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All Our Pretty Words


07.07.18 Posted in today's words by

Paul M. Strohm’s most recent poem to appear here was “Do Not George Gently” (June 2014)

All Our Pretty Words
By Paul M. Strohm

The waves of the moon playing in the sky
I have seen eclipses, I have seen changes
One recalls memories, the other old grudges,
Can you carry all burdens packed on your back?
Seeing no resolution beyond,  no rest in the world,
Possessing secrets, none of any value
We wander about shouting and flinging
Our noise to cover the light;
That we struggle by self-transformation,
Wonderous invention!
This poem pleases my secluded heart,
You constructed it, making it new,
Though other mouths mumbled the same words;
And that bitter lemon drops from the tree,
And always an image—one absolute instant
Attached to the verb, no dangling adverb,
And I recognize changing
Humans are clay, they need  a new art
To recognize all life deeply as though
Praising the clouds dressing the moon,
I cling to our unknown geography,
A voice without a map,
Not afraid to constrain the constraints!
A sudden shock, the harsh, the strange,
That in our mirrors reflect our doubts,
Times past, the now, then on into the future
To rearrange without causing unnecessary pain
What do I know, theres always words
Each begins a refrain, saying
What have you done, me and you
No matter  the difficulty
Go choosing your words
Now a clear passage,
Ive no meaning beyond
Then we hear . . . Such tender sounds
In every sense, new feelings grow
Amid the paths followed by all,
And I shall sit with all our pretty words.



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