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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

MASTER OF MY FATE


The lonesome moon roams the streets
searching for mad love
in all its myriad forms
it's image reflected in the gutter splash
that peppers my trousers
as a fancy horse-drawn carriage blows by.

A calypso drumbeat seeps
from some nearby edifice.
The crickets sing along.

I duck behind a shop
to drain the snake.

Memories of sinning in the alley
thrust
bang
bite
come flooding back.

I'm so uncouth
I laugh
slurring my words
it's only life
I'll just go back again
and take it on the chin.

Drifting along
weaving this way and that
muttering curses
into the dying night.

I am the master of my fate
but where are my subjects?

The moon climbs rapidly
in its umbral sky.

A poem swirls round
in my head
edgy and cryptic
teetering right on the brink
of beginning to stink.

It's about walking  up to
the precipice
 looking down
deciding to back away
and fight another day.

Yes
I believe in mad love
in all its myriad forms
one's only leverage
in a broken world.

A cock crows.

A street sign says
69th Avenue
and I know I'm getting close
though can't remember which
of these lawns might be yours.

This one looks fine
for a little nap
and a snooze
I know you will  find me
and make me your famous souffle.

Ahhhh...

Let the dogs come by
with their pee "drive by"
just as long as I 
can be here
on the street
where  YOOOOO LIIIIIVVVVVE

Burp.



Written for Kerry's Wednesday Word Challenge at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads.I had the honor of providing a list of 20 words to be used in a poem. I managed to utilize all twenty of them! Please follow the link above to get in on the fun.

26 comments:

  1. i believe in mad love...until the cops show up...not sure you will wake up where you laid you head...ha

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  2. An alley revelation, I love it!! You took your own word list to a place I never thought of... :)

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  3. gosh i just love this, Timo. love, love the rhymes. it's vintage you, naturally. my favorite:

    it's only life
    I'll just go back again
    and take it on the chin.

    yep. sure enough.
    probably shouldn't have read this before writing my own, though. :)

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  4. Wonderfully cynical and hopefully ironic! Somehow one needs an oxymoron to describe your poetry, Tim.
    Many thanks for sharing your words with us today. I'm taking these of yours away with me:

    it's only life
    I'll just go back again
    and take it on the chin.

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  5. BRIAN: They know me on that street--ha ha.

    SUSIE: Thanks--it good sometimes to hang out in the back alleys just to check up on what the cats are doing.

    MARIAN: Looking forward to reading yours!

    HELEN: Goo Goo Barabajagal.

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  6. After reading some of your memoirs of ice and fire--no wait that was someone else--pain and glory, I have to say I'm still not entirely used to the way you change up from one mode to another, and mix moods like accelerants--but I like it. There's a chuckle for the gross, but a lot of serious for the rest, and it all makes for a pretty good interpretation of mad love and its longlasting side effects. Thanks for the list, too, Timo--I needed something to get me off high center today.

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  7. You puzzled these together well, Tim!! I love the section of mental swirling poem on the edge of stinking...gee I've felt that before. I really like the inner dialogue feeling of this, too! Thank you for the list!

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  8. It's about walking up to
    the precipice looking down
    deciding to back away
    and fight another day

    A wise move in any situation in life. To fight and be in control of the events so that one progresses to a higher level. Great thoughts Timo!

    Hank

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  9. I think I was in that alley once myself - Thrust,bang bite.

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  10. KERRY: An oxymoron might describe me as well...though I'm not thrilled about the "moron" part! I had a blast coming up with the word list, and working it into my poem--I hope others enjoyed their experience as well. Thanks again for the opportunity, Kerry.

    HEDGEWITCH/JOY: Thanks a ton. Hope you liked the book!

    HANNAH: Hope you had fun playing with it (well, you know what I mean!)

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  11. yes I believe in mad love....my favorite verse

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  12. Esto es lo que me via, esto es lo mío ... your (alley) cat :)

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  13. A lot of interesting fun here -- the movement so fluid and the mordant humor so clever mixed with the philosophy and feeling that one hardly realizes one is bitten until smiling. Super clever, readable, engaging. k.

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  14. I'm tired just reading it... felt the urgency

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  15. HANK: Thanks, and welcome aboard!

    SAM EDGE: Oh, that was you! (har har)

    ASPIRITOFSIMPLICITY: Simply put, thank you.

    CAT: Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus?

    MANICDDAILY: Wow, much appreciated!

    WOLFSROSEBUD: Join me on the lawn...they just cut the grass.

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  16. That is certainly loving on the edge! I loved your list, and congratulations on the book!

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  17. RAZZAMADAZZLE: Why, thank ye , Missy!

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  18. I, the nihilist,
    step to the precipice,
    and as the lemmings leap,
    I turn and pace away... back
    to the groggy memories of when
    you loved me.

    In that dank air,
    a dream of your sweetness...
    that lingering touch of warmth
    climbs my spine, yet
    I awake to the real;
    a cock crows.
    __It's been a while Tim... yours poem a much deeper thought. Sorry for this over wordy comment. _m

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  19. Take it on the chin (or anywhere else you can get it, by the sound of this! ;-)

    Thanks for the words which, by the way, made me late for work this morning!

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  20. MAGYAR/DOUG: Ever have the kind of dream you are sorry to wake up from? You try to go right back to sleep, but you can't get back--it's always some other dream. This seems like one of those. I like it!

    KAREN: Now I can tell people I made you late for work...but I'll keep them guessing as to how.

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  21. I love the moon in its "umbral sky"....and walking up to the precipice. Cool write, Timo. Cool list of words, too.

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  22. What a challenging list ~ Had a good laugh at the ending, congrasts on the publication ~

    Grace

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  23. SHERRY: Thanks. Glad you like!

    HEAVEN/GRACE: Keep smiling!

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  24. Is drinking involved? It seems like drinking was involved. Love and liquor, flip sides of the same inebriation. A good stumble, either way. ~ M

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  25. GRAPELING: Drinking? Who, me? (hic)

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