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Saturday, July 11, 2020

UMBRAL SKY




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.

I've walked right up to the abyss

and peered over.
Backed away
to fight another day.

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

The cock crows.
A new day begins.

The will to survive 

is all we have.

18 comments:

  1. Some great lines in this poem, Tim! I especially like the lonesome moon’s:
    ‘…image reflected in the gutter splash
    that peppers my trousers
    as a fancy horse-drawn carriage blows by’
    and
    ‘A poem swirls round
    in my head
    edgy and cryptic
    teetering right on the brink
    of beginning to stink.’

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    1. Thanks so much. I appreciate you taking the time!

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  2. So many great images in this poem and love is a balm for ails and bad times Love your poem

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    1. We spread love or we spread fear. I love that you wrote this!

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  3. How important love is to bear the sadness and loneliness of life.

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    1. In all its myriad forms. It could be the love of anything. It could be the love of poetry!

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  4. Your first stanza sets the tone for your rainy night odyssey, roaming the back streets wishing for love! Great write.

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  5. One great line after another after another ....

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  6. Nice one Timoteo. Happy Sunday

    Muchđź’–love

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Gillena, for spreading the love!

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  7. A vivid write indeed. You make it easy to get inside the speaker's head, or think we do.

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  8. the will to survival is everyone in this world. great write. i like the literary devices that you used throughout.

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  9. The will to survive has never meant more in the world than it does now. So much to love about this poem. One of my favorites:
    "A poem swirls round
    in my head
    edgy and cryptic
    teetering right on the brink
    of beginning to stink."

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    1. High praise, and much appreciated, Susie. The stanza you quoted is similar to my normal creative process!

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