Poetry - Moss Kingdom

The Icebox

by M. Gus | June 5, 2018 | Alexandrine, Daughter, Dream, Grief, Gus Stevens, Hexameter | 0 Comments

In my dream, I held too many things in my hands and my fingers grappled and fumbled with the load afraid I'd drop one as I stumbled down the road for I'd balanced several things atop an icebox and my dream-drunk brain was slow, weighted down with sand until I knelt to...

Spider Dream: a Limerick

by M. Gus | June 11, 2016 | Dream, Gus Stevens, Humor, Limerick | 0 Comments

I saw a spider fall into my bed right onto the pillow beside my head. Now I'm hunting him, like preachers hunt sin, and dare not sleep till he or I is dead.

All This Juice and All This Joy

by M. Gus | May 8, 2016 | Dream, Gus Stevens, Seasons, Summer | 0 Comments

Alive and heavy with health, syrup swells the root, and sun-dappled fields are filled with walking flowers: the blossoms of the body and the promise of fruit. We know, and delight, and dream away the hours; let us have sweet Summer's cream ...

Dream After Making 300 Valentines for Lifelong Aids Alliance: by Amy Doran

by M. Gus | June 10, 2014 | Amy (Doran) Keeney, Dream, Unrhymed Other | 0 Comments

We sat, pasting crows from construction paper waiting for them to come to life. They did come to life, shuddering with breath, flapping cautiously, realizing. Jesus could be a camera watching over us when we're sick with letters sick with names, lying on a hospital...

Ephemera: Beauty Lies

by M. Gus | August 16, 2014 | Dream, Gus Stevens, Italian Sonnet, Moss Kingdom, Sonnet | 0 Comments

"It is the failing of a certain literature to believe that life is tragic because it is wretched. Life can be magnificent and overwhelming — that is its whole tragedy. Without beauty, love, or danger it would be almost easy to live." "Beauty is unbearable, drives us...

At Torrey Pines

by M. Gus | April 17, 2016 | Dream, Gus Stevens, Moss Kingdom, Quatrains | 0 Comments

A cruel salt wind molests the twisted pine who grovels on his gnarled knees for rain; his futile prayers won't mend his broken spine nor will he stand, as in his dreams, again. The cliffs themselves all crumble in the sea and the tumble-down rocks resent the mocking...

Tooth by Rotten Tooth

by M. Gus | February 4, 2019 | Aging, Dream, Gus Stevens, Hexameter, Multi-Syllabic Rhyme, Sestet | 0 Comments

Legs stirring before the alarm's tormenting beep, I wake from strange dreams in the autumn of my youth, and choke on broken promises I meant to keep-- a sludge that settles to the bottom with the truth where bottled thoughts belch the foam of cold fermented sleep and...

Sunday Morning Lethargy

by M. Gus | September 8, 2014 | Dream, Gus Stevens, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1, Terza Rima | 0 Comments

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. The night held...

A Child’s Sleep

by M. Gus | July 18, 2018 | Alexandrine, Daughter, Dream, Gus Stevens | 0 Comments

I wonder if the tearful child, not yet perceiving what it means to fall asleep, might believe she dies each night. Afraid to go alone, she chokes on her goodbyes, "Please don't forget me! O please leave the door ajar!" But the swallowing Unknown will not share her...

To the Grasshopper and the Cricket by Leigh Hunt

by M. Gus | June 5, 2016 | Italian Sonnet, Sonnet, Summer, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

Green little vaulter in the sunny grass, Catching your heart up at the feel of June, Sole voice that's heard amidst the lazy noon, When even the bees lag at the summoning brass; And you, warm little housekeeper, who class With those who think the candles come too...

Winter Words: a poem about the uselessness of poems

by M. Gus | December 15, 2014 | Gus Stevens, Seasons, Sonnet, Victorian Sonnet, Winter | 0 Comments

What can be offered to the afternoon but words and words; there's nothing new to say and so I'm silent as the winter's moon with her half smile over the brilliant day. The clouds have all been chased off by the sun, her sole companion in an empty sky, and I despoil...

The Cherry Trees by Edward Thomas

by M. Gus | May 18, 2017 | Quatrains, Seasons, Spring, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

The cherry trees bend over and are shedding On the old road where all that passed are dead, Their petals, strewing the grass as for a wedding This early May morn when there is none to wed. Other poems on Moss Kingdom about Spring: Spring by Edna St. Vincent...

Come Thou Dayspring

by M. Gus | November 19, 2017 | Autumn, Multi-Syllabic Rhyme, Pentameter, Seasons | 0 Comments

Where is warmth and where can the light be found? These days, the workers put in longer hours than the sun who goes too soon to sleep. All the leaves, once bright, now have dulled and browned with the sunken gourds and withered flowers to feed the molds and mushrooms...

The Leaves Remember

by M. Gus | July 23, 2018 | Gus Stevens, Hexameter, Pentameter, Rhymed Couplets, Summer | 0 Comments

Why are my poems so obsessed with doom? Is there no light their dark will not consume, no work they will not turn into a chore, nor child they cannot drown in metaphor? Sometimes beauty is neither fraud nor thief; sometimes a leaf is just a common leaf— a welcome...

Mother of the Storm

by M. Gus | August 12, 2014 | Gus Stevens, Seasons, Sonnet, Victorian Sonnet | 0 Comments

What is it about the sea, that heaving mass of endless grey, that stills and saddens me and bends my thoughts like clay? Upon the undulating mass the waves warp and glisten like a field of broken glass and call to all who'd listen, "I am the mother of the storm and...

Notes from the Quarantine

by M. Gus | March 27, 2020 | Gus Stevens, Humor, Irregular Rhyme, Seasons, Spring | 0 Comments

Day 1 You tell yourself that you are going to learn French. Instead you make coffee with milk and tell yourself it's okay because they've yet to close the grocery stores; no need to break into the shelf-stable supplies. You tell yourself lies—that you'll use the time...

As Through a Glass, Darkly

by M. Gus | December 10, 2020 | Aging, Commissioned, Grief, Gus Stevens, Irregular Rhyme, Mom, Winter | 0 Comments

She appears in the glass like a watermark and her image in the window tells the score. Her eyes, reflected, look blinkered, tired, sore as she scrapes the dishes clean. Inside: herself. Outside: the dark, and this old face between. It seemed just weeks...

A Closer Kind of Warm: a break-up-with-summer song

by M. Gus | September 1, 2013 | Autumn, Gus Stevens, Quatrains, Seasons, Summer | 0 Comments

The tyrant sun with unforgiving light bends the boys and girls like the August wheat. He makes them strip their clothes and beg for night like mountains made immodest in the heat. Rustling in a windless night, they seethe and sweat in anguish—should they cut their...

Wizard Nap

by M. Gus | November 23, 2018 | Gus Stevens, Humor, Rhymed Couplets, Winter | 0 Comments

This dull and wintry day is still a weeping grey. But with the turning of a dial perhaps I'll force a smile by conjuring the warmth of June against this gloomy afternoon. Like a bored cat, I linger. I boil water with my finger. Yet, despite this warlock power, I mope...

The Pulley by George Herbert

by M. Gus | March 3, 2012 | Quintains, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

When God at first made man, Having a glass of blessings standing by, “Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can. Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie, Contract into a span.” So strength...

The Jewish Cemetery at Newport by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

by M. Gus | March 29, 2013 | Quatrains, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

How strange it seems! These Hebrews in their graves, Close by the street of this fair seaport town, Silent beside the never-silent waves, At rest in all this moving up and down! The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleep Wave their...

Villanelle of the Temptress by James Joyce

by M. Gus | February 4, 2017 | Love, The Work of Greater Minds, Villanelle | 0 Comments

Are you not weary of ardent ways, Lure of the fallen seraphim? Tell no more of enchanted days. Your eyes have set man’s heart ablaze And you have had your will of him. Are you not weary of ardent ways? Above the flame the smoke of praise Goes up from ocean rim to rim....

“I will wait for you.”

by M. Gus | April 22, 2011 | The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

This is an amazing performance that articulates a healthy view of singleness in the Christian life. I feel that it is a powerful and much needed corrective to a protestant/evangelical culture that overvalues married life.

The Fickle Devotion of a Saint

by M. Gus | July 17, 2011 | Sonnet, The Work of Greater Minds, Victorian Sonnet | 0 Comments

Holy Sonnet 19 by John Donne Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one: Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot A constant habit; that when I would not I change in vows, and in devotion. As humorous is my contrition As my profane love, and as soon forgot: As riddlingly...

Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney

by M. Gus | October 21, 2012 | Rhymed Couplets, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

Late August, given heavy rain and sun for a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it leaving...

October by Robert Frost

by M. Gus | October 14, 2012 | Quatrains, Rhymed Couplets, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the forest call; Tomorrow they may form and go. O hushed October morning mild, Begin the hours of this day slow. Make the day...

From the Dark Tower by Countee Cullen

by M. Gus | February 27, 2016 | Sonnet, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

We shall not always plant while others reap The golden increment of bursting fruit, Not always countenance, abject and mute, That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; Not everlastingly while others sleep Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, Not...

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats

by M. Gus | November 9, 2016 | Advent, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all...

Rock of Ages by Augustus Montague Toplady

by M. Gus | April 30, 2012 | Hymn, Rhymed Couplets, The Work of Greater Minds | 0 Comments

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure; Save from wrath and make me pure. Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; Could my zeal no respite...

You Violated Right-of-way: a rondel about how I hope you die in a fire.

by M. Gus | February 20, 2016 | Gus Stevens, Humor, Rondel | 0 Comments

You violated right-of-way when you cut in front of all of us-- a hundred drivers and a city bus-- to be the first car parked on the freeway. There were a few words I wanted to say but it's Lent and my wife growls when I cuss; you violated right-of-way when you cut in...

Yes, I Was Once Afraid of Bees

by M. Gus | July 14, 2016 | Gus Stevens, Humor, Rondel | 0 Comments

Back when I was afraid of bees with a fear most grave and sober; I would flinch when they'd flyover, would shrink and beg my mother, "Please let me stay inside away from these!" Whining from May to October. Yes, I was once afraid of bees but now I see with eyes more...

Where is the Boy? a Rondel for Stephaun

by M. Gus | March 6, 2016 | Gus Stevens, Rondel, Songs for the Dead | 0 Comments

"Look at the picture. Where is the boy?" "Use your finger, like this, and point right here." Some sounds come out of the scowling man, "We're wasting time. Better to let him enjoy himself, stare at the sun, fondle a toy." "When we talk, it's like he can't even...

Chains by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 21, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

When I was a kid I made chains One every year, hung near my bed About five loops from each single sheet Of cheap construction paper- Alternating red and green every morning tear one off Mark the distance between Now and Christmas With a visual point of reference The...

Gifts by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 20, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

My wife and two kids Christmas carols and coffee What isn't a gift? The rest of the poems from Rusten Harris's Advent series on Moss Kingdom: Incarnation, Christmas Eve, Kings, Some Kind of Glory, Chains, Gifts, Quotidian Couple, A Thousand Lights, Eve &...

Quotidian Couple by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 19, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

Mary- first century Palestine Most common of female names Young virgin betrothed to Joseph a carpenter -most common of trades An ancient quotidian couple Merely out to make their way Joseph's hands calloused with labor Mary thinks of her wedding day Their story one...

A Thousand Lights by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 18, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

With the glow of a thousand lights Brightening my daughter's eyes Cold air and a winter jacket She learns to keep her hands warm buried deep within her pockets And so she buys time To walk and watch and wander It's her third Christmas And she is taking it all in...

Eve & Mary by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 17, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

Did Eve often ponder The voice she overheard- Oaths made to the serpent And the promise of her womb? And did Mary think of Eve When she heard the angel say That in her womb she would conceive A boy to name "God saves"? The rest of the poems from Rusten Harris's...

Treasured Up by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 16, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

Glowing logs and cool of night As shepherds watch their flock Rough assembly of tired men habits of Cain's stock Marginalized and cast aside Marked by field and sun Nomadic pastoral men Some old and some young In her heart treasured up Mary recalls the men Who came to...

Christmas by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 15, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

An infant wriggling In your arms Grunting, rooting, writhing Crying Pushing against you- Or melding into the Topography of your torso True antonym of "abstract" A shoulder wet with reality Should remind you of Christmas The rest of the poems from Rusten Harris's...

Billy Collins on how to start writing poetry (you need to read it)

by M. Gus | Dec 14, 2016 | Uncategorized

Winter Staves by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 14, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris, Winter

Is it winter? The trees are waiting to be clothed Arms and branches lifted up to the heavens Staves - ragged upright wooden bones Sup life with a little soil - frozen Limbs clenched through the wind Some lose weight and watch their friends Keep warm through the winter...

Catholic Rhythms

by M. Gus | Dec 13, 2016 | Advent, Bible Story, Rusten Walter Harris

Contested days of rightful claims to celebrate the stories, Rituals, symbols, and traditions handed down My children - will learn the rhythms Of the Church catholic Of Mary, Joseph, and the infant Of divinity incarnate And I have no qualms with criticisms Posing my...

The Glorias by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 12, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

Gloria in excelsis deo Latin phrase from long ago Translation of angelic chorus Sung to those who watched by night The sheep who often wondered off Struck with fear and then delight "Glory to God in the highest" They never cease to declare And now here in Christmas...

Of Edmund and Aslan

by M. Gus | Dec 11, 2016 | Advent, Gus Stevens, Sonnet, Victorian Sonnet, Winter

There were a hundred years of snow before the human children came. Years of frost and chain and shadow when nights were long and only flame could keep away the grasping cold. The creatures hoped; but then the boy traded their hopes for promised gold and forfeit life...

Cherubim by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 11, 2016 | Advent, Bible Story, Rusten Walter Harris

Cherubim - mysterious when imagined Garden keepers with sword aflame Face of eagle, man, and lion Ark guardians of the mercy seat It is said the Lord sits enthroned Upon the cherubim The priest reminded at every turn By angelic temple ornaments Ezekiel writes of them...

Joseph by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 10, 2016 | Advent, Bible Story, Rusten Walter Harris

I'm holding my son Wondering if Joseph too Sang songs to his boy The rest of the poems from Rusten Harris's Advent series on Moss Kingdom: Incarnation, Christmas Eve, Kings, Some Kind of Glory, Chains, Gifts, Quotidian Couple, A Thousand Lights, Eve &...

Strange Redeemer by Rusten Harris

by M. Gus | Dec 9, 2016 | Advent, Rusten Walter Harris

"Chains shall he break For the slave is his brother" Strange it should be Our hope borne upon his shoulders This child birthed in a shepherds town Could he really be the one they say heals the plagues of man's dominion: Injustice, evil, and estrangement? But how time...

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