Withered Stumps of Time https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/ Poetry by Eric Gordon Tue, 30 Jun 2026 20:58:02 +0000 Suburban Nature Lover https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/suburban-nature-lover <![CDATA[Suburban Nature Lover . Squirrel, I cannot feed you, because you are not colorful, like the birds. I will put your favorite food outside by your tree and contrapt a device to make it impossible for you to get the food. . Deer, you might think that because I planted these delicious flowers outside, where you live, that they are for you to eat. But they are for me to look at, and now I have to shoot you. . Snake, you are long and so different in form and behavior than I, that I fear you, and will now hack you to death. . Insect, it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: it is my job to step on you because I am so much bigger and your existence annoys me. . Plant, you are not what I planted in my garden. I will rip you out by your roots and toss you into the dry heat to die. . The parts of nature that haven’t learned their place, that haven’t learned who’s in charge, I will destroy. This is my house. God gave it to me. You are in the way.]]> Suburban Nature Lover . Squirrel, I cannot feed you, because you are not colorful, like the birds. I will put your favorite food outside by your tree and contrapt a device to make it impossible for you to get the food. . Deer, you might think that because I planted these delicious flowers outside, where you live, that they are for you to eat. But they are for me to look at, and now I have to shoot you. . Snake, you are long and so different in form and behavior than I, that I fear you, and will now hack you to death. . Insect, it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: it is my job to step on you because I am so much bigger and your existence annoys me. . Plant, you are not what I planted in my garden. I will rip you out by your roots and toss you into the dry heat to die. . The parts of nature that haven’t learned their place, that haven’t learned who’s in charge, I will destroy. This is my house. God gave it to me. You are in the way.

]]> https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/suburban-nature-lover Tue, 25 Jun 2024 18:13:32 +0000 Behind Glass https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/behind-glass <![CDATA[Behind Glass by Eric Gordon . Hold too tightly to a glass, and it shatters Mending it, you can’t let me get that close again I remain distorted through shards I don’t want to admit that some of those reflections of me are true All my words push you away How can I talk to you without words? I searched in the river, and found a shiny stone and presented it to you But by then it dried and was dull and offensive. The sound of words can penetrate glass But not their meaning I can do nothing to polish the glass And the shards cut deeply]]> Behind Glass by Eric Gordon . Hold too tightly to a glass, and it shatters Mending it, you can’t let me get that close again I remain distorted through shards I don’t want to admit that some of those reflections of me are true All my words push you away How can I talk to you without words? I searched in the river, and found a shiny stone and presented it to you But by then it dried and was dull and offensive. The sound of words can penetrate glass But not their meaning I can do nothing to polish the glass And the shards cut deeply

]]> https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/behind-glass Sun, 14 Apr 2024 18:26:14 +0000 [Haiku] https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/haiku <![CDATA[[Haiku] Haikus are short poems, typically in the pattern of three lines with five, seven and five syllables. My blog statistics Do not tell the whole story Of how you love me I don’t understand I was the youngest of us Now I have white hair [Clerihew] Clerihews are short comic verses, typically in two rhyming couplets, referring to a famous person. The first I obviously wrote back in the earlier part of the century when we had a talented and competent President. Barack Obama Barack Obama Does not fear drama When Republican wring their hands He simple agrees to all their demands Donald Trump Donald Trump faced disapproval The nation wanted his removal So after his rejection He led a sloppy insurrection [Quatrain] A quatrain is a four-line poem. Change Everything new is old again Everything true has been told again We may vote for change but then vote to rescind We start with Obama but Trump is downwind [Acrostic] The first letter of the lines of an acrostic poem spell out a word, a phrase or some other message. Right-wing Extremists Perpetuate Umbrage toward Black Latino and Indigenous Communities And Notify Denizens: Embrace Monarchy Oligarchy Corruption Reject Anyone Caring for You! [Limerick] In a limerick, the first two lines end with a rhyme that also rhymes with the fifth line. The third and fourth lines end with a different rhyme. A Dog’s Lament There once was a man with a dog Who spent all his spare time on his blog The dog wanting attention said, “I just thought I’d mention I’d rather be owned by a log.” Queries to Literaries Submitting all day from my hovel, Agents rejecting my novel I put pride aside Die a little inside Send more queries, more excepts and grovel]]> [Haiku]

Haikus are short poems, typically in the pattern of three lines with five, seven and five syllables.

My blog statistics Do not tell the whole story Of how you love me

*

I don’t understand I was the youngest of us Now I have white hair

[Clerihew]

Clerihews are short comic verses, typically in two rhyming couplets, referring to a famous person. The first I obviously wrote back in the earlier part of the century when we had a talented and competent President.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama Does not fear drama When Republican wring their hands He simple agrees to all their demands

Donald Trump

Donald Trump faced disapproval The nation wanted his removal So after his rejection He led a sloppy insurrection

[Quatrain]

A quatrain is a four-line poem.

Change

Everything new is old again Everything true has been told again We may vote for change but then vote to rescind We start with Obama but Trump is downwind

[Acrostic]

The first letter of the lines of an acrostic poem spell out a word, a phrase or some other message.

Right-wing Extremists Perpetuate Umbrage toward Black Latino and Indigenous Communities And Notify Denizens: Embrace Monarchy Oligarchy Corruption Reject Anyone Caring for You!

[Limerick]

In a limerick, the first two lines end with a rhyme that also rhymes with the fifth line. The third and fourth lines end with a different rhyme.

A Dog’s Lament

There once was a man with a dog Who spent all his spare time on his blog The dog wanting attention said, “I just thought I’d mention I’d rather be owned by a log.”

Queries to Literaries

Submitting all day from my hovel, Agents rejecting my novel I put pride aside Die a little inside Send more queries, more excepts and grovel

]]> https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/haiku Wed, 10 Apr 2024 17:33:00 +0000 “In This Nation” https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/the-end-of-my-last-poem-was-problematic <![CDATA[“In This Nation” Climate destruction is just change And punishment is justice Retaliation is self defense And liars all say Trust us Awakened minds are a threat Compassion is a sin Education is to be feared That’s just the Shape we’re in Up is down And wrong is right Good is bad And day is night What hope is there In this nation When reality is on vacation?]]> “In This Nation”

Climate destruction is just change And punishment is justice Retaliation is self defense And liars all say Trust us

Awakened minds are a threat Compassion is a sin Education is to be feared That’s just the Shape we’re in

Up is down And wrong is right Good is bad And day is night

What hope is there In this nation When reality is on vacation?

]]> https://rant.li/withered-stumps-of-time/the-end-of-my-last-poem-was-problematic Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:48:37 +0000