poetry

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Wed 19 Jul 2023

Selected bedtime poems

Posted by PJ under bedtime poems, my poetry, poetry
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3:21 AM on Mon, Jul 17, 2023:

I’m more familiar
with 3 am than 6
but I rose for years at
hellish 6 to join the daily
grind, forced into
unnatural rhythms
but now I’m free
I rise when my eyes open
I sleep when they close
I still have bad nights,
hellish mornings
but at least I’m free
of the clock’s tyranny

2:54 AM on Sun, Jul 16, 2023:

shall I write of pain
or of the smoke
drifting through the open
window from the fire pit
across the way choking
like remorse before it fades
or shall I instead write
of the downy soft cat
who wants to cuddle
despite the heat
her purring a balm to all
the pain that aches me?

3:00 AM on Fri, Jul 14, 2023:

no pressure
you did this
to yourself
no one has any
expectations
except you
but that’s the thing
isn’t it?
we always martyr
ourselves
on our own
expectations

3:07 AM on Wed, Jul 12, 2023:

memories crowding around
like guests uninvited to a party
they have stayed too long
leaning against the walls
wondering if they dare to dance
but I’m too tired to indulge them
wishing but too polite to say
they should just grab a beer
and go home

 

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Tue 11 Jul 2023

Selected bedtime poems

Posted by PJ under bedtime poems, my poetry, poetry
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Lately I’ve been writing mini-poems just before I go to sleep at night. It helps me unwind and relax my mind. I thought I’d share a selection of them here. How long will I keep this up? No idea. As long as it seems necessary, I guess. If you want to read all I’ve done so far (they’re not all good), you can go here: https://pjthompson.dreamwidth.org/2065123.html

2:30 AM on Tue, Jul 11, 2023:

in the liminal space
at the end of the day
when sleep approaches
like a shy, purring cat
to knead at my
consciousness
turning in circles
looking for a place
to settle

2:11 AM on Mon, Jul 10, 2023:

dark energy, some physicists
say, is the force of
emptiness, a void in the
cosmic web pushing the
matter of the universe
farther and farther
from where it began
and it’s everywhere,
between us around us
within us without us
pushing us away
always away
from where we began

3:01 AM on Sun, Jul 09, 2023:

the world is small sometimes
so small and cold and selfish
it can be large though
large and warm and free
if imagination and compassion
can hold it up to the light
hold hands with me
let’s give it a try

11:45 PM July 6, 2023:

this will all make
better sense
in the morning
that’s what
I tell myself
over and over
but it never does

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Wed 7 Jun 2023

Tower

Posted by PJ under aging, poetry, quote of the day, sorrow, youth
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Random quote of the day:

“When young, I did not know the taste of sorrow.
I went up the tower.
I went up the tower
to write a poem on pretended sorrow.

By now I’ve completely tasted sorrow, but already
I do not want to speak about it.
I do not want to speak about it,
I only say: what a beautiful, cold autumn.”

—Xin Qiji
(28 May 1140 – 3 Oct 1207)


Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Thu 1 Jun 2023

Dragon

Posted by PJ under dragons, myth, poetry, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths about dragons that at the last moment turned into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.

—Rainier Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Letter 8

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Tue 16 May 2023

Poetry

Posted by PJ under art, poetry, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.”

—Vincent Van Gogh, letter to Theo Van Gogh, March 18, 1883

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Thu 16 Mar 2023

Phillis

Posted by PJ under black lives matter, poetry, quote of the day, racism, slavery
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Random quote of the day:

“Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
Their colour is a diabolic die.
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.

—Phillis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” 1773

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Mon 13 Mar 2023

Geometry

Posted by PJ under math, poetry, quote of the day, truth
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Random quote of the day:

“Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry.

—Gustav Flaubert, letter to Madame Louise Colet, August 14, 1853

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Wed 22 Feb 2023

Steady

Posted by PJ under poetry, quote of the day, the world
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Random quote of the day:

“When there is nothing else, when all the world has gone mad, you recite poetry to hold things together, to give life order and meaning. The world is shaking, but poetry is steady.

—Aster Glenn Gray, Honeytrap

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Thu 19 Jan 2023

The Problem With Moondust

Posted by PJ under my poetry, poetry
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The Problem With Moondust

The problem with moondust, said the scientist,
is that it’s so fine it flies everywhere, wafting
on the slightest breeze, a magic powder
seeking every crack and hidden place of reality—
a more persistent sand, prevailing enchantment,
glittering matte grey possibilities of wonder.

Perhaps she didn’t say all that, not precisely,
but I knew what she meant. The problem
with moondust is that it brings on dreams,
faerie winkles uncontrollable and glistening,
spells of madness, incantations of imagination,
filling eyes, coating hair and reaching hands
with hopes dare not named, covering day-to-day
in possibilities beyond day-to-day means,
yet just what the heart needs: moondust.

—PJ Thompson

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Mon 16 May 2022

Ephemera

Posted by PJ under my poetry, poetry
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Somebody knows who that is—
or they did, once,
and maybe they told their kids,
or maybe they did not,
before they themselves became
just another old photograph
of strangers.

Faint pencil markings on the back
sometimes give cryptic clues:
“Mother at the lake.”
But whose mother, which lake?
“Baby Jean, 4 months old”—
and you realize if Baby Jean
is still alive she’d be very old.

Ephemera,
handled with such confidence,
believing someone will always know
what and who and where.
Inconceivable that someday
they will all be gone
and we will, too,
that even these subtle clues
are ephemera, meaningful
to a few and only for a time
before time and the people it holds
slip into the past
and are gone.

—PJ Thompson
May 16, 2022

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