Out of the Corner of Your Eye—Free Verse

There is something in the tree

Glittering in the light of day

Flashing through the tips of pine leaves

The last drop of water

That has forgotten to evaporate

In the heat that replaced the morning rain

Like the tear in the corner of your eye

That forgot you promised to forget.

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

Don’t Beg Me For Money—Wea’ve Written Weekly

I would give you one gold sovereign

To help you through the night

Then tell the police you stole it

Because those are my rights.

***

I wrote this poem in response to the Wea’ve Written Weekly prompt on Skeptics Kaddish. This week’s prompt poem is “Thunderstorm Magic” by Ami (Gypsie) Offenbacher-Ferris. if you would like to read her poem or participate in the prompt visit the post here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2022/06/29/w3-prompt-9-weave-written-weekly/

Parked in Front of My Son’s Elementary School—Free Verse

Dismounting his Harley with a long swing of his leg,

A man removes his helmet and hangs it over the handlebars.

From inside the saddlebags, he removes his daughter’s helmet.

And here I am parked behind him in the passenger seat of my wife’s car

Picking up my son from the last day of summer school.

.

And I wish I had the money to be that reckless-cool

The kind of dad with the money to spend on luxury toys

And the kind of arrogance to rub it in everyone’s face.

.

Instead, I am the kind of dad who raised a son who is not afraid

To run up and hug his dad in front of all the other school kids.

Not afraid to blow his parents kisses when he gets dropped off in the mornings.

Not afraid to be proud of his parents even when he is starting to learn it isn’t cool.

Not afraid to show the other children his own brand of reckless-cool.

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

As I Look into My Own Soul—Free Verse

What is the wisdom of a mirror

Given as a gift as I crossed over Jordan?

.

The mirror reflects the unknown

Intertwined in the calming of my soul

Like a blank faced man hardened against the world.

.

The reflection of my own dark eyes

Reading the epitaph of a tombstone

And throwing salt on the Devil himself.

And I can appreciate that.

.

But I have seen things

In its shimmering reflection at night.

Shades of Narcissus tugging

Through the corner of my eyes

Demanding I stare deeply into its soul.

.

Deeply into the vanity and the self.

Deeply into the alternate self.

Deeply into its immortality

Surviving my own death.

*** A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

A Painful Look at the Breakdown of a Marriage—Flarf

What shines tends to develop impurities.

Do you see how much its lagging,

Or whatever it’s called again,

Circling?

.

Fascinated by fungi and the fantasy kingdom.

When it rains it will be really bad.

And I want to play it.

I really do.

.

And an unforgettable dance club experience.

I just want to try it.

I want to play it.

I need to.

Right now.

Not when it’s raining.

***

FLARF is a wild style of poetry that started as a joke. People noticed that no matter how bad your poems were Poetry.com would tell you that you had won their poetry prize. Then, they would try to scam you out of your money. So devious poets started sending the crappiest poetry they could write to Poetry.com. Even that would win the poetry prize. These poets began sending each other their crappy poems, and eventually it became a legitimate poetry style. If you want to read more about the FLARF or any of the other poetry terms, check out the glossary of poetic terms from the Poetry Foundation at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms

Google painting is a type of collaging that primarily uses internet search results and Google’s search prediction capabilities to generate quasi-random phrases. The technique helps jumpstart creativity with strange juxtapositions, broken syntax, and internet speak.

God Across the Bar Pouring Jose Cuervo—Free Verse

Is there something more Sunday

Than American Idol meets Fight Club

In the neighborhood in the borough

And people walking city streets at night?

.

Perhaps not on the traditional day of rest

The one day you have to nurse your hangovers

Wearing a tie and sitting amongst the sinners

.

Pretending to know the bible

And see God in the everyday.

.

And did you stand there with God

Handing you shots across the bar

To beg the ugly woman to drink

In hope that you might could

Trick her into coming home with you?

.

And maybe God was there.

And maybe the ugly woman

Would have gone home with you

.

Even if you hadn’t gotten her drunk.

And maybe you would still sleep with her

Even if you weren’t drunk.

.

And maybe God was the ugly woman

Or the shots of liquor.

Or the buzz in your head.

Or the truth serum

.

That kept the lies flowing from your lips

Like the way you felt

Sitting there with the bible in your lap

Pretending that there was a God

.

Differing from place to place

And you just happened to be born

In the one true place

With the one true God

Who drinks shots with ugly women

.

And tells them that he loves them

When, clearly, he doesn’t.

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

Small Shifts in Territorial Control—Free Verse

And you didn’t think

Of summer city windows

Overlooking the old roves of Ukraine

.

And you didn’t think

I had a particular opinion

Of open urban windows and city sounds

.

And you didn’t think

To ponder over the weight of the mind

In the hour-long sunrise

City silhouette of peach fire and cloud

.

And you didn’t think

To catching a bid on the Russian invasion

Before you saw words curling

At the edges of your mind

West side of central, void and stupid

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

France and the Empire Continues—Free Verse

What immorality makes the atheist

Accept the missionaries’ invitations?

He knows he won’t listen

Knows he will be wasting their time.

They could be out spending their efforts

Preparing spiritual messages

For someone who will hear what they say

Rather than a man who listens

Out of deference for the memory of his mother

Who had taught him long ago

That it hurts others to tell them

He doesn’t believe what they believe.

And so he gives them false hope

With his noncommitment saying

He only doesn’t attend because it is boring

And he never bothers to preach the good news

That he knows there is no ‘good news.’

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

All the Things You Need to Survive—Free Verse

Shared wind and sunlight

The push of solar power’s shame

Illegal fight club in the French quarter

Even Coca-Cola was brilliant

Although still incomplete

Saying they would give this

Form of a cocaine-infused elixir

Because you need to be more specific

When suffering such stresses of

Relaxation activities and yoga

While tracking consumer scams

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.

Where Would You Be if You Weren’t Right Here?—Free Verse

Another way to be located in a city

Carried away, like this, with love

Far away in Berlin of the old wall

.

Sunbathing in the sand

Among the lakes and lidos

Head in the sparse grass

.

Reading fantasy novels

As others paddle softly their canoes

Daydreaming that this is life

.

In the north of Newcastle

In the context of reliable sources

Soft fasteners caught in their shoes

.

In the center of the city

Or integers that stack between

At the center of a place

***

A free verse poem has no set pattern for line or stanza length. Rhyme is not used, or it is used sparingly. The line length and the rhythm or the lines are dictated by the natural rhythm of speech or other concerns such as emphasis on a particular word, image, or idea.