Poetics and Poetry Discussion

Carter, Shep had a stroke in early 2010 and died in the Fall. Here's a nice remembrance from someone who knew him:

http://lindaproud.blogspot.com/2010/11/michael-shepherd.html

I was fortunate enough to meet him in 2006 during a business trip to London. We had a little get-together with some of the other London-based PoemHunter regulars at the time. We sat in a corner of my hotel's lobby and read some poems.

Hey, I'm back! For a while, anyway. Lamont, Sue Ann, Wendy, John, wuz happening here? I posted a new poem but don't know where it is. Lamont, John, you got any new ones you've recently posted? How do I get to them? Let's have us sum fun! ! ! JC

Hello poets,

I don't know who, if any of you, will remember me but I wish to inform all that Poemhunter has removed all of my work for what they say was pornographic content. I have posted work here for 10 years and some of that work has been on this site since the beginning. Most of it is published and held in both the national libraries of Ireland and the UK. Some had sexual imagery but most did not. Nevertheless, the site has now removed all of my work.
I do not know why and I feel devastated. I will be leaving the site as a result of this censorship. Thank you one and all and be careful with your work. It is precious.

Sonja Broderick

Hello poets,

I don't know who, if any of you, will remember me but I wish to inform all that Poemhunter has removed all of my work for what they say was pornographic content. I have posted work here for 10 years and some of that work has been on this site since the beginning. Most of it is published and held in both the national libraries of Ireland and the UK. Some had sexual imagery but most did not. Nevertheless, the site has now removed all of my work.
I do not know why and I feel devastated. I will be leaving the site as a result of this censorship. Thank you one and all and be careful with your work. It is precious.

Sonja Broderick

" Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful
thing in the world.
A limited, limiting clarity
.
.
I have not and never did have any motive of poetry
but to achieve clarity
.
.
George Oppen

Hi friends your suggestions are valuable to me.


Nature's Makeup

Scorching heat of summer
Burns the earth like a fire
Followed by wrinkles and cracks
Make it more worst.

Drizzling rains cleanses the earth
And make it cool and lively.

Snowy cover of winter heal the burns
And cover the wrinkles
And soothes its cracks
And make the earth more pretty and lovely.

Sunny autumn make it more romantic.

Spring waiting for its turn for the final touch,
It covers the earth with beautiful flowers.
And now the beautiful bride is ready with lovely smile.

Patience of the earth is often tested.
But it wait patiently for the seasons to come and heal.

If nature can heal itself,
So we can!

Hi friends, please read my poem. Your valuable
Suggestions are most welcome. Thanks for your
Time and support.

Mirage

Mirage is so beautiful
Just a glance of it
You get trapped in it's beauty.
Like a spider in web.

It will make you feel that
you are about to hit your target
And few steps ahead
you will touch your target.

You realise it too late that
you left everything behind
And have come so far
That you don't have a magic stick
to take you back,
to enjoy those moments
of which you were a part of it.

You wanted something in life
But you got another one
With which you were never happy
And you choose to run behind it.

Have you ever thought
to put a little break
And spend some time with your loved ones!

Life is only one
to enjoy with your loved ones.
The moments gone is gone
But still it's not too late
To relish a few beautiful moments
With your beloved ones!

.
.

My friend, Charles Bukowski once told me,
and years ago in the old Los Angeles public library,
and where we both frequented, " that reality renders
its own design, and this shit-hole planet has its virtue,
but not in humanity's kindness, promulgate with
curious craft, and be sure to delineate... COLOR! "

He then said, " goD doesn't (really) care, and...
most important, neither do I."

I took that to heart
and have assimilated
inherence...

I'm good....

gD-ate

.
.

I have nothing against the dedicated followers of fashion (no matter how insane some new styles seem to be) but some lines from my favourite poet W.H.Davies spring to mind

I take not my state from other people's eyes
What's in my mind not on my body
Or theirs I prize.

My Horror Story

The lights went off all over
the city. Everything was down.

Becoming eerily disconnected
from the world, we began to thaw,

so the four of us sat around a table
with flashlights under our chins,

like children, laughing in the dark,
when it was suggested that we tell

each other some horror stories.
My turn came, and I declined,

as the only horror story I knew
began long ago- as a love story.