How Old?
Ask me my age and I’ll tell you
True
I’m somewhere between
Birth and Death
Are you?
(Previously published in Badosa,2003)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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Sink Hole
He made the mistake of standing on top of the television set.
He thought maybe he could conquer it, I guess
But instead
It swallowed him up and burped him out into an
Infomercial.
And if we don’t pay $149.95 in six easy installments
We’ll probably never see him again.
(Previously published in The Short North Gazette, Jan.2003)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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Dead Starfish
washed up
on the beach
high tide’s brief wasting
a minute more, a minute less
the beach holds
sand secrets
to take or to give
back and forth we go
but time does not wait
as the last wave recedes
the next plunges forth
and wipes the slate
pebble and foam completely
clean.
(Previously published in The Oracular Tree, June 2003)
poem by Laurence Overmire
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Death and Birth
Death leads to birth rather than birth, to death.
Birth is close to death and not vice versa.
Every birth is at the result of a death.
Death to birth, not birth to death, is the path.
The death of clay is the birth of a pot;
The death of the pot is the birth of clay.
Ice melts to water and water forms ice.
In each conversion, occur death and birth.
The death of a night is the birth of a day;
The death of a day is the birth of a night.
New Year means the death of the old year too.
In each transition, takes place death and birth.
The death of a seed is the birth of a plant;
The death of gametes is the birth of an embryo.
Salts die to form cells; cells die to form salts.
In each growth, form death and birth of matter.
The so called death and birth is nothing but
Deaths and births of forms made of matter.
The matter itself does not die to be born
But is converted to different forms.
Elements disappear to form plants.
Plants as food add to the animals’ flesh.
Plants and animals on death liberate
As elements, serving through worms and germs.
When a child is born, there’s no birth of life.
The embryo transforms into a child.
When a man dies, there is no death of life.
The body disintegrates to salts.
Matter, energy and life have no death
They have got one birth since when they’ve been.
They interact and come different stages
In which the pattern is death and birth.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Fighting Death
Death follows birth; does birth follow birth?
Birth to death, journeys have ups and down.
What is the status between death and birth?
Why must you fight death if no-rebirth is bliss?
(15.03.2011)
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Maybe The Trees
Maybe the trees have lost their eyes
And the wind its wicked wisdom
The sand sifts through the glass
Unnoticed
The rivers cry in the dark phase
Of an old moon
Hear me, O Sun
Give life to the branch
Soil to the root
Fast water, graceful rain
A rising tide to wash away
Sorrow
We must emerge
Together
The upheaval of a great mountain
Through stratified rock
A peak of glistening snow
To claim the heavens as our
Own.
(Previously published in Autumn Leaves, July 2003; World Poet's Society, July 2006)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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Birth and death
.
Death is certain for birth.
Is birth certain for death?
Post-birth is pre-death.
It is like go around and return.
Post-death is pre-birth.
It is like stay and remain.
Birth and death is better
Than no birth at all
23.09.2006
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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As the Bombs Drop
We must stop
Thinking literally
Life is a metaphor
Not a fact.
(Previously published in The Hold, Oct.2004)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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The Whistle Blower
Took the sins of the Corporation
Upon her shoulders
The indignity of her firing
Struggling to make ends meet
Unemployed, without prospect
Children crying, hungry
Yet she endured
The barrage of punishing lawsuits
A legion of lawyers platooned
To make her life unbearable
Anonymous threats
Phone calls and burning
Mailboxes
Almost beaten, she clung
With bleeding fingers to the
Inviolable Truth
Truth that held her steady
Truth that wouldn’t let her go
Truth demanding apology
The gavel came down.
Some hear screams in the dead of night
Most continue dreaming
The bed so comfortable, and the morning
So far away.
(Previously published in The Hold, July 2003)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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The liberation
Deliverance of birth
Saves you pain and sorrow.
Redemption of birth
Earns you joy and pleasure.
Which is liberation?
22.07.2003
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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To mourn the death?
Leaving home for school is a death.
Leaving school for service is a death.
Retiring from service is a death.
Every parting is a death.
Every meeting is a birth
Every death leads you to a birth.
Every birth leads thus to a death.
As many entrances as there are exits,
Till the arrival of corporal death,
Beyond which we have no evidence
17.08.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Out Running Time Poets
work published
altered significantly
to fit conventional
poetic rules of time
or published in purity
true feel of poet
an altered reality
verse meter beat?
unique for an era
short cryptic lines
slant rhythm rhyme
unconventional
capitalization
punctuation
themes of death
liberty immortality
two recurring topics
out running time poets
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Punishment
There never really was a place of sanctity
For you, the mortal entity.
You thought you had prosperity,
The while you thrived and were.
Angels don't exist, you see.
You lived without a guarantee
Atop your brutal Earth.
Still, you had a birth.
And whither now, your crying whim -?
Answered by a tearing limb-?
Are you contrite; your valour slim?
And will He care...?
'Tis down to Him.
Copyright Mark R Slaughter,2009
Death has come, has death Death has come, has death
Death has come, has death Death has come, has death
Death has come, has death Death has come, has death
Death has come, has death Death has come, has death
Death has come, has death Death has come, has death
Death has come, has death Death has come, has death
poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Death And Birth
Death and birth should dwell not near together:
Wealth keeps house not, even for shame, with dearth:
Fate doth ill to link in one brief tether
Death and birth.
Harsh the yoke that binds them, strange the girth
Seems that girds them each with each: yet whether
Death be best, who knows, or life on earth?
Ill the rose-red and the sable feather
Blend in one crown's plume, as grief with mirth:
Ill met still are warm and wintry weather,
Death and birth.
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
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Parent Child
Every poem is an individual
A song with its own music
Its own unique voice
Its own particular way of expression
Suited, in form and style, to its own
Particular taste
Give it room
Allow it to breathe
Allow it to be different
From what you’d expect
And if you’re lucky
Sometimes it will surprise you.
(Previously published by The Stroll of Poets Society, July 2000)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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Word to the Latecomer
Life’s too short
Not to start
On time
If your coming
Is not worthy of keeping
To the minute
Then do us a favor
Stay where you are and
Let the rest of us
Proceed
Before the date
Too late, expires.
(Previously published in The Short North Gazette, July 2001)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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Buried World...No World
Deceit of life so sweet to swallow
Bones of lost souls
So bitter to swallow
Me, the world and me again
No world for me again
Harbinger of nirvana near dead end
Broken widow holds no bars
No true friend
No true
No truth
No friend
No NO
Confiscated love in love of human love
Birth of death
Or death of birth
No real object
No real
No reality
No object in subject
No in
No out
No NO
No words
No message
No N
No O
No…
poem by Amir Forougi
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In a Poet's Eye
is the reflection
the image of a ghost
haunted by life
love-lorn romantic
the heart cut open
exposed
the flesh peeled away
in layers
words fall
drifting silently
the sad and bitter tears
of a lost embrace…
(Previously published in Bardo Burner, Jan 2000, no.12)
poem by Laurence Overmire
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A Free State!
Birth, growth, decay and death
All living beings undergo sure!
Hunger and old age make all
Depend each other for survival!
Sans discipline, rationality and
Control freedom can't be enjoyed!
To have carefree freedom from
All worries man should be birth-less!
Birth fixes death for all beings;
Birth and death are for body;
Body with mind and heart
Man lives life with all things.
Spiritual state is the free state
All have to strive to overcome woes!
poem by Ramesh T A
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Do Not Believe
Do not believe
Anything true
This east west
This birth death
This eating putting
This going coming
Do not believe
Anything anything.
Do not believe
There is sky
Do not believe
Birds fly
Animals cry
Do not believe
This defeat victory
This land this country
Here and there
You are not free.
Do not believe
Anything true
And you are not false
In this burning rows
There is no distinction
True false
And it is true
And it is false.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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Birth Right
From the moment of birth
I am made to realize of a special birth right
To let not death dethrone me of my existence
But my right to wear death as crown
To live as a king, eternally ruling a kingdom within
Without the fright of letting the right to slip away
Again and again,
To conquer mortality, is,
My birth right towards immortality.
(220507)
poem by cyclopseven Ram
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