Beryl Dov > Quotes

“Sublime Beauty
When I shut my eyes, I can move mountains.
When I open them, mountains can move me.”
― Beryl Dov

“Comfort Zone
Your comfort zone has a clock on it,
ticking off until it becomes your death zone.”
― Beryl Dov

“Eyes of Heaven
To see through the eyes of heaven
is to look upon your fellow man
and only see the good in him.”
― Beryl Dov

“Sunshine On My Shoulders
When you're home's always filled with sunshine,
you're either blessed or it's time to fix the roof.”
― Beryl Dov

“Ageing Woman
I am invisible now,
indistinguishable in a passing crowd -
just another woman blending in.
I remember, not long ago,
in that whimsical way memory measures time,
I ached with the desire to be desired.
I was catcalled as soon I stepped out on the street,
I was groped and pawed at sidewalk lights,
pinched by Italian teenagers cruising on Vespas.
My sex smelled then of camphor and oranges.
It now smells musty books and cucumbers -
And I love it.
I am content in my ageing cloak of invisibility,
I breathe a sigh of relief,
free from the man-handling, unwelcome fondling,
free from the incessant gaze of strangers,
free from the foolishness of sex.
There, I've said it.
I'M FREE, FREE, FREE OF SEX.
Free at last.
I have faith in the wisdom of this old body
which no longer craves
what I can no longer have
and I sleep like a baby,
peacefully in my single bed.”
― Beryl Dov

“The Garden of Our Solar System
There are peonies on Pluto,
Orchids of Earth,
Roses on Saturn;
Meteor showers raining mirth.

Did you see
the junipers on Jupiter?
The marigolds on Mars?
Did you know
Sunflowers blossom
in the bellies of stars?”
― Beryl Dov

“Love is Heaven on a Hinge
Memory enfolds upon her's sovereignty of sleep;
her beauty manifests not as pleasing proportion
but as an arcane assemblage of Ming porcelain,
clues pieced together to reveal
the numinous Yin within.
Tangrams of facile shapes recollect
into priceless chinoiserie
excavated with a toothbrush
beneath the clay noses
of a thousand entombed sentinels.
She reposes within my niche,
an ingenuous vase,
her dreams fulcromed by my lever.
My right arm, her nocturnal tiara,
diademed in jewels of sweat,
perfumed in muskiness and ferment,
heralded in the dulcet wail of snores.
Beneath the bay window of her oneiric realm
frogs belch Chopin's Impromptus,
chanticleers trumpet Hayden
cicadas chirp Mozart's Elvira Madigan.
Under the mask of night my niche becomes
her royal box at the Viennese Opera:
concertinas of Chinese silk,
the empyreal music of limns,
the fateful reprise of heaven
on a hinge.”
― Beryl Dov

“Sillage
Whenever I walk in the woods,
I feel some unaccountable sense
of having trodden this new path before.
My feet sink deeply into the invisible steps
of some bold predecessor
who begs not to be forgotten,
some hunter following the tracks of prey,
some courageous child at play
dragging a stick into the earth
to find his way back home.
However pristine new trails seem,
some forebear at some time,
has left a tangible trail of memory behind,
a sillage to guide me through the unknown.”
― Beryl Dov

“Night Sky {Couplet}
Stars are a shimmering quilt of light,
That tucks the moon into the night.”
― Beryl Dov

“Oedipus Rex vs. Tyrannosaurus Rex
Oedipus Rex, a tragedy by Sophocles, chronicles the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes while in the process unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would murder his pops Laius and marry his mom Jocasta.

Tyrannosaurus Rex , commonly abbreviated to T. Rex, was a big fucking dinosaur that kicked ass during the Jurassic period.

My point?

My point is there doesn't have to be a point if you have
already hooked the reader with a catchy title.

And the winner is...
Steven Spielberg”
― Beryl Dov

“The Enchanted Forest
At the gate of the enchanted forest hangs a sign, saying,
"Trespassers and solicitors shall be disenchanted."
The moral behind this warning is that
if you want magic to enter your life,
you must enter the land of enchantment without an agenda.”
― Beryl Dov

“The Life and Death of Socially Networked Lemmings [20w]
When lemmings
jump
off
a
cliff,
it
tweets
its
suicide
note,
then
Instagrams
a
selfie
to
Facebook
on
its
iPhone.”
― Beryl Dov

“Valentine's Day 12 [10w]
My heart's a lotus,
opening and closing to love's light.”
― Beryl Dov

“Allison of RADAD: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Disability
The ticks of Lyme
Suck my blood of time
And leave me rather drowsy.

My feet move like tar
With Epstein-Barr
And I wake up feeling lousy.

I fall asleep in my Pepsi
With Narcolepsy
To the chagrin of the soda jerk.

My Chronic Fatigue
(and thespian ability)
puts me in the big league
(of insurance fraud disability)

So who the fuck needs to work!”
― Beryl Dov

“Metamorphosis [10w]
Change. Become the butterfly.
Don't stay a caterpillar with wings.”
― Beryl Dov

“Romantics [10w] + ]10w]
Romantics feel twice as heartbroken after a they break up,
because they've been betrayed by a lover
and a concept.”
― Beryl Dov

“Recycling [10w]
Recycling's good for the planet and turning shit into lawyers.”
― Beryl Dov

“Soul of Poetry [10w]
If poems had souls they would look like pink dahlias.”
― Beryl Dov

“Trip Advisor: Travel the World with Haiku [D]
Jerusalem, Israel
Jews pray motionless
and the Western Wall shakes.
It's all relative.

Capetown, South Africa
And the coloured girls say,
'We're not Africaans, we're English.'
In a total Africaans accent.

Bulls Bay, Jamaica
Weed, rum, guava jelly,
Reggae, Marley, Red Stripe beer,
O Baby, jerk that chicken.

Istanbul, Turkey
I asked my driver,
'Why do you believe in Allah?'
He answers: 'If not, He hit me!'

Cairo, Egypt
Cairo International Airport,
Porter drops my bags six times.
Descendents of the Pharaohs, my ass.

Santorini Island, Greece
Greeks are like the current,
They push you over and then
Try to suck you in.

Christiania, Denmark
One thousand drug dealers,
Five hundred thousand tourists.
Alway$ Chri$tma$ here.*”
― Beryl Dov

“The Magpie Poet
The magpie poet lined his poems,
with a nest of shiny objects:
engagement rings returned by ex-lovers,
lipstick and keys found beneath his couch's cushions,
even shards of his mom's silver hand mirror,
too filled with images to discard.
His nest of luminous memories
held his yellow eye, his offspring.
More importantly, it held him.
Each poem he wrote was a
pro tem refuge he could hide in,
a safe house to rest his head
after another sleepless night.”
― Beryl Dov

“The Scream
Death changes the meaning of words
　
Life is not what it use to mean
the carefree seamless summer of my childhood
is stitched into seasons years decades appointments
filling the void with more blackness
like oil roiling from the ocean floor
love is bottom-lined to to the slit of pleasure
God to the slit of the confessional
work to clock-punching
family to obligation
friends to activity partners
going through the motions
watching myself in a movie
in a dream
at a wake...
we are all amnesiacs lost we
suffer from anosognosia and adderall
and chronic fatigue and hypochondria
he hobbles trembling forsaken alone
pressing his ears like a vise
in the Krakatoan twilight
　
I scream”
― Beryl Dov

“Righteous My Ass
Who the general public perceives
as our most righteous men
are often extremely clever hypocrites.
The truly righteous are the truly hidden.”
― Beryl Dov

“Unhappy Anniversary
Memories fly, tears descend,
when death's anniversary
impinges upon the present.
Light a candle in the wind,
reminisce upon a kiss;
Loss's torment reigns eternal,
long after all our tears are spent.
Neither motions of joy,
nor effervescence of bliss
can't throw us off
the scent of lingering lament.
Death, is death, is death,
with or without our frail consent.”
― Beryl Dov

“Radha Krishna
Krishna,
Svayam Bhagavan,
Avatar of Vishnu,
play your flute for me
beneath this parasol of stars,
diadems bejeweling your eternal crown,
and I will dance for you a joyous dance.

Svayam Bhagavan,
Avatar of Vishnu,
visit your consort, Radha,
mantled in the black of night,
the cow-herd girl who has stolen your heart,
and now the gopi has become the guru
and awaits her lover with open arms.

Svayam Bhagavan,
Avatar of Vishnu,
stay the night,
and learn the love of Radha,shakti,
her wifely love, the svakaya-rasa,
her spiritual love, the parakiya-rasa,
for immortality is a curse without both of these.

Svayam Bhagavan,
Avatar of Vishnu,
return to heaven now
for the cock has crowed
and yet you linger, lazy in Radha’s bed.
Even endless love must seek and end
to repeat the joy of new beginnings.
Return, Krishna, I beseech you,
for my feet are weary of the dance
and I have fields to plow and rice to plant.”
― Beryl Dov

“Lost in Venice
I found you the same way I found Venice,
Lost in the skein of her back alleys,
Secret gardens, shadowy passageways,
A pleasant discovery at every turn.
You too were a city of bridges,
Oflimitless connection to my heart,
Which floated like a palazzo on the Adriatic,
Kept afloat by the spells you cast in your sleep.
Yes, you were this mystical city in microcosm,
A serene Vitruvian woman,
Truest measure of man,
Sipping your espresso in Piazza San Marco
And slowly vanishing under the flood waters
Like Atlantis.”
― Beryl Dov

“Non-Conformity
The path of non-conformity
never takes the shortest distance between two points.
It's convoluted like our prefrontal cortex.”
― Beryl Dov

“Alone Together
I want us to be together,
but I want to stay connected.
I want your attention,
but I want to manage mine,
opting in and opting out,
sponging up what's relevant,
discarding the expendable.
I can't get enough of you,
not too close, not too far,
at a manageable distance,
at a convenient time.
Let me tell you how much I loveyou,
let me count the ways,
by text, by email, by post, by Tweet.
If I've said too much
I can edit.
If I've show myself too vulnerable
I can delete.
If I'm at a loss for words
I can Google.
Come to think of it,
I'd much rather text than talk.
Come to think of it
you're dispensable too.
I just need the illusion of love,
without all its messy demands,
without its unpredictability,
without the risk.
I just need Facebook
because nothing beats being
alone
together.”
― Beryl Dov

“Poets
A poet is like a plant.
He can get by with
a little water
and a bit of light to grow ~
but a true poet needs
to be submerged in shit
for half his life
and surrounded by darkness
the other half
for his poetry
to truly flower.”
― Beryl Dov

“One Size Fits All Advice
Do anything for as long as it feels like an adventure;
stop it once it begins to feel like work.”
― Beryl Dov

“Sun vs. Moon [10w]
The moon's just a reflection of the sun's big ego.”
― Beryl Dov