Archive for the ‘Free Verse’ Category
Rāgarāja’s Daughter
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Poetry, beauty, ecstatic, erotic, homage, mystery, sensuality, spirituality, wisdom, wonder
Rāgarāja’s Daughter
•
radiant vision silken skinned
translucent alabaster blaze
torrid as a teen’s temptation
leaned low here before me yearning
on plush cloud so sensuous
sweet comely goddess forward bent
graceful face aglow with craving
you conjure ardor’s obsession
a’bloom in beckoned fiery swoon
forearms rest on pillow soft
thoughts aflame in primal need
lips burning smile a fetched seduction
Rāgarāja’s daughter lush with Spring
smoldering in golden light
that [...]
The Edge
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, beauty, dark, fantasy, introspection, mystery, nature, photo, wonder
The Edge
•
standing at the edge
feeling far below
the great tides
the ebb and flow
the rise and fall
the come and go of centuries
wave by wave
day by day
might incarnate
the power of indifference
the surge of perfect apathy
and I
as insignificant as the grain of sand
bounced and tumbled
dragged helpless in the undertow
and that crest of froth
rises up in beckon
the silk of azure [...]
The Journey
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, courage, mystery, wisdom, wonder
The Journey
•
beckoned to the final tide
called forth by the ferryman
spirit stirs to the distant voice
that draws you to the journey
caught still in this mortal realm
soul resigned to embarkation
time folding in upon
as slow you approach the vessel
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
• linked at Magpie Tales
____________
image by Mostafa Habibi
Soul Food
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, art, courage, love, philosophy, wisdom
Something life’s experiences have taught me: seeing the world for what it is makes you smart, envisioning the world for what it can be - makes you wise…
Soul Food
•
there are countless contradictions
in the elements of the work we do
and conflictions as we strive
but bring these not to table
for I am you
and you are me
and we [...]
The Dimming
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, dark, love, memories, regret, tragedy
The Dimming
•
here is the change
the forgetting
the slipping away
into the haze of memory
the frustration
of no longer being able
and still
the burning longing to…
remember
and you
dimming in this fog
midst the times we have cherished
the places we have loved
fading beyond reach
an ever-mounting loneliness
like so many vacant seats
empty
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
• linked at Magpie Tales
Silent
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, beauty, dark, horror, love, memories, photo, regret, sensuality, tragedy
Silent
•
do you hear the autumn wind
stirring in the branches
do you hear the leaves rustle
do you hear my breath
whispering your name
do you hear my heart beat
do you hear my tears fall
or is it silent
silent as the light-less realm
that hauntingly engulfs my soul
silent as that night
when apples spilled
on the broken stair
where rail eluded
your grasping hand
silent as your [...]
Two Moments
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Poetry, courage, family, gratitude, joy, love, memories, wisdom
These are two poems about two powerful and indelible life-moments I shared with my son Justin.
The first “Night Sky” is about the courageous moment he chose, at age fourteen, to leave his mother’s home to move across our country, to live with me in Oregon — through the years of his high school [...]
Book of Days
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, family, joy, love, memories, nature, wisdom
Book of Days
•
in the book of days
clearly it is written
your time for moving on
beyond the reach of yesterday
in this book of days
so too is it written
clearly mine grow short
my grasp loosens on tomorrow
our miles apart grow greater
our time together lessens
as you pursue the future
I slip further in the past
and per the book of days
this is [...]
For Naught
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, mystery, photo, regret
For Naught
•
the virgin page taunts me
untouched
the bright white
throbs like a migraine
no burden of remorse
no weight of mystery
does it bear
no sting of anger
no wink of mirth
does it proffer
nothing sensual or sensitive to share
no tale to spin
no plot to thicken
no coin of phrase to turn
just vast blank space
tormenting nothingness
cruel emptiness
to drain my brain
dissonance spills through my open [...]
Wonder
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, beauty, courage, dreams, fantasy, gratitude, humor, joy, love, mystery, philosophy, whimsy, wisdom, wonder
Wonder
•
to grow up
is to chase off
our innocence
our naïve belief
in the world as a beautiful place
to harden against the magic
of our childhood dreams
but if by chance
we can cling to just one
perhaps we can hold on
to our precious sense of wonder
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
• photo: “Alice in Wonderland” by Yuki Valentine
Hope
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, courage, dark, family, horror, photo, regret, suspense, tragedy, wisdom
Hope
•
I lift myself quietly
very quietly
from beneath the sheets
soiled with neglect
soaked with my nightmares
I am again awake
from another dark night
that began with fear
fear I might not survive
and ends in sorrow
realizing I did
I rise
make my way carefully
past the shallow-breathed crumple
that lay milky-eyed
in a heap on the floor
un-moving
save a twitch of the head
a head which now harbors demons
where [...]
Ballo diVita
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, art, beauty, erotic, joy, love, music, mystery, sensuality, whimsy, wonder
Ballo diVita
•
he
a master of time and space
she
so young and trusting
he
a wizard of colors and words
dazzled her with danger and dreams
she
a nubile daughter of nature
anointed him with exotic pleasures
he
replaced the sun in her sky
with a fire he conjured and kept
she
warmed herself in its heat
came to his bed at its setting
they
the left foot and the right foot [...]
Silence - two reflections
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Poetry, dark, horror, regret, tragedy, wisdom
These two poetic reflections are unrelated, beyond their focus on silence. The first reflection here considers what it is to fall into the deepening silence of old age. The second reflection looks at the silence that causes, and also results from repression…
1ST REFLECTION
Endings
•
shrouded by evening in waning october
as autumn tumbles towards winter
is [...]
King of Sunrise
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, dark, fantasy, introspection, mystery, philosophy, regret, tragedy, wisdom, wonder
King of Sunrise
•
on the boulevard below
last night’s rain puddles
midst the chaos of metro-clutter
held hostage by tire and curb
as if abandoned by the waters of earth
it shoulders its way through the gutters
in search of mother sea
this day begins golden and crisp
bird songs echo empty sunrise streets
me and the first edition
we sit by this morning window
with coffee [...]
Why Raven?
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Poetry, dark, mystery, tragedy, wisdom
Why Raven?
•
there stands a raven in the rain
liquid-black as molten coal
beside a woman
besot and broken
thoughts so black and molten
outstretched in her anguish
ravin’ in the rain
raven in the rain
why is it that you stand here
so very soaked and sullen
beside this woman so besot
so broken and bereft
heart so black and shattered
ravin’ in the rain
has her ravin’ called [...]
