# A. Gee > Where words collide Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages - [A King's Lot](https://www.hawkword.com/a-kings-lot.md) - He was too young for the throne. And far too good for his lot. - [Crux](https://www.hawkword.com/crux.md) - They sought the Power of God He sought only the truth. - [Myth Takes: Rhyme and Reason in the Age of Entitlement](https://www.hawkword.com/myth-takes-rhyme-and-reason-in-the-age-of-entitlement.md) - Think your Ajax belongs under the sink? Unsure whose side Poseidon is on? Then this book is for you... - [Number Seven Will Surprise You](https://www.hawkword.com/number-seven-will-surprise-you-2.md) - Common, you know you want to... Only one way to find out what's in there before everybody else does. - [Sonnet Station](https://www.hawkword.com/sonnet-station-2.md) - You've arrived. Soon you'll meet a murderous time traveler. A frustrated Shakespearean actor. And a lovesick poet. Disembark at your own risk. - [Let it be written](https://www.hawkword.com/subscribe.md) - and sent to the smitten each chapter and verse before they disperse! ## Posts - [Things Best Left Unsaid](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/things-best-left-unsaid.md) - “Is he going to understand where he is, Dr. Soma?” Somasundaram, but most people call me Soma, the man had said when they met for the first appointment. A doctor in jeans and a worn-out tee I wouldn’t use to wash the floor or even garden in. What happened to a shirt, tie, and white coat? “Not unles… - [The Contract](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/the-contract.md) - These guys always look the same. Oily, unkempt hair falling on a wrinkled, sweaty brow, eyes blinking rapidly. Dirty tee that looks like it’s been slept in. Blizzard of Ozz, figures. His hand trembles a bit as he pushes the page toward me. Too much coffee. Or booze. I can barely make out the printe… - [Prophet From It](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/prophet-from-it.md) - Whether you consider the shouting match he’d just had with his wife, Zakutu, over her treatment of Vashti, his new concubine, the cheeky Babylonian Ambassador who had just offered Marduk’s help in relieving the devastating summer drought they’d been suffering, if only His Majesty would be good enou… - [The Collection](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/the-collection.md) - Sam was less than two feet from the Cinderella staircase when a sudden gust of air sent dust particles dancing in his flashlight beam. Had someone opened the front door? He spun around, flashlight cutting through the dark, but the massive double doors were still as shut as he’d left them moments ag… - [SpellBound](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/spellbound.md) - He stretches his back, then settles across from me. “Let me tell you,” he says, “it’s not easy out there.” He pauses to sniff his dish, shakes his head, then takes a bite before continuing. “I’d almost given up, in fact, until I came across this new app, SpellBound. Yeah, with two Ls.” “Two Ls, huh… - [Looking California](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/looking-california.md) - Feeling Massachusetts - [The Inheritance](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/the-inheritance.md) - I take a deep breath, trying to drum up some courage. How do I tell him? I scan the room again, stalling. He’s seated at the head of the large mahogany table, my four uncles and aunts split to either side, one uglier than the other. Uncles and aunts, that’s what I’ve been taught to call them. As to… - [You've Got Male](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/youve-got-male.md) - “Will that be all?” she asks, not even the slightest hint of a smile on her face, as my last item, a pale head of lettuce, rolls down the checkout counter’s conveyor belt towards the bagging area. Ann Boleyn’s head must have rolled something like this, I find myself thinking as I watch the counter’… - [The Log Cabin](https://www.hawkword.com/short-stories/the-log-cabin.md) - Each one is different, they say. The snowflakes. Absolutely unique. To do with how the crystals are formed as the water makes its way down, or some such. But all I see is a bleak, featureless whiteness. As if God sought to erase any distinguishing feature from the landscape, blanket it with white,… - [What Remains of the Day?](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/what-remains-of-the-day.md) - The remains of the day stain a quarrelous sky. Bales of barley and hay languish, kindling dry. - [Perishable Goods](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/perishable-goods.md) - I check the label: Perishable Good. Surprising, their apparent need to say it. I would have thought it plainly understood, without the need to outwardly convey it, that Good is precious. Breakable and fragile. That ba... - [Bringing It With](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/bringing-it-with.md) - What's my luggage, you ask? Of course, Louis Vuitton. I've accomplished my task. Time to pass the baton. And do what, you might ask, and go where? - [Shoulda Woulda Coulda](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/shoulda-woulda-coulda.md) - When I am staring at the ceiling as it stares back in shades of black and needles me, once more, with feeling... - [Not Too Late](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/not-too-late.md) - I huff and puff to generate a meme to seem supreme It's rough and tough -- hope not too late to dream and scheme on theme. - [Fortune's Favors](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/fortunes-favors.md) - When the years press you down and the aches that add up put a frown on your face do not fret, do not stop and eschew any talk that it sucks to get old As the old proverb says… - [Geometric Verses](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/geometric-verses.md) - I bring ya a tale of the Möbius stripper. As handy with Euclid as she’s with a zipper, and furthermore, since she’s got nothing to hide, she’d show perfect strangers her only good side. - [Just Get Rid Of...](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/just-get-rid-of.md) - If I could just get rid of "chuckled" the reader laughing on his own… These latest edits that I've tackled (and I'll admit, I'm in the zone) I'm getting rid of "heard" and "listen" and any sun that doesn't glisten, no... - [Happily Cavort](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/happily-cavort.md) - When I cavort around the town I often look for love. But ask a lady: "Are you down? "We fit like hand and glove!" and you're as likely to receive a whupping as a slap. So I, although I've much to give have almost give... - [Say When](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/say-when.md) - When I am tortured by the dentist, and at the least, like twice a year, I wish I hadn’t been apprenticed to, of all things, a chocolatier. - [Punditry Banditry](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/punditry-banditry.md) - As wisdoms go, conventional’s the worst. Best dress it up as ancient. That does better. Uncommon — when delivered and dispersed by graying talking heads who claim: Unfetter - [What's Art](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/whats-art.md) - What's art? It's Plato's shadows on the wall. Go, touch it - It's a snake in Eden's garden. Or maybe it's a leaf before the fall. An executed man receives a pardon. - [Something New](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/something-new.md) - When the light at the end of the tunnel goes dark When a walk is no longer a walk in the park When doubt eats at your guts at the end of the day When you're ready to fight, let them come, come what may When the spirit... - [For Demonstration Purposes Only](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/for-demonstration-purposes-only.md) - Canute had failed to conquer the Atlantic. Though some would later claim he didn't try. Those claims, however genuine or frantic, their efforts to suppress and to deny the obvious, ring fatuous and hollow. Did not the... - [Wisdom of the Ancients](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/wisdom-of-the-ancients.md) - As to the wisdom of the ancients: Beware the Romans and the Greeks. - [Devolution](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/devolution.md) - It's not the fittest, but the cutest, that will eventually survive. God may have been an absolutist, but wanted everyone to thrive, not knowing pleasure, though: He's had it with those who, knowingly, have at it... - [A Poet's Ear](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/a-poets-ear.md) - Please tell me, friend, whom I hold dear: How do I get a poet's ear? How do I write a verse that sings, a joyful serenade that brings a happy tear, a sudden smile, a wish to linger for a while... - [Ham Not](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ham-not.md) - For all the versions of the Bard: The stolen, lost, or merely borrowed. Those that are clearly a canard, creative choices having narrowed. - [Choices](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/choices.md) - When sailing between Scilla and Charybdis, for mysteries that Man has yet to fathom, while wondering aloud if you can keep this small boat of yours from sinking to the bottom, descending into Tartarus or Hades, (depen... - [Habits](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/habits.md) - I am an orc. We're talking Tolkien, Behaved, house-broken, not a thug, Polite, exceedingly well spoken, and neither desolate nor smug. Although I have a hobbit habit. When one walks by, I tend to grab it and munch on... - [Unmapped Territory](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/unmapped-territory.md) - My Atlas does not shrug. Nor do my maps. The globe remains as passive as could be, keeps its reactions tightly under wraps, like nothing doing, nothing there to see. - [Significant Other](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/significant-other.md) - When God and his Significant, the Other decided that they needed them some space the end result was what we call the Mother of All Explosions, and no fall from grace, - [And Say... Cheese!](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/and-say-cheese.md) - Between a bridge too far and bridge to nowhere A road that had been, hitherto… abridged, though to determine who or what might go there and what they will discover once they’ve hitched their way to that mysterious loc... - [Chess Crown](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/chess-crown.md) - I suck at chess, so there you go, I've said it, the noble, intellectual endeavor. Can't win, unless I'm aided and abetted by an AI substantially more clever than I am on my own. Ugh, more's the pity. I fail to underst... - [Salvage](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/salvage.md) - Of all the Lost & Founds across Creation -- you've ever been to one? Me, once or twice -- One stands -- a most peculiar location -- smack dab, right in the heart of Paradise. - [Enchanté](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/enchante.md) - Enchanted by a witty turn of phrase my hand delays, mid-hover, on the page, as I reread the sentence. It conveys so much in so few words. Were this a stage - [Perchance, perchance not...](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/perchance-perchance-not.md) - My nightly quest to find oblivion is not unlike a tired daytime soap. Late. Early. Drink. Don't Drink. Keep TV On. I wake at 3:00 AM to sulk and mope. - [Between](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/between.md) - between Heaven and Earth some say roughly halfway where they tally each birth where no angel holds sway nor a demon delights in original sin where -- a late poet writes -- life is yet to begin between Heaven and Earth... - [Breakfast In Bed](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/breakfast-in-bed.md) - Belatedly, I've understood a truth: Life's naught but the displacement of an ache well-masked by the euphoria of youth, so one can be permitted the mistake - [By Tail and Hoof Ye Shall Know Him](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/by-tail-and-hoof-ye-shall-know-him.md) - When God apportioned horns and tails and hooves - ran out on wildebeest… You've seen a picture? For like the platypus, it's in the proofs Creation hadn't strictly followed Scripture. - [Nom de Plume](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/nom-de-plume.md) - I’m using my poetic license in lieu of government ID. They take it since I cannot lie. Since, as Abel or as Zebedee, despite the lateness of the hour, I speak of only truth to power, a truth that wouldn’t be denied, n... - [The Day After](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-day-after.md) - Beginner's luck, perhaps that's all it was. Ask any child - they'll say: He started it, but our existence's sole, Primal Cause - who'd left few rules when He departed it for parts unknown, or so it would appear - con... - [Hanukkah](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/hanukkah.md) - If history is written by the winners, our victories, though biblical, are few. We celebrate them with familial dinners, where everybody has a point of view, - [Treasure](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/treasure.md) - “Is there a word you treasure above others?” my lovely wife had asked me with a pout. “You write, right? Well, then, had you had your druthers, is there a word you wouldn’t do without? - [Simply Forgot](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/simply-forgot.md) - When asked: what's the point of it all Is it sex? Is it drugs? Rock & Roll? It's not that it's not he simply forgot and said that he couldn't recall - [One Bird. Two Stories.](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/one-bird-two-stories.md) - on the subject of pigeon and dove only one stands for Lord from above but the other -- the pigeon is what rhymes with religion while dove is stuck rhyming with love - [Seven Wonders of the World](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/seven-wonders-of-the-world.md) - Recite the Seven Wonders of the World demanded my peculiar professor, as if they were a list to be unfurled. Are any of these wonders greater, lesser, depending on their placement in our lists? Atop it, the Great Pyra... - [Thine Old Self](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/thine-old-self.md) - So practiced in the art of self-deception that mirrors feel no further need to lie. The mind performs the trick, then takes exception when shown a photo selfie that gets by the brain's embedded filter. I look… beaten.... - [Where My Muse Resides](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/where-my-muse-resides.md) - My muse resides in a museum, trapped in a painting, as a nude. The one next to the Colosseum, yeah, that one. She is shown pursued by young Apollo, horny bastard. A Rubens, but before he mastered some of his skills. A... - [Winter Moon](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/winter-moon.md) - Does it snow on the moon? Is it sparkly and white, and will make lovers swoon, and will not be denied, 'cause it's covered in snow, permafrost wonderland, icy crystals you know you can't grab with your hand but you wi... - [How to Fly](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/how-to-fly.md) - A cemetery of abandoned plots, unfinished poems, stillborn compositions. Self-centered daffodils, forget-me-nots, a stichwort stichwork, shriveling ambitions, - [At the Sonneterium](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/at-the-sonneterium.md) - Committed to a sonneterium. Reduced to limericks, haikus, and puns, with neither Rogers nor a Merriam, nor Webster to consult, I feel a dunce, - [Snip Snip](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/snip-snip.md) - What do Lachesis, Clotho, Atropos, do, when they get together at last? Grab a lunch? Out for cocktails and tapas, or a heartier, fuller repast? I imagine the Fates as three yentas, sitting, gossiping over your threads... - [Longing](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/longing.md) - She was born from this foam, Aphrodite, fully formed; she was Love at first sight, Lust and Longing to render her mighty, as no other divine power might. Born, but never entirely free. That is why you, too, long for t... - [Manifesto](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/manifesto.md) - Here's my list of Christmas wishes: Robot, you will do the dishes, and while I remain a bard do some work on the backyard: - [Talk of Honor](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/talk-of-honor.md) - Talk of honor: abide… Are you sure it's not pride? Are you certain you haven't confused for your personal sake, having made a mistake, ego wounded and battered and bruised, pride with honor? Will you take a moment or... - [In the Moment](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-the-moment.md) - Fall is here. She feels like dancing, feels the summer wash away, as the season crawls, advancing. before winter has its sway. She is young enough to welcome futures turning into pasts. Young and pretty. She continues... - [Starry Night](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/starry-night.md) - Little peanut, eyes open. She's not dreaming, she's hoping. Playful whimsy to carry her. Starry night becomes starrier. Go to sleep, tell her so... - [In Search Of](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-search-of.md) - The one-eyed man was searching far and wide: had heard an unsubstantiated rumor, initiated by a clever guide, (a man with an appalling sense of humor) that there exists a Kingdom of the Blind, and were he to locate th... - [[ a painter sees you in the canvas ]](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/a-painter-sees-you-in-the-canvas.md) - a painter sees you in the canvas a sculptor frees you from the stone a writer moves you out of Kansas into a world you've never known a playwright uses parts of speech to make you laugh, to make you cry a poet sees wa... - [What is Paris?](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/what-is-paris.md) - What is Paris, you say? Sail a boat on the Seine Walk up Champs-Élysées as a November rain falls on you from above. What is Paris? It's love. - [Lovers' Moon](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/lovers-moon.md) - Bathing in moonlight, the cobblestones glisten Crisp autumn air adds a glint to their shine. Moon hangs down low, as if trying to listen, searching for lovers who seek the divine: Come, and be washed in my glow. - [Thanksgiving](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/thanksgiving.md) - Large table. Happy faces all around it. A bit of packaged up Americana. Back then, when the traditions were first founded, before prefrozen turkeys, before Santa, before the Hallmark cards and selfie pictures, the fac... - [Always](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/always.md) - Romeo loves Juliette. Arrow through the heart. Chalk on sidewalk -- they've just met, can't bear to be apart. Asphalt buckles, concrete cracks, and soon they're broken-hearted. Should have known it could not last. Kno... - [Dawn](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/dawn.md) - A translucent gown adorning fertile valleys, gentle slopes. Dawn arrives. The misty morning, wispy wishes, fragile hopes, knowing what it means to yearn, readies for the morning's burn. - [Units of Measure](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/units-of-measure.md) - I once composed a wholly metric verse to measure length, and that within an inch, and while the subject matter was perverse, and might induce a curse or worse, a flinch, it was, no doubt, a valiant attempt, and worthy... - [Bloody Seconds](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/bloody-seconds.md) - The lion, as he's lying with the lamb: goodwill itself, and holiday-themed cheer. The turkey, and the stuffing, every crumb all welcome the arrival, every year, of "wouldn't it be nice!" and "oh, what if!" and "let us... - [Why?](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/why.md) - Sands of time beneath my feet. Cloudless sky above. Day would seem to be complete, but you're not here, my love. - [Filter](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/filter.md) - Stained glass window, frozen wave, irridescent glory, Simple happiness you crave captured in this story Would that it were true, alas... - [Fairy Tale Endings](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/fairy-tale-endings.md) - Done with baby, done with little, done with mermaid at the last. Every step will hurt: bones brittle but the ocean is her past and her future? Balls and princes. Takes another step... She winces. - [High School](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/high-school.md) - South Shore High: you know why name was so apropos Hallways, always the sweet smell of skunk. - [The Unpopped Kernel](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-unpopped-kernel.md) - Unpopped kernel: a riddle. Were it snug in the middle or confined to one side, that might rescue its hide. - [Running on Empty](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/running-on-empty.md) - I can't help running into, then running out on friends. And no, it's not my Pinto and surely not Depends, though some would blame the latter, I credit not the notion. An overactive bladder is keeping me in motion. - [The Rise and Fall](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-rise-and-fall.md) - But not of empires... - [Breakfast Epiphanies](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/breakfast-epiphanies.md) - Looking for word play to give me a poem Checked movie titles, the good ones: you know ‘em - [November](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/november.md) - The park abandoned, leaves done falling, the river, lazy, runs below. Come back! the park bench begs, Come calling! Please do not let the seasons flow keep you away. Come, take a stroll! It's not the end. It's merely... - [In Richness and in Wealth](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-richness-and-in-wealth.md) - he offered the lady his heart said nothing could keep them apart but hearts can be brittle since nothing's so little the effort was doomed from the start - [Or Not](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/or-not.md) - to be or not to be an English grammar rant so often I must say "I can't" how could a language push me to this length some master it, most lack the strength to be becomes I was and just because to be - [Holiday Season](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/holiday-season.md) - I welcome the Holiday Season No -- I cannot give but one reason the reasons are many Let's start with Aunt Jenny who just got paroled out of prison - [Tears of the Sun](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/tears-of-the-sun.md) - Bouquet discarded on the shore. Rose petals drown in salty water, He doesn't love her anymore. Somebody's son, somebody's daughter despondent, cries, their tears are bitter. The setting sun gives up its glitter. - [It's Not OK](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/its-not-ok.md) - The shootout at the Not OK Corral. So named not as a judgement or a slight but rather to distinguish its locale for those who, inadvertently, just might confuse it with its neighbor, that one other, where frontier jus... - [What She Wants](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/what-she-wants.md) - Ask her: what does she want? Not a diamond to flaunt or a necklace to wear. She has many a care but confesses, of late, wants the moon on a plate. - [Moonlight Concert](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/moonlight-concert.md) - Her bow a witch's wand,, the violin her altar. Time's gently flowing sand won't let her slow or falter nor play a note too soon. - [The Tortoise and the Hare](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-tortoise-and-the-hare.md) - You've heard the one about the tortoise and the hare? But surely not from the perspective of the rabbit, the loser who, most unequivocally, was there and had the vaunted prize in sight but failed to grab it. - [Heartfelt Prenup](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/heartfelt-prenup.md) - Uncommon wisdom notwithstanding, it being something of a bind, I would much rather be demanding - and here I think we're of a mind - our unconditional surrender. - [The Warbler](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-warbler.md) - come on autumn, come on freeze I'm right here, among the trees, do your worst, storm,bring your trouble... - [Pastoral](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/pastoral.md) - Pastoral: a peaceful lake, undisturbed by wave or wake Hills surround it, some quite steep. On their slopes, the gentle sheep graze along without a care. Wolf, they think, no longer there - [Questing For Questions](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/questing-for-questions.md) - Is there a windmill I can charge nearby? Preferably, the old, the wooden kind, and one whose blades are not set up too high - I find the new ones that are so designed as to avoid a knight's most fervent charge, his la... - [Treasure Trove](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/treasure-trove.md) - Many a traveler seeks to unravel her mysteries, secrets, and lore. - [The Little Princess](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-little-princess.md) - Hey, little princess, you're finally free! Did you escape from Saint-Exupéry? Leap from your book to your planet of choice, where harp-looking trees strum along to your voice? Still, something tells me you're playing... - [Beyond Forever](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/beyond-forever.md) - Beyond the borders of forever, out where not always and in part join caveats, however clever, against the fragile human heart, that one, weak, vulnerable kingdom which fights its battles, seems to win them, only to fi... - [Written Correspondence](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/written-correspondence.md) - I start with a To Whom It May Concern and end it with the requisite Sincerely. The body - took me long enough to learn - lays out the subject matter, and as clearly - [Math Problems](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/math-problems.md) - starting with a single flower waterlilies overpower and, as it is now well known, on a timeline of their own, they will fully fill the pond... - [Saved for a Rainy Day](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/saved-for-a-rainy-day.md) - It's raining as autumn demands your surrender. But look! Here's a flower, so precious, so tender! Its petals: the sun, as a toddler would draw it, Remember, your child did? You smiled when you saw it... - [Essence](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/essence.md) - The vase: a gentle splash of periwinkle reflecting off the walls -- a lime-washed plaster, that long ago succumbed to crack and crinkle. - [The Lesser](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-lesser.md) - The bad, though lesser of two evils, had never liked to see such sport. - [[ asking for a form ]](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/asking-for-a-form.md) - asking for a form that doesn't serve a function wound up with a mold - [In Limerick](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-limerick.md) - In Limerick and in Nantucket They'll spin you a verse by the bucket when challenged with orange they'll door hinge and bow range and some might just pilfer your gold and your silver when asked where it's at, they'll s... - [Rose Bush Garden](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/rose-bush-garden.md) - we tried together, tried apart tried every weather, but the heart can't beg to pardon what's not there a rose bush garden, empty chair - [Magician's Trick](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/magicians-trick.md) - Were we a pair, two of a kind? Was that what we were dealt? Love, an illusion of the mind, spread out atop a felt by an occult, cape-wearing mage who waved his magic wand the cards reshuffling on stage and we, forced... - [Ocean Cove](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ocean-cove.md) - The view: a tranquil ocean cove a veritable treasure trove but not of diamonds and gold of stories that do not grow old: a hero's journey, pirate's cave, and on the breeze, a gentle wave. - [The Itsy-Bitsy](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-itsy-bitsy.md) - Expecting her performance to be thrilling, spectators filled with existential dread, an itsy-bitsy drops down from the ceiling. adrift on a translucent, silver thread. - [Distant Fire](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/distant-fire.md) - The sea's aglow with distant fire, the wind, soft kisses on my face. Sun, sinking, threatens to expire, to disappear without a trace. "I will be back," it swears, "tomorrow. Come back and watch me as I rise." I nod, a... - [Like Him](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/like-him.md) - I haven’t found my star-crossed lovers, nor any Copperfields or Twists. The prince who finally discovers the world cares not if he exists has not yet made his grand appearance, Still, seized with dogged perseverance... - [Edomite](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/edomite.md) - Compete with wit in just four feet! Said he, completing three. Repeat the beat, that's it, they meet and oui, no fee, for free - [Just Once More](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/just-once-more.md) - Moonlight floats on the bay as an old fishing boat battles rust and decay, but remaining afloat, longs to sail just once more, feel the pulse of a wave, and to find, far from shore, her true watery grave. - [Season of the Witch](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/season-of-the-witch.md) - It is the season of the witch, and my pen feels a certain itch: - [Ghost With the Most](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ghost-with-the-most.md) - Wraiths and ghosts will debate and no matter the cost and no matter how late "Who's the ghost with the most?" It will always come down to the one with the sheets from soft silk -- like a gown, and when this spectre gr... - [One of a Kind](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/one-of-a-kind.md) - Resolved to keep on making resolutions, continuously, not just once a year, and each one’s full of marvelous solutions attuned to what the people want to hear. - [By the Fence](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/by-the-fence.md) - Where the prairie once spread, apple orchards and fields. Green, delicious, and red, bred to maximize yields. Home to mustang and deer, once near endless, immense, has long since disappeared. Ancient oak by the fence. - [Above the Crowd](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/above-the-crowd.md) - I'm privileged to be entitled and have no fear of going rogue, and though my passions are unbridled, they're only so to be in vogue, - [At Home With the Metaphor](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/at-home-with-the-metaphor.md) - If eyes are windows to the soul and walls have ears, the fridge's a magnet to control your hopes and fears, the kitchen sink is all that's been willing or otherwise, thrown in, there is considerable proof the attic lo... - [Enthropy](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/enthropy.md) - Relentless, ruthless, unforgiving, the future slips into the past, reminding all of us, the living, that living, being, will not last. - [In the Country](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-the-country.md) - At an out-of-town retreat, relaxation near complete. Looking through the looking glass, staring at a horse's ass He may whinny, but I whine. Well, at least they have some wine. - [The Unremarkable Beast](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-unremarkable-beast.md) - Pause for a moment. Reexamine whether you merely exist, the cause of neither feast nor famine, so unremarkable a beast that the philosophers cite you to prove, as expectations shrink, that while the inverse may be tru... - [Fruit of the Vine](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/fruit-of-the-vine.md) - Tuscany, Gascony, Napa, Sonoma Some call it dastardly, Some quote old Homer Some quote the Bible; that's also fine. The Bible says: Blessed be the fruit of the vine. - [Always](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/always-18685348.md) - She still stands there and waits for his ship to come in, pass its way through the straits so their life can begin. Tides keep falling and rising each day without fail, but the barren horizon will not yield a sail, no... - [Cheese Plate](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/cheese-plate.md) - You're not free without brie Mozarrella, good fella You'll miss if it's Swiss and you'll sing a cappella or ask for a shredder if no gouda cheddar but please, please do not scream if it's cheese but not cream - [Circular Reasoning](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/circular-reasoning.md) - A snake appears content to slither unlike the dolphin and the whale, though if you bother asking either the tale is rather of the tail: for cetaceans, an appendage and thus a portion, a percentage of the entire body’s... - [Ballerina](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ballerina.md) - Ballerina, should have seen her arabesque and pirouette her appearance, her demeanor, a Giselle you won't forget If I could but set the stage, she would leap right off the page. - [All the Rage](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/all-the-rage.md) - To rage against the dying of the light appears to be as popular as ever, as if the day might fail to follow night. - [Falling Again](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/falling-again.md) - The forest reddens; it can't help but blush, a maiden shyly starting to undress, clothes falling on a carpet, soft and plush, her lips to form a bashful, breathless yes. - [Acornocopia](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/acornocopia.md) - An acorn snaps and cracks beneath my sandal, the sound ignored by flower-munching deer. The driveway is a messy, shameless scandal of leaves and acorns; not a spot is clear. - [Flowers for Algernon](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/flowers-for-algernon.md) - if you give a mouse a cookie he will ask for milk but I gave my mouse a bouquet and his ears turned to silk - [Ankle Deep in Moonlight](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ankle-deep-in-moonlight.md) - Stars shine, cold and distant, safely out of reach. Ankle deep in moonlight on an empty beach, I can't help but wonder if each grain of sand, searches for a soulmate, seeks to understand, why they shine and sparkle, s... - [Wild and Free](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/wild-and-free.md) - rusty vessel splash of color flowers nestle shorter, taller best in the bouquet somewhat hard to say but don't call me crazy maybe oopsie daisy - [Lovers Concerto](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/lovers-concerto.md) - an artist dares to juxtapose a grand piano with a rose and my eyes see a wild romance two lovers met as if by chance loves, loves me not, each petal sings piano keys stroke metal strings - [Waiting](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/waiting.md) - Wings folded, resting in the sun among the gently swaying reeds. Will she land next to him, the one, before the evening sun recedes, or will their paths have never crossed, the moment gone, forever lost. - [By a Nose](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/by-a-nose.md) - The truth is to lie is to sin Hard stopping, once you begin Because, as one knows A win by a nose still a win - [Transistor Radio](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/transistor-radio.md) - I'm here telling you, sister: beware the transistor for what once was a calm, quiet beach Will, in time, be a zone that belongs to the phone and the calmness is long out of reach - [Fetish](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/fetish.md) - A woman I've met long ago Liked showing her prominent toe It looked like a poet One glance and you'd know it The toenail continued to grow - [Happy Endings](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/happy-endings.md) - It'll be a fairytale, they told her when they met her. Her mom, especially, she said: "I'm one who knows! You are aware, of course, that Father is a debtor, and so you have to, even if you hold your nose!" - [Inconstant Moon](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/inconstant-moon.md) - hearts on display, searching for love some hope and pray, some look above some being told they'll find it soon under a cold, inconstant moon - [Green Card](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/green-card.md) - My boyfriend's a resident alien He's green, although mostly mammalian Can't have him deported If he gets reported Our priest was an Episcopalian - [A Moment of Escape](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/a-moment-of-escape.md) - Chrysanthemum lit gently by the moon, its petals basking in her eerie glow. Oh, Mistress of the Night, don't leave so soon. No, let the hourglass sand suspend its flow, - [High School](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/high-school-18629804.md) - I might have committed a gaffe (Though I'm rarely so tactless and rough) But despite that tall neck (and those eyes, what the heck) The lady is not a giraffe - [Mountains](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/mountains.md) - Matter of fact One can easily tell Unless they are attacked Nay, or under a spell That a hill is a hill And a mountain is taller It's not that big a skill No... I wish it was smaller Since I'm walking uphill - [Butterfly](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/butterfly.md) - Unfurl those bright, delicate gossamer wings that shimmer and shine in the sun, fulfilling the promise that each of us brings and given, since life had begun, to strive for it all, to conquer, to soar and who could as... - [Untitled 2025-09-04](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/untitled-2025-09-04.md) - gently flowing sand crack in an ancient sundial the river of time - [Imagine](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/imagine.md) - Imagine you've built that on purpose: a house that seems sure to collapse. - [Doing My Quads](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/doing-my-quads.md) - Oh, perish the thought! As that ChatGPT whom we ourselves taught now makes everything free - [Hard Shell](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/hard-shell.md) - It's true: I have egg on my face, but please do not get on my case. Yes, I've whored and I've gambled, but my brain isn't scrambled as it would be hard to replace - [First Impression](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/first-impression.md) - Impressionists capture the lush and idyllic avoid classic themes, make their points in acrylic discarding Madonnas with child and Achilles Manet or Monet: Did it have to be lilies? - [In Focus](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-focus.md) - Grey autumn sky sterile and barren - [Chicken Feet](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/chicken-feet.md) - I'd tell my old friend Baba Yaga The villain of many a saga Your hut's chicken feet Are ready to eat But frankly, I'd rather not nag her. - [The Land that Time Remembers](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-land-that-time-remembers.md) - I wake up in the Land That Time Remembers. No living fossils here, except for me. The fireplace's gently dying embers are fake: electric is the place to be. - [Adrift](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/adrift.md) - Your Northstar, for you have one, sailor, no matter that the skies are grey, and abject failure follows failure, the winds refusing to obey. - [Old Boat and the Sea](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/old-boat-and-the-sea.md) - On the shores of a distant and alien sea, such as Man hasn't seen, nor is likely to see, lies an old fishing boat of an ancient design. Of its owner or fisherman, nary a sign. - [Happiness](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/happiness.md) - Is it too late for happiness to bloom? To blossom off a fledgling, greening shoot into a bright-hued flower whose perfume invokes the very sweetness of the fruit - [So Hard](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/so-hard.md) - So hard to know what counts, to know what matters, distill it through some modicum of wisdom, when concentration wanes, attention scatters. - [Distilled Wisdom](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/distilled-wisdom.md) - Distill the wisdom of the ancients -- into arrays of floating point. Voila, an artificial sentience whose nose is never out of joint, as capable of writing ballads or tasty recipes for salads as any lyricist or chef.... - [Atlas Is Shrugging](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/atlas-is-shrugging.md) - What happens - when a tired titan shrugs - to planets that are resting on his shoulders? - [A Simple Kiss](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/a-simple-kiss.md) - The story of the princess and the frog, like many of its kind, is in the telling. So whether it is captured in a blog, weird fonts all over, never mind the spelling, or in a leather-bound, expensive print, an introduc... - [Everyone's a Critic](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/everyones-a-critic.md) - Your poem is a stream of anxiousness, the AI critic tells me, nonchalantly. You iterate, regurgitate, digress, and generally, let me put it bluntly: - [In the Middle](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/in-the-middle.md) - At best you're average, she stated, and then, reverting to the mean, before the hurt had been abated, not that there was much in between the two assertions she delivered, her lips untrembling, unquivered, she added pl... - [Scilla and Charybdis](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/scilla-and-charybdis.md) - When sailing between Scilla and Charybdis, for mysteries that Man has yet to fathom, while wondering aloud if you can keep this small boat of yours from sinking to the bottom, descending into Tartarus or Hades, (depen... - [Ptero Dactyl](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ptero-dactyl.md) - Vanishing syllables moving across in formation trying to march to a rhythm while keeping the blues Playing their parts, some are stressed, as befitting their station, some, nonchalant, couldn’t care less, use any excuse. - [Nothing Is Amiss](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/nothing-is-amiss.md) - tower oozing wealth and power now a symbol of our love sit below it, quiet hour as the rain falls from above and remember that first kiss Paris, nothing is amiss - [Blankety Blank](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/blankety-blank.md) - With sonnets, and when asked for one that's blank, I often find the road to be uphill. I rhyme, and you can take that to the river, if rivers where a place to take assertions. - [The Abominable Showman](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-abominable-showman.md) - With every inch he gains in stature, inflating ample silhouette, the man, no Reagan and no Thatcher, reminding us lest we forget, how far our politics have fallen. And yet, he answered to our calling, this vain expres... - [Iphegenia](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/iphegenia.md) - To seek a favorable future -- according to the Iliad -- the Greeks would find a sheep to butcher -- a maiden if that's all they had -- then read their entrails on the dais, invoke the gods of war and chaos, and once a... - [The Jackass and the Elephant](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-jackass-and-the-elephant.md) - the jackass and the elephant are canvassing by telephone texts raucous and irrelevant are blowing up my phone - [Halloween](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/halloween.md) - There doesn't have to be a reason -- so said the poet, pen in hand -- to celebrate the silly season -- no special need to understand, to craft incisive dissertations. Here doesn't rest the fate of nations, though how... - [Shot](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/shot.md) - Confronted with an evil spirit I choose to exercise restraint. It's not as if I dread or fear it, and nor am I about to faint, but one must never be too hasty, and lest the spirit find you tasty, approach it with a wa... - [Witch Hunts](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/witch-hunts.md) - I miss those days -- you know, it's kind of funny -- when witchhunts were so few and far between. The target would most often be a granny, a mean one, one that everyone was keen on getting rid of anyway, good riddance... - [The Setup](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-setup.md) - So stop me if you've heard this one before: A minister, a rabbi, and a priest, each in their role, religious to the core, and gathering together for a feast, to labor as a setup for a joke. The subject matter doesn't... - [Dorian Grey](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/dorian-grey.md) - find my Dorian Grey somewhat sorrier, greyer and as night follows day and reprieve follows prayer find the face that once was can't be found on the canvas having never found Oz though no longer in Kansas - [Some Relationships](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/some-relationships.md) - Carnivorous relationships, like those established between predator and prey, that prey would understandably oppose had Nature given it the proper sway, - [Still Life](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/still-life.md) - A watercolor struggles with a rose. Can't fully grasp its thorny disposition. Its fragrance -- so, so easy for a nose, won't pose -- and the resulting composition feels sterile, more a postcard on a shelf, a washed-ou... - [Age Old](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/age-old.md) - In age-old Vienna, Budapest and Prague, where emperors once sought to be immortal, and time dilates, proceeding with a lag -- it's offering the visitor a portal: - [Fallen Angels](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/fallen-angels.md) - like fallen angels, they're abandoning their host their crimson color marks the depth of their betrayals they've fled, forsaking both their duty and their post allowed the breeze to put the wind behind their sails and... - [Graphic Novels](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/graphic-novels.md) - if life was like a graphic novel each scene in anime-style print no need to labor to unravel some hidden meaning, nor to squint in search of deeper revelations. The simple plot won't try your patience The ugly plain... - [Forget Her Not](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/forget-her-not.md) - she loves them, yes she does, fear not the daisy, the forget-me-not the dandelion, daffodil she'll sit and stare at them, sit still think of wildflowers in green grass and all futures yet to pass - [Intentionally Blank](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/intentionally-blank.md) - The page remains intentionally blank, still full of possibility and danger, still unafraid of influence and rank, and ready to show kindness to a stranger. - [The All Seeing](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-all-seeing.md) - If love is blind, then I be eagle eyed, and savor every flaw and imperfection; an appetite that cannot be denied. Where love would hug and cuddle for affection, I'd calculate, and while I lie in wait, imagine the cala... - [Pavloviad](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/pavloviad.md) - cat ladies rule as the dog ladies bristle some will consider the cat a dog whistle but perish the thought, cats ignore your commands and keep their claws in if you follow their plans - [Blind Trust](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/blind-trust.md) - If God is love and love is blind, no wonder, that we are in the mess that we are in. No need then to pontificate, nor ponder, nor blame -- how unoriginal -- our sin, since it is all on him. What good forgiveness, what... - [Timeless](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/timeless.md) - seen it all and been it all had cigarettes and alcohol and through it all, she's had a ball while never ceasing to enthrall - [Without the Sweet and Low](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/without-the-sweet-and-low.md) - I wanted coffee with my sugar; in search of, went into a bar, and sat right next to a good looker. She said: you’re close, but no cigar. - [tearing off petals](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/tearing-off-petals.md) - there it floats, the water lily while she's thinking, will he, will he will this stubborn man propose... but the lily, not a rose - [Catch the Rainbow](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/catch-the-rainbow.md) - Caught it right outside my windows. Under it, a pot of gold. Ever wonder what is in those? In those stories that are told of unreachable horizons - can you get there - there's a prize. Some advice - it surely wizens ... - [Plows Into Swords](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/plows-into-swords.md) - bullets as ballots plows into swords our coarsened palates weaponized words nothing is grey and yet everything dark sure, hope and pray, cause the choices are stark - [Zeno's Paradox](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/zenos-paradox.md) - No more enamored of the future than disillusioned with the past: immutable, all scar and suture, collage of memories that last, a sewed up quilt of sad and happy, and rarer still, so sweet and sappy, the future might... - [Finders Keepers](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/finders-keepers.md) - there was a time I would rhyme crime with time, a callous, heartless thief that steals your memories, leaves grief though there are times you'd find a dime discarded, dropped onto the floor to never pay for evermore a... - [Queen of Sheba](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/queen-of-sheba.md) - splash of color, perfect face eyes that freeze you in your place and that mouth -- all attitude says how dare you to intrude on this goddess' domain... - [We Belong](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/we-belong.md) - Forever and a day, is that too long, if I am both your sentence and your ward? When challenging the meaning of belong, to share -- is that the best we can afford? - [Recreation](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/recreation.md) - day will come, the stars will tire, fireflies will lose their spark dressed in velvety attire, night will reign, its purpose dark plasma swirling, coalescing, pushes inward and ignites and god, granting us his blessin... - [[ firefly orgies ]](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/firefly-orgies.md) - firefly orgies the scent of deer musk on wood enter cicada - [Yes You Can](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/yes-you-can.md) - Perfection hovers, subtly out of reach, adjacent to unmet, as yet, potential, the one that mom evoked in every speech, in tones both resolute and reverential: Remember, you can do it, yes you can! If only moms could b... - [[ This Otto keeps me on my game ]](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/this-otto-keeps-me-on-my-game.md) - This Otto keeps me on my game and mostly does me well except when "lines begin the same" deducts from villanelle - [Warmed Over](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/warmed-over.md) - What's left in reimagining our Hamlets, repurposing our Henrys and Macbeths? Pose existential questions over omelets? Recounting much ado's with bated breaths? Shall we attempt a tragedy of errors? Leer, merciless, wh... - [Sails Away](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/sails-away.md) - Two sailboats, anchors raised, will drift apart. Is that what love demands then, ties that bind? Can it sustain a separated heart, or must it seek, unreasoning and blind, - [Aunt Mabel](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/aunt-mabel.md) - Perfection, though just narrowly achieved, Aunt Mabel ceases gazing at her navel. Her face now nearly permanently peeved, Ozempic face -- she's getting it off-label -- but losing those pernicious last few pounds, the... - [Moral Clarity](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/moral-clarity.md) - When searching for the moral of a story, which oftentimes is right below the surface, but on occasion, plot and allegory so driven by, it seems, a lower purpose, work overtime to keep it out of sight, and manage, to t... - [There's Always a Reason](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/theres-always-a-reason.md) - "Magnificent", the editor opined. "The characters are fresh and well developed, their dialogue so mannered and refined. It left me feeling cuddled, no, enveloped, immersed in the protagonist's escape to the remote, en... - [Novel or Play](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/novel-or-play.md) - The world is not a graphic novel. And not a play. Though there's no lack of shit to shovel in ways both typical and novel, nor lack of characters that may, to the astonishment of all, behave as if they're in a play. E... - [Under the Cover](https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/under-the-cover.md) - magic phrases soar and hover meet a frenemy, a lover they're awaiting your first look open it, and you'll discover beauty hides under the cover of any ordinary book ## Optional - [RSS Feed](https://www.hawkword.com/rss/) - [Sitemap](https://www.hawkword.com/sitemap.xml) - [Full content of pages and posts](https://www.hawkword.com/llms-full.txt)