Letting Go

Listening for the call and wild
He moores within his soul
The somber sounds of laughter
Now napping on the knoll

Where once were time and infancy
Now arcs the weary land
A distant remnant and the rise
Of youth along the band

Wrapped around the demon
Now buried in his lap
He hangs upon the journey's end
As guilt wails upon the rack

He knows no way of going back
The call and wild he fears
Caught beneath the tree of life
He half blinks and calms his tears

Making Love to Paper

I heave the exhaustion of my day
upon the innocence of paper
whose promise brings purity to light

In expectation of truth
ejaculated passionately
as life exposed and the soul
draws near yearning to possess
the collaboration of our being-

and ink intercourses the whole

© Raymond t. Carter 2003

The Plunder of Youth

I squandered away my state of righteousness
For the plunder of youthful skin as autumn
And the Fall came quickly slipping and sliding between
The intercourse of lust and passion
And I was amazed only by what I'd lost
For more precious than what we'd gained.

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

God Tames Sunflowers

Rain brings life to love

Lush green grass grows freely wild

God tames sunflowers

© Raymond t. Carter 2003

Autumn and the Fall

Fall upon an ear listening intently
To the rhythm of a world that paints
Itself the color of yesterday and envy
While a park around me breathes the youth

Of an age that dips its hands indiscreetly
Into crisp leaves that beg for joy
And the happiness that through able sentry
Not so long ago held them high-

Standing alone, a worn path beneath me
Watching leaves with sorrow drifting
Gliding down as tortured hands
Grasping for air and a place to rest

Pale disillusioned colors clash
A season's proof, sucking a life of
Passion and hope into oblivion smashed
Between youth-filled smiles and days

Spent wrestling beneath discarded dreams
Falling as Angels from a cloudless sky;

I want to scream with wisdom's breath
Warning of the Fall that comes inevitably
Though I go on my way and welcome death
While restless leaves dance on around me-

Their knowing smiles bending gently in the light.

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Angels and Pain

Smacked between anxious fingers
Needing to slip her quickly off the ground
Mesmerized by dirty snow seeping from
A nose that snorts envy and yesterday slips away

She distributes lines indifferently
As sadness across the grey dashboard of a car
That cries out for her,
As she wanders the Jungle of Nod

Hoping to misplace memories caught
Between their world and her dream
As night time and tomorrow tempt her breath
She slides towards freedom
Ringing as a bell that chimes her soul
To vomit up her past and joy
While all things meaningful are picked apart
Like scabs that bleed the sour fix
Of mud colored hate
Hanging from thin smeared lips

© Raymond t. Carter 2002

The Winter's Killing Hand

Green their envy drowns the sky
Where red the wild runs raging by
Our days of youth how knew we then
The rotted truth painted thin

The rock worn brittle caked the ground
Though children skipped the stone around
And wretched white they chalked the earth
Writhing pain and giving birth

To lust and war their soul they paid
Envy wild now faded grey
It was summer then when youth was grand;
Now grey the winter’s killing hand

© Raymond t. Carter 2008

A Quaint and Somber Mill

A tree line falling faded
tempting time a wandering way
upon a breeze born quickly
drifting dreams away

The harvest moon wrapped around
the season with delight
I couldn't help but wonder
down the tree lined road that night

The path that bent beyond the breach
where wood and time stood still
held proudly to the mooring
of a quaint and somber mill

How autumn tossed the wheel aright
to chase the runner round
and I listened for the footsteps
worn upon the ground

And stood I there upon the brink
where proud the water flowed
left quietly to wander
where the road might seldom go

© Raymond t. Carter 2006

A Small Town Club

A small town club thick with
Haze from the cigarette tar
Was the place to be that night

Underneath the smoke filled crowded light

In the middle of the gloomy room
Guys and girls inhaled and exhaled
The age old tune of love and life
Saying all the things that seem good

Underneath the smoke filled crowded light

While a man sat unnoticed
Ranting and raving at his one true friend
A small empty beer can
Watching and listening to the dance move by
He inhaled and exhaled as life passed his eye
All things seeming clear to him
In his intoxicated flight

Underneath the smoke filled crowded light

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

The Lark's Song

Everyday I find within your voice
the wisdom God brings to your life
your words tempt my soul to reason
and explore a hope I felt I could not know

Your beauty feminine and wild extracted
intimately methodically through moments
I have come to know you

Where sincerity and truth exist as one
and you my love, have written on your heart
the lark's song

Morning is my life
virtue is the melody that awakens every part of me
and I find you here always singing me our song

© Raymond t. Carter 2006

Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear who's woolen thread
Has been stretched out and long forgot
The look the sense of yester year
Shows through in each bunch knot

Golden brown its hair delight
Has brought babes through many a night
Its power revealed in its gentle feel
Tranquil love its true appeal

Teddy bear its heart does know
Of open doors and times long past
Its ragged fur its torn ear
Give great account to many a tear

Its fur revealing a simple time
Shows power assuring a genteel mind
This bear's strength helped weave time's plot
Molding our lives into one great blot

Its enduring strength with which to write
Shows true our expression and our soul's design
Of our heart's melody and our soul's accord
Whose golden sleep has captured more

The tales of life show through its glow
And therein lies Teddy Bear's true worth
That he has conquered through life's fate
To be our one true soul mate

© Raymond t. Carter 1997

Palette

Yellow bright the world goes round
As gently night drifts dancing down
Melting sky and hearts so fair
While Father Time dreams unaware

Along the voyage we will know
That our fate proudly bows below
The weight of life and love and bliss
While together we stand at summer's end
And reminisce

© Raymond t. Carter 1997

At Night

At night beneath the body warmed confines
Of restless covers, the humming of a ceiling fan and
Mechanical rain drops that stir, I think of you
While I sleep you provide me peace
When I wake you are there bright as the morning sun
You are my shelter and my hope and I am
Blessed to have a friend like you.

© Raymond t. Carter 1999

A Park Bench

A park bench warped by time
lightened from its once deep rich tone
by an indifferent sun
ferry's an indigent on his way

The bench unforgiving while he dreams
his thought abated by the thin
bent wood beneath him

His interest caught by the
warm juice of a half-eaten apple
dripping from his hand

Bending slowly to meet the bench he sighs
as pricks of unkempt hair
and withered wood meet in time
one hand aiding his retreat-

In the other his life yet to eat

© Raymond t. Carter 1997

Tower of Refuge and Strength

We watched them circle round the wheel,
To remember those who died
As bag pipes played their somber reel,
A nation knelt to cry

While one bell tolled in raptured song
And the fallen waved good-bye,
We listened to the names of those
Who soar beyond our sky

Both towers fell, proud metal bent
Their foundation held the cost,
That day we stood less for words
And our innocence was lost.

Bright Towers placed upon the brink
Their majesty once showed
Though resurrected in their wake
Two towers now bestowed,

Within the safeguard of this place
Our nation humbly claims,
We together under God
Come to praise His name.

Treasured in the aftermath
A spirit beaming high
Our refuge will not leave us
Our strength will never die

For we find our hope above
The crumbled mass of man-made revelry
And by those tortured pillars
We bow in memory

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Mirrored Steps

I pray with every step I tread
beneath the sand my feet do wed
and view life's waves as they chase
these mirrored steps

How I long to share the emerald green
that reaches out to kiss this skin
and understand its need to win
while white the sand
heaves in rhythm, wanting more
and mirrored steps, though past,
dance beyond the shore

© Raymond t. Carter 1998

I Wonder Why

I wonder why these fingers dance
To toil upon blank bare skin
To seek out virtue and true form
Laid open wide a cataclysmic storm

Like Keats who died for love and then
Came forth to move the world's expanse
Unearthing reason, rhyme, and metaphor
Though my fingers long for more;

I wish her skin would ache for me
Pouring forth sweet ecstasy

© Raymond t. Carter 1999

Forever My God Shines on Me

Forever my God shines on me
Like the sand upon the shore
He knows me infinitely

No storm can part my way from love
Like Angels to the wishing well
heart finds hope above

Forever my God shines on me

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

The Intercourse of Poetry

I write not to conjure, but to explore
and intimate the soul on paper
I write not to flow,
only intercourse the whole

And meet you
Where you and I are one

© Raymond t. Carter 2002

I See You Smiling

I see you smiling
some years from now
long after the fall
and memories of
summer that spring
happily for joy from the
arms of winter
caress your soul
and the seasons become
your song

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

In His Arms

The half-light of the morning
Creeps across cold tile
Towards the dark corner of a living room
Where a man’s silhouette rests;

Held between the soft glowing light
And dark corner entreating him
His head bent downwards
Ever so slightly
Praying for the life cradled in his arms

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Rain

Rain and I’m not speaking what I know
A demon roaming wild inside
Spitting out these words
Writing frees my need to hide

Aching for some path to take
Still I’m crying here
Jumbled in the nothingness
And life alone I fear

A half-man lost in doubt
A mind running round a head
Everything is inside out
And outside all seems dead

Do they listen while I scream
Drowning in the rain
Wished they could see the inside out
And outside ease my pain

There’s a radio playing music
Rhythm bend disjointed mind
Though I am chasing riddles
And riddles break the time

I need a way to back right out
And inside take a look
Listen to the music
Find some meaning in the hook

Wished they could see the inside out
And outside ease the pain
Then the mind would find release
Tempt the demon drown the rain

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Planted

A tree full with root
stands firm upon a hill
that screams the color envy
and gold paints
the sky beyond its reach

How much I wish I was the root
and you the tree
that we grew perpetually;

Though I only dream of being planted
and you are golden out of reach

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

I am but a Shadow

Vain lament a winter's snow
Flitting through the fields below
I am but a shadow and the same
Drifting o'er December's mane

Where once were golden fields that grew
Now wretched white the time we knew
When all was grand and full with life
The cold comes carving as a knife

Where men once danced their merry round
And women laid their beauty down
On fields that gave their softened kiss
To love, and joy and youthful bliss

Where once were lovers warmed at night
Cold the still encumbered light
Reaches out to carry all
Who slumber still beyond the fall;

I am but a shadow and in vain
Do toil across this wretched plain
And snow white dripping from the grey
Falling aimlessly her flippant way-

I am but a shadow and in vain
Drape the winter's wicked reign

© Raymond t. Carter 1999

Violet Virginity and Approval

I watched the fiery young woman,
who's hidden innocence I assumed
bloomed the color fire, reach for him.
Her sultry skin too succulent in youth
to go unnoticed.
Next to her a weathered man, her father's age
and twice her size with grasping hands
that seemed to wrap around her thighs
walked with her across the grey pad of concrete
moving in unison as lovers do.

Their gait apathetic; though hers more telling than his
she was in that moment like an ant,
working out its salvation by the moving of objects
ten times its size
from one place to another.

The young woman carried the weight of sun-drenched hands
and a life not meant for her upon her youthful breast.
Her experience measured insurmountably by
violet eye-shadow two shades too dark
bleeding beneath a universe of lost hope
sliding over smooth skin and
freckles that showed the naivety of youth
though they no longer shine so bright-

But all things being what they are
a few crumpled dollar bills and a pack of cigarettes
placed within her unwed hands
helped to bend a fought for smile
making all things seem alright.-

Does she not know his hands are much too large for hers.
She is not aware that movers move from one
place to another to show themselves approved-

I am not so strong, though I do not approve of her or him


© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Shades of Summerset

Summer sets the circle found
Passing autumn into view
While two lovers dance the pallet round
To paint the world anew

Colors fade in harmony
Their hue in youth not won
For by their shifting ardent might
They have, two souls, begun

Fall brings fall to withered leaf
As winter brings the cold
Though for now, by sunset, lovers leap
Underneath dipped leaves of gold

© Raymond t. Carter 2002

Jamoca Sky

Jamoca ice cream drips off a waffle cone
Flowing playfully down the rough outer crust
Of burnt shell
Across smooth fingers, tight-grasping,
As the coffee taste waves the world good-bye
Falling aimlessly between fingers and sky.

A beautiful girl dreams away
Her ice cream melting
In the heat of the day
And as she sings to the world
Her lullaby
She swings through the air
And jamoca sky

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

For Motherhood She Weeps

She dreams wildly, waking only to
Vomit up her youth and yesterday
Her belly grasping for reprieve
As stains of guilt are wiped upon her sleeve.

I cradle her while young myself and unafraid
Feeling sorry for the pleasure I have paid

Awaking momentarily, throwing up her passion and resolve
She fights the tiring need to expose her sin and inward plight
Upon a throne whose gaping well yawns indifferently in the night.

She cries wearily for rest,
As I rock her gently near my chest
Unaware her pain is preordained by time to end
The want for love will come again
Though now she's yammering for sleep.

For motherhood she weeps
And secrets she still keeps.

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Grey Slabs of Concrete

grey slabs of concrete
drenched
with rainwater
ferry men
towards flight

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

The Room

An exhausted room yearns
Eagerly for rest
After long hours harboring
The symphony of feet
Lingering among storied walls

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

The Hour Has Come and Past

Young men not much older than
the ones who stayed behind
Listen to the music
Upon a field the cries for peace,
and lay dying in the battle,
their brothers soon they’ll meet

The midnight hour is looming large
the time has come and past
red warm streets that flow as rivers,
where brave men have born their task

Smoldering in the ashes
placed in wooden rows
silenced by the symphony
their worth they soon shall know.

Where once was said, “Cry havoc,
and let slip the dogs of war”,
Red rivers chase the souls of men

Their lives were meant for more

© Raymond t. Carter 2003

The Backdoor Looking In

I enter my everyday life through a back door looking in
There are moments when it changes; I catch the writing on the wall
Counting shadows, I am drowning in a room that’s seen it all

Pictures dance within the light, sun-burned smiles will fade
Casting shadows over demons and a front door cries today.
Peering through a looking-glass, there’s nothing now to find
Three month’s ago she breathed her last; I drink to ease my mind.

© Raymond t. Carter 2002

Fallen

Can there be poetry as the world slips by
underneath the weight
where reason and enlightenment collapse
upon the gate?
No rhyme, no mete no metaphor
corrupt the orb askew
trodden tiered the moral loss
the lute and muse once knew;

The end becomes the song we sing
and we dance the earthened mat
and waste away the hope we know
to bribe the devil for his hat

© Raymond t. Carter 2003

Love Poem for a Sunflower and for You

I listened as the Sunflower sang
its mesmerizing tune,
and danced upon the golden sky
From East to West, till noon

Then raised its crown in honor
Towards the brilliant Sun
I was captivated by its beauty,
My heart, its journey won

So I kept it company
Even bowing down to sleep
And we both knelt upon the lap
Of God whose love we seek

I was blessed to have that day
The Sunflower by my side
To watch it ferry above the world
The Sun, our sovereign guide

You my friend, my Sunflower
I am lost within your glow
And would follow you wherever
Your heart would have me go

© Raymond t. Carter 2001

Shadows

Countless millions close their eyes
Underneath the covered grey
Casting shadows over summer skies
Wondering which the way

Armies move as ants
Marching towards the war
Casting shadows over death
Not knowing which the door

A little child sings merrily
From her swing she sways
Casting shadows over millions
For the dead she prays

© Raymond t. Carter 2002

I Remember Yesterday

I remember yesterday, and lightening bugs
that glowed the color promise
bringing together boys and girls
who wandered amid lush green memory,
to capture their innocence caught
within the dream of a life
smashed between fluorescent green
and a glass who's lid poked with holes
so their artificial light could breathe,
made them free-
though mine contained only a small
part of what it meant to be me;

I remember yesterday,
and the street lights passed me by,
as a shadow that raged
against the darkness chased me home
There my fluttering, flickering,
lamp-light held me tight,
and days spent wrestling
beneath a drenched summer sun,
bowed merrily to a night
arching through the air,
beyond a window meant to be
nestled above my head;

I remember yesterday, and oh how yesterday
smiles on me,
and my window to the world
which now stands alone
in an empty room
with scars that prove its worth-

Not so long ago held me high

© Raymond t. Carter 2003

Lovers' Round

Were there words enough to touch your heart
A song or two my soul would part
To dance your wondrous beauty round
And gently lay your body down

On rose pedals dipped in youth drawn hope
A sweet bed laid our dreams elope
Wrapped in crimson drenched soft hue
To humbly share my tears with you

An angel warm upon my breast
Our life our strength our fears to test
To know in time our joy shall bring
One soul from two means everything

Were there words enough to pierce in you
The fear the want to know love true
I would glady place these burdens down
To write for you this lovers' round

© Raymond t. Carter 1999

The War and Me

I cried, my tears not finding peace
And i must say good-bye to him
Can the shrill of pain bleed comfort
Though the nightmare's pressing in

I watched him move his lips tonight
Hanging from his breathe
I remembered all the years we spent
All the memory's at best

Only helped me struggle with the
Thought of loosing him
My hero and my father
My best and dearest friend

I wish I could have none him
Long before he left this earth
But he went to fight a war for me
And his life has known his worth

© Raymond t. Carter 2002

Uncovering Sofia

The mastermind of sorrow
penned entombed upon the heart
the riddle and invention
a play and languid thought
where fools beget their niavety
and wisdom tools the soul
towards the archetype of meaning
while foundation tempts the whole

Can there be in harmony
both union and dismay
where balance yields the keystone
her arch might pave the way
the fool becomes the playwright
and the playwright riddles on
encased within the marrow
of the versed and hapless throng

© Raymond t. Carter 2005