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7 new poems by Sam Silva

Sam Silva

batik

MY FRIENDS AND I, WE STOLE THE SUMMER

My friends and I, we stole the summer
and its rain
in stumbling secret conversation
about the brilliant ways of the city

…all of its joy
and all of its pain!

In a little room I call my friends
and speak of a journey which never ends
while they all disappear
one by one

…and I may be left
…ah what a Pity!
to share my words
with the setting Sun.

PROLITERIAN VALUES

Eyes glazed in dumb fatigue
…and thoughts behind
were ill defined
…a thick morass which sank a league
to coral forests made for Hell.

How does a turnip learn to bleed?
How are the sharks and stars aligned
for this great feast of human greed?

But in the end they are!, they are
the destiny of humankind!

WORDS ARE THE 0NE SMALL THING I TRIED

Words tend to fail me!
Outside a forest of ivy climbs
the weedy hills of our yard. Entombed
in dust a nickel shines
upon these mounds and gullies
where come the Fall red sunlight bloomed
on yesteryears
and will, for years to come.

The older years are so good
…the eyes upon my lover’s art inside
see golden
as the hands in the dark feel wood.

Words are the one small thing I tried
while such visions strike me dumb!

ESSENTIAL DREAMS AND ART

Medieval grace
in dancing marks
in fish all full of color
in the market place
or under coral waves
among the sharks

it all comes to our passion
and it all comes to our graves
and matter barely matters
in this, my lover’s sweetly abstract style

a portrait of the self, mine or hers
is what she eats and what she saves
where still lifes heap the platters
with much more than a sense of passing fashion
but with deep flesh
and even deeper soul

…what could be left?
…we are but curs
curling in our cresh
and desperate for our God!

We are but orphan lambs bereft
…and, at evening,
hold each other

….fall asleep and nod.

PARANOID ORPHAN FANTASY

The smell of smoke and methane gas!
…a haunt of trailer ghosts which kill,
inflame. seduce
those wild weeds growing in the grass
and women
of a lesser will
…a pin prick lessens all such pain
for all such boys grown old too soon
and all such girls
who likewise pass
a test to leave all life behind
and stumble up a concrete step
and enter metal’s thin disguise
and sit in chairs with cigarettes
and gaze upon a midnight rain
and gaze, in fact. beyond such clouds
to life beyond the far side of the Moon!

FROM ONE OF HELL’S MINOR CIRCLES

Smoker puffs for fifty years
trailing aromatic thoughts
makes a dead weight of his tears
barely sighs when all is said
…barely sighs but mostly coughs!

Ceremonies of the dead
…how to live not being there!
Passion’s plum…more wine than bread.
But ah! the lovers in their love!
Not even mad sex can compare!
How could you not be tender?, you
who live among each other’s love

instead of dreaming such sad words
among the flowers and the dew!

CHRISTMAS ON CONTENTNIA STREET

With private moods of calm desire
nights beside a wooden fire
in winters made of long ago
whose youth endured such paths through snow
whose rented room was destiny
…small gifts beneath a naked tree!

Sam Silva

Sam Silva has published over 150 poems in print magazines, including Sow's Ear, The ECU Rebel, Pembroke Magazine, Samisdat, St. Andrew's Review, Charlotte Poetry Review, Main Street Rag and others. Has published at least 300 poems in online journals including Jack Magazine, Comrades, Megaera, Poetry Super Highway, physik garden, Ken again, -30-, Fairfield Review, Foliate Oak, and dozens of others. He is a frequent contributor to Empty Mirror.

His chapbooks have been published by three small presses, and his work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize seven times. Bright Spark Creative of Wilimington published his first full-length book, EATING AND DRINKING.

He now has many books and chapbooks available at lulu.comsamsilva54 and as books available at Amazon. His spoken word poetry is available at the major digital markets such as Apple iTunes. Follow him on Twitter @samsilva1954.

Author: Sam Silva Tags: poetry Category: Poetry September 10, 2014

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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