Heart
Bleeding heart, a kindly soul
Drives demand, you give your gold,
Not for the cause they imbue,
Guilt sequestered deep in you.
Heavy, heavy, heavy heart:
A joyous life’s counterpart
You’re undone by whispered words
Hearing darkness over heard.
Faint of heart you’ll always be
Overwhelmed, harsh tyranny,
Cautious of strong emotions
Fearful of life’s promotions.
A big man who’s all heart:
Woman’s blessing at the start
Wants naming rights on all he sees
Trophies yes, including she.
Cross my heart and hope to die:
Preamble, pledge not to lie
Profoundly said, hand on heart
Pledge of candor truly smart.
Age be nameless, age be blind
Keeping “age” foremost in mind
Quells the soul from living art.
Beware, remain young at heart.
Night’s Retreat
See the light after nature’s storming,
Mist no longer gently forming,
Sun breaks through dark hanging clouds,
Rays of light split stormy shrouds.
Warming beams of light revealing
Flowers blooming, clouds receding,
Wakening life in all it’s forms;
Life’s routine begins its norm.
Stillness stirs both man and beast,
Moving to renew life’s beat,
Feeling inspired and replete
With a hope that’s bittersweet.
Each to nourish, roam and dwell,
Each to mate and then to quell
Wanting for a new beginning
Daily oeuvre is fulfilling.
When a predator appears,
Life’s great circle’s drawing near,
Yet each species thrives and grows;
Life is filled with grace and woe.
Day’s end comes. No clouds appear,
The sky is golden blue and clear,
Man and creature rest and sleep,
Waiting for the night’s retreat.
By the Foot
Bare foot,
Fore foot,
Flat foot,
Shoe.
Claw foot,
Club foot,
Rabbit’s foot,
True.
Big toe,
Trotter feet,
Foot pad,
Race.
Shoe horn,
Web foot
Calluses,
Lace.
Big foot,
Velocipede
In-step,
Brace.
Dextral,
Dorsum,
Foot Rule,
Cast.
Fore foot
Little toe,
Splayfoot
Last.
No matter
How large
Or small
Are feet.
The work
They do
Makes us
Complete.
Beverly Stock is an emerging poet and a retired communications manager. She has published feature articles in magazines and newspapers in five countries. Beverly divides her time between St. Louis, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I very much enjoy your poetry.
“By the Foot”. is truly innovative and spectacular.
Were you inspired by that hand-clapping game little girls used to play when I was a little boy, some sixty years ago?
Hello Beverley. “By the Foot” shows that you are not afraid to experiment with form. I enjoyed this poem in particular because it is strikingly different and does, as Joe has said, remind of children’s games.
Beverly, Hello.
1. “By the Foot” made me think of a book and a poet. The book is “The Foot Book” by Dr. Seuss. If you’re not familiar with it, you can find the words in it by doing a search on “the words of The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss.” The poet is Kay Ryan, who was the U.S. Poet Laureate about 10 years ago. Her poems (at least the ones that I’ve seen) are tall and thin, like “By the Foot.” An easy way to see some of her poems is to do a search on “Poetry Foundation and Kay Ryan.” The Foundation has several of her poems on its website.
By the way, while she was the U.S. Poet Laureate, she came and spoke in a city near me. I bought the book “Poem In Your Pocket: 200 Poems to Read and Carry,” which was published in conjunction with The Academy of American Poets. Kay Ryan wrote the Introduction for it. I took the book to her presentation and was able to get her autograph it.
2. I enjoyed reading “Heart” and “Night’s Retreat” because they are in trochaic meter, which is a refreshing change from most poems I see, which are in iambic meter. Because I think these two poems have potential, I spent about an hour reviewing them. I jotted down 22 ideas for how one might improve them in terms of rhyme, meter, clarity, diction, punctuation and spelling. Not all will find your favor, but some may. If you’d like to see these ideas, please say so, and I will be happy to post them. Thank you for sharing your poems.
Thank you for commenting. I’m not familiar with the hand-clapping game you referenced, Certainly familiar with that era, however.
Beverly