Monday, September 11, 2017

9/11 + 16 Years, Why Remember? (A Rubaiyat)

Sixteen years ago today, the world changed for all of us.  +maricris cabrera and I invite you to join us in commemorating this day, not just by looking back, but also forward. How can we as world citizens find the path toward a peaceful and harmonious tomorrow?  Add your thoughts, poems, essay, art, music.

9-11 plus 16 years: Why Remember? (A Rubáiyát)

In sacred space I bow my head to pray
And promise that I’ll ne’er forget this day
The day that Hell came screaming with a flare
Once again, a world ignored, made us pay.

In solitude, my soul, stand in the square
Feel the presence of their faces as they stare
Into visages of fear and fate, this date
Not so long ago, and we’re told “Beware!”

High above my head those jets smashed glass plate
The Cup of Fools was lost, Death did berate
A Nation unprepared ‘til winds of change
Foolish pretensions did emasculate

Not wanting to be us? We thought that strange
But hating what we stood for? So deranged!
People in despair, thinking no one cares
Fall prey, demagogues spout violent rage

On what to meditate in moments spare
The take-away which wisdom will declare?
From this alone will come security
That flame of hope as all look to its flare

Our times call for mental dexterity
Cut through jargon with perspicacity 
Penetrate the surface with discernment 
Understand my brother with clarity

Take the constant struggle, no adjournment
Yet not against religion’s commitment,
But bigotry, hatred which fears diff’rence
Narrow minded dogma, labels instant

Hiding my brother’s face with persistence
Behind a cursed wall’s long insistence 
Let me be first to reach and break fear’s spell
Else hate, triumphant, reigns with consistence

Hail Brother, we have much we both do well
Let’s see each other eye to eye and dwell
On commonalities where we agree
Not in shadows where lines of difference fell

Cheapening of life in a violent spree
Is not godly in any faith to be
We must resist terror’s war so grown
Else our world die in flame without reprieve.

You try to change the world into your own
Warheads on foreheads more souls fall unknown
Islam is religion of peace betrayed
Disguised in symbols of noble cause, disowned.

Do you really love the world around you
You pray for peace with head bowed down, don't you?
Nations grieved as the flesh were torn apart
Tarnished sands where camels chew and oils brew.

Don't you realize their footprints are gone now
Blasted into smithereens I hate thou
Your number is few, don't let your children
Pay your wicked acts, teach love show them how.

Misguided, you're bringing war to the fore
Innocent dreams you charred, ash to the shore
Unfortunately, questions unanswered
Nemesis breathe 'til you exhale no more.



© 2017 Maricris Cabrera & David W Palmer

Saturday, September 9, 2017

I wish to invite all my friends to join with me on Monday, September 11 at 8:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time (UT +5) the moment the first jet slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, 16 years ago. Our purpose is not to rehash old injuries, but to focus on which direction we may journey to promote harmony and understanding in a world to often ready to divide along lines of prejudice, judgmentalism, intolerance, and fear of those whose appearance, values, dress, religion, politics and interests differ from ours. I hope you will join me Monday, to add your comments to my post, "Which way forward to Understanding?


Sunday, August 6, 2017

Sadako's Cranes (InvertedHexaduad)

Sadako’s Cranes

Folding
Brightly colored paper
Origami cranes, and we fly
Away with them
From this world’s illusion
Power and pain
Just fall away
And soar into the sun
Of peace and joy
We invest hope our with you, child
Folding brightly colored
Paper

© 2017 david w palmer

Sadako Sasaki was only 2 the day the black rain fell over Hiroshima
Ten years later she would die from leukemia, complications of her
Exposure to that radiation. She was told if she folded 1000 origami
Cranes she could have one wish granted. She died after making 644 
Of them. Her classmates folded the thousand in her memory and they

Are buried with her. Her family kept her 644. This is her memorial in Hiroshima.

Paper Lanterns -- Inverted Hexaduad

Paper Lanterns (Inverted Hexaduad)

Victims
We always remember
Paper Lanterns floating on glass
Seas forever
Always away from me
Plunge after you
And draw you back 
To my safe shores I would
But free spirits
Belong to God, never to me
We always remember
Heroes

© 2017 david w palmer
In memory of the victims of the Atomic Bomb detonation

Over Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945, 8:15 AM

Monday, July 31, 2017

Headdesk (Fibonacci Sequence)

Headdesk

In
My
Moments,
Clarity
Encounters me like
A brick wall, immovable -- these
People are not going to change, nor see reason today
If I can see what needs to be done, then do it. Headdesk banging just bruises my brain.

© 20l7 david w palmer

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Lenity (a Free Verse Quatrain)

Lenity (free verse quatrain)

Not the thunderous pontifications of dictators,
Nor the terror visited upon our cities too often,
Nor advanced weapons systems and missile tests
That move our world and effect lasting change.

Not the weight of monetary gain, nor one percent wealth,
Nor the intelligence behind presidential think tanks
Nor the noisemakers, talking heads, or media celebrities
That shake our world’s convictions nor advance our condition

These are but distractions in a purposeless existence
Jesters in the marketplace of ideas vying for our purchase
Blaring, glaring, daring voices convinced of their own importance
And they will be but yesterday’s news come the rising of next sun.

Not the famous, nor historical, not the man who would be king
It’s the quiet voice of lenity, the gentle voice almost drowned out
That makes us face ourselves and stop and think. It’s the saints
We know on local shores whose moral suasion gravitates the tides.

The movers and shakers who shape the things to come are not
They who bully, legislate, sermonize, philosophize unceasingly.
Look for the gentle man with the heavenly dove at rest on his hands,
The roaring lamb whose life exemplifies the better self we all could be.

© 2017 david w palmer
30-July, 2017
Auburn, Washington, USA



Saturday, July 29, 2017

Cerealogy (A Gwawdodyn - Tongue in Cheek)

Cereology (A Gwawdodyn – tongue in cheek)

Visitors from the Great Beyond?
Or bored frustrated artists bound
For Des Moines, not the stars above?
“Earn coin, Plow it, they will come ‘round.”

Prepare to be invaded, Love
Martian hostiles seek warmth, will shove
Human Earthlings into exile
Living in homes we’re deprived of

They’ve been appearing for awhile
Such sophisticated style
I wonder what they’re here for, though
Ponder their journey, million miles.

Wonder what message they disclose
Why do we live here in repose?
Please, Miranda, not this facound
“On Andromeda, Eat at Joe’s.”

© 2017 david w palmer

“Des Moines,” Capitol city of the State of Iowa, USA (French, means “Of the monks”)
“Facound” from the French and Middle English, meaning eloquent speech. I am being sarcastic here.




Erstwhile Poplars (Narrative Poetry)

Erstwhile Poplars (Narrative Poem)

That line of stately poplars
Defines the main avenue
Up to the great house on this
Dignified, historic, if not dilapidated
Estate; those trees, the last of
The heraldry of the Ancien Régime
That once defined the closest thing
To caste an American Society has, and
They are the last witnesses to days
Of brighter glory when erstwhile
Industrialists and philanthropists
Tried their hand at raising the sights
Of the poor and displaced among them.
Trouble was, that dream was false, for
The Invitation to better one’s lot was
But a mirage. True advancement never
Was the object, for none of “them”
Would ever set foot in the gentlemen’s
Clubs, nor worship from the front pew
Of the Presbyterian Church, or be
Elected to office in this town, to that Council.

But winds of change do blow and when they strike
Those poplars, erstwhile stalwarts of an inflexible
Social structure suddenly were bowing and scraping
And doing homage to the gale-force winds of
Fermenting reform. The secret to the trees’ survival
Is to accommodate and adjust to prevailing trends
And offer the path of least resistance. And the elements
Believe they are accomplishing something significant.
But movements falter, enthusiasm wanes and the
Hoi Polloi do have miserable lives to get back to:
Children to raise, bread on the table, propagation
Of the next desperate working class generation.
The cause be left for yet another day, and those poplars,
Once erstwhile accommodators to the forces that would
Move them, return to their former stately function
Of dividing lines of property and inheritance to which
None of “them” will ever gain admittance.

The more things change….

© 2017 david w palmer
29-June, 2017
Auburn, Washington, USA

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Epithalamion 3 (A Gwawdodyn)

Epithalamion 3 (A Gwawdodyn Chain)

I rebel against advancing night
Draw you close to kiss ‘neath stars so bright
This our moment may never come again
Dreams may ferment, lovers live in light

Life be captur’d in a snapshot’s plain
Twisting turning paths of life’s refrain
Have made this great crescendo here with you
No innuendo, this our path hath gain’d

Let’s celebrate our love that’s ever true
Found our way to paradise anew
Living, loving kissing sweetly sharing
With your soul thriving ‘neath skies so blue

Bless us Father, as we live loving
For our precious partner so caring
Standing with this sight above, cosmos vast
Let’s ever seek secrets light’s revealing.

© 2017 david w palmer

Epithalamion – a wedding song (the third one I have composed)

Inspired by the song “We May Never Pass This Way Again,” Seals & Crofts
https://youtu.be/HpLMnA2aXos

Metanoia (Sonnet #520)

Metanoia Sonnet #520

Is it true, time remains to change my road
Or having tread too many steps, am trapped
To see it through,  this path my ways have snatched
Regret be my motif? My curse, this load?
Your trust, now lost, could I its holder be,
If fruits of change you see in evidence,
Or be hidden dragon in residence
The new hurdle o’er which love cannot flee?
I will arise, not wallow in this mire
Excuse, defense, neither will I offer.                                                               
My selfish choice caus’d your heart to suffer
Against your trust ‘twas I who set the fire.
Mere promises are not the things you need
Consistency heart’s metanoia pleads.


© 2017 david w palmer



Tarn (A Lai)

Tarn (A Lai)

On a rocky reach
Above lines of beech
Wander

Echoes never cease
Kisses are our speech
Winner

Just us, as you please
Alone and at peace
Fonder


© 2017 david w palmer

Perspective (A Gwawdodyn)

Perspective (A Gwawdodyn)

It’s a wonder you can talk to me
Nor I to you when enlightened we
Elevate opinion to certainty
Castigate perspectives contrary.


© 2017 david w palmer

Falling Embers (A tanka 短歌)

A tanka 短歌

falling embers
brightly break on rock
dances with color
even in death throws
echoes a well burned fire


© 2017 david w palmer

I Wept For Her (A Kyrielle)

I Wept for Her (A Kyrielle)

She found me lost, writing my verse
First conversation unrehearsed
Pearls of wisdom we did disperse
She owns my heart, I wept for her

Her lines bring such delight, so terse 
For me displays the universe
Cosmos in miniature bursts
She owns my love, I wept for her

She took a risk, my heart did pierce
And asked could she be mine. Of course
Soul aquifers released great force
She owns my soul, I wept for her

A stone sank in my soul averse
To hearing diagnosis cursed
Wailing tears implor’d angel nurse
She owns my life, I wept for her

My God in heaven heard, of course
And stilled my shrieking voice, now hoarse
Restored my love’s true vital source
She owns me true, I wept for her.


© 2017 david w palmer


Mariposa (A Kyrielle)

Mariposa (A Kyrielle)

So soft, secure, sheltered, sublime
The neatest package in the pines
Boundaries comfort, for a time
Unfurl, your wings were meant to soar

Losing your home, nothing rhymes
Adrift, at loss, alas, a crime?
Time you knew, mise en abyme*
Unfurl, your wings were meant to soar

Fly beyond these shores to new climes
Taste honeysuckle, and the thyme
Bring back poems of ancient rime
Unfurl, your wings were meant to soar

Wildflower fields wave like mimes
Tempting tastes while crickets chime
Sage and spearmint served amandine**
Unfurl, your wings were meant to soar

© 2017 david w palmer

*mise en abyme – French, self-aware, visually when the object being discussed itself appears in the picture – in otherwords, the butterfly should be the star in her own show

**amandine – a dish prepared and served with almonds 


Image: Pacific Science Center Butterfly House, Seattle, Washington (2nd Ave N & Mercer)


Sunday, July 23, 2017

Dreamy (Inverted Hexaduad)

Dreamy
Living in Paradise
Bright beyond reason for this is
Realization
I’m living and loving
My beautiful
Precious, loving
Sweetheart of destiny
Adam and Eve
This was our plan for completion
Living in Paradise
Dreamy

© 20l7 david w palmer

  https://youtu.be/L0CVoFsUhC4                                                                                                                        


The ugh tenor vocals by Earth, Wind and Fire's Philip Bailey, are not to be missed

Friday, July 21, 2017

Taleisin. (Gwawdodyn)

Taleisin (A Gwawdodyn)

Spirit of song, on my heart descend
To our ears, long silenced verse attend
Walk my sad streets that thoughts sublime repeat
Footfalls long forgot these stairs ascend.

© 2017 david w palmer


Welsh names’ meaning

Ceinwen [KINE-win] – beautiful blessed gems
Bronwen [BRON-win] – Of the White Breast
Banon [BAY-nun] -- Queen
Ceiridwen [SARAH-dwen] – Fair Poetess (Welsh Celtic)
   In Welsh myth, Ceiridwen is the goddess of poetic inspiration, and mother of Taleisin
Taleisin [TALLEY es-sen], legendary Welsh bard of the sixth century. In folklore, his stature rises to that of a wizard and companion and advisor to King Arthur in Camelot

Ceiridwen (A Gwawdodyn)

Poetess, so fair of verse and face
‘Neath your vision’s beauty, find my place
Heaven shall be found where your love abounds
Roadmap to glory through time and space.

© 2017 david w palmer

Cieridwen (Gwawdodyn)

Ceiridwen (A Gwawdodyn)

Poetess, so fair of verse and face
‘Neath your vision’s beauty, find my place
Heaven shall be found where your love abounds
Roadmap to glory through time and space.

© 2017 david w palmer

Ceinwen, Bronwen, Banon (Gwawdodyn)

The Gwawdodyn is a Welsh poem consisting of four lines. Lines l, 2 and 4 rhyme.  Line 3 rhymes with itself as the last word of that lines with another word appearing earlier in that line.

Ceinwen (A Gwawdodyn)

Ceinwen laid down among the lillies
And I could not decide, this filly,
Or flower possessed more beauty power.
Should I tell her, she’d call me silly.

© 2017 david w palmer

Bronwen (A Gwawdodyn)

No beauty fairer could I describe
Than she whose face my eyes do imbibe
Oh, maid of Dowlais, my sweet enchantress
My soul makes its home where you reside

© 2017david w palmer

Banon (A Gwawdodyn)



My Queen, my colors dip demurely
Surrender to the greater beauty
Possess my poor heart, yeah, every part
My allegiance is yours securely.

© 2017david w palmer

Serein (Inverted Hexaduad)

Serein

Serein
Peaceful wash, purge my pain
Gently penetrate to my core
Fresh reservoir
Evening’s misty light
Sweet rainbow bright
Blest color scheme
Descending like a dream
May I embrace
This mindful centeredness of grace
Peaceful wash, purge my pain
Serein

© 2017 david w palmer

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Soliloquy (Free Verse)

Soliloquy

Should I surmount this stage
And face those lights so bright
I'd only have the courage
Knowing that just behind
Those blinding footlights
And o'erpowering floods
That on the first row
You sit enraptured.
I cannot see you, feel or touch
But your smile, warmth and
Glistening tears tell me
How pleased you are with me
Tonight and every night.
For you know, that in my house
There's only one whose favor
And applause I seek
It is you, sweet Darling
Lover of my soul
And to you in sweet
Soliloquy let me pour
Out gently into your soul
The anthem of my heart
When all is said and done
May this my message be
That I have loved you
From the start, and
In love with you
I will always be

©2017 david w palmer




Deep Blue (A Collaboration)

Deep Blue

Ohhh.....love less life....
You have choked me;
An open heart I offered you
Trusting, vulnerable
You deceived me with your looks.
Was my Heart ever to know?
I even was so foolish.
No risk, no gain, no love,
Convinced myself.
Such heartache!
Why do l feel so incomplete...
I thought you loved me.
What do I have to show
For all this misplaced belief?
Love has many colors so they say
But you gave me nothing but Tears
What I thought were such vibrant hues
Have all turned now, color my heart blue

© 2017 Nasreen Malik & David Palmer
(A Collaboration)



Monday, July 17, 2017

Beauty Breathes (A Rubáiyát)

Beauty Breathes (A Rubáiyát) 

Beauty breathes when you come into the room
Peace, still, your love weaves magic on the loom
My soul, transfixed, can only contemplate
This love which snatched me from the claws of doom.

Once hopeless, what you say invigorates
Imaginative dreams to satiate
They need not be released with resigned sigh
But come to pass as I initiate.

If I can dream it, why not simply try?
You taught me to believe, never deny
The musing of my heart will come to pass
A better world than one we all decry.

Come now with me, shatter ceilings of glass
That not in baby steps but all en-masse 
This future we expand in macro zoom
Will weave our souls, two become one, first class.


© 2017 david w palmer


Majlis (A Villanelle)

Majlis (A Villanelle)

In Tehran, Majlis gather governing
Nightingales do wail from palace gardens
Do we await our fate, or choose reigning?

Who should taste tomorrow? You pursuing!
Seize your reigns before that day will harden
In Tehran, Majlis gather governing.

Dreams ripen along paths we’re preparing
Hardly popping up with “Beg your pardon.”
Do we await our fate, or choose reigning?

Always there be those who’d seize our blessing
If they win, we gave away our starland
In Tehran, Majlis gather governing

I, for one, would choose my story’s ending
Not be a passive beggar on the margin
Do we await our fate, or choose reigning?

So quill in hand, watch your plot thickening
Initiatives you seize be your portion
In Tehran, Majlis gather governing
Do we await our fate, or choose reigning?

© 2017 david w palmer



Sottovoce (Sonnet #518)

Sottovoce* (Sonnet #518)

Now, I know you and have known you always
E’en ‘fore I knew your name or where you hid
I’ve heard you call my name, I know you did:
“Have you yet sought my path? Please find the way!”
In night stillness when other voices cease,
Your whisp’ring trumpets call me from my sleep
From Gates of Paradise in play we’d leap
On Earth you’ll know my voice, it brings you peace.
Had we but known the lonely miles we’d tread
Our shoe prints rubbing blisters on our souls
Oh, on my knees I’d crawl and pay this toll
Thus to your loving arms my path has led.
All nights of sorrow past, behold the morn
I’ve needed to love you since I was born.

©2017 david w palmer

*”Sottovoce” – Italian, “whisper,” literally, “undervoiced”


https://youtu.be/mTVpNXG7iBk  (inspired by Karen Carpenter, "I Need to Be in Love")


Bosky Stand (Sonnet #519)

Bosky Stand (Sonnet #519)

Sylvan scene beyond the boggy marshes
Softly sweet this bosky stand of hemlock
Invites us in and deeper yet, chambered
In sweet surrender to passionate love.
None can see, nor hear, nor find us hiding
Nestled in the intimacy of soul
Where like this one lost creek meandering
We are not anxious to leave this shelter.
Cover me with kisses, and I'll enter
With rejoicing in this magic whose spell
Turns wetlands forthwith to beauty's burrows
And innocent expressions to Eden.
In the cool of the day we'll walk and talk
At home with our Creator who is pleased.

(C) 20l7 david w palmer


Sunday, July 16, 2017

Janus (Sonnet #516)

Janus (Sonnet #516)

Penetrating perspective on your past
An essential attainment to pursue
Openings that your Future offers you
Hide not from pain, reclaim, to own at last.
To rue, regret and remonstrate resigns
To fruitless rehashing, copious tears.
It happened, Yes, and yet, I am still here
Meant for defeat, I beat what they designed.
That’s worth a celebration, is it not?
Today’s joys rising belong to this sun
Not to the clouded one who’s had his run
God, the author, endless, does write your plot.
Look forward in his light, what will be true?
That He envisions joy accomp’ny you.


© 2017 david w palmer

The Seven Orchid Promise (Sonnet #515 - Acrostic)

The Seven-Orchid Promise (Sonnet #515)

Seven perfect promise gifts are bestowed;
Only your beauty will I ever seek.
Rich contentment belongs to those whose meek
Confession states things are not joy. Betrothed,
Home shall be with a Person, not a place.
Investment is time spent in knowing you
Discovering surprising beauty true.
Perfect goddess, I gaze upon your face
Revealing God’s creation, never mine.
Oh! Be yourself, that is enough for me.
My every step with yours shall ever be
In sync, become more us, not mine or thine.
Still, we as two distinct, remain diverse
Ever completing compliment in verse.


© 2017 david w palmer

Finding You (Sonnet 514)

Finding You (Sonnet #514)

I thought my path was clear until I stepped
Out from the sage and scrub on the outcrop
And in alarm did find I’d lost the trail
To end my wand’ring and come home to you.
Despair descends darkly, I’m not alone
The world today just seems so lost as well
Upon perdition’s precarious shelf
As if no one knows the way back to home.
Shepherd, find me, route me, turn my return
That where I left your path I find again
Life’s obliteration obscures the marks
Or is it me, who’s closed his eyes to truth?
Is our love’s heart path open to me yet?
This prodigal desires to come home.

© 2017 david w palmer

Inspired by life, and this song: Styx, “Show Me the Way”. 



Weeding (Inverted Hexaduad)

Weeding (Inverted Hexaduad)

Buffoon
Poke holes in my balloon
So filled with pride down deep inside
Something has died
And needs resurrection
Introspection
Oh, search my heart
Remove self-centered starts
Those fulsome lies
Uproot, replant with softened eyes
Poke holes in my balloon,
Buffoon


(C) 2017 david w palmer

Kindle (A Villanelle -- Abbreviated Form)

Kindle

Strike the match which kindles
Passion within my heart
Wall of flame, ne’er dwindles

Weave from magic spindles
Love’s visions, ne’er depart
Strike the match which kindles

Should love depart, we’re swindled
Why can’t this love restart?
Wall of flame, ne’er dwindles

Scorched soul chambers brindled
Sweet healing, play your part
Strike the match which kindles

Why hope we can rekindle?
Seize this, my counterpart
Wall of flame, ne'er dwindles

Your heart, I have indwelt
You’re precious, my Sweetheart
Strike the match which kindles
Wall of flame, ne’er dwindles

© 2017 david w palmer

A Villanelle [Abbreviated]