He reaches
to her slumbering form,
gathering her
within his arms.
Brushing her hair
with his breath,
he pulls her
against his heart,
too full of
her
to search
for words.
words January 29, 2013
Splashing in the bathroom
awakens her
to a sorrowful knowing.
Her eyes are closed against it.
His baggage rustles.
“Come kiss me good-bye,” she says
blinking blurrily.
Compliant,
he leans and offers
a perfunctory pucker
upon her sour morning lips.
“I’ll call you tomorrow
to tell you whether I’m coming home,”
he says.
“Call me today
to tell me you’ve arrived.”
“I can do that,” he agrees
moving down the hallway.
Eyes clamped closed again,
she hears the firm crunch of
doors and humming rumble of the engine.
As the car leaves,
she leans into her pillow,
wondering at the words,
he didn’t say.
poetry by Shane Koyczan- Stop signs August 17, 2012
Shane Koyczan is a talented poet from Kelowna, my home town. You might have heard him at the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. In case you missed him, here’s one of his slam style love poems called Stop signs:
.
encircling silence July 30, 2012
This silence is a circle.
Mine says,
“wrap me with warm words!”
Yours says,
“huh?”
So silence encircles,
Mine says,
“compassion is in companionship.”
Yours says,
“shh.”
Silence circles.
her with him July 27, 2012
It’s not truth,
but danger.
Not what is real,
but what’s perceived.
The excluding
exclamations
of laughter
contrasted by
bored eye brows
and sighs.
An amused knife
slicing through
her security.
© Shawn L. Bird
————————————————–
Being a free verse, there is no strict rhyme or rhythm pattern in this one, but you’ll see lots of examples here of consonance, assonance, and alliteration. Notice in particular the pattern of growling of the /r/s, the explosive /ex/s and the sighing /s/s which reflect the narrative persona’s emotional experience.
There is a circle pattern with the 6 sections (not quite stanzas, not being separated) being strongly consonant /r/, then assonant /e/, then alliterative /ex/, and then reversing: alliterative /b/, assonant /i/, and finally consonant /r/ again. How does this pattern reflect the persona’s emotional state?
You are welcome to use this poem in your class room, crediting the author. I’d also be pleased to see a comment indicating where and when you did. Thanks.
The value of poets June 21, 2012
Discovered this great quote on the blog “Greater Umbrage”
“You see, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was made flesh in the weave of the human universe. And only the poet can expand this universe, finding shortcuts to new realities the way the Hawking drive tunnels under the barriers of Einsteinian space/time… To be a true poet is to become God.”
~ Dan Simmons
Wow. It makes me feel crazily powerful! How daunting. How magnificent. How humbling!
Invocation for dads June 16, 2012
Our fathers are our first role models of what it is to be a man.
If we are blessed to have a good one driving our household mini van.
He shows us how a romantic partner should behave;
He demonstrates just how our children should be raised.
He shows us this without a word, by what he does each day,
So we’ll reflect his teaching as we go on about our way.
If we weren’t blessed to have our father there to show us what to do,
Let us be thankful there are men, who’ll gather us in, too.
In thanks for each man, standing by his family,
Who cares, provides, corrects and loves, from those of us who see.
.
© Shawn L. Bird 2012 Free use within Rotary, though please indicate when and where you have used the invocation by leaving a comment below. Thanks!
change haiku June 3, 2012
The song of the chimes
should be ringing from the porch
but you like silence
smashing deal! May 28, 2012
For part of my workshop on e-publishing yesterday, I thought I’d better experience what it’s like to work with smashwords.com. At 11:30 p.m. last Thursday night I pulled together my haiku collection, figured that the poems theme either around the seasons or love, put them all other, made a book cover, and published them at 1:00 a.m.
What that says is, “It’s really easy to publish using Smashwords.”
That said, I didn’t like the format it spat out, and re-loaded the file a couple of times until I got it to my satisfaction, but that was simple too.
This is my latest book, “A Year in Love.” If you’d like a copy, I’ve made it free with this coupon code until the end of June: QK59P
