Villanelle

  My Pyjamas! My jamas have lemurs and llamas, A rude cockatoo and a yak, Cerulean shrews and iguanas All...

  Spontaneous Conjugal Combustion ---a villanelle He simply couldn't turn the other cheek On ceaseless babble drowning out the game....

  When Asked: “What’s Your Favorite Season?”   ---a villanelle I can’t decide which season I like best; they all...

  The Face At night, surreptitiously, it emerges out of the TV screen, or when the light bulb's put to...

  Grave New Globe   I. Lair ---a pantoum You said that owning nothing was a blessing. You whipped our...

  The Truth Won’t Die ---a villanelle for Charlie Kirk They clung to hate and jealousy and lies, While he...

  Parroting the Party Line   i. The Chorus of Consensus ---a triolet The talking heads squawk on and on....

. Shackled I crave a morning hit when I rise up, A trifle touch to take the edge away To...

. On the Epstein Files Debacle ---a villanelle Where are those awful Epstein files? It doesn’t matter left or right!...

. Simply Chilling . I. A Boring Villanelle My humdrum life has been a constant bore--- An unembellished scene of...

. Never Time to Spare ---a villanelle My daughter, I am watching you with love for I’ve been there, When...

. I Would Say Yes ---a villanelle for Larry on our 36th Anniversary We were young and rather stupid then,...

. Clueless ---a villanelle How can I tell what is and isn’t true In daffy days that stupefy the wise?...

. Since You’ve Been at My Side ---a villanelle Embraced by love, since you’ve been at my sideI’ve found the...

. Voyage Among the Ancients "Tread softly, for here you stand On miracle ground…" ---Lawrence Durrell, "On Ithaca Standing" (...

. Who Are You and Who Am I ---a villanelle Who are you and who am I That you fill...

. Druthers I’ve never warmed to the absurd idea That I should lean toward being what I ain’t. I’m more...

. Gossiping Hinges Some think we hinges only squeak __because we seek __an oily drop __to make us stop, but...

. The Vice Worse than the addiction of a smoker, And harder to get over than cocaine, More drawing than...

. Mr. Bluebird Your spirit rose before I spied your form. It dulled the winter sting and stilled the storm....

. Piazza della Signoria, Florence: February 7, 1497 Savonarola gets up off his knees (much contact with the ground has...

. Pearls or Swine? Pray show me how to tell a pearl from swine. I have a thirst for sanity...

. Elusive Illusive Art Where are the pure, illusive works of artthat bubble upward from the deep unknown?Where in this...

. A Hero in My Head Though never even in the war he loomed A hero there.  At least in...

. Enduring Sight Our blindest heroes walk among us, here, where legendary blindness gives us sight. King Oedipus still lives,...

. A Vacillating Villanelle On Perception  "Understanding the world for a man is reducing it to the human, stamping it...

. Loose Me! “Loose him, and let him go.” ---John 11.44 O loose me, Jesus! Jesus, set me free from...

. When Your Foe Is Perilously Strong When your foe is perilously strong It mightn’t be too preposterous or wrong To let...

. Over the Hill Now that you’re "over the hill," Relax. Enjoy the view. Life’s a beach, so chill. Work?...

. Cicada Serenade Boys hang their beat on the heat of the summer. Sticky days twang with their thick, tinny...

. Autumn Fades The orange leaves decay to crinkling gray, And sunsets sink and fade the clouds to black. “You’ll...

. Stolen Valor ---a poem in unheroic couplets Osama used his wives as human shields When being hunted down by...

. Cracks in the Ground Today the mourning parish bells have pealed. Men broke the dirt with family gathered round,...

. Second Chances Just know that you’ve been staked a second chance At any time the future’s looking muddy. Put...

. I Need My Coffee  I need my coffee; don’t get in the way Of that which wakes me up...

. A Console Table after a Google entry A console table in the entryway __Provides a focus for a guest...

. Endless Dreaming a villanelle I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream. The nightmare’s end is far; I’m...

. . Militant Books Marshaled ranks of silent books Formed on shelves as in brigade, Fill the wooden dusty nooks...

. Selling Short The winter wind’s a shot across your brow, An addend to the sense of deficit You wrestle...

. Betrayal a villanelle Today she spied the shadow of a snake Slither through the spreading family tree--- A curse her startled...