Thoughts by Ronald G. Auguste
(For Daryl Auguste, my Grandson) Dare you aspire to reach the eagle’s height, And soar beyond the common, out of sight? Reason and intuition say: “You can!” Yet you must learn to bear the ills of man, Lest all their minds’ diseases make you weak. Govern your actions wisely as you seek Under life’s unrelenting […]
The useless counsellor by Ross D Tyler
He sits down. He is ready. He’s got his ‘counsellors hat on’. But the client seems unhappy, Finding chewing gum she sat on. ‘Sorry about the awful mess’ He says, ‘I haven’t got a bin.’ ‘Would you like a glass of wine, or perhaps a tot of Gin?’ ‘No thanks’ the client quietly declined, ‘Alcohol’s […]
The tragic tale of Bobby Magee by Ross D Tyler
Picture a dark and terrible night, In a Treehouse my friends sat by candlelight, Shadows and whispers, eyes gazing at me, First to be dared was Bobby Magee. Bobby was Irish and terribly thin, His father was hairy and liked to drink Gin, To be in our Club was Bob’s number one plan, But first […]
The Scarecrow by Ross D Tyler
The mud is thick, the clouds are grey, Alone I stand here, in dismay. For months I will wait, without any friends, Standing on duty, ”til harvest ends. But wait. What’s that I see in the soil? There are tiny plants beginning to coil Upwards and outwards, reaching up to the sun, Their journey has […]
The (REAL) Tale of the Tortoise and the Hare by Ross D Tyler
Today I’m going to talk about, The Tortoise and the Hare, One was slow and one was quick, They really made a pair! I’m sure you all know the proverb, And perhaps you know the end? But the version you know simply isn’t the truth, You have been deceived my friend! Was the Hare quite […]
The missing pen by Ross D Tyler
I’ve done it again! I’ve lost me pen! I don’t know how, I don’t know when? Perhaps He’ll show, Perhaps He’s gone, Perhaps he’s back where he belongs? “Where does he belong?” I hear you cry, “A Magical pencil case in the sky?” Well he won’t come back, I know this now, He’s hiding away […]
The Appointment by Ruth Padel
The Appointment by Ruth Padel Flamingo silk. New ruff, the ivory ghost of a halter. Chestnut curls, * commas behind the ear. “Taller, by half a head, than my Lord Walsingham.” * His Devon-cream brogue, malt eyes. New cloak mussed in her mud. * The Queen leans forward, a rosy envelope of civet. A cleavage […]
Ten Years After by Graham Rowlands
Ten years after every beautiful cliche wearing jeans & kaftans & long hair & cheesecloth— after every beautiful cliche has gone or may as well have for all it means now L.B.J.’s gone & Che’s gone & Ho’s gone & Mao’s gone to their biographers in the sky without diamonds or L.S.D. Ten years after […]
Telescopes In The Square by Graham Rowlands
On Australia Day too. Good to see you. Like to sit on the grass? Good view. Up. Put your eye to the mouth of the flagon. Yes, eye. Go on. That’s all you have to do. Let me see. Here’s the green. I like green. Good for banks, building co-ops, insurance companies. That dark patch, […]
South Africa by Ronald G. Auguste
(For Nelson Mandela) Indeed! It is a new and shining land! So do not waste the New Day passing blame! From utter desolation, something grand Is rising … to obliterate the shame! The sun has set upon the sorry fields, And golden stars are twinkling in the skies. A new sun, rising on the New […]
Shattered Dreams. Broken Promises. by Russell James
Shattered Dreams. Broken Promises. by Russell James Shattered Dreams. Broken Promises. Unachieved Goals sadden souls. Feeling lost with no where to go feeling alone filled with sorrow. Went down the wrong path. Now I’m feeling the wrath of absolute failure man oh man this is such a Disaster. Will I be able to pick myself […]
Savour Your Life by Ronald G. Auguste
(For Sedacy Walden, my Grandson) Savor your life, and try to live it well! Each day should be a milestone on the path Devoted to pure Truth, where Angels dwell, And Love and Kindness keep one’s mind from wrath. Cherish each moment of each passing day. Your life should be a charm, where joy holds […]
Rosslyn To The Prime Minister by Graham Rowlands
Whatever I do now I’ll have your consensus against me— quite right to say you snow in the tropics only at the highest altitude of your own risk if you want an alternative Australia. But you & your consensus don’t do you, sport? Sports? Father? It’s only your economy, after all— refining, processing, high-tech. We’re […]
Writing to Onegin by Ruth Padel
Writing to Onegin by Ruth Padel (After Pushkin) Look at the bare wood hand-waxed floor and long White dressing-gown, the good child’s writing-desk And passionate cold feet Summoning music of the night; tumbrils, gongs And gamelans; with one neat pen, one candle Puttering its life out hour by hour. Is “Tell Him I love him” […]
Icicles round a Tree in Dumfriesshire by Ruth Padel
Icicles round a Tree in Dumfriesshire by Ruth Padel We’re talking different kinds of vulnerability here. These icicles aren’t going to last for ever Suspended in the ultra violet rays of a Dumfries sun. But here they hang, a frozen whirligig of lightning, And the famous American sculptor Who scrambles the world with his tripod […]
Pan’s Lament by Rose Mary Boehm
Grandmothers wore sadness wrapped in black. Pan’s duduk no longer moved their feet in dance. The young wore rape and shame like the end of a world where their lives had been broken. Sons and lovers, husbands and brothers, their blood running over the heavy stones of betrayal. When I left my Armenia and my […]
On The Menu by Graham Rowlands
I’ll eat anything. I mean it. But don’t say you won’t have lunch with me. I won’t drink the soup. I’ll even try your wine in case someone’s trying to poison you— or us. Still, I warn you I’ve eaten an evolution of white bait oysters, prawns in their shells baby octopuses, squid, shark. I’d […]
Night by Ruth Padel
Night by Ruth Padel Then spoke the thunder, shattering the looming blackness of our national life. The rumble that breaks a spell of the dry season – Saro-Wiwa, “The Storm Breaks” Does a zebra foal dream? Head lower, lower under lenticular dark cloud, he drags harlequin fetlocks, porcelain quails’ egg hooflets through pimpling dust, slower, […]
Nanna by Ross D Tyler
Does your Nanna visit you? Is she old and pleasant? Does she bake you cakes and treats? Or bring you lots of presents? My Nanna’s slightly different, For although she gives me Prezzies, Most of her gifts are usually awful, Last visit she brought me wellies! The time before that a tanktop, I’ve had socks […]
My Views of Man by Ronald G. Auguste
My Views of Man RGAaPoet@aol.com (For All the Rulers on this Earth) Man is the lowest form of life on Earth! Man frequently is mindless – Vile from birth! Man treats Man’s kind worse than the lower forms. Man’s ruthless traits have all become Man’s norms. Man’s now … despite Man’s deeds … of little […]
Multi-Miners & Co. Present Ned Kelly by Graham Rowlands
Multi-Miners & Co. present Ned Kelly as they’ll bring you the world’s end unearthing the end of the world without knowing where to bury it—ah inside glass, is it? like Ned Kelly & Co. panning & sluicing for gold tailings— that’s mining & the iron plough softening in orange wood coals & nailed & shaped […]
Miss Worthington by Rose Mary Boehm
I saw her one last time.Erect and hating her condition,she rolled her chair a little moretowards the windows of her winter garden:“The elms will have to go, you know.The elms are sick… “I climbed them as a child.” There was that catch of hidden sadness.Her voice had lost its edge. Miss Worthington had stayed alonefrom […]
Meant To Be by Russ Pergram
If I believed in reincarnation…I most certainly would say.You and I were lovers…in another time, another day.How else can one explain it?…this connection ‘tween me and you.Love’s never ceasing expectation…in such angelic eyes of blue.There is something between us…neither can adequately explain.Yet, something that’s reassuring…love’s never in vain.And that is why I always…ask to look […]
May You Be Like An Evergreen by Ronald G. Auguste
(For Byron Auguste, my Son) You are the elder from my seed. Well nurtured, may you bloom and grow, Above the bramble and the weed – And may you bend when strong winds blow. May all your branches know the sun, And may your leaves be always bright, Yet always green, with veins that run […]
Marks Of Disrespect by Graham Rowlands
It’s a tragedy for the Empire, almost said Mrs Thatcher. Mrs Gandhi was a woman of great courage, Mrs Thatcher almost didn’t say, thinking how she was a woman of great courage too—although now she’d transfer even her Northern Irish bodyguards. Could she be deeply shocked yet again— looking & sounding so unshocked, unshockable you […]
Magic Markers by Rose Mary Boehm
The memory trainpasses stationsthat have long since closed for service.Eyes in windows – hollow black sockets –follow the dreamer. Nameless things with wingsare leaving the eaves,rising up high into mindspace,settling softly on flotsamostensibly discarded eons agoto lighten the journey. Wondrous transformation:sackcloth and ashesbecome precious lacewith the help of magic markers. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Mad Pirate Marmaduke by Ross D Tyler
I am Captain Marmaduke! My Ship’s the ‘Slippery Eel’ I haven’t got a peg leg, ‘Cos my crew made me a wheel. I’m not so good at Plunderin’ I’ve scars all o’ me face, But there aint another pirate, Who can beat me in a race! Unlike other Pirates, I do not have a parrot. […]
Lunch by Ross D Tyler
I sat on the wall during lunch today, And gazed upon a sea of green. Rich, organic, bathed in sunlight. Breathing, singing. Emboldened I study the grass. I begin to wonder. I bite into my sandwich Disappearing into spears of green, I carelessly forget. But oh, what I have provided. I do not think the […]
Life Of a Broke Person by Russell James
Life Of a Broke Person by Russell James Being broke is such a pain. Its making me go crazy and go insane. Can’t afford a coffee can’t afford to eat out. I’m lucky if I have 50 cents in my bank account. Have credit cards and student loans I can’t pay so much debt I […]
Kiss by Ruth Padel
Kiss by Ruth Padel He’s gone. She can’t believe it, can’t go on. She’s going to give up painting. So she paints Her final canvas, total-turn-off Black. One long Obsidian goodbye. A charcoal-burner’s Smirnoff, The mirror of Loch Ness Reflecting the monster back to its own eye. But something’s wrong. Those mad Black-body particles don’t […]
Jewels Should Sparkle Daily by Ronald G. Auguste
(For Juliet Auguste, my Granddaughter) Jewels should sparkle daily in your eyes, Until sweet sleep induces them to rest. Let hopes and dreams, on wings throughout your skies, Incite your soul to soar among the best. Each thought you bear should pass an Angel’s test! Thoughts can, if noble, enrich all your life – Vouch […]
I See Your Beauty by Ronald G. Auguste
(For Sophia Walden, my Daughter) Stars don’t glow just in Hollywood, Or places where the air is rare. Poets see some as others should – Heaven’s bright jewels shining here. I see your beauty, soft and clear. Angels appear in varied form – Especially the ones on Earth! Their eager allure, light and warm, Infuse […]
Herodotus in Egypt Remeber Delos by Ruth Padel
Herodotus in Egypt Remeber Delos by Ruth Padel The ground verdigris, fluffy with young mosquitoes. Waters as sacred as these, as fatted with reeds. Bronze palm planted to Sun. Lizards, Nile alligators, hindquarters rolling on granite sphinx-chippings. Air salted with confident brown larks, Travelling, you remember (mind upturning these foreign priests, finding the causes) that […]
Flamenco Flamingo by Ross D Tyler
In the tiny Village of Boggidy Boo, Resting on a hill, Is a rather unique and curious Zoo, Where the monkeys cannot sit still. It was once a rather interesting place, With people coming from far. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face, Was a Flamingo who played guitar. Flamenco Flamingo was the star […]
Falling Action by Ruth Madievsky
Tonight my name is the pearl onion I place in your mouth, the sound a pelvis makes when it opens like a window. Tonight the fly beating its head against the ceiling light is drunk from the wine we opened and forgot about. You turn me over like a poker card, you turn me over […]
Daryl, My Son by Ronald G. Auguste
(In Memoriam: 8/29/72 – 4/23/83) Daryl, my son, was born a ray of light! Although his flash upon this Earth was brief, Resulting in much darkness, and much grief, You know, he left so much that seems so bright! Love is one gem he left us on this earth – Fragrant like flowers in the […]
Conversation With My Heart by Russ Pergram
I tell my heart to be silent …I admonish it every day. I tell it she’s tired of hearing it …tired of what it has to say. It’s whispers I mute when passionate …are kept under strict control. Lest she hears not love’s voice …lest it caress not her soul. ‘Tis not your fault my […]
Conversation 23: On Cause by Rosmarie Waldrop
Conversation 23: On Cause by Rosmarie Waldrop I step into my mother’s room, she says, and though a woman’s body is a calendar of births and injunctions to death, time disappears. Only dead enough to bury could prove sound to silence or the anxiety I know by heart and lung. In my mother’s room. The […]
Concrete Backyard by Ryssel Guzman
Sun awakes me through my window. I open up my blinds to see,A crack of sunlight squeezing in trying to find its place between buildings and concrete.Residue left over from last night’s crack reunion.Instead of grass and flowers, I see used needles and empty beer bottles.Garbage piled up, the ghetto doesn’t believe in recycling.Smells like what […]
Camelot & The Greek Widow by Graham Rowlands
I love you, Jack, she said & I believed she believed it. Why shouldn’t I? The Cold War was always on the hot plate Jack, wasn’t it? You were our noble warrior reading your Ian Fleming. We’d seen the sites in Cuba— waiting on missiles & on your spies & we’d seen the peasant’s boot […]