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Short Poems (Volume two) by Gene Burnett

Sample Poems

These poems were written between March of 2006 and February of 2008. As with my earlier collection (Volume One), some were written as part of poetry dialogues with friends but most were not. My only self-imposed limitation is that my poems have to fit on a 4 X 6 index card. The total number of lines cannot exceed the number of lines on the card and I always write in my normal sized handwriting.

When I put together my first volume of these short poems back in 2006, I had just begun to read them out loud at our local Poetry Slam. I was encouraged by the
results: I enjoyed sharing my poems, I scored reasonably well at the Slams, and other people seemed to like them. At the time I was reading older poems, mostly written before 2005. My first book was a collection of everything I’d written up to that point.
It was a sort of “house cleaning” before embarking on a new round of writing.

This book represents almost two years of fairly consistent writing. I teach T’ai-Chi and am also a singer/songwriter. During this same period of time, I’ve had a kind of creative renaissance: I’ve written two books, one on T’ai-Chi and one on songwriting, recorded 5 CD’s and written over 60 new songs. I’ve had some prolific streaks in my life, but nothing quite like this! My major focus has been on T’ai-Chi and songwriting, but something keeps me writing these short poems as well. I’m not sure why but I continue to love this particular form.

My inspirations usually come from Nature, love and relationships, but this newer group reflects more general philosophical observations as well. I jot down ideas and insights as they come to me, and then later when I’m in the mood to write, I pull these notes out and see what I can do with them. When I read my poems at Poetry Slams I generally go up on stage with a stack of all the poems I’ve written so far and then pull ten or so out at random. I find this is more pleasing to me than over strategizing about which ones to read. These poems came to me as bursts of mysterious inspiration and I want the readings to happen in a similar way.

As usual, I hope you enjoy these poems and feel inspired to write some of your own and share them with your friends and community.

Click for Photo of the Poetry book

Gene Burnett
Ashland, OR
February 2008

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Sample Poems:

I am an absolute relativist
No God
No Devil
No good
No evil
Only relatives

Snow holds the trees in place
Layers of fog and mist
Come and go
Something
Is dripping somewhere
And I have the park
To myself

In my world
There is no such thing
As bad weather

Love is one disaster after another
First an earthquake
Then a tornado
Then a war
Then a surrender
Then a mirror
Then a grave

Whatever you hold on to you lose
Whatever you let go of you lose
Love wrecks all your plans
Until only love is left

Copies are $8.00 each (includes shipping and handling within the U.S.), or

Please email me (mail@geneburnett.com) for S & H outside the U.S.

Send check or money order to:
Gene Burnett
549 B Street #3
Ashland, Or 97520

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Gene Burnett (541) 488-1926 Mail@GeneBurnett.com

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