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Open Poetry #11
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ma miller
Senior Member
since 2000-07-11
Posts 806


0 posted 2000-12-27 04:42 PM


the dead pen

so, tell me again where it is written
  of the dead pens of poets
  and their long-gone words
  and the speeding traces of litany
  and volumes filled with great thoughts

again, tell me where print is falling off paper
  with none to catch and reset their type
  and final resting places of such men are merely
  and neverending with their incomprehensible minds
  and their deaths mean living in famous fonts

if alive today, they would say to i and you, the beguiled
  the pieces are many, but the wholes are few
  and simple equals all the complications of thought
  and our words are still upon waters never drank
  and so make waves against the genius you think us to be

in my death and after a family i've never seen greets me
  i will enter a time of untime and conversation
  and ask hard questions of the dead pens of poets
  and query long on who's, what's, where's, when's and how's
  and finally lay to honorable rest my own dead pen

yet, if the birds could fly so high as to brush their wings
  against this, my untethered dreamscape of past greatness
  and with colors on their feathertips painting the scenes
  and all blackness becomes light shining into forever
  and with my no different than you mind
  and with my samely old wrinkled hands
  and with my twin withered airless lungs
  put thought into word and once more breathe life
  into the dead pen i carry on my way to heaven
then i will become one of the shadowless thems

m.a. miller
12.27.00



© Copyright 2000 ma miller - All Rights Reserved
nakdthoughts
Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200
Between the Lines
1 posted 2000-12-27 05:59 PM


wow..this is sooooo intense , I love it and am saving it to read again and again...

~Wynter


"The worst prison would be a closed heart".
...Pope John Paul II



ethome
Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858
New Brunswick Canada
2 posted 2000-12-27 06:04 PM


Stunning! evocative! powerful write...I really got my poetic teeth into this one... remarkable!  Good day MA good to read your interesting thought provoking work again! ethome
Sven
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Laureate
since 1999-11-23
Posts 14937
East Lansing, MI USA
3 posted 2000-12-30 12:41 PM


ahhh. . . excellent. . . makes you think. . . I like that!!!

great writing. . .  

-------------------------------------------------------

That which gives light must endure burning
--Victor Frankl


Paula Finn
Member Ascendant
since 2000-06-17
Posts 5546
missouri
4 posted 2000-12-30 01:47 AM


Well hi there Mark...this is an exceptional work...I especially enjoyed the last verse...its good to have you posting again my friend
serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

5 posted 2000-12-30 05:59 AM


and their deaths mean living in famous fonts


There's a lot to choose from here, but I too have questions...especially of Donne (grin) but then I WOULD, wouldn't I?

Well done, and welcome home.

tracie66
Member Elite
since 2000-01-18
Posts 4713
Australia
6 posted 2000-12-30 06:44 AM


WOW!!!!
wonderful writings...well penned  
Tracie~


Love is the life of the soul...
It is the harmony of the universe



Marge Tindal
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
7 posted 2000-12-30 08:39 AM


MAMiller~
This piece is just stunning.
I do believe you need to submit it to the main site !

What wonderful thoughts are these -

' if alive today, they would say to i and you, the beguiled  the pieces are many, but the wholes are few  and simple equals all the complications of thought  and our words are still upon waters never drank  and so make waves against the genius you think us to be'

Indeed - indeed !
Amen - amen !
~*Marge*~


~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~
noles1@totcon.com

Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
8 posted 2000-12-30 09:14 AM


Intriging and beguiling read!!!! I agree with Marge.  
Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648

9 posted 2000-12-30 09:35 AM


Wow! Excellent writing, indeed!!

Denise

Seymour Tabin
Member Empyrean
since 1999-07-07
Posts 31720
Tamarac Fla
10 posted 2000-12-30 12:08 PM


MA Miller,
Agree with poet deVine, a good read and a good write.

BloomingRose
Member Elite
since 2000-08-09
Posts 3092
Florida
11 posted 2000-12-30 10:48 PM


May the pen with which you write, always stay full of ink.
Very good poem.
Deb  

Honeybee
Member Ascendant
since 1999-12-26
Posts 5372
Ontario, CANADA
12 posted 2000-12-30 10:54 PM



Yours is a pen of deep thought-provoking magic... an intense and fresh read!

Take care,
Melissa


The beauty of poetry gives my soul wings to fly free within dreams



brian madden
Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374
ireland
13 posted 2000-12-31 05:33 AM


Wow excellent poem, and if you ever get in contact with any of these dead poets could you ask Yeats, Dylan thomas and Sylvia Plath to give me a few lessons in poetry. Really enjoyed the poem and may there be many more before your pen is finally put to rest.  

It's in your eyes a fire that's wild and glorious
Unhibited, unfinished in everything I do Let the morning rise like our hearts desire" whipping boy

ma miller
Senior Member
since 2000-07-11
Posts 806

14 posted 2000-12-31 04:18 PM


thanks all above for reading and surviving 'til the end of this rant ... it was to have been deleted, but i see it has a cat personae i was unaware of ... some time after i wrote this, i was reading Robert Frost's, "The Lesson for Today" ... please find this poem in your collections and read ... we, who call ourselves poets have so far to go ... so far ...
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
15 posted 2000-12-31 04:32 PM


MA--Good to see you...and I know what you mean..enjoyed this poem immensely!
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