Beat beat beats
The Tom Tom of the drums
Tom yom Tom Tom Tom Tom
Sounding beats the drum
9/17/25
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr.2025
Beat beat beats
The Tom Tom of the drums
Tom yom Tom Tom Tom Tom
Sounding beats the drum
9/17/25
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr.2025
It thunders through like a rampaging doom,
water cracked the stone, and carved out this chute,
the locals around here call it the Flume,
white water churning through a confined route.
Roiling, throwing mist onto the rocks,
always wet and sporting a sheen of green,
so loud is the torrent it’s hard to talk
over the noise as the water careens.
Empties out into four small waterfalls,
which widen into a wading-deep pool,
folks splash around, and the kids short and tall
dunk heads in the cascades, thinking it’s cool.
But never dare try riding the cataract,
even dumb kids know they will not come back.
Idols
of oppression
upheld by belief
are the words
both of derangement
and of exhilaration~
these words empty
may seem a resonating
breakup of
Idols~~
I came this morning
Wine bottle in hand
Looking for you under the tree
By the shelter
You must have known I would come
For you moved your bags.
I think I've fallen in love.
Why would you trust that?
What might you see in me who
Put you on the streets?
"Homeless, welfare mama," we called
You in scorn.
I saw behind those eyes
Woman
And your image sleeps with me
On restless nights.
“Awake,” I tell myself, “you are
Just an unwashed pig dragging your daughter through
The gutters of Philadelphia.
You should get a job."
In my half-sleep, those uneasy eyes
Haunt me into sweats of apprehension.
Today, I finally knew I must meet you;
But you moved your home.
The railway train ambling along its tracks
Thousands of years echoing in harmony
Shadows receding among lush foliage
Aurora, your strides are always confident
________________
13 September 2025
the
green
dragontail
moth
with
her
wings
that
flutters
through
the
air
yet
made of cloth
is
God's creation
Mist is deliberate veil
Just to notice
If the eyes risk
Entering to meet
To greet and embrace
The face wearing
A dotted lace
Mulling to reveal
Knotted thoughts
Those plots
Of dense stories
Ivories of memory
Glory of the sun
We used to build up
From the point of
The startup
Until the plates and cups
Would get satiated
And the golden dust
of the pulverized sun
Would turn into
The moon of contentment
I know my dear
That won't happen
Because you're hesitant
At the very entrance
Of the mystery
Ignoring the filigree beyond
Waiting to dawn
______________
12 September 2025
Hospital waiting room in the afternoon
Tired flowers looking after the patients
Saplings emerging from the interaction
Oranges in the hands of the sun as it sets
________________________
11 September 2025
Lost in writing iambic couplets, the moon and sea
Sounds of whispers from between long eyelashes
Waves moving from side to side, a provocation
Quick, let's fly out, chirping the wild ducks
________________________
11 September 2025
[Poet’s Note : this is a wry autobiographical memory written in traditional pirouette verse viz. 2 quintains, line 5 & 6 repeat, which is the toe turnaround. I wanted to write a narrative of a weird syncopated vignette, when I was knitting a pink mohair jersey at the time of my imprisonment. I reduced the narrative to a pirouette. When in prison, one of my interrogators was knitting the EXACT jersey in the exact colour & exact wool ! ie. in the final analysis, (in retrospect) everything in human life can be reduced to a pirouette, a turn-around dance ! ]
knitting a pink jersey
mohair with cables fine
to process flying thoughts
political activist
south africa turmoiled
south africa turmoiled
security police
came with casspirs and cuffs
interrogation chamber
police knit jersey pink
~~~~~~~~~
Reimagine the future
honor the past
Live in the moment
first ever last
Change the perspective
fences destroyed
Polar invectives
cursed to employ
The baby and bathwater
image du jour
Becoming the instant
your lens is secured
Honor the future
reimagine the past
Live beyond either
— your essence recast
(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)
For only a few days, a sojourn
With the mountains or by a waterfall
In search of an autumn dawn
Amidst the mist on the blades of grass
_______________________
10 September 2025
Upon witnessing the abrupt sunbeams
Waves anew in the two ancient ponds
Bears and stallions from the black frame
The major sixth chord in the piano
______________________
September 10, 2025
The water-filled pitcher is settled in your waist
Walk easy, the road at the early hour is almost empty
River in the poet's eyes is watching your movement
Vocabulary from his heart is making a sketch
_______________________
9 September 2025
Specific Types of Image Poems
Read wonderful image poetry on the following sub-topics:
appearance, bio, body, god, flowers, how i feel, how i look, iconic, imagery, life, love, middle school, narrative, nature, photographic, self
and more.
Definition | What is Image in Poetry?
Poems Related to Image
appearance, beauty, carbon copy, conceit, dead ringer, drawing, figure, form, icon, idea, idol, illustration, impression, likeness, mental picture, model, notion, perception, photograph, portrait, reflection, replica, self worth, spitting image,