Category Archives: relationship

May 29, 2023 · 10:59 pm

Leave The Matches Alone – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Image: from people.desktopnexus.com

“The words you speak become the house you live in.” Hafiz

Leave The Matches Alone

Sometimes, well

oftentimes,

love is so complicated,

when people say

be yourself,

be true to yourself,

speak your truth,

stand your ground,

name it,

they simply don’t understand

that love seeks the good and how

easily the cycle of wounding

becomes so utterly pyrrhic,

as if we’d decided we didn’t

like our house and burned it

to the ground to make a point

making us all homeless,

cutting one’s nose so to speak,

without a thought to consequence;

love is complicated,

it makes the house of wounded

chaos sacred.

Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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April 16, 2023 · 1:06 pm

You Were – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“You cannot reason with delusion.” Rachel Lindsay

You Were

You were the duchess of Derby,
at nine, or 
was it eleven,
you were Hitler's nemesis,
an art school hero who
never went to art school,
though you were creative;
once, you were young and
energetic, smiling, laughing,
later, you grew into unhappiness,
frowning, bitter, longing,
lost in the 2 p.m. soapies,
lost in depression,
lost in your stories,
those inventions of reality
that were real for you with
every version,
but lost on me. 


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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March 30, 2023 · 3:18 pm

Later – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: found on Tumblr

“From which stars have we fallen to meet each other here?” Friedrich Nietzsche 

Later

Your eyes drank in all my uncertain words,
which were in danger of falling as ash.

You caught each fragile vow,
none of the starlight was lost.

In the cup of your dreams
you held a draught of love -

Which became sleepless joy,
a beautifully cursed anticipation.

At first we painted by numbers,
later we spoke silently with desire.



Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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March 27, 2023 · 3:57 pm

As Sacred As I – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo by Dương Hữu on Unsplash

“We can just let people be who they are ….” Glennon Doyle

As Sacred As I

Does it bother you that
she takes hormones,
he puts on a dress,
she passionately kisses her
girlfriend on both lips,
he strokes his boyfriend,
he likes both and so does she,
she experiments,
he is confused?
They are they,
as sacred as I, 
and I celebrate their 
witness to love.



Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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March 20, 2023 · 2:41 pm

The Moment – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” Matsuo Basho 

The Moment 

Sitting
at day's end,
a belated summer inferno,

I should pack away the chairs,
but why end the moment.

The beer bottle is sad,
tools still on the ground,

I notice a rogue sucker on the lemon tree.

Perhaps it is time for me to go.

A fantail twits and flits mosquitos,
the setting sun suggests a verse,
O to be bitten by such love.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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March 13, 2023 · 1:58 pm

Nonetheless – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“In violence we forget who we are.” Mary McCarthy

Nonetheless 

What is this yin yang love hate thing?
I wanted your love,
needed your love
to be sure of things.
I remember your hands
holding me in a 
safety net of strength that
helped me to see the world
through paddling,
dodgem cars,
coconut shies,
train-spotting,
rambling,
gardening.
I remember the strength of your hands
connecting with my body,
the pain,
the uncertainty.
I remember you striking her
and collapsing my world
that you had helped me to build.
I remember your hands
striking at the world
in fistfuls of frustration,
a never resting anger
thrown at everyone.
I hated your violence,
my mind tells me how it was,
but my heart has never caught up
with the pain of loving you
nonetheless.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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February 26, 2023 · 2:48 pm

Speak – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Image by Kati from Pixabay

“There is no time to leave important words unsaid.” Paulo Coelho

Speak

For every frontier
there'll be a dozen more we'll miss,
we've conceded flights for nature,
no seven wonders for us,
but no matter
we have a coffee table covered in 
vicarious travel experiences just for us,
and though we have our trailer
we know we'll never cover the lot,
of shelves and books there's never 
enough time, or films to watch,
in the end none will matter,
of all that is missed,
the only regrets
will be our words not said.



Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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February 14, 2023 · 1:30 pm

I Don’t Want to Think of You – prose by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Merril is hosting Prosery (144 words) with an invitation to write a prose piece which must include the line “This Year’s a different thing, I’ll not think of you.” from ‘I So Liked Spring’ by Charlotte Mew.

dVerse Poets – Prosery – Last Year, Lost Love

Image by Tess from Pixabay 

“He wanted her and didn’t care who knew it.” Douglas Adams

I Don’t Want to Think of You

This year’s a different thing, I’ll not think of you. I’ll not think of you as I miss you in the mornings, or at the close of day. I’ll not think of you as I sit and sip as we always do. I’ll not think of you as I miss our long, deep conversations. I’ll not think of you as I fall into bed with you every night. I’ll not think of you as I remember the sensations in my skin, how we communicate without words. I’ll not think of you as I sit with my long ache of desire for you.

I can’t think of you, I’m possessed by the very feel of you. Your presence is electric, around me the air crackles. I don’t want to think of you, I want to hold you, caress you, kiss you, and be overflowed with you.

Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon

All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 26, 2023 · 3:32 pm

To Be Grand – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Celtic burial items from the site at Hochdorf. Kreis Ludwigsburg. at scilogs.spektrum.de

“To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is the triumph over old age.” Thomas Bailey Aldrich

To Be Grand

Will I be buried
with the symbols of my life -
golden shoes, anointed with rich mead
and scattered jewels;

will they prepare my altar and
sweep my grave removing all the 
joss dust I might have accumulated?

Will they set fire to my bones so that 
I might find the glory of that which 
comes after life and list me among
all the souls?

Will they celebrate my ways of 
stumbled parenting?

I hope they toast the grandness
of my second round.


Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 25, 2023 · 3:30 pm

The Thin Thread – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sarah is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write about grandmothers.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Grandmothers

Photo: found on pinterest.com

“And when we said goodbye to one grandmother we said goodbye to them all.” Sherman J. Alexie

The Thin Thread

We carry the past with us in little parcels of love or feelings,
mostly in unconscious acts;

mine is to always gather people,
a reaction to the distances that have turned my life,

my mother's mother is how she was told into my story,
that she died sometime after VE Day and her long
struggle with MS;

and so we never met except in my mother's potted stories,
no wonder that I love a mystery.

My father's mother filled a room both in size and manner
she was a formidable presence barking orders,

laughing, always kind, always gathering her brood
around her sagging laden table of love.

We waved her goodbye for over 15, 000 kms
and the rest of her short life.

I have a child's image of her,
A thin, frayed thread of connection to which I cling.




Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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