Monthly Archives: September 2013

War (Nested Landays)

Each stanza within this poem is an individual landays which I nested with other individual landays to make a longer poem focusing on a single topic.

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I am drawn to your crystal clear eyes

For its there I find truth, peace and love in abundance

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Were it not for you I would perish

Swallowed up by the worlds lack of humanity

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Your tender touch is a reminder

That goodness surely does exist in spite of our faults

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My hope is for better days ahead

Where man finally faces the error of his ways

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Would not a lasting peace serve us all

Ending our torrential thirst for never ending war

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

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Authors Note: A landays is form of folk poetry from Afghanistan. Meant to be recited or sung aloud, and frequently anonymous, the form is a couplet comprised of 22 syllables. The first line has 9 syllables and the second line 13 syllables. Landays end on “ma” or “na” sounds and treat themes such as love, grief, homeland, war, and separation. See Eliza Griswold’s extensive reporting on the form in the June 2013 issue of Poetry, in which she explains how the form was created by and for the more than 20 million Pashtun women who span the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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The ending on “ma” or “na” sounds applies to the Pashtun language and was disregarded in English.  Each stanza within this poem is an individual landays which I nested with other individual landays to make a longer poem focusing on a single topic.

Another Dawn

Another dawn,

Sun breaching the adjacent apartment building.

This window open to the vibrant street below.

Oh, were I strong enough to step out,

To join the masses in the frivolity of the day,

But lo!  I am not so bold.

Day after day, Mitty-like I sit,

Alone with my thoughts

Dreaming of what could be,

What could have been,

The chivalrous me,

Rescuing damsels in distress,

Storming the castle,

Slaying the dragon,

Saving the day,

Or simply stepping foot on the sidewalk below,

Is that too much to ask?

I don’t know,

But one can dream can’t they?

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

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Word: Mitty –  Meaning: noun: An ordinary, timid person who indulges in daydreams involving great adventures and triumphs.

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Jem Farmer – The Boi Poet – Words at the Weekend Poetry Prompt – 7-8 September 2013

Bougainvillea

Image Credit: mnartists.org

Beautiful, succulent and fragrant

Petals of hot pink

Hiding angers scorn

Not so unlike a woman wronged

Fighting back with female wiles

Resisting with all her might

Bondage of natures torture

Scarred and gnarled by fires storm

Starved and thirsted she lingers on

Reaching, reaching ever higher

Limbs reaching for heavens gate

‘Til chopped low to arid ground

Faking death only to rise from the ashes

Returning to her noble stance

Blooming in summer solstice

Bathed in perfumed flowers sweet

Leaves of green hide thorns to bleed

Arms reaching ever skyward

Praying for peace amongst hellish fury

Born to a life most undeserving

Troubled mistress Bougainvillea

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

History (An Acrostic)

How is it that mankind never learns

Images of the past are destined to repeat themselves

Since the beginning of time this has been true

The great, seemingly invincible, eventually fall

Obsessed with their own self-importance

Rarely realize they are collapsing under their own weight

Yielding the inevitable return to the dust from which they were created

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~~ Dominic R. DIFrancesco ~~

Phrase: Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history – Abraham Lincoln

 Jem Farmer – Poetry Prompt – Three on Friday – 06 September 2013

Gentle Hands Caress – A Tanka

Gentle hands caress

Sign of passion without words

The warmest silence

Sharing a love unspoken

With my predestined soul-mate

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Will We Never Learn

My face,

A dark reflection rippling in the deep, black of the water.

My soul,

Tainted by the depth of corruption this our world.

My heart,

Cold and pained from the lack of humanity and love.

My mind,

Tormented by the illogic that man inflicts on man.

My body,

Ravaged and aged beyond its years from stress and pain.

My faith,

Broken by the intolerance and hatred shown toward our fellow man.

My life,

Stunted by feelings of helplessness.

My wish,

That all these agonies can be healed

Then, like a cold stone wall, reality hits me,

Breaking my spirit and my will.

As I watch the demons of history

Resurrected time and time again.

Will we never learn?

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Drop Of Water – A Haiku

A drop of water

Ripples emanate outward

Vastness of my love

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Answer

The answer…easy!

Truth in a four letter word,

That’s what love is.

Dissolving hate and conflict

Were it not for our innate flaws.

There never was any other key

To pick our lock of despotism.

We held it all along,

But are either too afraid

Or too self-absorbed to us it.

This is the root of our evil,

Leading to our ultimate demise

Unless we insert key in lock

And turn it to the right.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

I Pray For Restraint

I pray for restraint.

I pray that pride will not turn us blind,

This can only result in death.

Drawing all sides to the brink

On what road will there be peace?

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Yes, perhaps lines have been crossed,

But lines can be distorted by wind,

Blurred by anger, smothered with oil,

Causing harried decisions…

This is the time for wisdom not greed.

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Let not egotism ignite Armageddon,

The stakes are far too great.

Have we learned nothing from our past,

Nothing from our present,

Nothing from the farewells to our sons and daughters?

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Tell us almighty, what is victory!

Show us what victory looks like,

We have not seen one in so long!

You ask again for our trust

Yet your truths ring as hollow as ever.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Blood Pools – A Tanka

Blood pools on doorstep

Watered down by mothers tears

Limited air strikes

In the end it matters not

A child’s death is permanent

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~