“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” Malcom X
Can Line in the sand confronts me, faint as it is its silence mocks me as I stand before it, there is no ferryman, no bridge of rhetoric can traverse it, only the contrite are close, but a person of integrity can easily cross. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Free Verse, life, poem, Quadrille, quote
Five Lines
“Weasel words from mollycoddles will never do when the day demands prophetic clarity from great hearts.” Theodore Roosevelt
Weasel Ways It was your delicious moment, a pause in the flow of words and, like a weasel with an egg, you sucked the life out of my words and I faded away. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Note: A Weasel is of the genus Mustela (which includes stoats, polecats, mink, ferrets, otters, wolverines, martins etc.) one of their habits is to suck the contents of an egg leaving the shell behind. In 1900 the term Weasel Words was coined to reflect words that suck the meaning out of other words, e.g. organised chaos, some people say, experts recommend, are all weasel words.
Filed under Five Lines, Free Verse, injustice, life, poem, quote
“A liar goes in fine clothes, a liar goes in rags, a liar is a liar, clothes or no clothes.” Unknown
Golden Lies The lights went down, the gathered hushed, curtains off to the sides, a single light on centre stage, act two was underway, shadowy background figures danced opaque dalliances, while those closer frenzied and flailed while the naked one in the spotlight regaled his fine clothes, a suit of golden lies at his feet, an unnecessary guile. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Free Verse, life, poem, politics, quote
Bjorn at dVerse is hosting Open Link Night with an invitation to post a poem of our choice. dVerse Poets
“How silently the heart pivots on its hinge.” Jane Hirshfield
Other Voices
The house was not just any house,
it was of me and I of it,
intimacy was every sunken board,
chip and crack of age, and
today for the umpteenth time
the back door squeaked in
greeting at days end,
perhaps that my mind was weary,
and the torture too hard to bear,
that I took the cannister and oiled
that squeak to a silence bare,
peace reigned in all but heart,
I missed that voice,
disturber of life,
provocative spirit,
it made me think.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under life, mindfulness, poem, quote
“The worst form of injustice is pretended justice.” Plato
What Is Our Revolution? The games they play, sophiticated pettiness, a reduction to a complex immaturity of monopolising greedy children, bra snapping, hair pulling, soup spitting, thuggery loosed as legislature, how, or when, why, did we do that? Perhaps more pressing, what, is our revolution? ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Free Verse, injustice, life, poem, politics, quote, Restorative Justice
De at dVerse has invited us to write a poem about or around mermaids. dVerse Poetics
“The most dangerous creature in all the seas: a mermaid.” (Hook) J.M. Barrie
This Drowning Life Mermaids are very real, not those bare breasted beauties, half fish teasers who tempt sailors to their watery grave with sung promises of seduction offering the world for one single embrace, no, real mermaids are in our midst, teasers of the hight street whose seduction is so complete, they drown us in our own desires. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Free Verse, life, Mythology, poem, quote
VJs Weekly Challenge – Decisions
“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” Maimonides
To Dare That next step, what might it mean, an ontological rift or that the shadows have shifted? How ironic, of course they're shifting anyway, why the hesitation? The tension of change is all around you, overtaking you, now is the time, to dare to move. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
I have written about Hargreaves before, a haunting story of courage and accomplishment and death. Tragically her son Tom died climbing in 1919.
“And if you are given two options, take the harder one because you’ll regret it if you don’t.” Alison Hargreaves
Held You The pinnacles of Peak gritstone enticed you to claim their craggy faces week after week until you were ready for the most audacious exploits of Eiger and Everest, their foreboding reputations surrendered to your determination and courage, except the last, as it came to be, when instead, K2 jealously claimed you for itself, reluctant to let you go, and, for a time, held you in its icy maw as honour to your craft. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under death, Free Verse, life, Mountaineering, nature, poem, quote
Corvid – 2020 Weekly Challenge 13 (Final)
“There are many rhymes about magpies, but none of them is very reliable because they are not the ones that the magpies know themselves.” Terry Pratchett
Beware, The Magpies Are Singing Like the sound of a drunken black cockatoo, the windmill squeaks its grinding rotation, tail flapping in the breeze which cools the sweated skin, it's early, but it's hotter than hell, a sinister augury of the day's endurance that only cold beer will quell at its end, right now the magpies are singing their song, carolling their advent of spring's enterprise and the need to stay out of their range, for they've hatched a plot for a geography they intend to defend. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under bush walking, Country, farming, Free Verse, life, nature, poem, quote
Frank at dVerse is hosting Meet The Bar and has invited us to write a poem in the vogue of ‘imagism’ (e.g. Pound, Williams and etc.). dVerse Poets
“Our world is at the crossroads.” LL COOL J
This Moment This moment is the moment, and nothing of surprise, to be in this space, this place we dread, its tensioned uncertainty, this moment of burdens unreleased and pressing on conscience everywhere, this moment of crossroads an eon chancing change after many trials, this moment in my eye is a twinkling of goodness, the moment of all moments, is this moment now. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Free Verse, life, mindfulness, poem, quote, self-development, Spirituality
My path less traveled. Rediscovering self after surviving the abuse that almost sunk me. Goal of strengthening and thriving on my adult legs. 👣🙏🏻 #recovery #forgiveness
Being OTD and How it Affects my Life - Recovering from Domestic Abuse - Finding peace and hoping for a happy future...
Write for Ilhan - Join the Global Campaign
Review books, TV series, movies
We only live once. Hence, let's not stop dreaming
The Poetry Project
Empowering creatives and consumers
poetry and collage art by Constance Bourg
Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only read the title.
WordPress & Blogging tips, flash fiction, photography and lots more!
Poetry on demand
Camping Ideas and Recommendations
I'm a shattered mirror. Poetry holds my broken pieces together.
Explore the other side!
Roses are a Symbol of Beauty and Passion
Favorite song lists, reviews, featured indie artists, and music commentary.
Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity.
Poetry & More.... Sam Tumblin
A deep dive into various lives.
My path less traveled. Rediscovering self after surviving the abuse that almost sunk me. Goal of strengthening and thriving on my adult legs. 👣🙏🏻 #recovery #forgiveness
Being OTD and How it Affects my Life - Recovering from Domestic Abuse - Finding peace and hoping for a happy future...
Write for Ilhan - Join the Global Campaign
Review books, TV series, movies
We only live once. Hence, let's not stop dreaming
The Poetry Project
Empowering creatives and consumers
poetry and collage art by Constance Bourg
Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only read the title.
WordPress & Blogging tips, flash fiction, photography and lots more!
Poetry on demand
Camping Ideas and Recommendations
I'm a shattered mirror. Poetry holds my broken pieces together.
Explore the other side!
Roses are a Symbol of Beauty and Passion
Favorite song lists, reviews, featured indie artists, and music commentary.
