45 poems that look at modern life in a mixture of free-verse and rhyming styles.
a suite of desolate elegance, the first collected works of Paul Grimsley, contains a mixture of free verse and rhythmic modern poetry. with 45 poems that examine what it is to be human and vulnerable; the eye of the I speaking in a universal voice. this is a challenging and lyrical collection.
Excerpt
broken
i'm kissing the bruises to understand your pain
because i can't read your eyes
there are chips of dancing glass in the broken gaze
what is that held in your trembling hands?
a broken plate marbled in blood like a map
i'll scrapbook your torn clothes
the fractured sentence you aim for falters
and stumbles into the quiet kitchen
like an amnesiac on forgetful feet
that melt the only clues we made of snow
each footstep unique and fallen from the sky
there is no journey back after this
tenderness a mere masquerade to hide behind
you look to me and i am saying nothing
Contraband Marriage, traveling along the hemline of loving after incarceration, is a love story written in lyric and free form, set in reality with a different ever after.