Posts for June 6, 2017 (page 3)

Category
Poem

Tombs

I’ve learned the difference
between saying no to sin
and yes to Jesus
one creates Pharisees,
the other, some say
heresies

man-made God, God made man
moral arrogance, dynamic relationship

let pride swell
steal the judgment seat
be justified in your ruling of those
who don’t measure up to your…
moral bar-
a white washed tomb
protecting
a corpse

or

push into glory
let the chaff burn
be refined in the Son
be a son
experience the pain of rebirth
obedience isn’t optional
let Jesus crowbar that tomb
He’ll breathe life into decay
teach you to live
alive


Category
Poem

Time

is mine to keep
folded in fours
stuffed into pocket  
of worn jeans  

is mine to lose
like dropped pennies
that aren’t even
copper anymore  

is mine to spend
exchanged between
hand to hand
keep the change  

is mine to waste
crumpled, tossed
into kitchen trash
atop coffee grounds  

is mine to mind
focus of attention
racing against
hand sweep  

is mine to forget
lost in laughter
caught in moment
between friends


Bronson O'Quinn
Participant
Category
Poem

My First Ekphrastic

by Ginny Baughman, used without permission
I know you are a tree
growing out of the Earth
which is shaped like a heart.

But all I see
is a penis
and two hands cupping
the largest balls
I’ve ever seen.

(art is “Living Earth II” by Ginny Baughman, used without permission)


Category
Poem

at the coffeehouse

and without looking up
she holds it out toward me

like fruit blown down 
in an abandoned garden

glass magnified and made
dazzling by the sun 

and burning blood
and gold

and I am far too old 
for such foolishness

( A found poem among the last lines in Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s THE ORCHARD)
 And thanks to Karen George for giving me the idea to try this .


Category
Poem

Survivors

Though the bar doesn’t look like much,
this place of sinners and degenerates
may contain more holiness
than I’ve seen in most churches.

It’s become a spiritual home of sorts,
me on the karaoke stage
or the dartboard lane,
but the people make up the miracles.

I see Jesus here
tending to His sheep
for tending to brother and sister
when one of us gets stripped of wings.

Tonight my heart came in angry,
broken, confused, you name it,
I was feeling it,
unable to escape on my own.

They called on friends named Jameson
and Jack Daniel
to help chase the devils away
while sealing ourselves inside this Eden.

When billiard balls don’t fall
or my karaoke voice cracks,
everyone claps all the same
because those things don’t matter

and one time or another,
I did the same for them.
Thus the darkness that entered with me
is expelled and forgotten.

Jesus holds me then.
He promises justice and reward,
blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God.

I know it to be true
as I joke and laugh with Him,
confide in Him, and occasionally
share a drink with Him.


Category
Poem

A dime plus 99

Why do I die inside my mind
Each time you come around
Self medicate through prayer and peace
To lift me from the ground
Lose words
Lose focus
Losing all my swagger
You cut right through the parts of me
So gently with a dagger
Ain’t never seen no one like you
Dont think I’ll see another
So excuse me miss, nothing’s amiss
Yo, I gotta have your number
If I go blind call all the time
To hear your angel sounds
And in my dark paint the spark
Your beauty knows no bounds
It lights the world
Well mine at least
Don’t pass it to another
I crave your fire
It’s my destruction
Desire to be obtained
Hold you close
Burn my skin
And wrap me in your flame


Category
Poem

The Dose Age

N.B. The Dose Age is a Found Poem based on
Sean L. Corbin’s “Pill Poetry” (as coined by Amy
Camuglia). I used his poems Wellbutrin, Abilify,
ZoloftOmeprazole and Nicotine

Little white pill in the clouds—

each day you pull me into the

enough-to-breathe-sphere, I know

I am chemically on the jet stream,

oh my darling, oh my dear!

A daily dream: a feather that turns into evening,

the dying sun waiting to kiss my wife,

that edge in the morning clouds,

where the wild spike’s laughter is a maze.

Blue dishes and waxen arguments, too complicated

to punch random walking opinions, or write a sketch.

Like lights down the hatch, the yellow disk drops,

magic everything is a photograph—

a neon fire elopes, a level surface is steady,

I can finally breathe and no one blisters,

but, the heat—the heat

is lost just like a kiss far away.

The safety net snaps, falls out between my fingers.

This is something to choke on, after vomiting.

I need to settle, keep the cherry chalk burning back,

I need to suck until it cools.

Eventually the urge covers the wretch.

My eyes bleed, veins burst pointless acid.

My tongue sweating the porcelain memory,

fading thought, “Mercy, some God, You.”

Two minutes without You,

without that burning bell in my chest,

or my shooting open pulse, or the quickening grin—

“I miss you, my children.”

“Breathe, my wife.”

“Taste something. Give me something.

To love or long for.”

The fire in my mouth breaks the silence—

You killed yourself.

Fucking fuck.


Category
Poem

Late Marriage

When did I start to
snore
and how can
you possibly think
it’s cute? You
still love
my breasts when at last I set them
free
to lie loose
flesh to flesh, as we do.


Category
Poem

The Dose Age

N.B. The Dose Age is a Found Poem based on
Sean L. Corbin’s “Pill Poetry” (as coined by Amy
Camuglia). I used his poems Wellbutrin, Abilify,
ZoloftOmeprazole and Nicotine

Little white pill in the clouds—

each day you pull me into the

enough-to-breathe-sphere, I know

I am chemically on the jet stream,

oh my darling, oh my dear!

A daily dream: a feather that turns into evening,

the dying sun waiting to kiss my wife,

that edge in the morning clouds,

where the wild spike’s laughter is a maze.

Blue dishes and waxen arguments, too complicated

to punch random walking opinions, or write a sketch.

Like lights down the hatch, the yellow disk drops,

magic everything is a photograph—

a neon fire elopes, a level surface is steady,

I can finally breathe and no one blisters,

but, the heat—the heat

is lost just like a kiss far away.

The safety net snaps, falls out between my fingers.

This is something to choke on, after vomiting.

I need to settle, keep the cherry chalk burning back,

I need to suck until it cools.

Eventually the urge covers the wretch.

My eyes bleed, veins burst pointless acid.

My tongue sweating the porcelain memory, fading thought,

“Mercy, some God, You.”

Two minutes without You,

without that burning bell in my chest,

or my shooting open pulse, or the quickening grin—

“I miss you, my children.”

“Breathe, my wife.”

“Taste something. Give me something. To love or long for.”

The fire in my mouth breaks the silence—

You killed yourself.

Fucking fuck.


Category
Poem

The Roses Fed Mama

 

Mama’s seven sisters rose bush

snagged every child who ran around the back side

of the house, every time.  Some bounced 

off the drooping clothes line first.

None of them old enough to remember 

the hen house that fed the roses

nor the eggs we once brought in daily

to feed ourselves.