Erased by an impetuous sea, Jealous, I think, of my temerity in leaving behind an imprint of me Stone fabric, cold, incurvated; A chase, the sun, a hand, Symbols, signs, epitaphs that cry “I was here, remember Me.” The wind, the stars, the sea, Inked on the space that surrounds me; Permanence that comes with death, Usually; Not that bodily death is not permanent, Just … Continue reading Leave Something Behind – Poetry by Will
Such a lovely work I will read again and again. Enjoy! There will come a time when flowers bloom in the corner of minds and earth springs from fingertips as new life forms and the old withers away what a world what a beautiful today. Reblogged from Earth Eyes — G. de Suys Continue reading On Poetry; Earth Eyes, by G. de Suys
Please enjoy this poem by one of my favorite Poets: let us run (hard) it is not yet summer but the sun is burning my shoulder and the clouds hang back waiting for a sign all buds bursting let us not (give up) stay between walls of ivy each caveat they hurl weighs tons–up against daffodils in your sunglasses and tulips–and rose oil dabbed behind … Continue reading On Poetry: (are we) sprung; from Pleasant Street, Are You Thrilled
It isn’t until I read Stephen’s poetry that I realize how dry and dull life can be without words like his to lift the heart, or make one cry, as the case may be. He has never yet failed to bring a smile to my face or tears to my eyes. Few people are as gifted as Stephen McGuinness. Fine, cold rain paints my face. … Continue reading Rain on my Face — Writing from poetry with a small p.
When the magic dies and the fruit skin dries and curls; When one face looks like another, and you stop calling your lover; When you look for answers but your lips can’t voice the questions; And the one you loved leaves you to fight yourself without Her; And you wander in the desert of temptation not noticing the pleasures; And numbness covers you in a … Continue reading Eve, In The Garden Of Desire
I praise you I praise you Let me lie beside you Let me lie beside you I hear the song of your spirit in the wind soughing past my ear; I smell the scent that fills me in the rose that is the vessel and the blessed fragrance in your smile. Your hair is trimmed in golden like the leaves within the Bible, and I … Continue reading I Praise You
Enchanted by the stars, like smelling roses, Anticipating the rush of a meteor flash Or Saturn’s rings in full-on view and Europa, Like Andromeda’s spiral, in ageless lights of time, And my heart pumps a million times a minute When sun bids day adieu amidst a host of glory, And that spinning dance and flash of white That reveals your teeth in brilliant, ecstatic smile … Continue reading Every Night With You
I come to Fox Island to meditate, to reflect, to gaze across the sea until the hypnotic sound and motion of sea and wind and crashing wave become a lyric in the song of the universe. The worldly presence of the granite beneath my bottom, the salt air, and the pungent odor of decaying sea-wrack give way to the etheriality of thought and I wander … Continue reading Rebirth
I cut a rose and placed it in a vase. The room became brighter and fresher. The sentence didn’t read right. A different word gave the story new meaning. A boy fell into an epileptic fit. Ignored, until another boy placed a stick between his teeth. The weight of the world breaks my heart. I push the dark away and bask in the warmth of … Continue reading Small Gestures
I knew you had something on your mind When you had nothing much to say; When you spoke I could feel the worry, You nearly lost your way; I read the breath between your words For what I hoped I wouldn’t find; There’s always something left unsaid When we’re trying not to be unkind. I searched the places in your head Where you run from … Continue reading The Breath Between Her Words
It’s that time of year!. Originally posted July 6th, 2014 The leaf from a tree, Brings joy to my heart, Vibrant green, With points like a star, It hangs from the limb, waving at me, O, pretty leaf, what do you see? So live your life like a leaf, Just hangin’ around, And when your time comes, Just leap for the ground, A flying leap, brave and … Continue reading Live Your Life Like A Leaf
In the middle of the beginning of the days of my youth I found you In the moments of the hours of my days when time didn’t matter You took me In the space between the time when caught breath was a whisper I came alive Just a sigh Just a cry Just a why Is all I have of you Nothing mattered then for … Continue reading When Breath Was a Whisper
The rain is come, the day is drear, I must be dreaming of you dear; It’s days like this, I treasure most, Floating echoes of my restless host. When we met, I found my muse, Sheltered by whispered I love you’s; Shrinking from, the spilling clouds, I pulled you from the phobic crowds. Purposeless, and aimless thought, In my arms your love is caught; Your … Continue reading My Restless Muse
Maine Street, and the town gazebo sits empty in the dark; The tower of the old parish church rises like my heart Above the ancient pines that line the lone road home; The college, whose yellow light-filled windows reflect The yearning of the young for the wisdom of the old, is quiet; Bowdoin Chapel tolls the hour and my watch softly chimes The same as … Continue reading The Gazebo
I thought until death do us part meant one of us would cry At the loneliness we’d feel when our lover had just died; I never thought it meant that the love we shared might fly, That you’d run away from me instead of walking by my side. I thought that love and marriage meant forever and a day; How could I have known your … Continue reading Love Lost
Reposted from 2015 My mind is soothed by the sight of the sea, and the sound of her waves breaking upon the ancient, granite bones of this world. My skin is caressed with a blanket of fragrance laid upon me by the smells of the sea. The call of the deep tugs at my heart and beckons, “Listen to my voice.” I am terrified by … Continue reading The Sea and Me
Playfully, we spoke the words, “until death do us part,” She laughed, and her smile tugged at my heart, Will you love me in sickness and in health, she asked, Yes, my love, will you love me in poverty and in wealth? Of course, she said, her head tilted to one side, I’ll love you, you know, beyond the end of time; She turned her … Continue reading Susanna XI
Golden fields stretch far, Rolling hills studded with rocky ledge; My fingers brush the fibrous Beards of breezy strands Tapping at my legs; Behind me the reaper Harvests ripened grains. I move apace, steady on For looming edge. Continue reading Grains
I grip it with my toes That phantasmagoric line between living and dying Behind rise the hairs on my neck Ahead my heart pumps furiously To live is to die Yet I am not finished living I grip the precipice with my toes When I stop living I will die. Precipice Continue reading Precipice
Originally posted on The Writings of William C. Pennington:
I read music in your eyes, Delicate chorale filled your voice, The melody of your soul, Breathed hymn into my life; Each movement measured note by note, Dancing fingers played across my keys, ‘Twas not a symphony filled the silence, But a quartet caressing strings; Hosannas rose into the night, Angelic host proclaimed, Cantata filled my… Continue reading The Melody Of Your Soul
Lying in the grass Jasmine and pine Gently, I stroke his soft, black fur Night shadows hide the gray muzzle A loon calls Stars twinkle steadily Continue reading Yoshi
Lines, creases, crinkles Wrinkles, crow’s feet Haunted eyes Joyless smile Emptiness and sorrow The wonder whys Regrets Mirror receives them all Graying hair, Bags Dark circles Neck once nuzzled by Lovers and babies Sagging skin Sinking heart Withering hopes Curse the years Look at me Look at me See? See? You are what you see See beauty See love See wonder Hold your head up … Continue reading Mirror
Cubism Angles Corners Planes Perspective Front Back Side Side Up Down Above Beneath Inside Outside Around Within Without Through Trans-dimensional Complex Permeable, Impenetrable Fixed, Moving Opaque, Transparent Open, Closed Masked, Unmasked Active, Still Lost, Alert Quiet Quiet Quiet Loving, Hurtful Laughing, Crying Frowning, Smiling Joyful, Sad Gloomy, Gleeful Ecstatic, Pained Tears joyful Tears hurtful Tears sad Tears Tears Tears Tears Tears Smiling Loving Angry Loving … Continue reading Cubism
A poetry site rejected seven poems I submitted for consideration. The editor thanked me for submitting my work and remarked that “It was a pleasure to read. However, we regret to say that it doesn’t quite fit our daily menu.” Ouch. Seven rejections with one salvo. The submission guidelines encouraged poets to send “your best work” since publishing space was tight. Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch. Rejected AND repudiated. … Continue reading Rejected. Spurned. Snubbed. Repudiated.
Two blogs that bring me great joy for their beautiful poetry and prose are Green Ink and A Short Conversation. Check them out when you need a break from writing and want to clear your head. I know you’ll find they go well with your morning coffee 🙂 Continue reading Two Blogs to Visit
Exquisitely painful and beautiful. For a moment, echoes over the ocean sound your obituary — these jagged cliffs are your gravestones, and perhaps the algae the rolling waves offer to the shoreline is the water’s apology. For sending your casket deep into the corals. For seasoning the ocean salty with your panic. For surging your lifeless limbs away from […] via Elegy for a Drowned Girl … Continue reading Re-Blog: Elegy for a Drowned Girl
Funny that, how the heart bursts the same way in grief and love. Continue reading Heartbrache
In the forest, I walked with my head down, It was easier so, ‘neath my burden; My boots were muddied and scuffed; An eyelet rode free on frayed lace. The winding path was hard-packed From years of heavy, burdened travel; Pebbles and stones ground-in and smoothed By soles, and the wind and the rain. The soil varied in color, Brown, black, and gray, and tan; Grass … Continue reading Each A Vignette Of Life
I’ve recently found two blogs I love. Carly Hood and Freed Thoughts write such wonderful prose and poetry that I look forward to waking up each day just to see if they’ve posted again. Please join me in visiting their sites and starting the day off with a smile and a sigh. Continue reading Two Blogs to Visit
The old, old house stands brooding, silent, empty, shuttered. Peeling paint, peeling memories, peeling years, decaying. Squeaking gate unhinged, cracked stone steps, black holes gape between them, Give way to wild rose and dandelions, crabgrass, spurge and apples. Skinned shins on broken porch boards; cobwebs make me shrink. Ancient knocker of green-tinged brass, dolphins dancing on their tails. Quiet the knocker, there’s no one home, … Continue reading Home. With me.
Take my hand. Walk with me. Lust, fleeting. The cocoon nurtures the butterfly before its wings may spread. Continue reading I Loved You, Before I knew You
I need to take up pen again, Let words flow From fingers Like blood flows From wounds. I need to let pen’s nib Bleed ink onto blank white sheet. Time Forms thought Forms words Forms phrases Informs life. Patience Crumpled paper litters my desk. The keyboard is that friend Who lives at work all day Watching feet rush back and forth. Continue reading Crumpled Paper
Leaving the anger-filled pages of Facebook and Twitter and coming to my WordPress blog, is like finding a sun-dappled forest glade, and lying with my back against an oak tree, chewing on a blade of grass, and listening to the leaves rustling in the breeze. WordPress Reader is my sun-dappled forest glade, and your posts are the leaves. Your emotions, expressed in prose and poem, … Continue reading I Am Here
Proofreading your work is the most important action you can perform before pressing the publish button. An error-free post sends an unconscious signal to the reader that you care about your writing. I can’t count the times I have found a beautiful post, especially a poem, ruined over a misspelled word, an incomplete phrase, or another grammatical error. The flow is brought up short and … Continue reading Proofread, Proofread, Poofread
“Because they understand that love is the gift of giving one’s self unreservedly to another; that the giving of love is also the receiving of love, and that the spiritual renewal from the physical act is possible only after the giving up of self to one another.” “I love you, William.” “I love you, Susanna.” Continue reading Love is….
Sam and Susanna Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam They say you don’t hear the bullet that kills you. How could anyone know that? Because, they also say, bullets move faster than the speed of sound. By the time you hear the sound of the bullet in your back, you’re dead. What if you’re only wounded; you’d hear that bullet, wouldn’t you? Well, you’re not dead, are … Continue reading Invocation
“We had each other, yes, but even that doesn’t describe what we had. We didn’t choose each other, Frank. We found each other. It’s hard to explain.” Sam leaned forward in his seat. He stared at the floor. His hands were clasped, and he trembled. “There could only be one Susanna, Frank. My life began when I met her.” He fell silent as he collected … Continue reading Dream, Love.
I Love you, you love me not. Continue reading Heartbreak
I don’t often listen to music while I write. I find it distracting. It isn’t that I don’t like music, indeed, I love music and have rather eclectic tastes. I enjoy most genres. My music of choice while writing though, is silence. Silence has its own sound. The sound of the story taking shape in my mind. When I write and enter “the zone,” I … Continue reading Writing Music, or, Music to Write By
There is no sound so lovely as the silence of a snowfall, Nor beauty greater than the darkness of a starry winter night. Continue reading There Is No Sound So Lovely
Originally posted on Writing from poetry with a small p.:
? Dry leaves of sycamores have Fallen to the navvies’ excavations. Evening, cold, is rolled across The city’s winter-glow gloom. Unlit Christmas, manhandled Into place, hangs sullenly, waiting For the sparked, switch-flick That turns it on to life. Cyclists, in their righteous Superiority, glance over fearful Shoulders at dark behemoth buses That push and press… Continue reading November Evening in Dublin
Chronos upon his pedestal, Cherub by his side, Points a crooked finger, Tells me in my pride, “No life ends unlived, No death is unbidden, Every breath of life, Open to review, not hidden.” Continue reading Every Breath of Life
I closed my eyes and fell Through a shimmering curtain Of notes that climbed like a spell And blew through my spirit Like music wafting me away On wings of heartbeats As the sun grew full and bright And the moon a crescent smile of white That floated me on a sound of color That trilled through my skin With the breath of time And … Continue reading A Million Times I Love You
I stepped down from my cloud, watched nine years slip away; My mind was filled with doubt, that you’d ever felt the same; I thought about that dance, when you said you’d had enough, You looked me in the eyes, your voice was harsh and tough; I knew then what was coming I’d seen it in your face, My head began to spin, My pulse … Continue reading When You Turned And Looked My Way
Great metal Goddess, mined from deepest earth, Forged in blazing flame, molded, beaten, formed at birth; Measured, cut, and riveted, assembled frame by frame, The beauty of this graceful beast, too marvelous to tame; Glorious vision, Orion, strong upon Her legs, Pins of solid steel, shining sliding shock absorbing pistons beg Disbelief that such a being could be wrought by hand of man; Her might … Continue reading Ode to Orion (or Mechanic’s Lament)
*Third line of each stanza is read rapidly without pause. Smiles are bright on brown faces I have known, eyes crinkled against the sun; Home is a shack with thatch for a roof and a barrel that caches the rain as it runs; An old woman sifts rice in the shade of acacia as her husband and sons fish from a boat not far from … Continue reading Lamao Limay
She stands on the pier with tears in her eyes; His ship sails away while she waves her goodbyes; She clasps her hands and gives them a wring; Then tugs at her finger and twists off the ring She slips in the clutch she wears at her side; Having glistened her lips, she smacks them wide; Adjusts her jewels and straightens her smock; Her eyes now … Continue reading WestPac Widows
He gazed upon the sweetest rose; Sensuous flower’s form and feature Arousing finger, eye, and nose; Concupiscent, God’s mortal creature. He breathed o’er bed of planted seed; Halo’d the mound of petaled glory Caressed in skin of purest thread; Morning’s dew tells nighttime’s story. I cherished heartbeat’s fertile bloom; Nourished within earth’s warmest soil, Blushing bride from gift of groom; Parturient glow love’s beauty royal. … Continue reading He Gazed Upon The Sweetest Rose
I walked through a wood one summer’s day, Afternoon light dappled a forest glade; Lily pad in green-black pond and on it lay A frog whose languid croak appeared to say, As he scratched white belly in sun’s warm ray, I shall not move on this summer’s day. I stopped to ponder my neighbor in green, Who, eyes near closed in dreamlike sheen, Lay ankles … Continue reading The Frog and the Granite Shore
When I write and post for reading Words from one so deeply smitten, You must know the space between each line Is filled with heart words yet unwritten. Continue reading Heart Words
The Writings of William C. Pennington 