This poem is not about silence.
It is not lambs grazing in peace
with slaughter in their heart;
if they can afford the instinct of that.
It is not about the quiet
that is an afterdust
of a just-delivered vengeance
writhing in an amateur plot.
This poem is not about the pause
of a comatose Dad; it cannot
be proxied by the sorry presence
of...
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Family Values
Not About Silence
Ode to Kurt
Despite this bitter life, I pray
That you will never be astray
Hope my love will guide through
The adversities this world will give you
Shadows of fear dishearten me
I am not perfect but kindly see
That I’ll be here for you always
Adoring you in all my days
It’s never easy to be without a father
But son, realize – he’s...
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Terminal Tense
My youngest brother rendered
an oft-reenacted chagrin
that I had to suffer my friend’s father’s 78-rpm marches
to wear his half boots to the dance.
How could I carry that weight,
he crossed his eyes under the mophead.
Those stupid marches and shindigs won’t stop
the end of the world. Like it saved Martin if he was King.
I wondered if the...
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Advent
Abyss, the thing must have been culled from fright
There was no merit clear about its sight
The silence keen and unobtrusive slight
As sacrifice to be not recognized
There is a semblance of a laurel sheet
By wraith-like vision framed luminescent
Dickens would have with his muse been restless
Pitch to poem to method in its madness
His yin and yang...
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Advent
It must have been
an abyss.
There was nothing bright
about its sight.
The silence was keen
and unobtrusive
like a sacrifice that is cautious
not to be perceived.
There is a semblance
of a laurel leaf
framed by a vision
of luminescence.
Dickens would have been
dancing with his muse.
From pitch to poesy
to scientific gobbledygook.
He was of sinful yolk.
His white inseparable from his folk.
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Tangoo Yankee
Precious gift,
So dearly lines that drift,
A straightforward yet profound,
Words that so truly kind;
Noble-
In the fountainhead;
Hear our mellow voices,
Ricochet that blend,
Tunes that linger until
the raindrops end.
Parched leaves
that once so jade,
Kisses the earth as tinge
saunter to fade;
Hands that buoy;
Wielded every mind to slog,
Feet that steered;
Night light that flicker behind the bug.
Kernels that foster by well
fashioned...
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manners.
She said he doesn’t wear
his boredom well.
Her brother, his wife
and two children
couldn’t find the house
of the birthday celebrator.
They had a party-sized
pasta present they did not want
to go to waste
so came to their house
instead.
He was older than her
and probably knew better.
Regaled them with two-week-old tales
and fillers while she tried
to talk and listen
and he stifled his...
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The Sweetest Voice That Sings
Seven offsprings to your womb, you bear
Feeding them, working through your heart you felt
That love is selfless as you give it to them
Life might be difficult but you whistle and say
“My spouse, I love… My children I love…
Whoever they bear their hairs I braid, their shoes I’ll tie
As I breathe the cool air and...
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To my brother, Jonathan
‘Tis not when a heart beat goes full stop
and eyes then lose the power of its stare,
Nor when the sheet is stretched to cover up
your full length, no longer gasping for air,
that my pain like skin scratched by thorns
ignored when running away from hunters,
can now rest, bleed and cry for attention.
There never will be...
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Dark Days
Like I were cocooned,
the howling did not need one more
to disturb my comfort zone.
Turned it every which way
but peaceably,
the long, anxious ride played
horror tricks remembered
from stock theories
and movies.
The pointed pause dropped,
ado less crucial than catastrophe,
picked up pathos in the agony
made by man borrowed
from barbarity,
insatiate but for a tad
as though he were a cad
only conscionably...
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