The poets' scrolls will outlive the monuments of stone. Genius survives; all else is claimed by death.
quote by Edmund Spenser
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Not marble nor the guilded monuments (Sonnet 55)
Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.
poem by William Shakespeare
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sonnet 55: Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.
poem by William Shakespeare
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Death and I
When death comes
I’ll need not love –
Consumed,
No wreath or dove
Could offer me salvation,
Not when I’m no more.
A weathered stone will bear my name –
Identity of once a being
Living out existence in
A world of risk, and never seeing
Sense of why we’re here.
My genes will die away thro’ child –
Hue of eyes and hair, the way of thought,
Will quickly dim with generation –
Bow to future dominance –
Memories of provenance
Resigned to curious few.
When death comes
I’ll need not grace
Below; no grieving face
Will call my resurrection,
Not when I’m at ground –
Death and I so bound.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2011
D eath Crawl
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poem by Mark R Slaughter
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Good Poets and Bad Poets
Some poets get awards and think they are good poets.
Some poets never get awards and think they are bad poets.
Some poets think they are good poets only in their own mind
Some poets think they are bad poets in somebody's else mind.
Some poets think they are good poets in somebody else mind.
Some poets think others think they are good poets but they don't in their hearts.
Some poets think they are good poets in their hearts but not in anyone else's mind.
All are insecure, except those who get security from the opinions of others and that, alas, doesn't last and isn't real.
Some poets have left the entire scene and live only in their mind.
Some poets take criticism and don't mind.
Some poets avoid criticism and do mind.
Some poets write poetry to get love.
Some poets love to write poetry.
Some poets are ahead of their time, in their mind
Some poets spend a lifetime feeling like failures in their mind
Some poets live only after they die.
Some poets have much to say but can't articulate
Some poets retreat, believing others don't understand
So which one of these am I?
I guess I am all of these and none of these
and no matter what my description
I intend to keep doing what I do:
Write. Right
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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The Knife
THE plough that marks on Harley's field
In flying earth its print
Throws up, like death itself concealed,
A fang of rosy flint,
A flake of stone, by fingers hewed
Whose buried bones are gone,
All gone, with fingers, hunters, food,
But still the knife lives on.
And well I know, when bones are nought,
The blade of stone survives—
I, too, from clods of aching thought,
Have turned up sharper knives.
poem by Kenneth Slessor
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In The City Of Poets,12/26/09
in the city
of poets
all men
are equals
and stride about
congratulating
one another
on their genius.
in the city
of poets
the statistics
of attentive readers
exceed
all expectations
and the bookstores
burst
like fat silos
with their harvest
of rhyme.
in the city
of poets
passports
to immortality
are issued
with abandon,
frontiers
evaporate,
and customs gates
are thrown open
by exuberant
and trusting
guards.
The city of poets
is a classless
society
where no one
dares admit
the existence
of aristocrats
or kings
and everyone
shamelessly
lays claim
to successful
expression.
In the city of poets
bad verse
drives out good
or rather
drowns it
in a sea
of mediocrity,
a conspiracy
of equality,
a brotherhood
of banality,
and every man
is his own
best
bard.
poem by Percy Dovetonsils
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In the world of poetry there are would-be poets, workshop poets, promising poets, lovesick poets, university poets, and a few real poets.
quote by James Broughton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Nietzsche claimed that his genius was in his nostrils and I think that is a very excellent place for it to be.
quote by Federico Fellini
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.
I Understood Your Question
Thinking of todays' poets.
And their approach and quality.
Who among them would you choose,
As your favorites.
'Hmmm...
Paul Bunyan comes to mind.
I enjoy the Wright Brothers.
Benjamin Banneker was brilliant.
Did you know he was also a watchmaker too?
And that's not to take anything away,
From Thomas Edison.
He put the 'gee' in genius.'
You did not name one of today's poets.
In fact...
You did not name one poet.
'I know that.
And guess what?
I understood your question.'
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments seem to cause us to forget the future.
quote by Robert Smithson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The most lasting monuments are doubtless paper-monuments.
Gravy Train
Many more will find it easier,
To hop off the fence.
Once they have convinced themselves...
That sitting on it,
Makes little sense.
That practice had lasted too long...
With some appearing as if monuments.
As others claimed they had evidence,
To prove scarecrows can't fly...
They just sit making noises,
As time goes by!
While others from a different flock...
Fall asleep,
Awaiting the arrival of a gravy train.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
quote by Francis Bacon
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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To X [Lui X]
Wow! The pyramid's grand apex my poor eye can hardly trace...
Standing by this stone colossus I look tiny and resigned,
But you in whose mind the cosmos sees its mirrored holy face,
Will stay here for many ages through your genius so refined.
And you wish my love, my comfort... I would like my love to swell,
To connect our lots for ever is the goal that I have planned;
Yes, but how, when I am petty and I know it very well,
When your great and famous being I can barely understand?
In the world your genius hovers! Leave me prey to my own fate
Every now and then to watch you even though we are apart
Just to witness all your glory till I reach the death's grim gate
And in secret to adore you, my dear wonder, in my heart.
poem by Veronica Micle, translated by Octavian Cocoş
Submitted by anonym
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To E. C. S.
Poet and friend of poets, if thy glass
Detects no flower in winter's tuft of grass,
Let this slight token of the debt I owe
Outlive for thee December's frozen day,
And, like the arbutus budding under snow,
Take bloom and fragrance from some morn of May
When he who gives it shall have gone the way
Where faith shall see and reverent trust shall know.
poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
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True Love Survives
On big alley stands a lady waiting
For awhile
Acting out an untold story like a
Wounded child
But the mystery of the circumstance
Wont hide
She believes true love survives
True love survives
Waiting for her long lost lover
Returning from the war
Though I know she knew the truth
She also knew much more
And the answer that she gave to all of us
Whispered low saying
True love survives
True love survives
Is she dreaming does she know
A secret I cant see
Maybe theres a trace of truth
In all that she believes
For one day I took a look deep down inside
A voice cried saying true loves alive
True love survives
Only love will last forever true love will survive
Only love will last forever true love will survive
True is love is never-ending
Its giving all and not pretending
Its holding on although your heart
Feels dead
A quarter of a century of years
Have gone by
Still the dream of this peculiar
Ladys kept alive
So Im holding tight to one who I desired
A burning fire saying true love survives
True love survives
Only love will last forever
Only love will last forever
song performed by by Donna Summer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Must I Outlive You?
Must I outlive the one I love?
I pray that this can't be.
To wither slowly through old age
will leave my heart empty.
I do not wish to outlive you.
But this is beyond my control.
I have lived my life to please you
and without you I'm not whole.
Little bits and pieces of me
are ingrained in who we were.
They fit together like a puzzle
or the patches on a comforter.
And so these waking hours
when I contemplate
this stark reality that I now face
I pray ‘tis not my fate.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Baby It Cant Fall
Pop/bowie
You have loved me with energy
Backed up with hard work and guts
We inhabit eternity
We fly forever in space
The way we run together
The way we breeze the miles
We put our heads together
And laughingly we smile
It cant fall
It cant fall
Baby, it cant fall
Death means nothing at all
It cant fall
It cant fall
Baby, it cant fall
Our love will outlive this earth
Words have so many meanings
Sometimes mean nothing at all
Sometimes I feel so simple
I dont know whats coming next
We have swum in the ocean
And that was really alright
Im not a big man
Its hard to face the world
It cant fall
It cant fall
Baby, it cant fall
That would nail me to the wall
It cant fall
It cant fall
Baby it cant fall
Our love will outlive this earth
It cant fall
song performed by by Iggy Pop
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Paradigms Of Progress
Becoming something from anything
was a great bliss of paradigm.
I take a dip in anonymity.
You will never know
where you start a rough patch
on the road?
A prehistoric site could not outlive
the humiliation of proximity to hate.
Violence chewed the dust.
My knees give way to anguish of morality:
horror of captivity of dawn.
The eyes are going to collapse in endless night.
Tapping of kernel in hard shell of truth bothers me,
like a mountain dew under the stone.
I will destroy the anxiety of grass.
Death of desire may take place
Fragrance still devastates the moon.
poem by Satish Verma
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