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Rachel’s Ladder


Rosie Hardy - Self Portrait

Rachel’s Ladder

     I. When There Is

No darkness without light.
No rest without sleep.
No dreams without love.
No madness without obsession.
No miracles without imagination.

    II. The Builders

Angles and machines build
a nimbus on my breath.
A cherub sends a raincloud.
Archangels bleed excess

   III. The Rest Place

To return
without denial
to a warm body.
My head on a cushion
soul and joy are one.

    IV. The Twin Flame

In dreamland
our silver threads meet:
A love affair in corporeality.

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I think this is the last One Stop Poetry Challenge for Sunday:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/07/sunday-photography-interview-rosie-hardy-poetry-challenge.html

This is the:  Sunday Photography Interview: Rosie Hardy & Poetry Challenge

I got the picture from her website, specifically, the Self-Portrait Section:

http://www.rosiehardy.com/1145-self-portraits

More Than


Greater Than Sign

More Than

More than a fork makes a pie crust flake.
More than sugar in chocolate.
More than goats eat anything.
More than bears eat honey.
More than your soft lips.
More than riches.
More than health.
More than.
More.

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This is for: Form Monday – Nonet hosted by Corbie Sinclair – on this page –

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/07/form-monday-nonet-hosted-by-corbie-sinclair.html

Also posted on:
visit The Imaginary Garden
Open Link Monday Dec 12, 2011

The form goes like this:  ABCDEFGHI or alpha numerical form, so each line is a different ending word. The corresponding syllables are 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.  If this doesn’t make sense, go to the link above, and they will explain it in other ways.

As for the amazing artwork above, I did it. It’s too inventive, I know. If there were something better, something else, I would have chosen that.

in the red


Neil Alexander explores light

in the red

you don’t think
it’s going to happen
until it actually does

 count to ten
 in the red
 don't get to mad
 it's in your head

take precautions
take a breath
listen and learn

 count to ten
 in the red
 don't get to mad
 it's in your head

walking to school
running to the store
what did you forget?

 count to ten
 in the red
 don't get to mad
 it's in your head

a kick here
a punch there
it won’t add up

 count to ten
 in the red
 don't get to mad
 it's in your head

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A one stop poetry Sunday challenge.  Choose from the works of Photographer Neil Alexander.

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/07/sunday-photography-interview-neil-alexander-poetry-challenge.html

Joy Garrison Programs: Command Highlight


Joy Garrison Programs: Command Highlight

     A. Joy

I was born Joy, to enjoy
in a state of overjoyment,
an adventurous joyrider.

I play with a joystick
always joyfully, giving others
much enjoyment.

In this game,
my obstructors
are killjoys.

      B. Garrison

Ghosts defend me
through time, as I design
the ultimate garrison.

Understandably, my actions
lie on the periphery
of the fourth dimension.

I build protective barriers
so you can hold flowers
so you can smile.

     C. Command

The laws of life
move me along.

If I don’t see it,
I make it.

I theorize.
I change the facts.

As I change,
I command the world.

     D. Highlight

Watch me move the pieces:
A Queens Gambit
A fancy castling.
I always defend.
I always protect.
Do not seek my highlights.
I have not peaked:
too much to achieve.

************************

Posted on:

the imaginary garden with real toads

Open Link Monday

The artwork is by Bonnie. Her blog is http://originalartstudio.blogspot.com/

This piece is a response to onestop poetry challenge:

 http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/07/friday-poetically-with-brian-miller-21.html

I’m not sure what this work will mean to you, but I will assume no one will guess how/why I wrote this. After I explain it, it may make even less sense. 😉

Some time before seven this morning, I HAD to get on my computer to do some preliminary work on my screenplay. I booted up, and instead of NOT turning on my browser, I brought up Google Chrome, clicked on the one stop poetry page, and saw the challenge.  I decided that in order not to waste my time of not writing my screenplay, the only solution was to write the poem about my main character.

I had no idea what to write about. I read the first poem posted, by Esther Douek. This can be found on

http://www.estherdouek.com/?p=381

Her poem is titled: “A Salesman with X-ray Vision | The Eyes of Poetry” . Her concept of X-Ray made me think of Four Dimensional art, as in Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)  Salvador Dalí. (1954).   Which you can see on  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dali_Crucifixion_hypercube.jpg

My protagonist’s name is Bashira Garrison. Bashira is a popular Muslim Girl name. It’s Urdu and Arabic for “Joyful.”   The main theme in my screenplay is “Protecting the Protector.” This is why her last name is Garrison. I called the character in my poem “Joy” instead of “Bashira” because I could play with the word “joy.” Poetry is all about playing and painting with words. So at least that part should make sense.

The image, above is saved as file name “ghist.jpg” . I thought it could be a mispelling or perhaps a variant of “ghost”, because it’s a ghostly image. I looked it up, and it’s a computer command: command highlight. The picture is one big highlight.

Bashira is an engineer who is developing a small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV). She often must re-programm the control system, so I thought that naming  this poem about Bashira (Joy) after a computer command would be apt.

Yesterday, someone asked me if my poetry was inspired by some sort of ” gift from a higher power.” It’s not.

This is how my poetry is contrived: I have one thing in my head, in this case doing some analysis on my screenplay. Then I encounter something I have to write a poem about, in this case a onestop poetry challenge. I take the two concepts and blend them into an abstraction. I look up words and phrases. I use them in my poem. In this case, I looked up variants of words with Joy in them. I looked up famous quotes for the words “change” and “highlight.”  That’s pretty much it.

Fear of Happiness


Fear of Happiness

You are a puppet to your greatness.
You are the amplifier of its voice.
When you peak, you are amazed
and query your accomplishments.
Since your imagination has no limits,
a mirror exposes the bulges of your greatness.

With humility, you smile, relax,
and a fall asleep to sweet dreams.
You command a well timed silent dominion.

With the authority of laser like radiance,
envisage persistent obligation.
If your vision lies dormant,
Rub influence as you zip by;
Inspire with the scent of your perspiration;
Cajole with poise and assure with consolation.

Walk not with the gravity
of one who lost a child.
Even those outside the household bubble
are with blustery flares of disposition
in place of beaming manifestation of pleasantness.
If those shocking moment laps,
don’t accede to benign complacency.

Don’t accede to unhappiness.
Happiness leads not to empty hedonism.
Without it, authority disappears like sounds in a blown speaker;
Influence vanishes like weather in the eye of a hurricane;
Elucidation meanders about like a hungry, lost coyote;
And inspiration is not more than a fading spot light.

Make happiness tantamount.
Penalties are not mandated
on your subordinates
for you, your self
are endowed with merry gifts.

Make corrections.
Prevalent mistakes minimize your greatness.

Though in some domains you have lost control,
life, as a whole, averages it out.

Express your voice
In tones of utter determination.
Use your limitless courage to put right
what you now bemoan.

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Here’s another “One Stop Poetry Challenges.” This this is the One Shoot Sunday – Independence Day, 2011.” In other words, Fourth of July Eve.

Also posted on:


Midweek Motif – Happiness

 

I wrote this back in 2001 for now Brig General William Thornton.

off-center


Adam Romanowicz - Convergence

off-center

in coordinate and velocity space
a clear compositional asymmetry
shifts mass from the hub.

various elements are produced.
an expansion timescale distributes
reaction product elements.

radial detonation wave
expands in the propagation direction.
thermodynamic trajectories are dense.

this off-center special distribution
is a toy model
of a massive white star.
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Here’s another “One Stop Poetry Challenges.” This time I’m writing in response to the photography of Adam Romanowicz, an engineer in the real world.

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/06/sunday-photography-interview-adam-romanowicz-poetry-challenge.html

Bottle Out


Bottle Out – iPad Drawing by Alison Jardine

Bottle Out

Fine nouveax deco
Running glaze.
Grass green;
Color slipping
On and off the surface.

Rough as a bead,
Feel the edges.

An instant favorite
Opalescent
Ground to the base.
Daring and vamp,
Sleek flattering shape.

Dramatic cameo.
Open it up.
Olfactory experience.

Signature etched
Virtual art.

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Here’s another “One Stop Poetry Challenges.”  It’s Friday Poetry with Brian Miller:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/06/friday-poetically-with-brian-miller-19.html

The assignment was to select a picture from:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/06/one-stop-spotlight-artist-alison-jardine.html

It’s another quickie. 😉

The Load ― Remembered


Carrying the Burden

The Load ― Remembered

The metal hanging
from a chain around
his drooping neck ― kept.
His courage ― endures.
His heart ― remembered.
His load ― in pictures.
His cold ghost ― in the beyond.

But no record of back pain.
No recollection of his warmth.
No discussion of limbs,
shorn like Samson’s hair.

Alone, he shivered in the darkness.
He thought of home.
He thought of better days.

Yet nothing could fill the absence
of his soul defeated
by the echoing blast of his first kill.

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This is my memorial day contribution.

I got the picture from http://www.ontherightinva.com/2010/05/30/memorial-day-2/

Between Buildings


Between Buildings

From the city alley
appraise a sliver of sky.
Streams of clouds
progress in currents.

Through windows,
saxophones
and treble voices
compete for bandwidth.

In the city alley
the superhero waits
to explode/to save
the world from itself.

************************

 Posted on:

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #75

Also posted on:

poets-rally-week-63

His organization is Fragile Oasis  and he’s also on facebook.

Again, I won’t usually be writing free form poetry on this blog, unless it’s there for a reason. It looks like I might actually have a periodic reason: these “One Stop Poetry Challenges.” This time I’m writing in response to the Photography of Scott Wyden.”  The website is:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/05/sunday-photography-interview-scott-wyden-poetry-challenge.html

Owl In Flight


Upswept Wings

Owl In Flight

Cherry orchard sandlots,
rolling terrain of rye.

At the keel,
sternum flutters.
Contoured feathers,
streamlined flight.

Vigilant search for rations.
Scanning from the clouds.
Aerial stillness passing.
Hunger seems to last.

Movement detected.
Gliding high above.

Brief stillness in air.
Ready for the dive.
Falling on approach.

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I am posting this one for the “One Stop Poetry Challenge – the Photography of Fee Easton” .

Also posted on:

The Gooseberry Garden
Gooseberry Garden

Poetry Picnic Week 9 : Longing, Loss, Loosing and Failure