Friday, January 31, 2014

New Poems: Words from Not Myself and Seasonal Change



 
 
SEASONAL CHANGE
 


In the bungalows of happiness

householders put up their

can goods of well-wishes
 


Out back
the kids are

stoking bonfires of resentment

in derelict steel drums


 
Darkness and winter

are waiting at the end of the street.

 
NOT MYSELF

I’ve been put in this position before.
Waking up in the middle of the night
to utter phrases
not my own
(and with no one to hear them).
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Poetry of Grocery Bags and Hot Coffee

Coffee, Your History


Dark redeemer 
    carrying legends of Sumatra, Arabia, Columbia

Creator of cultures
     fuel for a Sufi’s whirling dance
     drink of protests by patriots 
     in the days of revolution
     drunk in heroic proportions 
     by Balzac and Beats
     made mad by your power

Drunk black 
     by my father 
     on the troop ship
     far side of the Pacific
     World War Two
     because green skin of slime congealed 
     on tins of curdled cream

The history 
    of why I drink you as a I do.

http://www.verse-virtual.com/john-kropf.html



Friday, January 24, 2014

The End of August





The End of August

In the morning
even the sun is a runny red yoke
reluctant to rise above the horizon
its tired rays bathe the street in sepia and melancholy

Your lush green lawn of May
is now a patchwork of dead spots and desiccated wisps
like the whiskers on an ancient holy man

A scattering of scorched brown leaves
-- the ones that weren’t strong enough to make it until October --
lie in the backyard like a school of beached Starfish

In town the streets are empty
public places without any public
as if its part of some government experiment
vaporizing all signs of life
except the white noise of the cicadas

Or maybe everyone has gone
to the beach to swim and sleep
trying to forget the end of summer.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Branching Out

Fellow book lovers,
I hope you'll allow a slight diversion after 100 book blog posts. 
You might be interested in a new minimalist poetry website--Verse Virtual.  Two poems per poet, no ads and always updating content.   www.verse-virtual.com

hope you'll have a look.