Tag Archives: rhythm

Natural Noise: Revolutionary Blogging Free Verse

Ice crack at sunset, Lake Winneconne, WisconsinBOOM!!
You know what it is.
You’ve heard it before.

It’s lake ice
cracking,
contracting,
expanding,
shoving
and shelving.

Never that loud.
Never rattling the windows.
Never shaking the house
and your chair.
Never that violent.
Nature at her best.
Coolest.

BOOM!
You run outside,
look up,
making certain
it’s not a cold war
jet,
no “bombs bursting
in air”,
BOOM!

You walk over
next door,
look inside,
talk to the construction guys,
making sure
they didn’t blow up.

The BOOM!crashrattleshake
you heard
is what you thought.
You’re part
of the freezin’
season.

But even though
you know,
the BOOM!
still surprised
and scared you.

Just for a moment.
Just a little.

Your heart beats fast,
BOOM!,
boom,
boom,
until you learn
for certain,
it’s just Mother Nature
playing percussion.

Cool.
Real cool.

Sharing Fish Stories: Revolutionary Email Free Verse Sonnet

Unknowingly she, poet, captured
a moment I remembered,
of walking with salmon,
of connecting with eternal.

Feet icicle freezing,
yet warmed and massaged
by those same opal fins
she described.

My daughter and I,
captivated by glinting rainbows
beneath the river’s rivulets,
had cautiously waded in.

In firebrands’ shadows,
autumn leaves
dying orange and red,
we’d joined death and creation.

If I respond with my own fish story,
do I diffuse or enlarge her spawned memory?

Signal Strength: Revolutionary Blogging Poem

Seeking strength,
I went to my Temple.
Upstairs,
the signal
was never strong.
But today,
when I needed it most,
it was five bars,
loud and clear.
I sat,
by myself,
in my corridor,
(having met Santa twice already),
and connected
more than I have in awhile.
Soon,
after being surrounded
by art
(Russian Impressionism),
tuba,
Utah Lake mud tile,
and children,
I will go find milk
and a cookie.
This is worship.
This is connection.
This is receiving
the signal
at the Temple.

There Is No Room For Heavenly Peace: Revolutionary ImproVerse Free Verse Poetic Lament

Cleaning house
in service
for those who can’t
or won’t,
I play an old tape.

Hell yeah!
It’s Mahalia
Jackson,
Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

I can’t contain
the torrent of tears
as I clean
even more earnestly
because that’s all I can do now.
Now that I’ve left.
Now that I’ve ripped
lives apart.

This used to be
my city,
my town,
my house,
my family,
my life.

This music brought joy
down the stairs.
I have tapes.
I have videos.

This used to be everything
I lived for.
But now,
I’m cleaning the living room,
and
there is no room.

Words Hurt, Time Heals: Romantic IMprov Iambic Poem

She had been crushed/

by words dropped on her
with power,

by one who used/

and abused/

them well.

I could tell/

her that my verbs/

and nouns/

and words/

were tender/

and soft /

like butterfly kisses,/

but only time/

could heal her/

and make her well/

once more flow.

Don’t Be Embarrassed–> Dance Near Me! Revolutionary IMprov Iambic Verse

A friend started a poem called “Brigham’s Menace” by saying:
“As we danced
And you glanced
If anyone was offended,
None was Intended…”

To which I responded (in a hospital-post-op-drug-induced haze):

Don’t Be Embarrassed! Dance Near Me! (aka “Since when do you care what others think?”)

If disapproving looks are all you see,/
maybe next time you should dance near me.
As we get on our funky groove/
and show these other guys how to move,/
our partners will also dance worry free./

And all those others out there? /
The ones with the disapproving stare?/
We’ll just put throw our hands in the air,/
put our hands in the air/
put our hands in the air/
Air air air,
like we just don’t care!/

Because we don’t.

6 a.m. Heart Ablation: Revolutionary Blogging Free Verse

My heart
is hyper-active.
Didn’t you know that?
At about 6 a.m. tomorrow
Dr. Wang
will run a catheter near
there,
up,
into my heart.

He will scar me
from the inside
so the dance
that my heart has done
for decades
will stop,
and I’ll finally
have
rhyyyyyy
thummmm.
(Beat.
Beat.)
Doo whop
Beat).

Can you imagine me
with more energy
and life
than I have
already?

That’s what “they”
say.

The only question I have is this:
Is this the best way
to let people know?Pericardium lift-- turn of the century heart surgery