Ectopic Rhythms: Poetry

By Alvin L. Ureles

A broad compliment of poetry in modern and classical formats, embracing the troubled planet, personals, seasons, war and light poetry

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483507484

Book preview

patience.

ECTOPIC RHYTHMS

THE POEMS YOU WRITE ME

When you tossed those good things

That were happening to you

Into the tote bag of my mind

I carried them home smiling

Spilled them on the page

Not so your tales of

Pain and anguish

Hot and bitter

I bore them gently, sadly

Waited ’till they cooled at night

Assembled them with care

Your words are now my captives

To make me laugh or weep

I know the marrow of your thoughts

Feel your rhythms

Hear your special music

Any time of day

HOUSECALL ON JULIA

Julia sits old by the window

Watching through cataracts

The blur of children

Playing in the park

Her lips move in mumbles

Her bony fingers trembling

Like some forgotten motor

Whose key’s been lost

Emanations of self neglect

Hang over her

Like dank cloud

In a bankrupt zoo

Companions long gone

Smile at her

From creased photographs

In antique frames

As the clean cold chrome

Of my instrument

Creeps across her slatted chest

I hear a tired voice

Above the grunts

And muffled wheezes

In the distance

Telling me

Once she too played

Laughing in the park

As her grandmother

Sat by the window

Sucking stale tea

Through a glass straw

Wondering which child

Was Julia

THE DERBY

There is an oscillation of tension

Brownian movements coming and going

Hope and Destiny converging on windows

As presidents shrivel in wet palms

Tumult hangs over the multitude

Scintillating like tinted smog

Coiling up in slapping banners

Perforated by shrill trumpet bursts

Suddenly gates break open

An arabesque of synchronized steel

Caged Thoroughbreds unleash in fury

Their drumbeat of ungulate power

Pounding flying muscle and bone

Sweat and lather, as riders whisper

To tutored ears, " Steady now....

Steady now! "

Seismic tons of horse shake earth

Spattering the tacky track, thundering

Past the measured drone of loud speakers

And the riotous roar of the crowd

Jockeys coil like monkeys for the stretch

Whips crack air as withers weep salt

And blood shocked sockets strain

All bits free up in tender mouths

For the final frenzied surge

Toward the magical dream

Of WIN, PLACE

And SHOW

Now it is over

Cars hum in the distant hills

Jets coddle the clouds

Heading home

There is a sullen emptyness

Of lost hopes in torn tickets

Dusting the stark stone

Of vacant stands

Napkins, mustard stained

Pirouette along the fence

Whose gates sway aimlessly

Whining improvisations

Phones hang off their hooks

Like strangled dolls

The toilets swirl

In clogged indignation

Upon the track

The frantic clap of hoofs

Have left a bas-relief

For horse droppings

Sculptured orbs playing hosts

To lazy flies

High on the poll

Our nation’s flag

Flaps irritably

Awaits attention

But, no one sees

No one hears

Effort is history

UPON SUDDENLY SEEING YOU AGAIN

I remember how