"Leaves"

As the first frost neared, the water overflowed   

with reflected color of summer’s demise   

High in the wind, a remnant of warm days fell—   

alone—floating, turning, then softly at home   

Autumn silently ran among the towers,   

forcing the windowpanes to lose their fastened grasps   

In shimmering glory they cascaded down,   

shattering to rest at the tree roots below   

There, at last, by the river and on the curb,   

the vestiges of yesterday piled together   

They shift in the wind and await the first snow,   

wait to be buried in a blanket of cold.   

Copyright 1975 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

"Poison"

Inside   

           buried under smiles   

                     as innocent as childhood   

           hidden by energy   

                     that eats the inner core   

           enveloped with laughter   

                     tinged by hysteria   

           where no one can see, or touch, or feel   

                     the infinite coldness   

Waiting   

           surrounded by darkness   

                     like a corpse in the grave   

           clamped down by a vise   

                     whose claws rip and tear   

           forced into submission   

                     until no one’s looking   

           deep down in the well of pitch, and stagnation, and fear   

                     the infinite coldness   

Outside   

           revealed at last in the eyes   

                     through condemnation and indignation   

           recognized by the putrid stench   

                     of pettiness and intolerance   

           exposed in each word and act   

                     through acid hatred   

           an eruption of vomitus bile—black and caustic   

                     the infinite coldness   

   

Copyright 1997 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

Unfortunately, many of us experience relationships with individuals who are toxic to our lives. Often, they hide their nature under smiles and hugs, so sometimes it takes years to realize just how much they damage you with their poison.

"Silhouette"

reflecting on glossy screen   

delving into the mirrored universe   

holding onto reality through voyeurism   

crawling through a web in search of just-the-right-word   

looking through the window-or   

stepping through the doorway   

choosing motion over inertia   

fearing stillness’s unbearable pain   

losing myself within eternal bytes   

entrapping my soul within the glass   

Copyright 2010 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

"Greedy Little Men"

Greedy Little Men   

Like slithering serpents in the Garden of Eden   

twisting the world with their lines   

constricting around our minds   

sucking us dry of laughter, warmth, desire, love   

biting with the sharpened fangs of need   

poisoning the world with their avarice    

Greedy Little Men   

Copyright 1997 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This poem, written in response to the political climate fourteen years ago, still applies to today's world.

"Goblin" by David Chapman

pencil/Photoshop

"Haiku Experiment"

The Experiment   

distilling daily dreams—thoughts   

one drop at a time   

July 4   

Morning view outside   

velvet red upon green stalks   

symmetrical rose   

July 4   

Daily poetry   

huge mountains of words to climb   

an endless challenge   

July 13   

Twelve days of poems   

forcing creativity   

through the sieve of words   

July 14   

Impatience is gone   

vanishing within a smile   

the mood shifts again   

July 23   

Happiness and joy  

are acorns planted in fall   

and rooted in time   

July 27   

The poetry helps   

by healing my tattered soul   

bandaging worries   

August 2   

Plunge into a book   

evade all-consuming thoughts   

escape tomorrow   

August 3   

Night’s muffled sighs sound   

distant humming of autos   

gentle songs of sleep   

August 5   

Today’s words are forced   

curbed and restrained emotions   

cotton wraps my mind   

August 8   

Retreat into sleep   

play out other worlds and lives   

leave yourself behind   

August 8   

Hold onto sunshine   

gently cup it in your hands   

optimistic thoughts   

August 16   

Sleepy Saturday   

singing soft lullabies   

snoozing silently   

September 11   

Copyright 1999 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

For a six month period in 1999, I challenged myself to make my journal entries through some form of poetry. Often, the day's events seemed best expressed through haiku. These are just a few entries from my experiment.