The Daily Poem

SONNET ONE SIXTEEN

Be good and learn your William Shakespeare, boy.

Then you can spout off sonnet one sixteen

For all my crooning cronies to enjoy.

It's not the lines, but what lies in between

That you'll be glad you offered them as bait.

You'll surely catch them with your subtle snare

And all the gardened world will swing its gate

In wide eyed wonder at your gleaming flare.

And to your just deserts they'll add a few

Gratuities of grace to nudge you past

The several gauntlets you must ably do

To prove you're really made of what will last.

But for tonight, it's hook your luring tines

On those fourteen iambic pentameter lines.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem719

Shakespearean Sonnet

Idyllwild, California

JOURNAL: Home

~ The Daily Poet

THE BEGINNING PLACE

If I could map the memory of my skin

And draw my fine conclusions on its pores,

I'm sure I'd find a place I could begin

To live a little off the limit-shores,

To rise a fraction into better sync

Invisibily with those who will not go

Back down the traveled floods they used to brink

As if they could control the swirling flow.

There must be some topography of thought

Expressing to the surface from the deep,

That hints of what may be and what may not,

That points like truth down narrow crags of leap.

If I could map the memory of my skin,

I'm sure I'd find a place I could begin.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem688

Sonnetelle

Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

Lat: Long:

JOURNAL: Delta Airlines Overnight Flight from Honolulu to Seattle

~ The Daily Poem

CHRISTMAS PROPOSAL

Come merry me, eleventh Christmas wife,

Perhaps around-the-block a time or two,

We've lots of loving left to live this life

And I don't trust the clock to tick us through.

So let's get down to going where we go

And leave behind what surely can be left.

The days come fast and gone before we know,

This one big spin at taking deep our breath.

I loveyou now, you know I do, and so

For best or worst, no matter what may be

Beyond this tropic heat or polar snow,

Let's travel off on quick velocity.

Come merry me, eleventh Christmas wife,

We've losts of loving left to live this life.

For Mimi

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem671

Sonnetelle

Punaauia, Tahiti, French Polynesia

Lat: 17' 38" S, Long: 149' 36" W

JOURNAL: Le Meridien Tahiti Resort (9th Night)

~ The Daily Poet

THE TROUBLES OF THE SKIN

Just because we sit within our skin,

As quiet as a creature in a shell,

Doesn't mean our soul has settled in

And down beneath the things we'll never tell.

The silence of the secret self is this:

A picket fence allowing only those

Who know the meaning of the lipless kiss

That feeds through severed stems the frozen rose.

The troubles of the skin are written here,

In pixilated follicles of light,

And only those can touch who share the tear

Of listening with their fingertips of sight.

The surface of the world is little more

Than what the skin is brimming over for.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem652

Shakespearean Sonnet

Aukland, New Zealand

JOURNAL: Ocean Princess (26th Night)

~ The Daily Poet

CRUSADERS, INC.

The companies are gathering their strength

Like bold crusading kings of revenue,

Unfurling flags that go to any length

To take the beach with marching retinues

Of economic weapons-men who plant

The standards deep along the well-shelled coast,

And a troupe of branding priests to teach the chant

To all the natives baring rumps to roast.

Painstakingly the profit's bottom line

Is marked indelibly with ironware,

In a double slash of snaking dollar sign;

It's all for some and some for all to share.

The companies are gathering their strength,

Unfurling flags that go to any length.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem609

Sonnetelle

Yung Shue Wan, Hong Kong

JOURNAL: Concerto Inn - Lamma Island (13)

~ The Daily Poet

CHINA

O anciet heritage of humankind,

What vast millenniums of thought have passed

Across your quiet face; a tranquil mind

And wise, a splendid wealth of knowledge cast

In iron, stone and jade; the written word

In blood and ink and dreams records your way.

Through silence heard and unseen light, your bird

Of presence rises toward a brightening day.

Your billion-feathered beating wing aspires

To leave the ashes, take the flame and go

With joyful strength and dragon-phoenix fires,

Like braided incense deep in the eyes, you know.

O anciet heritage of humankind,

Across your quiet face, a tranquil mind.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem593

Sonnetelle

Kunming, China

JOURNAL: Empark Grand Hotel (5)

~ The Daily Poet

EARTH

I stand on land and sea and claim the earth,

For all of us who dream of living free,

As our eternal homeland, right of birth,

And for our God who offers us eternity.

To Him and only Him we lift our praise,

Creator of this marvelous design.

For Him and only Him we live our days,

And bow our heads to His pure will divine.

There is no other place for us to go;

This earth, His gift of love to all of us,

Is where He lets us live, to learn to know

The beauty of His ever-widening calculus.

I stand on land and sea and claim the earth

As our eternal homeland, right of birth.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem592

Sonnetelle

Kunming, China

JOURNAL: Empark Grand Hotel (4)

~ The Daily Poet

WHAT THEN?

It's not about the poor neglected souls

Who die each day for lack of basic needs;

It's not about the world at large that rolls

The wheel of change at ever greater speeds;

It's not the galaxies of growing space

That beg the question are we here alone;

It's not the strings and superstrings of fate,

But something simpler, not of flesh and bone.

I'll tell you what I'd really like to know;

What would we do if everyone was fed,

If every scourge was remedied and fixed,

And everyone woke up in a feather bed,

The cure for cancer in their breakfast mixed?

What then?  What for?  For whom?  I'd like to know.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem586

Sonnet

Beijing, China

JOURNAL: Dongfang Hotel (7)

~ The Daily Poet

THE EMPEROR'S WALL

Imagining the men I walk the wall,

The men who toiling died to grasp these heights,

The blood of each imbedded one for all,

And all for one god-emperor of lights

Who, strolling circles, safe, contemplative inside

His city on the plain, sends word to speed

The workman's pace, to stoke his burning pride,

To make his place in history guaranteed.

A thousand legions slaved their lives to dust,

A thousand legions body, breath anbd mind

Gave everything to feed the emperor's lust,

Who left their bones like mortared stones behind.

Imagining the men I walk the wall,

The blood of each imbedded one for all.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem584

Sonnetelle

Beijing, China

JOURNAL: Dong Fang Hotel (5)

~ The Daily Poet

THIS NINE ELEVEN

Today One World Collective holds its breath;

Humanity is not the same as then.

Inside the greatest nation airborne death,

Succinct as a sound bite gnashed through CNN,

(No quick undo) came roaring from the sky

Igniting every mind with fear and rage,

(No fast rewind) the haunting question why

Encrypted into every coded page.

Encrypted into every coded page,

Lies one non-blank reality of hate;

Encrypted into every coded page,

Voluminous precursors of our fate.

Enjoy no more the towering views of youth,

No more the innocence of easy truth.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem564

Acrostic Sonnet

Ceska Trebova, Czech Republic

JOURNAL: The 2240 Overnight Train, Car 41, Beds 23 & 24, out of Warsaw to Szczecin through Poland. 

~ The Daily Poet

THE CLOSEST THING TO HOME

It was the closest thing to home we knew,

A room above the salty stree-side fray,

The four-star Astir top-floor ocean view.

We washed our clothes in the brilliant white bidet,

And snickered to ourselves how life had changed.

We showered off the boat, the train, the bus;

The layered sediments from the miles we'd ranged

All day to come to this—the two of us.

So many months, so many miles passed,

So many places sadly left behind.

But there we found the truth we knew would last,

Instilled like wonder in our single mind;

It was the closest thing to home we knew,

The four-star Astir top-floor ocean view.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem560

Sonnetelle

Patras, Greece

JOURNAL: Hotel Astir

We went to bed on the ferry before we left port...

~ The Daily Poet

IF ONLY I COULD SEE YOUR LIFE AS MINE

If only I could see your life as mine,

You stranger in the street with scowling hood,

And count the gold you hold as just as fine,

Then I could love you like a brother should.

I see your face set firm against the day,

Determined to be one step further on;

But in my mind I scoff at your display

Of hope since I can see your chance is gone.

You will not be the man you hope to be.

You will not rise to wealth or eminence,

Because that place has long belonged to me,

And you are little more than circumstance.

If only I could see your life as mine,

And count the gold you hold as just as fine.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem559

Sonnetelle

Kos Island, Greece

JOURNAL: Overnight on the Blue Star Ferry from Rhodes to Pireaus

~ The Daily Poet

SOTO VOCE

Retard to soto voce Claire de Lune,

The slowest whisper you can muster here;

Our time on earth is ending very soon.

So hold the words inside me twice as clear

As when you first un-secreted your love,

As when you last delayed your eyes for me,

As when you nestled there all hand-in-glove

And naked in your feathered ecstasy.

I love you with a phrase that's not been said,

Some future Romeo may chance to say,

As he to his sweet languid newlywed,

Delirious with love, with night becoming day,

Retard to soto voce Claire de Lune,

Our time on earth is ending very soon.

D. Edgar Lamp

TheDailyPoem555

"Sonnetelle"

Heraklion, Crete

JOURNAL: Kastro Hotel

~ The Daily POet

BARCELONA MIDNIGHT

The average age is twenty on the street

The average skirt is ten above the knee

I watch each girl go by and wonder how

I got to be so old from then to now.

The average group of whistling boys is five

O Barcelona midnight let me dive

As deep as they can go and further still

To lose my mind and body for a spell.

I'm under something binding that's for sure,

A nuance-driven clandestine allure

For women half my age with double spice,

Who can't imagine I was ever nice,

who dodge my heavy shadow-catching feet;

My wife and I go arm in arm, discreet.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 513

"Couplet Sonnet"

Barcelona, Spain

Lat: Long:

JOURNAL: Gran Hotel Barcino

The two and three-star hotels were all booked in the vicinity of the Picasso Museum, so we took a room at the Barcino (a four-star) for 90 Euros.  We have a balcony overlooking Carrer de Jaume I.  We walked along the Las Ramblas from one end to the other. Several excellent street artists.  Mostly just crowds of people rambling through the night.  There's going to be a big concert here this weekend.  Dan Darkin (from the overland truck) should be here.  Our legs were tired as we climbed the thankful one flight of stairs to room 105.

~ The Daily Poet

MARKET SHARE

Grafitti vandal, yes, I see you there,

In savvy burns of midnight oil and paint,

Evoking corporate logo market share.

The next prophetic silence like a saint

May be your Mene Mene Tekel tag

Indicting every swagger jag of guilt

With this your consecrated concrete flag,

Your sword of fate thrust cleanly to the hilt.

I hear your blasts of thunderbolting blue.

I will not pass without a moment's pause.

I tip my hat as one for whom and to

You've itemized the Vision Statement flaws.

Grafitti vandal, yes, I see you there,

Evoking corporate logo market share.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 510

"Sonnetelle"

Vigo, Portugal

Lat: Long:

JOURNAL: Hotel Lino

~ The Daily Poet

ACROSS THE YEARS

There's no Across-The-Years to nail this nave,

No number line of time to follow down.

I float my particle within my wave,

And ride my name on smiley con and frown.

This is the edge of being who I am,

The very fang my bleeding heel requires.

I know the moment opens up like spam,

In viral pink and jingle-sliced desires.

O come, O come you swift confounding foe,

There's no bright shade that you can take away.

I grieve, I grieve the date I have to go,

The night I breathe my last before your way

Leads by and gone to where the stars are one

And every life has only now begun.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 509

Shakespearean Sonnet

Porto, Portugal

Lat: Long:

JOURNAL: Vila Gale Hotel

~ The Daily Poet

DESOLATE STANDS

Direct as lessons learned in childhood,

Erected pure as obelisks of hate,

Suspended now in dreams not understood,

Our desolate stands hold true beyond debate.

Liturgically we legend down our day,

Arcane with lies we sense but must not tell,

Triumphant on the dunes of yesterday,

Enthroned on this our blood borne honored hell.

Submerged, yet living still within our depth,

The infant wish for love and peace remains

An anchor chained to something less than breath,

Not easily defined but more than pain,

Direct as lessons learned in childhood,

Suspended now in dreams not understood.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 500

Acrostic Sonnetelle

Merzouga, Morocco

Lat: 31.10, Long: - 4.01

JOURNAL: Sahara Tour Day 2 - Sahara Desert Berber Camp

Rode camels for an hour out over the dunes until we could see nothing but sand.  Finally came to our a small enclosure of Berber tents where we had dinner and spent the night.  There were three other guys in our caravan.  The wind came up in the night erasing our footprints. 

~ The Daily Poet

COMFORT ZONE

Today I'm all inside my comfort zone,

The place delineating who I am,

More deep than skin, more true that flesh & bone,

My native self with all its anagrams,

Recursive enveloping symmetries

In origami Mobius array

Of what I am that's most like really me;

Complete and gone like a virgin swept away.

The pleasure risen just above the brim

Like a triple-tonguing silver-throated flute

Fulfilling each articulated whim,

Compressing zip-like down toward absolute--

Today I'm all inside my comfort zone,

More deep than skin, more true than flesh & bone.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 478

"Sonnetelle"

Moshi, Tanzania

Lat: Long:

COLOR WHEELS & RAIN

We're in the Kalahari making tracks,

The holey road beneath our shining feet,

On color wheels without the whites and blacks,

Our pockets full of rain all jangling sweet.

The empty sky above the greening sands

Demands no other freshness than our gaze,

To fill the vacancy of air our open hands

Suggest, as when a child softly prays.

Today's the day we power through the veld

With nothing but a fragrance in our hair.

And everything to lose that may have held

Us back before from getting here to there.

We're in the Kalahari making tracks,

On color wheels without the whites and blacks.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 441

"Sonnetelle"

Maun, Botwana

Lat: Long:

HOLLOW EAGLE

From west to east my hollow eagle roars

On feathered engines full of throttled thrust

And I'm inside between two southern shores

Above the slow colliding plates of crust

This window pane allows my gaze a view

Uncluttered by the densities of stone

A sky-on-sea horizon blue on blue;

A solitary brink for me alone.

There's forty thousand feet of air below

And forty thousand million years above

Where pasts of light are poured in futures flow

And here and now I'm riding hand in glove;

From west to east my hollow eagle roars

And I'm inside between two southern shores.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 431

"Sonnetelle"

Johanesburg, South Africa (after flying all night across the Atlantic)

Lat: -26.20, Long: 28.05

JOURNAL: South African Airlines

Big plane, two aisles, four seats across the middle with two running up each side.  I got a windowseat which I always prefer, but there was absolutely no leg room.  My knees were pressed into the seat in front of me.  Made the eight hour flight just that much longer.  Got up and walked around as often as I could.  The pre-flight drink and the Benadryl didn't seem to touch me.  We both were up most of the night, not falling asleep until an hour before breakfast, which they served when we were 90 minutes from our final approach.  In J-burg we caught our connecting flight to Cape Town.  It was a smaller plane and a bit more turbulent as we took off under cloudy skies from J-burg.  But after 30 minutes or so the sky cleared and you could see the whole spread of the cape stretched out beneath us.  When we landed it was warm (28C), a lot like San Diego, with a cool ocean breeze.

~ The Daily Poet