A Higher Porpoise
In and out of crashing waves
they, like wingless angels fly
dipping down to drink the sea
while clumsy seagulls cry.
Sleek and smooth, they soar and dive
Vanishing without a trace
Bursting forth in joy and life
- Epiphanies of grace.
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Blink
Halfway
You keep me in ecstasy
with the intensity of your eyes
that sets the world blazing -
a lens focusing the light
of your soul upon mine
Your every blink darkens the earth
My sun rises and sets in your glances
They ensnare me
a moth basking in the light
Afraid to move
caught halfway between
heaven and hell
where a cold and lonely moon awaits
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Breath
I
breathe, and
The earth breathes me
an inhale, and my body expands
to fill my awareness
An exhalation folds me inward
to the depths of thought and inaction
And I collapse and am filled -
In an endless dance
it directs my every movement
from my rising in the morning
to my slumber at dusk
and when I wake, she opens my eyes
and while I sleep, she too is at rest.
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Dissection
It looked like a frog.
At least, I think
it was
a frog.
I can't be sure.
Its eyes,
staring,
gaze up at me
with the hardness
of death
as I bring my
blade
to its flesh.
Tearing,
rending,
Pieces fly
and the juices
of cold emptiness
squirt at my face.
Disgusting, I know
I brush my
gloved hand
across my eyes
feeling the fragility
of life
and my own
impending death
in the dull blade
of a scalpel.
I look down
and shudder.
I think it
was
a frog.
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Eternal Sky
The sky is blue
I saw it today
and it stretched on
for an eternity
in cloudless perfection
It smiled on me
with the warmth of a star
and the freshness of
the morning dew
It was so lovely, and I
the lowly one
wept at its mystery,
reaching up my hands to
feel the sunshine,
to hear the birds, and
to dream of that everlasting blue
that I created with my sightless soul
and blind vision.
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Fly
Trapped in darkness I was blind
and so, invented in my mind
Unicorns as bright as day
to keep my enemies at bay
with horns of twisted burnished gold
Ah, they were lovely to behold
But beyond I failed to see
the monsters waiting there for me
Snarling fiends with flashing eyes
and they were sending in their spies
Pretenders with false hearts of doubt,
and blind, I couldn't keep them out
because I failed to recognize
the true protectors from the lies
and in my confidence of strength
those terrors did attack at length
Then was I horrified to see
my false protectors turn from me
to let my enemies come in
with lolling tongue and ghastly grin
I stumbled as I turned to flee
when something grabbed and lifted me
and in my fear and certainty
I knew what fate awaited me
I shut my eyes and dared not look
to see what form my bearer took
Then borne aloft, the distance grew
and silence overtook the few
that, screaming, chased and howled in vain
as soon as my escape was plain
At last, I cracked my eyes and saw
in curious and astonished awe
my savior bore no angels grace
but mortal, suffering, human face
and human hands that held me fast
and gently set me down at last.
He did have wings, that much was true
for that, of course, was how we flew
yet, but for that, we seemed the same -
two humans with a mortal claim
Instead of turning, then, to go
He pulled my shirt away to show
two tiny, crumpled, withered wings -
the suffocated, sorry things
that in the sunlight slowly grew
He showed me how to use them, too.
No unicorns defend me now
I do not need them anyhow
I try to help the others see
these wings that once were shown to me
with feathers softer than a dove -
those gentle, soaring wings of love.
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Glass
Coffin
Snow white lay
her flowering vitality frozen
by the cold brutality
of the public eye
Trampled by the hungry masses,
the sweet fragrance of her youth
lost in the hot sweaty grip
of their greedy palms
all innocence lost to the cries of outrage
to the protests and the fear
and they storm the castle blindly
but they do not find the witch
she is hiding in their hearts
but they are afraid to see
so close to their own frailties
and they dash through the halls
that mad beating rush fills
their veins with bloodlust
But the girl is gone, and
the glass coffin splinters
under their feet.
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Icarus
Painting by Zahale Washington
Icarus
Their arms outstretched,
they touch the sky
and from the ground
the children fly.
But
some are not
content to stay;
They spread their wings
and fly away.
For
Destiny
has touched them all
and rashness, fated,
marks their fall.
On
winds of Steel
they soar on high
and crash into
the waves, to die,
too
young to fly,
or so it seems;
Too young to pay
the price of Dreams.
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Idle
Worship
In
Afghanistan, they are
tearing the statues down
Grim, stony relics of regal bearing
paying homage to Gods of the past
with their unsmiling countenance.
But the arrogance of men
prevails, and the
fear of ancient days turn
their hands against the earth,
committing sacrilege upon
its fragile bones, as they
rip asunder those shrines
in a vain attempt
to redesign history.
Instead falling prey to its cycles,
they maintain hatred, ignorance and fear;
the fallibility of mankind's future
in the endless repetition of the past.
The workmen's hearts who
built those very steps to heaven
bleed into the dust as
they come crumbling down.
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Innocence
Cloned
(a.k.a. Dolly)
Little
lamb, I made thee.
Dost thou know I made thee?
Gave thee life and bid thee live
Gave what was not mine to give
Stole it, Oh! What shameless gall!
for the mighty Lord of all.
He who seemed so meek and mild
tried to keep me as a child
He who calls Himself a Lamb
He that was, and I that Am.
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For
Diana
The flowers cried
bitter tears of anguish
and pain
the day she died.
For weeks long after
they wept
shedding tears more for
themselves than for her.
A thousand souls
left unnoticed that day
but hers was a momentous passing
and its impact shook the world
in one terrible moment.
And then she was gone
in the breath of an
instant that lasted an eternity
and the world mourned her loss
with barbaric crudity;
Paying its respects
and leaving the bill
in the mountains of tribute
where the sexual organs of
every flowering species lay
clipped in their prime.
Insensitive rage at her death
made humanity pause
in blind grief
to castrate the flowers
and they wept.
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McVeigh
There
was a stamping, maddened crowd
surrounding the courthouse today.
They
yelled and shouted and became
embodied in the grim silence of
the soul, despite all the ruckus.
The
lives of a thousand children
weighed down the scales of
justice, where the life of a
single man hung in a delicate
deadly balance.
Someone
screeched out, "There he is!"
And
the people surged forward in
a tidal wave that left a few angry
bystanders feeling bruised.
Cameras
flashed, and a man with
sad eyes was led to a waiting car
as a policeman beat back the crushing tide.
Innocence
was gone, guilt decided
with or without the verdict
Everyone inherently knew that he could not
possibly be acquitted.
Perhaps
all those children died simply to cause
the death of a single man.
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Morning Silence
The
warm sun caresses my face
and I feel your
imaginary kisses
where the light touches
I pretend you are next to me smiling
holding my hand
sharing the silence
and the weight of your arm presses
as it drapes across my shoulders
A sound startles me, and you vanish
and it is the weight of your
absence on my heart that I feel
dragging me down
as my illusions crumble.
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Nice
Nice
is a
despicable
word
It does the
process of thought
and the beauty of speech
absolutely no
justice.
It is vomit
of the mind
hideous in its
simplicity
vulgar in its
empty wordiness
and it
reminds me
of
you.
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Painting by Deanna Christina
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Night
Noises
Snort!
Snarrumph!
The evil beast
stalks the night
Flargle...
Gargle...
giving us an
awful fright
Kersniff!
Kersnuff!
Louder grows the
growling sound
Screech...
Scratch...
frightening children
all around.
Snarple!
Slurp!
Try to sleep,
but Oh! what for?
Toss...
Turn...
Listening to
Daddy's snore
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Perception
There
are those
who say
he is mad
and others find him
depressing.
Some will label him
dull, angry
or repressed
Still others think him
too judgmental.
I don't know
about them but I,
for one,
like Danté.
He is
my dog.
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Push
That's right, he pushed her
the body fell, the train rushed by
and the balance toppled for an instant
Her world rushed by in a flash
snatched away by the onslaught of
the locomotive, and then laid
bare on the tracks
He threw his hands in the air,
and then walked casually away
Onlookers stared and
the law blinked stupidly
waking too slowly to react in time,
and dealing secondhand justice
in the aftermath,
but he was schizophrenic anyway.
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Racing
I walk slowly and
the world goes racing by
at 55 miles per hour
according to the gauge
I was one of them yesterday
And will be again
those people in a hurry,
always moving
seeing more in a moment than
I in my lifetime had seen
And less in a lifetime
than I in a moment
My body tingles, alive with energy
and the earth is a new sensation
with every step
And I am struck by the
greatness of all I fail to see,
and the wonder of my blindness
strikes me.
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Sleeping
Sleeping is dreaming, they told me
of flying without any wings
Sleeping is Wishing, they told me
for blue skies and other such things.
Sleeping is Waking, they told me
and seeing things clearly and true
Sleeping is Sailing, they told me
on waters that shine a pure blue
Sleeping is Flowers, they told me
the rose and the sweet buttercup
Dying is Sleeping, they told me
and yet, the Dead never wake up.
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Snowflakes
Snowflakes tumble one by one
crashing to the earth and striking stillness
with the unheard multitude of
angels bells
that ring long after the heavens clear,
They were all created to be unique,
each an individual crystalline entity
irreplicable, and more lovely for it
but they number too many to count, and are lost
disappearing before they are discovered
Like us, they live briefly
Searching for some common thread
that once found, destroys them
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So Softly
So softly, the silent
footfalls of the little mouse
cross gently o'er the floor
leaving even the dust
Undisturbed
So silent, so softly
creep the stealthy stalking paws -
a cat poised by the door
who waits in the stillness,
Unperturbed.
A scuffle, a struggle
ending in a tiny cry
a swallow and a sigh
Leaving only the dust
Undisturbed.
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Painting by Deanna Christina
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Unrequited
I loved you in RED
and the violence of my unrequited passion
singed the edges of my heart
yet you loved another
You spoke to me distantly
the LAVENDER tones cooling
my impetuous desire
to ORANGE
which faded in time to
muted YELLOWS
and you left me in MUSTARD
without so much as a hotdog to spread it on.
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©
2008 Deahnara Regan, All Rights Reserved.
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