The Crow

5/5/20 update:  The wondrously creative Tracy at Reflections of An Untidy Mind saw my poem and invited me to link to her Corvid 2020 Weekly Challenge #7.  How could I resist?  Please take some time to peruse Tracy's delightful blog and, while you're there, consider participating in her challenge.  Thank you, Tracy dear! Oops.  I'm …

A Poem, Some Pics #3

Saturday morning, December 1st, I was, as I too often am of late, struck melancholy by the realization that the year is almost gone.  Rather than cry myself into a puddle of useless, quivering jelly, I jotted down a haiku to honor the occasion. Time Flies How fast does time fly? If I'm the fleeing …

Damned Cold

I don't know if this qualifies as an occasional poem or not.  Certainly it refers to a very specific moment in United States history, but it's rather opaque and somewhat vague so may present some barriers to understanding for future generations of readers or those outside of the early 21st-century American political & cultural milieu.  …

Strikethrough: A Dirge for Acquaintances No Longer Plagued by Addiction

I rarely have cause to feel sad, if you want to know the truth, but I’m down today, way down in the blue deeps with thoughts as bleak as the tempestuous sky. Ponderous clouds in endless shades of gray track as slowly across the sky as passersby shuffle along the rain-slick street, shoulders slumped and …

A Poem, Some Pics #2

The Boss and I celebrated our 24th anniversary yesterday, so we left the kids with the grandparents while we went out to play.  We have now been married for longer than we were alive before getting married and for twice as long as we've been parents.  If The Boss continues to tolerate me and my …

The Immortals

Except for a few brief periods in my life, I have never been much of a rebel, and even then it was mundane rebellion, the same kind, I reckon, that most American teens & 20-somethings go through on their way to real adulthood. Of course, in my line of work, I deal with rebels every …

Elegy for a Stillborn Pastoral

I have been distraught by my failure to produce a single new poem so far this month, of all months the one during which I should, right?  What vague inspiration I have enjoyed lately has been insufficient for sustained poetic creation.  Until today.  Enjoy, y'all, and please let me know what you think. Elegy for …

What Did You Expect?

A long time ago (I'm talking late 20th century!), on a quaint and sprawling college campus to which I commuted 30 miles 5 days a week, I was asked to contribute to a student-produced literary mag titled The Longer Now: Various Sketches from the Center of the Cosmos.  The image above is its cover, painted …

Aimless Love

via Daily Prompt: Talisman Billy Collins is the pinnacle of contemporary poets; his poetry is my talisman against negativity and existential ennui. The only thing I like more than reading Billy Collins poems is listening to him read them.  He writes uncomplicated poems about everyday life, people, objects, and events, and his melodious, flowing language …

A Day Late…

via Daily Prompt: Wrinkle When I was young, reckless, and unattached, I had a casual acquaintance, I'll call her S, to whom I'd become quite attracted.  She was beautiful and intensely sexy, and she had been featured in a large department store's clothing catalog.   We worked together for a time, but I considered her out …