Category: A Daily Poem

(Poem #151 on new numbering scheme)

He sat down with the grim gods
to play poker. He dealt cards,
spinning them out from his hands,
preparing his daring deeds.

– an englyn proest dalgron

(Poem #150 on new numbering scheme)

The monkey, magnificent
with his rainbow-hued, bent
limbs, all bendy, at last sent, hurled along
headlong, by some student.

– an englyn unodl crwca

(Poem #149 on new numbering scheme)

The cold air hung like a stone,
and its surface, not so thin,
demarcated a vague line
between the earth and the sun.

– an englyn proest dalgron

(Poem #148 on new numbering scheme)

These sacks of bones, meat and blood
have a small fragment of cold,
strange intellect, and thus should
try to discover what's good.

– an englyn proest dalgron

(Poem #147 on new numbering scheme)

Maybe I don't like Christmas;
it often seems to mean less
to those who have known some loss:
all the cheer's extraneous.

– an englyn proest dalgron
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]

(Poem #146 on new numbering scheme)

In cold wind, a few leaves swirled.
Grey, inchoate gods unfurled
their pale fingers, stale spirit,
here at the end of the world.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #145 on new numbering scheme)

That was a horrible day:
Students quit and went away.
The boss gave an angry rant,
and I can't think what to say.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #144 on new numbering scheme)

The kids travel by rainbow,
hopping from desert to snow
interdimensionally.
Through alleys and clouds they go!

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #143 on new numbering scheme)

Two cats discussed solitude
across gulfs of feline mood.
The one suggested, "Look here,
without fear." The other mewed.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #142 on new numbering scheme)

I excavated a hole
pushing the earth, like a mole.
And there I buried my brain.
With rain, I might grow a soul.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #141 on new numbering scheme)

For now, exquisite disgust
sketches out my doubts and must
indicate the neglect felt
where I knelt in spinning dust.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #140 on new numbering scheme)

Try something. Open your head.
Find some ghosts. Talk to the dead.
Let apophenic meaning
come screaming through what they said.

– an englyn cyrch
[daily log: walking, 1km]

(Poem #139 on new numbering scheme)

Two AM, and I can't sleep -
Thinking stuff, and it feels deep.
But it's not - just wasting time.
The climb out is very steep.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #137 on new numbering scheme)

The struggle with gravity,
with the strange concavity
of spacetime, is blamed on splines
and Einstein's depravity.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #136 on new numbering scheme)

Dead leaves caught on a street grate
trace an unspeakable fate
on a moment so bitter
the winter wind tastes like slate.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #135 on new numbering scheme)

I worry about small things. Peace of mind
is hard to find. Doubtings
unfold, like coils or springs.
A clockwork beetle grows wings.

– an englyn unodl union

(Poem #134 on new numbering scheme)

Deciduous dawn redwoods
shed their needles so they could
make small piles on the sidewalks
and blocks of my neighborhood.

– an englyn cyrch

(Poem #133 on new numbering scheme)

I grow weary of oatmeal:
its amorphousness, surreal,
brooding in its little bowl
its sole purpose, to congeal.

– an englyn cyrch

[daily log: walking, 1km]

(Poem #132 on new numbering scheme)

"Give us the alligator!" they tell me.
I say, "Maybe later."
"Teacher, you mean dictator!"
Those kids, procrastinators!

– an englyn unodl union

(Poem #131 on new numbering scheme)

About the rains in Mahhal, you might say
most every day it falls;
Beneath the constant gray pall,
into your sad soul it crawls.

– an englyn unodl union about a fictional place, written by a fictional person

(Poem #130 on new numbering scheme)

A conspiracy of ants debated,
congregated, danced.
Some crickets sang in a trance,
but the sun spared not a glance.
The Californian earth cried, desperate
for rain or wet, but sighed
resigned to hot wind that dried
the trees and grass. The hills died.

– a pair of englyn unodl union (caveat: this poem not reflective of the current weather outside).

(Poem #129 on new numbering scheme)

The mirror was reticent. It refused
to be confused, intent
on atmospherics, my bent
face, the missing hair, silent.

– an englyn of indeterminate form

(Poem #128 on new numbering scheme)

A little fragment of art, seen walking:
a face talking, a part
of a skull - below, a heart.
Modern? Anyway, a start.

– an englyn unodl union

(Poem #127 on new numbering scheme)

Winter is a guileless thing. December
can't remember thinking
about constraints: No inkling
of glad rain or birds that sing.

– an englyn unodl union

(Poem #126 on new numbering scheme)

The tree was standing its ground; the wind blew.
Broken leaves flew around.
Branches wavered without sound.
It all seemed nothing profound.

– an englyn unodl union

(Poem #125 on new numbering scheme)

I got home from work at last - feeling numb.
There were some clouds amassed.
The hazy sky, overcast,
allowed the dull sunlight past.

– this is an englyn unodl union
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

(Poem #124 on new numbering scheme)

I had a student who said, "I like cats."
Grinning, she sat, with tilted head.
"I think they're cute," she added.

– an englyn

(Poem #123 on new numbering scheme)

A box lies on the sidewalk. Wind, in gusts,
sighs, grasps and thrusts, starts to talk.
The box, deaf, can only balk.

– an englyn penfyr

(Poem #122 on new numbering scheme)

I like to argue semantics, it is fun.
The thoughts will run, do antics;
then it all falls down like sticks.

– an englyn penfyr

(Poem #121 on new numbering scheme)

Three students said they hate me, just today.
That's what they say, to feel free
from the stresses of study.
Another student, leaving, left a note:
"For years," she wrote. "Your teaching
gave me a gift of meaning."

– more englynion penfyr. Note that the student’s quote is invented – no Korean ESL student writes in poetic forms – but I did receive a note with this type of message.

(Poem #120 on new numbering scheme)

Clustered red and brownish-gold - these last leaves
fall; the world grieves, growing cold;
then I begin to feel old.

– an englyn penfyr

(Poem #119 on new numbering scheme)

Poetry is about nothing except...
itself. Precepts be damned. No.
Things speak in their moment. No.

– another englyn penfyr. I kind of broke the caesura rule, though, in the first line. I’ll get the hang of it…