Dictionary Poems

If you’re up against a bruiser and you’re getting knocked about — Grin. If you’re feeling pretty groggy, and you’re licked beyond a doubt — Grin. Don’t let him see you’re funking, let him know with every clout,Though your face is battered to a pulp, your blooming heart is stout;Just stand upon your pins until … Continued

Softened by Time’s consummate plush, How sleek the woe appearsThat threatened childhood’s citadel And undermined the years! Bisected now by bleaker griefs, We envy the despairThat devastated childhood’s realm, So easy to repair. – CHILDISH GRIEFS – Softened by Time’s consummate plush by Emily Dickinson

NATURE is what we see,The Hill, the Afternoon–Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee,Nay–Nature is Heaven. Nature is what we hear,The Bobolink, the Sea–Thunder, the Cricket–Nay,–Nature is Harmony. Nature is what we knowBut have no art to say,So impotent our wisdom isTo Her simplicity. – NATURE is what we see by Emily Dickinson

I’m just a mediocre man Of no high-brow pretence;A comfortable life I plan With care and commonsense.I do the things most people do, I echo what they say;And through my morning paper view The problems of the day. No doubt you think I’m colourless, Profoundly commonplace;And yet I fancy, more or less, I represent the … Continued

I think just how my shape will riseWhen I shall be forgiven,Till hair and eyes and timid headAre out of sight, in heaven. I think just how my lips will weighWith shapeless, quivering prayerThat you, so late, consider me,The sparrow of your care. I mind me that of anguish sent,Some drifts were moved awayBefore my … Continued

I draw sweet airDeeply and long,As pure as prayer,As sweet as song.Where lilies glowAnd roses wreath,Heart-joy I knowIs just to breathe. Aye, so I thinkBy shore or sea,As deep I drinkOf purity.This brave machine,Bare to the buff,I keep ice-clean,Breath is enough. From mountain streamTo covert coolThe world, I deem,Is wonderful;The great, the small,The smooth, the … Continued

Surprised by joy — impatient as the WindI turned to share the transport–Oh! with whomBut Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,That spot which no vicissitude can find?Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind–But how could I forget thee? Through what power,Even for the least division of an hour,Have I been so beguiled as … Continued

I know some lonely houses off the roadA robber ‘d like the look of, —Wooden barred,And windows hanging low,Inviting toA portico,Where two could creep:One hand the tools,The other peepTo make sure all’s asleep.Old-fashioned eyes,Not easy to surprise! How orderly the kitchen ‘d look by night,With just a clock, —But they could gag the tick,And mice … Continued

You say I O.K.edLONG DISTANCE?O.K.ed it when?My goodness, CentralThat was then! I’m mad and disgustedWith that Negro now.I don’t pay no REVERSEDCHARGES nohow. You say, I will pay it–Else you’ll take out my phone?You better letMy phone alone. I didn’t ask himTo telephone me.Roscoe knows darn wellLONG DISTANCEAin’t free. If I ever catch him,Lawd, have … Continued

On the beach at night alone,As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future. A vast similitude interlocks all,All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,All distances of place however … Continued