Love

Love Like Waterfall ~ haibun

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 46 Comments

24 June 24 2017

Love Like Waterfall

We stood on the the shore of Lake Erie, just as we had many times in the past. From the waves rolling onto its sandy beaches, to the dunes lining those shores, to the wildlife found along the the shore and on the marshes within the park, to its wonderful lighthouse, Presque Isle State Park in Erie Pennsylvania has much to offer and has become one of our favorite places to visit. We always make it a priority to stop there when we drive from Missouri to Buffalo to see family and friends.

But this visit was different. Family and friends from Erie, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Buffalo (and even Tennessee and Washington state) were there to share in the beauty of the moment as we stood beneath the towering Presque Isle lighthouse to exchange our wedding vows.

Pennsylvania is one of the few states to allow self-administered weddings. Because Presque Isle has come to mean so much to us, it seemed only natural for us to have our wedding there. I wrote poetic verse that was read by my children and my granddaughter, and I also wrote the vows that we exchanged. It was the perfect setting for our new beginning.

under clear blue skies
waves in the sunlight sparkle
love like waterfall

This haibun is my response to Happy New Year! This prompt from Lillian at dVerse ~ Poets Pub is to write a traditional haibun about a new beginning we’ve experienced in our lifetime. The haiku within the haibun is to include a kigo (a word associated with a season – here, waterfall for summer) and a kireji or cutting word at the end of the second line. This word (in English haiku, it can even be simple punctuation, such as a dash, comma, ellipsis, or an exclamation point) briefly cuts the stream of thought, indicating that the verse consists of two thoughts half independent of each other. In my haibun, sparkle serves as the haiku’s kireji.

Darkness Dispersed

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 28 Comments

Poetics – Exploring Gothic as a Literary Genre (Step into the realm with me),
the prompt from Sanaa at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, asks us to write a Gothic poem. I’m not sure I have the capacity for detail that requires. Brief as it is, here’s mine.

Darkness Dispersed

Past, present and future
confined to darkness,
I built a wall,
block upon block
reaching for the heavens.

Yet it refused to rise,
you removing blocks
faster than placed,
so that stars shone
as we embraced.

Image source: pxhere.com

The Light in Your Eye – ekphrastic poem

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 32 Comments

The Light in Your Eye

Shadow?

An absence of color
that brings my world to life?

Or the light that seems
to emanate from your eye?

All of these in a fluke of lighting,
a software glitch transmitted
from your cell to mine.

Always with me.

This poem is my response to Poetics: Look into my Eyes, the prompt from Mish
at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to “Incorporate the theme of eyes into a poem.
Write about the eyes of someone close to you, your own eyes
or those of a fictional character.”

The image, a photo sent to me by my wife in our early days,
is one of the wallpapers on my phone. (without the text, written today)

Infinite Possibilities ~ quadrille

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 38 Comments

Infinite Possibilities

Love at first sight is unforgettable
Brings joy unquantifiable
Pleasure immeasurable
Like a calling supersensible

An attraction irresistible
Is absolutely unmistakable
Its effect indisputable
The memory indelible

No alternative seems possible
Separation is unbearable
A life without is incomprehensible
For our love most immutable

This is my response to Quadrille #116: Poem Those Possibles,
the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word possible in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

 

True North ~ quadrille

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 26 Comments

True North

I was fading to nothing,
all reason and purpose gone,
when my eyes found hers
and I was instantly drawn.

As the needle in my heart turned,
I knew I had found my true north,
her heart the magnet
that would lead me there.

This is my response to Quadrille #114 – Poetic Magnetism,
the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word magnet in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

Image
(background) Astronomy Picture of the Day
Cygnus: Bubble and Crescent © Wissam Ayoub
~~
(foreground) Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Qibla compass, from Iran

Just as Bright ~ quadrille

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 43 Comments

Just as Bright

Who could know the blanket of stars
wrapt round us on our first night together,
so tight they shone in your eyes and mine
as we strolled through Millennium Park,
would bind us, still, these many years later?
Shine they do, just as bright.

This is my response to Quadrille #113: Blanket Us,
the prompt from Merril at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word blanket in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

Image: Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois
photo taken 02 September 2012

As the Stars Would Have It ~ quadrille

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 54 Comments

As the Stars Would Have It

The sky has been ours
from the moment we met

Whispered words of light
in vision and dreams

Blue nebulae in the dark of night
Embrace of sun and moon

I in your orbit, you in mine,
just as the stars would have it

This is my response to Quadrille #112: The Sky’s the Limit,
the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word sky in a 44-word poem,
with no required meter or rhyme.

Image: the banner from our wedding,
held on the lawn of the lighthouse at Presque Isle, Erie, Pennsylvania

This Is the Life ~ limerick

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 32 Comments

This Is the Life

Locks shorn in my late twenties,
worn that way till I retired,
I thought about letting them grow,
knowing I wanted a ponytail
but not wanting to wash the dust
of loading docks and freight yards
out of it every night. Then came the day.

No work and all play, and my hair
was here to stay. But I wasn’t.
Behind the wheel of one more truck,
filled with what was left of my life,
I drove cross-country to be with she
who would, one day, be my wife.
Her fingers run through my hair,
and I know I have found happiness.

This is my response to Come and take a selfie! – the prompt from Sarah at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to write a poem about ourselves. For a bonus, here’s a limerick:

There once was a scuba diver
Who worked hard as a truck driver
But then he retired
And now he’s inspired
His poetry is to die for *

* poetic license 😉

Photos: “”The Move” ~ 2012

On the Subtle Nature of Eros

/ Ken / rivrvlogr / 43 Comments

On the Subtle Nature of Eros

With Poetics: Exploring Erotica as a Literary Genre, Sanaa Rizvi (adashofsunny) at dVerse ~ Poets Pub reminds us that erotic poetry “demands a higher degree of lyricism through an expression of subjectivity and ‘complex feelings’ ” yet need not rely on explicit sexuality.

I decided to start cold, by writing something yesterday, but erotica is not my thing. So, today I decided to tweak some of my older poems (none from WordPress) to achieve a subtle eroticism. Two of the poems received minor edits while a third (the second, here) is a blend of two separate poems to achieve the result.

Undying Thirst

Beauty that brings marvel
whenever I drink her in

Eyes most welcoming
Lips always tentative, at first

Neck inviting
Skin so soft, responsive

Curves that invite,
gladly meet

Always this marvel,
and a thirst never lost

yearning realized

sensuality
touching on fantasy

urgency embraced
emotions intertwined

soul gazing into
finding soul

thoughts coalescing with
anticipation realized

gratification
far exceeding anticipation

savoring sensations

a cheek resting gently turns
lips brush hip in tiny arcs, swirls
savory sensation

tongue lightly, cautiously
traces lines
savors the taste

lips move across, slowly
pausing midway
always savoring

lips reach the other side
hip mirrored
in swirls softly stroked

thoughts savor your approval
as hips move
echo your sigh

Images
top: Smithsonian American Art Museum – Eros et Musa, by Henry O. Walker
middle: Wikimedia Commons – The Victory of Eros, by Angelica Kauffman
bottom: extracted (cropped) from a photo by Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC-BY-SA
via Wikimedia Commons – Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, London
(Anteros, twin brother of – and often mistaken for – Eros)