http://slow.writerscafe.org/99Hillside The original writings of author Firestone Feinberg en-us Copyright 2026 WritersCafe.org 1775992551 WritersCafe.org RSS Generator 15 to my grandson http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1408323/ Depressing that poetry rarely appearsOn pages that promise implicitly so --The words and the phrases are certainly there --But nothing like beauty is likely to show --And knowing it -- readers -- scatter -- fast --Then elsewhere go in hope to findA single pleasure for the mindA thing of wonder made .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1304274/ Filled with ink my pen-tip describes lines...Filled with ink my pen-tip describes linesBlack on white paper.  WatercolorPaper.  One hundred percent cottonRag.  One hundred and forty poundWeight.  Acid-free.  It is better Than I am.  It's soft -- and its cold-presse.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1300393/ Whoever discovered words was a giant...Whoever discovered words was a giant.Did he find them in a dark cave where A fire glowed?  Did he come upon themIn a field at the end of day whenThe sun was setting?  Was anyone elseThere at the time?  Did another witnessThe words as they fl.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1299548/ b''h 13 January 2014Wears on the night and colds the mind...As darkness spreads its wingsOver the city -- and none can findThe comfort that old thingsBring -- and you stand in the indigoAir and think about how the yearsPassed too quickly though time was slow -- You know again the reason fo.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1298024/ As words fly round the room and you pretend...As words fly round the room and you pretendTo see them although you know you really don't -- And dreams encircle the Invisible --And old ideas arise from Nowhere toRemind you that others Are -- and you look For a clue to enlighten you -- but al.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1293153/ [Return, return, my love, to me]Return, return, my love, to meThat we might once again delightIn all the beauty of the nightAnd listen to the melodyOf the wind as it plays upon The grass and with the leaves entwines --And watch the whirling world-designsAs stars and moons and planets wanderRoun.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1275079/ Loose the light upon the lawn andLet the tulips and asparagusThrive.  Long ago when all was goneThere were lilacs up near Sponder's.I know because I picked them forMy mother.  She loved them.  But sheDied before many seasons had passed,And then flowers and apple-treesHad less meaning .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1273875/ b''h25 November 2013It's time to tend to business --To start the mill to grind --And re-consider is-ness --Though be so dull to mind.Routine the existential --Unexciting stuff --Yet of experimental:Enough! http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1272215/ b''h24 Nov 2013An '-ism' isn't a prism --But a kind of prison --It doesn't speak of spectrum --Rather -- restriction.Trust not in reigning fashionUnless you like to rideThe weary wave -- dispassion --And surf the tired tide. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1271966/ [The dream of peace returns to dust] The dream of peace returns to dust --And promise slowly dies --A plainer picture never was --A sadder be there none --No hopeful words remain to say --As all avert their eyes --Yet still the Earth revolves its way --Around a shining sun. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1263836/ [To comprehend a grain of sand]To comprehend a grain of sand --Seems an easy task -- Yet who will ever understand --The smallest on the beach?Consider then an ocean wide --What reason question ask?Experience -- be touch of tide --Essence -- none can reach.  http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1260871/ b''h30 Oct 2013[He's one who takes you to his heart]He's one who takes you to his heartWho has no choice -- but must --Who knows of neither guile nor art --He's worthy of your trust.She knows you even better thanYou know yourself.  She saysThe words you need to hear -- whenYou need to hear them.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1259978/ [When the mind is almost empty]When the mind is almost emptyOf everyday concern --And focus goes from here to blankness --And the little things thatCrawl in the cornerReturn to wherever they came from --And the wind stops howling --Then returnsAn armistice --A moment of truce...And suddenlyIt seems .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1259027/ b''h29 Oct 2013[It used to be like this]It used to be like thisMore than forty years agoBut then came decadesWithout wordsI don't know whatHappened to themMaybe they got lostIn marijuana andLSDOr maybe they wereUselessOr too hard to sayAnywayNow --After all this time --Here They Are.Again... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1259025/ b''h28 Oct 2013No more the days of childhood --They're gone from here at last --Though memory, at times, too good --Replays the poison pastWith pictures that become too clear --And fill the mirror mind...As ghostly visions reappear --The heart again to find. Firestone Feinberg http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1258492/ b''h 28 Oct 2013[Living -- an evening of light into]Living -- an evening of light intoDark -- is the timeless time betweenOne here and another.  We travelThis wilderness -- alone -- althoughWe think we have neighbors on the road.The delusion is a defensiveThing.  We fear the walking w.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1258040/ b''h 27 oct 2013What's the difference if you'reDifferent that is if you feelLike you're so different fromOther so-called homo sapiens that Means human beings or maybe justHuman being but either way I don'tMean to use the word as a complimentSince most of them are pretty lousyBut anyhow if .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1257527/ b''h27 oct 2013No matter what I seem to keepComing back to this theater likeI know the play is over but IStill want to check that it'sNot still going on I mean evenThe curtain calls and bows andAll that stuff that comes afterThe show but still is the show ifYou know what I mean anyhow that'sThe way .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1257526/ b''h 26 Oct 2013Okay I admit it I can't understand or evenAppreciate modern poetry so I wonder ifI'm deficient in some vitamin or maybeI'm missing a particular chromosome allI can say is I wish I could understandIt because well it sort of makes me feelLike an idiot when everybody else reallyDig.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1257523/ b"hOct 2013The point is to better a self --Or at least not to make it worse --What other reason to write? justTo swim in a dream of ocean?The point is to be of some help --Or at least to try not to hurt -- How else is the other to trustYou with his fragile emotion? Firestone Feinberg http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1257055/ b''h 20 Oct 2013Another note of sadness soundsAs someone goes from here --Across the bridge -- beyond the bounds --Transcendent and unknown...So slowly comes a melodyDefying catch by earThough carried in tranquility --Eternally alone.Firestone Feinberg http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1255188/ b''h17 October 2013A kind of wisdom settles in --Something comfortable and warm As old age approaches and we beginTo see that time is not the stormWe thought it was when were young --But -- instead -- time is a good friendWho has steadied the years one by oneAnd now readies us for the end.Fires.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1253273/ b''h 15Oct 2013 The complexity of This Becomes more and more visibleas The morning light arrives. The horizon is clear. What Is Shows. Hiding from the weather Was never possible -- yet now It is more out of reach than Ever. Even so, at times the Cle.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1252477/ b''h12 Oct 2013The sonnet tells the business well enoughThat little enterprise need to be doneBy the writer with his pen in hand -- someoneWho's almost unnecessary -- the stuffOf poems somehow survives the dustOf personality and suffers noneOf the wrestling with emotions too numbTo get themselves fe.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1251160/ b''h 12 October 2013LOUSY SONNET  No. 1Well I decided to use the old magicFormula that is the sonnet at leastIn that this poem will have fourteenLines instead of my usual eighteenLines in the hope that the visual formatWill draw more customers than the otherBut I am afraid that it won't fo.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1251045/ b''h11 Oct 2013Well I tried to get back to normal and write aPoem that was normal I mean with meter andRhyme and form and all that normal stuff andTo tell you the truth it isn't a bad poem IMean it's not great or anything but it seemsA little lackluster when I compare it to theseEighteen-line monstr.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1250556/ b''h10 Oct 2013We live our lives to do some good --And that not just because we should --But, too, because there's nothing moreMakes any sense to live life for.What other meaning to our fight?To witness roll of year to year?To watch our dearest disappear?To testify to day and night?And are we then t.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1250089/ b''h 9 Oct 2013Seems I've run out of rhymes andEven meter I mean I don't knowWhere they went but I know theyRan away to somewhere where theyCan hide from me I guess I soundParanoid like this whole thingAbout f*****g words desertingMe and all I mean you mightThink I've finally crossed theBorder .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1249646/ b''h 8 Oct 2013I'm not really stupid or at least I don'tThink I am but then again if you'reStupid you probably don't know it andAnyhow if you want to know the truth IDon't think that anyone is stupid exceptMaybe those people who call other peopleStupid but really they're not stupid IMean the on.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1249202/ b''h  7 Oct 2013Poetry must be something but nobody Seems to know what it is I mean I Looked it up in a dictionary and It said poetry is like words in A certain rhythm and all but then  In another dictionary it said something About forms and then started talking&nb.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1248603/ b''h 6 Oct 2013Okay I've finally figured it out I mean ifYou dig having labels for everything andEverybody knows that you do even though youSay that you don't because it's not cool orSomething to admit you label everything andAll so anyhow I finally figured out a goodLabel for myself I'm a cert.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1248198/ b''h 6 October 2013Maybe if you're not a real poet I meanIf you think that real poets are onlyPeople who use strange words and peculiarSounds and things like metaphors whichI always forget what are anyhow maybeIf you're just a regular person writingPoems is a thing that happens to youWhen you s.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1248151/ b''h5 Oct 2013Really if you're not depressed you haveAchieved something I mean everythingIs so lousy all the time that if you'reNormal you just want to get out of here butThere's no way out so you just turn offYou know what I mean it's like you're anElectric thing like for instance a blender andSome.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1247697/ b''h 26 Sept 2013After Reading Nabokov's 'Natasha'The young woman had visions, sheSaid -- visions of Mary; andThe young man spoke of his travelsTo exotic lands -- lands ofEssence and incense -- but heWas lying; and although her father Was near death,  the young woman Didn't stay .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1244681/ b''h 2013/09/28Help descends from the mountains and arisesFrom the oceans.  It rains down from the clouds andIt comes noiselessly -- without any sound -- andIt almost always surprises us...For we are feeling too weak toThink -- or even to speak ofOur need -- or of our loneliness -- andWe f.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1244679/ b''h 26 Sept. 2013It's really amazing how much talentPeople have I mean you don't have toBe rich or famous or anything likeThat to be a genius and write all thisIncredible poetry or paint all theseTerrific paintings or write all thisGreat music.  You can do other thingsToo that are just as.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1243107/ b''h25 Sept 2013You really don't have to read this poem ifYou don't want to.  I mean I won't die orAnything.  As a matter of fact we're bothProbably better off if you don't read it.That way I don't have to try to pleaseYou or worry that the poem is lousy orWhatever and you won't feel oblig.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1242588/ b''h 24 Sept 2013The truth is that when I write aPoem I usually try to say somethingBrilliant or obscure so that I canImpress someone with how perceptiveI am but really it's all nonsenseSince maybe I'm a little brilliantOr something but even if I am IDon't really go around saying thingsLike as .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1242164/ b"h21 Sept 2013The guardians of the spirit --In uniform present --Obvious -- their motive --Earnest -- their intent...They fail -- tho no encounter --For puppeteer be wise --And tired, too, the theater:No show today...  Surprise!D L Firestone Feinberg http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1241173/ b"h20 Sept 2013Tho expensive most wares in the market --Be some proven products that remain free:Wisdom is one, another -- honesty,Imagination is a third...  and itSeems there is no end to the list... but IGuess freedom isn't free and neither isLove nor even life itself.  We pay highPrices.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1240266/ b"h19 Sept. 2013When upon your mind trouble laysIts shadow and all you see is lossOf love and life -- and dreadful daysLie like broken blankets all acrossThe lonely landscape of livingAnd no one is blaming anyoneFor this misfortune -- and no oneCan even think of forgiving -- Because your suffer.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1240265/ b"h15 Sept 2013Slowly fades the afternoon asDay slips into evening --In the east a rising moonSmiles -- -- deceivingAll who trust her promises --All who fall for her lies -- --She plays at being wise --But her silvery eyes -- timelessTho they be -- don't -- fool -- me.I realize not her fantasy:She n.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1237984/ b"h24 august 2013Life itself a mystery --Never to be known --You take it at its ownWord -- you listen carefully --Be what you hear as roaring waveAs ocean in your soulAnd try tho' you -- to be brave --The story -- ever old --Tells you -- and you not it --No matter what you ask of it --Till all that .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1237383/ b"h14 Sept 2013Yom Kippur 5774Unfiled this note -- no placeTo keep it.  Unwritten this day --Who would record it?  Unknown -- thisMan -- he hides in the alley.  AloneThis night among sisters -- it isUnlike any other.  Be thereNo comfort with a day.  Write thatIn the journal .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1237381/ b"h12 Sept 2013Morning here again I see --Always a surprise --Just the way it used to be --With grey sky -- at sunrise --Every day a gift I'm told --For life is ever dear --Tho often -- as I grow old --I like when night is near. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1236506/ I deleted most of these poems after posting them -- don't go there -- and then changed my mind. Maybe some of them I never even posted. At any rate, if you want to read them they're here. Thanks http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1235764/ a poem I deleted -- changed my mind http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1235753/ b"h8 sept 2013Understanding poetryIs often far beyond my ken --The modern kind -- especially --Eludes me -- So againI make my weary plea:Poets!  Please!  Have pityOn me!  I try so hard toComprehend...  And do youTry to trick me then? --I sometimes wonder: What'sThe point?  I.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1234506/ b"h7 sept 2013To know what to say and when to say it areGifts.  Of course I can only speak forMyself, so you might think I'm totallyWrong...  But I seem to say the wrong Thing at the wrong time.  And the worstThing is that I don't even know I did it.Anyhow I'm probably not saying.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/99Hillside/1234124/