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2024 American Place Breaking Muse Oklahoma Poems Why

(________________) for Louisa

The sounds we make
when we are truly
Upset or startled
Are strange indeed.

Not strong
or fierce!
More like a
Whine or a whir…

When I’m startled
It’s a high pitched
Eeeeeeeee!

Or if I’m having a nightmare
AaaahhhAeeha

Or when I’m confronted
Whua!

We don’t have words for them.
I can’t just tell you
On paper, how the sound
Is to be delivered.

I cannot tell you what it
Sounded like when I heard
The news of your death…
For these is no word for:
Tear your hair out
Pound your chest red
Cry til your eyes are dry
and sparkling with salt
There is no word for
(________________)

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2023 Poems Why

What plan?

What is THE LIFE I want to lead?
What am I willing to sacrifice
Just to be
This fictionalized vision
(of myself) that no one else accepts?

Do I give up what I have, so I can fit?
My Triangle Peg
Into a Round World?
Where I’m misunderstood by almost 1/3?
The rest of me is lost
In the atmospheric swirl?

So, I don’t know, if I even could create
THIS MAN who I’ve made up.
Who is supposed to be
This HAPPY ME!
(who will never exist)
So, I need to understand
Before I come to THE END…
Just what it is I want?
Just what is the plan?

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2023 Ars Philosophica Poems Why

Prophecy

Nothing supernatural is required for Prophecy…
Intuition, history, social psychology —
It’s easy to predict the patterns of human beings
Convey it in clever predicate
Let them presume just what you mean.
I need no Godly insight or flash of epiphany
To monitor the moving flock
And call out their destiny!

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2023 American Place Ars Musica Poems Songs Why

Harmonics

So much work to write music
So much muscle memory
to chisel into stone
until you can play without looking
so that you, yourself, become
One with your instrument,
your words, your songs
and you don’t care if
anyone comes along for the ride
(singing along)
…..For you
……….are no
………….longer here!
You have tapped into the
……….Universal
………….The Harmony
……………The Frequency
……………..The Rhythm
The Resonance of Spirituality
……….and for one
………….small moment
…..The Song
……..Makes you
…..Immortal

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2020 Ars Poetica Breaking Muse Poems Why

National Poetry Day

Today is National Poetry Day
Do you have something to say?
Write me a poem, no need to be long—
Give me a couplet, write me a song.
Or write up a sonnet, maybe make a haiku
A quartet, a triad, or sing me the blues!
If you add poetry into your life
you’ll find it uplifting away from the strife.
Write me a psalm or meditative plot
Something inspirational, something you sought.
Or read a new poet, these poems are short.
New words can help you when you feel out of sorts.
Just write me a poem, I’ll publish it soon.
Make it silly or foolish or about a baboon.
All words have meanings, some better than most.
With alacrity write something, even a boast.
Yes write me a poem, today is the day.
Pick one word or a dozen, have something to say.

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2020 Ars Poetica Poems Why

Coffee Club Clutches

Why are
Poetry books
So short?
Are these
Unbearable thoughts
For your
Pleasantly
Silent
Society?
Do we dare
to challenge
More
These foundations
That you
Adore?
That only
In tiny
Packages
Will you
allow for
these Diversions?
Is it that
I cannot
Keep you
In these
pages without
Paying Dues
To the
Coffee Club Clutches
of Consumer Culture?

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Ars Philosophica Ars Poetica Footnotes Why

Notes on Canned Goods

I initially started the writing that led to this poem by looking into the actual words that were used.

Fragility — the human condition is exorbitantly weak. We really don’t like that fact.

Boxes — Maria Kondo – put your life into neat little bento boxes— tidy up your life

Mental Boxes — when our emotional chaos is present, we work hard to categorize our responses. Tidy up our minds — but that is usually mental space filled with work and future planning. Very tidy, our future, in our minds, until plans are disrupted by social crisis.

De-coupling — Social Distancing breeds anxiety -especially for extroverts- by hallowing our our group response. When all of a sudden you take away the immediate, physically present, response that we have by being in the same room or the same table — when canned laughter is absent you realize that fake laughter that connects you is better than watching comedy dead pan. A comedian of one is not really that funny. We require social interactivity.

And a news conversation that has to wait for delayed interactions, stops people from answering naturally and responding fluidly.

Canned Goods

 

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2019 Ars Poetica Footnotes Poems Why

Poetry is dead?

I don’t
Want to practice
A dead art.

But you are practicing it
So how can it be dead?

Gone from the memory
Of the people. Lost
Are the words to them.
Confused by broken
Syntax and boiled down
Meanings. Un-reflected
Lives don’t contemplate
Their own depravity in
The face of those surrounding them.
Not enough words for
Comprehension available.

A failing of the Academies?

Lost to glowing gods
That speak of everything
And say nothing. No food
Left for the spirit of inquiry
Lost focus of the digitized mind.

Alas, poetry is dead unless we can resuscitate the culture.

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American Place Ars Poetica Breaking Muse Footnotes Why

Command and Conquer

As I have been going through my recent practice and development of form, you will see a recurring capture of language. To some it may sound like I have some love for the cliche. But, I am drawing from William Carlos Williams here. I want to document the language. Capture the most common and local forms of reference. In my case that’s a southwestern mashup of red neck American English and Mexican Spanish.
I assure you it is intentional and if it’s off putting, good. Then, I’ve got your attention. Place without people is speechless.

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2019 Ars Poetica Breaking Muse Footnotes Poems Why

A poem

A poem
Is a feast for strangers
From the future
A poet is a fortune teller
From the present
Seemingly prescient
Presently misunderstood.