Tranquility, Solitude, and Other Poems

By Karen Lee Oliver

Karen Lee Oliver was born in Poughkeepsie , New
York on October 1,1959. She furthered a potential career
in ballet by moving to N.Y.C. in 1973 where she studied
on scholarship with American Ballet Th eater. Ms. Oliver
graduated from the State University of New York at Albany
with a B.A. degree in English Literature Major/ Th eater
Arts Major in 1981. She has since published three books
with Xlibris: Pergola; 2002-2005, Tales From the Mirwood
and Tranquility, Solitude and Other Poems in 2014.
Selections:
1) THE LOTUS EATERS
2) THE MONKS OF WALLENSBURG
3) PICTURE IN THE SKIN
4) VESTIBULES OF TIME

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499015379

Book preview

ABOUT THE BOOK

The force or strength of tranquility in everyday life is the existential center of my book. Pure philosophical thought colored by tinges of images of good and evil all baring some relationship with tranquility, the lack of tranquility, feelings of tranquility itself, pathways that lead to tranquility, meanings of tranquility in life and finally the beginnings of tranquility and our basic need for a tranquil life. This theme which runs through the center of my writings uses the poetic format combined with imagination to present to the reader new ideas, develop strong feelings and artistically express the fundamental and almost religious devotion of us all to peace and tranquility.

TRANQUILITY,

SOLITUDE, AND OTHER

Poems

Karen Lee Oliver

Copyright © 2014 by Karen Lee Oliver.

Ms. Oliver designed the cover art herself.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/24/2016

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CONTENTS

About The Book

PART I—TRANQUILITY

The Janus

A Piece Of Eight

Onus

The Heir

Three Days Gone

In The Cold Light Of December Fire

Remembering Joe Smith

From Now Until Here-After

Three Cats In A Window

Rim

The Beg Inning Of The End

The Lotus Eaters

The Lotus Eaters

The Lotus Eaters

The Surprise

By The Ocean

Interlude

Dim

Interference

The Money Changers

The Green Lantern

The Jazz Bird From Lark Street

The Jazz Bird From Lark Street

Remembrance At Donner Pass

A Door—A Heaven

The Sons Of Time And Memorial

The Monks Of Wallensburg

An Oriental Bow

The Glass String Of Beads

The Day Has Gone To Heaven

Mood Sombre

Bend Of The Road

Black

Saying Goodbye

The Other Sex

The Liar—Beast

Un Moment De La Tranquillite

Le Joue Sans Quatre

The Missionary Wife

The Unknown World Of Color

A Thought To Be Remembered

Some Moment In Autumn Caught

In The Cool Of The Evening

In The Cool, Blue Morning

Emiline

The Silent Snow Over Sacristy

Wrinkles In Time

Slow Steps Towards Buddha

A Mere Obstacle

Paper Plates And Ragweed

Reflection

Why You Left

The Eye Of The Needle

Glory Road

Glory Road

Glory Road

The Garnet Of Prediction

The Garnet Of Prediction (Contd.)

The Garnet Of Prediction

A Sudden Reckoning

A Sudden Reckoning (Contd.)

Indian Summer

The Other Side Of Never

White Days

The Repose Of The Saints

City—Spent

The More—Obvious Conclusion

The More—Obvious Conclusion

Clytemnestra

Summer Song

Nor Man, Nor Beast

The Door

Absinthe

Absinthe (Contd.)

The Swan

The City Without A Name

The Wearing Away Of The Tides

Do You Hear The Bells?

The Death Of A Brother

Oblivion

Summertime

Shopping Cart

Ballerina Butcher

Fort—Askew

Strange Truth

The Deaf Toll

Tell No One Anything

An Expression In Time

Appearance?

The Nike Of Samothrace

A Golden Chain Of Remembrance

Asleep In Captivity

The Desperate Hour

Deluge

A Cry

Picture In The Skin

A Note From The Lyre

My Essence

The Choir

The Last Remnants Of Society

Misguided

The Vague Memory Of Earth

A Vague Memory Of Earth (Contd.)

PART II—SOLITUDE AND OTHER POEMS

Solitude

Over The Damn

Together

The Monk Fish

Endymion

To My Mother

Where Am I Going, Where Have I Been?

Cold, Winter’s Day

Sea Bird

Lunar

The Hourglass

Too Soon

The Orange Grove

A Prayer For The Darkness

A Melancholy Story

Transfiguration

Earth Bound

I Walk A Crooked Mile Or My Life’s Decay

Through Silent Prayer

A Sudden Loss Of Memory

When Beauty Fades

Too Many In A Basket

Intermezzo

The Velvet Iris

Bird Song

The Way He Was

Out Of Darkness

The Royal Diplomat

The Death Of The Policy Makers

The Time Keeper

The Mourning Wall

Solitary

Cracks In The Walls

Vestibules Of Time

Sea Of Faces

The Long Adieu

Cancerscaregan

Beyond The Grave

Afterthoughts

Between Raindrops

No One Cared

Inner Sanctum

My Summer Letter

A Prayer In The Darkness

A Lullaby For When The Time Comes

The House My Mother Built

Nobody Hears, Nobody Sees, Nobody Knows…

On Acquiring Wisdom

One Solitary One

The Spoilers

The Sentinel

Omnipotence And Addiction

The Cherry Pickers

Old Clothes

Shipwrecked

 . . . By The Stream

The Lavender Corridor

Nirvana

The Church

Veritas

Fantasia

The Dead—Eye Of Jacks

The Glass Ceiling

The Redeemer

About The Author

PART I

Tranquility

(OPENING QUOTE FOR BOOK III ENTITLED TRANQUILITY)

THROUGH SUFFERING

COMES UNDERSTANDING,

THROUGH UNDERSTANDING

COMES COMPASSION,

THROUGH COMPASSION

COMES LOVE.

—RICHARD WAGNER (1813-83)

FROM PARSIFAL.

THE JANUS

Along a large, lighted

Winding staircase,

In a relict mansion

Renaissance—style

Early American;

A hero waits

For his act to play.

Life has engulfed

His love—played emotions

Into the curl of the pigs tail.

So much so that

No matter how he plays the cards,

The win,

Is now a life—long wait.

Now in the drear

He contemplates his escape.

Then it comes—

To become the Michelangelo

At the top of the staircase—

To become the statue that moves!

A PIECE OF EIGHT

Warm body

Shelter me,

Consent to my profit

From your golden acquaintance—

Buy me

From the spoilers

Of the world—

A tossed relict

Of tradition,

Worn by the cares of time.

Into your hands

Carry, conceal

My worth

As you would

A priceless treasure.

Forever

A piece of the past;

Forever

A coin toward your future.

ONUS

You are the sky

And I am water.

In such a way,

And so it is,

That we relate.

When it is hot

I disappear into you.

Later, you cry

And