Supermarket Swingers

Six hunky, well-ripened avocados, nine hot young chilies and three smartly-pressed cloves of garlic seeking fresh, fragrant shallots and tart, juicy lemons for discreet, no-strings-attached Cuisinart group encounters in an upscale kitchen in Layville's desirable Tenderloin district.We're pepper-friendly and love salty humour. You're chill, GMO-free, at least 18 hours post-harvest, and willing to practise safe …

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To Rhyme is Divine

dismissive champions of free verseare wont to scorn and even curseus bards who like our poems to rhymeas ignorant of thoughts sublimebut unlike bingeing on YouTuberhyme makes us solve a Rubik's cubenot plastic squares of red and yellowbut grey matter, like hardened jelloyes rhyming schemes can lead astraythe messages we thought we'd saybut hanging in …

Galactic Diamonds

from deep within our laughing hearts we gathered the ancient winks of a million loving stars and the alchemist that is our passion melted them into diamonds which we threaded into a necklace of joy that encircles our common soul I will wear our gems with delight polish them with little surprises guard them with …

Ode to My Wheels

hey there, beautiful eyes! gorgeous, giant, round ringed by rubber eyeliner joined by steel tubes are you silently winking at me calling me seducing me yet again? you spin backwards counter-clockwise in invisible sockets dialing back my years you roll forwards chasing adventures pursuing discovery your spokes are two sets of eyelashes, fluttering at me …

Busted Baron

Well the Baron would flirt with greatverve and tenacity,hoping that he'd breach alady's morality.But whenever he wielded hisverbal dexterity,she would catch wind of hisclear insincerity.- Paul Raworth Bennett

A Love Sestina

~~ A Love Sestina ~~ the warmth of your sweet love does fill my yearning heart it burns within our kiss and sparkles in your smile such that the flow of time is gently put on hold together we will hold a crucible of love we'll stir it over time and forge a common heart …

Finally Learning to Fly

by Paul Raworth Bennett many years ago under sunny skies as a young eagle who hadn't learned to fly I watched with fascination another eagle, high overhead, soaring the blue commanding the thermals he landed before me offered a fresh-caught salmon which I devoured his eyes called my name instantly, we were friends idolizing this …

Yeasty Beast

(photo credit: Christina) (dedicated to Dick and Christina) by Paul Raworth Bennett Still in his dressing gown, Dick was hauling the blue box to the curb when his wife's voice burst from the kitchen window, shattering the morning calm. “Dick! Get in here, now!” Dropping the container in the driveway, he rushed back into the …

Cranial Creativity Clash

Free verse -that humble, naked love child ofpermission and freedom -gets to happily explorehuge fields of ideas andvast oceans of expression.On the job, it delights in just doodling,and usually creates colourful works of art. Rhythm and rhyme -the clever, smartly-dressed spawn ofperfection and control -are doomed to struggle inswamps of semantics andgrammar jails.Behind a desk, …

The Man I Admire

🙂 To hear this poem, use the player below. 🙂 by Paul Raworth Bennett I'm a middle-aged man who has learned over time Just what makes people tick, their rhythm and rhyme More than anyone else there’s a man I admire So I thought I’d describe him in case you inquire Well the first thing …

Anticipation

🙂 To hear this poem, use the player below 🙂 Anticipationby Paul Raworth Bennett brown glassy eyesthe unblinking gazeof adorationof infinite trustof pure til-death-do-us-part black button nosemoist, ready, twitching(just a little) pink tongue, spring-loadedwith a fusillade of kisses(and barely visible) eighteen pounds ofwarm, woolly,buff-coloured lovequietly perched atopfour floppy legs leaning forwardprimed for actionwaiting for the …

Private MacPhee

By Paul Raworth Bennett ~ for brave soldiers everywhere ~ He was a kind and loyal friend Who hailed from clan MacPhee And all the boys were jealous ‘cause He loved his girl Marie A lock of Marie's hair he kept Within a tiny box And in his heart were memories of Their kiss back …

color me poetic

Dwindling in the Downtown Eastside

🙂 To hear this poem, use the player below. 🙂 large, littered, lonely fieldsoiled, sodden, sagging tentscursed, chaotic, chemical prisonshuddled desperately onpatchy grass and mud,lit by yellow flickersunder shaking fingerschasing the dragonbitter, brutal windicy, drenching rainthere but for thegrace of Godgo I - Paul Raworth Bennett

Frankenfood

Salty orange plasticBorne of the tar sandsInvading my stomach liningChoking my arteries and veinsA nutritional assassinA chemical valetThat slays meOne mouthful at a time

Dire Straits

not much more time will pass or destiny unfurled before we're forced to breathe apocalyptic gas that coats the wheezing lung brown air will steal the sun the seas will rob the shore and drown the old and young today's the hour to act ensure that we destroy the certainty that our existence is attacked …

The Rally

filling a grand old theatrean orange cardboard armadaa sea of upturned optimisma rolling clamour of applausedecrying the avaricious one-percentersthe tin-eared politiciansin bed with the capitalist classthe private-yacht crowdthe loophole expertsthere is hope here, hope that a salmon named unity willconquer the river of cashsettle in a lake of compassion andspawn the warriors of justice-- Paul Raworth …

Let the Great World Spin

by Paul Raworth Bennett(painting: "Let the Great World Spin" by Deborah DeJong) life is just so unpredictable!here’s what always seems to happeni plan my life, work hard, get my act in gearthings seem like they’re coming together nicelyand i feel pretty good!like life is just one big partyand i’m dancing all night long and then …

Eagillac

🙂 To hear this story, use the player below. 🙂 by Paul Raworth Bennett ~ for Barb Poole ~ A '59 Cadillac named Zoom She's a sexy, magnificent eagle Her elegant scarlet fins Yearn for the sky Her enticing gullwing doors Herald lofty adventures With joy and excitement I embrace Her muscular, feathered neck My …

Winter of the Mind

🙂 To hear this story, use the player below. 🙂 Winter of the Mind The Experience of Severe Depression and Imminent Suicide one woman’s perspective, as told to Paul Raworth Bennett Although everyone with depression experiences it uniquely, a universally accurate metaphor would be “emotional winter”. Throughout this chilly time run two common themes: profound …