9Dec 2019 Jonathan Beale

The card players

featured in the poetry forum
After the painting, Card Players by Chris Gollon which in turn was after Paul Cezanne’s painting of the same name. Given the hand; is both first and last The flat... Read More
editors note:

A queen to the jack and “let there be light” – ashes to ashes to idle acts of creation? – mh clay

30Aug 2019 Jonathan Beale

Self-portrait with others

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Those dark corners that the light never sees Find solace in their own dankness. Most nuances, as in faces, are... Entirely unsymmetrical. (Although we love to think that they are).... Read More
editors note:

When devolved into delirium, we seek solace in symmetry. – mh clay

6Jun 2019 Jonathan Beale

Days asunder

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Invariably they were linked Joined as par-for-the-course woven to cover, keep out cold: ...and then, the gaps grew - more and more apparent - these days that once held together... Read More
editors note:

A new coat, or warmer climes? How much do you like that coat? – mh clay

2Nov 2018 Jonathan Beale

To the chains

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After Torquato Tasso She was aware! And so, those impossibilities metaphysical or otherwise: Butterflies, and moths avoided those weighty deeds and rings of iron: Invisible to the original draft or... Read More
23Aug 2018 Jonathan Beale

Before I…

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You'd better give me something So I don't die Novocaine for the soul Before I sputter out - ‘Novocaine for the Soul’, Eels There they stand, just angels with dirty... Read More
editors note:

Some are flint; others, tinder. Together, fire. – mh clay

25Jun 2018 Jonathan Beale

This New Jazz Age

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From Beale Street to the Trump Tower The free-falling age has yet to find its niche Where the self-policing police Find freedom to be just what they want to be... Read More
editors note:

This new “music” is hard to follow; melodies malevolent, bad beats, best to run from, not dance to. – mh clay

16Apr 2018 Jonathan Beale

‘From a moment in the still Spanish air…’

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Just... (after: the cooking of eggs) - After Velazquez, 1599-1660 She acts to create Just something to eat So every day the human eye Cannot acknowledge – The eggs; as... Read More
editors note:

For her, the eggs; for him, the code. One will crack, the other will crumble. (This bit o’ ekphrasis inspired by this picture here.) – mh clay

2Mar 2017 Jonathan Beale

The masses

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The people: as knights, bishops and queens. Pawns…Pawns…Pawns. treading the stone Stone conquers life – Blood, bone, and flesh. Are eroded upon this spinning wheel Desolation is the fear of... Read More
editors note:

For each of us, it’s a new discovery: We’re stuck in repeat. – mh clay

15Nov 2016 Jonathan Beale

Talisman

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After Marianne Moore There, by the de-barked tree There was once this figure An embolismic statue. This totem Lessons in the day gone by The one craved ”you must” A... Read More
editors note:

Tokens of remembrance; creators, long forgotten. – mh clay

26Aug 2016 Jonathan Beale

Cheap Trick

featured in the poetry forum
One slight; one night; once among the neon and the bar room noise The chaos Seemed to be alien vaguely relative, somehow familiar. The action something invisible something unreal Although... Read More
editors note:

The impossible trick; to unsee a thing. – mh clay