Poetry by Barry Marks
AEIO UY
AEIOA E
When did you
stop listening
Why are we yelling?
AEIOA U
Why?
I’ll respond
with a letter
A, First of All
A is one, a thing.
One thing, some
Thing
My mother would say
You are the first;
First in order.
First in line.
First in worth.
My head in the sky,
My feet on the Earth, I stand
So the others will follow.
Vanguard
Summit
Leader
Prime
Pinnacle
Point man
Sergeant, You take point.
Zenith
Acme
Apogee
Apex
If you are in front who has your back?
What path does the first follow,
To avoid losing all?
If you are the top
Who will cushion your fall?
Is alone at the top
Better than alone at the bottom?
Follow me:
I was the first of my line
And now my line is lost.
I was the first,
And now I am the last.
But first of all is first of all
If nothing else.
E, Silence is…
The shape of water
the color of air
the volume of silence
when no answers where
mad made
fad fade
shad shade
glad glade
the power of silence
though it may seem strange
no word is more likely
to generate change
hat hate
fat fate
mat mate
rat rate
when leaders sit silent
what rises to stand
the engine of horror
the face of the damned
look what hate delivered
from out of the shade
see what fate we invited
see what the mad made
I, Am
Where do I end
And you begin?
They see you,
Me,
And when you were gone
They said there is
A heaven above the sky.
I
Am
But what am I?
An I is a line.
A line has
No beginning
Or end,
No width,
Breadth,
Substance or self;
A mere partition
Of space
And space,
Unless there is more
Than they can see.
As in my grief I
Reach to you
For more,
Forever,
As I am
That I am
Because I am narrowed
By your absence,
As I am
What I know,
What they cannot know:
That my line will know no end
As long as I am and you are,
And as long as I am you will be,
As the sky goes on
Until they call it something else.
O, The Story of
This is the story of me
Of O
O well
What’s in a name?
Nothing nO thing
O autocorrects to I
(sigh)
O is the name of the shape
Of a zer-O
The perfect absOlute O
O my O dear I say my name
You knOw?
Open Opinion Opalescent Ovary O’clock
Ohm Ommmmmmmmmmmm Old Ocean Oat
Okra Orca Orangutan Okapi (Poor O-possum
deprived of his O) Ozone Oblique
Odor Oak Oath Obedient Obituary
Obliterate Oblige Oboe Occasion Odin Old
Olfactory Onerous Olympic Omega
Omission Opiate Opinion Ordain Ordinary
Oracle Or Orchestrate Orb Orate Orchid Ore
Ordinance Organ Organize Oriental Origin
Ortho-everything
and sO on and so On
Over and Over
But it’s always the Same O
SameO
You’d think I’d get respect but, heck
I and U are all you care about
O, the Overuse of the prOnoun!
While I, O, am left impersonal
I, O, am the shape of love
I, O, am the eyes, not I
E is the most popular vowel
Did you knOw that?
And popular Ms. E
E shows herself as a scrEam
Most popular when silent
And Y? Why bother?
Half the time it’s one of THEM,
The hard-souled cacophony
PhOny vowel, Y.
Pretends to be E.
O well
O dear
O my
OMG
LOL
O fOrget it.
Beneath a Sky
Beneath a sky heavy with stars
I am alone between the horizons;
alone as each star whose light
strains to cross the void.
In this relentless night
how can I believe?
In this relentless night
how dare I not?
The burning seed
is set within my chest.
In the time we have left
let me tell you a story;
Her shadow lengthened
as she walked from my arms,
germinated,
became night.
And like you, in darkness
I was alone.
Friend, lover, enemy,
Beneath a sky of darkness
and deeper darkness beyond
we are backlit dreams.
It is life to be touched by dreamers.
U, The Ugly
When I look in the mirror
I look exactly like me
Ugh. Ug-ly
Ungainly. Unloved
U
I tag behind queer Q
Always U
All ways U
Quasimodo
Don Q
A headless O
Egg in a cup
Opened
Unfilled
Am I empty?
Acceptive?
Receptive
Responsive
Usable. Useful
Uncluttered. Unshut
Unbarred. Unlocked
A horseshow turned up.
It’s true
Always U
Only U
The beautiful don’t try
To be beautiful
But the ugly? We do
Only U
Only down can rise up
Only little can grow
Only an open mind
Can learn to know.
Sometimes Y
Man, Woman.
Human.
Adam and Eve
Naked.
And different
And same
Why?
Sometimes vowel
Sometimes not
Wise
Fertile crescent
Between thighs
Y
Left branch and right
Where day becomes night
Are black and white
Opposites make war
The promise of dawn
The quiet of dusk
Province of peace
Always and never
Are ever at war
Sometimes
Is where worlds apart
Come together