contemporary poetry
Magic
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 23, 2013
Magic
Innocent are they who cause no harm,
Nor seek to bind with artifice or charm,
But loving all of life in pure delight,
Play free in day and sleep in peace at night.
Magic is the breeze of summer air;
that ocean, field, and summit all caress,
that bears the hawk and eagle high in flight,
while butterfly and flower are gently kissed.
Grace to all that live and wander free,
Trusting the heart to take them where it will,
they leave their bodies open to the light
to drink of love until their hearts are filled,
then pass like beauty flowing in the wind.
More than mortal thought can bind in lines,
the light that makes them sighted that are blind,
sacred is life in songs that poets bring,
in words that light our tongues with spirit fire.
I knowing this though fearful will attend,
to bless will blessing gain to bless again
to give and want no more than this dark hill
a heart to love, a quiet place to dwell.
Alexander Anlyan
Monsters
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 23, 2013
Monsters
our journeys were rough
the roads were long
the monsters were there
to abuse us all along
the rage I feel
will never be healed
my inner demons
I try to slay
but not now
maybe later…
maybe someday
parents who don’t care
they’re never around
molesters and rapists
their victims found
priests in their cloaks
with choir boys on holy ground
cops in their squad cars
with the sirens on
the rage I feel
will never be healed
my inner demons
I try to slay
but not now
maybe later…
maybe someday
with their shit programs
TV numbs my brain
death squads run free
that the government trained
stealing money from us all
the taxman explains
selling us out
politicians can’t refrain
like a lost cause
can’t be sustained
the rage I feel
will never be healed
my inner demons I try to slay
but not now
maybe later…
maybe someday
Glen Alexander
Receding
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 23, 2013
Receding
Traveler between
This world
And that
I am receding
Five times speed of light
Distant planet
In my sight
Crash landed
There is no pain
I am gone
Spirit lives on
I am receding
Million times the speed of light
Distant universe
I am light
A child looks at a star
Wonders what and why
Who is the ghost
In the night sky
Glen Alexander
Wish
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 23, 2013
Wish
I wish you well
for those of you
lost
wondering
starving
living on the edge
of the night
of a knife
of being
of have been
the night is dark
but never black
keep going
don’t look back
one step
then the next
your last chance
once you know
what life is about
you can’t come back
banished from society
an outcast
you’ll be
alone
with the gods
to be
Glen Alexander
Getting Off the Bus
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 22, 2013
Getting Off the Bus
Pomegranate and pale green leaves
shimmer their bean shapes on the brick
wall, anchored by ancient stems twisted
like rage. They beat out an endless
message of “look at me” and true, it is
impossible to look away.
Other leaves broad, webbed, open
palms in mid-slap shiver on each side
of the road. The fanned branches
capture an engaging light, an easing
of the sun into its horizon.
All the miracles that haven’t healed me
are off the bus. All I have to do is
step down and breathe. Help me.
Tobi Cogswell
Trout, Caught
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 21, 2013
Trout, Caught
I say, “I’m
Sorry,”
To the watery eye
Of the trout I’ve just caught.
Holding its glitter of scales
In a tightened caress,
The knot of my hand
Gentle but sure this fish
Will not flap away, home;
No mirror of the wild flashing
Of the previous slippery
Splash and slap struggle
On leaving, hooked,
The stream of all
It could know.
I am sorry, and
Hiking back up
To camp’s warm
cook-fire glow,
I whisper,
“Thank
You.”
Teresa McNeil MacLean
The Tower
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 21, 2013
The Tower
Looking out over the silent sea
Knowing of another hidden country
She dreamt of unicorns and fiery dragons
(The island in the bay was Avalon)
And when the sailors laughed, cursed them to be blind.
Older, more cautious, richer, more powerful,
She bought the island, poisoned all the rats
And built a tower like one that might have stood
To watch for pirates in the China seas
And spent some few nights there watching whales and slow-burning
Stars that spread eerie magic over the black waves.
But when a dying dragon came to her in a dream
Dragging smeared scales over the revengeful rocks
She left the island and the tower fell slowly into ruin
Peopled by spiders and by mad-voiced seabirds
Haunted by silent, searching unicorns.
Simon Banks
An exotic vacation
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 21, 2013
An exotic vacation
No one to referee that game,
Poor fledglings, with their heads thrown back
And mastered hips joined to their shame,
Are lonely partners on the rack.
Who is that watchman of the night,
Stretched out, staring so vacantly
From his filled bed until the light
Of day permit activity?
And who lies breathing at his side,
In sleep a kind of ruffed grouse?
Is it the girl that neatly glides
About the duties of her house?
They married decent strangers; she
For images of his despair
Without her, for his good name; he
For guilt and the curling of her hair.
Yearly to interpose delight
They go upon their honeymoon
Again, where things are never quite
The same although they should be soon.
And a small cottage has sprung up
Near a favorite swimming cove;
Every summer they come up
To localize their straying love.
On starry nights after their meal
Old rituals of hand in hand
Begin and what they think they feel
Makes them lie upon cool sand.
So they tumble by that shore
Of the uncaring upland lake
As if it were not done before
And each moans for the other’s sake.
Henry Braun
Come and get me
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 21, 2013
Come and get me
Sometimes I wish
you would just come and get me
stop all this mucking about
just come and get me
give me a hug and let your love
flow through me
no need to say a word
just come and get me
instead of struggling upstream
I could flow with you, through you
noticing the little things drift by
we could spread our wings
soar above the clouds
walk upon a rainbow
let our tears fall softly
my soul could be at peace
laughing, dancing, singing
at the pure joy of being
looking down at earth
thinking; what mischief
it could get up to there
safe in the knowing
please
just come and get me
even if for just a little while
ease the burden of longing
the yearning deep inside
will you come and get me
soon?
Amanda Edwards
House
POSTED IN contemporary poetry July 21, 2013
House
In the ruined land, the house upon the hill lays waiting
I enter, look around.
The corridor stretches far ahead
Every room brimming with secret delights
I search for booty through the boxes plied high, through drawers and cupboards
Magical items everywhere; too much to carry…
The ancient ones in their faded glory watch
Tapestries fraying, gold on red
The gnawing fear, the sense of malice.
Faster I search, down gloomy corridors, through dark rooms
The flexible sword, the magical talismans
The house knows me – my quests, my thefts.
Higher and higher I go,
up winding stairs,
through great halls,
pursued by the nameless,
searching for the unnamed.
I feel the house settling, watching – I walk, I walk
Time runs short, the house moves.
Corridors twist and change…
Andy Turner
