Dec 6, 2015 | Chiastic, Gus Stevens, Irregular Rhyme, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1
Thou art more than the day or the morrow, the seasons that laugh or that weep; For these give joy and sorrow; but thou, Proserpina, sleep. —Algernon Charles Swinburne, Hymn to Prosperine If asked to choose: eternal life or sleep, he’s not sure how...
Sep 23, 2014 | Gus Stevens, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1, Sonnet, Terza Rima
“Boredom: the desire for desires. ” —Leo Tolstoy What is the point of sitting here? I turn the pages chore by chore puzzling as I read, “He’s Near!” “He stands beside the open door,” it claims, yet I am still a man without a...
Sep 8, 2014 | Dream, Gus Stevens, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1, Terza Rima
It’s Sunday morning; I don’t make the bed. Somehow worn from an oversupply of sleep, I feel empty and overfed all at once. Should I eat or should I try a second cup of coffee, or the tea? I am too weary to decide and I tire of this mush of humid luxury....
Oct 16, 2013 | Gus Stevens, Irregular Rhyme, Quatrains, Regret, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1
Hearing the car approach, the garage door open, the engine stop, the driver’s door swing shut, I ran from the room where I’d spilled the ink and fear was a goblin clutching at my gut. I’d tried to scrub the sofa cushions clean ...
Apr 21, 2013 | Gus Stevens, Quatrains, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1
Afraid I’ll become some sick and slack-jawed slouch, I beat back the Fall with a broom but the dust of me still lingers ‘neath the couch; I toil and toil on the doorsteps of doom. Share...
Feb 10, 2013 | Gus Stevens, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1, Sonnet, Victorian Sonnet
There is a soft and gentle wanting— to hold, even to touch, the painted hand. It is a shamed yet pleasant haunting— to reach, unseen to brush, the fallen strand. Her knee just shows between the boot and skirt and eyes flirt with the hemmed in edges of a beautiful...
