Paradis | August 20, 2010
This morning I picked
a posy of buttercups,
and carefully arranged them
along with a daisy or two
and a sprig of rye grass.
I handed them to mother,
and she threw them in my face.
Her hidious red-lipstick-laugh
a clown laughing at my stupidity -
I always hated clowns.
My hunched shoulders
swept the floor
as I shuffled to the doorstep.
My thin cotton dress offereing
no protection from the coldness.
I picked at first one scab, then another.
My arms a jigsaw of broken skin.
Warm blood dripped from my elbow
on to the cardinal red concrete -
where it camouflagued itself.
She will never love me
it was a harsh lesson
but well learned.
I wish she was dead, no -
that would make me a bad person.
I wished I was dead,
but I already was.
I was stupid,
I should have picked the poppies -
Poppies are for the dead.
But I did have one element of freedom,
that I used with inpunity
when she beat me and locked me up.
When she degraded me, and used
all manner of names not fit for pigs.
I hate you, I hate you!
It was my lifeline, it felt so good.
I HATE YOU -
Only I didn’t hate her, I loved her -
and just wanted a mother’s love.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | August 20, 2010
A whole lifetime
on dusty shelves.
Damp and leather
mingling together
like coffee and cake
in the local cafe.
The knowledge
bundled inside
faded jackets,
waiting to be spilled -
A treasure chest
of words.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | August 20, 2010
Because you made me promise,
I will smile through the tears
as they lower your casket,
but inside -
I will be as dead as you are.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | August 20, 2010
Lifting skirts coyly
to show their delights
Shy words gather
into a poem.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | August 20, 2010
The Thief
The thief darts,
spills the apple cart.
That wasn’t smart.
Have a heart officer,
it wasn’t me,
I didn’t do it….
Yet,
I bet,
his pockets are filled
with treasures,
pleasures,
take measures
to see he won’t
sin again.
Give him 28 days!
Hurray,
another criminal
locked away.
But there are more,
there are always more,
lock your door,
before,
they steal your fortune.
Yes, they wants your stuff preciousssssssssss!
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis, Streams of consciousness |
Tags: Streams
Paradis | August 20, 2010
On a tangent
The essence of poetry.
Facsimiles of life.
Rose petals in the wind.
The thought of your kiss,
your hand in mine.
My best day…
picking forget-me-nots.
Intoxicating scent.
The smell of leather.
Deepest secrets.
Intensified feelings.
Laying in grass.
An apple shared.
Remembering…
that day.
A hidden CD track.
Opaque amber.
High in the sky…
cotton wool clouds.
Blah…
here am I
on a tangent.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis, Streams of consciousness |
Tags: Streams
Paradis | August 20, 2010
It’s hard to compose a villanelle
It’s hard to compose a villanelle,
it’s hard to make it work…
so most people tell.
A sonnet is really simple,
a cinquain too, I’m told, but
it’s hard to compose a villanelle.
the humble triolet is easy,
with it’s iambic tetrameter,
so most people tell.
and what of a pantoum?
That’s a piece of cake, but…
it’s hard to compose a villanelle.
Haiku is full of discipline,
yet even that is fine,
so most people tell.
Free verse and blank verse
are smooth as silk, but
it’s hard to compose a villanelle,
so most people tell.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis, Villanelle by Paradis |
Tags: Villanelle
Paradis | August 20, 2010
Rain
Rain
taps the window
and asks
may I come in
It’s wet out here.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis, Tanka by Paradis |
Tags: Tanka
Paradis | August 20, 2010
Memories
Moleskin books
pages full of memories
the scratching of his pen
can still be heard
twenty years on.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis, Tanka by Paradis |
Tags: Tanka
Paradis | August 20, 2010
Masks
We wear masks
to hide
from each other
making the whole world
invisible.
Paradis
Category: Gogyohka by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | August 20, 2010
Nature’s Force
A
seagull
eyes the waves,
flapping it’s wings
into the strong wind,
while on the horizon
nature rears it’s ugly head.
A hurricane is coming soon,
men busy themselves boarding windows,
while women gather supplies – life goes on.
Paradis
Category: Etheree by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | February 3, 2010
The salmon sun
dances seductively
on the horizon
Paradis
Category: Haiku by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
Tags: Haiku by Paradis
Paradis | February 3, 2010
Clouds
Above -
candyfloss clouds
waiting to be eaten.
I devour them with hungry eyes,
tasty!
Paradis
Category: Cinquain by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
Tags: Cinquain
Paradis | February 3, 2010
Skeletons pour
from festered wounds,
the moon licks their bones
as they stalk the night…
And the fog
swirls about me
engulfing my thoughts
in it’s icy grip…
The clock ticks,
but time slows
like quicksand,
with legs so heavy…
I’m drowning.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | February 3, 2010
The clouds
swirling above me
are my mind,
secret fears in a grey world.
The past, a whisper…
caressed
in evening shadows
like an illicit affair.
Abstract thoughts collide,
and cut the silence,
like skeletons scraping
with boney fingers.
The twilight glides like velvet
as the mists drift in,
while the city of dreams
lurks in the far distance.
The daffodils I picked
laid haphazardly
upon the gravestone
as if to ease your death.
It’s surface scarred
with years of neglect.
There will come a time
when everything changes -
then -
then I will forgive you.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | February 3, 2010
Somewhere in a city in late September,
he takes a walk down by the river,
kicking the first fallen leaves of Autumn.
He leans on a rusted old railing, overlooking the water,
watching the ripples as they float ever wider.
He wonders of the woman he had given his heart to,
wishes she were here to share this sight.
Elsewhere a woman sips tea on a sidewalk.
Seated at a table overlooking a river,
she buttons her coat to keep out the chill
from the breeze that’s blowing off of the water.
She watches the ripples as they float ever wider,
and thinks of the man she has given her heart to,
she smiles and wishes he could share in this sight.
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | February 3, 2010
Endless fields of sunflowers,
Ten thousand spurious smiles.
The bastard yellow rays of deception…
‘Oh the tangled Webs we weave’
Paradis
Category: Poetry by Paradis |
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Paradis | February 3, 2010
Silent intruders
poke into corners
shadows
Paradis
Category: Haiku by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
Tags: Haiku by Paradis
Paradis | February 3, 2010
As dusk gathers,
the light from the open door -
eerie in the fog
Paradis
Category: Haiku by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
Tags: Haiku by Paradis
Paradis | November 25, 2009
Looking at Haiku is like looking at a painting on a wall.
You focus on the painting, and see nothing else around you, just lost in that moment. We are all too often, caught up in our own little world, we neglect to see the obvious, the simple, the plain things around us. As poets, we are tasked with bringing those simplistic things to the fore.
If you read a book, the author will have created the world in which you will explore and see, in Haiku however, the poet points a finger to where your journey begins, and you must find the way yourself, making your own discoveries.
Only the reader will know when he or she is too tired to continue. Only the reader can listen to the spaces between the words. Only the reader can hear those purposeful silences, left in just the right places.
Alabaster walls
unseen – until
I hang a Van Gogh
Paradis
Category: Haiku by Paradis, Poetry by Paradis |
Tags: Haiku by Paradis
