such

the seven sisters, they shine so brightly
oh, but look again, one is still shy.

pen & water colour sketch by dsnake1



such


such is the void i wander
shaking with grief on cold nights
shards still pierce the heart lightly
sweet persimmons thick with ash
softly sits on her altar
summer's gone with her passing
she takes her place in the stars.


12/11/2021
**********

Shared on Friday Writings #4, where the prompt was to write about pain, psychological or physical.

---

Pleiades is a poetic form invented in 1999 by Craig Tigerman.

There is only one word allowed in the title.
The poem is followed by a single seven-line stanza.
The first word in each line begins with the same letter as the title.
There is an added requirement of restricting the line length to six syllables, but that is optional. In my poem, I used seven syllables in each stanza

The Pleiades is a star cluster in the constellation Taurus. The ancients named these stars the seven sisters: Alcyone, Asterope, Celaeno, Electra, Maia, Merope, and Tygeta.

The poetic form The Pleiades is aptly named: the seven lines can be said to represent the seven sisters, and the six syllables represent the nearly invisible nature of one sister.

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

to the pigeons of my block

Columba livia. Nice name, but you certainly have a haughty attitude...

photo by dsnake1



to the pigeons of my block


you are fearless, feckless
you think you owned the turf
the void decks, the lift landings
you shit indiscriminately

you walk, mostly waddle
little heads nodding
like some fat capitalist
counting his stocks

ready-eyed, sometimes red
like my bad hangover
you spy some stuff you leap
like plump ballerinas

eh, what's for lunch today?
rice/corn & chicken bones
someone's ancestral offerings
the joss sticks still burning

you take, like racket money
no questions asked, the bullies
muscling off the bald, old ones
to get at the leftover scraps

and when you are contended
you fly off to the eaves
your homes, cooing, fussing
trying making peace with us.


17/10/2021
**********

Shared on Friday Writings #3 at Poets and Storytellers United

---

Emmit Fenn - Who Dat

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

poetry lesson #10

If i am asked to give a talk on writing poetry, i will repeat the same words as this...

pencil sketch by dsnake1



poetry lesson #10


to write a poem, keep to your pace.
you may walk to a different drum beat
be it.

know what you want to talk about.
a prompt, a sexy photo, blue skies
your anger.

write a draft, the stuff that comes
to mind, sticky notes, that passes by
write it.

frame the words, like a picture
find a form, like this poem, fence it
feed your cat

and then take a break, you know me
go to youtube, weird docus, favourite
rock bands

i keep coming back, ever since that song
in a disused shipyard, guitars and drums
that tell time.

i am distracted, headphones seem stuck,
they are just too pretty, i will be back
in a week


23/07/2021
**********

Shared on Friday Writings #2 at Poets and Storytellers United.

---

BAND-MAID - Daydreaming

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

At the National Gallery Singapore #2

When COVID-19 restrictions were lifted for libraries and museums, I went to visit the National Gallery Singapore recently. An art museum that opened on November 2015 and located in the Downtown Core of Singapore, it oversees the world's largest public collection of modern Singapore and Southeast Asian art, consisting of about 9,000 artworks.

This was the third time back but there is always never enough time to see them all. I only went to one exhibition there, titled, Something New Must Turn Up: Six Singaporean Artists After 1965. And yes, some of the artworks inspired me to write some poetry on them.

I did a series and they are over at my other blog, i write too. I have chosen a few to showcase here.

If you want to see the whole lot, 7 of them, please click this link.


At the National Gallery Singapore #2


#11

photo by dsnake1


love poem on the 7th day of the 7th month

the moon
sliding onto
a tall branch
is trying
to get into your room


14/08/2021
**********

----------

#13

photo by dsnake1


checker board of fields under the sun


looking out of the train
at the rice fields of Japan.

oh, just a dream...


24/09/2021
**********

----------

#17

photo by dsnake1


when insomnia whispers into your ears


let the night die for a moment
hear the whirl of the ceiling fan
let the air run over your sweat
like snakes slithering on sand.


18/09/2021
**********

---

"...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”

-- Vincent van Gogh

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

dark side of the moon #9

that smile could hurt...

photo by Ventus17 at pixabay



dark side of the moon #9


1.
She said I was a special friend. I wondered what 10-year-old children meant by special friends. We laid in the long grass in the fields just outside the village, watching the clouds, the sky a shade of gloomy blue. She was holding a doll close to her body. The doll was naked. I pointed out that one of the clouds looked like a bunny. She said there was another bunny behind it. I looked long and hard. The clouds seemed to have merged into a ball of candy floss.

I turned my head and looked at her. She had pulled down her dress. She was naked.

2.
The villagers were baying for my blood. Disgusting child! How can you do such a thing! A couple of the villagers had suddenly chanced upon us in the field. Incensed, they dragged me and the girl back to the village without giving me a chance to tell my side of the story. In the village square, despite my parents' pleas, they whipped me with canes again. As the village was deciding what to do with me, the girl, who was quietly standing at the sides watching, came over and looked at me.

She gave me a smile. Or really a smirk. She was holding her doll. The doll was headless.


08/05/21
********

because Halloween...

---

Alessia Cara & The Warning - Enter Sandman

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

child

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is one of my favourite bands. Their song "Teach Your Children", from the album Deja Vu, inspired this poem that I wrote. Although this song is seen as an anti-war song, i wrote the poem with my daughter in mind.

photo by Patrick Fore at Unsplash



child


children
rein them not
with a mailed fist
but mould them
with the gentle touches
of a potter's fingers
for they are like clay
absorb
all the love
we can give them

and more.


27.05.2007
**********



first published in i write too, June 2011

---

White Lion - When The Children Cry

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

heavy metal

"even as the magpies
flapped in
from the storm"

- dsnake1, november rains.

photo by lee junda at Unsplash



heavy metal


the sky was rocking
heavy metal,
clouds bruised
blue black,
as white light slashed
across its face
it growled
as in pain.

i leaned at the window
watched
as my cigarette smoke
curled outside
to die
in the rain.


13.12.2006
**********


This poem is a repost. It was published here in 2006. It was one of my favourite poems then, and still is.

Linked to : Writer's Pantry #91

---

BAND-MAID - The Dragon Cries

---

© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021