Tag Archives: dVerse Poets

July 20, 2021 · 1:07 pm

Shucker’s Delight – prose by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Lisa is hosting Prosery, a piece of prose of 144 words, inviting us to use a line from a poem by Zora Neale Hurston which comes from her work ‘How Does it Feel to be Coloured Me’ in ‘World Tomorrow’ (1928)

dVerse Poets – Prosery – Finding Ms. Zora Neale Thurston

Photo: found at thegoodtrade.com

“Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” Carl Jung

Shucker’s Delight

No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. I find it occupies me best of all. I’m a shucker from way back and I have my own rhythm and movement, a time honoured practice of holding, inserting, twisting and opening. So simple, every action economical, a form of meditation, I love the concentration, one slip and I might lose a finger – I have wounds to show for every lapse. Wounds where I surrender focus to the searing hurts of humanity. This is no escape, just a respite, a regathering from the morass of pain felt in tones of colour, known in cries for justice, that which bleeds from the despair of prison gates. If I didn’t sharpen this oyster knife I fear the world would possess my emotions and blunt my innocent dance of freedom against power.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon

All Rights Reserved ®

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July 16, 2021 · 2:12 pm

Chant For Life – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Bjorn has invited us to write a poem using chant.

dVerse Poets – Meet The Bar – Chant Poetry

Photo: One of the many Hakea variety, this one unfurling, Kings Park Botanical Gardens, Perth, W.A.

“There is a seamless web to life …. all Life is sacred.” Nat Hentoff

Chant For Life

For sister, brother tree,
we gathered agree,
so blessed are we,
ever so,
ever so.
For sister, brother fish,
we gathered agree,
so blessed are we,
ever so,
ever so,
For sister, brother grain,
we gathered agree,
so blessed are we,
ever so, 
ever so.
For sister, brother water,
we gathered agree,
so blessed are we,
ever so,
ever so.
For sister, brother cosmos,
we gathered agree,
so blessed are we,
ever so,
ever so.
As so you bless,
our gratitude flows,
may we in turn
be blessing to you,
ever so, ever more.


Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

41 Comments

Filed under bush walking, Chant, ecology, environment, Free Verse, life, nature, poem, quote

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July 14, 2021 · 1:29 pm

Garden Song – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse guest host Claudia has invited us to write about a garden.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Garden(ing)

Photo: segment of our garden at Augusta.

“When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.” Minnie Aumonier

Garden Song

There's a cosmos in reach of my aching
touch of skin and veins, beneath my feet
emotion runs and wriggles, and it dwells 
within as I inhale its many spices in unison
with the palette that captures my eyes, 
feeding my senses with songs of colour 
and rhythmic joy, opening me to each
movement of this wondrous melody of
all that flies and calls, great or small, 
calling me to stop, slow down, and sip 
the wine of its simple complexity.


Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

59 Comments

Filed under Free Verse, Gardening, mindfulness, nature, passion, poem, quote

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June 22, 2021 · 2:43 pm

Solsticity – Haibun by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Frank is hosting the Haibun with an invitation to write about the Solstice – down here being the winter solstice.

dVerse Poets – Haibun – Solstice

Photo: another typical south-west winter’s dawning over the Blackwood river.

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.” Anton Chekhov

Solsticity 

The illusion of time is etched as chronicles under twelve beautiful pictures, and there is a still-point right in a determined middle. I looked at this point today, of all days, knowing that this is the turning of perpetual rhythm. This is life, a moving in and a moving out, a drawing close and a moving away, a finely reciprocated ritual mirrored exactly as if dancing inward and outward movements. As I reflected on this it appeared in my mind as upward and downward movement, as if ascending and descending stairs, a close representation of Escher's fine works.

I saw the beauty of this rhythm, a meeting of joy and grief, laughter and tears, all things continually ascending and descending in this perpetual dance. And it all hinges on the short middle for a brief moment, passing quickly from descent to expansion once again. I named this rhythm solsticity, an uplift, a rejoicing as life bursts forth from the fount of nature, mirrored in the very heart of my soul, and seen in the fire of my eyes.

the quiet darkness
nothing moves in this middle
a solstice blossoms



Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

23 Comments

Filed under awareness, Haibun, Haiku, life, nature, quote

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June 18, 2021 · 4:18 pm

Algorithm – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Grace is hosting Poetry Form – Trimeric

dVerse Poets – Poetry Form – Trimeric

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash


“An algorithm is like a recipe.” Muhammad Wasseem

Algorithm 

When you see, what is it that you see,
perception is no percentage of the truth,
the rasta man in a tailored business suit,
stockbrokers all hanging loose.

Perception is no percentage of the truth,
just a wasteland of conjectured jokes,
purporting to be honest styles of you.

The rasta man in a tailored business suit,
disconcerting evidence all skewed,
the dissonance of every angled view.

stockbrokers all hanging loose,
their predictions as illusions,
honest perpetual rhythmic lies.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

27 Comments

Filed under Free Verse, life, poem, quote, Trimeric

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June 16, 2021 · 2:39 pm

The Bartleby – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sanaa is hosting Poetics and has invited to use a minimalist photo (choice of 12) by Glenn Buttkus of South Sound Minimalist Photos.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Exploring the Realm of Minimalist Photography

Photo courtesy of Glenn Buttkus (link above)

“Life moves on and so should we.” Spencer Johnson

The Bartleby

We named it the Bartleby because,
on most days, on most journeys it
preferred not to go anywhere at all,
to the point of disappointment so
irrupting that we persisted and 
pushed it to a limit of ourselves,
and the going was tougher than 
expected, until finally, a moment 
came when the wheels fell off our
manic endeavour, and there and 
then we left the Bartleby, much
preferring not to.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®


Note: some of you may not be aware of the reference to Bartleby = 'Bartleby The Scrivener' by Herman Melville

33 Comments

Filed under Free Verse, Humour, life, philosophy, poem, quote

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June 15, 2021 · 3:31 am

As Before – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Mish is hosting the Quadrille (44 words) with an invitation to use the word or its forms – Smudge.

dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Smudge

Photo: The point where the brook feeds into the ocean – Ellensbrook – its indigenous name is Mokidup.

“The land knows you, even when you are lost.” Robin Wall Kimmerer 

As Before

The wind pierced me so
in beautiful ways, of which
words fail in the telling;
clouds painted the sky,
touching your rays and I
took them by the hand,
knowing, as before, your
joy would wash the earth
and smudge my soul with
gratitude.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

34 Comments

Filed under awareness, beach, bush walking, Free Verse, life, nature, poem, Quadrille, quote, seasons, Uncategorized

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June 11, 2021 · 1:01 pm

Communion – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Lillian is hosting Open Link Night the night we post our own choice of poem.

dVerse Poets – Open Link Night

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

“Coffee is a kind of magic you can drink.” Catherynne M. Valente

Communion

I held that mug and treasured the thought
of it and, knowing I would sip, I held off
so that the liminal feeling would linger
longer, letting the feelings arise and 
anticipation build to this sacred moment,
the scent of a coffee, the swirl, the steam,
should never be rushed or taken lightly,
for it will never be repeated, no one sip is
the same as another, and the first, well the 
first is a ritual of exquisite religion within
the temple of my senses.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

54 Comments

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June 9, 2021 · 1:54 pm

The Unknown – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Tricia has invited us to write about risk. dVerse Poets – Poetics – Take a risk

Photo: Cape Leeuwin, more than a couple of wrecks out there in the reef and rocks.

“Only those those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” T.S. Eliot

The Unknown

If I remain as I am the
boat will sail without me,
past the shallows I wade in,
near the reef I have only
transcended in my wintry 
dreams, uncertain of the 
clearance  of my keel which 
has kept me even for so long,
and now, looking at the vast
horizon with anticipation,
knowing that I risk more by
not plunging into the unknown.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

64 Comments

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June 8, 2021 · 2:01 pm

Leaving Regret – prose by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Merril is hosting Prosery (up tp 144 words) using a line from the poem ‘A Map to The Next World.’ by Jo Harjo

dVerse Poets – Prosery

The line is: “Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end.”

Photo: found at huffpost.com

“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.” Jim Carrey

Leaving Regret 

Regret, that yearning to grasp at something that slipped away, some long buried treasure 
like a skill or passion, a friendship, an opportunity, the "only if I'd" .... the voice 
that says you could have done that, you would have been set for life, if only you had or 
hadn't, whatever that may mean.

So strange that we live in anxious competition for the perfect life and yet, ironically, 
risk missing life altogether. The past is a mixture of joy and sorrow, but either way it 
can hold us prisoner, while the future is always possible, yet for some, full of worry. 
Life for me is circular, and in a circular world crucial to finding the way is this: there 
is no beginning or end, life is not a race along linear lines of achievement or loss, there
is no pennant only life itself.

Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

47 Comments

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