"Railway" Published in Synchronized Chaos!

Last month's POEM of the MONTH!, "Railway" now published in the July 2013 edition of Synchronized Chaos. The following is their review of the poem.

"... poet Dave Douglas also examines psychology through his poem 'Railway', shrinking the human mind down to a much smaller scale, and metaphorically viewing the movement of individual thoughts and decisions as boxcars and passengers within a railway system. As with the neuroscience research Leena Prasad mentions, Douglas seeks to understand how the mind selects and processes thoughts, although he looks at it with the tools of poetry and psychology."

Railway - POEM of the MONTH!

Railway

On the railway inside

With a heavy payload,

I continue as this thought

And ignore the switch tracks

The engineer is my passenger

And I pull a freight of gold

With electronic waste

Never reaching the climax

I push the eighth notch

Highball to the next yard

But the cargo betrays you

I am full of double-stacks

Sparks take wing

The stress of steam

The strain of steel

The engine screams!

          ~

The derailment was close

Nothing was lost, except

The lives at the crossbuck

And the tears you wept

          ~

You decouple the old cars

And spot my new direction

I pick up broken passengers

Stopping at the next station

Over white-diamond mountains

Through obsidian-filled tunnels

Sunflower fields that glisten

And muscle-flexed trestles

Content in the journey of today

Not the destination of tomorrow

With treasures beyond the railway

Leading others as I follow …

Eighth notch: The final notch in the throttle; the most powerful position

Highball: A signal to operate a train at full speed.

Double-stack: Stacking one container on top of another

Crossbuck: The X shaped sign where the tracks cross a road

["I" is the personification of a thought; and "you" 
is the mind, or the human containing the mind.]

"Radio Flyer" and "Writers Block" Published in Synchronized Chaos Magazine!

I am pleased to announce that the poem "Radio Flyer" (posted in April to this blog), is also published in Synchronized Chaos Magazine's May issue. 

You can also find "Writers Block" in their upcoming June issue.

Thank you for reading!

Writers Block - POEM of the MONTH!

Writers Block

The poem which inspired the short story Painted Ladies.

I turned the corner

and there it was!

a row of houses

each filled with imagination

I scribbled down the street

held by a free-hand –

a life of permanence

unable to erase memories

I skipped up the steps

only to discover a locked door –

a repeated occurrence

even at the last attempted point

I exclaimed at the threshold

of a lost original thought

to be formed somewhere inside

the living spaces of tomorrow

yes – there I was! on Writers Block –

a neighborhood of experiences

marked by errors and flowing ideas

if only I had the courage to knock


Also published in the June 2013 issue of Synchronized Chaos Magazine

- 

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." II Timothy 2:15

Polonius:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!
Laertes:
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

 Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–82  - William Shakespeare

Radio Flyer - POEM of the MONTH!

Radio Flyer

I had my Radio Flyer
Filled with every need:
Television and speaker,
Access for the freed

I had my sandals
For the long flight,
And electric candles
To displace the night

I left behind the stagnant,
Imagination in my pack
Any direction but remnants
Of what lies at my back

But the whirlwind
Off in the distance
Stared and grinned
At my lack of guidance

Caught in a swirl of fear
My impetus was lost –
I wrestled with the jeers
And grappled with the cost

In a land without signposts
I forgot the map of the past,
… creating new ghosts –
A thought not in my forecast 

With a tear to the heavens
I empty the Radio Flyer
As it alters my direction
And pulls me from the briar

Now, I no longer pull
But am led by this wagon
As my Radio Flyer is full
And light is my burden

Published in the May 2013 issue of Synchronized Chaos Magazine

Grace Under Pressure - POEM of the MONTH!

Grace Under Pressure

I roll on a paved, smooth highway
On cruise-control, six lanes wide
Neon lights flood persistence of vision
Linger along the peripheral roadside

The exits are under construction
And the lanes begin to divide
The pressures detain –
Same to insane
Until grace comes inside

I am not along for any ride
Or servant to a steel cage
I am not certain
Of conflicting maps, a faulty gauge
I am not in the backseat
But I should not drive
To a place I cannot arrive
Knowing I am still alive …

The path is one lane and dirt
Along trees and up a hillside
Something foreign is on my face
A grin where I once sighed

Flat tires and road blocks
Off-road when I died –
Since the map I claim
Nothing is the same
When grace comes inside

I see – the point of reference
To walk a path of difference
I believe – therefore I endure
Though sometimes onto a detour
I act – for the matters of forever
With grace under pressure …

The Clouds Are Upside-Down - POEM of the MONTH!

The Clouds Are Upside-Down

In a universe designed so grand
A particle-puzzle for the under-manned
Among the world-view of random
We stand on the south end of town

And miss the dewdrop of wisdom
While the clouds are upside-down

Bound to the tracks of mass radio
Or caught in a stained-glass window
The spirit is obscured by ritual –
The bride is lost, along with her gown

And we miss the showers of the faithful
While the clouds are upside-down

In a world without second nature
On the metric scale of the future
Through a fiber-optic sense of vision
We breed an artificial crown

And are caught in a storm of reason
While the clouds are upside-down

Among the cast without a heart
Can we draw closer to the start?
In the flooded mind of obsession
We may reach bottom before we drown

And miss the lightening of redemption
While the clouds are upside-down


[Also published in slightly different form in Synchronized Chaos Magazine, May 2012]