That Love

On 2019072520190725 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original PoemsLeave a comment

The sea seems infinite; at least
As large as any thought, or sky,
And I’m so happy you are here,
Although I cannot fathom why —

I can be glad, though. And I am.
For every chapter in this book
Of disappointment, choices poor,
Was controverted. All it took

Was just a glance, a touch, a hand
To brush aside some tousled hair,
To see the light within your eyes,
To know while I am here, you’re there,

For this is wonder – love, and joy –
The magnum opus mystery —
That love can be as large, and clear
As any sky

Or any

Sea

Mannequin Depressive

On 2019072020190719 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original Poems3 Comments

she stands in a long slow line at the grocery store
looking at magazine covers
where fabulous actresses and fitness models
in all their airbrushed glory
gaze out at her vacuously

and she looks sadly at her cart
which is both kale- and tofu-deficient
and thinks she could stand to lose a couple of pounds

meanwhile
an aging actress
currently to be seen on one of those magazine covers
who has been dating a 24-year-old airheaded man-bimbo
is waiting in an equally long line
to get lip injections

while her man-bimbo
is having sex with her personal assistant

(Originally published July, 2014)

Snapshot – Woman at Convenience Store

On 2019070620190706 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original PoemsLeave a comment

I saw her
Dressed in a hooded sweatshirt
At 4:45AM on a summer morning,
And I knew where she’d been

But she wasn’t sad,
Or angry,
Or overwhelmed,
She was just
Continuing to keep moving

So often
When we feel nothing
It is because
We shut down from feeling

Everything

But we just

Keep

Moving

Giveaway

On 2019070520190704 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original Poems2 Comments

The light esteem we give to what we have
The heavy worth attached to what we don’t
The miracles we look past on our day
In search of those that we have not yet known

To disesteem what we should value most
To give away what we should never sell
To chase after some other lucky strike –
The gambler’s fallacy
And seeker’s
Hell

Dances with Angela

On 2019070320190702 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original Poems7 Comments

She seems to know my very thoughts,
However I align my ducks,
And won’t believe me when I lie,
Which kind of really truly sucks.

To go and see a therapist
Should not feel like I lost a tooth,
But she keeps clobbering my brain
With loaded stuff, like
Truth

On 2019070220190701 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original Poems1 Comment

the shades are drawing, sight is leaving me:
i’m told it’s just the way it has to be.
a day must run its course, from east to west,
and light is just a thing we lease, at best.

through eyes, a thousand touches we receive;
some pure and true, while others may deceive,
still more may make us think, perhaps, a spell,
while some sweet few will kiss our hearts as well.

acceptance sounds so wise, so right, so fine,
but seems a crime on this side of the line —
for natural things we deal with as we must.
it’s cruel man, not nature, who’s unjust.

but even cold enclosed within the dark,
i’ll think of you, and still discern a spark

So much.

On 2019063020190630 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original PoemsLeave a comment

So much can happen in a year,
A month, a week, a day;
How sorrow can envelop us
Past what mere words could say —

And yet, there is in memory,
One joy that’s understood:
And that’s that we’ve known many things,
And some of them

Were good

Wedding

On 2019062320190623 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original PoemsLeave a comment

Society and its rituals, designed
For extroverts by extroverts,
Calls for community celebration
Of commitments so large,
No one can really grasp their significance.
Yet even in rites repeated for
Countless generations, humans place
Whatever individuality they can on it,
Like decorated caves or cubicles,
Or like music and gowns and dances
With specific meaning to family, friends, lovers.
As for me: I was there as part of the family,
Part of the spectacle,
Part of the commitment,
And as filled with the weight of the meaning of it all
As I was on my own wedding night
Nineteen years ago,
Dancing with the same beautiful woman
Who gifted me this family on that day.

Adjacent Unrealities

On 2019051320190513 By Beleaguered ServantIn Original PoemsLeave a comment

In childhood, I stumbled on
Adjacent unrealities
Available on books and screens,
And so began dualities
Of what was really lived, and what
Was merely felt or thought,
But more of these
I almost always sought.

This is part of our growth.
It’s hard to know which to prefer —
Though some of these were bought
And others ambient and free,
I could not see that some of them
Were not that good for me, because
Some of them were.

Slow-forward fifty years and now
That battle has been won:
In the age of overdoing,
Everything is overdone.
The heart’s great appetite for play
Is stretched beyond its moorings,
And everything’s acceptable
As long as it’s not boring.

When I must choose far more
Than my capacity for choosing,
I find it’s to my detriment.
It’s my mind I’m abusing —

It is unhealthy living in
Adjacent unreality:
For real life is the road, and
Fantasy’s

The scenery

No Talent for Certainty

Tag: Reality

That Love

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Mannequin Depressive

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Snapshot – Woman at Convenience Store

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Giveaway

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Dances with Angela

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So much.

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Wedding

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Adjacent Unrealities

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