In the photo you'll see I'm holding a piece of paper, actually I was reading one of my poems at an 'open-mic' here in Vegas. In the past 30 years I've been obsessed with formal verse (sonnets, etc), though I do write some free verse also. Maybe my best introduction is the first poem that I wrote after my brain hemorrhage (stroke) in 1978 while I was still a graduate student in mathematics at the university. I never before tried a thing called analyzed-rhyme (2 vowels & 2 consonants, mixing and matching them to make 4 rhymes), so I tried it in this poem (as a swan song, not knowing I'd still be around almost 30 years later).
Communicate with me, don’t be afraid.
It’s true I’m awkward, moving at snail’s pace
and dumb. The printed page is my device,
my readers, to convey and to confide.
Communicate, my camouflaged Life-Guide.
I know I’ve paid not complement nor made
complaint; but now I’m seeking Wisdom, Grace,
or failing that, let structured prayer suffice.
Communicate with poetry. Entice
lethargic souls to come with you to ride
behind the words to meaning and evade
the vain; to see the mind, not just the face.
Communicate across the void of space,
the oceans separating worlds of ice
with isolated phrases in which hide
the phases: vanish, disappear, and fade.
The analyzed rhyme is internal to the quatrains, while true rhymes (like face/space) are between the verses with the pattern shifting one line each time. If you've had a course in abstract algebra, it's called a permutation group.
For my "MySpace Friends" (currently at 194), there's about 20 other poems in the "My Poetry" folder (showing my mom's face) as the second folder in "Pics" section too. If you're not in my 'friends category' the "My Poetry" folder won't appear, so see me about an add. When you are in the "My Poetry" folder, you will see some art work or photographs with poem titles and form (sonnet, free verse, acrostic, etc) beneath of the picture. Click on the picture and you will get the text of the poem, and a chance to comment on it. My goal was to make an electronic "illuminated manuscript." I think the poems represent a pretty good sample of the last 30 years of my work.
