Contents
 

 

 

Sketchbook 

Terra Martin, CA

 

 

 
Spenserian Sonnet

Shadows

What are these shadows in front of my eyes?
Perchance the light into a new day
A gleam of insight diminish my cries
Learning from pain pursuing its bray
Knowledge a struggle that's seeking to pay
Words upon words like baleful bloodhounds
Creative beggars in such disarray
Poetic ears keep echoing with sound
Shivering skin craves to dumfound
The immortalized name is what we seek
Oh, inspirations, those seeds that astound
To live forever in that one great shriek
Poem has spilled on dog-eared page
Capturing the senses it binds to assuage.
 

 

 

 
Pantoum

Hinterland

Sunrise hinterland
Seagull glides
Over sparkling sand
Following tides

Seagull glides
Noisy sound
Following tides
Outward-bound

Noisy sound
Foraging food
Outward-bound
Ever shrewd

Darwin's dawn
Over sparkling sand
Epoch to pawn
Sunrise hinterland

 

 

 


Triolet

This triolet
so very bright.
A slight coquette
this triolet.
Tiny duet
It steals your heart:
This triolet
so very bright!
 

 

 


 Villanelle

Winterberry

Wiry guardian of snowy shore
Impressionistic bark fine and worn
Native lineage fabled folklore

Red squirrel digs for its priceless store
Under ragged branch lithe and forlorn
Wiry guardian of snowy shore

Leaves that arrive and depart before
The august moon is artlessly born
Native lineage fabled folklore

Namesake Black Alder in days of yore
Berries like beadwork tease and adorn
Wiry guardian of snowy shore

Bird feeder savior for those that soar
This salvation others tend to scorn
Native lineage fabled folklore

Properties that heal right to the core
Indian fact innate of firstborn
Wiry guardian of snowy shore
Native lineage fabled folklore

 

 

How can you scream that the past is obscene?

How can you scream that the past is obscene?
Passions grow with each nuance of pleasure
Love, Hate, the chasm of the unforeseen

The consummate lover is evergreen
Explorer of joy measure for measure
How can you scream that the past is obscene?

Fantasies are artful, sweet libertines
A soliloquy of hidden treasure
Love, Hate, the chasm of the unforeseen

Rapturous touch of skin and velveteen
Surrendering modesty at leisure
How can you scream that the past is obscene?

You crush the memories that intervene
Hypocrite of desire and discomfiture
Love, Hate, the chasm of the unforeseen

As we quench the tides and become serene
The past is merely a strange visitor
How can you scream that the past is obscene?
Love, Hate, the chasm of the unforeseen

 

 


Rondeau

On Patrick's pond

On Patrick's pond the ice agleam
Invitation to dream and dream,
The skaters gliding to-and-fro
Spectators sip steaming cocoa
Snowdrifts as smooth as whipping cream

The sun toasts this ancient regime
Winter's wind sculpts this kingdom's theme,
The blue spruce sets the cameo
On Patrick's pond.

Sky of cerulean extreme
A breathtaking surreal seam,
Rosy cheeks beginning to show
Like picture postcards long ago,
Vignette of alabaster sheen
On Patrick's pond.

 

 

Rondeau

Tom

Tom does not phone, implied he'd try
Do you believe in this guys' guy?
I've begged and been a diplomat
Around this guy I smell a rat
He needs a dose of humble pie

A thousand times I've wondered why?
And then I give a little sigh
Who is he, an aristocrat?
Tom does not phone.

He always has an alibi
With a grumble and rash reply
What's the matter with where he's at?
I must admit: he's just a Cat!
A fact I will not dignify

 

 

 


 Limericks

There once was a wine called Champagne
It's cause and effects inhumane.
Beyond seeing double,
You get into trouble,
And create a musty migraine

 

 

There is a new word on the block,
A weirdly incredible crock,
It hails by "whatever"
It's used howsoever,
To stop all serious talk.

 

 

 


Haiku

 

freezing rain—
streets like patent
leather

 

 

if not for moonlight—
i would have forgotten
you

 

 

city snowstorm
homeless woman tiptoes
in running shoes

 

 

bitter cold day—
your continuous
silence

 

 

 


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