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The Kill
The stump of a tooth was tethered to stars.
At five till midnight three men puffed cigars.
One of them lathered his whiskery chin,
Using a brush soaked in whisky and gin.
One plowed through the soil, one raised a harpoon,
Hurling it carefully right at the moon.
The moon with a sigh crashed into the sea;
Monstrous waves followed and splintered the quay.
Once he’d accomplished this feat of great skill,
The harpooner bragged of making a kill,
A kill so complete the moon shines no more,
Except when wild women dance on the shore.
Poem © 2021 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Whirligig #301
More Writers’ Pantry #48 at Poets and Storytellers United
More The Whirligig #301
More Writers’ Pantry #48 at Poets and Storytellers United
Blackbird, O Blackbird
~~ ~~ 1 ~~ ~~
Blackbird, O blackbird,
at midnight in the garden,
who can see your wings?
~~ ~~ 2 ~~ ~~
Blackbird, O blackbird,
even the water trembles
when you start to sing.
~~ ~~ 3 ~~ ~~
Blackbird, O blackbird,
do you prefer the cypress
over the white rose?
~~ ~~ 4 ~~ ~~
Blackbird, O blackbird,
how many songs overflow
from your handsome throat?
~~ ~~ 5 ~~ ~~
Blackbird, O blackbird,
tell me what I need to know
to make your path mine.
~~ ~~ 6 ~~ ~~
Blackbird, O blackbird,
I search the chapel rooftop—
will I find you there?
Haiku © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #178
More Poetry Pantry #419 at Poets United
At the Moon’s Rising
Shed lock, Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, Yuma, Arizona
At the moon’s rising
we will eat soft candy
and sing lilting songs,
songs that bastards and buggers
never take on their tongues.
Yet sylvan maidens know them,
singing them at midnight
to the tree that rots in the forest
and to the blind lieutenant
who, now that it’s peacetime,
wonders why
they sent him to war.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #108
More Poetry Pantry #350 at Poets United
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #108
More Poetry Pantry #350 at Poets United
Lamp
View of the Cathedral, Zacatecas, México
the jade-seller’s lamp
still burning long past midnight
blotting out the moon
~~ ~~ ~~
Always somewhere a lamp is burning.
Text © 2015 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Six-Word Saturday
More Carpe Diem: “Jade”
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Mariachis and More
Painting at Fábrica La Aurora San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
THIS WEEK’S WORDS come from “No More Cake Here” by Natalie Diaz: mortuary, motor, many, midnight, mouths, mariachis, mutants, magician, meth, missed, more, maybe
~~ 1 ~~
old mariachis
their faces creased with music
tumbling through the night
~~ 2 ~~
A little more time—
the cobblestones will crumble
and fresh woods will sprout.
~~ 3 ~~
Maybe the ravens
know more about nasturtiums
than ever I will.
~~ 4 ~~
old poet hobbling
near the pond’s edge at midnight
ripple of water
~~ 5 ~~
Sing me a riddle:
How many crooked pathways
make a journey whole?
~~ 6 ~~
It is a sonnet,
and anything can happen—
pour it in their mouths!
~~ 7 ~~
an old motor home
clunking along the highway
gypsy at the wheel
~~ 8 ~~
thinking once more of
those missed opportunities—
sixty untold tales
~~ 9 ~~
the old magician
seeking advice from ravens
on a windy night
~~ 10 ~~
one breath from heaven
mortuary director
waits for the next call
~~ 11 ~~
sudden explosion—
a meth lab in his kitchen
blows the guy to hell
~~ 12 ~~
seventeen mutants
singing alto in the choir—
the strange ways of God
Poems © 2015 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #265
More Sunday’s Whirligig #20
Staircase
Sedona, Arizona
a blues trombonist
mounting the rainbow staircase
for his midnight gig—
smoke from an open doorway
anticipating the notes
Text © 2015 and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Our World Tuesday
More Carpe Diem: “Rainbow”
Conversation
Cottonwood leaf in autumn, Apache County, Arizona
the cottonwood leaves—
their conversation turning
toward the midnight frost
Text and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Carpe Diem: “Basho’s ‘Autumn Night'”
Blues
Sedona, Arizona
a blues trombonist
mounting the rainbow staircase
for his midnight gig
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Carpe Diem: “Blues”
Birth Pangs
Detail from a mural, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
birth pangs at midnight
the poem in my belly
kicking to be free
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
The Dancers
The dancers allege
that nothing can take the place
of an all-night whirl.
~~ ~~ ~~
The dancers conceal
their true purpose in whirling
from midnight to sunrise.
~~ ~~ ~~
The dancers propose
a toast to the old fiddler,
who keeps them whirling.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetic Bloomings: “Invitation to the Dance”
More Three Word Wednesday: “Allege, Conceal, Propose”
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