Blank verse in iambic pentameter
My sky is dark with black stars; together,
congealing into thick syrup, even
as I spread my arms; distributed as
sick party favors, mementos of... need;
perhaps, perhaps, preferable to my
own; their deafening silence clotting my
ears, coursing through twisted creases, pooling
in my eyes, heavy, streaming down my cheeks,
weighing me down, collapsing, moaning, to
my knees, my hands clenching, begging for words,
cutting, digging, biting words, to somehow
pierce through the silence I've come to desire.
Let’s write poetry together!
When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.
–Ben Harper (b. 1969)
Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
Wow. This feels like a poem that came from really deep within. Wonderful images. Love it.
❤ Marion, thank you! ❤
I wonder why beauty and pain make such a brilliant couple. Maybe one has to really know this to feel it. 🙂
🧡 Terveen = wise 🧡
Thank you, David. I try…
Powerful imagery, David.
Well done,
D
💚 Dolly 💚
Wow, David! That’s intense! I have been reading about different poetry forms, including blank verse, but have never tried it. It certainly works well in your powerful poem. Vivid images! 🙂
❤ Cheryl ❤ – thank you!
A wonderfully wrought verse – the poet does grope in darkness and grasps for the velvet words to fill up the ears of the world!
🙂 Muri 🙂 – thank you
Congealing darkness that streams down cheeks is a powerful image… as is the desire for words to heave against that struggle. Powerful for describing the striving to communicate and create. And powerful, since we’ll soon have the day with the longest darkness of the year.
😍 Dave 😍 – you are a wise man.
You’re too kind 🙂
“My sky is dark with black stars; ”
Such an interesting image, like a negative.
❤ ❤ Merril ❤ ❤
This is a painful and elegant poem, David. Beautiful write, my friend. ❤️❤️
🧡 Jeff 🧡
Another that makes me visualize a (1950s) coffee (hash) house, dim, smokey, single platform stage light trapping fingers of cigarette breath in its cone waiting arrival of the next “reader.” I’m convinced I haven’t the poet’s soul. Images painted are exceptional, though. My education continues. Thanks.
❤️ Espie ❤️
difficult to say I ‘like this’ but I do, it feels real David. 🤗
💙💓 Barbara 💓💙
“My sky is dark with black stars…” This is such s striking opening line…so intense, and it really sets the tone. The whole poem is painful yet also crafted so well. I had to read it several times to let it all soak in. Nicely done, sir. 🙂
❤ thanks, Mike ❤
Clever! When I saw the title of your poem, I thought about the “Clapper” commercial. I don’t know if you are familiar with this product due to the area you live in. The “Clapper” is a device that allows you to turn on/off lights or other appliances with the clap of your hand.
Steff, I am, indeed, familiar with it 🙂 – I spent nearly the first 3 decades of my life in the USA. Thank you ❤
All best,
David