A. G. Elrod – Sparks of Calliope

Locusts & Honey

And what if this cradle falls, if the bough breaks?
Would it be so terrible, to be estranged
and alone, attuned to echoes? The fear
and pain of inconstancy, searing scars
in the name of love, ever unwilling to relent.

Is contented isolation so frightening
as to be avoided at the price of abuse?
Should this bough break, it is doubtful
that another could be found.
And if the cradle falls, might sleep come
cold and numb, yet sweet all the same?

Can solitude truly sustain? Is this what
the ascetics sought, crawling into cracks
and clefts of unyielding waste? Is a steady diet
of locusts and honey so bitter to the taste?

Part of me longs to know, yet dreads the truth:
that solitude might be my final, fitting proof.

Prodigals

How would a perfect love to prodigals appear?
Would Desire its sacred benediction grant?
Would it fester, feeding ennui like rot?
Would we withdraw, warped and wary in disbelief?

And love’s blinding luminescence,
Does it need sorrow’s shade to shine?
The wretched only may know redemption,
And the Fallen fathom a Paradise long passed.

A. G. Elrod is a Lecturer of English in The Netherlands’ university system and a PhD candidate at Vrije University in Amsterdam.

Oostkerk in October

Broken wing and cowering beside the ancient door
While hollow echoes oscillate the empty chime within
Concrete eyes of living death unable to explore
The mystery that lies between intention and begin

Once young now in between the thread of life and mystery
Of hands that held the fire’s tongue now singed and cooled apart
The bell between chimes hollow still into an empty sea
Of lifeless space, abandoned halls, the chambers of the heart

The shade within, the black beneath is comfort from the light
Of life and scars and broken vows escorted through the noise
Of busy days with concrete eyes unable to ignite
A heated beat of pulsing veins and all hedonic joys

A scentless world of stone and shade and unacknowledged wrongs
Of lust unlived and songs unsung for hollow vows to keep
For sterile haunts of hallowed halls and abstinence prolonged
Safety from unveiling bright where naked hungers steep

And now it comes, the door unlatched of final mystery
What if? Her taste unknown escapes in final injury

Broken Wall

it took such effort of will
to pull down this wall to
meet you where you were
to elevate my affections
to equal yours

and now I stand beside the
broken wall and carry these
heavy affections that you
once shared, only to find
that I follow you in the cold
and at a distance

A. G. Elrod is a Lecturer of English in The Netherlands university system and a PhD candidate in the Digital Humanities.

Tag: A. G. Elrod

Two Poems by A. G. Elrod