Category: Thom Olsen

shake so net lxiv

when faded has a color
looking not much like anything
the big projects the duller
and deaf ears to choirs sing
whileas life likes life back
so little seems left
all be taken aback
gone to bereft
all to seem changes
to recall nothing as before
i think it rearranges
i shall have your love no more
thus is death
to not have your loving breath
-
Thom Olsen

shake one 35, a toronto park‏

trouble yourself no more
roses thorns fountains mud
clouds eclipses moon sun
a tad foul everything
we err i wit to err
to look err sore
how wrong to blame you there
as i must err by erring
though i might make amends
off of carnal dallying get
that i should my own amends
did i had let them set
the worse for us if i be
so stupid to remind me

Thom Olsen

shake one 35, a toronto park

trouble yourself no more
roses thorns fountains mud
clouds eclipses moon sun
a tad foul everything
we err i wit to err
to look err sore
how wrong to blame you there
as i must err by erring
though i might make amends
off of carnal dallying get
that i should my own amends
did i had let them set
the worse for us if i be
so stupid to remind me

Thom Olsen

shake sonnet xcviii

i have never really seen you in spring
when old april gets religion
and everybody feels fresh
even moody saturn in the sky
yet birdsong nor young breath
of all their lovely flowers
could make me tell the summer's tale
or wish to which? switch seasons
i understand the lily
accept the roses red
nice o yes truly
all on their way to you
as just to write these things
makes me miss your many springs

rhees street park, toronto
Thom Olsen

from the sonnet one (shake s on e i)

of any beauty we want more
and think perhaps that it can last
yet as we know of days before
poets sings of our long past
so even you in gracious squint
which hints the sparkle of your eyes
your memory but tint
passing beauty as it hies
though you are lovely today
as winter til it become spring
another summer follows may
to refresh beauty in answering
a sad world to want though also then
we come alive and gone again

[written in unnamed toronto park]
Thom Olsen

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de well

the law decided of itself to rule
by happenstance or you decide
as we bring thee first to school
to anticipate is to ride
by foment or a phoney rain
time spent double quick
you could look back in vain
the good perhaps making you sick
justice coy voyager lands
the thimble of devotion spun
laughs and shakes hands
though everyone won
to lose to tip the scales
though that never fails

Thom Olsen

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from the shakespear

(toronto park) the first banding le premier bagage high park (duck ponds)


i must be candid here
to me true break of day
however far or near
spiritual or fay
is glorious
the living is great
however may clouds notorious
summon some fate
the day has been good
night agone will come again
pathways through the wood
rain now and then
and good to dream
brighter than moonbeam

Thom Olsen



like there’s geometry in space, there’s psychology in time – marcel proust‏

the porch and the windows of the garage
the plan the man the lincoln
the watercolors en barrage
kitchen and the sink in
symmetry pour the nile
the arctic breezes chill
eternity indian file
manito fits the bill
whose love? the fox
the wolf the ant the duck
play in a box
for luck
the sun rises
as many surprises 

Thom Olsen