Dark Gardens, a poem

 Dark Gardens

I have hungered but I have not starved;
I have worshiped each vain idol carved
by desires sharpened to a knife,
by the fires that have hollowed life,
left me empty of all wants and needs
and the comfort of all empty creeds.

Hollowed now, I leave myself unguarded,
followed by those dreams thought best discarded;
facets of perception catch and bind me
as kaleidoscopic visions blind me.
Rise up every star I wished upon;
to dark gardens comes unruly dawn.

Whisper to those fading lights above,
what of those we need too much to love?
Owls cry messages across the night,
ask what litanies I might recite —
shadowed prayers for sins too small to number;
in dark gardens I and they seek slumber.

Stephen Brooke ©2024

Possibly finished form (or close to it), but drafts are ever subject to change.

On Abortion

Abortion access shows up on several state ballots this year, including here in Florida. I favor the amendment here. Being quite libertarian, I absolutely believe in the right of a woman to control her own body. The question then becomes whether or not another body is involved. Just when does a fetus become (or should be considered as) a human person?

No one can honestly claim to know. We may have our beliefs but those beliefs can not be forced on others. This is why I advocate a sensible compromise, whether it be ‘viability’ or ‘quickening.’ Setting the cutoff at less (or banning abortion altogether) is very much imposing ones beliefs rather than depending on any sort of medical knowledge.

I personally dislike abortion and would prefer it only be a resort when the woman’s health is in serious danger. It is not for me to impose that view on anyone else. It must remain a choice for the woman, ultimately—not the state, not the doctors.

And definitely not you and me.

Counting Words Release

 Today, October 25 2024, marks the release of a new collection of poems from Stephen Brooke, "Counting Words." The book is  available from Arachis Press (arachispress.com) in print or as free ebooks (PDF and EPUB). Stop by and get your copy!

Wind-Wise, a poem

 Wind-Wise

I am not wind-wise nor do stars
  whisper secrets in my ear.

Count the clouds and say to me
  our dawn will come gray and rainy.

Should I doubt you? I am not wind-wise;
  let others look to the future.

Stephen Brooke ©2024

Lentils, a poem

Lentils

Through windows obscured by evening’s frost
  I watch the gray ending of another day.
The trees have become their naked shadows;
  all the bird are long flown away.
Lentils slowly cook in the kitchen,
  with garlic and onions and green herbs.
Their fragrance fills my empty house;
  there is none here to share them.
They will warm my body this night
  but my heart is filled only with winter.

Stephen Brooke ©2024

Pomegranates, a poem

 Pomegranates

Two pomegranates ripened by my door,
  dangling in the morning sun.
Share one with me now;
  the other will hang there still,
in the lengthening blue shadow
  of the house, when we return.

Stephen Brooke ©2024

Not really a sijo, though it is somewhat in the form of one. I'm willing to simply call it a poem.

Pursue, a poem

Pursue

I followed my heart, but it told me lies
nor could I put trust in my own two eyes;
reality names itself in some new guise,
each promising its more elusive prize.

Yet when I pursued the fools’ gold that gleamed
along some lost border of dreams left undreamed,
naught ever turned out to be as it once seemed;
all offered in hostage remains unredeemed.

Too easily have I been oft misled
by those empty words I myself have said,
as I set illusions to dance in my head —
pursuing tomorrow as it ever fled.

Stephen Brooke ©2024

More an exercise in language than in meaning, perhaps.