Retakes 8 – Dennis Lange

I occasionally publish a post with a link to some of my earlier poems.  These
three were posted when many of you weren’t subscribing to my blog.  I
thought you might want to read these as well.  However, since some may
have read them already, I’ll try to give a description and/or enough
of the beginning lines that perhaps you can recognize the poem.  That way,
you won’t have to read it again – unless you want to.

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There’s Nothing As Sweet

There’s nothing as sweet as the smell of the rain
To farmers that live on the dry dusty plain.
There’s popcorn and peanuts in dark movie halls;
The scent of perfume on the softest white walls.
But nothing’s as sweet as the smell of the rain….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/theres-nothing-as-sweet-by-dennis-lange/

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The Traveler

My chair?

I sat, resigned;

Heard pleasant words

Pass by like birds

In flocks or herds….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/the-traveler-by-dennis-lange/

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September Snow

It’s Bastrop, Texas, where the Lost Pines grow -
Strays, stragglers, orphaned by none that we know,
But huddled, hold together, flourish well;
Draw men to verdant beauty’s midst to dwell….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/september-snow-by-dennis-lange/

 

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The Best WordPress Poetry of 2012

Best Poetry of the Year (2012)

As I said about a week ago when I posted the light verses winners, I started collecting poems in January of 2012 with the intent of declaring which poems I liked best.  The “best” are simply the ones I most liked (I’m strictly a rhyme and rhythm guy).  I didn’t analyze them critically, but took them as a whole.  I just liked them better than others I had read.

I’m simply unable to follow many more blogs than I do at present. And because WordPress last year changed the way WordPress members view new posts, I don’t read nearly as many poems in new posts as I once did. Non-members (or I can when I’m logged out) can see 25 or so new posts on a single page and skim quickly through the titles and pictures for something interesting to read. When I’m logged in, I usually see about 7 before I get to my stats and the format is not nearly as convenient. SO, if I’m not following your blog and you post a poem you’d particularly like me to read, put a link in the comments and I’ll gladly take the trip to your blog. Maybe I’ll like it well enough to file away for picking the best of 2013!

The exerpts and links that follow are for what I’ve chosen as the best WordPress poetry of 2012.  Congratulations to all those below.

I think the rest of you will enjoy them as well.

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The Territory ’76 by Dennis N. O’Brien

The lagoons like jewels in the yellow plain
Where the dry grass waits for the coming rain,
Like a necklace won from a tomb of old
Set with sapphires bring in a chain of gold…

http://dnobrienpoetry.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-territory-76/

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To A Sunset Cloud by Herschel Snow

O Cloud, (I’ll address you as if alive,
For such shameless vibrancy I’ve admired,
Only in what lives, or at least derives
Life from another.) I dare to inquire,…

http://raisingcrabgrass.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/to-a-sunset-cloud/

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Deadlocked in our Affair by “Bluesander”

You leave me wordless, my tongue tied in knots,
Drowning in a casket of my own deadly thoughts,
And what scares me the most is not your rejection,
But your silence, your whim – hollowed down affection…

http://bluesander.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/deadlocked-in-our-affair/#wpl-likebox

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Masseur by Kay Salady

Vanilla scented candles glimmer
Across silk cushions as they shimmer
Beneath her body as she lies
For fragrant oils to be applied…

http://kaysalady.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/masseur/

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Snowchild by Sandra Conner

When I was a child, I thought as a child,
And snow was a thing so delightful.
From school we were free; we got wet to the knees,
And our mom’s day was thrown all off schedule…

http://sandraconner.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/snowchild-2/

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Together As One by AJ Barlow

On our own merits, we’ll falter and fail
But together as one, we’ll always prevail
For us on our own, never could be
Half of what together makes you and me…

http://ajpoetry.com/2012/06/27/together-as-one/

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The Pattern Repeats by “Wordcoaster”

A pair of eyes that blush the robin red
And charm sweet smiles from all the nearby kids,
Your brows like sparrows with their wings outspread,
A flight of fancy perched above your lids…

http://wordcoaster.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/the-pattern-repeats/

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Autumnal by Kathryn Sparks

Faint as the smoke from a fir-branch fire
far off on the foggy shore,
Where salt-stung sea choruses a choir
as the tide rolls more and more…

http://kiwsparks.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/a-change-of-seasons/

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photo by Moi Cody at http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mf4jFRq/Golden+Cup

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Best Of The Year (2012) – Light Verse

Best of the Year (2012) – Light Verse

In January of 2012, I began collecting, in a file, links to poems I read here on WordPress that I really liked.  I did this with the intent of doing what I’m doing today – picking the best of 2012.  The “best” are simply what struck me as ones I liked (I’m strictly a rhyme and rhythm guy).  I didn’t pause to analyze them as to metaphor and simile and other elements of poetry, though many contain those elements.  I just liked them better than others I had read.

I’m simply unable to follow many more blogs than I do at present.  And because WordPress last year changed the way WordPress members view new posts, I don’t read nearly as many poems in new posts as I once did.  Non-members (or I can when I’m logged out) can see 25 or so new posts on a single page and skim quickly through the titles and pictures for something interesting to read.  When I’m logged in, I usually see about 7 before I get to my stats and the format is not nearly as convenient.  SO, if I’m not following your blog and you post a poem you’d particularly like me to read, put a link in the comments and I’ll gladly take the trip to your blog.  Maybe I’ll like it well enough to file away for picking the best of 2013!

The exerpts and links that follow are for what I’ve chosen as the best light verse of 2012.  The best of other poems will follow in a week or so.  Congratulations to all those below.

Enjoy!

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A Secret Wish by AJ Barlow

I wish I had a giant beard
That dangled from my face
So all the little things I own
Could Fin’lly have a place….

http://ajpoetry.com/2012/07/05/a-secret-wish/

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Missing You by Kathryn Sparks

The kettle on the hob is hissing

Without cease, for Kettie’s missing—

She dashed out to check the door

And hasn’t come back anymore….

http://kiwsparks.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/of-dire-days-and-nebulous-nights/

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The Ditching Hour by Michael W. Collins

The witching hour approacheth–twelve o’clock–
Yet sitteth I alone. No mortal shock:
My friends all liketh not my highflown speech
And ditcheth’d me, a lesson for to teach.

http://trollpants.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/the-ditching-hour/

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Not Once (The politician’s cry) by Marc Glasby

Not once have I lied, not once have I stolen
Not once have I made a mistake in my life
Not once was I bribed, not once been beholden
Not once have I cheated on my faithful wife….

http://bushballads.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/not-once-the-politicians-cry/

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My Garlicky Cologne

If I need a smell to wear,
I chop some garlic fine.
My cooking’s my cologne, you see,
as well as how I dine.

http://budgethitmen.com/2012/06/08/my-garlicky-cologne/

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The Bird Band by Dennis N. O’Brien

One evening, walking through the scrub,

(A shortcut home from Riley’s pub)

Under the glow of a full moon

I heard a brisk and lively tune….

http://dnobrienpoetry.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/the-bird-band/

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photo by Moi Cody at http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mf4jFRq/Golden+Cup

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Retakes 7 by Dennis Lange

(Photo credit: Okinawa Soba)

I occasionally publish a post with a link to some of my earlier poems. These three were posted when many of you weren’t subscribing to my blog. I thought you might want to read these as well. However, since some may have read them already, I’ll try to give a description and/or enough of the beginning lines that perhaps you can recognize the poem. That way, you won’t have to read it again – unless you want to.

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The Woman Who Talked Too Fast

She’d come up talking quickly and she’d never ever stop like a rushing whirlwind keeps on spinning like a dusty whirling top and one sentence never ended with a breath or with a pause and all the topics joined with a swiftly uttered clause….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/the-woman-who-talked-too-fast-by-dennis-lange/

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Parting Ways

As those bold men of old left home
To search the earth, its reaches roam,
As they set sail and they looked back,
Did doubt like death, while dressed in black,
Cloud minds with darkness for a span,
“Will we e’er see these shores again?”

Our ship is frail; the sea is deep;
The storms may wail….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/parting-ways-by-dennis-lange/

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Near Miss

Like white balloons, the best surprise -
Clouds!  Clouds today in our dry skies!
They clumped in groups like friends who meet;
Grew gray with promise of a treat.

Then, past a distant hill that rings,
They dropped a curtain of wet strings.
The air turned fresh….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/near-miss-by-dennis-lange/

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.

 

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Three Miscellaneous Haiku by Dennis Lange

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Buzzard

Distant V
Black, floating, alone –
None desires.

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Thirst Quencher

Short pipeline;
It moves liquid fast –
Plastic straw.

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Let’s Hope Not

No!  Never!
A Venus fly trap
My big yawn.

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* The haiku I write are lines of 3-5-3 syllables instead of 5-7-5.
See Haiku article here for explanation, if needed:

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/haiku/

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.

 

 

 

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Retakes (6) by Dennis Lange

I occasionally publish a post with a link to some of my earlier poems. These three were posted when many of you weren’t subscribing to my blog. I thought you might want to read these as well. However, since some may have read them already, I’ll try to give a description and/or enough of the beginning lines that perhaps you can recognize the poem. That way, you won’t have to read it again – unless you want to.

 

Graveside

When one plays taps….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/graveside-by-dennis-lange/

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To Have And Halve Not

Of all the loads a child must bear,
The one of sibling’s great.
It means that one must learn to share,
And even worse, to wait….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/to-have-and-halve-not-by-dennis-lange/

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Mood/Made/Flow/Forged

Line writing, must I feel like verse,
For words and poems to form?
Or is it when I’m feeling worse,
They come but have no chorm?

When brow sweat browbeats words in shape….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/moodmadeflowforged-by-dennis-lange/

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.

 

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True Or Turned? by Dennis Lange

                  True or Turned?

Pure love grieves at a loved one’s pain,
And does not twist that knife again.
But when the love to self is turned,
Then self thinks that the blade is earned.

It pleads no pardon, makes excuse
Since love of self makes one obtuse
To others’ hurts and others’ needs;
It is for self the selfish bleeds.

Compassion dammed and pooled inside,
Like lakes of lava mountains hide,
Erupts in anger, flows with fire,
To get demands, its own desire.

And thus, from distance, any peak
May show most times a tranquil cheek,
There, men may climb, frolic, e’en stay
Until the top is blown away.

Mountain or man?  How can one tell
Which one at heart holds hands with hell?
In each there is a history,.
Wherein hides the hypocrisy.

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.

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Retakes (5) by Dennis Lange

I occasionally publish a post with a link to some of my earlier poems. These
three were posted when many of you weren’t subscribing to my blog. I
thought you might want to read these as well. However, since some may
have read them already, I’ll try to give a description and/or enough
of the beginning lines that perhaps you can recognize the poem. That way,
you won’t have to read it again – unless you want to.

To The Cowardly Murder

 One wonders how you warped,
   Like wood left to the rain, 
Becomes so twisted in its path    
   No one with half a brain
Would think it was of any use;….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/to-the-cowardly-murderer-by-dennis-lange/

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August In Texas

The clouds are scarce across the sky.
The blue is light, sun-washed, and dry,
Bleached like the faded jeans of youth,
And wrung and robbed of all its truth,
    But seasons change….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/august-in-texas-by-dennis-lange/

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The Poet’s Prayer

Like oaks bow down before the wind,
   I come with bended knee:
Almighty God, source of my strength,
   Here’s all I ask of Thee -

Sweet inspiration as a spark,
   The boldness to begin…

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/the-poets-prayer-by-dennis-lange/

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.

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Time Out!

The layout on my blog has changed for some reason (I’ve done absolutely no tinkering at all).  Because of events in my life today, I barely had a chance to inform WordPress support of the problem and ask for help (and they’re great at it).  After 12 hours of non-stop events, I got a chance to peek at their responses and see a variety, none of which I’ve had a chance to explore further since I was then plunged into another 4 hours of  phone calls.  I’m not sure how long it will be before I can take a breath, look at the suggestions, and try to implement them.  But I won’t post any poems until I get it straightened out.  Might be tomorrow; might be several days.  Just thought I’d let my faithful readers know that I hadn’t blown myself up and blown up my blog to its present state at the same time. 

Dennis (the bard on the hill)

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Retakes (3) by Dennis Lange

I occasionally publish a post with a link to some of my earlier poems. These
three were posted when manyof you weren’t subscribing to my blog.  I
thought you might want to read these as well.  However, since some may
have read them already,  I’ll try to give a description and/or enough
of the beginning lines that perhaps you can recognize the poem.  That way,
you won’t have to read it again – unless you want to.

The Beast Of A Night:

In innocence, the night began,
   Like most of nights, by far.
But shortly after Sun had set
   Two brutes raised heads to war.

The pig cloud and the dog tree were
   Outlines against the sky.
The fun began when lightning leapt
   And struck the pig cloud’s eye….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/the-beast-of-a-night-by-dennis-lange/

A Stick:

He walked, a stick, both lean and tall,
   The streets, both night and day;
Disturbed by demons, not by tasks,
   That wouldn’t go away….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/a-stick-by-dennis-lange/

I Fly The Flag, a 4th of July poem:

I fly the flag; no one decreed,
Or with a saber made me bleed
To walk the plank of this small deed.
It is my head and heart I heed
To fly the red, the white, the blue,
The stars and stripes for what is true.
           Freedom….

http://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/i-fly-the-flag-by-dennis-lange/

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image via Wikipedia

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.

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