Tag Archives: Free Verse

June 20, 2022 · 4:27 pm

Sweet Dreams – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: from viacampesina.org “Protracted fight against all injustices.” Protestors in Paraguay drawing attention to the loss of land and human rights in the face of mining and forestry businesses.

“Disadvantages faced by indigenous peoples are related to dispossession and exacerbated by powerlessness and poverty.” Roberto Mukaro Borrero 

Sweet Dreams

There is no edict for you to leave your
home tonight as armed militias glare
at you with trembling trigger fingers,
while benign police stand back shrugging.

No one is bulldozing the graves of your
loved ones or setting fire to community 
facilities in order to persuade you to leave
the place where you have set down roots,
generations of love and friendship and work.

No one is turning your land in to agribusiness 
at the cost of community, even life,
you are not losing your freedom tonight,
or your basic rights, even your dignity
remains in tact despite corrupt politicians.

No one is making laws to target you as an
enemy of the state because you refuse to 
surrender your home and land from which 
you sustain life and no one despises you 
because you refuse to surrender your heritage.

But if you live in Paraguay then,
this night they will indeed come and
kill, burn, rape, torture and imprison
while stealing your land under guise of
legislated corporate rights and resumption.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 19, 2022 · 2:57 pm

How Is Your Path? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: a familiar path for me, the River Walk along the Hardy Inlet, Augusta.

“So at the end of this day, we give thanks for being betrothed to the unknown.” John O’Donohue

How Is Your Path?

How is your path,
are you creating a path or
are you simply following one?
Do you know where it goes or 
are you content to wander and see, 
allowing your curiosity to draw your 
attention to corners, deviations, 
the mysteries of the way?

Is there any hurry or are you content
to wait and ponder, rest and recollect,
allowing feeling to speak to you?
Do you you know how to go along
your way accepting the joy and the 
sorrow in unequal portions that is 
the journey we are invited to take?
How is your path?


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 18, 2022 · 3:13 pm

Blown Away – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: found at familyhandyman.com

“The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.” Joan Didion 

Blown Away

Today I noticed the wind which
came whipping at my door and
pushing against my windows,
I saw it sway the trees and throw
waves against the sand,
I want to be enveloped in that wind,
to be pushed and thrown to new
places and experiences like
autumn leaves lifted from a path,
taken beyond to the unexpected.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 17, 2022 · 4:23 pm

I’m Done With Labels – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse guest host Anna is hosting Meeting the Bar with an invitation to write a poem around an aphorism.

dVerse Poets – MTB – Fall Seven Times, Stand Up Eight

Photo: from lovethispic.com

“When you judge another , you do not define them you define yourself.” Wayne Dyer

I'm Done With Labels 

I love the fluidity of life,
everyday and erasure of lines,
the blending of black and white,
an end of claustrophobic totality,
accepting the flow that makes life,
rejoicing in corners, crags and creeks,
following forks of divergence,
watching the herd thunder past,
I'm done with labels and postures,
I'e always thought it best not to judge,
live and let live I always say.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 16, 2022 · 3:31 pm

The Hypothetical – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: from http://www.designerdaily.com ‘The Knotted Gun’ Turtle Bay, New York.

“Guns are like thermometers, only instead of measuring body temperatures they measure our fear.” Jean Zimmerman

I found the video footage of Lauren Boebert in relation to gun rights disturbing. The Republican Party seems to be populated by such people and views which is also disturbing. Fear seems to rule elements of America.

The Hypothetical

If Jesus had an AR-15 he'd turn it into wine,
bullets he would make as loaves and fish
a banquet for all and sundry no less,
when Peter drew his sword that night Jesus 
made him withdraw then healed the injured man,
when Judas robbed the common purse and 
sold Jesus out, Jesus went 360 and forgave
him every time, there's nothing like forgiveness
to disarm a triggered mind, while on the other hand, 
there's nothing like illogic to fuel a deep divide.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 15, 2022 · 4:25 pm

Hold The Night – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Laura is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a deathbed poem.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Words of Departure

The quote for the epigraph is the line I chose out of the six offered.

Photo: Close to the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

“Go on get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.” Karl Marx 

Hold The Night

I want it all except
the feeling of being hemmed in, 
no dark rooms please, no closed doors,
and don't tuck those sheets too tight,
I need to breathe, to move, to see,
no maudlin tears, save those for later,
let's champagne this moment,
throw back the heavy curtains,
put away the sepulchre furniture,
bring me turquoise sheets and maple syrup,
play me Bartok's folk dances,
let me hear Oliver and Blake,
no more laudanum silences,
offer me no dirges in a minor key,
paint the hearse bright for this
wedding of life to eternity,
hold the night for a moment and
let me see the horizon once more.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 14, 2022 · 9:47 am

How Can I Spell You? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sanaa is hosting the Quadrille (44 words) with an invitation to write using one or all of the meanings of the world spell.

dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Casting A Poetic Spell

Photo by darksouls1 at pixabay.com

“Every spell is a journey.” Lawren Leo

How Can I Spell You?

Samhain's thinness is an invitation
to rend the tissue between worlds,
she came at noon to smudge my door
and wait the moon to pass,
that hour came and our worlds collided,
by dawn I was spent,
her spell ended,
and she had gone.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 13, 2022 · 3:24 pm

Who’s Inside? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo by Evelyn Chong : https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-standing-in-front-of-mirror-1674060/

“Mirrors should think longer before they reflect.” Jean Cocteau 

Who's Inside?

When you look in the mirror
who is looking back at you,
what are you thinking or
are you avoiding thinking,
especially about yourself,
who are you anyway and
how are you you at any time?

What is the sum of you and
how are you being you?
Your mirror refuses to hide
the imperfect imagined you,
that constructed fictional you,
mirrors always offer what 
you wish to find, but they
never look inside for you.



Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 11, 2022 · 4:23 pm

The Sea Shell – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: sciencekids.co.nz

“The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is.” Ludwig Wittgenstein 

The Sea Shell

The spiral,
always the movement,
beautiful premonition,
the sum of before itself,
the string that is this long,
a labyrinth of mystical rhythm
better than a minotaur's maze,
a way through the demise of certainty,
healing for disconnection,
the disavowal of accumulation,
a slowing down,
contemplating the beauty
in the sounds of nature,
the smell of soil,
ash of my ancestors,
the sounds of love's tympani
on my heart of hearts,
O fragile sea shell,
speak more.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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June 10, 2022 · 3:14 pm

Life, Death, Life – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: one of many trails I walk in the Beelu Forest, Mundaring.

“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.” Elizabeth Lawrence

Life, Death, Life

Did you notice the first leaf fading,
did you feel its dry, necrous, flesh,
and did you see it fall so gently to
the warm bosom of the earth
who drew it tenderly into herself,
knowing that their embrace would
bring life in a mysterious unfolding.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

34 Comments

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