Night & Day
1
sometimes you like to
throw your old life on the fire
sit & watch it burn
2
store your bitterness
lay it by for those cold nights
it will keep you warm
3
you can’t be cheerful
every damn day of your life
so go on & cry
4
then the sun comes up
like a giant’s orange eye
peering through the trees
5
how quickly the light
sifts through the cracks in the blinds
& everything’s changed
6
& then suddenly
you can see the world again
just waiting on you
38 thoughts on "Night & Day"
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Oh I really like #2, the idea of bitterness being a comfort. Such a great observation. Ending reminded me of Stafford, that clean and hopeful.
Thanks, Bill! Stafford is one of my touchstones, so that’s a huge compliment.
This is done so well,
they follow a temporal line
like the prayers of daily liturgy
Thanks Jim. That means a lot coming from an aspirant to the priesthood like yourself.
Love the progression of these, especially as I sit reading beside a window as the sun comes up!
Nice synergy, sounds like. Thanks, Chelsie!
I like the turn in the fourth stanza. It’s a perfectly balanced light/dark poem. I also the sun like a giant’s eye. I love the economy of the poem. I love, I love, I love!
Thanks darlin! I’m working on that quiche!
Love the heat and cold in these stanzas and the glorious turn in #4:
then the sun comes up
like a giant’s orange eye
peering through the trees
Thanks Pam, for this and all your comments this month! I appreciate your work too.
🙂
Well, I especially like stanza 3: even Hamlet had his lighter moments
Yes! I find more and more that humor is necessary. I’ll be laughing in the grave I expect 😉
like crossing a name off a crushlist
but also
realizing the page of names is really
quite long..
I can always count on you to take the sideways route, Dustin! You are an original mind and a peach.
Beautiful and hopeful. Thanks, I needed that.
Thanks Wayne! Glad to be of service. 😉
Well this may be one of favorites ever! You nailed it Dear Poet. I enjoyed all your writing this month. Thanks.
Thanks Wendy! I just love your books. I tell people about them all the time. Speaking of which, when’s the next one????
Oh my Kevin! Wow! Thank you! I am trying to finish the last one. Hopefully soon!
Beautifully done! Thanks for sharing your poems and comments this month! Sad it’s over.
Thanks Linda! Looking forward to having you on the radio soon.
I have never read a poem that makes stronger use of the haiku form. (You show how versatile is can be.) And you write of your feelings with such clarity. You’ve had a magnificent month of poeming, Kevin. Well done!
Thanks, Lee! This poem is an assemblage of new & existing haiku. Sometimes I spot a pattern and string a few together like this. I so appreciate your kind comments on my work this month. I’ve enjoyed yours too!
So, so 💯
🫂 a pleasure writing and reading alongside you, sir.
Thanks, Joseph! It was great seeing you at the pub the other day.
I’ve had moments like this poem all the time, it feels. A sign of a great poem: that you created something universal. It’s a pleasure to spend time with your work in June, Kevin!
Thanks, Shaun! The feeling is mutual, buddy.
Hey Kevin – I kept thinking I had a favorite one of these, but when I read them again, I realized they needed to be a whole song/prayer/perspective! Your poems have been a highlight this June. See you around this summer!
Thanks, Sylvia! It’s been a pleasure to read you too.
The poem felt like a new beginning in a field of verses calling it quits. Indefatigable Kevin! Perfectly captivating.
💛
Thanks Manny!
I especially love how the sounds in #5 echo the meaning. Thank you for all of your warm support this month. Until next June!
Thanks, Sue!
you can’t be cheerful
every damn day of your life
so go on & cry
Jim, this is an exquisite piece and I’ve so enjoyed your company across lexpomo this month. Thank you for sharing your work and taking the time to read mine.
That was supposed to say Kevin, not Jim. I suppose I’ll crawl into a hole now. 🙃
No worries! Thanks Morgan!
I adore the evolution of the light and fire throughout the stanzas and how they changed with the speaker’s journey of healing. Nicely done.
And thank you for sharing your work and reading mine this month! Your poems were always so witty and interesting.