Finding Rhythm

 

Absurdity Flying

—Painting by Francisco Goya
—Poetry by Steven Bruce, Barcelona, Spain

FINDING RHYTHM

Shut
heaven’s
golden eye.

The night agrees with me most.

When the ocean of faces calms,
and I retreat to the restful silence
of an empty seashell.

To be alone. Reading by lamplight.

As Falstaff laps
at the cream of life.
As Don Quixote barrels
towards outlandish windmills.
As Dante slips by a thousand faces
made purple by cold.

How the old tales know us better
than we care to know ourselves.

To sip strong coffee
between pages.

To be the apparition
of a face in the crowd.

To flee the tech deluge
rinsing us of our humanity.

If only for an evening.

Let me remember
to get lost
in the rhythms of life
and not in the dissonance
of existence.

 

 

 

 —Photo Courtesy of Public Domain

 

THIS RIVER OF OURS
          for Malgorzata Bruce

At midnight,
       we wander by
               the Arno River.
Moon bright. Ink clouds
                       swift.
              A dark water
       symphony
streams
      into our ear canals.
             This night transient.
                      Love respires.
             Arm in arm,
      you are as near
to me as a lover
             could be.
Despite acrid blue
      smoke rising
             from my cigar’s
                     tip.
            Despite grief
     scorching
my soul’s edges.
            Moonlight creeps
                     in
            and out
     of the clouds
in silent Firenze.
And I find
     myself
            lost
     in this river
     of ours.
Because
     days exist when
            I believe
I am unlovable,
     believe I was born
to be hammered
           down
     into the rotten
timber
of the world.
     And here you are,
           proving me
                wrong.

_________________

Today’s LittleNip:

AND SO
—Steven Bruce

And so the hours fade.
And so life at times
appears futile and absurd.

And so the flesh withers.
And so you ask your waning soul,
Am I doing what’s right?

_________________

Newcomer Steven Bruce, a writer and multiple-award-winning author, is from the UK but is currently living in Barcelona. His poems and short stories have appeared in numerous international anthologies and magazines. In 2018, he graduated from Teesside University with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. See more from Steven Bruce at
https://www.stevenbrucewriter.co.uk/. Welcome to the Kitchen, Steven, and don’t be a stranger!

_________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 Steven Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 LittleSnake’s Glimmer of Hope
(A cookie from the Kitchen for today):

squirrel trips
over the jay—
frantic traffic,
last of the acorns…