Submissions by Baldwin
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
LOVE POEM
Published
13th Jun 2023 12:03pm
13th Jun 2023 12:03pm
On Rumi’s Tabriz 15
I have seen your face
and so, save me,
I cannot help but swear,
that all that is around me now,
inside the gardens of the earth,
in the byways far and near,
in the sea
and in the swirling air,
is emptied of the grace that I once thought
it had,
knows not its purpose or its place
within the world
apart from you.
And I,
breath stilled and dazed,
watch them bow the knee
and vow themselves your slave.
and so, save me,
I cannot help but swear,
that all that is around me now,
inside the gardens of the earth,
in the byways far and near,
in the sea
and in the swirling air,
is emptied of the grace that I once thought
it had,
knows not its purpose or its place
within the world
apart from you.
And I,
breath stilled and dazed,
watch them bow the knee
and vow themselves your slave.
#beauty
133 reads
0 Comments
ANGER POEM
Published
11th Jun 2023 8:55pm
11th Jun 2023 8:55pm
Another Lie
He says that when I’m mused
to set versed words upon a page
it is because
I’m fueled and raged
by jealousy
of his self-vaunted literary aptitude
that he professes is’
displayed within
the way he writes
and that I’m moved
when I peruse his posted poetry
to try my best
(though always sans success, he states)
to imitate
the things that he indites.
Now while it’s true
that on a time or two, I have derived
the **subjects** of my texts
from those of his,
it never is the case ...
to set versed words upon a page
it is because
I’m fueled and raged
by jealousy
of his self-vaunted literary aptitude
that he professes is’
displayed within
the way he writes
and that I’m moved
when I peruse his posted poetry
to try my best
(though always sans success, he states)
to imitate
the things that he indites.
Now while it’s true
that on a time or two, I have derived
the **subjects** of my texts
from those of his,
it never is the case ...
#lies
137 reads
3 Comments
DARK POEM
Published
9th Jun 2023 2:12pm
9th Jun 2023 2:12pm
Exiled
I was there --
where silver moonlight lay
like whispered melodies,
like layered ice
upon the branches of the rivered gardens’s trees
and sleepy lions sprawled
with oxen and with lambs
beneath their leaves,
where winds and skies were always fair,
and angels with their glowing swords
plow-shared
stood guard against no enemy.
Yes, there I was,
divinely sanctuaried in
(all innocence and ecstasy with Eve)
a place unique unto itself
and not like any other
anywhere.
But now I am a foreigner, ...
where silver moonlight lay
like whispered melodies,
like layered ice
upon the branches of the rivered gardens’s trees
and sleepy lions sprawled
with oxen and with lambs
beneath their leaves,
where winds and skies were always fair,
and angels with their glowing swords
plow-shared
stood guard against no enemy.
Yes, there I was,
divinely sanctuaried in
(all innocence and ecstasy with Eve)
a place unique unto itself
and not like any other
anywhere.
But now I am a foreigner, ...
#despair
#PopCulture
169 reads
8 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
3rd Jun 2023 5:44pm
3rd Jun 2023 5:44pm
Receiving Shamelessly
I watched my son
when he was born
so shamelessly receive
while at his mother’s breast
her milk.
And there was ne’er
a question raised
about the how (or why)
she lived to deed
her milk away
when all that he
exhibited
was greed.
when he was born
so shamelessly receive
while at his mother’s breast
her milk.
And there was ne’er
a question raised
about the how (or why)
she lived to deed
her milk away
when all that he
exhibited
was greed.
#greed
#PopCulture
141 reads
1 Comment
EROTIC POEM
Published
30th May 2023 8:10pm
30th May 2023 8:10pm
For Sappho
Without a word of warning
as a red-tailed hawk
swoops and falls upon its prey,
today
desire claws all along my heart.
as a red-tailed hawk
swoops and falls upon its prey,
today
desire claws all along my heart.
#lust
140 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
29th May 2023 2:01pm
29th May 2023 2:01pm
wanderer
More and more
these days
I find I am a wanderer
in memory.
My present holds
no promises of joy.
So I retreat to times
when I then knew
as I don’t now
fierce welcomings
accomplishments
the touch of love
and even a small sense
that there was God above.
Forgive me
if I appear detached
from you.
I am not here.
I’m living in my past.
these days
I find I am a wanderer
in memory.
My present holds
no promises of joy.
So I retreat to times
when I then knew
as I don’t now
fierce welcomings
accomplishments
the touch of love
and even a small sense
that there was God above.
Forgive me
if I appear detached
from you.
I am not here.
I’m living in my past.
#regret
#PopCulture
179 reads
0 Comments
EROTIC POEM
Published
25th May 2023 2:44pm
25th May 2023 2:44pm
We Kissed
We kissed. We kissed again.
We made up for the years apart.
But shall I tell you now what I remember best?
It’s this:
How when we met, you drew so slowly close,
to come to me,
your aim at first
to only soft my lips with yours,
and fall your mouth, in stilling snowflake’s touch,
in cool and ling’ring gentleness on mine,
and how you paused, drew in a breath, and then,
with new intent to make me ache to drink in all of you,
let slyness sparkle in your eyes.
We made up for the years apart.
But shall I tell you now what I remember best?
It’s this:
How when we met, you drew so slowly close,
to come to me,
your aim at first
to only soft my lips with yours,
and fall your mouth, in stilling snowflake’s touch,
in cool and ling’ring gentleness on mine,
and how you paused, drew in a breath, and then,
with new intent to make me ache to drink in all of you,
let slyness sparkle in your eyes.
#passion
#PopCulture
201 reads
4 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
17th May 2023 11:33pm
17th May 2023 11:33pm
After Reading Stevens' Emperor
Tell the boaster of big cars
the mechanic’s son, to go and sip
from poets’ flubs luminescent words.
Let the henches swaddle in much cloth
as men wear in despair, and sound the noise
that bowers on the past day's skyscrapers.
Set be the emptying of drams
The only kingmaker is the kingmaker of loud screams.
Rake from the stresser of veal
packing the twee watch fobs, those feet
on which she once loitered with a dunce
and led him low discovering some grace.
When her thorny teats exude, they’re numb
and know how bold they are...
the mechanic’s son, to go and sip
from poets’ flubs luminescent words.
Let the henches swaddle in much cloth
as men wear in despair, and sound the noise
that bowers on the past day's skyscrapers.
Set be the emptying of drams
The only kingmaker is the kingmaker of loud screams.
Rake from the stresser of veal
packing the twee watch fobs, those feet
on which she once loitered with a dunce
and led him low discovering some grace.
When her thorny teats exude, they’re numb
and know how bold they are...
#WritingPoetry
#PopCulture
98 reads
0 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
17th May 2023 9:14pm
17th May 2023 9:14pm
I am a Bell
I am a bell
I know my knell
is not an empty thing.
as the Syrian has said.
It sounds the hours
when time’s in doubt,
divides the day
and with assurance
fills the night.
It calls to prayer
and signals dread
as well as vital summonings,
alarums and victories,
fine celebrations and
occasions for rejoicings, too.
and when to go
deliciously to bed.
To say that it
is nothing but a hollow sound
unfullfilling, unfullilled,
or lacks humility
shows...
I know my knell
is not an empty thing.
as the Syrian has said.
It sounds the hours
when time’s in doubt,
divides the day
and with assurance
fills the night.
It calls to prayer
and signals dread
as well as vital summonings,
alarums and victories,
fine celebrations and
occasions for rejoicings, too.
and when to go
deliciously to bed.
To say that it
is nothing but a hollow sound
unfullfilling, unfullilled,
or lacks humility
shows...
#sensual
#PopCulture
124 reads
1 Comment
LOVE POEM
Published
13th May 2023 8:02pm
13th May 2023 8:02pm
Gilly Juliet
You hid behind your door
at my approach.
Ensured the phone was off the hook,
refused to heed the call
my finger made upon your bell.
And I,
all outward upward swelled towards you,
my chest
a barrel filled beyond capacity
and tautened rough
against its bandings and its staves,
heavy, heaving, strained
with leashed-up words
I wanted then to say,
was left,
head hung and hollowed out,
a cold stone in my stomach’s pit,
outside,
denied the chance to speak,
and made a...
at my approach.
Ensured the phone was off the hook,
refused to heed the call
my finger made upon your bell.
And I,
all outward upward swelled towards you,
my chest
a barrel filled beyond capacity
and tautened rough
against its bandings and its staves,
heavy, heaving, strained
with leashed-up words
I wanted then to say,
was left,
head hung and hollowed out,
a cold stone in my stomach’s pit,
outside,
denied the chance to speak,
and made a...
#UnrequitedLove
189 reads
2 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
12th May 2023 1:03pm
12th May 2023 1:03pm
piety
I’ve laid the bull’s bones
and its thigh fat on
the altar stone
and set the pyre beneath them into flame
then prayed my sacrifice
would find some favor in
the eyes of Him,
the holy one
I call The Name..
But I was not so pious or
so brainless as to think
that breathing in the rising smoke,
however sweet the smell of it,
would take me up to Him
or cause me anything but agony
within my lungs
and make me Him disdain.
No, such a thing, I knew,
would root me to the earth
in coughing fits...
and its thigh fat on
the altar stone
and set the pyre beneath them into flame
then prayed my sacrifice
would find some favor in
the eyes of Him,
the holy one
I call The Name..
But I was not so pious or
so brainless as to think
that breathing in the rising smoke,
however sweet the smell of it,
would take me up to Him
or cause me anything but agony
within my lungs
and make me Him disdain.
No, such a thing, I knew,
would root me to the earth
in coughing fits...
#sacrifice
#PopCulture
128 reads
2 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
7th May 2023 5:12pm
7th May 2023 5:12pm
Blame
Why should I be shamed
for choosing what my senses said
convincingly
was something full of light
but then was afterward
revealed by cunning devils
and their kin
to be a damning sin?
The only person who’s to blame
for this entrapmenting
is God.
For He created man
without endowing him
with His omnisciency,
and made him from the start
as creaturely and weak,
unable, absent grace,
and even then,
to know with...
for choosing what my senses said
convincingly
was something full of light
but then was afterward
revealed by cunning devils
and their kin
to be a damning sin?
The only person who’s to blame
for this entrapmenting
is God.
For He created man
without endowing him
with His omnisciency,
and made him from the start
as creaturely and weak,
unable, absent grace,
and even then,
to know with...
#morality
#PopCulture
#CallToAction
137 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Baldwin
