<![CDATA[Poetry Forum - Miscellaneous Poetry]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 06:28:00 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[To the First Fire]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27303.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:22:11 +0000 alonso ramoran]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27303.html Our connection, this space
I communicate across, is as strong
as your acceptance
of any part of your position
in the arc that we all follow,
being that you once thought yourself
estranged from your own kind.

In this vein, my presence was immutable:
I'm still with you here,
listening to you grasp
for phantom conduits to channel
the grief of all things
transient and fragile, as if attempting
to call in some alien other
from the dark. Though not alien,

understand these words won’t reach you
as the words you are perceiving,
as your words never reached me
verbatim. Ages distort tongues.
Only warmth survives translation.
You and I can sit in silence
and it would be enough
to watch the embers ebb into the cold night,
wherever you might be,
wherever there is fire.]]> Our connection, this space
I communicate across, is as strong
as your acceptance
of any part of your position
in the arc that we all follow,
being that you once thought yourself
estranged from your own kind.

In this vein, my presence was immutable:
I'm still with you here,
listening to you grasp
for phantom conduits to channel
the grief of all things
transient and fragile, as if attempting
to call in some alien other
from the dark. Though not alien,

understand these words won’t reach you
as the words you are perceiving,
as your words never reached me
verbatim. Ages distort tongues.
Only warmth survives translation.
You and I can sit in silence
and it would be enough
to watch the embers ebb into the cold night,
wherever you might be,
wherever there is fire.]]> <![CDATA[Invisible Man’s Mirror]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27302.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:19:51 +0000 Deor Ana Log]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27302.html runs from me”
I say into my mirror
Another, “please”
Truth escapes like a
Christmas Wreath
Like an easter without eggs
A thanksgiving, no more turkey
Just find me by the side
Of downtown strays
Barking at polish,
And unnamed shoe
dressed in brown and beige 
and saturated skin
I’ll have the dressing
That every feast needs
And my mirror is shiny dust
I must confess, it heals me
Around drug stores that
Seem to be better 
Sanctuaries 
Too much glass in my 
Straw basket
No, don't help me! 
In specks of my reflection  
I still see myself
See myself perfectly]]> runs from me”
I say into my mirror
Another, “please”
Truth escapes like a
Christmas Wreath
Like an easter without eggs
A thanksgiving, no more turkey
Just find me by the side
Of downtown strays
Barking at polish,
And unnamed shoe
dressed in brown and beige 
and saturated skin
I’ll have the dressing
That every feast needs
And my mirror is shiny dust
I must confess, it heals me
Around drug stores that
Seem to be better 
Sanctuaries 
Too much glass in my 
Straw basket
No, don't help me! 
In specks of my reflection  
I still see myself
See myself perfectly]]> <![CDATA[Cats Life]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27284.html Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:36:15 +0000 Bunx]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27284.html Cats Life

Dust floating stagnant in the air.
Between sunlight's pattern poking
through the shutter that
hasn't moved in two years.

Vermilion rays echoing the sunset 
move closer to my eyes. The glare
a reminder of a day passing.

I stretch and yawn, disturbing
the tranquil timbre of traffic
and people outside. 

Waiting for the door to open,
and my human to arrive.]]> Cats Life

Dust floating stagnant in the air.
Between sunlight's pattern poking
through the shutter that
hasn't moved in two years.

Vermilion rays echoing the sunset 
move closer to my eyes. The glare
a reminder of a day passing.

I stretch and yawn, disturbing
the tranquil timbre of traffic
and people outside. 

Waiting for the door to open,
and my human to arrive.]]> <![CDATA[To the Last Fire]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27276.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:53:45 +0000 alonso ramoran]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27276.html did you know it is only on this planet
that you were ever found? On this planet,
meaning, in this breath.

Then, in this late breath admitting
ignorance, you must also know that yesterday
I shunned the moon, when it was full
and large and low with all the sorrows
I let diminish you. Even as I looked.

Your artless language:
you are either here or gone. What else
will your absence mean besides
the confirmation that I’ve spurned you
and, by extension, my siblings
whom you dwell in?

Time and space are deceptive things.
Allow enough of both and an echo
becomes another person's voice.
I blasphemed with distance, then my echoes
shaded into strangers’ voices,
their acquiescing laments always heard like
poems that end, but never as
your flickering.



v1 - To the Last Fire

Gentle flame of desire's wasteland,
did you know it is only on this planet
that you were ever found? On this planet,
meaning, in this breath.

Then, in this late breath admitting
ignorance, you must also know that yesterday
I shunned the moon, when it was full
and large and low with all the sorrows
I let diminish you. Your artless language:
you are either here or gone. What else
will your absence mean besides
the confirmation that I’ve spurned you
and, by extension, my siblings
whom you dwell in?

Time and space are deceptive things.
Allow enough of both and echoes
become another person's voice. I blasphemed
with distance, then my own echoes became 
the voices of strangers.
]]> did you know it is only on this planet
that you were ever found? On this planet,
meaning, in this breath.

Then, in this late breath admitting
ignorance, you must also know that yesterday
I shunned the moon, when it was full
and large and low with all the sorrows
I let diminish you. Even as I looked.

Your artless language:
you are either here or gone. What else
will your absence mean besides
the confirmation that I’ve spurned you
and, by extension, my siblings
whom you dwell in?

Time and space are deceptive things.
Allow enough of both and an echo
becomes another person's voice.
I blasphemed with distance, then my echoes
shaded into strangers’ voices,
their acquiescing laments always heard like
poems that end, but never as
your flickering.



v1 - To the Last Fire

Gentle flame of desire's wasteland,
did you know it is only on this planet
that you were ever found? On this planet,
meaning, in this breath.

Then, in this late breath admitting
ignorance, you must also know that yesterday
I shunned the moon, when it was full
and large and low with all the sorrows
I let diminish you. Your artless language:
you are either here or gone. What else
will your absence mean besides
the confirmation that I’ve spurned you
and, by extension, my siblings
whom you dwell in?

Time and space are deceptive things.
Allow enough of both and echoes
become another person's voice. I blasphemed
with distance, then my own echoes became 
the voices of strangers.
]]> <![CDATA[April Grins]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27274.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:52:02 +0000 Mark A Becker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27274.html April Grins

April wears a foolish grin, beaming
blossoms from bare limbs, blending
birdsong buzzing sounds, warming
up our eyes with flowers, urging
green from underground, peeking
sunshine between showers.

Now we feel the weather turning
day by day from worse to better, luring
us into the sunny, catching
us off guard with blowing, laughing
though it isn’t funny, fooling
us, suddenly snowing.]]> April Grins

April wears a foolish grin, beaming
blossoms from bare limbs, blending
birdsong buzzing sounds, warming
up our eyes with flowers, urging
green from underground, peeking
sunshine between showers.

Now we feel the weather turning
day by day from worse to better, luring
us into the sunny, catching
us off guard with blowing, laughing
though it isn’t funny, fooling
us, suddenly snowing.]]> <![CDATA[Invocation]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27267.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:16:49 +0000 rowens]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27267.html Invocation

If I were Pessoa,
I'd be happy;
as nothing is more true
than what is.
Not being—
I can imagine,
time, ships, cups and diners,
women who don't know me.
—But I won't think of time:

Inherent as it is,
the atmosphere of,
the context of me
looking back to weathers
and accents which are actually
now, and more felt than sensed.

And in this way, I am happy.
Not being Pessoa.
Pretending I am.]]> Invocation

If I were Pessoa,
I'd be happy;
as nothing is more true
than what is.
Not being—
I can imagine,
time, ships, cups and diners,
women who don't know me.
—But I won't think of time:

Inherent as it is,
the atmosphere of,
the context of me
looking back to weathers
and accents which are actually
now, and more felt than sensed.

And in this way, I am happy.
Not being Pessoa.
Pretending I am.]]> <![CDATA[Chiron and Wabisabi People]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27266.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:36:05 +0000 rowens]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27266.html Chiron and Wabisabi People

Pencil in hand, let's trace
the glances—each aspect,
the human body blinks and belches.

From cool air to warm river,
what flow of difference maintains
a throne? More an antechamber.

Now, in a forest, with the rules of society
the invisible glue that helps us:
Pan and the rest long after fields

open as sundials or daisies;
while Puck, skilled hare of the sound,
is a woodsman through and through.

From pinecone to star, whether our cats
are spies or dogs are guards,
sleep still plays the record

of our middling. Eyes separate as
lovers: How do we afford to
stay afloat, when every possibility

doesn't hold water only,
but explains in the dryest details
what could get the Gorgon wet?

Through a prism of self, he shoots the arrow,
tuning the music the Good Neighbor knows;
sad as that lunar grin can never hold.

Hilly fields with golden teeth
spread silence like patchwork across each
continent. Fertile with sun.

Before the sun, there is no darkness no less
than these sentences we trace recommend.

Song of birds, a bouquet of flowers:
we measure as though they're even.]]> Chiron and Wabisabi People

Pencil in hand, let's trace
the glances—each aspect,
the human body blinks and belches.

From cool air to warm river,
what flow of difference maintains
a throne? More an antechamber.

Now, in a forest, with the rules of society
the invisible glue that helps us:
Pan and the rest long after fields

open as sundials or daisies;
while Puck, skilled hare of the sound,
is a woodsman through and through.

From pinecone to star, whether our cats
are spies or dogs are guards,
sleep still plays the record

of our middling. Eyes separate as
lovers: How do we afford to
stay afloat, when every possibility

doesn't hold water only,
but explains in the dryest details
what could get the Gorgon wet?

Through a prism of self, he shoots the arrow,
tuning the music the Good Neighbor knows;
sad as that lunar grin can never hold.

Hilly fields with golden teeth
spread silence like patchwork across each
continent. Fertile with sun.

Before the sun, there is no darkness no less
than these sentences we trace recommend.

Song of birds, a bouquet of flowers:
we measure as though they're even.]]> <![CDATA[A coastal hike]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27257.html Sat, 21 Mar 2026 04:16:09 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27257.html A coastal hike (Edit 1.0)

I shall take my poems and go
to tea trees shaking in the rain
falling since yesterday, also
last year in pauses.
And the year before that
and the year before that
and so on till the dawn of man.
And before,
still before,
and before, until
the grass disappears,
the sea travels deep inland,
and before -

Original
I shall take my poems and go
to tea trees shaking in the rain
since yesterday falling, but also
last year in pauses,
and the year before that
and the year before that
and so on till the dawn of man
and still before
still before
till the grass disappears
and the sea travels deep inland.
]]> A coastal hike (Edit 1.0)

I shall take my poems and go
to tea trees shaking in the rain
falling since yesterday, also
last year in pauses.
And the year before that
and the year before that
and so on till the dawn of man.
And before,
still before,
and before, until
the grass disappears,
the sea travels deep inland,
and before -

Original
I shall take my poems and go
to tea trees shaking in the rain
since yesterday falling, but also
last year in pauses,
and the year before that
and the year before that
and so on till the dawn of man
and still before
still before
till the grass disappears
and the sea travels deep inland.
]]> <![CDATA[Dangling Past Participle (edit)]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27253.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:41:43 +0000 wasellajam]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27253.html
The past sneaks
in sporting a pom-pommed beanie
and an IDGAF teeshirt,

humming an earworm
that bounces
with a light step and a grin.

It can’t quite meet
my eye and pretend.

(all crit, or anything else, welcomed)


Dangling Past Participle

The past sneaks
in disguised
in a pom-pommed beanie
and an IDGAF teeshirt.

Its hum is masked
in an undercurrent,
a happy earworm that bounces
with a light step and a grin.

It can’t quite meet
your eye and act
as if scar tissue
removal is minor
surgery.
]]>
The past sneaks
in sporting a pom-pommed beanie
and an IDGAF teeshirt,

humming an earworm
that bounces
with a light step and a grin.

It can’t quite meet
my eye and pretend.

(all crit, or anything else, welcomed)


Dangling Past Participle

The past sneaks
in disguised
in a pom-pommed beanie
and an IDGAF teeshirt.

Its hum is masked
in an undercurrent,
a happy earworm that bounces
with a light step and a grin.

It can’t quite meet
your eye and act
as if scar tissue
removal is minor
surgery.
]]> <![CDATA[Poetry Blues]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27247.html Sun, 15 Mar 2026 16:42:42 +0000 Magpie]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27247.html

Poetry Blues (Song)

I don't care no more
about your metaphor.
You can take your sonnets
stand up and roar.
Keep your rhymes 
enjambed in lines
set them on fire.

I don't like the disdain
in your dizain.
You can take your haiku
and throw them away
with the blossom trees
in the springtime breeze
shed your bloom and fade.

Now your rondelet seems to say
that I'm the only thistle
in your garden of delight.
And your villanelle is trying to tell
the world that I'm the bushel
which sat on your dazzling light.

No I don't wanna trip
on your cryptic ways.
Your turn is alarming
your tongue is ablaze.
Paradox as it seems
I burst at the dreams
for your allusion.

I can't see the rose
in your prose.
You can take your sestina
and stick it where it snows.
Our syllables are stressed,
my vowels are depressed -
I can't stanza anymore.

Well your double dactyls deride
the personification
of my clumsy feet
and your cynical cinquains sing
of my dissonant cliché
stumbling down the street.

Oh I don't care no more
about your metaphor.
You can take your sonnets,
you can take the door.
Iamb but a fool
for you no more
you give me the poetry blues.]]>

Poetry Blues (Song)

I don't care no more
about your metaphor.
You can take your sonnets
stand up and roar.
Keep your rhymes 
enjambed in lines
set them on fire.

I don't like the disdain
in your dizain.
You can take your haiku
and throw them away
with the blossom trees
in the springtime breeze
shed your bloom and fade.

Now your rondelet seems to say
that I'm the only thistle
in your garden of delight.
And your villanelle is trying to tell
the world that I'm the bushel
which sat on your dazzling light.

No I don't wanna trip
on your cryptic ways.
Your turn is alarming
your tongue is ablaze.
Paradox as it seems
I burst at the dreams
for your allusion.

I can't see the rose
in your prose.
You can take your sestina
and stick it where it snows.
Our syllables are stressed,
my vowels are depressed -
I can't stanza anymore.

Well your double dactyls deride
the personification
of my clumsy feet
and your cynical cinquains sing
of my dissonant cliché
stumbling down the street.

Oh I don't care no more
about your metaphor.
You can take your sonnets,
you can take the door.
Iamb but a fool
for you no more
you give me the poetry blues.]]> <![CDATA[Dionysos and Dulcineas]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27244.html Sat, 14 Mar 2026 20:27:57 +0000 rowens]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27244.html  Dionysos and Dulcineas


Dulcineas and Dionysos,
in that order, 
are all that really matter.

Hold the spinach, give me
olive oil.
But Dionysos and Dulcineas!

What is time, 
the age of girls
proportionate to their beauty.

Whether vintage, foreign
or domestic—
who works at the register?

Bottom shelf and plump
as the Round-Rumped Beasts 
of the Universities:

I am high and low
and middlebrow
as the actresses of the moment.

Dulcineas and Dionysos.

You all would be on your own:
But for Dionysos and Dulcineas,

I'd have no mind for terrorism
or heart of compassion.

Stray leopards, raspy coyotes,
we screech and prowl in bramble.]]>  Dionysos and Dulcineas


Dulcineas and Dionysos,
in that order, 
are all that really matter.

Hold the spinach, give me
olive oil.
But Dionysos and Dulcineas!

What is time, 
the age of girls
proportionate to their beauty.

Whether vintage, foreign
or domestic—
who works at the register?

Bottom shelf and plump
as the Round-Rumped Beasts 
of the Universities:

I am high and low
and middlebrow
as the actresses of the moment.

Dulcineas and Dionysos.

You all would be on your own:
But for Dionysos and Dulcineas,

I'd have no mind for terrorism
or heart of compassion.

Stray leopards, raspy coyotes,
we screech and prowl in bramble.]]> <![CDATA[Narcissus In Venusian Clothes]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27237.html Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:50:51 +0000 wasellajam]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27237.html
How long before the masquerade
dissolves before your lover’s eye,
one night, a month or twenty years?
The shell will crack and out will ooze
the suffocated residue
of who you were before the sham.

How long before she hates herself
for falling for a surface laid
upon a turd of misery
who wooed her with a sticky net
disguised as loving empathy?

But you won’t fret about her fall,
your weakened prey has been the point.
So why the look of pained surprise
when finally she extricates
herself, relieved to fly away?



Narcissus In Venusian Clothes  (after Magpie)

How long before the masquerade
dissolves before your lover’s eye,
one night, a month or twenty years?
The shell will crack and out will ooze
the suffocated residue
of who you were before the sham.

How long before she hates herself
for falling for a surface laid
upon a turd of misery
who wooed her with a sticky net
disguised as loving empathy?

But you won’t fret about her fall,
your weakened prey has been the point.
So why the look of pained surprise
when finally she extricates
herself and flies away towards joy?

]]>
How long before the masquerade
dissolves before your lover’s eye,
one night, a month or twenty years?
The shell will crack and out will ooze
the suffocated residue
of who you were before the sham.

How long before she hates herself
for falling for a surface laid
upon a turd of misery
who wooed her with a sticky net
disguised as loving empathy?

But you won’t fret about her fall,
your weakened prey has been the point.
So why the look of pained surprise
when finally she extricates
herself, relieved to fly away?



Narcissus In Venusian Clothes  (after Magpie)

How long before the masquerade
dissolves before your lover’s eye,
one night, a month or twenty years?
The shell will crack and out will ooze
the suffocated residue
of who you were before the sham.

How long before she hates herself
for falling for a surface laid
upon a turd of misery
who wooed her with a sticky net
disguised as loving empathy?

But you won’t fret about her fall,
your weakened prey has been the point.
So why the look of pained surprise
when finally she extricates
herself and flies away towards joy?

]]> <![CDATA[The Venusian Arts]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27236.html Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:38:40 +0000 Magpie]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27236.html The Venusian Arts

They gather round at six
to swap malevolence
and fortify eager
souls for the brutal hunt.
A song for Baphomet.
A poem to Lucifer.


(original)
The Venusian Arts

They gather round at six
to swap malevolence
and ready their eager
souls for the brutal hunt.
A song for the Devil.
A poem to Lucifer.]]> The Venusian Arts

They gather round at six
to swap malevolence
and fortify eager
souls for the brutal hunt.
A song for Baphomet.
A poem to Lucifer.


(original)
The Venusian Arts

They gather round at six
to swap malevolence
and ready their eager
souls for the brutal hunt.
A song for the Devil.
A poem to Lucifer.]]> <![CDATA[Chiron]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27207.html Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:31:54 +0000 rowens]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27207.html Chiron


Fertile Land as far as eye can see;
beyond, the Sea of No-Thing-To-Understand.
His horned bedfellows laugh, as he is
them, one of each,
beast, man: a solid 
ark, but
for the golden seam.

A river crossing his heart
drowns the sickness,
opal cells: he weeps
with each recovery—each war.
What a fine bind his teachings.
Offering and burning are the same.

The storm that never comes blinded
his hatred to fortune;
mercy a field of thyme.
One apocalypse after the other,
fire to fuel to digital globin:
dined with Washington, Faust and Parsifal.—
At the Globe, he asked just enough of
a molested yet compassionate ground.
Tapestry blue and the void beyond: 
fasting dampens the clouded veins.]]> Chiron


Fertile Land as far as eye can see;
beyond, the Sea of No-Thing-To-Understand.
His horned bedfellows laugh, as he is
them, one of each,
beast, man: a solid 
ark, but
for the golden seam.

A river crossing his heart
drowns the sickness,
opal cells: he weeps
with each recovery—each war.
What a fine bind his teachings.
Offering and burning are the same.

The storm that never comes blinded
his hatred to fortune;
mercy a field of thyme.
One apocalypse after the other,
fire to fuel to digital globin:
dined with Washington, Faust and Parsifal.—
At the Globe, he asked just enough of
a molested yet compassionate ground.
Tapestry blue and the void beyond: 
fasting dampens the clouded veins.]]> <![CDATA[Mountaintop]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27199.html Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:32:30 +0000 Deadgone]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27199.html Dammit why we had to loot
Aint distracted by them flashy carzzz
I know the moniez in the boot
Do more than just smoke a zoot
Many just accept the pain 
Some try and cut the root
We all really wanna win 
But the game is rigged for us to lose
Am walking on a different path
Our difference more than different shoes 
Finding out my own facts
Am beefing those that control the news
Many man out here making tracks 
But our time is really running out
Many selling ish to cats 
but our time is really running out
Am taking them hours you wasted and am
Using that to tunnel out
The bigger picture is a scary sight
Knowing death will eventually come
Am wise like i been a father but god knows am stil a son
Looking at the same woman
Your distracted by her sexy bum
Ill look her in her eyes and think
Is she worthy of being someones mum
Wasting time and running round
In the end whats done is done 
Their falling victim to them drugs
Started with a one on one 
Money i could say a lot
But lessons learned is a better man 
Growing out of a poison crop
Young kids with good health
With a heartbeat bound to one day stop
Stuck in that crazy life
A tired bodies bound to drop
Through it all we chase eachother
Criminal running from a cop
Thinking small will get you nowhere
Try and find your mountaintop
Thinking small will get you nowhere
Try and find your mountaintop]]> Dammit why we had to loot
Aint distracted by them flashy carzzz
I know the moniez in the boot
Do more than just smoke a zoot
Many just accept the pain 
Some try and cut the root
We all really wanna win 
But the game is rigged for us to lose
Am walking on a different path
Our difference more than different shoes 
Finding out my own facts
Am beefing those that control the news
Many man out here making tracks 
But our time is really running out
Many selling ish to cats 
but our time is really running out
Am taking them hours you wasted and am
Using that to tunnel out
The bigger picture is a scary sight
Knowing death will eventually come
Am wise like i been a father but god knows am stil a son
Looking at the same woman
Your distracted by her sexy bum
Ill look her in her eyes and think
Is she worthy of being someones mum
Wasting time and running round
In the end whats done is done 
Their falling victim to them drugs
Started with a one on one 
Money i could say a lot
But lessons learned is a better man 
Growing out of a poison crop
Young kids with good health
With a heartbeat bound to one day stop
Stuck in that crazy life
A tired bodies bound to drop
Through it all we chase eachother
Criminal running from a cop
Thinking small will get you nowhere
Try and find your mountaintop
Thinking small will get you nowhere
Try and find your mountaintop]]>