(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
(#10)
Ersatz patriots
Gabble lustily amid
Smoke and blood and screams
Mindless primal mob worships
Q-birthed abomination
…..
(#11)
What have we become
Sun sets on all we have known
Cultists rend and tear
The soul of democracy
Freedom’s heart weeps in darkness
…..
(#12)
We cannot survive
The lies of those who seek to
Silence our voices
We will not survive if we
Cower silently in fear
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
(#7)
My eyes hear what my
Ears cannot see I wash my
Mouth of bitter taste
Of memories long past and
Chase scent of elusive hope
…..
(#8)
Distant memories
Hide like frail columbines
Shade-bound ‘neath the firs
Fragile petals woe-dappled
In the meadows of my mind
…..
(#9)
To open my heart
Is a mighty task I am
Not prepared to do
I no longer hold the key
To what’s locked inside of me
“What the Sun Denies, the Moon Divines”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
This light that burns
Through bone-hued slats
As serpentine sun
Sheds its pretense
And glissades through
Fey reeds of twilight
Cuts razor-lines
Across eddying galaxies
Of dust motes
Infinities of minutiae
Indifferent spirals
A feckless requiem
For rise-and-fall futility
Ley lines annulled
As monuments crumble
Broken cities dissolve
In caustic deserts
Of ebon sand
Lifeless seas
Heave and sigh
And evaporate
Under red alien suns
There is nothing here
For light to illumine
Nothing remains
To set eyes upon
No ear-to-ground echoes
No cryptic communiques
Just dust and rust
And eternity
This light that chills
Through paneless frame
As bulbous moon
Worms slug-like
Across the night-void
On star-trail secretions
Casts a blue-white pall
Upon the multi-verse
Of frozen motes
A languid lethargy
Of sub-cosmic energy
Dust specks in moonlight
Aglow in spectral hues
Shadows of ancient arcana
Flicker in surreal death-light
Tumbled monuments
Glimmer restlessly
Under dead stars
Ley lines shimmer
In quicksilver urgency
There is something here
That hovers
Beneath the spectrum
Felt not heard
Sensed not seen
Sun-shunned
Lunar-laved
Permeates bedrock with
Profane vibrations
Sets somnolent cities
Thrumming
Imbues oceans with
Eldritch dreams
Moon-spawned
Omniscient
And eternal
“Fade”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
Dusk has fallen as
Stars scream heavenward and doves
Murmur mournfully
Evening-song has come and I
Cannot hear day’s parting cry
Night blooms above as
Insects whisper mysteries
And wolves share solemn
Oaths on phantom breeze and I
Cannot hear dark’s somber sigh
Dawn symphony births
Strident morning melody
As birds wake the sun
And earth speaks to me and I
Cannot hear the singing sky
I have lost so much
My earth my sky autumn odes
Winter dirges spring
Soliloquies summer chants
Fading in silent echoes
And I
Cannot bear to hear them die
“The Footbridge”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
That derelict footbridge
Has finally failed
Stranding us on
Opposite shores
Of the abyss
Words
Like rotted planks
Litter the gorge
Below
Desires and dreams
Dashed
Upon indifferent rocks
Silence is all
I hear from you
Subdued echoes
Of regret
Perish
In opaque mists
Impenetrable
To starlight
And hope
The absence
Of closure
Rooting me
In place
Heart seized
By fear
And uncertainty
Did you turn
And walk away
Or did you
Plummet
Like our words
Into the
Sepulchral gulf
And must I
Remain here
Forever
Waiting for
The answer which will
Never come
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
…..
(#4)
Northern memories
Chill my heart as bitter cold
Crystallizes tears
Frozen shame adorns my face
Wind howls in my lonely soul
…..
(#5)
My heart spills itself
Upon the ground like untied
Bags of grain carried
Carelessly upon the back
Thoughtless birds feast on my tears
…..
(#6)
Can my heart hear what
Deaf ears cannot, can my soul
Sense what eyes can’t see
Can I feel alive when all
I love has abandoned me
“The Daisy Ring”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
“I found thee in a faerie copse…”
“Hmm?” she murmured
Her gaze caught somewhere
In the rainy neon night-world
Beyond the coffee shop window
Her fingers weightless
Feather-like
In my hand
Ethereal
Furnace-hot
“I found thee in a faerie copse
Alighting on each flower fair
And as I ‘proached thee in the hopes
Of snaring thee in lovers’ ropes
Thou disappeared into thin air…”
She looked at me then
A faint smile teasing
Her lips
“Your poetry is terrible,” she said
Her tired eyes regarding me warmly
For a moment before
Returning to the
Pouring rain beyond
Our personal universe
Of rickety little table and
Untouched mocaccinos
Her brown eyes
Glistening
Misting
As she scanned the night
A single tear tracing
The curve of her cheekbone
In the garish glare of the
Outside world
I stared at her hand
Too pale and fragile
Almost transparent
As it nestled idly in mine
Like some sickly dove
The delicate silver band on her
Too-thin ivory finger
Etched with some flowing
Unknown script resembling a
Daisy chain
It was all I could do
Not to look at
The rest of her
But I did anyway
I had to
And it hurt
I closed my eyes
And allowed my
Memories of her
To replace the despairing image
Burned into my mind
As she sat in somber contemplation
On an unremarkable stormy night
In some nameless coffee shop
In an arbitrary world
Where prayers go unanswered
And hope dies on the vine
And nothing is what it seems
The image that settled
In my mind’s eye was
The first time I saw her
As I made my aimless way along
Some mindless city sidewalk
In some pointless other reality
Her face ensconced in a
Breeze-blown mane of
Luxuriant onyx hair
As she peered out the window
Of a passing bus
Looking at nothing
Lost in some reverie of her own
A faint bemused smile
Causing her face to glow
So brightly I had to
Look away or be blinded
And though she didn’t see me
I couldn’t stop seeing her
And was it fate that I eventually
Found her?
A miracle?
Random chance?
I chose fate
But I was wrong
I didn’t find her
She found me
And by that point
It was too late
I opened my eyes
And all pretense fled
Immediately
She was fading
Diminishing
Before my eyes
Her essence draining
As though her soul
Had been punctured
By some eldritch poisoned dart
She must have known
What I was thinking
(She always did)
And she looked at me
Out of anguished eyes
Drowning in
Dark forbidden pools
And squeezed my hand with
All of her might
Her grip so weak by now
So frail
“You can’t save me…”
I looked at her angrily
About to deny this lie
This horrible, god-awful lie
“No…” she whispered
She reached out and
Touched my cheek
And after a time
All my anger dissolved
Into shame
And ran down my face
She wiped away
My pathetic tears and
Placed her moistened hand
Back in mine
Her sterling daisy ring
Gleaming dully
“Tell me again,” she said
As she tried to smile
“Tell me again of how you found me…”
And I looked at her
A solemn, resigned calmness
Settling over me like
A sheet pulled over the face
Of the deceased
She knew it wasn’t true
She knew she’d chosen me
Not the other way around
And I’d been powerless to resist
But she indulged my silly-sad
Fantasies
Because she loved me
And because she loved my
Puerile poetry
I swallowed hard
Shut my eyes against
What was about to happen
And said
“I found thee in a faerie copse…”
Her hand began to tremble in mine
“Alighting on each flower fair…”
The din of the coffee shop quieted
As the subtle incense
Of pine and myrtle
Wafted delicately
“And as I ‘proached thee in the hopes…”
A distant, stifled sob lilted softly
In the silence amid
The nearly indiscernible cries
Of birdsong
“Of snaring thee in lovers’ ropes…”
Her hand pulled away from mine
As gently as a parting lover’s kiss
“Thou disappeared into thin air…”
There was an almost imperceptible sigh
Like a forlorn forest breeze
When I finally opened my eyes
Her burnished silver daisy ring was
All that was left of her
She was gone
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
…..
(#1)
My empty heart holds
More of you than I can bear
There is no more room
For mem’ries of mountain song
Sorrow-blossoms weep for you
…..
(#2)
In chill morning air
I wake up the sun and set
The breeze in motion
Wafting heaven’s incense through
Sleeping earth and drowsing sky
…..
(#3)
In the depths of night
I reach through the years for you
With each passing day
Time takes you away from me
Dying echoes in the dark
“When Field Work is Done”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
When field work is done and soil tells
A tale of fragrant earth in russet tones
When ground-mist hunkers in secluded dells
And eventide descends upon the swells
Of solemn and discordant distant bells
I follow god-beams west, these tired bones
Sun-gilded in the cool remains of day
As fields pass beside the cobblestones
And honey-hives a-swarm with buzzing drones
And cudding cow in pasture lows and moans
The neighbor’s barn, a faded sun-bleached gray
Leans sleepily as I approach the bend
Where cobblestones succumb to moistened clay
And farm cats mouse-hunt stealthily in hay
And foals and piglets gambol as they play
Ripe apple trees stretch roadward to suspend
Their fruits to all who amble past below
And conifers at orchard’s distant end
Stand sentry as if ready to defend
This past’ral scene from all who might offend
And I, as evening stars begin to glow
And insects tune their instruments and sing
Their night-song, wend my way beside the slow
And clam’rous brook that gleams not far below
As moon peeks through the pines and winks hello
And pausing, I can’t help remembering
The lonely hearth that waits at home, the still
And barren house, silent, unwelcoming
The empty bed, no candle beckoning
No one who waits upon my homecoming
I watch the moon as noisy waters rill
Then close my eyes and breathe in willow-air
And stand alone in darkling evening’s chill
And tell myself through iron force of will
To swallow yet again this bitter pill
Then turning back the way I came, I stare
Into the gloaming’s ever-deep’ning hue
As tired feet propel me through the glare
Of starlit tears that blind and shame, and there
In dim distance the fate I’m doomed to bear
I run as moonlit field comes into view
For nothing’s left but field work to do
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley
…..
(#7)
Stormy autumn sky
Chickens huddle in dim coop
Murmur quietly
…..
(#8)
Forest song is hushed
Hallowed autumn rain demands
Silent piety
…..
(#9)
Harried prey is still
Chipmunk hides in fern shadows
Eagle stalks in sky
…..
(#10)
Paper hornets’ nest
Clutches tight to willow’s breast
Like angry infant
…..
(#11)
Haughty magpie squawks
Lording over acorn stash
Squirrel bides his time
…..
(#12)
Meadow rainstorm ends
Tearful flowers lift their heads
Sunbeams comfort all
Silent Pariah 