Selected Poems
by Louis Bertrand Shalako
Copyright © 2012 by Louis Bertrand Shalako
ISBN 978-0-9866871-9-8
This Smashwords Edition published by Shalako Publishing, Sarnia, Ontario.
Marketing image: ‘Faun,’ © 2012 Louis Bertrand Shalako
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The following is a work of original art. Any resemblance to any person living or deceased; or to any places or events, is purely coincidental. Names, places, settings, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination.
‘Mr. Robot’ originally appeared in Twisted Tongue #16 (UK)
‘Danse’ originally appeared in Danse Macabre’s ‘Morgenblatt,’ (Morning Poetry.)
Some of the poems have appeared on the blog below.
http://badpoetsclub.blogspot.com
Other titles:
http://shalakopublishing.weebly.com
Cedar Branches
The cedar branches flare
Blue resinous smoke
Permeates the air
The licking tongues of flame
Provide a homely glare
The clink of a spoon
The rattle of a cup
My partner tells a joke
Coffee water warms up
Dove
High in the branches above
Sings
His mournful tune
Tree at my back feels good
Raincoat, underneath
Keeps my butt dry like it should
My shoes can come off now
If I dare
But, there’s no one here to care
My face can still feel
The sun, reflecting off the water
I grin in recollection
When we saw them two baby otters
The fish in the pan
Are starting to cook
When I was a small boy
Remember how I shook
Pulled in a big catfish
Rod, little better than a toy
It’ll be evening soon
Even now
The sloping shadows loom
Time to hang up the food
In the meantime
We still have time
Time for another cup of coffee
And watch that family
See-those are mergansers
Paddling silently past
Our camp here
Under the cedar branches
The Call
There is a strange call
Out in the woods tonight
Perhaps you may have heard it
Oh, it’s out there all right
It’s not exactly a hoot
And it ain’t exactly a wail
Doesn’t crash through the brush
Like a coon or a skunk
I heard a little thump near dusk
But I know it wasn’t no quail
There’s a strange kind of hush
Out among the trees tonight
Maybe you can sense it
Oh, it’s out there all right
At the other end of the lake
A loon murmurs, deep and low
There is a splash, ripples ebb and flow
Thin patches of fog, the moon has made them glow
It comes again, that call
My ears they are a-tweakin’
Skin on my neck starts to crawl
Watch, wait and listen, it will come again. That call…
The Pantheon
With thine own eye he is
The brightest, bluest in the sky
Four tiny moons
Accompany he
Jupiter the God of Empire
Zeus, who reigns on Mount Olympus
A telescope will show thee
Many sons and daughters are we
And as we dwell in our shadowy lair
Bathed by the sun, warmed by
Its glare
We often look inward
To a place that is there
And lo, we see
A planet so rare
We wish that we were not Gods
And that we could go down there
The Pantheon of the night is our home
Here we live, distant, cold and alone.
If only…
The stars come out at night
They remind me of your eyes
I see the waves crash against the shore
It reminds me of my lies
I see two birds, hear the call of the loon
Methinks, maybe, I gave up too soon
But this song is about you
Something old, something borrowed, something blue
The sun comes up everyday at dawn
It lights the mist, the dew, the fawn
I see the rain lash the shore
I see the waves crash against the shore
It reminds me of me
It reminds me of you
Something old, something borrowed, something blue
I see two butterflies, and think
Of what could be
If only you hadn’t given up on me.
Haiku # 8
After a brief hiatus
There has been an uptick
Of my surreal angst
What she sees
When you look into my eyes
I wonder just who you see
Your soul fills up the room
And it touches me
You are all that is good
Pure, unsullied, just
You are really something –
Someone I could trust
Someone I could care for
Help my life make sense
Now don’t get all tense
I know who I am
What I look like
Where I came from
And where I’m going
Yes, I could
Fall in love with you
If I could take the risk
For I know that you could hurt me
That might not be so bad
Why tell you this?
I don’t want you to get mad
I don’t want you to do anything
Just go on being you
Knowing there is someone
Someone out there like you
Makes my life a little better
Even if I lose you
Thank you for being who you are
Stuck in a rut
Stuck in a rut, don’t know what to do