Read My Ten Best Short Poems Page 1


My Ten Best Short Poems

  By Lenny Everson

  rev 1

  Copyright Lenny Everson 2011

  This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.

  Cover design by Lenny Everson

  ****

  Contents

  If we were free

  To Birches

  The magic show

  When we were born

  The nets of time

  When they ask

  Upon This Rock

  Light and Darkness

  When the sky falls

  Cats and Laps

  ****

  If We Were Free

  If we were free

  Of time and due

  Then you and I

  Might never canoe

  If life were long

  And had no end

  There’d be no call

  Of river bend

  If we never had

  To age or die

  There’d be always tomorrow

  Or next July

  A bit too warm

  Or chance of rain

  We’d find ourselves

  At home again

  Paddle long, my love, and

  Do not dwell

  On the gentle sound

  Of distant bell

  Cherish the day

  Sun and rain

  Tomorrow may not

  Come again

  ****

  To Birches

  Next life

  I would be a tree.

  Not the open-field oak

  Not the solitary pine:

  I would be a birch

  One among many

  Birches grow after fires

  I would grow

  After this fire

  Beside the black stumps

  When the woods are gold

  And alive

  With the rustling of squirrels

  My one white line

  Leaning down the slope a bit

  Tracing the edge

  Of happiness

  ****

  The Magic Show

  The magic show is over

  The gypsy tents have gone

  Calliope and carousel

  Are silent in the dawn

  All friends of mine are gone to sleep

  Or lost in distant dreams

  The world is not - it never was

  More than what it seems

  The magic show is over

  The circus, deep in rust

  And questions asked when I was born

  Are answered now, with dust

  ****

  When We Were Born

  When we were born, there were ten of us

  Nine were me

  The other, last born, was not

  When we die, there will be ten of us

  Nine will be me

  The last to die will not

  All our life we've sat at the table

  Waiting for the tenth to start

  And nine of us are hungry

  ****

  The Nets of Time

  The nets of time spin wild and high

  Against the dark, against the sky

  This gold today

  Is dragged away

  And restless sleep my love and I

  The nets of time spin wild, spin free

  The golden fish are captured, we

  Night, night

  Lock tight

  Full of dreams, my love and me

  The midnight laughter of the stars

  Is full of locks, and doors, and bars

  Silently

  Turns the key

  And then to my

  Unspoken plea

  Softly you

  Move close to me.

  ****

  When They Ask

  When they ask, "Did he truly live?"

  Say I found a ridge

  At the edge of the sky

  Say I knew what the morning was

  The light through the woods

  The dew in June heavy on the tent

  Say I came to each new path

  With anticipation

  Almost greed

  Someday, when they ask, "Did he truly live?"

  Say, "There were a few trails

  That made his life a poem."

  ****

  Upon This Rock

  Had Jesus canoed

  This northern lake

  What strange routes

  Would history take

  Had he owned

  A red canoe

  Every pope

  Would have one, too

  Paddling pilgrims

  Would come to gawk

  At Michelangelo's God

  Painted on rock

  Cathedral walls

  Would be green, and sway

  With sunlight blessing

  All who pray

  ****

  Light and Darkness

  I knew a woman once;

  No side of her leaned

  Into darkness

  She wandered the olive groves, but found

  Only shade

  And tried many supermarkets but

  Still no shadow

  We told her she must be pure

  And that an immaculate conception

  Was a definite possibility, but

  “What will happen if God comes?” she asked

  “How will I know which way to look?”

  Eventually, certain God could not see her

  She married a man whose soul was

  Like the underside of a log.

  Then she was much happier.

  When he was drinking his morning coffee

  She had only to turn away

  To look toward God.

  ****

  When the Sky Falls

  When the sky falls

  and the stars go out

  you’ll find me in the dark

  still singing

  Follow my voice

  the world was nothing to me

  When the dark comes downtown

  and the neon is cold

  when the very wolves cry for hunger

  my voice will remain

  the melody, unweakened

  The world was nothing to me.

  ****

  Laps and Cats

  Falling into magic

  Are laps and

  Cats asleep

  Tumble into silence

  When

  Afternoons run deep

  Sunlight moves along your arm

  Warmth, light

  And fur

  Ear against the cushion

  Hear the world

  Purr

  **** END OF POEMS ****

  List of Completed Works by Lenny Everson (to 2011-12-06)

  NOVELS

  NOVELETTES

  Screenplays

  - Murder on a Foggy Spring Portage. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy portage.

  Plays

  - Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s world to remember their lives. A short (20-minute) play for two actors. Available on Smashwords

  Full-Length Poetry Books

  - The Minor Odyssey of Lollie Heronfeathers Singer. A middle-aged woman tries to connect with her aboriginal ancestry.

  - In The Tavern of Lost Souls. Four poets meet at a grungy bar once a month to give their poetic answers to random questions.

  - Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont are Dead. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s world to remember their lives

  Poetry Chapbooks and E-Books

  -
22 Love Poems for Love, Weddings, and Anniversaries (compiled from other works) Available on Smashwords

  - Cherish the Day: 16 Canoe Poems for Summer. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords

  - Fierce and Fine and Free: 18 Canoe Poems for Spring. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. to Amazon/Kindle

  - Fireplace and Wine: 15 Canoe Poems for Winter. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. to Amazon/Kindle

  - No Ordinary Waters: Canoe Poems from a Strange Mind. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. to Amazon/Kindle

  - What Last Golden River Run: 17 Canoe Poems for Autumn. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords

  - Encounter in a Small, Old Cemetery. Autumn. Midnight. Poet visits a small, old private graveyard. Available on Smashwords

  - Fire and Ashes. Poems about life’s flames and regrets.

  - The Empty Tarmac of a Long-Abandoned Airport. Poems about having a midlife crisis. Available on Smashwords

  - Love Poems A compilation

  - Pray for Me: 22 Poems Probably Slandering God and Jesus

  - Ballads from an Unlucky Fisherman: Available on Smashwords

  - Tweetable Limericks: Volume I. 60 limericks small enough to be tweets Available on Smashwords

  - Hiking Poems Available on Smashwords

  - Why Haven't Aliens Contacted Us? Available on Smashwords

  Co-Authored Poetry Chapbooks

  - Who Would Be a God? Susan Ioannou and Lenny debate the merits of being a god.

  - How to Dance Naked in the Moonlight. Katherine L. Gordon (Celtic pagan) and Lenny (skeptic) confront the ceremony Available on Smashwords

  - Cats and Dogs. With I. B. Iskov

  - For Ko Aye Aung: A Plea for His Release from Prison. For Amnesty International, with other poets.

  Non-Fiction Chapbooks and E-Books

  - If You Condemn Gays: The Bible on Homosexuality and Other Items.

  - The Architecture of Suburban West Kitchener. A light look at house styles.

  - The Architecture of The University of Waterloo. A light look at the campus buildings.

  - Making Tourist Attractions for Towns and Small Cities. Advice.

  - Technological Cures for Global Warming. Available on Smashwords

  - Hyphens: A Guide for the Early Twenty-First Century Available on Smashwords

  - Colons and Semicolons: A Guide for the Early Twenty-First Century Available on Smashwords

  - How to Review Draft Technical Writings

  - Rebecca’s Trail (Grand River Trail in Winter) Available on Smashwords

  - 7 Temples to Bill Gates: a modern mystery Available on Smashwords

  - The Great God Pan - Or Not Available on Smashwords

  - Two in a Tent: Camping Humor Available on Smashwords

  Songbooks

  - 18 Dingbat Songs for Kids Available on Smashwords

  - Canoe Songs. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords

  - 18 Dingbat Songs for Kids Available on Smashwords

  [email protected]

  **** END ****