Saturday, April 14, 2018

Scorched Earth


there is always someone burning
scorching the earth
using everything sold or stolen
even me, in an isolated valley
organically grooming my ego
making a smaller carbon footprint
before dying to make none at all
i live with the circumstance of modernity
ashamed of my jealousy and greed
only rage that what a government does
is out of my control
out of my range
for though i know where I will not go back 
and the toys i left i left for recycling
as on the bike path I go 
it jammed with mopeds of foreign laborers
and geezers with rotten teeth
who could care less what law they are breaking
nevertheless share our tiny existence
with nothing but the clothes on our backs
contributing nothing
but damage
caring not what happens tomorrow
like me writing bullshit poetry 
haphazardly making sense of it
and releasing rage in a harmless way
about the scorched earth on the other shore
done for someone’s sickly pleasure
annoying my precious leisure
with burnt smells and blackened hills
from capitalist hell
a decrepit well where business rules
where we put up with thoughtless fools
helpless and hopeless fools
from shithole nations
lying to get us into wars
with our tears ignored

April 14, 2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.



Tuesday, April 3, 2018

a pass over dinner

she is not hungry 
but i am starving
may be it is her cold or
 a medical side effect 
that she waves off  dinner for
 no gifting each other selfless generosity
for she has lost her appetite
and there is nothing more to mention
left eating alone in the shadow of love
leftover affections
with no sense of taste or smell
no sense at all but 
put the wine glasses back
 fix a box lunch for a moving train 
 pulling out of the station
bearing the strain of revocation
losing  weight in an unpalatable way
artichoke hearts missing beets
once the apple of your eye
in need of a slap on the back 
to cough up a choking pit...
tell me
how can i eat  
without my appetizer
how can i go on
with one who only kneads my bread
leaves me unleavened on the table
under a fork and knife
on a napkin damped with tears
why on this night 
do we slump in our seats
with distant stares?
why do i bleat like a sacrificial lamb
 in a marriage blind to romance
left alone like a shank bone

April 3, 2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

either way


if those were misty mountains i see
clouds bulking up to rain on its trees
the skimpy Han readying for its plum rains
the fragrance of its flowers wafting into Taichung
and not the waxy cataract coating tropical hills
the industrial pilfering of its waters coming down
absorbing pesticides and bonfires in its liquidity…
either way
sit i would on this bench in wonder

if these were the sneezes of a late night frolic
itchy eyes from squinting out tears of love
fatigue from a well-paid job completed
sore feet from hiking through meadows
and not an allergic reaction to dust mites
while slaving for someone else’s profit
getting lost in the dark doubling back...
either way
walk i would on any grounds

if this were the prose for discerning readership
corrected of sloppy typographical errors
demonstrating chutzpah of independent thoughts
styled by a writer voiced in literary arts
and not the quirky indulgences tripping readers up
by distractions of complex sentence starters
a paucity of followers, no potential for profit...
either way
paint i would with words from my muses

March 26, 2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

there’s no going through the motions


there’s no going through the motions
in appreciating moments
waving with the weeds
or weaving with the butterflies
no such thing as ‘been there' to recall
no ‘done that’ to speak of
with everything in fresh synapses
of a moment on its way
like new breezes brewing for para-gliders
new waves rising for surfers
or a cloud gathering to foster rain
no pain withstanding
no mind busy planning
being in everything enthralled
in tune with the spirits
some  muses might call
later can wait
before has been
take life now and now and now…

March 26,2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

i might be here without your love


i might be here without your love
isolated
broken
at the whim of society
looking for a home in every face i see
resigned to conformity
in need of a better half
someone to comfort me
i might be here
fading fast

it might be over without your love
forlorn
desperate for attention
without someone to escort home
uncomfortably alone
feeding the cats out of habit
no mood for silly songs
leftovers uneaten
needing a weather forecast to know
which drawers i should open and close

i might look for another 
someone to take your place
but not your aroma, your grace
for my writings would be about you
no other writing i'd want to do
ink running dry
replaced  by  tears 
as a world turns dawn to dusk
nighttimes turn to rust
here without your love

March 27, 2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

i am flitting in tandem with tiny white butterflies


i am flitting in tandem
with tiny white butterflies
on a random route over Han riverbanks
enduring mechanical noises
as strangers see chaos
what to us is naturally fine
living our short spanned lives
evolving from conditions unplanned…
so go jack your hammers
rev your engines
tread  your tires
poison yourselves
for we do not cry when flying
do not mourn when dying
in your tainted atmosphere
within silent moments
in quiet atoms
between a tick and a toc
over a clear river counted on
as you approach the river gap
on your bridge of progress
fording insurmountable passes
but mankind cannot cross 
what we rise with the sun for
darken with the hollow moon
harmonize in seasonal tunes

March 17, 2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Dusting of Frost on Freedom, PA

a dusting of frost that will
melt around my footprints
when i am gone around the earth
back around the earth
against the wind up high
where vapor trails freeze time
the dulling snow that masks the sound
melts me down to pot holes
on the winding road to my coffin
retirement beyond Freedom's closed gates
let the brisk chilly winds blow
my open eyes shuttering
as slush stutters my weakened voice
with infomercials leaving no choice
among the frozen channels
spoken into remote ears
absinth face emotion
from a Frankenstein chronicle
to simple Hallmark mysteries
of Monk and Matlock...
i must be on my way
back home
where Mandarin unknown
is to be learned
more to me
than American drone

March 2, 2018
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.