Insincere Lines and Imperfect Love

By Stephen Alexander North

"Dive into poetry, where every verse unravels mysteries, ignites passion, and whispers the eternal questions of our existence..."
Insincere Lines and Imperfect Love is a poetic voyage that will leave readers questioning the very fabric of their existence. Through intricate storytelling and evocative imagery, this collection resonates deeply with the human experience, capturing both the profound beauty and unsettling darkness which resides within us all.
Features the following story poems: 'Orbital Wreckage'; the western 'The Texas stranger'; in fantasy 'The Book Dragon' and 'The Sorcerer's Mount'; and finally, in noir 'Imperfect Love!'
Step into the realm of these provocative poems, open your mind, and embark on an unforgettable expedition through the kaleidoscope of emotions and experiences that make us who we are.  

Florida Man Writes!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen Alexander North
• Release date: Jul 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223377641

Stephen Alexander North

Stephen A North is the author of the Dead Tide Series, The Drifter Series of books, and a number of short stories.  He is a Florida native, has a BA in English Literature from USF, and is a former Army Reservist.

Book preview

Insincere Lines and Imperfect Love

Stephen Alexander North

image-placeholder

Stephen Alexander North

Copyright © 2023 by Stephen Alexander North

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

For my cousin, Lisa Hoyt, and my friends: Craig & Mary Campbell; and Jeff & Stephanie Haines

With a big thank you to: Joe Crompton; Susannah Gullickson; Jan Blake; Robert Bradley; John West; Lord Huron; the World-Enders; and my love, Kerri.

Contents

Hello and welcome!

1.Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

2.Drown Entire

3.No relief for those who don’t partake or sleep

4.At the Palace

5.I’ll never finish

6.The Book Dragon

7.I was here and passed this way

8.Aftershock

9.If you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you

10.What would you like to sing for us tonight?

11.Islands, mountains in the ocean

12.A friend, in progress

13.Orbital Wreckage

14.When does afternoon end and evening begin

15.To Em, a canine nymph

16.Words a heart knows

17.This one, Lee

18.A tingle between the hips

19.I don’t want to walk no more

20.Respect for you, individually

21.Fragment

22.When night falls

23.What lives in my heart

24.Fin de la route

25.Goodbye, nice guy

26.Insincere Lines

27.It’s been a long day

28.If silence could speak

29.Clouds in the sky

30.Leave me on the mountain

31.Dodging bullets

32.Abercrombie Park

33.So, what if it’s all random

34.Lo que séde la muerte

35.Distant

36.Far from the river

37.Those nights we met

38.Imperfect life

39.The wind is our friend

40.Before you bury me

41.La belle douleurde la vie

42.Porn star

43.Aphelion

44.We weren’t sparrows or swans

45.What I thought

46.Was it only the alcohol speaking?

47.(Haiku from a painting prompt)

48.He who delights in solitude

49.What would you do?

50.Pity friend

51.The view from here

52.I keep it oblique

53.Hills we cannot climb

54.Waiting

55.Your words like clouds

56.This, mattered when?

57.Completely Unfinished

58.Furnace heat, cloudy skies

59.In the wake of your memory

60.To whom it may concern, and my friends

61.Led by my head

62.Calamity, be mine

63.A spirit to the flame

64.The love of flowers inspires

65.That moon portends

66.What remains

67.Reflections

68.Not goodbye

69.On a Thursday in June

70.Beauty, beyond the words

71.We never found Oz

72.Hopefully, never me

73.The third poem that day

74.(TMI - too much ‘I’)

75.The Texas stranger

76.The Sorcerer’s Mount

77.Imperfect love

Thank you very much for reading! Join my newsletter, and write a review...

Also By Stephen Alexander North

About the Author

Hello and welcome!

Subscribe to Beyond Apocalypse newsletter to receive updates about Stephen Alexander North’s writing.

Watch Book Trailers, Vlogs, and other videos on YouTube.

Follow Stephen Alexander North on Social Media:

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

Twitter

Visit the Beyond Apocalypse Blog 

For more stories by Stephen Alexander North

image-placeholder

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

I see the abbreviation everywhere

without really knowing what it means

is that what I feel

with you

low-grade euphoria

simply when you’re near

In my memory

or when I hear your whisper,

in a silent room

or carrying me higher, soaring

far away

when I pass the cemetery

why don’t we just call it

what it is

Aural Sensory Melancholia Redux

or something close to that

I don’t care.

(completed on a Saturday evening, twenty-one minutes before the sixth hour past noon, the fifteenth day of April, 2023)

Drown Entire

I don’t judge why

some people bathe in sadness

drown deeply in despair

feeling so richly

all the nuances

of hopelessness

despondency over aloneness

soaring with a dark joy

of living in anguish

a revelry of loss

Of I am lost

and connected

to the melancholy melody

of living, while dying

because I lived there

so long, and lied

to myself that nothing mattered

knowing, crying

there’s this beauty to failing

love did matter

to you, me, someone

(completed while contemplating the work of Angel Gardens, and my life, at thirty-nine minutes past the noon hour, on a Tuesday, the eighteenth day of April, 2023)

No relief for those who don’t partake or sleep

people taking a stand for what they believe

is admirable and brave

the problem I see

is when no one listens

to one another

and both forget respect

and would rather shed blood

than find middle ground

when, if you admit the truth

respect and compromise