Tag Archives: Free Verse

January 7, 2023 · 4:13 pm

One Doesn’t Have To Rail Against Gravity – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“True happiness is …. to enjoy the present without anxious dependence on the futures.” Senecca

One Doesn't Have To Rail Against Gravity

On second thought,
I wonder that we have
doubted our way to fear,
imprisoning ourselves in 
our anxieties unable to notice 
small joys and simple ways of being.

Why do we fight with the nature of things,
are we frightened of feeling seen to be
motionless, flamed out, lost, and without ,
far too gently going into that  long night?

One doesn't have to rail against gravity all day
to find purpose or to feel good,
I now look to gentle hikes through life,
possessing all my weaknesses.

Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon

All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 5, 2023 · 3:52 pm

Lost For Words – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: Hoangdong7698 at pixabay.com

“One must desire something to be alive.” Margaret Deland

Lost For Words

How do I begin to describe
what is met in tenderness or
name the experience of the
lightness of a silken caress,
or speak of the urgency of the tide
which breaks over us in our rhythm,
the outward sign of our inner desire 
for connection we sometimes call love?


Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon 
All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 4, 2023 · 1:58 pm

Heading Home, Not Lost – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Merril is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem using at least two titles from a selection of pod-cast titles.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Are You Listening?

Image: Graehawk at pixabay.com

“The moment of change is the only poem.” Adrienne Rich

Heading Home, Not Lost

It was as if I was never there,
I spoke and no word would leave my mouth,
those I knew turned away from me,
I was but a stranger in their presence,
no place felt like home,
though I was not lost
nothing seemed to fit, 
nothing made sense anymore,
nothing was as before,
and so I embraced it and
went home by another route.



Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 2, 2023 · 2:44 pm

What Emerges? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley 

What Emerges?

Something emerges
between the dry grass of noon
and the last notes of an overture,
as the last of the spirit is imbibed
in an evening of introspection,
that single moment in which
the sole possibility arises
where our past watches with regret,
and how do we respond knowing
our submission is death and
hypocrisy brings censure,
do we offer objection,
see more clearly the 
self in the world
and our part in all that is?
What is met in this moment?



Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 1, 2023 · 2:21 pm

If We Don’t, Then We Can’t – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” Lao Tzu

If We Don't, Then We Can't

We don't imagine, 
we cannot move towards,
we cannot create something new
until we can let go of the current 
way of doing things,
we are so rooted in what is
that we cannot see other possibilities,
whether it be fossil fuels,
the way we are governed,
so called moralities (o please!)
that we hold to as childhood memories,
and not least the baggage cart 
of our formative years.
Something new begins in the moment
we let go of the rope which holds us in place.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon 
All Rights Reserved ®️

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December 31, 2022 · 3:11 pm

Invitation – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“The patterns we perceive are determined by the stories we want to believe.” John Verndon

Invitation

As we consume time for
yet another trip around the sun
the question remains,
revolve or evolve?
Revolve begs that we attend to 
our underlying repetitions,
the patterns we pretend don't exist,
that we keep hidden in the shadows
so that we can't see them,
though the whole world sees them
and smiles that we pretend.
Evolve invites an unknown,
the departure lounge for
places of no visa,
transcending pathologies,
landing in true self.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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December 30, 2022 · 3:44 pm

Truthing (Don’t Fear The Creative) – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“Some people are opposed to anything, before they understand what they criticise.” Sebastian Wortys 

Truthing (Don't Fear The Creative)

Make no mistake,
a song, 
a piece of art,
some writing
are a creative's hell,
in a world of opinions where
there is no critical thinking,
how else would we have ended up
with banning and burning books,
redacted prose,
destruction of art that is feared.
To throw in a provocation here,
do you remember 'Piss Christ?'
The furore,
the frenzy,
the self-righteous posturing,
the attacks upon the artist,
who, as it predictably turned out,
had no intention of blasphemy.
Our symbols have become over-invested,
oppressive, beyond critique or reflection.
Okay,
so let's pull the pin on the moral grenade now.
Why is it that some believe they must protect
institutions and symbols at all costs?
Who are we to make ourselves the keepers?
If myths are valid, flexible, adaptive,
surely they will survive because of critique,
especially from within the movement or process.
Ironically 'Piss Christ' was an attempt to show how
symbols are tamed, domesticated, corrupted, 
made empty in the pursuit of
well,
power and money,
of course.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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December 29, 2022 · 3:44 pm

Once More With Feeling – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“What you seek is seeking you.” Rumi

Once More With Feeling

What are we talking about when we talk about desire?
Perhaps I have already lost you in a haze or eroticism
as you drift to boudoir and silken sweat,
pardon me if I interrupt your subjective memoir,
but isn't desire an infusion of everything,
the good, the bad, even the mad?
A repeating nudge to have,
most likely something out of reach,
beyond our capacity to control,
the last item, 
the bird to be caged,
a luxury lust,
surely desire is more than love,
isn't it both murder and possession?
A response to suggestion,
a marriage of icons,
fictions of sensate memories,
idealised intensities of wanting.
More than that,
isn't desire a return to feeling in a world 
that has fallen into disinterest and anxiety.



Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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December 28, 2022 · 4:12 pm

A Voice In The Noise – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” Maya Angelou

A Voice In The Noise

There seem to be more words than infinity can muster,
sentences and phrases strung together passing through me,
unpunctuated noise piercing my unguarded mind,
so many mouths spewing sound with no discernible form
droning earnest speculative meaninglessness,
a kind of backscatter logos,
an anaesthetic for the age,
sound devoid of content,
spittle filled nonsense,
flushed piss,
atrophy of a generation drugged by equilibrium,
that boat won't be rocked,
peace in our time insta in yoga pants,
while my teeth grind to dust
and the earth flames,
faintly I heard a prophet speak.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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December 27, 2022 · 2:58 pm

Same As It Ever Was – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus

Same As It Ever Was

What happened to the rebellion explosion,
the anarchic times of flowers and razor blades,
love unplugged and paisley dreams,
the death of saccharine seems short lived now,
back then we were going to tear it all down,
end all orders, smash all juntas, 
close the privilege clubs and cliches,
set fire to ideologies and isms,
but nothing evolved,
it simply went round and round,
like punk bands doing retirement gigs,
always the last show,
same as it ever was.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All rights Reserved ®️

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