Poems

by

J.B. Ivie

jb.ivie@comcast.net


fide et fortitudine

Untouched.

Loyalty stands her ground

And steadfast, does not move.

Held, forasmuch to hold.

Charming begets charmed.

Disarming begets disarmed.

 

Unconditional.

Prismic and refractory

The tenets of this virtue.

Held, forasmuch to hold.

Bound, continues binding.

Blind, continues blinding.

 

Unyielding.

Divests itself of reason

And revels in totality.

Held, forasmuch to hold.

Fidelity.

And fortitude.

2009


Spell Well

 

Suited to a “t”

All that suits you

Perpendicular or dissecting?

Your choice is yours alone.

An alphabet stands idly by –

Waiting are its rounded symbols.

Curves that do not fit

Into angles that you've created.

Placed side-by-side

In stark contrast –

Demonstrably dissimilar.

How come that seems to work?

Playing by your rules

Unable to spell it out.

 


 

Everything

 

 

Unthinkable, unimaginable.

Why am I returning

To the same thought

Over and over?

When its likelihood is so –

Remote.

 

Is my wanting something

Enough?

Enough to make that something

Become everything?

For that is what it would become –

Everything.

 

Unthinkable, unimaginable.

An unbearable waiting period.

Waiting for my need to

Outpace my fear.

My fear of losing something -

Or losing everything.

 

My wanting something

Is enough.

I can let something

Become everything.

Thinkable and imaginable.

Everything.

 


Winter Solstice

I.

An abrupt correction

To my most recent rejection

Which presents no danger

As a true game changer

 

An assumption made by me

That I'm not all I'd hoped to be

Is unequivocally erroneous

Your manipulation is felonious

 

Important to recognize my unimportance

Become circumspect to my circumstance

 

I am not a satellite, I am not a shoe

Limited to circle and shore

Much more there is I do

I am not a chronicler, tho' I am a scribe

Any more of your history

I will not survive

 

 

 

 

II.

You are an asshole

Plain and simple

A portal to shed waste

Controlled by a sphincter

A little touch of color

“Renegade Red” by Estee Lauder

On pursed lips

Of the gatekeeper

 

Doling out bio-hazardous by-product

Everything that comes

Out of your mouth

Once began as the Truth

Truth starting,

Wound its way

Thru and thru

The bowels

 

Of your education

Of your background

Your wit and humor

 

Of your good looks

Of your experience

Your uncanny ability

 

To consume.

 

 

 

III.

We have a spark, dear Sparky

In the dark, dear Sparky

I am damned with all we do

And when we do, I do with you

 

 

 

IV.

Winter solstice

And you chose

To walk without a word

 

The sun will shine

A few more moments

Like the day

 

I am heading in the opposite direction

A lighted aspect becomes larger

Is it a sign to EXIT?

 

A blocked egress –

An arrow point to ENTER?

That would be the long and short of it.


 

Perennial

 

Get those roots down

Unless they are firmly planted

Then you will never be sure

If you're coming back for another season

 

Check that soil

Rocky, sandy, coarse or loose

Do you know the pH?

Is the environment hospitable enough for you to grow?

 

Know the light

Are you full sun or full shade?

Perhaps, some in-between luminosity

A requirement that drives your processes

 

Get those roots down

Anchor yourself

To something worthy of holding fast

To something that promotes your augmentation

To something that brightens your experience

 

That's what it is to be perennial.

 

 

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