the tree asked the sky, why are you so high? The sun asked the sky why are you so blue? The sky asked the tree why are you so green? The sun told the sky, the blonde fiery stare is why By the lily pad pond on the sun scorched siesta day baking the primordial clay the fly flying by saw the frog's eye lightning tape from the mouth struck-stuck the fly to die went to the frog's belly stink-pink like jelly with other dead flies quite smelly the buffet with the entree stacked up artistically on a tray hinged legs with the feet webbed taste like chicken or crab legs all you can eat tonight, with Gallo wine for nine-ninety-nine the kid at dinner asked their mom where did this rubbery knee come from? why eat a once wriggly pollywog like a frog? 3.6 10/10 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson
Category Archives: Poetry
Primordial Why
Take a Bow
the things in the now, the now in the now the higher self like the ocean and the sea the cool rain is pouring on me every thing in this second, i note and label every dry crust and bouquet on the table the higher singularity jireh now, nissi now but don't look from me to noodle the how the higher voice births the calf breaks the cedars or divides the flames in half God is only now and now is only of God orbiting the sun on a blue marble is odd if you don't first give God the nod now is the doorway to the temple zone the royal footstool and the celestial throne we are not as a dog just thrown a bone touch into the now, taste it as your own siesta into the spit-second, hear the tone so take a bow now, you are not alone 1.7 9/7 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson rhyme
The Sleep of You
i stretch out on the queen-sized bed to unwind the inner photo frame brushes the edge to touch you as the itching eyes slide behind heavy lids and the lights dim out travel kaleidoscopic hallways the sleep of you blends into mine fractal flowering us back into that brown orange and yellow forest of crinkly leaves chasing you barefoot lovemaking near the ravine children of those September autumn oak trees but you, a teardrop plays on the corner of the eye you try to hide with the smile i thirst to kiss you, exchange, breathe with you did i awake? a fly on my cheek? no, a running saline drop travels down the temple side to the sheet a puddle wet ring by my head sensing the bird call is near you try to hold on to my hand but the grip slips slowly apart to the tips of the fingers, off-- as you lay back, crossing hands over the breast back into the earthworm bed in the loam 7.6 4.4 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson
The Flutes of the Moon
not as if you missed my touch the kiss not as if we were the hit and miss our evening bath with tea candles rimmed the dusky hours love's desires brimmed remember cricket warmish moist the breeze not as if we feared to dance by the trees the water burbling by the river run like diamonds shimmering in the sun but now the nightfall the moon is full the swollen tumescence yellow and dull of crickets fiddling night birds singing love on river bank leaned on a tree above not as if we needed the river's song of the sporting moon rippling along the fireplace warmth within our breasts within the brazen hearth of fluting breaths Rhyme scheme: aabb ccdd eeff ggaa Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4, Closest metre: iambic pentameter Сlosest rhyme: couplets Сlosest stanza type: tercets Guessed form: heroic couplets .07 9/7 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson rhyme
Ditch Lily
short the spam of arms and legs and head the eyes, so short like a louse on a dog or bird feather of a sort jumps high like a flea with a springing knee the flesh dies to jerky to black earth ashes the days the nights the hours years the sun the moon did you see me? the seconds flee by, they float eat the egg and liver, drink the breast milk hunt and stab kill for meat of the animal with hair breathing the air tooth and tongue the food pyramid apex make the large stone swath path for ruddy man of the carts and cars coughing spewing oily fog slamming the dog the cat the ibex the rabbit the ground hog, roadkill like a dog shortening the limbs the fingers & the spine the pearly whites, the necrotic black bone nipped the seat that wines and dines on French cuisine or smells the violet lavender at home or pincers the rooster's pink comb short the span of the orange ditch lily in the sun short the run 6-21-2022 3.6 10/10 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson
Open Me
open me Listen to my silent cry within tune out the noise to let the meaning in drain my heart from love that leaves me dry open me to feel you with a sigh signify, my essence drifts again catch it now, my thoughts burn within Search for truth, all falls apart when I leave behind to turn within memories we made last fall hundreds more, when I call direct me to my real home set me free from this roam signify, I'll not drift again catch it now, this restless within Search for truth, all falls apart when I leave it now, vision churns within Drained from love that left me dry open to feel again with a sigh I'm lonely without you by my side every night in silence I've cried open to feel again, I'll not hide-- open to feel again, I must try to feel you again by my side This was written during a time of deep depression over a failed relationship fifteen years ago. I leave it without an edit though it is tedious to me - it came out of my immediate melodrama. © Brian Peter Hodgkinson rhyme
Black Mirror
the black glass plastic and metal rectangle sits droid deaf upon the oak wood foldable table a world travel to call at the push of a hand but not a sound vibrates the velvet gloss broadband the not-so distant contacts don't wireless the gameboy the ringtone space invader noisy phone toy but robo-call intruders yak-yak to decoy the honey listened for doesn't seek more play sinking into the sofa and me, i'm no playboy but the clothed buttock is now growing bruised the treasures we shared a whisper can boost but the shiny molded rectangle refused quiet as the quilt of the vacant queen bed fabricated ideas flash bombs in the head shadowy eyes stare dag at the skull bone but the cellular dark as black as onyx stone the call waited for might not ring again a day nearer to focus a dead rift break waiting for the space age vibration and shake the black glass sits dead siesta on the stand 4.6 7/7 Closest metre: iambic pentameter Сlosest rhyme: couplets Сlosest stanza type: tercets Guessed form: heroic couplets © Brian Peter Hodgkinson rhyme
Should’ve Listened to the Robin
my eye lids ajar my gray brain speaking pictures the light screen building awakened solo sun in the old siesta breath in electric travel star-gate core solar resuscitation castles in the clouds the drawing pad sphere plotting below hair layer poses from thin air a robin with worm hopped next to me on the porch the friendly warning the lorn soloist sniffs around for the lost rib hazardous pursuit 5-7-5 Haiku String 4.0 10/7 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson
Virginia Mary Kelly
Canadian but family from Ireland, Virginia Mary voluptuous brunette but dyes her hair blond a dead ringer for Marilyn Munroe but she's more a reader of Taylor Caldwell and theosophy lore immigrated to the people of Uncle Sam in Ohio she and her man built up a house from a barn then embraced two orphaned boys with a new home but in her blood a liquid disease lurked accurst the pressures of wedlock and raising boys first drove her a glass bottle of Pembrook whiskey thirst hiding a case of Smirnoff under the bed drinking orange screw drivers for her morning head a pillar of the Episcopal church alone she tread but her husband distant cold building a sail boat did necessary jobs to buoy the family afloat she danced after a few to the Firehouse Five with her boys jitterbugging and hooting alive 3.6 10/10 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson rhyme
Bubble Attack
a twinge of pain in the chest the throb below the center ribs the speech-bubble in the head begins puffing up flashing cardial attack surgery stroke clot aneurysm the bubble helium grows and vibrates like a monster of terror with fangs of surgical knives minions with white lab coats all in the bubbly head bubble blowing up taut the pump speeds up hear da-dum sloshing in the ears the tight bubble with more horror language breathing gasps the monsters of terror loom sirens sounding coiling revolving in the head ouroboros feeding on me sucking like spaghetti chest and ribs thumping world dimming black nose pins and needles strangulation brain bouncing off bone walls screaming the echo chamber hemmed in this all began with a twinge in the chest and the speech-bubble in the head terror fuels more terror - then mountain of pain xanax worstened this for me, but sitting like siesta saying - let let entering the now sanctum kills the swallowing snake .04 10/9 © Brian Peter Hodgkinson