Month: October 2019

Savior

E653E151-3EC9-47D4-94CE-771B62FC1B04

 
Savior

~

I remember when it happened
remember well
the blinding flash
that sent me scurrying
underground
into my private bunker

I suspected this possibility
thankfully
I was prepared for the moment

that moment
that horrific moment
forever dividing then
from now

then
comfortably alone
walking my property line
along the azure waters
of the clear mountain stream
that rolled towards me
crisp and pure

then
in an instant
the startling sound
the strange light
soaring above the douglas firs
that stand proudly
at the river’s edge

sentries for centuries
protecting this northern boundary
of my lands

steady
enduring
supple in the winds
that waft and quicken
breathing life
whispering their secrets

now
two years on
since that ominous moment
the bone chill
the penetrating feeling
of fear

now
I am alone again
but now
quite absolutely

no evidence of survivors
my beloved wife
did not make it

the global communication grid
totally destroyed

too long
since I have seen
another’s eyes
or heard another’s voice

now
I ramble this valley
wade this stream
in my hazmat suit
mumbling quietly
to no one

rations are running out
water
food

I am at the ragged edge
of coherence
of sanity

I cling to the hope
for a sign of life
someday
any life

but they are all gone
every — last — one
gone

can I last
have I that patience

how long can I hold center
how long
until my fragile psyche unravels

if I could just remove this helmet
breathe fresh air again
feel the breeze on my face

while the trees are fine
carcasses are everywhere
animals
fish
birds
insects

I fear the air is toxic
deadly

will it ever be safe
how can I know

wait
what’s this

“Hey, hi little fella!”

~ ~ ~

rob kistner © 2019

 

  • To check out more poems at Sunday Muse: CLICK HERE

    • Dishes

    72BEB9F4-AEC6-4D49-9871-F0863CC278E6

     
    Dishes

    ~

    it’s 1987
    I’m 40-years-old
    standing over a sink
    steam rising
    as it fills with hot water

    I’m with a girl
    someone I recently met

    I offered to do the dishes
    so out of character
    but I wanted to impress
    as she invited me over for dinner

    great meal
    great evening
    great face
    great smile

    been several decades
    since I’ve been a teenager in love
    but I am smitten again
    I recognize the giddy feeling

    I plunge into the suds
    searching the hot water
    for another plate
    we are deep in conversation

    I love talking with her
    love hearing her laugh
    love her great green eyes
    love her velvet skin
    I love her

    it’s true
    I’m falling in love
    like some school kid
    and at my age
    but the feeling is intoxicating

    how nice it is again
    to feel this fresh
    this innocent
    this energized
    so taken by another

    just then
    her voice calls from the other room
    lifts me from my daydream

    I am still at the sink
    my hands in hot water
    but now
    in our home of many years

    I look through the archway
    to where she sits on our sofa
    I hear the tv
    she’s watching “Blade Runner”

    I hear Deckard’s voice
    “I don’t know why he saved my life.
    Maybe in those last moments
    he loved life
    more than he ever had before.”

    I certainly love life
    and I love her

    her skin
    not quite velvet any longer
    but her smile
    still captivating
    I’m still soothed by her voice
    still love spending time with her
    even now

    how much time
    do we have left together
    who knows

    but certainly time enough
    to finish these dishes
    and then

    who knows…

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Tears in rain – using our senses

    • Specters

    F597C2A7-3FB6-4224-A28A-7CC301A5DF3C

     
    Specters

    ~

    In this moment, shrouded by evening in waning October, as autumn tumbles towards winter, one knows acutely the sorrow in the losing of the light. One feels the pressing weight of the ever growing darkness, the stir of grief occasioned by the advancing cold.

    There settles an all-consuming quiet, an absolute stillness. From this deep silence rises an almost imperceptible murmur, like a breathless whisper, as a hushed wind scours ghost-like across the arid, fallow ground. It is the sound of loss and longing.

    This is a somber time, a time of endings, when the land has fallen dormant, empty. This is the barrenness of harvest or pestilence. This is death’s due vigil, when the realm is a’dance with specters.

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Prosery 5 – All Hallows

    • Harvest Prayer

    EA5E609B-1A46-4F05-A371-A31D9CC17EBB
    painting: “Winter Farmland” — by: Donald Shearer

     
    Harvest Prayer

    ~

    In this moment, shrouded by evening in waning October, as autumn tumbles towards winter, one knows acutely the sorrow in the losing of the light. One feels the pressing weight of the ever growing darkness, the stir of grief occasioned by the advancing cold.

    This is the time of endings, when the land falls dormant, empty. This is the barrenness of harvest or pestilence. This is death’s due vigil, when the realm is a’dance with specters. A reflective time when hearts long, with guarded hope, for rebirth.

    There settles an all-consuming quiet, an absolute stillness. From this deep silence rises an almost imperceptible murmur, like a breathless whisper. A hushed prayer of gratitude, to give thanks for the harvest’s bounty, and a prayer to humbly petition, with the eventual return of the light, the blessing of fruitful new life upon the now fallow land.

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Prosery 5 – All Hallows

    • Come February

    “Songs of failed love serenade the rain.”

    885B9B26-D2A7-4161-B554-89D6A34335E9
     

    Come February
    ~

    here am I
    wishing wishes
    for those days
    when life made sense

    thinking thoughts
    that tear at me
    for the things
    I failed to be

    how I do desire
    the damp dreary days
    of february
    when my forlorned
    fallen face
    is commonplace

    when no one intrudes
    to question
    what’s the matter
    when they see
    the tears I cry
    no one asks me why

    because all around
    are caught up in the blues

    oh if only
    you could find it
    in your heart

    to forgive
    this sadly lost
    and broken man

    who much too late
    understands
    he was a fool

    and in his sorrow
    understands
    why you refuse

    but how I wish
    ill-tempered weather
    would ensue

    to drive the joyful
    all around me
    to indoor spaces

    so I’d be spared
    the pain
    of smiling faces

    and the bitter
    bitter memory
    of losing you

    0FB09C7F-BB8E-46FB-8E55-FF06A685F290

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019

     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Polyptoton

    • Lover’s Kiss

    loves-serenade

     
    Lover’s Kiss

    ~

    sing to me my sweet sweet lover
    songs sung soft as silk and satin
    sensual as a bare embrace

    promise me the world is ours
    that this perfect moment’s endless
    lift me up on rapture’s cloud

    make melody set soar our souls
    fill our hearts with passion’s fire
    smother me in scorched caresses

    kiss me kisses like honeyed cream
    that quench my quivering naked lips
    as they softly smoulder golden

    come to me and take me timeless
    enfold me in your deepest dreams
    carry me off to ecstasy

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019

     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Polyptoton

    • Red Roofs

    “A tale of lust and longing.”

    49904FC9-0DB0-4DD6-9F11-9ACE3BE97129
    “On the red roofs of Paris,” by Grazyna Tarkowska,

     

    Red Roofs

    ~

    passion
    let it flare fire red
    red as the roofs of Paris
    that conceal the carnal
    intertwined
    on a starburst night

    in the throes
    of sweating conquest
    ripe with release
    coursing with hunger
    for the tender flesh
    of reckless youth

    white hot
    as a deflowered bride
    burning with the lust
    of an august first-night
    impaled on the horn
    of promise and desire

    there will be no truth
    in these minglings
    only raw bleeding need
    and the quenchless thirst
    for bittersweet
    forbidden nectar

    when you hear
    the whispers whispered
    know that it was so
    and so it will remain
    in the lithe loins
    of the skin slaves
    aflame under red roofs

    6067541A-D7EB-4E5E-B39F-6A0096A06C9C
    ”Harlot” by Andrew Atroshenko,

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Polyptoton

    • The Beast

    60DB3A79-2987-4955-9A1E-4FC1509F878F

     
    The Beast

    ~

    I am the beast
    of your myth
    of your nightmare

    I am sustained
    by this damp pall
    that descends upon me
    this season of growing darkness

    that wraps ’round
    my vile countenance
    fevered with your fatigue
    twisted with your despair

    drawn forth yearly
    at this feast of death
    I stumble
    damaged by your sin
    unleashed now
    upon a broken world
    corrupted by illusion
    spoiled by arrogance

    a world in chaos
    as darkness deepens

    this nocturne
    I return
    with this ruin-riddled
    bloody horde
    of dying dreams
    violated innocence
    merciless destruction

    of horrific death
    of guilt
    of shame

    and so
    I stumble on
    bent by the weight of your evil
    drowned in drenching sorrow

    I slink angry
    into this coming night
    and
    the next night
    and
    the night that follows
    that always follows

    captive
    of your horrendous nightmare
    of unbridled brutality

    always your prisoner
    in this forlorn world

    seeking vengeance

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019

     

  • Click to check out more myth inspired poems at Toads

    • Roots

    “Why did the grove undress itself only to wait for the snow?”

    6A903BD1-2304-4AC0-853B-2850F46A7BFE

     
    Roots

    ~

    this fall the maples will drop their leaves
    and again stand nude in the winter freeze
    what is it they keep thinking
    there’s no tellin’ with them trees

    do they forget about the snow
    that the cold cold wind’ll blow
    perhaps they keep imagining
    a warmer place that they might go

    maybe dreamin’ they will run
    down to the land of surf and sun
    but they just can’t escape their roots
    a brutal challenge for everyone

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry:

    Tuesday Poetics: The Question as Poetry

    • My Perspective

    4FBF8FC0-E83A-404A-B94A-60BDAE233541
    Surreal image above and below by: Erik Johansson

     
    My Perspective

    ~

    it’s fine that logic’s lost on me
    I’ve long ago set my mind free
    and sanity’s so overrated
    it distorts my reality

    so who’s to say that I can’t fly
    and whose right is it to question why
    I wear my trousers inside out
    it keeps the pockets dry

    I see you smirking at my hat
    it’s aluminum foil — imagine that
    it helps with my cell phone reception
    and fascinates my cat

    yes I do lose track of time
    days and weeks — is that a crime
    life is all just one’s perspective
    and I’m always changing mine

    D7EA6175-554E-4C1B-991E-66FFF302912D

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019

     

  • Click to check out more poems at Sunday Muse

    • Street Level

    i-sit-225brdr
    “Street Level” by: rob kistner © 2004

     

    Street Level

    ~

    I sit
    with my mind’s eye
    watch the flow of people

    the shuffle of feet
    with their different sounds
    according to their shoes

    the divergent realities
    through which truth stumbles frayed
    to move in the world
    rough as rope
    knotted as every quivered promise

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry to send you all a-quiver:

    Quadrille #90 – We’re all a-quiver.

    • Bed of Fire

    135B83AD-9CB1-4287-A534-5733428F3ED8

     
    Bed of Fire

    ~

    aflame with passion
    you gaze longingly
    upon the tenderness
    availed before you

    aroused
    you gently lay your desired
    upon your bed of fire

    heat consumes
    senses stir
    hunger mounts
    juices flow

    you quiver uncontrollably
    eager for the ultimate pleasure
    that is the perfect burger

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click for more dVerse poetry to send you all a-quiver:

    Quadrille #90 – We’re all a-quiver.

    • Hold Tight


    photo: “Alice in Wonderland” by Yuki Valentine

     
    Hold Tight

    ~

    to grow up
    is to chase off
    our innocence
    our naive belief
    in the world as a beautiful place

    it is to harden against the magic
    of our childhood dreams

    but if by chance
    we can hold tight to just one
    of those wonderful foolishnesses

    perhaps we can hold on
    to our precious sense of wonder

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019

     

  • Click to check out more wonder-ful poems at Toads

    • Renewal

    Lillian at dVerse has asked that we write her some treats.

    40DFDF0A-1EF1-4D4C-A43C-C1C8821B4FD1

     
    Renewal

    ~

    Autumn is ending soon. As we close this season, nature’s rest and replenishment here in the Pacific Northwest begins, the cycle of renewal. The summer’s dry period has long ended, and too, agricultural irrigation. Harvesting explodes in October and now will continue into November, including the grape harvest in our many vineyards.

    The fruit and nut trees, the vines in the vineyards, and the crop fields, once harvested, will soon begin the slow period of winter revitalization, in anticipation of the growing seasons to come in the new year. Soon this will be a peaceful time of rest and restoration here in this breathtakingly beautiful region.

    As this season turns, a regenerative calm lies upon this lush land, waiting for the time of sky-water to arrive, to quench nature’s thirst, and revivify her energies in this utopia. The Great Mandala of life turns steady.

    stalks lie down in fields
    arbors burst with ripened grape
    fall is on the land

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2018

    _____________

    More waiting at dVerse:

    Haibun Monday: Waiting

    Write me some treats!

    Mystic Realm

    002D4685-7426-4DC9-B661-8F00FE200C99

     
    Mystic Realm

    ~

    to this mystic realm I lost my heart
    awestruck by these majestic mountains
    and the serenade of crystal clear waters
    tumbling over rocks in crisp wild rivers
    and the exhilaration of a freshened breeze
    wafting through timeless emerald forests

    208E1F29-A76C-44C0-9AA5-02AB21964840

    I find peace wandering these mountains
    my searching spirit slips along its rivers
    spellbound by the vastness of its forests
    its ancient secrets whisper on the breeze
    echoing the treetops like songs of sages
    to resonate forever my beating heart

    E8D40BBA-E129-46E8-90E3-1FB1D6438852

    ~ ~ ~

    rob kistner © 2019


     

  • Click below to check out more majestic poetry at dVerse:

    Poetics: Your Majesty