' Live-Poets Society ' – A Corner For Poetry

[AC Benus]

I wrote "Lyric No. 11" this morning and posted it here

[mollyhousemouse]

y'all should check out Chapter 28,  Kodachrome

it's poignant and beautifully written

 

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by mollyhousemouse

[MacGreg]

1 hour ago, mollyhousemouse said:

y'all should check out Chapter 28,  Kodachrome

it's poignant and beautifully written

 

 

Thank you, molls.

[mollyhousemouse]

4 minutes ago, MacGreg said:

Thank you, molls.

you're welcome Sir

 

[MichaelS36]

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/mikiesboy/tims-bits-and-pieces/4

 

In case you missed it .... a Haibun, by tim. Concrete and Fantasy

[MacGreg]

41 minutes ago, MichaelS36 said:

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/mikiesboy/tims-bits-and-pieces/4

 

In case you missed it .... a Haibun, by tim. Concrete and Fantasy

An excellent piece.

[AC Benus]

Yesterday I sent Lyssa a stage piece I wrote a few years ago, and re-discovered how interesting the poetry is in it. The numbers are based on songs of the geisha from the 17th to the 19th century. Many of them are based on themes of longing. Here is the second number from the work. I hope you enjoy it  

 

-------------------

 

Beyond the chide to duty,

 

Below the scowl of people –

 

The judging looks,

 

The opinioned nods,

 

The tabby cat, and one white,

 

Sidle the ridge of the roof –

 

The knowing looks,

 

The fore-tasting wants,

 

Stronger than the fear of death

 

Is the calming need for love.

 

 

 

Above the call of duty,

 

Before the scheme of people –

 

An autumn wind

 

Will soon come to them

 

And that passionate embrace,

 

That driving need to make love –

 

Is set aside,

 

Will be forgotten.

 

How I envy just the way

 

Cats pick who and where to love.

 

 

_ 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2018 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

48 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

Yesterday I sent Lyssa a stage piece I wrote a few years ago, and re-discovered how interesting the poetry is in it. The numbers are based on songs of the geisha from the 17th to the 19th century. Many of them are based on themes of longing. Here is the second number from the work. I hope you enjoy it  

 

-------------------

 

Beyond the chide to duty,

 

Below the scowl of people –

 

The judging looks,

 

The opinioned nods,

 

The tabby cat, and one white,

 

Sidle the ridge of the roof –

 

The knowing looks,

 

The fore-tasting wants,

 

Stronger than the fear of death

 

Is the calming need for love.

 

 

 

Above the call of duty,

 

Before the scheme of people –

 

An autumn wind

 

Will soon come to them

 

And that passionate embrace,

 

That driving need to make love –

 

Is set aside,

 

Will be forgotten.

 

How I envy just the way

Cats pick who and where to love.

 

 

_ 

 

 

 

You have spoken with truth and depth in this. I felt the chill of autumn wind, and the white heat of summer, too, each season driving us, like cats, to our appointed purposes.

[AC Benus]

7 hours ago, Parker Owens said:

 

You have spoken with truth and depth in this. I felt the chill of autumn wind, and the white heat of summer, too, each season driving us, like cats, to our appointed purposes.

Thank you, Parker. You're very kind 

[Mikiesboy]

8 hours ago, AC Benus said:

Yesterday I sent Lyssa a stage piece I wrote a few years ago, and re-discovered how interesting the poetry is in it. The numbers are based on songs of the geisha from the 17th to the 19th century. Many of them are based on themes of longing. Here is the second number from the work. I hope you enjoy it  

 

-------------------

 

Beyond the chide to duty,

 

Below the scowl of people –

 

The judging looks,

 

The opinioned nods,

 

The tabby cat, and one white,

 

Sidle the ridge of the roof –

 

The knowing looks,

 

The fore-tasting wants,

 

Stronger than the fear of death

 

Is the calming need for love.

 

 

 

Above the call of duty,

 

Before the scheme of people –

 

An autumn wind

 

Will soon come to them

 

And that passionate embrace,

 

That driving need to make love –

 

Is set aside,

 

Will be forgotten.

 

How I envy just the way

 

Cats pick who and where to love.

 

 

_ 

 

 

that's lovely AC ... i just found the thing about cats choosing who to love is just odd... cats do it anywhere.. tom cats.  i'd like to know what you were writing about....if its about another country, do they think of cats differently?   i love the poem though.. i'm just curious

[AC Benus]

1 hour ago, Mikiesboy said:

that's lovely AC ... i just found the thing about cats choosing who to love is just odd... cats do it anywhere.. tom cats.  i'd like to know what you were writing about....if its about another country, do they think of cats differently?   i love the poem though.. i'm just curious

Yeah, it's an old geisha song, or a couple of them that I combined. 

[AC Benus]

*sniffs a couple times* ...What's that smell...? Oh, yes! It must be Monty Python and Poetry. Enjoy, but do watch the carpet; there's a good little chappie  

 

 

 

[MichaelS36]

Oh! That was priceless!  AC I hope you bring us more prams soon! Ha!

[Mikiesboy]

That was funny...and not to worry, i used the litter box. I saw some ant traps though....vas ist das? Lol

[Parker Owens]

I laughed until my breath was scant,

at poems of the lowly ant,

who scandalized a mighty queen

as well as her dull sycophant.

 

...there must be more...

thank you for this! 

[MacGreg]

A touching poem by @Renee Stevens on her impending motherhood.

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/renee-stevens/poetrybyrenee/12

[Renee Stevens]

23 minutes ago, MacGreg said:

A touching poem by @Renee Stevens on her impending motherhood.

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/renee-stevens/poetrybyrenee/12

Thank you, Sir!

[AC Benus]

Several weeks ago I watched a program about the meaning and origins of Beowulf. Michael Wood has organized and hosted any number of fascinating shows, and this time another poem seemed to stand out for me. Called The Dream of the Rood (or Dream of the Cross), it's timeless in a way, and views the world from a tree's perspective.

 

Here is Wood's translation of the opening of the poem:

 

Listen! I will tell the best of dreams,
which I had at mid-night,
When all the world sleeps.
I dreamt I saw a wondrous tree
towering in the sky above me,
suffused with light,
the brightest of beams.

Aaron Hostetter's translation continues several lines further on with the tree speaking:

 

“There I dared not go beyond the Lord’s word
to bow or burst apart—then I saw the corners of the earth
tremor—I could have felled all those foemen,
nevertheless I stood fast. (35-38)

 

“The young warrior stripped himself then—that was God Almighty—
strong and firm of purpose—he climbed up onto the high gallows,
magnificent in the sight of many. Then he wished to redeem mankind.
I quaked when the warrior embraced me—
yet I dared not bow to the ground, collapse 
to earthly regions, but I had to stand there firm. 
The rood was reared. I heaved the mighty king,

the Lord of Heaven—I dared not topple or reel. (39-45)

 

“They skewered me with dark nails, wounds easily seen upon me,
treacherous strokes yawning open. I dared injure none of them.
They shamed us both together. I was besplattered with blood,
sluicing out from the man’s side, after launching forth his soul. (46-49)

 

---

 

You can check out these pages for more information and the entire text.

 

http://whatinmind.blogspot.com/2009/06/dream-of-rood.html

 

https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/dream-of-the-rood/

 

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by AC Benus

[Mikiesboy]

23 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

Several weeks ago I watched a program about the meaning and origins of Beowulf. Michael Wood has organized and hosted any number of fascinating shows, and this time another poem seemed to stand out for me. Called The Dream of the Rood (or Dream of the Cross), it's timeless in a way, and views the world from a tree's perspective.

 

Here is Wood's translation of the opening of the poem:

 

Listen! I will tell the best of dreams,
which I had at mid-night,
When all the world sleeps.
I dreamt I saw a wondrous tree
towering in the sky above me,
suffused with light,
the brightest of beams.

Aaron Hostetter's translation continues several lines further on with the tree speaking:

 

“There I dared not go beyond the Lord’s word
to bow or burst apart—then I saw the corners of the earth
tremor—I could have felled all those foemen,
nevertheless I stood fast. (35-38)

 

“The young warrior stripped himself then—that was God Almighty—
strong and firm of purpose—he climbed up onto the high gallows,
magnificent in the sight of many. Then he wished to redeem mankind.
I quaked when the warrior embraced me—
yet I dared not bow to the ground, collapse 
to earthly regions, but I had to stand there firm. 
The rood was reared. I heaved the mighty king,

the Lord of Heaven—I dared not topple or reel. (39-45)

 

“They skewered me with dark nails, wounds easily seen upon me,
treacherous strokes yawning open. I dared injure none of them.
They shamed us both together. I was besplattered with blood,
sluicing out from the man’s side, after launching forth his soul. (46-49)

 

---

 

You can check out these pages for more information and the entire text.

 

http://whatinmind.blogspot.com/2009/06/dream-of-rood.html

 

https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/dream-of-the-rood/

 

 

this is something i've often heard about but dont really know.. thanks for posting these excerpts and the links, AC xo

[AC Benus]

Oh, the cityscape! You frequent 

And swift flash of eyes

Offering me love,

Offering me the response

Of my own – these repay me. 

Lovers unending

Only repay me. 

  

Yet comes one, a city boy, 

And when we must part,

Kisses me lightly, 

Yet still full of robust love.

And I in pub or crosswalk,

Kiss him in return.

American men,

We are those two natural,

And fine nonchalant persons.

Walt Whitman 

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/ac-benus/pride-month-and-other-haibun/4

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by AC Benus

[Mikiesboy]

23 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

Oh, the cityscape! You frequent 

And swift flash of eyes

Offering me love,

Offering me the response

Of my own – these repay me. 

Lovers unending

Only repay me. 

  

Yet comes one, a city boy, 

And when we must part,

Kisses me lightly, 

Yet still full of robust love.

And I in pub or crosswalk,

Kiss him in return.

American men,

We are those two natural,

And fine nonchalant persons.

Walt Whitman 

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/ac-benus/pride-month-and-other-haibun/4

 

it's a great piece.. just wonderful in fact... the poem and the haibun...

Edited June 1, 2018 by Mikiesboy

[northie]

I have broken my poetical drought with two attempts at an ode in Sapphic style. Attempt being the correct word ... 

To be found here:

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/northie/re-verse/5

 

[Mikiesboy]

We always talk about prose needing a good strong opening. Well poems can benefit from the same.  Here is one that grabs you by the shirt collar. It makes you pay attention.   Enjoy..

 

On the Grasshopper and Cricket

By John Keats

 

The Poetry of earth is never dead:    

  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,    

  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run    

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;    

That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead      

  In summer luxury,—he has never done    

  With his delights; for when tired out with fun    

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.    

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:    

  On a lone winter evening, when the frost     

    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills    

The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,    

  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,    

    The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

 

[AC Benus]

6 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

We always talk about prose needing a good strong opening. Well poems can benefit from the same.  Here is one that grabs you by the shirt collar. It makes you pay attention.   Enjoy..

 

On the Grasshopper and Cricket

By John Keats

 

The Poetry of earth is never dead:    

  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,    

  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run    

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;    

That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead      

  In summer luxury,—he has never done    

  With his delights; for when tired out with fun    

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.    

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:    

  On a lone winter evening, when the frost     

    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills    

The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,    

  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,    

    The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

 

This is a very intriguing Sonnet. And you are right: the opening line is simple, direct and beautiful. The contrast between the seasons via two insects who usually do not get much facetime in poetry is wonderful. This is an A+ Romantic-era poem in my opinion. Thanks for posting it to inspire us!  

[asamvav111]

Take a bite...

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/asamvav111/euphoria-and-other-poems/13