous occasions to save his comrades. Speaking of comrades, in a vulgar display of cruel irony, he was blacklisted for being a communist after having served his country. He spent the remainder of his years serving as the library director at several universities and served twice as poet laureate for the state of Minnesota.
Sharing Is Caring:
How Can I
with time erodes the roads of hope
as seconds pass without distinction
wedged between the hourglass
in retrospect, a stranger’s fiction
e’er beholden to the past
shackled by fear’s ersatz depictions
diligently deconstructed
prone to dubious perceptions
doled out in fervid procession
sold out to our indiscretion
futures nigh belie the burdens
of reflective introspection
corporate chains restrain our choices
subjugated minds and voices
commandeering our convictions
volunteering our volition
fostering the hour’s dissension
lost inside our own dimensions
drifting states of lone diremptions
kissed by fate’s unknown afflictions
wistful days of rumination
stripped of our only salvation
dripping death with indignation
listless breaths of consternation
consciously resigned enslavement
viciously maligned by deviants
clamoring to hide misconduct
how can i but not give a fuck
Sharing Is Caring:
Solitude’s Descent
the struggle
to release my fears
from shackled shrills
of obscene silence
pulling further
down with every second
thought since spent
vile undertows
that know me well
spell out this hell
in heavy throes
below
where phantom prose
commiserates lament
each word
wafts ever wayward
in dissociative dimensions
obscured by the illusion
borne of urgency
forgone
enthralled by conscious calls
of a conspicuous collusion
that subdivide the lies
my conscience cries
to stay afloat
that i require
the fundamental sating
trapped in spurned epistles
e’er belies
what blissfully denies
my ignorance
which writhes on
muted shores
secluded
hopelessly exiled
as i succumb
to numbness
of my solitude’s descent
Sharing Is Caring:
Elaboration
spoken word is often heard to herd our thoughts en masse
in subdivisions subject to succinctly shorn abash
with tethered tongue endeavor we to eloquently air
ineffable expressions deftly doled out so to spare
gauging our engagements with gratuitous refrain
allowing temporal allotment basis to abstain
from artfully articulating free to affectate
inflection efflorescing to reflect what best relates
when clearly this impairs our proper prepense to impart
by misappropriating that which would impel our heart
predictably afflicting our intended utterance
thus rendering our voice as ineffective abeyance
which leaves us floundering to falter ineffectual
destined to descend depths of diligence misconstrued
should we decree our thoughts conveyed to show evincible
we could forgo distraught dismay deemed reprehensible
for implications minced from assertation’s open end
are subject to inferences of infinite amend
thus, i submit commitment to the full breadth of nuance
in all asseveration to disseminate ensconce
for time must be considered far beyond the imminent
lest we spend all eternity on spurned expedience
Sharing Is Caring:
social media rant revisited
depression sets in
cyclical perpetuity prying
clawing at the prefrontal cortex
altruistic assertions abundantly articulated
aimlessly amid atmospheres of apathetic arrogance
the pittance of positive people
professing palpable parable
is repeatedly passed over
spurned, and disparaged
for the perverted purpose of pandering
to the plight of pathetically puerile opponents
to placate their pathological penchant
for proliferated pandemonium
the spirit of selflessness
and subsequent sanctuary is subjugated
by solipsistic sentiments
that seem to spread
like pestilence plaguing the soporific populace
seeking to appease
the silent sect of surrogate shamers
tiptoeing through the treacherous tumult
presaging tales of omnipresent fear
with foreboding and pale trepidation
all too typically trivialized
by tiresome talk of intolerant tripe
tailored to tantalize stolid thinkers
in triumphant tantrums of truant intellect
inflecting in facetious affectation
fostering false intent so toilsome
tempting my intrinsic inclination
to defect and deactivate
with the hope of abating this state of inundated hatred
bred into my head by the hordes
of men faceless whose faith
one can only surmise to be heedless
so, needless to say my dismay
is with relevant reason
enough to release this lost soul
into sempiternal egress
Sharing Is Caring:
Answer: Ego
why must our presence
present as pendulous peril
perpetually passing
between plausible purpose
and predisposed plight
prolonging pandemonium
to placate pedestrian pedantry
perpetrated by apathetic progenitors
to please their pathetically primitive
predilection for perpetuant personal prospect
through perfunctory procreation
parsimoniously placing province
and perdurable pain
on the passively plucked
personifications
of their phantom permanence?
[image credit: Vittorio Zecchin]
Sharing Is Caring:
Ember
love looms
amid the earthen shrine
in contrast with truth
pressing onto parchment
muted musings left lingering
for glancing eyes
that gaze in contempt
aghast at the ongoing display
of decadent debauchery
never have they known
such indiscretion
yet none can speak
for what is known
the radiance
disarming
its cadence grows stronger
echoing into the abyss of anguish
from one
to other
bearing no consequence
of relevant toll
rolling like a snow-bound stone
enjoyed by the sun
all of these ancestral affectations
airs of artifice
agonizing over every breath
spilled out onto the landscape
like leaves leading to disarray
in lost portrayal
sweet strands of vermilion
lick like flames
framing such fragile alabaster allure
alone and aloft
soft tones of humility
exuding from hearth
set upon this heart
rekindled by kindred coalescence
windswept into one regret
and set to the serenity
of solitude’s song
Max, or Not 
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