Tag Archives: poetry

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

Life

Leave a comment

Life~

 

IT BEGINS WITH A BEGINNING

AND AN ENDING

CYCLE UPON CYCLE OF LENDING

IT HAPPENS WITH THE WIND OF FATE

PRODDING AND PUSHING,Waterfall

EDGING TOWARDS A DATE

WILLS BECOME BENT.

AN ORGANISM LIFE IS SPENT.

ONE WILL BLOOM IN ITS’ PLACE.

BUT ASSUME ANOTHER

FACE.

TIME IS GOVERNED BY LIFE AND

IN TURN LIFE IS GOVERNED BY TIME.

EVER EDGING AND CRAWLING TOWARDS

THE SUBLIME

 

by Philip Wardlow

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

Soul Vacation

Leave a comment

Soulleaving

 Soul Vacation~

 

If my soul took a vacation,

escaped from my body

and left me sitting here

in my cold dark room

would I care to care

that it took a cruise?

Would my eyes look at

life differently?

Would my loves & passions

be muted?

Would my pains be gone?

Is it a sacrifice to lose one over

the other in spite of?

Again would I care when

my soul is gone?

I would think there would be

a longing for a forgotten

sweetness

that could not be defined

by my minds eye that’s now

blind.

If my soul left me.

Maybe.

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

The Goblin King Sleeps

5 Comments

GoblinKing

 

The Goblin King Sleeps~

 

In an oubliette deep

does a dank dungeon keep

the Goblin King.

Shattered, weary,

heartbroken,

at a loss to life he sought

and thought would crawl on forever

in a true vanity of his own design.

Yet, a silver lining

does shine on the pitted walls

which confine this man.

For he made a difference while out

in the world of light.

He ravaged, and wrought, bringing knees

to bend to touch the ground

and they fought, found courage,

bringing a change to the world each

in their way, good or bad

in the eyes of men

he brought a change,

and a reckoning was finally

consummated.

Now, he can finally sleepOubliette

this proud King.

And finally escape his

dungeon deep.

 

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

 

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

The Five Tenets of the Sword – A Poem

2 Comments

 

SwordA

 

 

The Five Tenets of the Sword~

 

Strength~

Once light as a dead bird’s body in my hands,

this weapon now weighs more than the collective souls

of a million men,

sweat glistens on  muscled forearms strained

drained,

needles in legs drive deep,

yet I stand.

Conditioned for this in every cord, tendon, and bone

that runs through.

 

Skill~

Hours upon hours,  Days upon days,

Years to master myself,  then years to follow

to master this weapon.

The placement of the foot just so,  hands balanced

sword poised at the perfect angle.

Advance, retreat,  first position, second position

third, and on and on and on,

an endless dance until the music stops

with a myriad of outcomes at its end,

and I know every step in the

countless tangle of each encounter.

 

Instinct~

I am steadfast in my defense and attack

yet, I let the mind drift into that nether

region between thought and the what-if.

Never thinking I  know my  opponent

for he will do what I  least expect and I

must expect the least expected in the blink

of an eye, for it could be my eye that is lost.

Ignore your sixth sense at the cost that

only fools pay when they are finally put to

rest in a shallow lonely grave.

 

Courage~

My line of sight  travels down my sword

to an opponent that only wishes me a quick death

I see all my years to come, laid out bare for

him to snatch from me, like a breath from

a baby as he sleeps deep.

I am no newborn! Swaddled and waiting.

But born to this moment in time.

So come. Come!

And I will share you a secret

as I whisper your own death in your

ears.

 

Will~

The hardest of the tenets to maintain,

for they drive all the rest in me.

Fail this one and I fail them all.

Be steadfast you ask of your soul,

Be steadfast you implore of  your heart.

Be steadfast you command of your mind.

Find a focus to compel the body forward.

Find a focus to awake each day.

Find a focus to believe in you

when no one else ever will.

Find that will

Simply find it

For there can be no other way.

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

 

 

 

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

Prince of Ravens

2 Comments

Prince of Ravens~

 

Brown eyes
wolfish grin

With a sword well
used and dangerous
once unsheathed
and finally released.

Shall we dance?

In a ballroom or in
bed.
For both skills come
naturally
to the Prince.
Once he takes you in hand.MatrimCauthon

Dark, and darker
as the lights are dimmed
to hide what some
others call sins.

The ravens fly high
over castle keep
ever watchful
as their prince
delves deep.

Into the many mysteries
of the mind
found between her
legs and more.

What chaos
What wonder.

What beauty will he finally find
In himself

When the dance is done.

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

 

 

 

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work, The EROTIC ZONE

Fill up my time fish

3 Comments

 

 

goldfish

 

 

Fill up my time fish~

 

She said,  “Fill up my time

while I wait for something

that I can finally keep

to drop on by.”

 

He said, “You’ll do,

you beautiful thing you,

now hurry , spread your legs as

my want of  you is  almost up.”

 

You are my novelty for the day,

the week, the month, the year,

as my desires

run their phases like the moon

runs its course across the skies

a hundred thousand million times.

You didn’t know it, but you did.

You hoped, but you still did.

Our original sin, over and over again.

That seems to be half the fun.

 

Are we all hobbies? Habits?

Frivolous fantasies and disastrous

desires run amok?

Dear affections that grab us like

a child holding tight to a goldfish

in a brand new bowl.

We all know what  happens to that fish.

 

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

Shiny Metal – A poem

2 Comments

My Shiny Metal~

 

I float in this boat,

bobbing at

the whim of the waves on my course.

A slave to nature’s most erosive

force.

Always weighed down by other

distractions in my journey.

Sometimes I hardly know its there,

so quiet it can be, so still

never moving an inch.

When did it first settle on to me,

this quiet rage.

Clinging to me like barnacles on the

hull of  my ship deep at sea.

Eating away at the steel in me

as it collects.

This quiet rage.

becomes cumbersome,

a weight that’s hard to

slough off easily.

Lift me from the ocean on timbered

beams and let me drip dry.

Now scrape, and scrape, and scrape

See my shiny metal gleam?

I must be diligent.

Scrape, Scrape, Scrape.

Lest this quiet rage

causes me to sink into

the abyss.

to become

just useless scrap

resting at the bottom

of a dark sea.

 

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

Shiny-Metal-Texture

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

Flying…

2 Comments

 

raven

Flying~

 

 

Flying….I…ME…Searching with my lantern,

alight on currents of cold dusky air

The darkness below doesn’t feel the light

that leaks out and dribbles out like

bits of cold rain.

Fall, Fall, Fall

little light of mine….fall

a trickle of a smile

a patter of patience

a sprinkle of spoken

words full of regret.

Flying…lost…ME

in coalescing clouds

fusing, binding,

here I am, mingling

with the molecules as

I shift through the

atmosphere

Ever Apart…ever Onward.

Flying…as the light drips

down to the darkness

below…searching.

 

by Philip Wardlow 2016

 

Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work

I trudge – A Poem

Leave a comment

I Trudge~
Through snow I trudge
heavy of foot with boots to insulate from the cold that creeps
always its creeps….
lost imprints of foot prints
swirl away to nothingness
as I look back through the raging blizzard
surrounding mesnow
I am not lost
For I am forever moving forward in the night.
towards that one star that peeks.
Wringing frigid calloused hands in gloves
never quite warm up to stave off the cold
I find these tired legs and cold hands
are a badge of honor
through a life sought to beat me down
I’m still standing
still walking
still wringing my cold hands
even they may look worn
they are strong
just as my legs are
which trudge
even though ever losing the imprints
of a past I have earned in sheer exertion
of a spirit that will always burn in me.
by Philip Wardlow 2015
Inquiring Minds, Poetry Work, The EROTIC ZONE

Kissing you Violently

1 Comment

Kiss
Kissing you Violently ~
This land is vast,
a kingdom of twists
and false turns,
full of dragons, goblins, trolls,
and all kinds of viciousness.

You are lost in it,
meandering to and fro.

Bogs, quicksand, dark woods
and sweeping storms rage
as you huddle in a hole
in a hollowed out stone hill.

Yet you travel on, for the storms
always settle for just a slice of time,
just a slice,
same as the monsters which stop in their
roaming, if only a bit.

Enchantments abound,
seemingly fair of nature,
always to turn to a curse
soon revealed,
as the invisible ropes
binding you deep on a pedestal
force a lucid sleep,
of nightmares you cannot place.

Knuckles bloodied
against a stone wall which
will never fall.

I punch.

See? Nary a chip.

So I climb…

Breath spent in exhaling
as lungs heave
with exertion
at muscles spent,
screaming with fatigue.

I find you sleeping.
Fitfully.

A beautiful wretch of a woman
The only kind I would
ever seek.

A Prince of Fools I may be
perhaps, but still a
knowing knight am I in the end,
for only a violent kiss
will bring you back to
life.

Not one of wishes
and hopes and dreams
or even love,
but one of a passion
to rival a thousand
wants and deeds.

And as I look to you
I am full of
violence
this day.

As I bend down
and kiss you violently
by Philip Wardlow 2015