No Longer Dressed in Black - Kenny A. Chaffin

[kennyc]

Got a very nice (completely unsolicited) review on my book at at Amazon earlier this month.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Dres...1812962&sr=1-1

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Got a very nice (completely unsolicited) review on my book at at Amazon earlier this month.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Dres...1812962&sr=1-1

That IS a nice (and well written) review!

[kennyc]

Thanks Betty!

[kennyc]

Now that summer is here, how about a winter poem.


Winter Thief


That night she stole the moon
and hid it beneath her skirts.
As she looked up her eyes took mine.
She flashed that seductive smile
and vanished into the cold dark wind.

[Dr. Drib]

No, no, my good man, you're confused:

Wait 7 days (posting guidelines) and put up a Summer poem, now that Winter is here - where I live.


ADDED: I meant to say that I enjoyed your poem.




Don

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

No, no, my good man, you're confused:

Wait 7 days (posting guidelines) and put up a Summer poem, now that Winter is here - where I live.


ADDED: I meant to say that I enjoyed your poem.




Don

Ah well, different strokes for different folks eh? In Response to Your Post (i.e. not bumping as per the rules!)

Blackbirds


An endless stream of
blackbirds flows
like a river
in the sky.


I lie on my back
lost in my thoughts
as the sun
begins its descent.


I watch them born
on the western horizon
and disappear
into the east.


A constant flow of
life on the wing
moving for
reasons unknown.


I watch for a break
in the constant flutter
but it never
seems to come.


A few black dots
move away a bit
but are quickly
drawn back in.


I wonder where
they’re going
and why they
cannot stop.

[kennyc]

Another poem from the book. This one is a bit atypical I'd say:


In the Evening

Bitch white trace
tearing through the screams.

Then silence --
deathly silence.

And the drip, drip,
Drip.

[kennyc]

[Image deleted - MODERATOR]

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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SQ9JYC

Today's selection:

The Dancing Philosophers


Logic and rhetoric dance to the beat
holding emotion at bay.

Emotion then catches logic’s eye,
cuts in, and dances in time.

Rhetoric envies the figure they make
as they twirl upon the floor.

Emotion and logic are closer it seems
Than rhetoric ever dreamed

[kennyc]

Just a bump. I decided to use "Brown Dirt Boy" from this collection as the opening to my memoir collection that I'm in the process of finalizing.


Brown Dirt Boy

We grew from the land like willows from water
on the banks of the Red River flow.
Swimming the summers away in the lake,
hiding from winter’s cold.

This is the land where the mistletoe grows,
no cellophane mass-market bags.
You pick it fresh, white berries and all
right there from the trees on the land.

When I was ten they put up a tower;
TV for both sides of the lake.
I remember watching with rapt-faced awe
The Day the Earth Stood Still.

....

U.S. Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SQ9JYC
U.K. Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007SQ9JYC

[kennyc]

No Longer Dressed in Black - my first book of poetry is on sale through Monday on Amazons special graduated Countdown Promotion Deal. Unfortunately this only applies to a single 'outlet' so is only available at the U.S. outlet.

99 cents at the moment

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SQ9JYC

[Namekuseijin]

I got that one. before the discount

fine, honest poetry. What more can be said? Poetry is subjective, I got a kick out of it. The subject matter in the title draw me into it and I feel glad I bought it.

I don't think a review of mine would help much. They tend to be as short as my haiku.

[kennyc]

Thanks Namekuseijin!

[kennyc]

I am still partial to this one.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Thought I'd share the title poem from this collection which is of course one of my favorites



No Longer Dressed in Black

They no longer dress in black,
they’ve become accountants,
clerks, engineers and thieves.

Cobain is dead and so is Lennon
that mop-top leader of revolutions.

Now middle-American angst
replaces the illusion, replaces the
heroes pushed beyond death, the
black that waits for us all.

Only the Goths are left and they
never bought into it anyway, their
blackness worn only on their sleeves,
insulation from society.

They used to wear black, these clerks,
thieves, accountants; clinging to it,
as if to hope, but knowing there was no
challenge, no future, no reason to believe.

They were pulled inexorably
into society, depressed enough
to go along, depressed enough
to suck the blackness into their bodies
and smile as they hand you your change.


.

[kennyc]

I've lowered the price on this, my first poetry collection as something of an experiment as well as the fact that it has just celebrated its second birthday.

While I love all my collections just like children each has its own special qualities and this one certainly does.

Available from Amazon:
U.S. - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SQ9JYC
U.K. - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007SQ9JYC

[Rizla]

Well done, Kenny. Some good work here. A bit dark, but hey, so what.