This sunlight
On the wall.
The clock’s
Quiet tick tock.
This birdcall.
My dog on this matt.
I know that
All delight ends in night.
This sunlight
On the wall.
The clock’s
Quiet tick tock.
This birdcall.
My dog on this matt.
I know that
All delight ends in night.
Hang the jumper
On the hanger
In the handy
Hanging wardrobe.
I awake by you,
(Your headphones in).
I guess they quiet
The inner din
Of your unquiet mind)
Despite my desire
To avoid your fire
I have held you tight
For another night
Finding in your kiss
A kind of passing bliss
Tasting of perfume
Cigarettes and regret.
When my busy thoughts
For a moment, stop,
I become aware
Of the clock
Ticking away my day.
I may turn away
And write.
But old Time
Will not delay
The night
To accommodate my rhyme.
A hyacinth’s scent last night
Brought such delight
To me as she stood,
Pure and white
In her box of wood.
Others unopened stood
In that box of wood.
They will flower and die
As will I.
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
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.
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.
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.
Once green leaves
Are brown
On the ground.
Great trees
Wither and die
And I
See dead leaves
At my door.