Nightmare Well

The night winds, hollow—deep in nightmare well, I have peered down it countless

Times, only to find, see primal creatures climb, its slimy sides…!
The horrors deep within this well are horrors before the age of man, powers from

Vast terrestrial spheres, they transverse this well with slimy nightmares,
Give an endless span—; reeking pain within their jaws, claws and gaping hands.
What waits and broods deep in this looming well, I do not know for sure, perhaps:

Monstrous hieroglyphs—dim sunsets, dreams now beastly nightmares.
Against the twilight I have seen them rise—with their vast evil that never dies.

The demons wind echoes through pipes spinning to the top of the well—:
Grim and cold, oozed through the many corridors below….Thus, only the Moon
Sees what legends talk about; ages gone, and to come; hence, if you are sane,

Do not look down the well, unless you cannot help it: what a pity!...

#972 12/18/05
Inspired by, and Dedicated to the Poet Richard L. Tierney, and his poet friends from Arkham House

Imaginative Poetry (a commentary)

It is not my nature to tell people how to write poetry, or try to teach them how to, what is right or wrong. I simply feel for the beginner who wants to write, just read it to enjoy, throw away what you don’t like, make life simply, and then write; and when you’ve learned how to enjoy it, study it, then write some more. Like learning how to operate a computer, play with it for six weeks or so, then get some lessons if you wish.

Having said that, I want to share my view, or opinion, and that is all it is, an opinion, on some poetry, I call it digging into it, and some may say it is less or more, it doesn’t matter to me, I’m not trying to impress.

Does a cloud need a reason to pass over your lawn? I mean, does it need a voice, or a plot, or insight, or theme, or for that matter, does it need socialistic,or humanistic roots, to pass over. No, I don’t think so, and neither does imaginative poetry. Sometimes I like what I call, uninhibited poetry [unregulated], something like Plath’s I suppose. But I always like effect, have an effect on, influence. That is the main ingredients—effect=result. How you get it is another story. I feel imaginative power is similar to the cloud theory, and can supersede all those socialistic views I mentioned about. Adjectives are wild in making the imagination create power in a poem.

Some folks have asked: what my style is. If you read my poetry, you might conclude to different opinions, but I don’t think I have one; I do have moods though. And if there is a system in moods, then it is the mood-system I adopted. It is easy for someone to say, he has good or bad poetry. Write it and see who reads it. The ones who have read some of my poetry, have studied it to a t and doting of the i’s, and coma and back again to the meaning of every word, only to write: this is not right, or this and that.

I don’t have time in life to write them personally, so be it, thanks for taking the time to evaluate, they must have felt it worth their time, and if anyone who is willing to give a bad or good poet time, he has influenced them in some way or another—and that is called effect. This is simply saying, do not, not write poetry because you feel you can’t write it. If you can sing, you can write poetry, and everybody can sing, some not as well as others, but the longer you sing, the more your voice will find the way to make the tunes better.