Nora_Leonard wrote:Very heartfelt and moving, umakemyheadswim.

Thanks. Its for someone I loved dearly who passed away recently. She is/was my muse. Funny cause I hadn't written in years until now.

I plan on writing a more personal one for her in the weeks.

Some older ones

There's always a storm cloud over head that follows us .We keep it at bay with umbrellas
but I know of a place free of misery,a open sky
and when the pain comes too much for your will. I'll hold your hand. Drown me in your tears. I'll take the burden that kills
Beyond the horizon lies a place that we can call home

On the bays edge the wind is taking
you spread out across the sea like tragedy
So sorry to let go. I'm not turning my back
I just need to leave the pain
let it subside
there's a new beginning I need to find

Looking out at blacks skies
at the edge
Where the Lovers Loved at the bay
the children came to play
I'm afraid to take another step
Deeper and Deeper you sink
Farther and Farther you drifted away

I cant be alone. But I cant say no
there are no guarantees, when these hearts began to cease
So Please let me lie so I can sleep

The silence couldn't be any more threatening
I've grown tired
My Life has broken
you left memories to remind me
still waiting for a resolution at the edge
a memory that was fondest has now grown dark

Deeper, Deeper. farther, farther
you sink deeper at the bay
no last moments for us to love
no time for us to play like children
they were forgotten
they've been swept away

I should empty the bottles and fall deep like you
You could be my dream tomorrow
I can be with you at the bay
deeper and deeper farther and farther
drifting away...............

Here are some titles that I've come up with for some poems (more like song lyrics, really) that I may eventually come around to write in the future.

Daydreamer No More
Move in For the Kill
From Prey to Predator
Cry Wolf
Devil Trigger
Law & Disorder
First Blood
Unseen
The Wrong Animal
Deicide
Bleed Out
Eye to Eye
Killing Intent
Hellbound
Death’s Prelude (should be just a few minute instrumental, really, but I like how it sounds)
Masquerade
Form of Art
The Might of One
Momentum

Re:

I find that I often come up with a title for a poem months before I get even a few stanzas of the actual poem. Keeping in mind that I write one poem a year—if that—it would seem that the title has seed-potential.

So you've sowed quite a few seeds there, Matt. Now the hard part is actually birthing the poem.

(My poem for this year is "Tattoo" and I'm working on it at the moment...)

Nora_Leonard wrote:Re:

I find that I often come up with a title for a poem months before I get even a few stanzas of the actual poem. Keeping in mind that I write one poem a year—if that—it would seem that the title has seed-potential.

So you've sowed quite a few seeds there, Matt. Now the hard part is actually birthing the poem.

(My poem for this year is "Tattoo" and I'm working on it at the moment...)

Seeding!

Have fun!

Umakemyheadswim wrote:Some older ones

There's always a storm cloud over head that follows us .We keep it at bay with umbrellas
but I know of a place free of misery,a open sky
and when the pain comes too much for your will. I'll hold your hand. Drown me in your tears. I'll take the burden that kills
Beyond the horizon lies a place that we can call home

Nice to see there's still some activity on this thread! I haven't visited in ages!

Here's a poem from ages ago that I'm still very pleased with. For years I had this idea for a science fiction story, where four members of an expedition arrive on an uninhabited world and each is slowly affected by the place and the situation, each developing his or her own (solipsistic?) interpretation of reality. I couldn't find a way of telling the story that withheld judgement and refrained from privileging one narrative over another. Eventually it came out as this poem, which took a great deal of crafting so that, as you'll see, it can be read in two ways: as the outlooks of the individual characters, or as the overarching 'superposed' outlook that they create in unwitting concert. As the thing is critically dependent on formatting, I can't just paste it in here, but click on the link to see the PDF:

Four-Body Problem (In Two Dimensions)

Oh, I really like that <JM>! Very impressive and moving. Well done!

j.mills wrote:Nice to see there's still some activity on this thread! I haven't visited in ages!

Here's a poem from ages ago that I'm still very pleased with. For years I had this idea for a science fiction story, where four members of an expedition arrive on an uninhabited world and each is slowly affected by the place and the situation, each developing his or her own (solipsistic?) interpretation of reality. I couldn't find a way of telling the story that withheld judgement and refrained from privileging one narrative over another. Eventually it came out as this poem, which took a great deal of crafting so that, as you'll see, it can be read in two ways: as the outlooks of the individual characters, or as the overarching 'superposed' outlook that they create in unwitting concert. As the thing is critically dependent on formatting, I can't just paste it in here, but click on the link to see the PDF:

Four-Body Problem (In Two Dimensions)

Absolutely brilliant!

Got 3 new titles.

Scythe (verb)
Power Shift
Kill the Messenger

I think that work is rather wonderful, j.mills.

I wrote two poems about a woman's encounter with a sloth, one from the point of view of the woman and one from that of the sloth; my friend suggested I put those together on the page but it didn't really work. Well done you!

At last, an appreciative audience!

I say, puddy-tat, a poem about an encounter with a sloth must surely be interesting anyway. Show us da poetry!

Matt, you seem to be marking out an awful lot of future work! Maybe time to get started on something other than the titles?

j.mills wrote:I say, puddy-tat, a poem about an encounter with a sloth must surely be interesting anyway. Show us da poetry!

It's on my other pooter. I'll try and remember to post it on Friday

j.mills wrote:At last, an appreciative audience!

I say, puddy-tat, a poem about an encounter with a sloth must surely be interesting anyway. Show us da poetry!

Matt, you seem to be marking out an awful lot of future work! Maybe time to get started on something other than the titles?

I'll give it a decade.

For j.mills, here's my poem about a colleague's encounter with a sloth: a true tale recounted to me first hand.

The sloth in the shower
A tale from Costa Rica

I flip flop to the shower.
The sun beats down upon bleached compound dust.
The jungle, vocal with the morning –
a song of shrieks, strange riffs, a thrumming constant hum –
folds the smallholding in a close embrace
of vital, sap-filled, trembling green.

The long flight yesterday across the seas,
the warm excited welcome,
the quick ablutions and exhausted sleep,
but now, flip flop, a shower.
My parents, sipping local coffee,
wave, smiling, from their rickety veranda.

I reach the open booth beneath the trees,
tug twice upon the swollen wooden door,
climb in, undress, drop clothes onto a bench
and, clutching fragrant unguents to my chest,
with sunlight narrowing my eyes,
step forward reaching for the taps.

A hand seizes my hair. My heart bucks.
I hear a scream. I’ve jumped back to the door,
lock eyes, share terror with…
a shaggy, hairy, greenish beast, its clawed paw
held suspended in mid air
just where my head was.

I bend to catch my breath
hands on my knees,
warily eyeing the sloth warily eyeing me,
hearing, together, my parents’ distant laughter.

Heh! That's luvverly! Very richly descriptive, puts ya right in the situation.

Indeed, the drama captured perfectly. Well done, Blip.

Secret lovers


I love the way
you chuckle softly
on the phone
when we're a million miles
away

I love the way
you walk
so close to me

I love the way
your voice
changes tone
when you say
my name

I love the way
you dress sexy
and pretend
it's nothing

I love the way
my eyes
explore your body
and you smile

I love the way
you softly groan
when we hug

I love you

Two questions

Would you understand
if I told you
that I compromised
myself into near
non-existence?

And would understand
if I told you
that you brought
happiness to me again
when you gazed into
my soul and saw
things that no-one else
could see?

Are these ode's to Brandy by any chance DvT?