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

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

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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”. 

https://youtu.be/oXf2PbEPQ-Y

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]

Wedding (A Pleiades Poem)

Wedding

White gown with angel’s face

Waltzing through joyous space

Wearing a wide-eyed smile

Walking to him in style

Washing cheek, one lone tear

With joy, she’ll hold him near

When love is present here.

© 2017 david w palmer

(A Pleiades Poem)

Beau Monde (Tanka Chain) 短歌

Beau Monde (Tanka Chain) 短歌

Swans swimming zig-zag

Restless, my tranquility

Hillside poppies wave

Silent thunders have impact

Listening for one clapping hand

For one clapping hand

The world will preen and curtsy

Elephants trumpet

Shorebirds migrate endlessly

Such is life in this beau monde

Life in this beau monde

Impalas die, lions live

Wicked balance strange

Trees chopped down will grow again

Man has but one turn to play

But one turn to play

Bet it all on double-six

Squall line ends the drought 

Thunder beats a timpani

Greet it all dispassionat’ly 

Dispassionat’ly

Aging hunter now hunted

Life full circle comes

Tears today water my soul

Tomorrow carves out canyons

She carves out canyons

Nature’s brush strokes never done

Perfection is myth

Evolution’s changing path

New tomorrow’s fantasy.

© 2017 david w palmer

Happenstance (Sonnet #511)

Happenstance (Sonnet #511)

Mystic the horizon 'twixt sea and sky

Out in the waves claimed by no king nor land

Where mermaids dwell and Neptune reigns supreme

Tis there, in the offing, I'll find your craft

To your sweet soul, my wild one I’ll graft

The fruit we bear as one tastes like a dream

None e'er foresaw, nor was this ever planned

But did evolve so guided by God's eye.

Now that we've come as one into this chance

In which direction shall we set our course

To some island across the China Sea

Or to the shores of Lesser Antilles?

Oh, do you care, if our joy be unforced

And we just let love guide in happenstance?

© 2017 david w palmer

Written for Beautiful Minds Word Prompt, “Offing”

Hosted by Maricris Cabrera, Owner

Alhambra Chronicles Prologue (Sonnet #510)

Dream Theater (Sonnet #510)

Alhambra Chronicles 1

Prologue: Alhambra Princess and Her Chevalier

Scenes in my mind play movies just for you

Would you be pleas’d to see a new romance?

Surprise, see who's the star, no happenstance

Day dreams so wild, I promise, you I’ll woo!

You thrilled when she a second glance did take

At her brave knight, and let her kerchief fall

And land upon the rose against the wall

He took, and kiss’d and kept it, you did shake

You hugged me close as they met in the grove

Let passion be their guide, and did conceive

Precious sweet fruit. Now, ‘cross the Pyrenees

To live as one, the cause for which they strove

And did you sob? This seems a hopeless quest?

Fear not Sweetheart, what’s coming is the best. 

© 2017 david w palmer

Redemption (Free Verse)

This poem inspired by the Doobie Brothers' song, "Long Train Running"

Redemption

While the clackin’ of the wheels

And the rockin’ of the car

Was her nightly lullaby to what passed for dreams,

Lucy lost her soul to the razor shards

Of a broken heart and a memory best forgotten

Her passport to oblivion, that faithful bottle of Jack

And she tasted all he gave her until the

Blackness of the night

Matched the Darkness in her heart

And silenced the accusing voices:

“You’re just a disappointment, take a look at you.

You could have been something, but they’ve been 

Removed from you. What would Daddy say,

Were he here to gaze upon this broken waif,

His daughter?”  And in the night, the train

Rolled on to who knows where, nor cares.

While the clackin’ of the wheels

And that rockin’ of the car

In endless cycles spin, you’ve got to find

Down deep inside, the miracle your God 

Has placed in you. And in that moment

When all roads point toward hell, Look Up!

That miracle within just might meet that

Miracle without now walking through that door

Had she eyes to recognize his presence.

His gaze was different, he ignored the label

Nor was she just diversion for his pleasure

In her he saw wonder and amazement

Because potential means much more than murky pasts.

“Who am I to judge and add rejection to your sorrow?

Just sit with me and hold my hand, we’ll learn from each other

And believe God’s grace holds much in store for our tomorrows.

https://youtu.be/eIi_GbFa_nw