Sounds

teardrops in red
two by two
estranged
paint one ground
in two worlds

RINGS AROUND THE SUN

By Charles Robert Lindholm

It Was A Birthday Gathering
With Cake And Lots Of Candles
Blazing On Top Of It
Waiting To Be Blown Out

HAIKU: A MORNING RITUAL

By Charles Robert Lindholm

A Morning Ritual

If Yesterday Were a Door

if yesterday were a door
would you find her hand
where the sunset slid

if yesterday were a door
would you hold her smile
where the memories hid

SHE WAS MY WILDFLOWER – REMEMBERING OUR LOVED ONE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

By Charles Robert Lindholm

She Brought Joy
Into My Life
Everyday
And Because Of Her

This Mortal Wound

I felt for a while that grief would undo death.

Did it?

No.

But I believed it might, if it were deep enough.

My cynic friend finally laughs at me.

Life is a fatal condition, my friend. Don’t you get that yet?

All the bandages in the world, all the disinfectants, all the healthy diets

can never heal that fatal gash we’ve had since the first moments,

Three Fates. One
fate, with three faces.

‘We strut and fret our hour on the stage
and then are heard no more’
Everything has a time limit here.

Such a gloomy cynic! You take away all hope.

Not at all. You don’t have to turn this into something.
You don’t need to get upset.
Think of yourself as dead already,
that you’ve lived your life.
Now you’re free to take what time is left and
live it as it should be lived.
It just takes being indifferent to what makes no difference.
And most of what we say and do is not essential.

Listen. Just do this. 
Go out into the desert just once. 
Lie down and look up at the stars,
A blackness filled with light so thick it seems alive

Let it bewilder you, and overtake you. 
As you shiver, though, it is not the cool air, 
but an angel that lies down beside you, 
and you’ll know that something 
beyond imagining awaits. 

The red and the barb

Virginia creeper spreading red
seen through barbed wire there
quite stunning in its beauty
that I simply had to share

Raw though still it touched a nerve
with something more unkinder
stark against reality
in contrast a reminder

Inspiration II

What is my inspiration?
I’ve been asked this many times
where do I as poet find
the substance for these lines?

Well, there’s a simple answer
because it’s all about the things
that I see all around me
and the pleasure that all brings

A nod to summer

And though the darkness now appears
earlier each day
it’s good to see the summer lights
still twinkle here I’d say
For even though it’s cooler now
they speak of pleasure past
and keeps the memory intact
ensuring it will last

Treehouse

In the woods which my daughter
Called home for a while
Stands a structure quite tall
Full of mystery and guile
A treehouse built high
Now abandoned and sad
Though its stairs and its walls
With wood are still clad
But unfinished it lingers
Fenced off it its prime
Which is not all that far
I would say from a crime

Equilibrium (aka ‘Face Planting’)

Past sixty equilibrium
Is not what it once was
As balance sometimes fails
When you’re standing still because
Just the other afternoon
I found myself laid flat
When toppling from a bicycle
I’d stopped on, that’s a fact

A Bite of Moon

doors melt in my eyes
fishes shiver in fright
if rabbits could count ducks
leaves would spread smiles

Homes

time is water
taped on an unbending light
these pages stand
high eyed frogs
nights hemmed on verdana

On Truth

when truth is lacking justice fails

regardless the atempt of various veils

honor, integrity play no part

within the stained, tainted heart

so carefully speak -let truth prevail

uncover the lies -rent the veil…O’Prunty 9/18/2020

The Visitor II

We had a little visitor
who startled us last night
there behind the cupboard glass
perched and in plain sight
A little chap, brown and petite
his presence now declared
though how he found his way in there
was not something he shared

Rocks and shins and A&E

August Bank Holiday Monday
sun is shining and it’s warm
so to the beach I should be heading
as you would ‘cos it’s the norm
Yet instead I sit in A&E
my leg still causing pain
Not my first choice I’ll admit
to be in here again
Strangely though it was the beach
just last Wednesday night
where I sustained the injury
the reason for my plight

To enjoy

With the fragrance of autumn
like something not there
is just creeping in
on the late summer air
We venture to Brighton
at the end of the week
for brunch with our children
and pleasure to seek

Perils of Pretense

I grew tired of the mundane

The everyday insane:

As they stand

Upon podiums of pretense

Pontificating falsehoods

Lining lying lips…O’Prunty

9/2/2020

The Optimist

It’s the last day of the month
so these lines they should reflect
something of what’s taken place
and I can recollect

Of things we’ve done and visited
of how the weather’s been
of how we’ve coped and managed
of what we’ve felt and seen

But actually instead I feel
like I’m inclined to view
the promise of a month ahead
and something bright and new

Simple Things

It’s been said before
It’ll be said again
but there’s no harm repeating
the oft sung refrain
that moments of bliss
when contentment’s complete
can be captured and held
to make life this sweet

Holiday V

First day of a week off work
and it’s a welcome thing
as I’m in need of a long rest
a chance to breathe and sing

Put my feet up for a while
with lie-ins every morning
Rising when more sensible
and not when day is dawning

Things to do on hot days II

Sitting in the garden
in my favourite chair
in my favourite shirt from Greece
watching wildlife there
Little birds a flutter
tasting birdseed by my side
and other times a squirrel
have here I’ve often spied

Things to do on hot days I

Went down to Al Campo
the heat just like abroad
somewhere on the Continent
for brunch between a word

Conversation with my children
well, most of them at least
with a cold beer on the side
and late breakfast for a feast

Something II

This morning up there very high
I saw something that caught my eye
Contrails streaked across the sky
White against the blue

Firepit

Flames in the firepit
as evening draws in
and I’m out as the sun dies away
The crack from the wood
is a comfort and good
here at the end of the day

First XII

Concluding the Jemverse ’12 months III’ series [12 of 12]

Inevitably August time
when this month comes around
would see us looking forward
to a holiday we’d found
Somewhere hot and balmy
and usually on a ship
far across the ocean
for our destination trip

Embers II

Embers glowing
breezes blowing
caution throwing
here is youth

Embers glowing
clear the flowing
honest showing
not uncouth

Embers glowing
flicker going
I am knowing
this is truth

Excuses

a plethora of words

taken out of context

nouns, pronouns

verbs, adverbs

in similitude of mass conjecture

falling on deaf ears.

O’Prunty 7/29/2020