Skip to content

Tag: poetic forms

Anti-Social Media: free verse

Published on July 25, 2025

They tell you to engage your audience,
to offer readers ways to interact
that draw them in. And offer helpful bits,
like simple rules or things to take and do.

But honestly, who needs one more “how to”,
another great life hack, or useful trick,
especially condensed down to a quick
and easily digested amuse-bouche?

Don’t get too deep, they warn you, or you’ll lose
the interest of the left-swiping crowd.
Be sure to keep it light, above the fold,
or you’ll have no bestseller on your hands.

But honestly, who needs such vapid fans,
so easily discouraged by a thought
that they flee in mortal fear from what you say,
like roaches when you flip the switch at night?

They say to keep it light. Don’t make demands,
if you would keep a growing, loyal base.
It’s all about the numbers, anyway.
No one expects an influencer to care.

But honestly, why bother in that case,
if what you want is followers and “friends”?
If all of this is pointless talk and show,
shut up and try to change the world instead.

25 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

The Time Not Now: villanelle

Published on July 14, 2025

The time not now will never come to pass.
What is born here today, this day will die.
All this that is was never built to last.

The past does not go slow, nor future fast,
yet both what is and was confuse the eye.
The time not now will never come to pass.

Enjoy this moment’s rich and full repast,
its laughter, tears, brief hours and gentle sighs.
All this that is was never built to last.

The flags for yesterday don’t fly half mast,
nor need us wringing hands with woeful cries.
The time not now will never come to pass.

There is no back and forth, the die is cast.
What you know now is all you’ll realize.
All this that is was never built to last.

There just time to focus on this task,
not what waits in your wheelhouse by-and-by.
All this that is was never built to last.
The time not now will never come to pass.

14 Jul 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

What You See: triolet

Published on July 11, 2025

What you see is what you get.
Be careful since the eyes can lie –
a simple truth we often can forget:
what you see is what you get,
and once you’ve got it, you’re in debt
to those who’ve shown you what to buy.
What you see is what you get.
Be careful, since the eyes can lie.

You may not get what you deserve.
There is no fair exchange on high,
no sacred balance to preserve.
You may not get what you deserve.
The masters change, the source may swerve,
but we all live, and serve, and die.
You may not get what you deserve.
There is no fair exchange on high.

The only time you have is now.
There is no past or future tense
to look for or work through, somehow.
The only time you have is now,
and in this moment is allowed
the brief chance to experience
the only time you have is now.
There is no past or future tense.

11 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Throw Me Something: terzanelle

Published on July 10, 2025

Just throw me an emoji, mister, if you like my song.
It only took me years to learn and drove my parents nuts,
because it didn’t start so sweet – that happened after long

and tiresome exercise until, somewhere deep in my guts,
I figured out just how to train my blistered fingers right.
It only took me years to learn and drove my parents nuts.

Along the way I learned the way to keep a tempo tight.
Despite being self-centered, I began to listen well,
and figured out just how to train my blistered fingers right.

It was not easy work, in fact, sometimes it was sheer hell,
imagining a world where art and commerce got along.
Despite being self-centered, I began to listen well,

and managed, in my own small way, to sing my simple songs.
I tried to find connections with those people who might hear,
imagining a world where art and commerce got along.

At some point, only recently, the point became more clear:
just throw me an emoji, mister, if you like my song.
I try to find connections with those people who might hear.
Just throw me an emoji, mister, if you like my song.

10 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Ignorance <> Bliss: sonnet (terza rima)

Published on July 9, 2025

If ignorance is bliss, why are so few
of us enraptured by our current state,
imagining so much left us to do

and in a worried struggle with our fate?
That does not seem so blissful or serene.
We try, but often miscommunicate

and fail to share with others what we mean.
This leaves us in the dark, and quite alone,
afraid that our own shadows are obscene.

It does no good to live life like a stone.
The human spirit cries to become more,
to grow and learn beyond mere flesh and bone.

If ignorance is merely our cocoon,
we must try metamorphosis – and soon.

09 Jul 2025


© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

The Diamond Sutra: sonnet (Spencerian)

Published on July 9, 2025

What is an unexcelled and perfect light,
and who would recognize that state as such?
To judge it by comparison’s not right,
and once you’re past that point, there’s just not much

to measure with. No real yardstick or crutch
would be of too much use out there, beyond
the realm of seeing, hearing, and of touch.
How could you catch a ripple in that pond?

Quite honestly, too many saints are fond
of these imaginary turns of phrase.
The truth is out there past such simple bonds,
quite empty of both struggle and malaise.

Enlightenment? What do you hope to see?
Once there is no more seeking, you are free.

09 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

The End of the World: sonnet (English)

Published on July 8, 2025

Perhaps the world will end tomorrow night.
With so few sane in charge, that would make sense.
Besides, if the Cassandras have it right,
it’s way past time for sitting on the fence,

pretending that our waking up at last
can make a whit of difference to the tide.
What opportunity we had has surely passed.
Our only hope is to survive the ride.

And if the planet stops its steady spin,
it may be just what Mother Nature needs.
Once it’s called as a game no one can win,
who cares for a scorecard none can read?

If everything is ending, what’s the fuss?
There’s no more worry for the two of us.

08 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment
error: Content is protected !!