Posts Tagged ‘death’
The Key
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, courage, dark drama, family, horror, mystery, photo, suspense, tragedy, wisdom
• In response to the 3rd prompt on the newly re-opened Writer’s Island, I offer a gothic tale…
• I also offer this in response to prompt #116 at One Single Impression…
The Key
•
I must move quickly from this light
that pools incrementally
in this long
pungent
segmented hallway
there is some safety in the shadows
that linger tight
to the arch walls
so I [...]
Boxes - Contemplation in 3 Parts
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, Tanka, art, courage, dark, horror, humor, love, mystery, photo, rhyme, stream of consciousness, tragedy, whimsy, wisdom
In response to the Ist prompt on the newly opened We Write Poems, I contemplate boxes
Boxes
Contemplation #1
•
my memories gather and squabble
like crows in fallow fields
they pick clean
the bones of my recall
bones against the cruel clay
of an arid barren mind
bones spilled from soul boxes
in which I’d desperately collected
the scarred and damaged pieces
of my broken dreams
dreams now [...]
Mind’s Eye
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, courage, dark, horror, love, mystery, science fiction, stream of consciousness, suspense, tragedy, wisdom
…response to prompt #13 from Magpie Tales…
Mind’s Eye
•
I sit
with my mind’s eye
I watch the flow of people
the shuffle of feet
with their different sounds
according to their shoes
I see wan faces of unsmiling lips
their void curves denounce this night
yet unseen
is the gossamer curtain’s fall
that defines their soul’s duality
the divergent reality
through which truth stumbles blind
to move in the [...]
Hands of Neptune
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, dark, horror, mystery, photo, suspense, tragedy
…response to prompt #12 from Magpie Tales…
____________________________________
Hands of Neptune
•
like the disembodied
hands of Neptune
reaching from a rocky confine
breaking surface
into the watery realm
seeking
grasping
needing
but entombed
in a glassened globe
a crystal cage
cruelly shut away
from that which is most desired
contact
connection
prisoner
in brutal isolation
banished
even from the lesser gods
condemned eternally
to never know
the redemption of touch
• • •
rob kistner © 2010
Sad Little Clown
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, action, dark, horror, humor noir, love, mystery, photo, suspense, tragedy
…presented as a second gracious salute to the first prompt from Big Tent Poetry…
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Sad Little Clown
•
I am the sad little clown
with the frowning face
the round red nose
and the great big tear
this meek facade
and silly sham
belie the horror
that I engineer
life’s dealt me cold
my hand is slack
not a queen
no king nor ace
the violence
that dwells within
is masked behind
my [...]
Message in a Bottle
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Letter, Poetry, courage, dark, family, flash fiction, gratitude, love, mystery, prose, rhyme, suspense, tragedy, wisdom
In the spirit of the 1st prompt on the newly re-opened Writer’s Island, I retrieved this message from my imaginary bottle, unrolled, then read it — this is what it said:
___________________________
Seamen brave and strong as we
There’s a truth that we all learn
When brave and strong men go to sea
Tis not certain they’ll return
___________________________
October 23rd, 1997
This [...]
NaPoWriMo #29
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, action, art, courage, dark, gratitude, homage, joy, mystery, science fiction, stream of consciousness, suspense, tragedy, wisdom
This is my Twenty-ninth, and penultimate post for National Poetry Month 2010
____________________________________
…this poem was inspired by D.S. Apfelbaum’s day 29 post at readwritepoem…
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Space Is
•
a lightless void of soundless vacuum
spinning masses of revolving orbs
hurtling fragments in crystalline vapors
molten cores
mingled gasses
dead husks
black holes
magnetic icefalls
plasma rain
liquid lightening
solid clouds
attractions and repulsions
of precarious fragility
a frozen dance of chaos
on the tentative [...]
NaPoWriMo #28
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, Tanka, courage, dark, family, gratitude, homage, love, photo, prayer, tragedy, wisdom
This is my twenty-eighth post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one free verse poem
• one tanka
____________________________________
• inspired by day 28 of National Poetry Month
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Not Spring
•
the moment of not-spring
has no bold herald
save a passing notation
on one’s calendar
easily missed
there is not a disruption
in the earth’s crust
there is no disturbance
in the air
the planets
do not misalign
the moment of not-spring
is [...]
NaPoWriMo #27
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, Tanka, acrostic, action, art, courage, dark, gratitude, homage, joy, love, music, mystery, philosophy, photo, prose, rant, satire, suspense, tragedy, video poem, whimsy, wisdom
This is my twenty-seventh post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one acrostic
• one tanka
____________________________________
• inspired by Carolee Sherwood ’s day 27 prompt at read write poem to write an acrostic
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Evolution
•
Even in chaos nature finds balance.
Violent floods beget fertile fields.
One thing ends, another begins.
Life is a cycle of birth and death.
Untamed wildfire creates forest [...]
NaPoWriMo #24 - In Vain / Daddy’s Girl
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, Tanka, action, courage, dark, family, humor, humor noir, love, mystery, photo, satire, suspense, whimsy, wisdom
This is my twenty-fourth post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one free verse poem
• one tanka
____________________________________
• This poem that follows is inspired by Marie Gauthier’s NaPoWriMo day 23 prompt at readwritepoem to find and use a colloquial phrase — and by the current frustration I am feeling trying to deliver on my promise of at [...]
NaPoWriMo #18 - Human Arrogance
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, Tanka, art, collage, courage, dark, horror, mystery, photorendering, rant, suspense, tragedy, wisdom
This is my eighteenth post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one free verse poem
• one tanka
____________________________________
• inspired by Irene’s day 18 read write poem prompt / and #49 at carry on tuesday
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…a thing of beauty is a joy forever, a captive wild soul — is a tragedy…
Pacing
•
from rippled sinew black as midnight
bores a stare of [...]
NaPoWriMo #9 - part two: That Moon
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, courage, dark, horror, joy, love, tragedy
This is part 2 of my ninth post for National Poetry Month 2010
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…this is a very sobering piece written precisely to Robert Peake’s prompt at read write poem,
and influenced by prompt #9 at Magpie Tales…
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That Moon
•
that moon
that child
hold eternity’s promise in share
colorful pails on the ocean’s beach
festooned in starfish and octopus
campfire’s ‘neath a canopy of [...]
NaPoWriMo #2 - The Willow / Spring
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Haiku, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, courage, dark, love, photo, tragedy, wisdom
This is my second post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one free verse poem
• one haiku
____________________________________
…Remembering Willow Pond…
The Willow
•
the old man sat quietly
day after day
hands resting on his knees
day after day
hardly moving
save to raise his hand
to brush his brow
or adjust his cap
day after day
quietly
on the same park bench
at the pond
near the same tree
same willow
you could [...]
Caisson
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Poetry, dark, mystery, photorendering, prayer, science fiction, tragedy, wisdom
Caisson
•
see you
see you in this carrion half-light
unworthy scavengers
you cluster to ravage
to defile the entity
drawn in this caisson
but you cannot
the living presence it bore
is greater than you
your gluttonness lust
might pick the meat clean
pick the bones dry
but this being has lived well beyond the muscle
beyond the sinew tendon and bone
these were its limits
now it is set free
so [...]
Graspless
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Image, Poetry, dark, photo, tragedy
Graspless
•
moonlight keeps dark at bay
pressing in
as night winds stir
mocking final breath of life
lost to the lightless realm
beyond the chill encircling me
no emotion here
save grief
failed digits of a graspless hand
on a broken stair
where ankle bent
and held oranges spilled
no voice came to the futile cry
those lips will not know again
sweet fruit
nor love…
• • •
rob kistner [...]
