The Apartment Is Dark

March 7, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fear of love.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem about the calm after a tempestuous breakup:

The apartment is dark.

I like it that way.

Through unshaded windows

I look across the street.

People there have lights on.

I see them through curtains.

A muscular young man

Washes dishes with his wife.

A woman drinks beer

In the blue light of TV.

On the top floor a mother,

A daughter, a daughter:

Three without men.

Next door an old couple

Smothers the fear

Of who will die first.

In a singles bar

I meet a woman

And have nothing to say.

Too many times

I have said the same things.

I watch here in darkness,

In the peace of aloneness,

And think about me,

And think about you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/aptdar.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fear of Love

3/4: Your Fear Is Not Surprising

3/5: There Is No Life Without Its Share of Pain

3/6: Love Lingers in the Alleyways

3/7: The Apartment Is Dark

Love Lingers in the Alleyways

March 6, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fear of love.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem about fearing the chains of love, and fearing the loss of what love might destroy:

Love lingers in the alleyways

And wafts across the streets,

And knocks upon my double doors

But never does come in.

Love finds a home in entrance ways

And rattles round retreats,

And scurries past the faint applause

Just two doors down from sin.

Ah! Would I love would I but know

What love might have in store!

For I have fears of heavy chains

That jangle in my joy.

And I have fears of floods that flow

From asking life for more.

Silent, I prefer the gains

Such tempests would destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/loveli.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fear of Love

3/4: Your Fear Is Not Surprising

3/5: There Is No Life Without Its Share of Pain

3/6: Love Lingers in the Alleyways

There Is No Life Without Its Share of Pain

March 5, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fear of love.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem to someone in pain who is afraid to love again:

There is no life without its share of pain,

Nor can you love and not feel agony,

A need whose hunger drives you near insane,

A state in which you must, but cannot be.

There is no cure, nor anything to say,

Nor any aspirin for unhappiness.

Other friends and loves will come your way

And then pass on through death or faithlessness.

And so if you would ever dwell in joy,

You must embrace the agony of sorrow.

Time will all you love and need destroy,

But you will heal to love again tomorrow.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/isno2.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fear of Love

3/4: Your Fear Is Not Surprising

3/5: There Is No Life Without Its Share of Pain

Your Fear Is Not Surprising

March 4, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fear of love.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem to someone who is afraid to love:

Your fear is not surprising.

It's always ended badly:

Fury, betrayals, recriminations.

Then, for days and weeks and months

An agony worse than grief

Because you also feel like such a fool.

Love is like diving or rock climbing:

Spectacular, but your heart sticks in your mouth

Every moment you're there.

There's an ease in not caring,

A looseness in the belly.

Then, as love approaches, a knot tightens like a snake.

Being alone and free is like looking in from outside:

People give and get affection,

Are seized by extraordinary happiness and pain,

Live in prison and in heaven,

Deal with the necessity of working on what must be worked out,

While you watch them as if they were on TV.

Life is full of love and difficulty.

Its riches cannot be gotten at except through choice.

You must enter it by loving this person or that person,

And people inevitably fall short of your hopes.

But to live and not love, and not be loved,

Is like spending your entire life alone in your room.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yourfe.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fear of Love

3/4: Your Fear Is Not Surprising

Nine: A Number Poem About the Last Single-Digit Age

March 3, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is one-digit number poems for children under ten.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A number poem to a nine year old about the last single-digit age:

Nine is the last single-digit age.

In a year, you’ll require two.

Now, though, it’s too soon to turn the page.

Enjoy this last year of one-digit you!

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/9b.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: One-Digit Number Poems for Children under Ten

2/25: One: A poem about delight in simply being.

2/26: Three: A poem about the gift of childhood imagination.

2/27: Four: A poem about the secret of happiness.

2/28: Five: A poem about what five year olds like.

3/1: Six: A poem about the power of the imagination.

3/2: Eight: A poem about childhood fantasies.

3/3: Nine: A poem about the last single-digit age.

Eight: A Poem About Childhood Fantasies

March 2, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is one-digit number poems for children under ten.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A number poem for an eight year old focusing on childhood fantasies:

Eight year olds have fantasies of power:

In space or castles old, or under sail,

Grappling against darkness they prevail.

However foul the night or bleak the hour,

Troll-spirits wake, and dream a hero's tale.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/8.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: One-Digit Number Poems for Children under Ten

2/25: One: A poem about delight in simply being.

2/26: Three: A poem about the gift of childhood imagination.

2/27: Four: A poem about the secret of happiness.

2/28: Five: A poem about what five year olds like.

3/1: Six: A poem about the power of the imagination.

3/2: Eight: A poem about childhood fantasies.

Six: A Poem About the Power of the Imagination

March 1, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is one-digit number poems for children under ten.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A number poem for a six year old about the power of the imagination:

Six-year-olds love acting out their parts.

Imagination underlies all arts,

X-ing out the humdrum in their hearts.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/6b.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: One-Digit Number Poems for Children under Ten

2/25: One: A poem about delight in simply being.

2/26: Three: A poem about the gift of childhood imagination.

2/27: Four: A poem about the secret of happiness.

2/28: Five: A poem about what five year olds like.

3/1: Six: A poem about the power of the imagination.