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    Parker Owens
  • Parker Owens
  • Author
  • 08/17/2017
  • 209 Words
  • 1,710 Views
  • 12 Comments
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Occasional Poetry - 75. Two Last Sonnets

This is the last entry for Occasional Poetry. At Seventy Five installments, it is getting a bit unwieldy. This began experimentally, trying out poetry at tim's insistent encouragement. AC Benus welcomed me as a new poet, and offered a myriad of kind comments and ideas. To these two, especially, I give my deep and abiding thanks. And to everyone who has taken time to read these offerings, I am very, very grateful.

Crossroad

Uncertain at an intersection stood
a figure clad in median and mode,
unable to decide upon the road,
which chosen, theoretically it could
take such an average person where he would;
yet here upon the journey was he slowed
as all around him traffic ever flowed,
a middle man in search of perfect good.
I pitied him, his head bare to the rain,
for at that crossroad I stopped once before,
and sought, despite discomforts, to remain,
for though I had no dwelling anymore
I feared that every route might end in pain;
so still I wait, observing from my door.


Departure

Pale moonlight streams through windows gaping wide,
enchanted breezes sough to stir the air,
and rippled shadows play on fabrics rare
where sensuously skin on skin may glide,
as floods continue building like the tide
which thunders on the craggy coastline bare,
a danger run by fevered few that dare,
but fatal to the ones who can't decide.
Now once the waters swirled about my knee;
I questioned if I ought to leave the shore
and swim upon the sparkling silver sea
to take such chances others might deplore
in order that my spirit might be free
and drown with you in pleasures evermore.

You are not to relax your guard. This is may be the last of this book, but I fear I will never be finished writing poetry. Leave a comment or a question, a rant or a rave here. I enjoy them all.
Copyright © 2017 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
  • Like 13
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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  • Site Administrator
Valkyrie
  • Site Administrator

These are both very powerful pieces.  I get the sense of something on the cusp... a looming decision that will be bring both pain and relief.  I wonder if Departure is a sequel to Crossroads.  That the author leaves that door to venture out to the sea...  Anyway...  I loved both of them.  I really relate to Crossroads, being at a bit of one myself with my career.  And the only ranting you will hear from me is if you ever stop posting poetry. ;)  

 

A couple of technical comments for Departure:

 

Pale moonlight streams through windows gaping wide, 
enchanted breezes sough to stir the air, 
and rippled shadows play on fabrics rare 
where sensuously skin on skin my glide, 

 

Should the bolded words be "sought" and "may"?  

  • Like 2
Parker Owens
1 hour ago, Valkyrie said:

These are both very powerful pieces.  I get the sense of something on the cusp... a looming decision that will be bring both pain and relief.  I wonder if Departure is a sequel to Crossroads.  That the author leaves that door to venture out to the sea...  Anyway...  I loved both of them.  I really relate to Crossroads, being at a bit of one myself with my career.  And the only ranting you will hear from me is if you ever stop posting poetry. ;)  

 

A couple of technical comments for Departure:

 

Pale moonlight streams through windows gaping wide, 
enchanted breezes sough to stir the air, 
and rippled shadows play on fabrics rare 
where sensuously skin on skin my glide, 

 

Should the bolded words be "sought" and "may"?  

 

Thanks so much, Val. These have an unsettled feel, even as I know that so much is impermanent. I am glad you sensed this, too. May is what I intended.  Thanks for catching it! I fixed that. Sough is a nice, obscure word - the sound of a soft breeze or zephyr moving through the branches. You are kind to have read so many of these installments. I appreciate your taking the time to respond to them.

  • Like 1
  • Site Administrator
Valkyrie
  • Site Administrator
Just now, Parker Owens said:

 

Thanks so much, Val. These have an unsettled feel, even as I know that so much is impermanent. I am glad you sensed this, too. May is what I intended.  Thanks for catching it! I fixed that. Sough is a nice, obscure word - the sound of a soft breeze or zephyr moving through the branches. You are kind to have read so many of these installments. I appreciate your taking the time to respond to them.

I knew I should have looked up 'sough' before commenting. ;)  I'll add it to my lexicon. :) I like it.  

  • Like 1
Headstall

In Crossroad, I see a man reflecting, seeing himself in someone else, and wondering... did he take the right road? Make the right choice...? I got the feeling the jury was still out. It is such a human thing. For many of us there is a 'wandering' stage, and it is a hard one to vacate. I have to say this one really spoke to me, whatever your intent. The ending... 'so still I wait,' was perfect.

 

Departure was, to me, about risk and reward. These lines:

"a danger run by fevered few that dare, 
but fatal to the ones who can't decide"

are the gist of it... I see the metaphor of going after what you want... take the swim or suffer a 'fatality'... a loss you will forever mourn. Hard hitting for me. It strikes way too close to home. Very powerful, both, Parker... well done, and thank you for your 'occasional' offerings. Much respect for a fellow wordsmith :) Cheers... Gary....

  • Like 1
Parker Owens
2 hours ago, Headstall said:

In Crossroad, I see a man reflecting, seeing himself in someone else, and wondering... did he take the right road? Make the right choice...? I got the feeling the jury was still out. It is such a human thing. For many of us there is a 'wandering' stage, and it is a hard one to vacate. I have to say this one really spoke to me, whatever your intent. The ending... 'so still I wait,' was perfect.

 

Departure was, to me, about risk and reward. These lines:

"a danger run by fevered few that dare, 
but fatal to the ones who can't decide"

are the gist of it... I see the metaphor of going after what you want... take the swim or suffer a 'fatality'... a loss you will forever mourn. Hard hitting for me. It strikes way too close to home. Very powerful, both, Parker... well done, and thank you for your 'occasional' offerings. Much respect for a fellow wordsmith :) Cheers... Gary....

 

You understand what I had in mind exactly. The swimming metaphor can be taken several ways, not all of them benign or neutral. And even though the tide may have turned, is it too late to go for that swim?  It is the opportunity, the chance that dances before the eyes like moonlight on the water. But take it, and will the light still be there?  Crossroad is both empathetic and wondering, as you suggest. I am very glad that these resonated with you, and that my own ache spoke to yours.

  • Like 1
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