The Poetry of R.E. Slater: R.E. Slater

"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations

"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]

Sunday, August 2, 2015

R.E. Slater - Daily Beast

Faust's own devil

Daily Beast

by R.E. Slater

I lust for peace,

No peace I gain,

My burden's beast,

Rides alone its tasks.

From dawning's sun,

Til' evening's shrouds,

Prostrate, succumbed,
By grave's mauling plumbs.

Homeward bound the rose line seethes,

Nor windward bonds stays the golden fleece,

No harbor's lights, no anvil's sounds,

What scatters one now scatters all.

When tinker's damn fails its rues,

And speech slips silent upon its ruins,

And I to self make solemn vows,

That desperate men do daily die.

No devil to pay but mine own,

No Faustian bargain but heart and soul,

Each persuading right and wrong,

Each betraying life and song.

Plucked from spirit's winds and chimes,

Ringing siren's song all desperate souls,

Bidding shores of wreck and ruin,

Finding no heaven, no hopes, no dreams.

Dying to self as dying to all,

Mustering courage on failing spirits,

Breaking restraints set broad and wide,

Trembling strong braces set running tides.

Unloosing troubles far and wide,

Unholy thoughts met warring cries,

And there to die in pen and script,

Blood red runs my burden's beast.

- R.E. Slater

August 1, 2015
revised August 3, 6, 2015

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

The Poetry of R.E. Slater

Sunday, August 2, 2015

R.E. Slater - Daily Beast

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