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Poetic Anthology #2

Last September, I published an assortment of poems I had written for myself. Here are more.


Beautifulthorns (December 2019)

When you see a thorn poking out of a rose

remember

there are thorns in everything


–I was going to say,

it’s the thorns that make the roses beautiful–


but that’s not right;

thorns are prickly and annoying;

it’s the thorns that make the roses real.


A world without thorns is perfect

but a world without thorns doesn’t exist

so

when you look at a rose

and see a thorn

tell yourself

it’s that thorn that makes the rose real.

And without the thorn

the rose would just be a pleasant fiction

–for why would a fictional rose have thorns?–

and so the thorns make the rose real

which makes the rose more beautiful

which makes it a beautiful thorn

after all.


Feel Better (October 2019)

Note: This poem uses the uppercase/lowercase convention from "An I for an i."

I wish that i could feel better

But not right now

As usual i am subservient to the greater Self

which wants to feel bad

so meanwhile I’ll lie down

and feel bad

still.


–flutter– (February 2020)

Let me take that guilt

and let me perform a feat of magic.


It will

RISE

over you.


And

–flutter–

it’s gone.


You’re happy now.

Aren’t you?


Because

–flutter–

it went,

and it doesn’t plague you no more.


Because you’re happy now–

period.


Freedom (February 2020)

Sometimes you have to wonder

If this is freedom

then what’s the point of it anyway?


(Free Verse) (January 2020)

Every good poem,

a melody on a page,

singing its soul out to you,

capturing an emotion in its purest,

enrapturing you in its majesty:

every truly awe-inspiring poem is free verse.


Whereas every bad poem,

a painting framing nothing,

filling you with contempt,

overflowing with meaninglessness,

sitting idly on a page,

every truly horrific poem is free verse.


(Note that rhyme, patterns, flow, etc. can exist in a free verse poem–all that matters is whether the poem is not an existing poetic category.)


And all the rest

the haikus

the sonnets

the limericks

the acrostics

the odes

they’re fine.

They get the job done.


But to really

–TRULY–

–HONEST TO GOD–

capture the spirit of grandness

(and the spirit of awfulness too)

you need

to

be

free.


He Says (February 2020)

He says:

“Dishes,” he says:

“The dishes,” he says:

“Wash the dishes,” he says:

“I said, wash the dishes,” he says:

“Hear–I said, wash the dishes,” he says:

“Didn’t you hear–I said, wash the dishes,” he says:

“Child, didn’t you hear–I said, wash the dishes,” he says:

“Seriously, child, didn’t you hear–I said, wash the dishes,” he says:

“Respect! Seriously, child, didn’t you hear–I said, wash the dishes,” he says:

“Have some respect! Seriously, child, didn’t you hear–I said, wash the dishes,” he says:


He hears:

No one, he hears:


He sees:

No one, he sees:


He knows:

No one, he knows:


Out of Boredom (January 2020)

Out of boredom,

Out of rage,

Out of sadness,

Out of the demon’s paralysis,

Out of the grasp of hatred,


Is born

The most beautiful art

To have graced this world.

Case in point.


[Stupid] Art (October 2019)


These Troubling Times (May 2020)

Lord, this again?

It's really not a big issue.

I mean, someone's treadmill and all that and we're good.

Spicy poetry over here, right?


Words on Words (January 2020)

Here are words

on words

on words

joined by words.

AND MORE WORDS

WHO EVEN KNOWS OR CARES anymore

Is this all this is?

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