My Ten Best Short Poems
By Lenny Everson
rev 1
Copyright Lenny Everson 2011
Smashwords Edition License Notes:
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Cover design by Lenny Everson
Published at Smashwords:
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
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Contents
If
we were free
To Birches
The magic show
When we were
born
The nets of time
When they ask
Upon This Rock
Light
and Darkness
When the sky falls
Cats and Laps
****
If We Were Free
If we were free
Of time and
due
Then you and I
Might never canoe
If life were long
And had no
end
There’d be no call
Of river bend
If we never had
To age or
die
There’d be always tomorrow
Or next July
A bit too warm
Or chance of
rain
We’d find ourselves
At home again
Paddle long, my love, and
Do not
dwell
On the gentle sound
Of distant bell
Cherish the day
Sun and
rain
Tomorrow may not
Come again
****
To Birches
Next life
I would be a tree.
Not
the open-field oak
Not the solitary pine:
I would be a
birch
One among many
Birches grow after fires
I would
grow
After this fire
Beside the black stumps
When the woods
are gold
And alive
With the rustling of squirrels
My one
white line
Leaning down the slope a bit
Tracing the edge
Of
happiness
****
The Magic Show
The magic show is over
The gypsy
tents have gone
Calliope and carousel
Are silent in the dawn
All friends of mine are gone to
sleep
Or lost in distant dreams
The world is not - it never
was
More than what it seems
The magic show is over
The
circus, deep in rust
And questions asked when I was born
Are
answered now, with dust
****
When We Were Born
When we were born, there were ten of
us
Nine were me
The other, last born, was not
When we die, there will be ten of
us
Nine will be me
The last to die will not
All our life we've sat at the
table
Waiting for the tenth to start
And nine of us are hungry
****
The Nets of Time
The nets of time spin wild and
high
Against the dark, against the sky
This gold today
Is
dragged away
And restless sleep my love and I
The nets of time spin wild, spin
free
The golden fish are captured, we
Night, night
Lock
tight
Full of dreams, my love and me
The midnight laughter of the
stars
Is full of locks, and doors, and bars
Silently
Turns
the key
And then to my
Unspoken
plea
Softly you
Move close to me.
****
When They Ask
When they ask, "Did he truly
live?"
Say I found a ridge
At the edge of the sky
Say I knew what the morning was
The
light through the woods
The dew in June heavy on the tent
Say I came to each new path
With
anticipation
Almost greed
Someday, when they ask, "Did he
truly live?"
Say, "There were a few trails
That made
his life a poem."
****
Upon This Rock
Had Jesus canoed
This northern
lake
What strange routes
Would history take
Had he owned
A red canoe
Every
pope
Would have one, too
Paddling pilgrims
Would come to
gawk
At Michelangelo's God
Painted on rock
Cathedral walls
Would be green,
and sway
With sunlight blessing
All who pray
****
Light and Darkness
I knew a woman once;
No side of
her leaned
Into darkness
She wandered the olive groves, but
found
Only shade
And tried many supermarkets but
Still no
shadow
We told her she must be pure
And
that an immaculate conception
Was a definite possibility,
but
“What will happen if God comes?” she asked
“How will
I know which way to look?”
Eventually, certain God could not
see her
She married a man whose soul was
Like the underside of
a log.
Then she was much happier.
When he was drinking his
morning coffee
She had only to turn away
To look toward God.
****
When the Sky Falls
When the sky falls
and the stars
go out
you’ll find me in the dark
still singing
Follow my voice
the world was nothing to me
When the dark comes downtown
and
the neon is cold
when the very wolves cry for hunger
my voice
will remain
the melody, unweakened
The world was nothing to me.
****
Laps and Cats
Falling into magic
Are laps and
Cats asleep
Tumble into silence
When
Afternoons
run deep
Sunlight moves along your
arm
Warmth, light
And fur
Ear against the cushion
Hear the
world
Purr
**** END OF POEMS ****
List of Completed Works by Lenny Everson (to 2011-12-06)
NOVELS
- Death On a Small, Dark
Lake. 67,700 words. Our hero snags a body in a remote lake.
Available on Smashwords
- Death on a Rocky Little
Island 71,500 words. Our hero convinces a friend to take
a canoeing trip to the 30,000 islands .Available on Smashwords and
obooko
- Mount Moriah 50,000 words. A strange
sequence events involves a priest, a poet, a CSIS agent, a space
alien, four horny teens, among others. Available on Smashwords
-
Last Exit to Pine Lake 45,000 words. A dying writer goes
back into the bush to off himself. Grimly literary. Available on
Smashwords and obooko
NOVELETTES
- Granite and Dry Blood.
9,700 words. Our hero wants to write a book on Massassauga Park.
Various people would prefer that he didn’t. Available on
Smashwords
- Death on a Foggy Spring Portage. 11,800
words. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy
portage. Available on Smashwords
Screenplays
- Murder on a Foggy Spring Portage. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy portage.
Plays
- Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s world to remember their lives. A short (20-minute) play for two actors. Available on Smashwords
Full-Length Poetry Books
- The Minor Odyssey of Lollie
Heronfeathers Singer. A middle-aged woman tries to connect with
her aboriginal ancestry.
- In The Tavern of Lost Souls.
Four poets meet at a grungy bar once a month to give their poetic
answers to random questions.
- Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
are Dead. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s
world to remember their lives
Poetry Chapbooks and E-Books
- 22 Love Poems for Love,
Weddings, and Anniversaries (compiled from other works)
Available on Smashwords
- Cherish the Day: 16 Canoe Poems for
Summer. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of
canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords
- Fierce
and Fine and Free: 18 Canoe Poems for Spring. part of a set of
six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. to
Amazon/Kindle
- Fireplace and Wine: 15 Canoe Poems for Winter.
part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With
illustrations.. to Amazon/Kindle
- No Ordinary Waters: Canoe
Poems from a Strange Mind. part of a set of six chapbooks about
the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. to Amazon/Kindle
- What
Last Golden River Run: 17 Canoe Poems for Autumn. part of a set
of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations..
Available on Smashwords
- Encounter in a Small, Old Cemetery.
Autumn. Midnight. Poet visits a small, old private graveyard.
Available on Smashwords
- Fire and Ashes. Poems about
life’s flames and regrets.
- The Empty Tarmac of a
Long-Abandoned Airport. Poems about having a midlife crisis.
Available on Smashwords
- Love Poems A compilation
-
Pray for Me: 22 Poems Probably Slandering God and Jesus
-
Ballads from an Unlucky Fisherman: Available on Smashwords
-
Tweetable Limericks: Volume I. 60 limericks small enough to be
tweets Available on Smashwords
- Hiking Poems
Available on Smashwords
- Why Haven't Aliens Contacted Us?
Available on Smashwords
Co-Authored Poetry Chapbooks
- Who Would Be a God? Susan
Ioannou and Lenny debate the merits of being a god.
- How to
Dance Naked in the Moonlight. Katherine L. Gordon (Celtic pagan)
and Lenny (skeptic) confront the ceremony Available on Smashwords
-
Cats and Dogs. With I. B. Iskov
- For Ko Aye Aung: A
Plea for His Release from Prison. For Amnesty International, with
other poets.
Non-Fiction Chapbooks and E-Books
- If You Condemn Gays: The Bible
on Homosexuality and Other Items.
- The Architecture of
Suburban West Kitchener. A light look at house styles.
- The
Architecture of The University of Waterloo. A light look at the
campus buildings.
- Making Tourist Attractions for Towns and
Small Cities. Advice.
- Technological Cures for Global
Warming. Available on Smashwords
- Hyphens: A Guide for the
Early Twenty-First Century Available on Smashwords
- Colons
and Semicolons: A Guide for the Early Twenty-First Century
Available on Smashwords
- How to Review Draft Technical
Writings
- Rebecca’s Trail (Grand River Trail in
Winter) Available on Smashwords
- 7 Temples to Bill Gates:
a modern mystery Available on Smashwords
- The Great God Pan -
Or Not Available on Smashwords
- Two in a Tent: Camping
Humor Available on Smashwords
Songbooks
- 18 Dingbat Songs for Kids
Available on Smashwords
- Canoe Songs. part of a set of
six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations..
Available on Smashwords
- 18 Dingbat Songs for Kids
Available on Smashwords
lennypoet@hotmail.ca
**** END ****