I am well aware of the weaknesses of my poetry and I will admit that I am deeply envious of those select few who get to make a living as a poet, just writing poems for a living and not having to really work, but I am also grateful to be a working class poet who has seen true poverty, disability, suffering, family strife, death of loved ones, divorce, betrayal from close friends, spiritual cycles, and all the things that makes life real. I may not have an abundant audience at the tip of my fountain pen, but I do have authenticity of spirit and that is worth a thousand best sellers.

@poetry

I uploaded a rather long book of poems to Internet Archive here:

https://archive.org/details/upon-the-written-hours-richard-jtilley

Update: 3/5/25 - I think Internet Archive is not all that accurate. There is no way my book can have 0 views with 5,000 to 8,000 unique visitors a month, 3 times that in visits and 5 times or more that in hits.

@poetry

Thorngate
A #poem in four parts

—

i.

A drunken déluge of rain, nearly ice.
Seek shelter from late winter’s iron vice.

Before me, an old high church’s gate
of richly carved stones, ornate and red:
between us a thornbush. I stand and wait
in fear of thornwounds with deepening dread.

On the starry lathe
A #poetry in seven parts

i.

In the teardropped dew of golden hour
as dusk-sun dips below the edge,
an angel of bronze upon a stone bower
keeps watch as nighttime’s fingers stretch.

#poem #poemaday #writing #photography
#architecture #potsdam #sanssouci #sunset #clouds

In the dying joy
of summer’s final flowers
fall petals plaintively
to the still-warm soil
to melt into Gaia’s gentle embrace
to dream of giving birth
to a new dew-dripped spring
of sadnesses left behind
once more

#poem #poemaday #poetry #writing #photooftheday
#scotland #flowers #nature #garden #bloomscrolling #mentalhealth

A cottage in the shade
on a warm summer day
with a secret door that opens
in its own special way
is the picture of my peace
that I search for all the time
inside my battered soul
which yet holds the sublime

#poem #poemaday #poetry #writing #photooftheday
#scotland #edinburgh #history #architecture #mentalhealth #bloomscrolling #windowwednesday #window #cottage #photography

The poem "anyways I'm radicalized now" by aeon ginsberg https://poets.org/poem-a-day reminds me of Cory Doctorow's @pluralistic "Unauthorized Bread" https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/#:~:text=%22Unauthorized%20Bread%22%E2%80%94a%20tale,award%2C%20the%20Canada%20Reads%20prize.

Some may see a stone park bench
But I see a stone altar
hallowed by leaves a-falling —
The sacrament of autumn
handed down
by the wise old trees
who raise their boughs
as priestly arms
They bow in peaceful prayer
as we the faithful
take the colorful communion
and heal

#art #poetry #poemaday #silentsunday #stillersonntag