Spirits

By Jack Forge

A selection of diverse poetry chronologically spanning five decades

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Forge
• Release date: Sep 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466178625

Jack Forge

Born John Stephen Rohde in Los Angeles, California, I focused my academic study on the liberal arts and I have striven to create worthy art most of my life.

Book preview

SPIRITS

A Life of Poetry

by

Jack Forge

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 John Stephen Rohde

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. It may not be re-sold or given to others. If you want to share this book, please buy a copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book but did not buy it, please go to Smashwords.com and buy a copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Poems

Lyrics

Idylls

Sonnets

Psalms

Hymns

Odes

Laments

Eulogies

Didactics

Songs

Miscellany

Penstrokes

***

Lyrics

FIRST SonG

coupling

hunger

rose

subterranean

ecstasy

the big bang

salmon

chance

change

the sixth day

spiral

tide

tripling

DITHYRAMB

mere pere

matter merge pattern

mama papa

blastomere

me

greenostered

sun

setter

si si

gardenia

b

●

mere

colloidal

spheremiracle

MORNINGLORY

Venus

before the sun

a star garden

pentamorous clarion

convolvulus

in yellow dawn

more weaning

sweet in us

a star rises

out a bleak black

sea

shore

to be

may lay day

ravenous

in hour glory

high

with a morning

seed

reborning

from a female flower

MONARCH MONARCH

vivacious metaphoric metamorphs

transcending chrysalisarcophagi

to sail on as summersprites

for the annual inspiriting

of the flower followers

in mosaic prayers

for some nexus

spring to fall

ever better

fluttering

butter

fly

V

MY VALENTINE

heart of a southwest star

in my romantic comedy

remember the red

we beat together

through the core of sense

no hurt for me

or you

my G chord

OH

GL

I

beat my breast

for your bosom

a card I am to you

in our game of arrows

stuck in the center

of our love

beating

en

cour

age

meant

for the home fire stone

some ease

some sore

chortled

by a string

throbbing

heart-to-heart

wholy

in tune

SPRINGSTREAM

up

day again

I knew it

sol stood the strain

of winterkill

night versus light

March

d'art rite

veralee

borne again

by inexhaustible drafts

down upon

Berthe's big body

pink and white bells

pealing

to court

honey birds and bubble bees

boughing

bursting

boing

now

as always will be

consummate

in the yellow song

hymeneal

O

prince of time

returning

VALENTINE

now in this vale of years

tears

pour in riveruns

guttered

to the sea--

yet our wellove faring dryly

Valencia!

Gloria!

to reunite

what once was and--

still?

now between the first and final acts

I&U

2

hope 4

mutual change

plentiful

without

F

ire

yet a hearth warning

within

to make a choice

sweet

for greetings, gifts, grace, or

goodbyes

VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING FEAR

coming and going

but grains of sand

in the cosmic strand

ever-changing with the tide

yet brethren among the stars

You and I

though insignificant

among luminaries of the universe

the spheres great and small

circumfluent

here and there

between the dark and day--

we part now quietly

without fanfare

without fancy

without subservience

to fear

You

to an adventure

not great or small

embark

like a seabird ascending

your dreams grow wings

your heart drums

to the song of your eyes

I

standing fast

see your fission now

though the limits of your life

run together

like a wash of vivid colors

through the lenses of my tears

and in this moment of our leaving

my mouth moistens

my lips swell

my palms turn upward

fingers reaching

for the melodic chords moving

in your heart

my thoughts

would play my music

in the machinations of your mind

my heartbeat

would suppress tremulous yearning

in your breast

I would control--

yet because our souls

have danced to rhythm beyond us

in concert

in the highest keys of life

I must let go

let be

let free

let fly

as monarch mariposas

we each sail in our own air

find our own ways

yet home is one to us

before and after

the temptations and trials

of the journey--

a place where we are one

for reunion

refreshment

renewal

a place in shade

where we alight

side by side

our wings slowly pulsing

our breasts heaving

from the struggle for ourselves

then is the time

our summer wings

laced with lines

from countless nights

trimmed in stars

will interfold

and our bodies touch our souls

go now as you will

we fear not this parting

but fare well

as we become stronger

to be whole

my wish is your welfare

not a mourning

but a good bye

till the butterflies come home

with the moon

and we embrace again

to watch quietly

the darkness turn

to day

MARGO

eyes

like warm shoals

sun-bright signals

sparkling

I move forward

smoking

from purgatorial fire

and yearn to dive

into her pools

immerse my memories

steaming

to flow away

in the currents of her soul

and wash upon the shore

buoyed and caressed

by lapping fingers of foam

as human debris

to coalesce

in strands of spun sand

drifting wombward

SEISMIC CALIFORNIANA

trembling

you lie seaward

animaternal

pads agleam in fluorescent surf

legs languorous to heaving belly

shimmering in wild lawns

hills breast a cool mist

caressing your forested mane

eyes dot the Sierra Corona

with a diadem of blue

royal pulse murmuring

deep within the primal crevasse

alas

mind awing

I plunge

to probe your fault

feeling well

but knowing not

the cataclysm to engulf me

ONE

one

golden flame

in the core of a flower

by any other name--desire

you

reach beyond

to touch the fruit

upon a serpentine bough

I

taste dreams

in word, line, and light

that mesmerize the mind

we

crystallize

our seed in purity

within the blooming fire

JUDGE NOT

judge not

me or mine

too soon

for in chance, choice, and change

we are becoming

at times too much or too little

my heart sank

mind in tow

to lightless depths

where fear-fish fly the dream

and yawn invectives

at fetid flesh

like a wastrel prince before a king

as latent golden ore--

need fires the core

and forges a jeweled crown

with my burdens chanced or chosen

I change course

for the stars

and carry my gifts

to the brightest sun

CIRCE

wrecked the ship for a dream

led my young to your throne

thirsty for ambrosia

drank absinthe from your lips

forgot my duty and my sacred home

your broad hips engulfed me

my scepter turned to stone

your eyes seared my brow

bleeding at your feet

pearls petrified on your palace floor

in your measureless cave

blinded to sun and moon

infernal my journey

searching for heart and hearth

now only courage could set me free

PICASSO, NEW YORK, AND YOU

flying

we came together--

the art, heart, and center

your hand with mine

bonding

souls magnetized

in darkness

illumined by the fountain

of a hundred flowers

ejaculating

in the matrix for a finless flow

we danced across the broad way

before the Empire

and our kiss hung

on a crescent moon

you and his work in the focus

of my life:

guitars in tune

to the music in your voice

and The Spanish Woman--

a spirit drawn to my eyes

visioning

to live for love in art

man to woman:

consummated by the touch

of a hand--

a wondrous stroke

upon the face of beauty

BLASTOMERE

should we the beast

should we the sea men dream

should you the sphere miracle

should the lion drink the falling stars

a comet strikes the earth

life with life

cellseed rife

in fecund fire

splitting the apple

should we be three

what then

would we the sacrament

would I the oak tree

would you the soft warm earth

would fish swim the running silver

would sun and moon embrace the marvel

a monstrance of light

life