All Posts Tagged ‘Free Verse

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Song Poem about The Future (unless we change)…

6 comments

 

 

Once there was a twice
        and then three times
Twice there was a once
        and then three times

Once there was great green earth
        and no crazy endless raging fires
Once there was clear ocean
        with everything freshly alive
with everything freshly alive…

Once fossil-fuel cars and trucks
         and redgreenyellow stop lights
Now there’s empty rust and black smog
        while nothing much is alive
while nothing much is alive

Once we made dead plastic
        we mindlessly tossed it all around
Now it’s a veryonceuponatimeplace
        where life used to be

Once there was heaven
         fresh air butterflies soaring sweetly in sun
Now a lot of toxic dead ocean smell
        and large bipedal mammals there are none
there are none

Once there was a twice
         and then three times
Twice there was a once
         and then three times

Once there was a Katydid. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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If one knows that one is meditating, meditation isn’t there.

4 comments

If one knows that one is meditating,
meditation isn’t there.
If one knows that one is whole,
wholeness isn’t there.
If one knows that one is humble,
humility isn’t there.
If one knows that one is quiet,
quietness isn’t there.
If one knows that one is spiritual,
spirituality isn’t there.
If one cultivates simplicity,
simpleness isn’t there.
If one cultivates perception,
insight isn’t there.

Who is pulling my leg from down there? Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Take one step at a time, they said…

7 comments

Take one step at a time, they said.
But the steps,
if one steps enough,
are not separate from time.

And one step at a time
is too slow and mechanical
and ordinary.

So, we flew beyond what they
said to do.
We flew beyond their stale,
traditional ways.

We didn’t do it one step
at a time,
according to the patterns
and points that they
all so narrowmindedly accepted.

Cabbage Butterfly (female) taking it one step at a time. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Can Couldn’t

8 comments

can couldn’t
and did didn’t
but nice knew
quaintness quickened

“be”s beckoned
while “wouldn’t”s were
“me”s mingled
“haven’t”s heard

steps stood
and said sermoned
cruel counted
must might

having had
tried thought
cricket chirped
but will won’t

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[Note: Tree Crickets are very elusive; if they see (or hear) you coming, they hide on the opposite side of the bush or foliage that they are on. Please note the tympanal membrane on the front leg of this specimen; it is used as a hearing mechanism… an ear.]

Tree Cricket with Tympanal Membrane on front leg … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Third Time’s a Charm… (i.e., further adventures of our very diligent Ant friend)

9 comments

With this third time of me bringing fresh meat to
the Colony,
i am sure to finally get the recognition that
i deserve.
Hopefully, i will be promoted up the ranks
and will be remembered as “The Great Provider” by
the Colony.
(All of this voluminous Beetle Meat is tough to
move, by the way!)
I will persevere and
will get this wonderful bounty to
the Colony.

Goodness! I keep hearing the huge, bipedal ape up above,
with his camera, singing the following song to me:

“Getting to know you
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me…”





Hauling Beetle Meat to the Colony. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Standing Alone

32 comments

 

I am not overly interested in the words that the Buddha allegedly said,
since, over long stretches of time, words and translations get distorted.
I am not overly interested in the words that Jesus allegedly said,
since, over long stretches time, translations go askew, words get added and distorted.
Even the early Coptic versions of the Gospel of Thomas (which many top scholars say preceded the other four gospels), and which the power-hungry Roman-appointed hierarchical bishops rejected, was not as pristine as the even earlier papyrus Greek fragments found of that cornerstone gospel.
I am not overly interested in the words that Lao Tzu allegedly said,
since, over long stretches of time, words and translations get distorted.  (And each of the many translations of the Tao Te Ching is different.)
I am interested in discovering spirituality on my own, and learning directly, without distortion, without merely depending on old words, organizations, translations, and ancient documents.
They tried to get Walt Whitman to alter his poetry; he wouldn’t.
They tried to get E.E.Cummings to alter his poetry; he wouldn’t.
They tried to get me to alter my poetry; i wouldn’t.
They like to stealthily insert their ideologies into the works of others,
to suit their own ends, to suit their own self-serving needs.
They often (over time) like to get their conniving, little hands into the works of others (and twist things around).  
    

The Monarch that stands alone. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Eyes of Starry Nights

26 comments
 
 
 
Prepare the later afternoon of me myself—prepare my lengthen-
ing shadows,
Prepare my starry nights.   — Walt Whitman
 
 
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Being that
the perceiver is the perceived,
these soon to be starry nights
find themselves in your foreseeing eyes.
 
My long shadow and yours will coincide.
May we blend in a timeless wholeness
so very much vaster than mere ending
and so very truer than mere fragments.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Grasshopper Shadow & Eyes … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Winged and Ready

18 comments

Winged and ready
         to softly swirl
a long way off from
         man’s sad sordid fabrications and smoggy surgings

Bright eyes see
         beyond miserable madness(musts and can’ts)
and will fly
         beyond stale circumscriptions

Will we succumb to whirlwinds of hard
         indifference?
Will they plant their deadness into
         our innocent minds?

That is up to you

Winged and Ready (Painted Lady) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019