Submissions by Strangeways_Rob
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
The son and heir of nothing in particular
SELF POEM
Published
6th Jan 2023 10:26pm
6th Jan 2023 10:26pm
Walking the Plank on Knees
The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment first posited by Plutarch in Life of Theseus. A ship goes out in a storm and is damaged. Upon returning to shore, the ship is repaired, with parts of it being replaced in the process. Again and again the ship goes out, and again it is repaired, until eventually every single component of the ship, every plank of wood, has been replaced. Is the repaired ship still the same ship that first went out into the storm?
If you choose to go sailing with dead friends
Be sure the life raft is made from reflective glass
The compass is...
If you choose to go sailing with dead friends
Be sure the life raft is made from reflective glass
The compass is...
#identity
200 reads
7 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
31st Dec 2022 6:00pm
31st Dec 2022 6:00pm
The Heavy Lightness of Water
Each swig of solitude
A breath less from death,
Drinking to absent friends
One day the bottle will rise to me.
Summer is now a tourist:
A buckled deck chair rehearses its return
Crumpled against shadows of the palest sun.
Cathedrals of veiled water fall as weeping brides.
On other side of the village
The Luftwaffe unloaded lonely bomb,
Crater housed Gods of still small voices –
Until they built a car park.
Touring a Monastic and Mauna museum
Vowed to hang silence on souvenir walls,
Further...
A breath less from death,
Drinking to absent friends
One day the bottle will rise to me.
Summer is now a tourist:
A buckled deck chair rehearses its return
Crumpled against shadows of the palest sun.
Cathedrals of veiled water fall as weeping brides.
On other side of the village
The Luftwaffe unloaded lonely bomb,
Crater housed Gods of still small voices –
Until they built a car park.
Touring a Monastic and Mauna museum
Vowed to hang silence on souvenir walls,
Further...
#silence
#LifeCycle
274 reads
10 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
27th Dec 2022 11:30pm
27th Dec 2022 11:30pm
Reflections of You
Sail on, Alison
All Autumn we had decanted bones from our reliquary of flesh
Cresting crepuscular light over everything, but you.
Happiest in the shade, weren’t you, my Dear?
Barbarians would have buried their
Prey on these shores, to gorge later.
Centuries of carcass, ghosted flames
Towards The Twitter Man’s shoes.
Did I raise a mirror to a bustling street
Made you up from the elbows, angles,
Ankle socks and blue muslin skirts?
Semaphore in the spaces between rain and breath,
Mute messages on lonely train...
All Autumn we had decanted bones from our reliquary of flesh
Cresting crepuscular light over everything, but you.
Happiest in the shade, weren’t you, my Dear?
Barbarians would have buried their
Prey on these shores, to gorge later.
Centuries of carcass, ghosted flames
Towards The Twitter Man’s shoes.
Did I raise a mirror to a bustling street
Made you up from the elbows, angles,
Ankle socks and blue muslin skirts?
Semaphore in the spaces between rain and breath,
Mute messages on lonely train...
#relationships
#LifeCycle
278 reads
13 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
22nd Dec 2022 11:23am
22nd Dec 2022 11:23am
Christmas Memories #3 (some DU poets & some others)
Vibrating Christmas...
He asked "What do you want for Christmas?"
In the routine of everyday affairs
She will not be touched by vanity,
and she said I have everything I need, you...
Accepting the challenge, he bought some sex toys.
He could tell all the right ones.
In his skilful, strong hands.
He gave her passion and bliss, vibrating her soul.
Revealed to her the secret of moisture in the petals...
Shamelessly with him for all she is ready,
Streams of passion pouring into the night,
And irrigating, pouring out again,
This...
He asked "What do you want for Christmas?"
In the routine of everyday affairs
She will not be touched by vanity,
and she said I have everything I need, you...
Accepting the challenge, he bought some sex toys.
He could tell all the right ones.
In his skilful, strong hands.
He gave her passion and bliss, vibrating her soul.
Revealed to her the secret of moisture in the petals...
Shamelessly with him for all she is ready,
Streams of passion pouring into the night,
And irrigating, pouring out again,
This...
#memories
386 reads
23 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
21st Dec 2022 10:59am
21st Dec 2022 10:59am
Christmas Memories #2 (Some DU poets)
Sodom & Gomorrah 2022
The world halted on its axis turning clockwise
Non-wiser than the moon, the sun, the stars
Underbelly of fools’ gold in clouds of stardust.
Angels sang off key humming broken melodies
Children watched demons dancing on streets
Art of indifference embedded beneath the skin.
We fell on knees, praying to God’s deaf ears
Faith to faithless snaking between jagged teeth
Cries of a newborn cleansing mortal sins.
O’ Star of Bethlehem,
Guide shepherds and kings, jesters and sheep
The road to...
The world halted on its axis turning clockwise
Non-wiser than the moon, the sun, the stars
Underbelly of fools’ gold in clouds of stardust.
Angels sang off key humming broken melodies
Children watched demons dancing on streets
Art of indifference embedded beneath the skin.
We fell on knees, praying to God’s deaf ears
Faith to faithless snaking between jagged teeth
Cries of a newborn cleansing mortal sins.
O’ Star of Bethlehem,
Guide shepherds and kings, jesters and sheep
The road to...
#memories
356 reads
22 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
20th Dec 2022 2:46pm
20th Dec 2022 2:46pm
Christmas Memories #1 (Collection of some DU poets & some others)
New York City Christmas
Freezing snow bejewels our hats
from Macys up to Central Park
as horse-drawn carriages delight
and roasting chestnuts scent the night
We’re captives rapt in mystery
ever bound invisibly
‘tis the season of humanity
sugar plums and nutcrackers
dazzle from department stores
we peer into these magic worlds
that mirror true the human heart
which giveth love and knoweth joy
1984, Heart of Palms Motel
She cleans rooms by day,
Telemarkets by night,
Rent leaves little
For the...
Freezing snow bejewels our hats
from Macys up to Central Park
as horse-drawn carriages delight
and roasting chestnuts scent the night
We’re captives rapt in mystery
ever bound invisibly
‘tis the season of humanity
sugar plums and nutcrackers
dazzle from department stores
we peer into these magic worlds
that mirror true the human heart
which giveth love and knoweth joy
1984, Heart of Palms Motel
She cleans rooms by day,
Telemarkets by night,
Rent leaves little
For the...
#memories
#collaboration
372 reads
20 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
16th Dec 2022 10:25pm
16th Dec 2022 10:25pm
God f**k Ye Merry Gentlemen
I could tell Jo had been drinking whilst writing her Xmas Cards, on catching sight of my enveloped address. It tilted like a capsizing ship.
Jo’s perennial greetings seemed to mark a gradual descent into an alcoholic abyss. Her reputation as a ‘party-girl’ at College had been built on an appetite for drinking. Jo’s nickname, The Dentist, reflected her ability to offer simultaneous blow-jobs.
She disliked the moniker at the time, and as the years unfolded, she grew to harbour resentment towards its continued use. In the manner of things, the more she protested, the...
Jo’s perennial greetings seemed to mark a gradual descent into an alcoholic abyss. Her reputation as a ‘party-girl’ at College had been built on an appetite for drinking. Jo’s nickname, The Dentist, reflected her ability to offer simultaneous blow-jobs.
She disliked the moniker at the time, and as the years unfolded, she grew to harbour resentment towards its continued use. In the manner of things, the more she protested, the...
#satirical
#ghosts
#masculinity
215 reads
7 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
16th Dec 2022 3:16pm
16th Dec 2022 3:16pm
On the Trail of the Lonesome Mine
On the other side of dreams
Mountains are streams of blue
Beneath villages of lace and stone
Bracken breaks thru’ burial earth
Low tide of memory fails to breach
Spaces and places I could have called home
Others see ghost of Owain Glwyndwr
Dying on his charger for Pride and Nation
I merely see a stranger on the brow
of a blue hill the locals name ‘beloved’
And I don’t even know her name
Mountains are streams of blue
Beneath villages of lace and stone
Bracken breaks thru’ burial earth
Low tide of memory fails to breach
Spaces and places I could have called home
Others see ghost of Owain Glwyndwr
Dying on his charger for Pride and Nation
I merely see a stranger on the brow
of a blue hill the locals name ‘beloved’
And I don’t even know her name
#home
#nature
#mountains #LifeCycle
#mountains #LifeCycle
221 reads
6 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
13th Dec 2022 5:37pm
13th Dec 2022 5:37pm
In Cloudy Almanac, the Burning of Diaries
The fire glows as orange bees,
Hives honey days into diesel
To fuel forever yesterday(s).
Placing palms on embers
Something religious in the pain;
Stigmata numbered Psalm 451.
Ashes to ashes, lust to must,
As actor speech lingers in empty theatres
Graved words - eternal - on unmarked stage.
Secrets, lies and to the nth degree
A thrift shop pen can burn it all down.
We rest as inviable commas
In a flux encyclopaedia
Of fuck-knows-what-nots,
Which we dare to touch -
But never to hold.
Hives honey days into diesel
To fuel forever yesterday(s).
Placing palms on embers
Something religious in the pain;
Stigmata numbered Psalm 451.
Ashes to ashes, lust to must,
As actor speech lingers in empty theatres
Graved words - eternal - on unmarked stage.
Secrets, lies and to the nth degree
A thrift shop pen can burn it all down.
We rest as inviable commas
In a flux encyclopaedia
Of fuck-knows-what-nots,
Which we dare to touch -
But never to hold.
#PowerOfWords
#LifeCycle
153 reads
9 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
12th Dec 2022 8:38pm
12th Dec 2022 8:38pm
For the dreams come, always they come......
Stolen lullabies laminate
The Dementia Ward in plastic,
Snow sleeps from chloroform clouds
Smothering Hushaby Mountain.
Love’s skeins change colour through the seasons
Now, all which spins are iced dreams and blanket black
Frostbitten vision frames television,
Shrouded screens revolve around corpses
Like lost luggage on the carousel.
One for sorrow, two for joy
This magpie will be the death of us;
Artificial Christmas tree plays Silent Night on loop.
Small deaths in the taste of anaesthetic, ...
The Dementia Ward in plastic,
Snow sleeps from chloroform clouds
Smothering Hushaby Mountain.
Love’s skeins change colour through the seasons
Now, all which spins are iced dreams and blanket black
Frostbitten vision frames television,
Shrouded screens revolve around corpses
Like lost luggage on the carousel.
One for sorrow, two for joy
This magpie will be the death of us;
Artificial Christmas tree plays Silent Night on loop.
Small deaths in the taste of anaesthetic, ...
#identity
#death
#LifeCycle
166 reads
6 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
11th Dec 2022 9:16pm
11th Dec 2022 9:16pm
A Sudden Sluice of Sea-Ice
The kid drops his bucket and spade / And climbs into the sun.” Nick Cave
Sea-ice shoals are spooned
Into surrogate vessels of feeling,
Tidal grief has sunk emotions
Girl at the point where the pier once lay
Could be disturbed moments away from
Sleeping with the fishes
I turn my back on the portentous vision
And paint the sky red with seagull blood
As diamonds plucked from expensive watches
Temporal is the temptation to crush auld crystal,
Tougher than slate, finger bone br/e/aker
They’d look beautiful abreast...
Sea-ice shoals are spooned
Into surrogate vessels of feeling,
Tidal grief has sunk emotions
Girl at the point where the pier once lay
Could be disturbed moments away from
Sleeping with the fishes
I turn my back on the portentous vision
And paint the sky red with seagull blood
As diamonds plucked from expensive watches
Temporal is the temptation to crush auld crystal,
Tougher than slate, finger bone br/e/aker
They’d look beautiful abreast...
#sea
#nature
#anniversary #LifeCycle
#anniversary #LifeCycle
180 reads
13 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
9th Dec 2022 00:28am
9th Dec 2022 00:28am
The Last Call of Midnight
Awake my old friend midnight,
Let me stay with you awhile
Share knuckled slugs of whiskey
Lay your nakedness over mine.
Your loyal attendant dresses the town’s suit
Creased, crumpled and lapels starched to rest,
Bedraggled lady of the coldest corner
I’ll treat you like an equal ‘til it hurts.
Night’s umbrella flips the wind
Creaks through cracks in the wall,
Curls the pages of old wounds
Wars fought in the bedroom.
The man with white chalk waits to outline
Next corpse in alley or waste ground,
Around...
Let me stay with you awhile
Share knuckled slugs of whiskey
Lay your nakedness over mine.
Your loyal attendant dresses the town’s suit
Creased, crumpled and lapels starched to rest,
Bedraggled lady of the coldest corner
I’ll treat you like an equal ‘til it hurts.
Night’s umbrella flips the wind
Creaks through cracks in the wall,
Curls the pages of old wounds
Wars fought in the bedroom.
The man with white chalk waits to outline
Next corpse in alley or waste ground,
Around...
#relationships
#IMissYou
165 reads
4 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Strangeways_Rob
