Duane Locke

Duane Locke twelve poems

YANG CHU'S POEMS 305

It was Wednesday night prayer meetings,
The darkest night of the year.

God walked through the walls,
Entered the church.

God was naked.

The parents quickly put their hands
Over their children's eyes.

The preacher in panic,
Switched off all the lights.

YANG CHU'S POEMS 349

I entered the clouds
That surround the peak
Of Mt. Hakusan.
When sitting in the clouds,
The clouds disappear.
Only from a distance
Do the clouds seem to exist.
When close to the clouds
There are no clouds.
I must climb down,
Look up to believe in clouds.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 353

The wind is a philosopher.

The wind has blown down
The For Sale sign

Stuck into the earth
Of the vacant lot.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 401

A thief stole
My radio, my HD TV, my desktop computer,
My tape player, my CD player, and my I pod,
Now

I will have to do my own singing.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 458

Like a solitary blade
Of grass
In a wide field of sand
That is mowed
Again and again,
I try to regrow
My face
That was moved away
By people‘ words,
I am trying,
But now only my neck
Has regrown,
But the face
Is starting to grow.

I want my face
So I can smile again.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 462

Some of our smart bombs
Are not so smart,
Make mistakes,
Fall
On old
People bowing
On prayer mats.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 473

Six ants
Drink from
One dewdrop
Fallen on
An autumn maple leaf.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 474

A newly emerged
Moth
Grips
A dead twig
As it
Pump up
His folded wings.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 475

Two snails
Stretching their
Pearl colored bodies
From sepia shells
Crawl
Over grasses
Towards each other
To embrace
And bring beauty
Into the world
Through their love.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 478

I was born
With eyes
That could see
Trees.

My hired teachers
Worked hard
To teach me
To see lumber.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 481

At age, ninety-six
He became aware
That he had wasted his life.

He should have spent
More time
On the bank of a river
Where
A fisherman
Never visited.

YANG CHU’S POEMS 482

The flight of the wild geese
Blocked out the light
Reflected from the moon.

The light gone, the hermitage gate
Could not be seen.

Josh was tranquil
While the flight
Of the long row
Of wild geese
Blocked out moonlight.

Duane Locke lives in rural Lakeland, Florida a few feet from osprey nest. He has a Ph. D. in Metaphysical Poetry. As of May 2008, he has had 5,985 poems published in print magazines and e zines (Not one poem self-published or paid for to be published. Also, he does not subscribe to magazines that publish his poems). He has had 17 print and e books published, has many poems, over twenty books, that he has not prepared in manuscript for publication. Duane is also a painter and photographer. His paintings have appeared in many exhibitions, winning a number of awards and are in permanent collections of museums. A discussion of his paintings appears in Gary Monroe's Extraordinary Interpretations (U of FL press.) He has had 318 photos published in e zines and magazines, some have been used for book and magazine covers. His photos have been close-up of trash, what people have tossed away, but now mainly on what might be called "abstractions" or visual music and nature Photographs, birds, and close-up of small insects. Once, he was ranked by the PSA as one of the top twenty nature photographers in the United States. His occupation is the study of philosophy. His favorite philosophers are Nietzsche, Hegel, and Heidegger. He believed that the western mind had been misdirected by its inheritance of the Platonic-Cartesian tradition, and thus practically everybody believes lies to be the truth and speak a language of lies. The purpose of a poet is to start with the language of lies spoken by people and strive to convert the language of lies into a language of truth (whatever truth is). Also, he believes that most opinions expressed about poetry are nonsense, most of our poetry axiologists are self-deluded. For more information, interviews, publications, awards click on the search engines of Google. He is listed in the Marquis Who's Who in America.

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