deviant art

Deviant Login
Buy ArtBuy T-Shirts & Gear Buy adCast Buy Premium Membership
Shop
 Join deviantART for FREE Take the Tour
[x]
Mirror
Motionless, the pool
has trapped the vault of heaven,
spread before my feet.
CadenzaSuppose each one of us older than the stars,
suppose that we are other than the ragged beggars we seem,
suppose that our engulfing slumber, our inner darkness,
is constantly erupting with the vanity of dreams.

Consider those uncounted aeons swallowed in the oceans
of that virtuality, where we, the ever drowning mariners,
must cling to the absurd shapes we call reality.

Will we, unknowing captives, ever be free?
Has liberty become our cage of captivity?
Oh yes, we writhe, our nakedness become despair.
as our frenzied touching reveals that nothing's there.
On The PodiumThe art of conductivity
as the maestro explained,
is that the man with the baton

serves as a lightning rod,
earthing intuitions from god.
AfterwordFunerary goods
always include coin to pay
the ferry man's fee.

What if we had always been wrong,
If none waited by the river?

The end of the line
had ever seemed likely
to leave the traveler

abandoned in empty space,
no hope of resolution.
Stranded 2
The end of the line
had ever seemed likely
to leave the traveller

abandoned in empty space,
no hope of resolution.
Hypnopompic
A key too rusted
to turn, a door once solid,
now rotting away.

As sentience stirs again,
the dream's images decay.
Pioneer
The power of flight
begins with a child's fantasy,
the world left behind.
The Ladder Of JacobJacob dreamed. Though we may know nothing about what kind of man this father of patriarchs was, the record of his dream has been preserved. We have no way of knowing if this was indeed ever a dream that a man experienced. The story has him traveling alone, so artists have portrayed him. In the ancient text he settles for the night, resting his head on a stone.
As he sleeps the vision unfolds, he sees a ladder that reaches toward heaven from the earth, a ladder by which angels are ascending and descending.

He hears the voice of god, so he believes. The god tells him how remarkable he is. We might understand this vision as an allegory of his
Storyville, Bordello Sketches1

Girls, pale skinned and nubile,
who by candle light might pass,

women who lend a joint a little class,
a suggestion of sass in the swing of the ass,

these were the gems the madams looked out for,
girls who could turn sad guys into would-be Casanovas.

Still the punters knew that the dollar was always king,
their dollars could buy them any pretty thing

in the room. They also knew that black girls
had learned what they had to do for a necklace of pearls

and stockings of silk. So the guys played make believe.
In the first light of dawn nobody was deceived.

2

The Storyville madams
hired piano players, even bands
to help the gir
Passenger
Beyond the window
her past slides into the void.
The train gathers speed.
Ladders
The rungs rise and fall,
the direction is decided
by the starting point

so the climber discovers:
The way up is the way down.
Willing FleshFlesh the means, spirit the end,
yet still the unintended. While deep
embedded in the pulsing rhythms
of the body's routine life, it transcends
physicality, flourishing in realities
never imagined before. Spirit is the key
to unlock the heavy door, to make
the great discovery of joy.
VisionaryInfinite wonders
beheld by the finite eye,
just for a moment.
Waterside
Completely absorbed.
The solitude they're sharing
might contain all of their lives.

Neither can believe
that a moment like this can
ever have occurred before.
Day Break
He rests on his oars.
The pale mysteries of light
about to drown him.
Browse More Like This
Download File
HTML, 402 bytes more ▶

More from *AlecBell

The Catch
Who knows when they die,
these shell fish, beasts of fodder.
The dead scaly fish

perhaps was damaged by chance,
dead for the want of good luck.
Personal Space
A geography
of purposes shapes each world,
by mind created.

Each world is permeated
with a spirit's hopes and desires.
ChallengeThe stillness of the statue is recommended,
one response to the soldier's challenge that might keep you alive.

In this wild town he no longer knows what must be defended,
he might think a rapid burst of rounds could help him survive.

But you must choose. Your mistake will cost you dear.
Plunge, with desperation driving you, into the alley's stink.

He might hesitate, there are crowds that press too near,
has he a clear shot? Will he fire? he is poised on the brink,

your life his prize. But let the ricochet claim some feckless kid,
so naked an act of murder could not for not long be hid.
Dream Catcher
Has the screen captured
reality? The static
image locked, beyond any change.

A thought gives him pause. He dreams
countless instants, time's atoms.
Kerensky DefeatedKerensky knew he was beaten, the Bolsheviks had out-flanked him,
they controlled the Workers' Soviet, the sailors and soldiers listened to them.
Could his government last much longer? His chance of surviving was slim.
Trotsky and Lenin defied him, laying their plans for a final mayhem.

they controlled the Workers' Soviet, the sailors and soldiers listened to them.
Could he expose these communist traitors? They took funds from Berlin.
Trotsky and Lenin defied him, laying their plans for the final mayhem.
The Americans offered him transport. Only they were ready to save his skin

Could he expose these communist traitors? They took funds
The Plotters
These shadows, will they
transform the world of daylight?
Will their secret plans mature?

Who will notice change?
Will explosions detonate,
demolishing certainty?

Featured in Groups:

Not currently featured in any groups.

Details

April 7, 2008
402 bytes
Thumb

Statistics

Comments: 40
Favourites: 26 [who?]


Views: 380 (0 today)
Downloads: 8 (0 today)
[x]

Unspoken

:iconalecbell:

How pure, your being.
Misfortunes like drifting snow,
And still you are warm.

When grey packs of misery
hound me, I picture your smile.



My familiar,
silence. A shadow dancer,
the partner for me.

Why bother questioning?
He dances flawlessly.
:iconalecbell:
This is the poem formerly known as Words Create Situations 2and3, from my 100 themes series. I used the prompts in pairs to create tankas, one in the Haiku and one in the couplet, thus supplying the additional interest of bringing the prompts into some sort of relationship to each other.

being/smile, silence/ questioning

This is the second group of five pairs.
Add a Comment:
 
Preview   Add Comment
:iconjimfleming:
*jimfleming Apr 8, 2011
However you arrived at this, it is wonderful :heart:
Reply
:iconalecbell:
*AlecBell Apr 8, 2011
Thanks, Jim!
Reply
:iconjimfleming:
*jimfleming Apr 8, 2011
:)
Reply
:iconrequiemsandreveries:
~RequiemsandReveries Apr 5, 2011
Wolf? Clever playing with the words. Really beautiful, this style.
Reply
:iconalecbell:
*AlecBell Apr 5, 2011
Could be wolves (but metaphorical ones!)
Reply
:iconpianuldepeplaja:
~pianuldepeplaja Nov 5, 2010
so beautiful...so deep.
Reply
:iconalecbell:
*AlecBell Nov 5, 2010
Thank you :heart:
Reply
:iconpianuldepeplaja:
~pianuldepeplaja Nov 5, 2010
i can see you wrote that with open heart:)
Reply
:iconprettycrazy:
~PrettyCrazy Jun 3, 2010  Hobbyist Writer
Mmmmm. The first is my favourite.
Reply
:iconalecbell:
*AlecBell Jun 3, 2010
Thanks, An.

I prize the second tanka for the personal confession. (though I try to make sparing use of the confessional mode!)
Reply
Add a Comment:
 
Preview   Add Comment
©2013 deviantART. All rights reserved
About Us | Contact Us | Developers | Careers | Site Tour | Help & FAQ Advertise | Premium Membership Etiquette | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Policy