Rock Out to this Latest Poem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Michigan Rock


Mineral striations
of green, red and brown
compressed into a sleek shape
minding its own business
since the Precambrian Era
present for the movement of glaciers
across the landscape
unknown to me
until twenty summers ago
when I pocketed
that formation
of history and art
and took it home
to hold
as a paperweight.

For more poems go to http://www.verse-virtual.com/john-kropf.html

FROM YOUR BACKYARD TO THE LOST CITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Photo (c) John Kropf

 

Two new poems of adventure near and far.

 

 

Backyard 

Everyone should have a backyard
at least once in life
You can dig to China
Play badminton
Tend to your hydrangeas
Pitch a tent
and camp out with your best friend
Mow a lawn
Sun bathe with a cool drink
and if you wait long enough
watch the stars and galaxies reveal themselves
You can rake leaves
and send them back into the sky
by bonfire
And if you ever dig all the way to China
you could end up in someone's backyard.

042214

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Lost City

To the untrained eye
it was nothing
But when I heard they found the lost city
covered in the sands of the high desert
I thought of
the last inhabitant
on his last night
inside the the city walls
and how he walked away from its crumbling ruins
into the morning sun
turning the city into a tomb

But then I had to think
of the first person
on his first night
who settled on this hillside
and decided at sunrise
that he would turn his camp into a city

042214

©2014 John Kropf

 

For more poems go to http://www.verse-virtual.com/

Odyssey at Roslyn Metro Station


De-training on the upper platform
commuters sprint
from the downward escalator

Their broken formations
rush toward the closing doors of the Orange Line
with the same desperation
as Greeks storming the walls of ancient Troy

My escalator’s steady ascent
toward the light
converges with three beautiful women
who descend opposite
like the daughters of Demeter assigned to the Underworld.

I could be as Orpheus and rescue them
but they don't seem to need rescuing
and for that matter
I'm not much with a lyre

Instead, today is the day
when I break the surface
enter into the light
and know my good fortune is enough
to buy that winning lottery ticket.

041014

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Ask the Help Desk


My processor needs a core capacity
set to imaginations of Beethoven and Botticelli.

Reformat the Operating System
to run on the collective soul of humanity.

I’ll need a search engine
that provides results from all parallel universes.

Expanded memory capacity for
all space and time.

Connect the router
to the mind of God.

A webcam that records all dreams
with external back-up for everything.

For more poems go to Verse-Virtual at http://www.verse-virtual.com/writers.html

Two Short, Dark Poems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desolation Haiku

Bag flaps in bare tree
white wire hanger in dark closet
frontiers of sadness

040314

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Morning Commute: December 9,  6:38 AM


Black
at the station

Rain
in a dark, steady stream

Everyone on the platform
in layers, hats and hoods

A vision out of the Dark Ages
congregations of 10th Century Monks
in their over-sized
cloaks and vestments
or battle weary soldiers
waiting to board landing craft.

Our train arrives
door chimes
form up
under the rain
and board
in silence
assigned to our congregations and battlefields.

For more poems go to http://www.verse-virtual.com/john-kropf.html