Def Poet Society

2020-04-07T11:34:00.000-04:00

Oh, hi there 😊.

If you liked my poetry here. Just know that I'm still writing.
I've been working on a new project since 2018.
I'ts called Lost in Spacecoast.

Feel free to DM me to ask how I'm doing.
I hope you continue to like the work.

Pantoum #24 Lip

2016-06-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

Her lips pursed together like a designer handbag.

My jealous words steam like a snorting iron;

I chose a Camel to circumvent what I had wanted to say.

¨I’m not smoking I’m just drawing it in for taste,¨ I say

My jealous words steam like a snorting iron;

¨Don’t smoke in my house,¨ she said.

¨I’m not smoking I’m just drawing it in for taste,¨ I say.

My head cools, I keep my hands down.

¨Don’t smoke in my house,¨ she said

I start to catch my breath like a chimney.

The nicotine keeps my head cold, my hands down.

She doesn’t stir as he clothes himself.

I start to catch my breath like a chimney

¨I don’t have a lot of reasons to be here,¨ I say.

She doesn’t stir as he clothes himself

¨You don’t have to stay if you don’t want,¨ she says.

¨I don’t have a lot of reasons to be here,¨ I say.

I chose a Camel to circumvent what I had wanted to say.

¨You don’t have to stay if you don’t want.¨

Her lips pursed together like a designer handbag.

Dead End

2016-04-02T15:47:00.000-04:00

I know neither of tone or key.

Doggerel voices are inside of me.

Shadows flirting with my feet

From trees I love for their vines, outreaching...

climbing to reach boughs

That try to tickle me with the waving wind

A droning

the sky is lowing like violins or

falling foil.

the musicians, I’m sure,

Are hovering clouds.

I saw a pool swimming loud with children

One second they're wrapped in towels,

The next they're jumping on a trampoline

I saw a lizard crawling on a cross.

It climbed up to the top

Then disappeared down the back.

I saw a sign that said "dead end".
Walking the culdesac
these county bins and driveways
with the wind tell,
leaf by leaf
how lonely the corner really is.

Danz - The Scientist [cover] (Spring Intermission)

2016-04-02T15:34:00.001-04:00

First go ahead and press play.

Been inundated with class work, so I haven't been able to focus on my craft as much as I had liked. Critical thinking with homework and work at the library rend my mind to pieces. Spring 2016 track is a cover of Coldplay's The Scientist by Danz. I'll return in the summer with more work.

Spring in Florida

2016-04-02T14:54:00.000-04:00

The snowbirds are in checkered patterns flying north again.
dissonant caws among melodious tweets
at a storm flooded ditch are
hidden by clustered pines.
Grey clouds and pearly stars in pools of black
lead them to their homes.

Pantoums #14 Night Sky, Blue Moon

2016-02-03T17:50:00.002-05:00

Night sky without a star.
In the absence of clouds
The sky groans on
like the largest vacuum.

In the absence of clouds
the blue moon howls,
like the largest vacuum,
highways in the sky.

A dark blue moon howls.
The sky moans
highways in the sky.
Night sky without a star.

Winter

2015-12-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

Winter in Florida is sort of antithetical to Christmas. We have no snow. It's not even cold outside. There's just a grey pause in the sky that has us looking up as if to say, "So what's happening next?" It would be funny if it wasn't true.

Welcome to Winter season.

Pantoum #18 Morning of 2015

2015-09-27T17:55:00.000-04:00

A Golden eye peeks over foggy rise.
A morning sky filled with cloud.
The grass passes the wind to the trees
Like a beach ball in the breeze.

A morning sky filled with cloud
Passing beyond the river.
Like a beach ball in the breeze
The May wind floats east.

Passing beyond the river,
The grass passes the wind to the trees.
The May wind floats east.
A golden eye peeks over foggy rise.

Fades

2015-08-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

Orange...
The sea trickles at my feet.
The skin under my toenails taste salt.
My finger tips feel its breath.
I see the coming darkness harried through a swarm of lake side gnats.

The sky in choking turns from a greenish blue
to a lavender with pink.

Headlights become my eyes as I cross the bridge
up and over back to town:
fast food restaurants and corner stores
coffee shops and bars,

a used book store.

I'm never quite dry until I lie down on the floor where I can't hear time tick.
but the crickets cheep cheep for me until, black.

On the floor,
paper with lines leads to more paper
with more lines
that are eventually crumbled and recycled
but all different shades
like worn shirts in a closet.

I'm reminded I'm alive
in different pitches of black.
when I open my eyes and breathe
it's not so bad.
Morning is a part of the night.

Teemid {White Stripes cover} - Seven Nation Army (Fall Intermission)

2015-08-18T18:51:00.002-04:00

Well, I hope you could tell that I had fun. Perhaps more form later. There's a few events in the fall I want to work up for. So I'm not disappearing. Below is Teemid's cover of the White Stripe's Seven Nation Army. Download if you like it.

Signs Haiku

2015-08-02T17:50:00.000-04:00

Do not enter. No
Parking on the grass. Stop. No
parking on the grass

¨Know what?¨ Haiku

2015-07-26T09:25:00.004-04:00

Know what's a noun? Noun.
You know what's another noun?
Verb. Guess what? I'm done.

2014 Throwback Haiku

2015-07-15T17:54:00.001-04:00

tile tile flower tile
tile tile tile tile flower
tile tile tile tile tile

Pantoum #20 Restraunt

2015-07-10T10:39:00.000-04:00

Bacon sizzling in a restaurant
My coworker talks about her family
I watch everything behind her like a street performance
I nod.

My coworker talks about her family
Her daughter and son go to school
I nod
acknowledging their dreams.

Her daughter and son go to school
I watch everything behind her like a street performance
Acknowledging their dreams
Bacon sizzling in a restaurant.

Without a Flower

2015-07-08T17:26:00.002-04:00

The sky gray as moss.
Listeners driving their cars
singing out of tune.

The flag is dead still.
Birds sing in the distance.
A leaf falls.

I'm looking at a magnolia
without a flower,
moss hanging
like a buzzed relative
who just needs five more dollars from you
to put on a falcon's game.
The answer of course is no.
You can't order wings for the new years with no lincoln in your pocket.

The car is still
as if waiting for something.
You in fact are waiting,
but what for is beyond you.

Pantoum #8 Paintings

2015-07-03T09:42:00.001-04:00

Paintings worth the hundreds
On a yellow wall
My head bobbing back and forth
To bells from the church next door.

On a yellow brick wall
Canals for vacant boats
To bells from the church next door
Came pilgrims from far off lands.

Canals for vacant boats
My head bobbing back and forth
Pilgrims from far off lands
Paintings worth hundreds.

Pantoum #15 The Barista

2015-06-26T15:36:00.002-04:00

The barista pours pike's place
As I serve her a compliment.
The rain races down the window.
It drinks the cracks of the sidewalk.

As I serve her a compliment
I watch the water fall.
It drinks the cracks of the sidewalk.
A hot cup slips into my hand.

I watch the water fall.
The rain races down the windows.
A hot cup slips into my hand.
The barista pumps pike's place.

Pantoums

2015-06-25T20:12:00.001-04:00

So I've been writing pantoums for a while now. I took a week to practice them. I like the way they repeat their pattern. I have quite a few so far. I hope you like the ones that made their way here.

Top 5 Haiku I was going to send to Chrysanthemum until I re-figured (Fall)

2015-06-23T11:58:00.000-04:00

Black eyes from dark dreams
wondering why things only
fall from the heavens

A mirror reveals
broken sun and sky; I find
Harmony in dirt

The sun fell through the
window, and the shadows played
on the wall

An empty parking
lot where the street had ended
and stray dogs bark wild.

Often god is like
A dog staring at laundry
wondering what foams

Crescent Angst

2015-06-22T14:25:00.000-04:00

A folded metal hanger
lingers among a rug: a strayed sacks of
dirty clothes, lint.
I've changed my religion four to five times
(maybe six)
Before I had got out of bed.
Rolling around like a hackey sack tossed to a cat.
My gods don't like surprises.
I'm shivering now.
Folds of dust on my skin roll and fall off.
There's something to sing about.

Summer has started

2015-06-22T14:24:00.000-04:00

Summer has started, and I have a few poems to post. Only a few. I enjoyed the break, but I've missed blogging. It feels great to be back.

The waiting.

2014-09-24T18:58:00.001-04:00

the
train
rattles down the line.

I'm never late
because of it.

But I would always rather
be doing something.
Anything else but waiting.

Twelve cars ahead of me.
A school bus is ahead of me as well
waiting like a line of ducks
to cross the street.

There's nothing in store here
except the sky.

The beach is forty minutes away.
I could be at the beach today.

Something rustles in the branches in the tree across from me.

A squirrel.
It pays me no mind
As it begins to search for acorns.

The beach is forty minutes away.
I could be at the beach today.

Cat Power - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Fall Intermission)

2014-09-24T18:57:00.003-04:00

Fall is here sweetly breezing and soon it will be the holidays. The summer season was brief. I hoped you liked it. I won't be blogging any poetry for a while, but it's not like I'm leaving a void. There's at least five hundred poems on this humble little blog if you're not counting the posts with multiple haiku.

Don't think this is goodbye. I want to explore other forms of writing as well as some past hobbies. So I've scaled down. Until next time, may the winds be at your back.

There's no free download for today, but this song is Cat Power's rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". You can purchase it for 1.29 euro, or just stream it for free.

Summer Season 2014

2014-08-18T05:09:00.001-04:00

Man, I've hardly noticed the days go by. It was the 18th before I could even brush the sleep from my eyes. I'm lying of course. If it wasn't every waking moment that I didn't wonder when the time to return would come, then it was every other moment. (It was every other moment.) With the immediate pressure to write for the blog being gone, I went to sleep on writing for a little bit for various reasons. I scrambled back into it around late July, though. Enough of me trying to explain. Let's let the work talk for itself.

Bride and Groom {Kings of Leon cover} - Use Somebody (Summer Intermission)

2014-06-25T21:08:00.000-04:00

I've had a lot of fun this season. I don't think anything this year was over a year or two old. So consider it an accurate reflection of where I'm at right now. I'm going to be taking a break until August 18th. Don't worry I'll still be writing. It's just a break from the blog. You can still catch me on twitter if you wish. I'm really excited for all the things this year has to offer. You guys made it all worth it.

Below is a free download cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" by Bride & Groom. I hope the bulk of your summer is swollen with great memories. Consider this a parting gift. Until August.