THREE POEMS
SERENITY IN LIKENESS
To find in one another
some likeness in history
is unlike the seeing of the many.
Memory singes history
with its own truths, failures, limits
flimsy to the touch
but fierce in
staying power.
Now is the power of our birth, amen.
Cancelled checks singe money
remembered.
I am unlike you in
dress and dross
And yet—
Below ground we circle slowly
in the same den
the same dim light
of a future undressed
waiting for a proper fitting.
You—a likeness monster
in your ordinary wrap
now find your own solace
where wind whistles in
the cave at dawn.
Similar yes like yesterday
But not the same really.
© 2017 Serenity In Likeness Dennis Patrick Slattery mythopoetry.com
© 2017 Dennis Patrick Slattery All Rights Retained
© 2017 Serenity In Likeness Dennis Patrick Slattery mythopoetry.com
© 2017 Dennis Patrick Slattery All Rights Retained
WORDS DRY OUT
Where goes what withers
to be refreshed?
The heat of a day’s longing
is enough to sap all moisture
from the stems of things.
Withering roots; where ecstasy
grows upward in a forest
without fear? Loosen your hold
on dry sticks when combustion
is near. Fear makes deserts of
our destinies.
Moisten your lips with olive oil.
Take pains to live close to a well.
Follow the white porcelain of mist.
Push fear to the curb and the stories
that wet its plots.
Danger in the details of a
negative narrative
dry the soul to a brittle cloth
bereft of blessings.
Seek still waters and
awaken.
© 2017 Words Dry Out Dennis Patrick Slattery mythopoetry.com
© 2017 Dennis Patrick Slattery All Rights Retained
© 2017 Words Dry Out Dennis Patrick Slattery mythopoetry.com
© 2017 Dennis Patrick Slattery All Rights Retained
MELODY
Music prints the air in sheets
enough to cover the path
she walks on.
Notes on her soles and
lyric lines limm her thoughts.
Between the aches of
an uncertain hour
and the long chords of lament
Behind glass melodies
without the rhythm
of lonely parts
She plays she plays
she plays.
© 2017 Melody Dennis Patrick Slattery mythopoetry.com
© 2017 Dennis Patrick Slattery All Rights Retained
© 2017 Melody Dennis Patrick Slattery mythopoetry.com
© 2017 Dennis Patrick Slattery All Rights Retained
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dennis Patrick Slattery Ph.D. is core faculty, Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California. He has been teaching literature and mythology for over 40 years. He is the author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor of 24 books, including six volumes of poetry; he has published over 200 articles and reviews on literature, psychology, mythology, as well as popular essays on surprises in the world.
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