Granville Holt

Not the night call for his mate
Nor the full moon instinct howl
This wolf song sings forlorn fate
A lonesome breed on singular prowl
...

In her early nineties, small and frail,
She kept a candle light in her eyes
For every visitor who'd stop by
Still able in body and soul
...

There's a song you may remember, it goes,
"Give me that old time religion", Gospel
To those who sit in pews to ease their woes
And make a joyful noise as if some spell
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Much as Mary, when first she heard the Saint,
When Columba's weary foot touched fair Iona
And kissed the sand, and breathed the air,
So thankful his journey across the sea did end,
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Take me to the city
Me, only me,
Love me,
Never leave me,
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The Red Flamingo is the poets dread,
Its flight tracked over a land long lost
And here and there dropped a feather red.
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And as you save the best till last, Millay,
First stroke the eight, so blood to flesh arise,
Though some sighs soothe and some soft lips soothsay,
Each rush brings hush to misty, glaze dove eyes
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For visions he will smoke the Deer horn pipe,
To calm her child she'll hum old lullaby,
A song of tears to teach of days gone by,
Of clans who Pow Wow dance as blossoms ripe.
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Some say good morning Vietnam, not me,
I never saw one December to June,
Everything smelled of rot and death was free,
Sleep came with night sweats under Sun or Moon.
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Please forgive me, so, not Shakespeare again!
I'd love to read a book but what's the point?
I want to live, love, laugh and cry and then
Pause, to take it in like a clairvoyant!
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I sat by her bedside, she was silent
In repose and I wished to hear her voice
Yet there I paused as one on mission sent
To find some way to speak soft words of choice,
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Poe could never leave well enough alone
And the wasteland of words can kill the soul
Just as Browning hid her love like a stone
Masquerading Shakespeare's whom the bells toll
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Hope of the Paiute Wovoka legend
For renewal from ancient spirit people
Who would return with power of Eagle
Wings, and to all sufferings put an end.
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To rise above death and live forever?
Are we schooled by our humanity
Or vain to be one spirit so clever?
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light swords penetrate its cocoon as mirage butterflies zigzag
with chaotic precision through meteor shower dust specks,
random thought coalescing into exposed roots of desperate sighs
seeking to unite a singular voice without veins of lesser leaves
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Shadow Song
(written after reading Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes)
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Indian Summer


Tree leaves paint their Autumn colors
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When Nature echoes listen Dear
And I shall pen a loving kiss
On wings of poesy souvenir
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When day meets night with kisses spent
And with parting, glow of passion fades
In gold and red of auburn braids
While out across the hills a song lament
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I don't know much philosophy and stuff,
'Cept, the easiest way is hard enough.
As I look upon my Winter's bare trees
I try to picture Spring buds and green leaves,
...