Tag Archives: free verse

There Once Was a Place

There once was a place

Where men went

To find a kind

Of temporary content

And many a girl’s face

Graced that place

Where men could buy

A lie

Of love.

But perhaps a few

Believed it was true.

 

Some poor fools

Tried to buy

Girl’s love

With jewels.

The girls would smile

And would inwardly say,

“He is good

For a while

Until his money runs away”.

 

 

Sometimes, girls awaking from sleep

Would weep

And when kindly men

Heard them cry

They would wonder “why

Do I

Try to buy

Her love?”.

 

Some men would die

Inside and lose all empathy.

For such a He

The payment of a fee

Made everything okay

And he could say

And do

Whatever he wanted to.

 

Not all girls took drugs

And few had thugs

Keeping them in the life.

But poverty’s sharp  knife

May cause us all

To slip and fall.

 

Some women freely chose

To give a certain part,

(But never their heart)

To men for a fee.

Though some deny

That such women freely chose

Or maintain that she

Is the minority

And that the privileged few

May have true

Freedom, while the majority

Are not free.

 

The place has long gone

But the profession lives on.

In dark streets

And expensive hotels

Client and girl meet

And the poet tells

How a fee

Often obfuscates morality.

And how all must

End in dust.

And

At Christmas Time

At Christmas time

I compose a rhyme

Of winter weather

And us all together

Emptying the wine

As we talk of bygone times,

While the clock on the wall

Watches us all

Until sleep calls

Us one by one

And we are gone.

Dogs

On the ground

Logs lie

While all around

Joyous dogs

Spend their day

In play

Unaware of the decay

Of logs

And of how I

Envy dogs

In their play.

Poet Kevin Morris Reads and Discusses his Poetry on the World Poetry Reading Series for Thursday 21 December 2023

I was delighted to appear on the World Poetry Reading Series for Thursday 21 December, https://www.mixcloud.com/VictorSchwartzman/world-poetry-cafe-for-dec-21-2023-with-alaha-ahrar-kevin-morris-and-timileyin-gabriel-olajuwon/. My segment appears approximately 16 minutes into the podcast and runs for around 9 minutes.

 

During the podcast, I answered questions on what inspires me to write poetry, and read 2 of my poems.

 

I listened to the podcast using Google Chrome, but other browsers should also work.

 

My thanks to Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading Series for hosting me on her show.

 

Paradise

You and I

Said goodbye

For a little time.

I walk through

Fallen leaves

And compose a rhyme

To Eve

And Paradise Lost.

The Ageing Reprobate

I have felt the bitter cold

And thought of sinning

With young women

And of how I grow old.

 

I have heard the clock tick

And heels click

In the late evening

And engaged  in couplings and leavings.

 

I have considered right and wrong

And fought the fire

Of my desire

But my lust was very strong.

 

I have pondered on old rakes

And the mistakes

Of my flawed humanity .

And sometimes I see

The Grim Reaper coming for me.

 

(Doubtless I have been influenced by poets much greater than I in the composition of the above poem).

Winter Churchyard

I heard no birds

In the winter churchyard.

It was just

The cold sky

The tombs

And I

On a darkening afternoon.

The Bachelor

You in just

Your heels.

Me and my lust.

Sometimes it feels

Like love.

But I won’t lie

And go with your pretend

That I am your friend.

 

We have known each other

A long time.

I buy dinner and wine

Then we go back

Like 2 lovers

To my bachelor flat

Where we pretend

At lovers and friends.

 

Next day we chat

Of this and that

Over hot tea.

You smoke a cigarette.

Then leave me

With my regret

And thoughts of how

I am growing old.