Putting on Cyrano
For D.K.
Putting on Cyrano de Bergerac
makes everbody adolescent horny.
For a few weeks we all moon,
romantic and doomed.
You had a bit part
and I was in wardrobe,
but we were the stars
in our own star-crossed...
Social Drinking
I never drink alone.
Summer afternoon:
As I sit on my porch,
My fingers curled around
A sweating glass of scotch,
Chickadees sing to me
And cicadas gossip.
A shy breeze flirts, kissing
My cheek with her cool lips
Before...
Predation Proud
The eagle is old.
His feathers are greasy, ragged, lousy.
Half-blind, he blinks against the sun
he once looked in the face, equal to equal.
Hungry. He’s always hungry.
He spies a wake of vultures
tearing at a rotting...
Agkistrodon contortrix
This city's asquirm with vipers.
You risk meeting one
when you step off the curb
or turn back your sheets.
A civic group beheaded the snake
that bit poor Mr. Farmer,
and the air grew thick with confetti and heavy...
late april snow
not yet here
is here
-- sylvester hobson
”late april snow” by sylvester hobson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at...
An AI Attempts an Imagist Poem
NEARBY I SUMMARIZE HISTORY WHILE STANDING BEHIND A CAT.
A man in a porkpie hat is holding a piece of pizza
and a bouquet of black and white flowers
with a pair of scissors he waves at a red banana...
No sound from the rain.
Footsteps echo
in the hotel hall.
-- Carl Bettis
”No sound from the rain” by Carl Bettis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at...
Taken for Granted
I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. I mean, really, no fear!" -- Nina Simone
Freedom to put off fixing that taillight
on a car that still flaunts an Obama bumper sticker.
Freedom to buy one item
and...
A Disquisition Upon Pyramids
I don't believe, just to make it clear,
that space aliens built the pyramids in Egypt
or that Egyptians built the pyramids in Mexico
or that wizards built Stonehenge.
But I know space aliens exist.
Back when...
i have a question
i have a question or two
for grass blades growing lushly green
who in four months time
will break brittle underfoot
and for the mockingbird now
loud who will be then silent
and for the changeable moon
who never...
Click on the small, cropped image for the complete image. The poem is more than the text alone, but the text is below.
The Rose Tree's Complaint
The soul is the missing body that would prove the crime. The corpse sings & everyone hears...
Riseup Pad is "a software libre web application that allows for real-time group collaboration of text documents. Riseup does not store IP addresses, we require https, and pads are automatically destroyed after 60 days of inactivity."
History of You and Me
for R.A.
When we met:
Weary, both, from recent battles
and battering storms, we hoped only
in one another to find
fleeting respite. We were too worldly
to hunt that mythical creature, peace.
When we...
The Public Domain Review is dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas – focusing on works now fallen into the public domain, the vast commons of out-of-copyright material that...
At Least I Take Notes
I tell myself, Wake up, you moron,
your house is burning! Put it out
or call for help or run away!
I holler, I cajole, I plead, I scold.
Helplessly I watch myself
toss spices, powders, salts
into the flames,...
Caraway Seeds in Crystallized Honey
A pataphysical love song
How beautiful is thy dwelling, my beloved!
As you delicately place mousetraps in the pantry, how stately thy pulse!
How amiable thy armpits, their abundant hair a fragrant bower...
"A comprehensive anthology and guide to English literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Seventeenth Century, Restoration and Eighteenth Century"
The focus here is medieval to 18th-century literature, but some more modern literature...
“Collective Unrest is a leftist political journal. The poetry, fiction, essays, photography, visual art, music, and otherwise contained herein are meant to produce a feeling of humanity, unrest, social justice, and urgency.”
Invisible Handwriting
Scribbled across clouds that drizzle
annoyance
on suburban men walking dogs
ordinance passed
by forces that spin
galaxies and silkworm cocoons
henceforth apocalypse be
ordinary
(special status revoked
and privileges...