Harlequin in Guise of Tuberculosis Hovering

Fragile

               Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “…very witty and intelligent and divinely beautiful….But, alas, very fragile.”  Siegfried Sassoon writing to Henry Festing-Jones...

The Caressing Professor

             The Caressing Professor One teacher, sweeter than the rest, was sweet Unlike buzzed honey in the scriptures he Upheld.  His classroom tricks were like a suite Of tools abjured by other teachers.  He could see His way around a stupid answer given by A...

Forget About Your Duties, Journalists

Forget About Your Duties, Journalists Not everything must be about the spiked Coronavirus.  Tell the media And they would laugh.  You see that they are dyked Up, blocked bowels.  Encyclopedia Materials imply ten thousand things That could be focused on instead, but,...

Textually Abused

           Textually Abused It used to be that English teachers taught Us poetry by reading it aloud Or telling us that on our own we ought To memorize it.  In the distant cloud Of eons past all poetry was set In memory by bards but maybe no One else.  Our teachers...

Recognition

                               Recognition Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse  modern poem  contemporary poem Pick up a torch and carry it up high, And carry it throughout the world, and you Will find that fame is gilding as a sly...

Peace that Passeth Understanding

Peace that Passeth Understanding   Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem So no kuraki yo woshizuka naru botan kana   The garden is dark In the night, and quiet The peony. ~ Shirao The garden, dark with...

His Beautiful Son Does Not Have the Brains

His Beautiful Son Does Not Have the Brains Odysseus decides he will not die. This glares as clear to him as April light On Ithaca.  He knows this is awry So he will have to trick the gods.  Some sleight Of mental hand will come to him in time. He guesses he will have...

Curly Top and Dimples

       Curly Top and Dimples Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You might want to watch this before reading this sonnet: Shirley Temple – On The Good Ship Lollipop.avi – YouTube I  never ...

A History of Upswelling Poisons Unintended

A History of Upswelling Poisons Unintended Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  e plants some seeds, some sentences and words In rows.  What might become of clauses, verbs, And paragraphs he cannot know. ...

Dagger-like and Sword-like Will Notwithstanding

Dagger-like and Sword-like Will Notwithstanding The tears do not comply with lines in skin. They course along outside the ditches, rude Though silent in belligerence.  These thin Trails cannot hold the pain when it is skewed Away from tracks that time has dug. ...

The Truth

              The Truth The ancient Greeks are there. They do not hide The truth about themselves like holy priests Of papal Rome.  The Greeks adored male pride And loathed it.  They were not pure logic’s beasts: They gloried in their contradictions, found Them not...

Ithaca ( Ἰθάκη), the Dull Town

Ithaca ( Ἰθάκη), the Dull Town Your wife is there, your two-balled heir, and hound Still true (like bone to brawn) behind his eyes Destroyed with cataracts—but his snout’s bound To ravel your armpit; he’s the surprise That isn’t surprising when you return Among the...

Black Light was not Needed

  Black Light was not Needed I used to wear my heart a little wet With Day Glo blood, and pumping, on my sleeve, A pulse of adolescent scarlet, jet, Throb, jet in all directions.  No steel greave Protected it politely in this show. Beats warbled as a sobbing gospel...

Male and Female Negated

     Male and Female Negated Men weep.  That’s true, but when they weep, their tears Are not for little things or just to win An argument—unless they’re actors.  Sneers Come easier to men than crying.  In A rage they show their masculinity. Hurt men do anger best, far...

Thoughts on Politest Britain after Recent Attacks

Thoughts on Politest Britain after Recent Attacks A giant flies above the ancient walls And towers.  Stained glass windows’ notes are drowned By roaring engines louder than the calls Of dragons being stabbed. A cricket ground Below all this is calmer than the...

Dumb Forecast

           Dumb Forecast That little wrinkled sack between his thighs Predicts.  The contents there will make him grow Much bigger.  Certain parts will spread in size, His shoulders, biceps, thicker neck.  Down low Beneath his belly button, balls will swell And, yes,...

Peace, Brothers and Sisters, Peace

Peace, Brothers and Sisters, Peace The terrorists attack a place we love Or wish that we could love, a Paris or A Boston.  Bastards shave their balls and shove Their blade-like god in us to make the gore That He desires from kafirs’ guts.  We gasp And wonder at the...

Hard to Protect Softness

   …Hard to Protect Softness Don’t let opponents get too close to your Important jewels.  Don’t let them grab your shorts And pull on them if you want to be sure Too hide your treasure chest.  Nothing distorts Your dignity on playing fields as much As being...

An Eye for an Eye

          An Eye for an Eye A Muslim martyr blows up Christian souls Or Jewish souls . . . or Muslims.  What’s the diff? Of course the dead ones go to different poles— Non-Muslim ones are pushed over the cliff Of Hell to burn forever.  The martyr And other...

Becoming: Waking Up in the Thwarted Rêve

Becoming:  Waking Up in the Thwarted Rêve …………………. …………..See the gif at https://imgur.com/gallery/c0yTUmw When Tennessee became my age, his brain Began to dream in color.  Up till then The...

BMs

                           BMs All teenage boys are bored and mad, or mad And bored.  (Is there a difference?)  Some are bored Enough to kill.  Testosterone gangs, bad And bored, don’t reckon they have really scored Till they have blasted some innocent head, Its...

Islamist Asphodels rewritten for J

            Islamist Asphodels    “inherit the desolate heritages” ~ Isaiah 49:8 Confused and nebulous like blossoms new To Hades, new to condemnation of Our purpose and our petals, now we view The world as if we never lived above This cavern underneath the ground of...

Pubescent Vector

   …..                 Pubescent Vector Tom’s shoulders—knots of boyishness—were tied By Jahweh when in Baden-Powell mood But move in that white shirt where they must hide (Required by dress-code rule, to make Tom good), So they remain as veiled, as chaste, and...

Under the Sign of the Scorpion

Under the Sign of the Scorpion A teacher in Rimbaud’s third year of school, M. Pérette, remarked, “Intelligent, as much as you want, but he has eyes and a smile that I do not like. He will come to a bad end. In any case, nothing banal will germinate in that...

          BMs

          BMs 0 All teenage boys are bored and mad, or mad And bored.  (Is there a difference?)  Some are bored Enough to kill.  Testosterone gangs, bad And bored, don’t reckon they have really scored Till they have blasted some innocent head, Its boring gray...

Arthur Hallam

Arthur Hallam 0 …………………..Arthur Henry Hallum Deep grief refuses warping.  You can fold It, put it in a safe-deposit box Protected by a speechless cipher, cold Steel doors with sleepless guards, and keyless locks, But grief...

Flight to Abuja While Thinking of Lockerbie

  Flight to Abuja While  Thinking of Lockerbie Encased in plastics and a metal shell, We hurtle through the night above a black Colossal continent of dark and smell The airline food.  The captain knows the track That we are following, or thinks he does (Unless an...