americanpoems – Page 29 – The Poetry Monster

Elegy for an Enemy by Stephen Vincent Benet

Elegy for an Enemy by Stephen Vincent Benet (For G. H.) Say, does that stupid earth Where they have laid her, Bind still her sullen mirth, Mirth which betrayed her? Do the lush grasses hold, Greenly and glad, That brittle-perfect gold She alone had? Smugly the common crew, Over their knitting, Mourn her — as […]

Dinner in a Quick Lunch Room by Stephen Vincent Benet

Dinner in a Quick Lunch Room by Stephen Vincent Benet Soup should be heralded with a mellow horn, Blowing clear notes of gold against the stars; Strange entrees with a jangle of glass bars Fantastically alive with subtle scorn; Fish, by a plopping, gurgling rush of waters, Clear, vibrant waters, beautifully austere; Roast, with a […]

Dedication by Stephen Vincent Benet

Dedication by Stephen Vincent Benet To W. R. B. And so, to you, who always were Perseus, D’Artagnan, Lancelot To me, I give these weedy rhymes In memory of earlier times. Now all those careless days are not. Of all my heroes, you endure. Words are such silly things! too rough, Too smooth, they boil […]

Colors by Stephen Vincent Benet

Colors by Stephen Vincent Benet (For D. M. C.) The little man with the vague beard and guise Pulled at the wicket. “Come inside!” he said, “I’ll show you all we’ve got now — it was size You wanted? — oh, dry colors! Well” — he led To a dim alley lined with musty bins, […]

Before an Examination by Stephen Vincent Benet

Before an Examination by Stephen Vincent Benet The little letters dance across the page, Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes; Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I rise Yawning and stretching, full of empty rage At the dull maunderings of a long dead sage, Fling up the windows, fling aside his lies; […]

Alexander VI Dines with the Cardinal of Capua by Stephen Vincent Benet

Alexander VI Dines with the Cardinal of Capua by Stephen Vincent Benet Next, then, the peacock, gilt With all its feathers. Look, what gorgeous dyes Flow in the eyes! And how deep, lustrous greens are splashed and spilt Along the back, that like a sea-wave’s crest Scatters soft beauty o’er th’ emblazoned breast! A strange […]

A Minor Poet by Stephen Vincent Benet

A Minor Poet by Stephen Vincent Benet I am a shell. From me you shall not hear The splendid tramplings of insistent drums, The orbed gold of the viol’s voice that comes, Heavy with radiance, languorous and clear. Yet, if you hold me close against the ear, A dim, far whisper rises clamorously, The thunderous […]

The Grammar Lesson by Steve Kowit

The Grammar Lesson by Steve Kowit A noun’s a thing. A verb’s the thing it does. An adjective is what describes the noun. In “The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz” of and with are prepositions. The’s an article, a can’s a noun, a noun’s a thing. A verb’s the thing it does. […]

The Convoy by Stephenie Tucker

All goes dark, first sound, then sight. I look to see my men alright. Deafening silence in concrete rain, Distract me from the searing pain. All time stops and vantage ends, As I look upon my dying friends. Radio in and evac out, No time for tears between the shouts. Between the blood and shrapnel […]

Some Clouds by Steve Kowit

Some Clouds by Steve Kowit Now that I’ve unplugged the phone, no one can reach me– At least for this one afternoon they will have to get by without my advice or opinion. Now nobody else is going to call & ask in a tentative voice if I haven’t yet heard that she’s dead, that […]

Resolute by Stephenie Tucker

The men were dead, their lives, long gone. And yet, their cause still lingered on. The banners wavered in the breeze, through borderlands of ship less seas. And now Apollo shall rise once more, to ferry souls to whitened shores. Now red shall rise the yellow sun, and end at last what we have done. […]

Purple Heart Liz (My Girl At Woodstock) by Steve Sant

Purple Heart Liz (My Girl At Woodstock) by Steve Sant It was all record playing Jigging and swaying Some experiment too Although not ever I All fumbling and shy I left all the tripping to you Oh I had my wild times Fuelled by beers and wines And I once smoked a funny cigarette Though […]

Numb by Stephenie Tucker

The door kicked in the dust relayed, The area secure and stayed. No longer taking time for peace, Within myself, it’s out of reach. No more time spent to say goodbyes, No more tears left for me to cry. I do my job and stay detached, Don’t even care if I come back. They call […]

Notice by Steve Kowit

Notice by Steve Kowit This evening, the sturdy Levi’s I wore every day for over a year & which seemed to the end in perfect condition, suddenly tore. How or why I don’t know, but there it was: a big rip at the crotch. A month ago my friend Nick walked off a racquetball court, […]

Must Work by Steve Downes

Must write must write must work must work minimum wage or better can’t be too physical got a bad back can’t be too stressful bend under pressure can’t be too sexual haven’t got the legs Must write must write must work must work minimum wage or better can’t work for corporate I’m an anarchist can’t […]

Lifetime Of Death by Steve Sant

Lifetime Of Death by Steve Sant A Lifetime Of Death The broken feeling you learn it young You must for it’s certainty true No hysterical fits just stiff upper lips We are British and that’s what we do So when I was but five and my grandfather died And old aunts wept silent tears I […]

In The Chapel Of Rest by Steve Sant

In The Chapel Of Rest by Steve Sant Forever I have seen her Yet never did we speak Well only in some dreams I had On five, six nights a week Then yesterday by chance As she got upon my train The only seat free, was next to me And so my chance it came […]

A Warrior’s Truth by Stephenie Tucker

The dying gasps of night are blackest before the dawn, The final surge of courage calls us to battle on. Enemies approaching from the hillside to the west, Trenches lined with casualties pulling at my chest. Flares as bright as day blinding vision tones of white, Bullets biting dirt rings too familiar sounds of spite. […]

A Soldier’s Song by Stephenie Tucker

Seventeen and full of rage, He fell in love with the careless gauge, of lipsticks red and flawless age, and monsters kept within the cage. Wonder lust and broken down, nothing world, can’t stop me now. bullets spent through hell spit fire, souls to burn on sandy pyres. New world turned and spat him out, […]

YOU ARE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY by Steve Troyanovich

YOU ARE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY For Elizabeth twinkling tree lights always remind me of the christmas in your eyes… i wish i could carry your laughter cupped in my hands forever hold the sanctuary of your smile… then every day would be christmas and i would be warm wrapped in the unending gift of your embracing […]

tomorrow is already past… by Steve Troyanovich

tomorrow is already past… Je ne t’ai pas trouvee tombe au meme amour Ou tu dors allongee derivante en quels cieux — Jean-Philippe Salabreuil dark is the sleep. darker still the dream. woodsmoke ghosts roam over remembrances of shuttered childhood hills… James Wright looms against the countryside banished to the cold brooding fields of trembling […]