Submissions by Sonneteer (Lewis Robinson)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I have long been fascinated by the sonnet. This form, which I remain fixated by, uses the power of rhyme and iambic pentameter, when well structured, to express a story in a mere fourteen lines.
SELF POEM
Published
14th Oct 2024 3:22pm
14th Oct 2024 3:22pm
The Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Book VI - Relationship with alcohol
My use of alcohol was formative
(And formative - the way the word is meant)
It ruled my life for most of twenty years,
Addiction might as well have been my wife.
And when I come to talk of drink (the drug),
I fail to find the words and images:
I write restricted to the clichéd phrase,
I paint again what everyone has seen.
I used to think I was remarkable
And that my drinking differed from the rest,
Somehow in quantity (I drank the most)
Or quality (the greatest joy or woe).
But then a while ago and for some time
(The aim to win...
(And formative - the way the word is meant)
It ruled my life for most of twenty years,
Addiction might as well have been my wife.
And when I come to talk of drink (the drug),
I fail to find the words and images:
I write restricted to the clichéd phrase,
I paint again what everyone has seen.
I used to think I was remarkable
And that my drinking differed from the rest,
Somehow in quantity (I drank the most)
Or quality (the greatest joy or woe).
But then a while ago and for some time
(The aim to win...
37 reads
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SELF POEM
Published
11th Oct 2024 5:34am
11th Oct 2024 5:34am
The Portrait of The Poetaster as a Man - Book V - Ingrained Attitudes
I do not know if they are attitudes
Or if indeed they are, if they're ingrained,
They might just be a form of prejudice,
Or false assumptions, those to which I jump.
They may not have a name, but they exist,
And are the kinds of thoughts I'm drawn towards
When it were best to show uncertainty:
It's these, my first impressions guide me wrong.
Although they seem to be quite innocent
These thoughts and attitudes can lead astray:
And thus I will confound the false for real
And take exuberance for beauty too.
With this mistaken filter,...
Or if indeed they are, if they're ingrained,
They might just be a form of prejudice,
Or false assumptions, those to which I jump.
They may not have a name, but they exist,
And are the kinds of thoughts I'm drawn towards
When it were best to show uncertainty:
It's these, my first impressions guide me wrong.
Although they seem to be quite innocent
These thoughts and attitudes can lead astray:
And thus I will confound the false for real
And take exuberance for beauty too.
With this mistaken filter,...
57 reads
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SELF POEM
Published
8th Oct 2024 11:40pm
8th Oct 2024 11:40pm
Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Book IV - Complexities of occupation
In recent years I've worked in offices
And baulk at finding their environment
A social one that's harsh in attitude
Requiring skills that I do not possess.
A competence for which I have to work
Is social grace, that sought ability
To say hello and gain a kind reply,
Or use the universal gift: small talk.
I fail to make attempts at light exchange
And when I make attempts they miss the mark,
Ignoring conversation's interplay
My void words isolate themselves and me.
And thus my lame attempts to interact
Akin to walking on a...
And baulk at finding their environment
A social one that's harsh in attitude
Requiring skills that I do not possess.
A competence for which I have to work
Is social grace, that sought ability
To say hello and gain a kind reply,
Or use the universal gift: small talk.
I fail to make attempts at light exchange
And when I make attempts they miss the mark,
Ignoring conversation's interplay
My void words isolate themselves and me.
And thus my lame attempts to interact
Akin to walking on a...
50 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
8th Oct 2024 6:52am
8th Oct 2024 6:52am
The Portrait of a Poetaster as a Man - Book III - Squandered Opportunities
Say, what should be if it should come to pass
That child of yours abandons favourite themes
Not through their inclinations or their wish
But through a strong parental influence?
What if a father were to use a bribe
In order to encourage his own child
To choose a course and university
Because that's what he wished that he had done?
What were a child as ignorant of worth
To see this bribe as motivating cause
In blithe decision as to what's the best,
In choosing matters that mould things to come?
Ignore the questions, as this came to...
That child of yours abandons favourite themes
Not through their inclinations or their wish
But through a strong parental influence?
What if a father were to use a bribe
In order to encourage his own child
To choose a course and university
Because that's what he wished that he had done?
What were a child as ignorant of worth
To see this bribe as motivating cause
In blithe decision as to what's the best,
In choosing matters that mould things to come?
Ignore the questions, as this came to...
62 reads
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SELF POEM
Published
8th Oct 2024 6:28am
8th Oct 2024 6:28am
The Portrait of the Artist as a Poetaster - Book II - Objective state and hope
I have married three times above my state
(And cohabited as marriage requires);
If they were wives of Windsor they were not
Made merry having chosen me to wed.
The failing mine in each - my illness was
My fault, exacerbated by a mind
Persisting with the thoughts of malady
Beyond recovery - well yet unwell.
The wives that took the marriage vow were each
Aware of my acute and chronic faults
Although reality perhaps surprised
Their poor foresight, then ill-equipped for ills.
Not learning, it's as if I retrogressed
In passing each...
(And cohabited as marriage requires);
If they were wives of Windsor they were not
Made merry having chosen me to wed.
The failing mine in each - my illness was
My fault, exacerbated by a mind
Persisting with the thoughts of malady
Beyond recovery - well yet unwell.
The wives that took the marriage vow were each
Aware of my acute and chronic faults
Although reality perhaps surprised
Their poor foresight, then ill-equipped for ills.
Not learning, it's as if I retrogressed
In passing each...
54 reads
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SELF POEM
Published
7th Oct 2024 6:50pm
7th Oct 2024 6:50pm
Portrait of the Artist as a Poetaster - Book I - Incompleteness of self
I will attempt comparing you with me
Although in this I feel unable to
As there's no common frame of reference
And this a feeling I should emphasise.
Plainly said, I am me and you are you,
Sometimes united by an "us" or "we" -
But these few words disguise a complex world,
The communality of human kind.
I'm mystified as to relationships
Of self and other, straight perceiving strife
And differences in place of that concord
Which leads to mutual aid and harmony.
Most differentiate or distinguish
Themselves from...
Although in this I feel unable to
As there's no common frame of reference
And this a feeling I should emphasise.
Plainly said, I am me and you are you,
Sometimes united by an "us" or "we" -
But these few words disguise a complex world,
The communality of human kind.
I'm mystified as to relationships
Of self and other, straight perceiving strife
And differences in place of that concord
Which leads to mutual aid and harmony.
Most differentiate or distinguish
Themselves from...
70 reads
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SELF POEM
Published
7th Oct 2024 6:25pm
7th Oct 2024 6:25pm
The Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Prologue
I speak of now - the state I find I'm in
And try to justify my ways to all,
In doing so I'll speak of failed fusion,
Which leaves me partitioned, whilst you unite.
I notice faults between myself and most
And so within myself where most know peace:
The latter kind may generate the first
But both are obstacles to normal life.
I am not whole - I have no sense of self -
Partly because I have no membership
Of one or other group or social class:
I can't assert for certain who I am.
I lose myself in situation's grasp -
Myself collapses...
And try to justify my ways to all,
In doing so I'll speak of failed fusion,
Which leaves me partitioned, whilst you unite.
I notice faults between myself and most
And so within myself where most know peace:
The latter kind may generate the first
But both are obstacles to normal life.
I am not whole - I have no sense of self -
Partly because I have no membership
Of one or other group or social class:
I can't assert for certain who I am.
I lose myself in situation's grasp -
Myself collapses...
145 reads
9 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
25th Jun 2024 11:13pm
25th Jun 2024 11:13pm
A Wednesday Night In
I just scored 222 playing Backgammon
I am an Achiever today!
⭐⭐⭐
The streets are scoured by crows for carrion
I wish I had never been born
💀 💀 💀
Cars, trucks, bikes, sirens, busses, vans
The noise assaults my ear
💀 💀 💀
Oh to live where the haven's dumb
and a few gravestones stand
💀 💀 💀
I am an Achiever today!
⭐⭐⭐
The streets are scoured by crows for carrion
I wish I had never been born
💀 💀 💀
Cars, trucks, bikes, sirens, busses, vans
The noise assaults my ear
💀 💀 💀
Oh to live where the haven's dumb
and a few gravestones stand
💀 💀 💀
#dark
#death
#LifeCycle #nostalgia
#LifeCycle #nostalgia
73 reads
0 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
30th May 2024 7:35pm
30th May 2024 7:35pm
Diagnosis
My illness is recurrent mania,
not in DSM or the ICD,
it has to be within the book, you see,
I always seem to see utopia.
Whilst you struggle with your dystopia
what, perhaps, we’ll best call reality,
I soon lose touch with mine and get happy
what the doctor may call euphoria.
The outlook doesn’t look too fine just now
that doesn’t mean you must be low in mood
(I know this hospital outside of Slough!)
but understand my laughter is not rude.
I laugh at this mad world; it laughs at me.
And I...
not in DSM or the ICD,
it has to be within the book, you see,
I always seem to see utopia.
Whilst you struggle with your dystopia
what, perhaps, we’ll best call reality,
I soon lose touch with mine and get happy
what the doctor may call euphoria.
The outlook doesn’t look too fine just now
that doesn’t mean you must be low in mood
(I know this hospital outside of Slough!)
but understand my laughter is not rude.
I laugh at this mad world; it laughs at me.
And I...
#drugs
#LifeGoals
#MentalHealth
#narrative
#SelfDiscovery
110 reads
0 Comments
DRUGS POEM
Published
29th May 2024 7:47pm
29th May 2024 7:47pm
Mixing Substances
How not to drink – I learn the trick too slow -
acerbation, and too confrontation,
forgetfulness of grand dispensation,
mistakes against the host, the first to sow.
I take a toxic mixture, which makes grow
deluded speech (like hallucination)
whilst others speak words from lucubration,
I think it makes the wrong impression, though.
Perhaps requirements of a certain faith
require, for me, I don’t see dragon wraith
following toques more akin to hot knives
but have a little cracker, cheese and chives.
I’ve had some weed today to...
acerbation, and too confrontation,
forgetfulness of grand dispensation,
mistakes against the host, the first to sow.
I take a toxic mixture, which makes grow
deluded speech (like hallucination)
whilst others speak words from lucubration,
I think it makes the wrong impression, though.
Perhaps requirements of a certain faith
require, for me, I don’t see dragon wraith
following toques more akin to hot knives
but have a little cracker, cheese and chives.
I’ve had some weed today to...
#addiction
#alcohol
#marijuana
#rhyming
#sonnet
152 reads
3 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
28th May 2024 8:05pm
28th May 2024 8:05pm
A Change is as Good as a Rest
I used to stand on issues of the day
to walk, to bus, reducing CO2,
a pescatarian, I was one too,
but now I’ve realised how slight my sway.
When other’s throw environment away
I can’t correct that which the masses skew,
and if they see no wrong in what they do,
I do not lead, when I am waif and stray.
It’s clear you do not wish to be like me,
let me like you, enjoy a BLT,
at least whilst I recover BMI,
then may return to eating pie in sky.
Moral, I never was no Jesus Christ,
it was complex, the way the threads were...
to walk, to bus, reducing CO2,
a pescatarian, I was one too,
but now I’ve realised how slight my sway.
When other’s throw environment away
I can’t correct that which the masses skew,
and if they see no wrong in what they do,
I do not lead, when I am waif and stray.
It’s clear you do not wish to be like me,
let me like you, enjoy a BLT,
at least whilst I recover BMI,
then may return to eating pie in sky.
Moral, I never was no Jesus Christ,
it was complex, the way the threads were...
#environment
#food
#pollution
#rhyming
#sonnet
122 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
27th May 2024 8:50pm
27th May 2024 8:50pm
Madness is no Excuse
I spell my crimes with ambiguity
in words in poems here on printed page
in doing so, like me, not wise or sage -
I wish attempt explain in poetry.
I think a punishment, a certainty,
it’s sure as fire coincidences rage,
just like my poor formed inner mental cage,
and I would ask, extend not misery.
It may not strike, but I feel penitence,
and grasp the things society resents.
I understand the evil of my ways,
and alibis, no watertight displays.
The cause, insanity, to be quite frank,
the cure, let others judge of...
in words in poems here on printed page
in doing so, like me, not wise or sage -
I wish attempt explain in poetry.
I think a punishment, a certainty,
it’s sure as fire coincidences rage,
just like my poor formed inner mental cage,
and I would ask, extend not misery.
It may not strike, but I feel penitence,
and grasp the things society resents.
I understand the evil of my ways,
and alibis, no watertight displays.
The cause, insanity, to be quite frank,
the cure, let others judge of...
#confessional
#rhyming
#sonnet
95 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Sonneteer (Lewis Robinson)
