Lynn White… Which Way & Cabbage Dream

Posted on April 9, 2017 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

Which Way

I’m on the edge of the horizon

looking back.

There’s no looking forwards.

Looking up

I can see the sky,

blue or grey like the sea.

Reflected sunlight,

clouds rippling like waves

making shapes in the sand.

Wave shapes on the land.

Sometimes it’s so bright

I can’t tell the blue from the grey,

the cloud from the clear,

the sky from the sea.

The light blinds me.

It’s too bright for my eyes

and leaves me confused

on the edge of the horizon,

on a thin line

with only one way to go.

First published in Calliope, October 2015

Cabbage Dreams

I am dreaming my cabbage dream.

I’m peeling off the outer leaves

to find what lies hidden beneath.

Looks much the same as the outer leaf,

a little less battered and crinkled

but fundamentally the same.

Now for the next layer.

There’s a drop of water

shining full of light

and something darker, more solid,

the leavings of some hidden creature.

Another layer reveals the holes

and the sleepy caterpillar

dreaming…

without his pipe

without his crown,

so unsure of

his own

identity,

much less mine.

If I peel off

layer after layer until

I get to the heart of it,

will I understand where I’ve come from

and be able to unpack the dream,

find the pipe and put the pieces

together, make sense of the

cabbage, crown the king.

First published in Poetry Breakfast, June 11, 2016

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. Her poem ‘A Rose For Gaza’ was shortlisted for the Theatre Cloud ‘War Poetry for Today’ competition 2014 and has since appeared in several journals and anthologies. Poems have also recently been included in several anthologies including – Harbinger Asylum’s ‘To Hold A Moment Still’, Stacey Savage’s ‘We Are Poetry, an Anthology of Love poems’, Community Arts Ink’s ‘Reclaiming Our Voices’, Vagabond Press, ‘The Border Crossed Us’, ‘Civilised Beasts’ from Weasel Press, Silver Birch Press ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and a number of on line and print journals.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lynn-White-Poetry/1603675983213077?fref=ts

lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com

Copyright © 2017 by Lynn White

B.Z. Niditch… 20/20

Posted on October 18, 2015 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

20/20

Fervent

to explore miles

all that’s out

with Beat Poet eyes,

the Beatles,

now in Japanese

Dylan Thomas

Spinning with us

by the bee colony

investigation

out on the islands

close to lyrics,

at first shy

then exploding

in optimum visions.

B.Z. Niditch is a poet, playwright, fiction writer and teacher who resides in Brookline, Massachusetts. His work is widely published in journals and magazines throughout the world, including:Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Art; The Literary Review; Denver Quarterly; HawaiiReview; LeGuepard (France); Kadmos (France); Prism International; Jejune (Czech Republic); Leopold Bloom (Budapest); Antioch Review; and Prairie Schooner, among others. His latest poetry collections are “Lorca at Sevilla”,”Captive Cities.”

Copyright © 2015 by B.Z. Niditch

Dennis Caswell… To Fire

Posted on May 10, 2015 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

To Fire

O leaping catharsis of atomic libido,

you have us. You sold yourself as a god

who comes when he’s called, and now

we lick the sludge off the bottoms

of primeval vegetable drawers

so we’ll never need to leave home

without a tankful of you.

BANG! Remember that?

That was the cosmos beginning.

Back then, you were everywhere

and everything, but now you’ve grown older

and learned to calm down, though sometimes

us clots of you feel you still in there.

Heraclitus didn’t need Einstein to know, “All things are

an exchange for fire, and fire for all things.”

For instance, I can exchange 3500 bucks

for a lovely certificate entitling me

to build confidence and foster a sense of empowerment

by instructing seekers to walk on you.

A Viking circumambulates land

holding a gobbet of you,

and that proves he owns it

(the land, not you).

I can’t figure out if you’re a genius

for making yourself the go-to metaphor

for both terror and sex, or if

you’re as reckless and stupid

as an incurable virus that has no idea

it’s killing its dinner. You have us locked

inside Earth’s garage, with your many engines

running, and not even Vulcan,

Vesta, Nusku, Girru, Agni, Pele,

or Kagutsuchi can make a wish

and blow you away.

Dennis Caswell is the author of the poetry collection Phlogiston, published by Floating Bridge Press in 2012. His work has appeared in Raven Chronicles, Floating Bridge Review, Crab Creek Review, and assorted other journals and anthologies. He lives outside Woodinville, Washington and works in the aviation industry.

Frank C. Praeger… Neutral

Posted on May 3, 2015 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

Neutral

Gypsum, quartz,

an antinomy of parts;

renegade

recused to be host

who wanted to have joggled

rather than to have been a joke.

Flagrant, even if neutral,

dismissive as a gentled touch,

as to have been

revoked.

Thus, seized, regressed while pining for

three days now, a fortuity

that would leave one breathless,

a tocsin for self

whose rampages,

unlikely august,

would go unnoticed.

Erin J. Jones… Once More An End

Posted on April 26, 2015 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

Once More An End

Once more an end

Once more a beginning

A loving hand has turned away

The spirit, though saddened, moves forward

Love’s hope still dreams

The sun will rise again

A new day shall dawn

Erin Jones was born in Wisconsin and raised in Arkansas. After high school he served in the U.S. Army as a cavalry scout before returning to school to earn B.As in communication and economics. He is now a mild mannered salesperson by day and a struggling writer by night.

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Tag Archives: reflective poetry