Today's poet

[freckle]

Ode to Ink

There has to be a heart in a book
and a heart's ink,
not just curdled anxieties.
My shadow's shadow,
grave work,
sparrow nest I've tipped from a tree.
Dance was right: hell ought to be designed.
Some write in electronic ice.
Some with webs,
some with thistle down.
Generally, I'm in another precinct.
It spots my pillows, my blouses.
I've snagged my fingertips through ink's thorns,
and if I get to you
and you're still asleep
I won't kiss you by halves.
For once I won't think.

Lee Upton

This is just soooo lovely, hadn't come across him before :-)

[Mossdog]

Variations on the Word Sleep
By Margaret Atwood

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

Magnificent - thank you for finding that one Freckle.

[Mossdog]

I wish I could remember that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seem'd to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand--Did one but know!

Christina Georgina Rossetti

That's really moving, and captures that gnawing sense of retrospective regrets perfectly, Alf.

[Mossdog]

Far, we are near, meet in the rain
which falls here; gathered by light, air;
falls there where you are, I am; lips
to those drops now on yours, nearer....

absence the space we yearn in, clouds
drift, cluster, east to west, north, south;
your breath in them; they pour, baptise;
same sun burning through to harvest
rainfall on skin, there, far; my mouth
opening to spell your near name.

Carol Ann Duffy

[Mossdog]

Er... less cerebrally and for the hemispherically challenged !!


Sweet Valentine

Ah! So chocs and I do combatively vie
For my love's affections and her luscious lips
The loser will be thrown to remorsefully sigh
And suffer such a sad and cruel eclipse

I wonder to win my Valentine's loving gaze
Yet she dreams of more than Quality Street
Is this just a passing cacao induced phase
Or will my love languish at her dainty feet

I'll pen a poem to her fragrant blonde hair
And post her roses, a deep crimson for her delight
Lo! No, this surely cannot be so cruelly unfair
She has a Cadbury's Flake in sight!

How can I coax her and enjoy that Bounty-ful bliss
Perhaps I'll become a full fledged Chocolateir
And then I can taste her living, loving kiss
And across the Milky Way we both may steer

We'll fly pass Mars and across Heaven's Galaxy
And sample life's chocolate fondue ebb and flow
And Love's question is will she still give up for me
Her Tolberone from her grasp and see it go?

But alas amongst the wrappers and discarded foils I lay
And weep at all my sweet bound troubles
For what I erred and forgot to say
She Loves the most those handmade truffles x

[Hes]

Brilliant! Is this yours Mossy? I love it, it made me laugh a lot.:thumbup:

Er... less cerebrally and for the hemispherically challenged !!


Sweet Valentine

Ah! So chocs and I do combatively vie
For my love's affections and her luscious lips
The loser will be thrown to remorsefully sigh
And suffer such a sad and cruel eclipse

I wonder to win my Valentine's loving gaze
Yet she dreams of more than Quality Street
Is this just a passing cacao induced phase
Or will my love languish at her dainty feet

I'll pen a poem to her fragrant blonde hair
And post her roses, a deep crimson for her delight
Lo! No, this surely cannot be so cruelly unfair
She has a Cadbury's Flake in sight!

How can I coax her and enjoy that Bounty-ful bliss
Perhaps I'll become a full fledged Chocolateir
And then I can taste her living, loving kiss
And across the Milky Way we both may steer

We'll fly pass Mars and across Heaven's Galaxy
And sample life's chocolate fondue ebb and flow
And Love's question is will she still give up for me
Her Tolberone from her grasp and see it go?

But alas amongst the wrappers and discarded foils I lay
And weep at all my sweet bound troubles
For what I erred and forgot to say
She Loves the most those handmade truffles x

[Hes]

I read this at the weekend and really liked it. Thanks for posting it and reminding me how good it is. I really tried to write something myself yesterday but it just sounded so corny...being happy has ruined my poetry mojo!

Far, we are near, meet in the rain
which falls here; gathered by light, air;
falls there where you are, I am; lips
to those drops now on yours, nearer....

absence the space we yearn in, clouds
drift, cluster, east to west, north, south;
your breath in them; they pour, baptise;
same sun burning through to harvest
rainfall on skin, there, far; my mouth
opening to spell your near name.

Carol Ann Duffy

[Mossdog]

Brilliant! Is this yours Mossy? I love it, it made me laugh a lot.:thumbup:

I'm afraid to say it was and it would have been much 'kinder' not to have inflicted that troubles-truffles rhyming attempt too :wink:

[Mossdog]

I read this at the weekend and really liked it. Thanks for posting it and reminding me how good it is. I really tried to write something myself yesterday but it just sounded so corny...being happy has ruined my poetry mojo!

Ah, so you can tell then that I must be deliriously happy! But while I (we) miss you verse Hes on this thread, it's also wonderful to know you're enjoying a flurry of smiles too

[freckle]

Er... less cerebrally and for the hemispherically challenged !!


Sweet Valentine

Ah! So chocs and I do combatively vie
For my love's affections and her luscious lips
The loser will be thrown to remorsefully sigh
And suffer such a sad and cruel eclipse

I wonder to win my Valentine's loving gaze
Yet she dreams of more than Quality Street
Is this just a passing cacao induced phase
Or will my love languish at her dainty feet

I'll pen a poem to her fragrant blonde hair
And post her roses, a deep crimson for her delight
Lo! No, this surely cannot be so cruelly unfair
She has a Cadbury's Flake in sight!

How can I coax her and enjoy that Bounty-ful bliss
Perhaps I'll become a full fledged Chocolateir
And then I can taste her living, loving kiss
And across the Milky Way we both may steer

We'll fly pass Mars and across Heaven's Galaxy
And sample life's chocolate fondue ebb and flow
And Love's question is will she still give up for me
Her Tolberone from her grasp and see it go?

But alas amongst the wrappers and discarded foils I lay
And weep at all my sweet bound troubles
For what I erred and forgot to say
She Loves the most those handmade truffles x

This is utterly briiliant! Loved the whimsical style and tone of the language especially the use of "Lo!!" ...made me laugh out loud, especially the last line.....nice one Mossy!