Kill the Critic

Killing the Inner Critic
You can’t do that!
          I hear far back in my head.
Poetry is serious stuff!
          It is my voice, when I’m dry.
You must be deliberate!
          Best ignored.
Where’s your rhyme scheme?
          Can’t speak—only scream.
No wonder nobody’ll publish you!
          Narrow and hostile, too.
Poetry doesn’t work like that!
          Protective of something sacred.
Don’t you have [...]

Scenic Park

Walk in the Park
A lot of things can change in a century;
parks seem to be one of those things—
and museums. Take this painting for example;
when is the last time you took a walk in the park
and found a nude woman? Or the last time
you saw a nude woman? With a skull?
With a cross? With both? [...]

For mysoul

Forever Young
Yes. I was Pan. Forever
young, a youth forever.
Until my back went out,
and white hair snuck in
to salt sandy hair and beard
and the gut-wrenching shock
of that first insurance premium
with a new driver, our second son,
increasing it near ten-fold.
 
Yes. I was of the Cult
of Youth, forever young.
Until I found direction
and learned enough to teach
and was forced [...]

That Girl

That Girl on the Patio
She’s there again. That girl on the patio.
Preening for all the world to see,
wearing that scant little two-piece
and taunting every eye that sees her.
 
Of course, the privacy fence stands to guard
her as though it were tall enough, but
this upstairs window frames her
pretty as a picture, which she is
 
And nevermind the [...]

Another Nude by Request

 
Zeus as Buddha Recalls a Former Life
Ah, yes, I remember . . . my strange life
as a swan . . . a woman, Leda, I think,
fell in love with my feathers. In one blink
of her blue eyes, I was plucked—she, now wife
in our incredible union, brought a knife
to matrimony’s mattress. “These things stink
of old loves,” [...]

Naked Madona

 
Woman Hatches Clutch of Swanlings
Needless to say, it raised a sensation,
not to mention a few eyebrows, Friday
when Leda, Thestius’ daughter, who lay,
rumor has it, with Zeus guised as a swan,
gave birth to twin sets of twins—His passion,
no doubt—eggs are mentioned, but few will pay
heed to such fables. Women cannot eggs lay
nor swans beget princes on [...]

Whiskey-a-gogo Poem

Crown Royal Rhyme: with Variations
amber, the liquid poured in glasses short,
rocks alternative, or neat and poured straight;
best kept uncomplicated — but of late
cola is the sweetener for the sort
who like it sweet.  To this some retort
with condescension.  Purist opinion
being that sweet is much too plebian.
Smooth is the liquor of Canadian
grain distilled to be all the [...]

Venus & Adonis: Ekphrasis on a Nude Painting

(Venus & Adonis by Jacob Adriaensz)
So Hard to Resist?
Is she supposed to be the epitome,
Feminine beauty? Whose? She could frighten
most boys his age—and should. He could lighten
her day with a glance, but she . . . How could he
look on her with lust and respect—could she
respect him in the morning? Enlighten
him in the night, perhaps, [...]

Mending Mattisse

Dicks on Dancers
Auden made a comment once
about all readers being
like little boys who draw
mustaches on ladies in posters
They say that the difference
between men and boys
is the price of their toys
but it also resides
in the magnitude of subterfuge
and vandalism
Matisse had strange ideas:
in his portrayal of a bacchanal
The Dance is danced by naked
humans sans sex organs
I thought [...]

Hermit as Uncle Walt

 
I Sing Myself Walt Whitman
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. (Walt Whitman from “Song of Myself” Halloween has come upon me, shaggy,
I shake my grizzled self; I strike a pose,
see within reflections, that faded rose
of bygone poets, Whitman, this scraggly
stranger [...]