Poetry Haven

[Outlaw Yogi]

There waz a dingbat on the internet, who liked to pretend she had intellect, but iz currently looking very inept.

[lisa jones]

LOVE POEM FOR AN ENEMY

I, as sinned against as sinning,
take small pleasure from the winning
of our decades-long guerrilla war.
For from my job Ive wanted more
than victory over one whod tried
to punish me before he died,
and now, neither of us dead,
we haunt these halls in constant dread
of drifting past the others life
while long-term memory is rife
with slights that sting like paper cuts.
Weve occupied our separate ruts
yet simmered in a single rage.
Weve grown absurd in middle age
together, and should seek wisdom now
together, by ending this row.
I therefore decommission you
as constant flagship of my rue.
Below the threshold of my hate
you now my good regard may rate.
For I have let my anger pass.
But, while you're down there, kiss my ass.


- Richard Katrovas

[Outlaw Yogi]

Contempt poem for a dingbat ...

What am I supposed to do?
How to gently break the news?
How to get the message through?
Perhaps I should just fade away

I can't stand to see your face
If we meet up then count me out
Why don't you just fade away?

[Stolen from a Stiff little fingers song]

[lisa jones]

CONCEIT

It is conceit that kills us
and makes us cowards instead of gods.

Under the great Command: Know thy self, and that thou art mortal!
we have become fatally self-conscious, fatally self-important,
fatally entangled in the cocoon coils of our conceit.

Now we have to admit we can't know ourselves,
we can only know about ourselves.
And I am not interested to know about myself any more,
I only entangle myself in the knowing.

Now let me be myself,
now let me be myself, and flicker forth,
now let me be myself, in the being, one of the gods.


- D H Lawrence

[Outlaw Yogi]

Contempt

By Elfriede Jelinek

my puppet-strings are the
sweet decaying lamps I flutter round.

I am as immense
as a black kid with a spinning top.

drowned tripper fat
crawls into hollow cuffs to be sewn up
like hot cats
cracked soft caryatids in tails.

I'll force you all to your knees
your dirty muzzles will squawk
out of your faces.

and I will continue to climb
I'll spread my thin arms along the queer walls
till they bleed.

I'll reach into threadbare velvet
so that you bash yourselves like poor moths
on corners of night.

the reason I'm here is
to scratch all the white bellies
squatting down there.

your stupid silence I will  just
toss up in the air.

I am as sky high
as all your staring regards laid end to end
on the ground somewhere
lies my broken smile.

[lisa jones]

Sunset - by Lisa Jones

Gazing into a sunset blazing with fire
I breathe Mother Nature's air of desire
I stand in its awe as I deeply admire
Perfection that settles down to retire.

Rest in my arms and be one with me.
Let's journey the unknown and set ourselves free
Understand and unlock this mystery
Love has a heart and your soul is the key.

And if God is love then I feel God in my heart
I feel God in my bones as you watch me depart
I've mastered Life's pain and I've mastered Love's art
I've learned all my lines and I've played out my part.

Whenever you feel the wind touching your face
It is but my ghost attempting to embrace
A time that only memory can now retrace
A love that is God in our private, personal space.

This sunset's blaze has shined and shone
And another day's love has come and gone.
Time keeps a record of all that I've done.
I've done nothing wrong but shine God as the sun.

[lisa jones]

Life

What is our life? A play of passion,
Our mirth the music of division,
Our mother's wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.
Our graves that hide us from the setting sun
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest, that's no jest.

- Sir Walter Raleigh

[lisa jones]

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

[lisa jones]

A Word to Husbands by Ogden Nash

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

[lisa jones]

Never Marry But For Love by William Penn

Never marry but for love;
but see that thou lovest what is lovely.
He that minds a body and not a soul
has not the better part of that relationship,
and will consequently lack
the noblest comfort of a married life.
Between a man and his wife nothing ought rule but love.
As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way
to keep them well together.
A husband and wife that love one another
show their children that they should do so too.
Others visibly lose their authority in their families by
their contempt of one another, and teach their children to be
unnatural by their own examples.
Let not enjoyment lessen, but augment, affection;
it being the basest of passions to like
when we have not, what we slight when we possess.
Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure,
where the field is large and full of variety,
and of an enduring nature; sickness,
poverty or disgrace being not able to
shake it because it is not under
the moving influences of worldly contingencies.
Nothing can be more entire and without reserve;
nothing more zealous, affectionate and sincere;
nothing more contented than such a couple,
nor greater temporal felicity
than to be one of them.