Tag: illustration

NaPoWriMo #9 – Jazzzzz

This is my ninth post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one free verse poem
• one haiku



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…this piece was written in keeping with the spirit of a prompt by Robert Peake, over at read write poem…



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Jazz in a Parallel Universe

•

we was scorchin’
torchin’
in the zone
lighting chops
flamin’ righteous

primo riffin’
smokin’ sacred
glorified ‘n sanctified

fused bruised and overused
the big axe jumped
pumped
and thunder thumped
lubed ‘n locked âN lugnut crazy

scene was pure
to the fringe
slammin’
jammin’
come to jesus

skins was raucous
reeds was rippin’ trippin- sanity slippin’
blood ‘n bone on broken tusk
brass ‘and n balls to the bell-tone edge

soul elation
elevation
riot smooooooth
‘n devastation

upright
‘n bottom tight
we brought down the house
this velvet night

• • •







 

Jazzin’

•

first notes soar skyward

stars shine in the clear night air

jazzin’ has begun

• • •

poem and haiku by: rob kistner © 2010

• artwork at top of post entitled “Hot Licks” – by: rob kistner © 1997

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…for more NaPoWriMo 2010 day nine poems, go to readwritepoem…

Alchemy

“Went digging through some of my older poetry to find this piece I wrote 9 years ago, March 2010. I remember being inspired to write it watching Hermione’s love potion scene in ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price.’ I had just purchased the DVD at the time. My grandson was watching the DVD last night, which put me in mind of this poem. Wanted to share it here for dVerse OLN #252. It contains very minimal revision and a slight upgrade in graphic embellishment”

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Alchemy

~

you cannot change
a heart of iron
into a heart of gold

no precious warmth
will manifest
from something hard and cold

a love that’s locked
and set in cast
can never be set free

there is no hope
nor magic spell
not even alchemy

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you cannot stop
the hands of time
from spinning ever on

when the sand
is through the hourglass
those days are ever gone

you cannot bring summer back
when the leaves
are off the tree

there is no hope
nor magic spell
not even alchemy

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~ ~ ~

rob kistner © 2010
revision © 2019

 

  • Click below to check out some fine poetry at dVerse:

    OpenLinkNight #252

    • Spellbound

    NaPoMo poem #20

    This is the twentieth of the poems I will write this April, in honor of National Poetry Month, as proclaimed by the Academy of American Poets.

    • NOTE: these poems will all essentially be early drafts, so edits may occur after their initial posting.

     

    This poem was inspired by the image below entitled “The Bride Wore Red”, by Pareeerica…

    Spellbound

    •

    scarlet lady in crimson silk
    a beauty to mesmerize
    sculpted by a master’s hand
    so seductive as to scandalize

    a stare of comely crystal blue
    floats above a ruby pout
    spellbound by her magic eyes
    she holds your soul with no way out

    her tongue tip teases her top lip’s edge
    like a supple paintbrush flowing
    her smile will pierce and hypnotize
    then wrap around you knowing

    you are now her helpless captive
    quite hopelessly addicted
    in the velvet grip of her mystery
    is she an angle or is she wicked

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2009

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    • you can find other NaPoMo offerings at read write poem

     

    The Shine

     

     

    The Shine

    •

    I sit

    watch the flow of people

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

    I see wan faces
    of unsmiling lips
    their void curves denounce this night

    yet unseen
    is the gossamer curtain’s fall
    that defines their soul’s duality

    the divergent reality
    through which truth stumbles blind
    to move in the world
    rough as a rope
    taut as every promise made

    frayed as wisdom
    leaned in
    whispered from behind

    grab at time like dropped money

    I might learn something tonight
    if someone will release the light
    so I can shine like a child
    who likes ice cream most of all

    this child reads old men’s minds
    and notices the shoes
    the belts all made of leather

    I feel a shiver
    of sad imbalance
    a confliction in my soul

    so I will watch the shoes
    and practice non-attachment
    because I can

    but pieces of me
    stick to whoever gets too close

    you may have seen me
    silhouetted against the sky
    the coldest night in January
    howling with the frozen moon

    then moon and I sneak
    through fate’s construct
    among cages of studs & trusses
    we run

    from room to imaginary room
    the whole world close enough to touch

    we eat a midnight lunch
    of damaged bread
    seasoned by caution
    and foreign lands
    with onioned thoughts
    layered deep

    show mercy
    peel back the layers

    peel me away
    thin by thin
    skin by skin
    to my quivering soul

    I hope I am not ugly in your sight

    these thoughts
    become too heavy to hold
    to tough to chew or swallow

    my thoughts

    bone-white lies of morality plays
    open for you to peek

    hope they are not ugly in your sight

    hope they do not make you weep
    as you peel back all the layers

    onioned
    thought
    layers

    held fast and firm
    like a carapace
    to which I’m stitched and welded
    and can no more leave
    than you can truly enter

    they tie me down
    sometimes
    but sometimes barely so

    inescapable optimism
    in my barebones grin
    flashes in the brittle moonlight

    a stranger comes to where I sit
    to see

    his stare
    blinds the stars from my eyes

    behind his fey smile
    his radar dreams
    scan the forgotten creases
    and clandestine getaways
    in my mind

    standing over
    he peers down
    with probing gaze

    one of us will learn
    a thing or two this night

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2009

     

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    …photorendering entitled “Cornered” by: rob kistner © 2008

     

    The Poets – (anatomy of a rewrite)

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    This poem, entitled “The Poets”, is a major rewrite inspired, over a decade later, by the original which I wrote in 1997, and which you will find following this piece…

    • • • this comparative exercise was inspired by the blog “Totally Optional Prompts”

    The Poets

    •

    damaged in their special ways
    they like the path unclear
    the route unmarked

    fond of stumbling in
    fumbling through
    finding the way that’s theirs

    engaged by the obtuse
    the uneven
    the asymmetric chord
    they see grace and form
    in brilliant imbalance

    seduced by the clue
    drawn to the fog
    they seek the wonder
    it withholds

    where they long to go
    is always round the bend
    over the hill
    behind the door

    their ears prick
    to the distant sound
    that calls
    just beyond clarity

    to all these things
    their souls are pulled

    because

    down the trail
    in the mist
    around the curve
    over the crest
    shut away

    the clarion awaits

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2009

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    Following is the original poem from which the poem above was born. It is essentially a different poem from above, but it was this poem that inspired the writing of the other — a re-write of a reflection on the poet’s essence…

    • • • This poem you are about to read was initially inspired by Bill Moyers exceptional PBS TV special and the equally wonderful subsequent book, “The Language Of Life”…

    The Poet

    •

    the poet’s eye is like our eye
    yet it sees life’s un-shown
    and reflects it for our sight

    the poet’s ear is like our ear
    but it senses life’s most quiet
    to resound so we might hear

    the poet’s tongue is like our tongue
    yet it speaks what is not spoken
    and becomes the voice of truth

    the poet’s hand is like our hand
    yet when it reaches out
    what it touches is our soul

    • • •

    rob kistner © 1997

    Continuum

     

     

    Continuum

    •

    emerald eyes stare

    fix me in their grasp

    lift me into the realm
    of unfinished dreams

    strip me of fear
    longing
    of inhibition

    render me transparent
    as I rise weightless
    unburdened of care

    an untethered being of pure moment
    filled with universes within universes

    a vessel of time and space
    ever-expanding consciousness
    aware of all

    not as separate
    but as the is – the was – the to become

    with infinite reach
    embracing the strand continuum

    drawing it forward
    reeling it back
    in uninterrupted linearity

    for no reason
    but the being of its universal presence
    its omnipotent here-ness
    the infinite now

    seeing through the emerald eyes
    with crystalline gaze
    I behold the beginning of the endless
    touch what is not known
    glimpse what cannot be now
    but is forever

    an epiphanal glance
    at the mystery of fate
    the why within the why

    ever I ascend to realization
    that the meaning of the mystery
    is veiled in those emerald eyes

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2009

     

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    …photorendering at top entitled “Emerald Eyes” by: rob kistner © 2008

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    A BRAND NEW WORD: •Epiphanality – 1. The quality of transcendence and enlightenment that exists in something 2. the ability to transcend and rise above

     

    …wonderful poems found at “readwritepoem”

     

    Sunrise Requiem

    …this poem was inspired by two wonderful lines of refrain provided by Michelle McGrane…

     

     

    Sunrise Requiem

    •

    the afterimage has yet to dim
    emblazoned in my mind
    the sun fresh on the horizon
    my eyes follow your graceful silhouette
    moving away from me
    the taste of you sweet on my lips

    if you are lucky
    you will carry one night with you

    my gaze held fast
    until there was nothing
    just the rising sun
    the cruel sun
    that disrupted our tender night
    with the promise of another
    but no warning
    how very dark and deep

    if you are lucky
    you will carry one night with you

    no warning of the bitter cold
    that would set upon my world
    no warning that this sunrise
    would burn into my heart
    our final sunrise
    the taste of you sweet on my lips

    if you are lucky
    you will carry one night with you

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2009

     

    …wonderful poems found at “readwritepoem”

     

    Goodgolicous

     

    …this jabberwockical poem was inspired by prompt #68 at “readwritepoem”…

     

     

    Goodgolicous

    •

    a sweeply fine mirrormiz
    with softical smile
    swings a steply swell stutlybounce
    in rare gurlygood style

    such a scorchiful bodiface
    as might burnlybad be
    enstokes sultrification
    that erosinates me

    my steamliful brightenblinks
    are maxfirenly dazened
    by the engorgenality
    she orbnously blazened

    from dreamyton’s realmenhood
    zoomens seductication
    as my pumpinred’s forcliness
    slammens enthrobination

    bit I won’t slobbernly droolenate
    on her poutifuss chubens
    nor tenderliciously ogglenate
    her mygodli bububbin

    it’s lewdaciously nixated
    to zing lovlustingly
    so I slumberlush fair gurlygood
    lasilkenously

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2009

     

    SeaLife

     

    SeaLife

    •

    To the seaside she strolls
    with me
    On a sunny seaside day

    Into the sea she slips
    alone
    Then silently swims away

    The sea opens up and
    swallows
    In its watery deep sea way

    Soon she’ll be down with the
    fishes
    Aswim in the seabed’s sway

    Serene in the spledor of
    sea life
    Neptune’s beauty in array

    She seeks solace in this
    sea world
    These blues keep her blues at bay

    • • •

    rob kistner © 2008

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    drawing above entitled: “marea roja” — by: Lady Orlando

    • • •

    …poem inspired by read write image #5, found at “readwritepoem”