Category: Free Verse

Most everything that isn’t a haiku or tanka falls into this category lately. Subject to change, of course.

Politics, Amongst Other Things 

Carl Setzer

​Life plays out

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Heart of Stone

Carl Setzer

Her heart of stone
Sedimentary rock
Made of pressure
Upon layers of
Heartache and
Pain 

A Cold Overnight 

Carl Setzer

Each cough 

Self conscious

Creating disturbance 

Where peace 

Should reign 

And then think 

Of the germs 

Launched forth 

Looking for a 

New host. 

We learn more by listening then by talking 

Carl Setzer

We are quick to speak 

So often finishing 

Sentences of others 

Missing details of,

Well, everything.

By rushing, everything

Is slower.

Reality often is 

Counterintuitive, I guess. 

Slowing, focusing, listening, 

Focusing on that listening 

Listening to UNDERSTAND

Not only more productive;

Relationships built.

Evening Music Plays 

Carl Setzer

The saxophone plays

I picture women, dancing

With suit clad men

Echoes from the Beats

And their Bebopping 

Friends

Passion and Tranquility

Carl Setzer

Some draw 

Strength from 

Passion 

Others from 

Tranquility 

Both are not 

Only valid 

But critical 

The old ways

Carl Setzer

There’s something 

To be said for technology

But there’s still beauty

In pen and paper

Depression’s Brutality 

Carl Setzer

Feeling failure
As i lack
The adoration
Of millions

Since i don’t
Possess a legacy
Where the future
Will study my relics,
A sense of reverence
Seeking proximity
To my memory