Tag Archives: commitment

Red Eyelids

Posted on 25 June 2016 | Leave a comment

Bass Clef mid-F, in eighths.
Bass Clef mid-F, final quarter.
Salute completed, we stand.
To the left a head panned.

Those eyes contained
Unmistakable pain.
Pain at my performance?
Pain at my conformance?

The show must go on.

Standing, Bass Clef top line, staccato,
Then drop an octave, staccato; final note.
Applause.
But still the pain gives me pause.

It was the dry throat,
I tell myself.
It was the sloped chair or stage,
I want to believe.

But my lips, not the stage,
Missed the notes.
My finger, not the chair,
Depressed the wrong valve.

Show concluded,
We pack up and depart.
I watch for those red eyes,
But they don’t look at me.

My silence? Unintended;
Trying to fathom
What I cannot see.
Do I misunderstand?

Rough knuckles,
White back of hand,
In close proximity;
Moment in time ever on my mind.

Copyright © 2016 H.K. Longmore

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Betrayed

Posted on 6 May 2016 | Leave a comment

When words threaten, threaten to destroy
The secrets you keep in your heart—
Perhaps about a girl, perhaps a boy—

When Double Entendre and Hidden depart,
Torn by some innocent ploy,
Leaving in their place a sting that smarts;

Let not your fortune steal your joy,
Find a new plan, make a new start;
Seek a new muse and remain coy.

© 2016 H.K. Longmore

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Ordinary Expectations

Posted on 5 March 2015 | Leave a comment

Need help moving?
If I’m free,
There I’ll be,
My friendship proving.

Last minute call
For an official for a game?
My open schedule’s to blame
When I don the stripes for basketball.

I’m built to serve,
It could be almost anything at all.
Need help? I’m at your beck and call.
Aiding others is my verve.

I’ll help with computers,
Lawns and leaves
And overgrown eaves,
Give rides to stranded commuters;

Give me a paintbrush,
I’ll apply a coat or two.
Hand me a sander, roughness I’ll pursue
‘Til you find the floor flush.

The way I’ve lived my life
I’ve set the expectation:
For my time you need no incantation;
You have but to ask.

But ask not, and my time quickly fills
With ordinary expectations.

©2015 H.K. Longmore

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My Captor

Posted on 13 February 2015 | Leave a comment

There’s a song playing so softly
It must be coming from far away.
But it’s coming closer, getting louder.
I can neither draw nearer nor flee.

I am a captive; I am not free.
There is no iron filled with gun powder,
Nor chain about my neck that makes me stay.
The song continues, on the air wafting.

Louder, nearer, then stopping; a new song
Plays, and with increase is the volume changed.
Out of fear I want to escape;
Fear the approaching song will tear me from my dreams.

So loud, so close I want to scream.
I push off the cloth with which I am draped.
I face the captor who has me chained,
And break free to prove I am strong.

I leave my captor behind,
Covered in fluffy cotton and goose down.

©2015 H.K. Longmore

Give people high fives just for getting out of bed. Being a person is hard sometimes.

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Vote on what my next post should be (expires in 1 day)

Posted on 26 January 2015 | 1 comment

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Sand Castle

Posted on 10 October 2014 | Leave a comment

Two children meet on a beach;
For their sand shovels reach.
A castle they build,
With dreams it’s filled.

But the filling of the moat
They leave to the sea.
And the sea is pleased:
On the castle he dotes.

He reaches the moat with each high tide,
With each high tide, the moat is complete.
With each low, the heat competes
For the castle’s mastery.
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Field Mice

Posted on 16 July 2014 | Leave a comment

Walking down a desert path,
Sounds of stirring
Drew my eyes. Turning,
I beheld an object of wrath

Perhaps from the farmer’s wife.
It stopped, frozen: a deer
In headlights. A knife
Cut through my heart: fear.

Too dull, the blade, to last;
I laughed as I passed,
The mouse hoping I would not see.
Beyond his eyes, he turned to flee.

Walking down that desert path,
My eyes beheld
Another. He held
His youth as a tub a bath.

No sighting of farmer’s wife,
Too calm for cervine metaphor;
No fear of carnivore
Pierced him through with fear.

Filled with delight, he stood fast;
But before I passed,
He stopped his eating
In time to avoid a beating.

The many darting to and fro,
From hole to hole;
The two crossing the trail,
The first waiting for the second (aw, how cute!);

And the older fat one,
Too preoccupied with eating,
Too slow with his response,
So that if I had a heavier step
And a slower reaction time,
I’d be cleaning him off the bottom of my sandal.

© 2014 H.K. Longmore

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The Southern Claw and St. Elmo’s Fire

Posted on 19 June 2014 | Leave a comment

The big dipper scoops the horizon
While Venus observes, trailing behind.
Do my eyes see better with egg on my face?
I see more stars tonight than I’ve seen in a while.

The Southern Claw is drawn by St. Elmo’s Fire,
Is drawn to Castor and Pollux.
With their touch the pull is strongest,
But touch they must or nothing will start.

Touch they do, and the Southern Claw is moved,
Moved nearly out of its place in the sky.
But the planets misaligned,
The omen of St. Elmo’s Fire misread.

The Southern Claw is forbidden,
Promises to never draw so near to Castor again.
This forbidding if held to brings foreboding;
An auspicious ending to the beginning.

Another misalignment of planets,
The Southern Claw tries to hold St. Elmo’s Fire.
But a claw can’t hold plasma,
So an offering is made.

But the effort and thought and distance are masked:
Poor presentation, or did Pollux instead
Reject the Claw? Offering rejected,
The Southern Claw examines the planets again.

Twice misaligned, twice misunderstood,
Two times the yolk dripping down my face.
It seems the Southern Claw and Pollux
Are separated by a gulf in the sky.

I stare bewildered at what happened,
Befuddled on the horizon.
Could it be I’ve been reading
The map upside down?

© 2014 H.K. Longmore

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Summer Party RSVP – Regrets

Posted on 10 June 2014 | Leave a comment

I wrote this one just for fun in an email to HR to RSVP my regrets for my employer’s summer party, as a commitment I made in September conflicts with the party.

I must now with heavy heart
Inform you that at Sugarhouse Park
This year you’ll not see me dart
Around the trees or touch the bark.

Nine moons ago,
I made a commitment
That demands I forgo
The Onyx summer merriment.

Though I’ll miss all the fun
I’ll be sure to think of you all—
Each and every one—
And hope you have a ball!

Copyright © 2014 H.K. Longmore

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Link

Independence

Independence

An 89-year old D-Day veteran was told by care home staff that he could not travel to Normandy. He did it anyway. 🙂

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Posted on 6 June 2014 in links

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Excuses

Posted on 3 June 2014 | Leave a comment

I started this one sometime in early May, but due to several interruptions, I forgot about it until recently.

When you’re running late:
Headed to pick up a date—
Perhaps her name is Kate;
Or you’ve a meeting at eight,

To your rendez-vous you’d better hie;
And you realize there’s no good reason why,
Your brain begins to fly
To find some reason that’s not a lie.

When your obligations are not done:
The deadline is a rigid one—
Perhaps when Monday’s course is run;
Or you don’t want to disappoint your hun,

To the task at hand you’d better apply;
To avoid seeing disappointment in another’s eye,
Your brain begins to fly
To find some reason that will satisfy.

And yet, these times are ruled by fate,
When excuses are not shy,
And they will not make fun—
Unlike when you’re filled with butterflies.

Copyright © 2014 H.K. Longmore

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Aside

I deactivated my Facebook account last Friday. The time I was spending reading all the articles, taking all the quizzes, watching all the cat videos (okay, so I only had a few cat videos in my news feed, but I … Continue reading →

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Posted on 12 February 2014