Submissions by Kexby (john rickell)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I write free verse.
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
6th Mar 2019 9:31am
6th Mar 2019 9:31am
In Praise of the Dandelion
Put down your hoe and knife
Take up the lute and sing
Taraxicum officinale !
Penny-round, shining everywhere
Loyal despite our scorn.
I walk the lanes and city streets,
See golden flowers everywhere,
Long stems in country lanes,
No taller than the grass
Waving in the breeze.
Short in tarmac pavement
Changeless flower
None to spoil the golden head
No orange lips,as with the daffodil
No silly names like "Chorus...
Take up the lute and sing
Taraxicum officinale !
Penny-round, shining everywhere
Loyal despite our scorn.
I walk the lanes and city streets,
See golden flowers everywhere,
Long stems in country lanes,
No taller than the grass
Waving in the breeze.
Short in tarmac pavement
Changeless flower
None to spoil the golden head
No orange lips,as with the daffodil
No silly names like "Chorus...
#nature
374 reads
2 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
3rd Mar 2019 12:47pm
3rd Mar 2019 12:47pm
The Dale
There is melody in the air
hear its every note, silence
themes.that burst the ear
yet do not echo in the dale
from where and whence.
deep in the wood entombed
chanting aspen leaves tune
evening's breeze,vibrate
shake and not complain with
noise, aeolian temptation, modes
rejected all, all and everything
Rare, gold silence when
cobwebs lie in corners
unnoticed, unsung, ignored,
silence their defense.
hear its every note, silence
themes.that burst the ear
yet do not echo in the dale
from where and whence.
deep in the wood entombed
chanting aspen leaves tune
evening's breeze,vibrate
shake and not complain with
noise, aeolian temptation, modes
rejected all, all and everything
Rare, gold silence when
cobwebs lie in corners
unnoticed, unsung, ignored,
silence their defense.
#admiration
399 reads
2 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
1st Mar 2019 10:48am
1st Mar 2019 10:48am
Dusk
Soft evening closes the day
like a loving father,
peeping in retreat
from his sleeping child,
closes the landing door and
slippered treads the stairs.
The day has earned its rest
and sinks its golden eye
beneath the blanket trees
and curtain clouds.
Tired workers come home
to rest and then,
with appetites replete
recreated, slip into the dusk,
or sit before the hearth
and re-count in gentle tones
the day’s news . . . . . ...
like a loving father,
peeping in retreat
from his sleeping child,
closes the landing door and
slippered treads the stairs.
The day has earned its rest
and sinks its golden eye
beneath the blanket trees
and curtain clouds.
Tired workers come home
to rest and then,
with appetites replete
recreated, slip into the dusk,
or sit before the hearth
and re-count in gentle tones
the day’s news . . . . . ...
#friendship
383 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
22nd Feb 2019 7:34pm
22nd Feb 2019 7:34pm
Memories Draft ( sketch only )
I called, first for many years
pulled off the road,
met Carol, first for many years
years falling as scales,
perspectives joining with the past.
Walks with jack, cuckoos and butterflies
Scots pines sharing with the birch,
clouds and ferns one finds
if one takes time. There is time,
and plenty here as the tractor harvests wheat.
Why this wood when all around is wheat?
Do we ever ask ?
the lane that passes by straight between
two major roads hedges laid and hawks ...
pulled off the road,
met Carol, first for many years
years falling as scales,
perspectives joining with the past.
Walks with jack, cuckoos and butterflies
Scots pines sharing with the birch,
clouds and ferns one finds
if one takes time. There is time,
and plenty here as the tractor harvests wheat.
Why this wood when all around is wheat?
Do we ever ask ?
the lane that passes by straight between
two major roads hedges laid and hawks ...
#hope
349 reads
0 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
18th Feb 2019 9:13am
18th Feb 2019 9:13am
Hot Cross Buns
Could I smell hot-cross buns,
the hearth still warm?
The kettle on the hearth cold
windows gone and door,
took the kettle by its handle
rusty, loose,as was the bottom,
no water boiled for many a year.
None for ever again.
loneliness complete,
old man and lovers gone.
left behind ghostly memories
dancing in the half-lit hut.
They were happy days at times
like us they laughed and sang
made the place all cosy.
Then the old man died
as did the fire, ...
the hearth still warm?
The kettle on the hearth cold
windows gone and door,
took the kettle by its handle
rusty, loose,as was the bottom,
no water boiled for many a year.
None for ever again.
loneliness complete,
old man and lovers gone.
left behind ghostly memories
dancing in the half-lit hut.
They were happy days at times
like us they laughed and sang
made the place all cosy.
Then the old man died
as did the fire, ...
#mythology
363 reads
0 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
17th Feb 2019 5:54pm
17th Feb 2019 5:54pm
Kaleidoscope ( edited today )
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.'
(Joel Chapter 2 v 28)
I saw the future from the stile
as of many days before,
every day I lean and learn
clouds disperse,congregate
as yesterday and tomorrow.
The field so wet a month ago
now dry as dust,the corn green
newly grown six...
your old men dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.'
(Joel Chapter 2 v 28)
I saw the future from the stile
as of many days before,
every day I lean and learn
clouds disperse,congregate
as yesterday and tomorrow.
The field so wet a month ago
now dry as dust,the corn green
newly grown six...
#hope
511 reads
4 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
10th Feb 2019 10:29am
10th Feb 2019 10:29am
Red Candles
Red candles on the mantle shelf
destroying time together
red wax consumed to white
not all they seem these three.
Not bees wax as in church
cheap...paraffin...,sickly,
blue smoke when snuffed out
not scents of paschal candles
honey and pollen dust,
carrying prayers to willing oak
and kneeling supplications.
Mundane, white dipped in red
burning slow ... ... ...
black soot on cobweb ceilings,
truth and time consumed. ...
destroying time together
red wax consumed to white
not all they seem these three.
Not bees wax as in church
cheap...paraffin...,sickly,
blue smoke when snuffed out
not scents of paschal candles
honey and pollen dust,
carrying prayers to willing oak
and kneeling supplications.
Mundane, white dipped in red
burning slow ... ... ...
black soot on cobweb ceilings,
truth and time consumed. ...
#TimeHeals
374 reads
4 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
7th Feb 2019 10:40am
7th Feb 2019 10:40am
What
What is when, I do not know
Not mine to know but to care
The odyssey,eternity to run
where to, know what, or when,
laurels for victors' craven souls
fading leaves shriveled blooms
decorations; futile decorations
round the door prevent.
Roots prise stones,key-stones lose
what is when, perhaps ... ... ...
Victors' laurels shed the rain
revive fading leaves
which decorate the door
dying blooms no longer
prevent, roots to hold
the...
Not mine to know but to care
The odyssey,eternity to run
where to, know what, or when,
laurels for victors' craven souls
fading leaves shriveled blooms
decorations; futile decorations
round the door prevent.
Roots prise stones,key-stones lose
what is when, perhaps ... ... ...
Victors' laurels shed the rain
revive fading leaves
which decorate the door
dying blooms no longer
prevent, roots to hold
the...
#hope
421 reads
2 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
31st Jan 2019 4:07pm
31st Jan 2019 4:07pm
Quarter moon
Three in the morning,a quarter moon
half way in the sky, a black sky
found resting with the moon
at three in the morning.
why I woke I do not know.
The house cold yet friendly
pillows plump and warm.
I brewed a coffee,
needed wake not sleep,
time to think,not dream.
Of what ? I did not know and know not now
it was three that's all there is to know,
there was a moon curled on its back
had I woken the black sky from its sleep
disturbed its sleep before the waking sun ?
Do blacks nights dream ? If, not...
half way in the sky, a black sky
found resting with the moon
at three in the morning.
why I woke I do not know.
The house cold yet friendly
pillows plump and warm.
I brewed a coffee,
needed wake not sleep,
time to think,not dream.
Of what ? I did not know and know not now
it was three that's all there is to know,
there was a moon curled on its back
had I woken the black sky from its sleep
disturbed its sleep before the waking sun ?
Do blacks nights dream ? If, not...
#hope
368 reads
4 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
20th Jan 2019 8:29am
20th Jan 2019 8:29am
Fading print
Thoughts an ages-while ago
on yellow paper,
contemporary in their time
have lost their sense.
Right in their time, less meaning now
We've had time to think.
Time has healed, it always will
we should have waited,
not wasted years on idle thoughts
but torn the pages, shred by shred.
Had they been carved in stone
not scribble on cheap paper
the labour in the carving
would have been better spent,
than the hasty pen.
on yellow paper,
contemporary in their time
have lost their sense.
Right in their time, less meaning now
We've had time to think.
Time has healed, it always will
we should have waited,
not wasted years on idle thoughts
but torn the pages, shred by shred.
Had they been carved in stone
not scribble on cheap paper
the labour in the carving
would have been better spent,
than the hasty pen.
#hope
463 reads
6 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
19th Jan 2019 10:01pm
19th Jan 2019 10:01pm
A Meeting
This poem is a postscript to the poem 'Felix' which I wrote many years ago. Felix was a tramp.
Corrugated walls and rusting nails
doorless, windowless cold and chill
as any Christmas Day in December.
Was he a woods man tending
the smoulder of charcoal beneath
a lid of sods, a manger for his
being many years ago?
Felix-of-the-street,
pram and tyreless wheels,
following since childhood days.
A herring-bone-coat fraying
with sun and rain and snow. ...
Corrugated walls and rusting nails
doorless, windowless cold and chill
as any Christmas Day in December.
Was he a woods man tending
the smoulder of charcoal beneath
a lid of sods, a manger for his
being many years ago?
Felix-of-the-street,
pram and tyreless wheels,
following since childhood days.
A herring-bone-coat fraying
with sun and rain and snow. ...
#hope
445 reads
4 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
19th Jan 2019 11:35am
19th Jan 2019 11:35am
Violets
Yesterday the sun came out
winter gone another year,
beneath the yew’s
shade and sanctuary.
Violets calm in morning sun,
company for dandelions as
daffodils fade and sparrow tweets
Yew dark and green guards,
violets cluster and surprise
were not here last year
uninvited settled beneath the shade.
Cowslips in the grass ,dandelions, Hellebores
spread comfort, carried on wings and storm,
perhaps the crow, seed caught in its feathers
Amethyst crystals,once to charm the ancients
blue, dark as a summer night,...
winter gone another year,
beneath the yew’s
shade and sanctuary.
Violets calm in morning sun,
company for dandelions as
daffodils fade and sparrow tweets
Yew dark and green guards,
violets cluster and surprise
were not here last year
uninvited settled beneath the shade.
Cowslips in the grass ,dandelions, Hellebores
spread comfort, carried on wings and storm,
perhaps the crow, seed caught in its feathers
Amethyst crystals,once to charm the ancients
blue, dark as a summer night,...
#inspirational
388 reads
7 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Kexby (john rickell)
