Tag Archives: Poetics

She Knew – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sarah is hosting poetics with an invitation to write a poem using an animal as verb.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Acting Like Animals

Photo: Magpie, Beelu National Park, Mundaring.

“Like a magpie, I am a scavenger of shiny things: fairy tales, dead languages, weird folk beliefs, fascinating religions, and more.” Laini Taylor

She Knew

She knew that her friends

wondered how much more

stuff she would bring home from

her various treasure hunts around

the opportunity shops,

she cared little for their wondering,

after all, what some would call an

addiction she would brush aside with

– I’m doing my bit for charity,

but even she knew the house was full,

her shiny treasures were piling up

on top of each other in every corner,

she always owned that she magpied,

ever collecting,

only men were elusive.

Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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Filed under Free Verse, identity, life, passion, poem, quote

Of All The Shoulds – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Lillian is hosting Poetics with an invitation to choose one of five artworks by Thorvald Hellesen.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – An Artist Gets His Due

“Portrait of Halvor John Schou” 1911, by Thorvald Helessen.

“From the point of view of the meditative traditions the entire society is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

Of All The Shoulds

I’m not often still,

to sit quietly is to gather a storm,

unrelenting thoughts that swirl,

competing for my mind,

if I sit here too long I shall lose the

thread of it all to atrophy;

why am I here,

the ledger is incomplete

ships are unloading,

stock must be ordered ,

and yet here I am,

sighing,

wasting time,

I might even come to love it.

Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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Filed under Free Verse, life, poem, quote

Let The Real Surface – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Mish is hosting Poetics with an invitation to select an image by surrealist Erik Johansson, for more details follow the link below.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Slipping Into Surrealism With Erik Johansson

Image: ‘this-one-2’ by Eric Johansson https://www.erikjo.com/work

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” Carl Jung

Let The Real Surface

Not everything is obvious,
mostly we ignore the shadow play,
we sublimate while submerging
all sense of what nips at our heels,
waving while we are silently drowning
in that which is buried deep within,
our front is very fetching, so acceptable,
yet all the while it is so volatile, 
and at the same, it is unreal,
though we dare not admit this
for fear of implosion,
there are glimpses in moments
of vulnerable reflection,
slivers of opportunity to
reverse the grip we hold so tightly,
glimpses easily dismissed if glossed,
in letting go, the real surfaces.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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Filed under awareness, Free Verse, identity, life, poem, psychology, quote

The Owner Builder – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Kim is hosting poetics with an invitation to consider animal architecture and write a poem that focusses on a creature building its home.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Animal Architecture

Photo: a Welcome Swallow’s nest under the aqueduct at Beringbooding Rock near Bonnie Rock, early spring 2008.

“It’s surely summer. for there’s a swallow.” Christina Rossetti

The Owner Builder

Like a freelance plasterer the
swallows gather at water's edge
to gouge the damp, sticky clay
a hundred times ten pellets by beak,
on the wing, 
thrust into a tiny aperture,
cup as house on the under-hang,
nothing slithers here,
no caw of raven comes threatening,
no one, no thing
ever negotiates this plane,
no storm or quake can dislodge
this palace of mud.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 




Photo: same place, if you look carefully you will see the owner builder.

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Filed under bush walking, Country, environment, Free Verse, nature, poem, quote

Melting Stars – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Punam is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem about music in any form and to include at least two lines from the twelve provided from the songs of Linda Perry.

I have chosen: 7. Fruitloop Daydream and 12. Secret Lover

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Let Music Speak

Photo: found at blog.flickr.net

“Love is a friendship set to music.” Joseph Campbell

Melting Stars

In pursuit of manic meaning,
that fruitloop daydream,
she would take herself to 
the abandoned factory
where the sky became roof,
and where she could dance
to the music of melting stars,
she was the rhythm section,
sweating her heart to the beat
of a secret lover long gone,
though she had never 
closed that door,
her tears dried and
smiles were painted 
across her moves.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

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Filed under carefree, creativity, dance, dreams, Free Verse, poem, quote

I Fell – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Merril is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write about windows in any form.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Window Gazing

Photo: th.bing.com

“My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” Rumi

I Fell

You held a window in your palm,
your heart in clear view
tinged with mango and lime
like your lips,
soft spiced dew,
blew the wind,
the dove,
your hair flew as an
offering to the world,
double pressed,
carefree,
after the love flood,
a wonder in peach and white,
I fell through your window.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

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Filed under carefree, dreams, Free Verse, love, passion, poem, quote

As Old Bones – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Sarah is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem about yellow.

dVerse Poets- Poetics – Everything Yellow

Image: texashistory.unt.edu

“despite the proliferation of online newspapers and news sources, something about printer’s ink on a piece of paper makes it worthy of keeping.” Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler

As Old Bones

Who does that now?
Placing an add in a newspaper?
Hatched, Matched and despatched 
was the light-hearted riposte for 
classifieds celebrating significance,
and there I was, searching an old
photo album for those memories
when a piece of yellowed newsprint
fell out and fluttered to the floor.
I gingerly picked it up as if it were
likely to turn to dust, as old bones
are wont to do, and held it with awe,
for such things are surely treasures?


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

48 Comments

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

Echidna Days – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Lisa is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write a poem about an animal; about humans who exhibit animal characteristics; or create your own myth or fable about an animal. For more details follow the link below:

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Menagerie

Video: an echidna beginning to bury itself, we had seen it on the side of the road and when we approached it took evasive action, they are particularly shy.

“Few of us are satisfied with retreating from the world and just working on ourselves.” Pema Chodron

Echidna Days

Some days are echidna days
when pointy quills are insufficient 
to hold back the tide of overwhelming pain,
the rush of the world unedited into
my soft hearted veins of love,
so much easier to dig into the hollow,
down, down into the cave of comfort,
to bury myself against the unholy monologue 
of misery that desires to possess me,
no bell, book, or candle can beat
this reliquary of sainthood.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

21 Comments

Filed under bush walking, Free Verse, nature, poem, quote

The Sadness Of Binary Gardens – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

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

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Weeds Rule OK?

Image by Martina from Pixabay

“A weed is but an unloved flower.” Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Sadness Of Binary Gardens

There was a time when I
was a more zealous weeder
than I am right now.
I was full of the 
doctrines of identification,
learning to label and classify,
to take the hoe and cut
off the roots of community,
separating one plant from another,
those deemed less worthy 
to be be incinerated,
binned,
forgotten.
Some weeds are marked as
ready to be sprayed or cut down,
others are tolerated for a time.
Such is the everyday garden 
of this world where not all
plants are equal.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

14 Comments

Filed under awareness, community, ecology, Free Verse, Gardening, history, injustice, life, nature, poem, politics, quote

No Temple Or Steeple – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Ingrid is hosting Poetics with an invitation to write about place and space.

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Place and Space

Photo: State Forest at Kirrup

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” Gary Snyder

No Temple Or Steeple

What place
would capture my heart,
make me take off my shoes
and in silence commune?

No temple or steeple 
has ever,
nor memorial,
though all speak in hallowed ways.

Instead I go where the air moves,
where the sun and moon speak,
while the bed I walk upon never sleeps,
and the breeze whispers its translation 
through leaves of understanding.

Here I rejoice in the chorale 
of feathered song,
the trilling brook, and
even granite's imposing, stony silence.

It is here I take off my shoes,
speak in a language of soul,
feel this place deeply
as Lovers are wont to do.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

45 Comments

Filed under awareness, bush walking, Free Verse, life, nature, poem, quote