Category: On Poetry

Listening to Joan Baez

· 1 Comment ·

She sings a song,

and I begin to weep.

I want to though,

it’s what the music asks.

Takes me away,

on a journey,

somewhere deep in my mind,

where everything speaks

of being human,

learning to live

with that we have

and that we have not.

There’s something beautiful

in a voice,

a passionate breath,

telling stories,

minding her own tears,

talking about love,

about loss

about anything

makes a good song.

Listening to Joan Baez

in the twilight of a starless sky,

the gray of a winter’s night,

waiting for the next storm,

winds of change,

the ground is frozen,

waiting for the fall.

I listened to her voice,

made me want to cry,

everything I believed

seemed so simple

in that time,

a yesteryear,

when questions remained

always looking around,

hoping someone might

suggest an answer,

turn me on to a new path,

makes me wonder

if I might ever

find it again.

Writing A Song

· Leave a comment ·

If words might describe

a state of mind,

put them to melody,

listen to them sing.

Seems the world

revolves around that same tune,

all the time,

all the wise emotions.

Carry the word,

find the right rhythm

make a fortune,

or simply please someone.

I’m writing a song,

and I want you to listen

seems everything I believe

will be in the words I write to you.

Wish it were so simple,

to coin a phrase, make it last for days,

that feeling,

an emotional journey in phrase.

I’d love to listen to you sing,

if the words really meant that much to you.

The Aftermath

· Leave a comment ·

I visited, again,

it was different this time around

the waves spoke loud,

the temperatures mild,

I wondered about the last time,

how difficult it might be

to recreate what

no longer exists.

I sat and watched the sunrise,

noticed it flicker across the water,

enveloping the trees.

I couldn’t imagine a prettier site,

than seeing the shores cascade with water.

I wondered about her,

if she could remember,

this time,

that one time,

when we did imagine together.

Silent Sky In Moonlight

· Leave a comment ·

Watch silent the sky in the midnight glow.

Walk alone in the night, we seem to know.

When the stars align would we wish to go.

Another place other than here we know.

Sixty four years later, now does it show.

One time ago, I wouldn’t care to know.

A thought keeps unfolding that I could stay.

Yet always now seeking some other way.

I’m told this morning is not yesterday.

Can’t we please come up with some other way?

I woke with a smile and could breathe today.

Sounds simple to think we might live this way.

I wanted life what was easy to stay.

Until I knew life just isn’t that way.

Texting My Death

· Leave a comment ·

I have found parallels these days

the manner by which I find

I need to compose myself some way

in the matter of letters that bind.

~

Seems every time I have a thought

triggers in my head will alarm

oh wait screams my mind so frought

with anxiety, now I fuel the storm.

~

If only the keyboard didn’t scream

Get on top of me and dream

If only the keyboard didn’t scream

Life would be simpler it would seem.

~

Since texting has killed my identity

I can’t fight this overwhelming fear,

this strive to lessen my scrutiny

would draw the darker side of me near.

~

If only the keyboard wouldn’t scream,

I might return to life in a sweet dream.

©️ Thom Amundsen 8/2021

Waking Odyssey

· Leave a comment ·

Whole nature of ego

crashing down

waking a morning slow

choosing frown

let go

Let go

Start to drown

eating away confidence though

conscious of the crown

opening eyes in sunlight, embrace ego

©️ Thom Amundsen 8/2021

He Stood On Memory

· 4 Comments ·

Can you sing me a song like they do on the radio?

the kind leaves the kids smiling in their beds.

Can you sing me a song like they do on the radio?

The kind leaves the kids smiling in their beds.

~

I remember when I was only a child in the summertime

listening to the old top 40’s and the detective shows

there still seemed to be some room for the sublime

nature of humanity with compassion for all of those.

~

We listened to the radio, watched mama by our bedside

singing songs, writing love stories, giving kisses

always knowing dad was nearby with cigar as a side

creating novelty in normalcy while society misses.

~

I was asking God one night, late with a full moon outside

could it be real that we have a reason to be in here

this seemingly large crystal ball of wonderment untried

Are we all part of a whole we cannot forever adhere?

~

Can you sing me a song like they do on the radio?

the kind leaves the kids smiling in their beds.

Can you sing me a song like they do on the radio?

The kind leaves the kids smiling in their beds.

~

Well isn’t it memory then screams our name in the twilight

Isn’t a full moon some reminder or a mystique in the night.

© Thom Amundsen 8/2021

Last Spoken

· Leave a comment ·

When while every moment of life speaks

with the echo of nature,

some choose a concrete sentiment.

Is it possible to know last words

perhaps spill similar sound.

~

I wanted to say every moment meant

the exact opposite of what remains,

yet, the words, the voice, our own

struggle to be the immediate in

what we might believe,

would not allow any reveal,

we did, I did, squandered away

such is this momentum to relive.

~

Now will be a slow silence,

forever quiet with resolve …

ambling, fading into the summer sky,

when a melody speaks aloud

its strength is less,

like some lost memory we

no longer find to be anything

ever so important as it once

maybe one time held before.

~

I could not be capable of compassion

if meaning were a facade in my mind.

© Thom Amundsen 7/2021

A Quiet Run

· Leave a comment ·

I took a jog recently,

you know the kind with all the right gear

and the temperature

seemed ready to suggest

this human being is part of the machine.

~

From inside my mind, decidedly

I picked a route far too familiar, that place, that region

where everyone wants to land

and no one takes the time to question why,

we just let ourselves step forward again.

~

It isn’t until later on a quiet side road

everything is familiar,

the aches in our joints,

the sweaty brow we cannot seem to hide,

we are all the same again inside.

~

Tonight I heard words that would suggest a different path,

one that appreciates my steps alone, my words, my world.

© Thom Amundsen 6/2021

How Do We Measure Love

· Leave a comment ·

When so many songs on the airwaves speak of love lost

found in the quietest regions of our mind,

shared love

remember love

let only our silence remind us all what love might be.

~

Tonight I would think about her in the softest light

to see the gleam in her eyes

evening stars would be our twilight

sweet love

that passionate tale we told one another.

~

I sometimes will openly crucify myself for letting my heart

steal only the strength of my soul

when pulled together

I haven’t any way to ever relive the magic

once the candle has swallowed its wick.

~

I did love you that part is true and everyone I know

will always see when in a glance, eyes remind us of you.

__________________________________________________________

© Thom Amundsen 6/2021