Absent (a free-verse pantoum) - POEM of the MONTH!

Absent (a free-verse pantoum)

A hole tore into my chest;

I am numb to my surroundings.

It took residence as one left mine

And I stare into the empty silence.

I am numb to my surroundings,

You were taken from my residence

And I stare into the empty silence

As you create a sound in my mind.

You were taken from my residence;

A blues song of memories remain

As you create a sound in my mind

And will play forever in my heart.

A blues song of memories remain

My shadow. Who brightened my day

And will play forever in my heart?

The one, I will see until then.

My shadow who brightened my day,

It took residence as you left mine,

The one I will see. Until then –

A hole tore into my chest …

The Machine - POEM of the MONTH!

The Machine

He met his new partner

In the inner-city trenches

Wrapped in neck tattoos

Reflected off the graffiti

Of the perspiring walls

Out of the corner of his eye

He saw the calculations

Triggered by sensory input

Enabling targeted algorithms

Which exceeded intuition

Without moving a joint

His weapon emerged

From the alley of his sleeve

His assailant captured

Before the city lost a pulse

He was back on the beat

While the sound of accolades

Were still mixed in the air

Syncopated to each stride

By his singular dance

By his singular dance

By his singular dance

By his singular dance

He was back on the beat

His weapon emerged

Triggered by sensory input

From the perspiring walls

His partner met his stare

In the inner-circuit trenches

Wrapped in nano-tattoos

Reflected onto the walls

Of his cranial unit

He heard the dreadful order

When his partner ignored his

As he wrestled with his duty

All three laws of robotics

And the Law they upheld

His blood pumped adrenaline

Neurons fired off the decision

As he fired a single shot –

His partner out of service

As he blindly obeyed his …

And then, with realization apparent

It is he; it is he who is the machine!

"Limitless" published in Synchronized Chaos!

This month, Synchronized Chaos
has once again honored me by
publishing the poem "Limitless"!


Thank you so much!

Dancing With the Mirror -- POEM of the MONTH!

Dancing With the Mirror

  

 Dancing with the mirror

Imagining there’s a beat …

Spinning to the silence 

I stumble on my own feet

Posing with the mirror

Snapping pictures of myself

Posting to the hundreds

On the virtual shelf –

Blowing out candles with lucid whispers

Behind the graffiti-walls of crowded subways

Building a public library

Filled with blurry negatives

Wishing the film in reverse

Swimming in pseudo-sedatives

Dancing with the mirror

In an echo of si-silence

Gripping my partner tightly

The life drips from my hands –

Abandoned hallways, corners and facades

Screaming skyward – piercing spotlights

Dancing with the mirror

I see a second reflection

A face without judgment …

… accept this new connection

Limitless [a pantoum] - POEM of the MONTH!

Limitless (a pantoum)

As another chip melts off my shoulder

I see there are no limit signs in Heaven –

I wonder, when I see the petals of a flower

In places which are desolate and graven

I see there are no limit signs in Heaven,

The creative stroke of word and deed

In places which are desolate and graven

Find themselves spreading to each need

The creative stroke of word and deed

Rooted by planting from our knees

Find themselves spreading to each need

And tower beyond the greatest of trees

Rooted by planting from our knees,

Branching from the vine of our salvation

And tower beyond the greatest of trees

By living water, sustaining our perfection

Branching from the vine of our salvation

I wonder when I see the petals of a flower –

By living water sustaining our perfection

As another chip melts off my shoulder


[Also published in the October issue of Synchronized Chaos.]

"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.]