Original Poetry

Saffron · Thu May 19, 2011 3:37 pm

Untitled

When the pain rises up
It lodges in my jaw
At the hinge that joins mandible to cranium
In the notch where the nerves thread through
Carrying all the electrical impulses of the words I will never say to you.

realiz · Sun May 22, 2011 2:36 pm

Saffron,
I read your poem and I kept thinking of the last phrase and so I wrote a poem beginning with that.

Of the words I will never say to you
Gathered up and stored away
In a room with tiny windows.

Look in and see them strewn about
Like comfortable old clothing
To climb into on a rainy afternoon

While droplets slip slowy down my pane

Saffron · Sun May 22, 2011 4:30 pm


	realiz wrote: Saffron, I read your poem and I kept thinking of the last phrase and so I wrote a poem beginning with that.

That was pretty cool! I really like the image of the clothing strewn around the room.

realiz · Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:15 pm

Decanter

Ever have one of those moments
When everything seems right
And just the fact of living
Fills you with delight?

Your chest fills up with pleasure
A smile quivers on your face
Your eyes dance as they sparkle
Sweet happiness you can taste

Your world is full of promise
All life a rosy hue
This moment should be bottled
To decant when you’re blue

realiz · Fri Jul 08, 2011 4:12 pm

Untitled (suggestions?)

They met upon the hillside
In the sunny morning light
No witness to this reunion
Their eyes filled with delight

Birdsong barely registered
Mosquitoes buzzed and lit
On old and wrinkled aging skin
Unaware of being bit

They revelled in this moment
Expectations burning deep
Thousands of words unspoken
A harvest they could reap

In slow and shaky voices
The tales began to unfold
Of births deaths and marriages
Of slowly growing old

Decades ceased to matter
Their bond remained intact
Despite their aging bodies
Young hearts held a pact

A future they could squander
Of adventure, laughter, fun
All things they’d never spoke of
Riding off in the setting sun

Details did not matter
At least, they both thought not
Alas, they began to discover
Contentment not easily wrought

They disagreed on location
Quarrelled on how long to stay
Contrary natures emerging
And the skies began to gray

They distanced from each other
Unclasped their bony hands
A gulf grew up between them
Of inharmonious plans

Bickering through the noon time
With jibes and sulks and fits
She crossed her arms resolutely
That’s it, let’s call this quits

They grumbled for the afternoon
While heavy clouds piled high
Old bones protesting loudly
Old hurts refusing to die

The rain began to splatter
A bolt of lightening flashed
Elderly hearts a leaping
As booming thunder crashed

They shuffled down the hillside
Rain-drenched to the core
A tree root put him on his knees
She chuckled as he swore

Her hands reached out to help him
Lips trembling with mirth
He caught her leg while getting up
And pitched her to the earth

He tumbled to her mossy bed
Her steady grip unyielding
With mixed up limbs amusement grew
Below that cloudy ceiling

The chuckles started gradually
Full laughter did steadily grow
It reached a sweet crescendo
Before tears began to flow

They cried for love remembered
And love almost forgot
For children’s children’s children
So separately begot

They wept upon the hillside
In the dreary evening dark
No witness to this reunion
Their eyes still held a spark

Raindrops barely registered
Slowly dripping off their chins
Two old and wrinkled aging souls
Washed cleanly of their sins

giselle · Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:50 pm

As a suggested title for this poem, with tongue well in cheek, how about ‘Tale of Two Swans’ or
‘Song of Two Swans’ –

The poem may be more of a tale than a song but I like ‘song’. I do see some parallel with the expression ‘swan song’, although less than perfect as this duo are not a step from death’s door. The swan is beautiful and graceful and clearly, this couple see beauty in each other no matter the ravages of age. Swans are notoriously argumentative; they seem to enjoy a good round of hissing and pecking and wing flapping but then will settle down quite peacefully, perhaps waiting for the right moment for round two. And 'white' swans might suggest the last line 'washed cleanly of their sins'.

Not sure any of this makes sense but that is my reasoning.

realiz · Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:39 pm

I had to look up the meaning of 'swan song'. The more common modern usage is a last performance before retirement rather than the last song of the swan before death. I thought that this fit in nicely with 'inharmonious' and the line, It reached a sweet crescendo, and retirement suggests the beginning of a new phase of life rather than the end of life as in the mythical 'swan song'. I have never pictured swans as being argumentative, maybe geese, but not swans.

giselle · Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:35 am

Sea of Love

Sleek ship’s a-sail,
Tall masts and mighty beam,
Navigating the brightest stars,
Upon a constant, boundless sea.

Not shore, nor shoal, nor swell,
Nor worn plank or blissful barnacle
Can impede her speed or trouble
Her firmly held rudder.

Not young, not old, but in between,
Upon a shining sea of love,
A family’s love,
She sails the steady current and gentle breeze.

Untold horizons, far places to be,
The sea of love shapes her destiny.

Sal_McCoy · Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:07 pm

Sunrise at Byron
Captured in the sand
And the dew on the leaves
Whip birds'
sonic scythes
Cut the canopy
While bush turkeys
Sort the fallen
Debris

kelstan · Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:21 pm

The Pets Add Life campaign holds a poetry contest for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders - I'm really amazed at how good some of the poems are! You can read them here: http://petsaddlife.org/poetry_contest/

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