The Last Standza

I finally did it:) My first poetry collection

On the Other Side of Silence: The Making of Elements of Composition

There’s a strange quiet that comes after dying.

I’ve touched that silence twice, "twice pulled from the edge of stillness, and twice returned with something clinging to me. Not fear, not even clarity. But a kind of hunger. A need to gather fragments of thought, memory, rhythm, "whatever still shimmered in the corners of my mind, "and reassemble them into something I could understand. Or at least survive.

That’s how this book began.

Elements of Composition wasn’t born all at once. It formed in pulses. In the hush of recovery. In the flicker of a word remembered too late. In the weight of a pen held like a lifeline. These poems, "some old, some newly unearthed, "aren’t just reflections. They’re witnesses. To time, motion, consciousness, absurdity, love, and the absurdity of love.

They’re how I found myself again after being scattered.

I don’t know if this book is poetry in the traditional sense. Maybe it’s more of a salvage. But for those who find it, "who feel the tug of quiet questions in the back of their minds, "I hope these pieces reflect something back. Something true. Something unfinished. Something alive.

---

The Last Standza

I didn’t know it-"
it was unclear
on all of those scraps of paper,
that I would endear-"
that I’d be lost in the vapor
of a heart attack’s tear.

I had always scrawled-"
’twas my vanguard austere,
from the fractured recall
of an obstinate mind’s jeer.
I didn’t know it then, it was unclear.

But then I died, and all was implied:
from the steps of my stride
to the sounds in my ear,
even the face that resides-"
I didn’t know it then,
it was so queer.

And in this foreign place, I abide-"
stretched canvas, my flesh that barely adhered.
I didn’t know it, a palimpsest without pride,
stitched with a twitch, devoid of revere.
I could scarcely subscribe
to the views in my mirror.

I didn’t know it then-"
but those notes, I did jot
would jolt my heart’s plot-"
as my image came clear
from the visions I wrote
in those previous years,
as I collected the thoughts
of the things I forgot.
In my book, my collective-"
I soon would endear.

  

 

 

© 2025 Robert Trakofler

 No Pondering

Good sir,
the Bureau of Conventional Wisdom
would like very much
if you would please place your skepticism
back into the drawer.

Your conclusions have been painstakingly chosen
by duly appointed needle workers,
and those trappings fit just fine.

But look at these threads-"
some without endings, and others cut short.
This tweed is intangible,
and these socks are all rights!

---

Sir, I’d like you to affix your gaze
pon that sign on the wall:
This is a No Pondering zone.

This will simply not do.
Those past notions are law-"
and selected by you.

I must ask you to withdraw
this critical review.
Such frippery you’ll don…
and bear a taboo!

---

And with a sudden… nod no,
I exclaimed:
I must wrap myself in ponder
to see just what’s true.

For I see now that these grays
were really just blues..."
and that these right socks…
well, some were left too.

I thought, with a grimble.

So this pondering
is what I will do:

Wondering or wandering,
conjuring or conquering,
laundering,"
or even blundering..."
but pondering is what I’ll
do.

 

© 2025 Robert Trakofler

 

"Elements of Composition " Now Available

After years of scribbled notes, reflections, and survival, I'm proud to share that my first poetry collection, Elements of Composition, is now available.

These poems are fragments stitched from memory, motion, time, and the strange resilience of the heart. I hope they offer a reflection, "or a small comfort" to anyone walking a similar path.

 Find Elements of Composition on Amazon here.

Thank you for witnessing.

Author's Note

https://a.co/d/i4sPAck

Reviews

[Ayesha]

Hello Robert
Just revived my account and I am so glad I did. Firstly, How are you doing? And Congratulations on the release of your poetry collection. Wishing you all the love, light, and recognition this book deserves. There’s something so raw and intimate in the way you write, i mean the words are not just chosen but recovered, almost pulled from the edges of another realm. I have been reading you for quite sometime now, here on WC. There’s a beautiful ache in your voice, and yet it never falls into despair. Thank you for letting us into that process. I have learned a lot from you.

May you always keep everyone pondering and grimbling. And may all your last stanzas find hearts to endear.

Ayesha

[Robert Trakofler]

Hi Ayesha:) I am doing rather well all things considered! I am not doing much online publishing these days but I always come back when somebody takes the time to read me and for that I am grateful thank you:) I love that you said that you learned a lot from me over the years because in many ways that's what the book is about... it is very much a collection of poems designed to inspire and spur other artists to create and share in the collective writing experience it is a universal thing from the first handprint sketched on a cave wall in France to the latest scrawls of online poetry forums we all carry those voices forward so if in my small way I helped you to do that then that means so much more to me than you might realize so thank you

[John the Baptist]

Thanks, Bunny, and please continue to write. You have died twice and many of us need reassurance regarding that experience we will all face sooner or later.

[emmajoygreen]

'No Pondering

Good sir,
the Bureau of Conventional Wisdom
would like very much
if you would please place your skepticism
back into the drawer.

Your conclusions have been painstakingly chosen
by duly appointed needle workers,
and those trappings fit just fine.

But look at these threads-"
some without endings, and others cut short.
This tweed is intangible,
and these socks are all rights!'

The everyday kind of life comes and goes between unexpected, unwanted, uninvited goings' on that turn a mind into mush and a heart into cavernous hole: seems to me how your words transcribe. Erratic reasoning meets challenged heart, facing that deeply hurts. But then ignoring what hurts seems the easy way out of solving a problem or/and stress that needs be faced in order to make better, all willing. That's how I feel after reading your word - so personal they are, one can only put feet into another person's feet - yours, that's never easy.. in fact is nigh impossible. Truth is you know how to write, what to say what matters - especially being in helping self. How you arrive at the YOU is both emotional and rational: you feel and learn. I pray that happens to me or people like me who try to understand what is near impossible, sir. Precious and generous thought shared here.

[Robert Trakofler]

there you go again... you always make me smile :) It seems you have a remote control over my face if its from reading one of your splendid poems or a nice review I just always grin you have a power over the bunny:/ but I'm sure its just really the blush of being touched with your grace dear Emmy! One can never have too much grace. So say I to the bureau of conventional wisdom. (by the way my second chapbook of poems shall be going with that title) I just finished my first Novel of which I was just about to make a post about when I came upon this review this morning what a delicious surprise thank you

[emmajoygreen]

In due course, will read your novel!!!

[Tom27]

That’s hauntingly beautiful and layered with a kind of disciplined melancholy. The phrasing feels deliberate yet unrestrained, almost like a mind arguing with its own echoes. I can see why it resonates; it reads like someone standing trial before their own memories. Beautifully written.

[Robert Trakofler]

Thanks Tom I am not posting too much online these days I have been working on my first novel:) Assembling my first book of poetry was much like reassembling my mind after my heart attacks it truly helped me get back a sense of me again LOL

[redd Brick Keshner]

Congratulations! I'm sure many agree that it should've arrived sooner.

[Robert Trakofler]

thank you I didn't want to die again and not publish anything LOL

[lightsong]

I don't know why no one is here yet, but your witness is here for You✨🧚🏻‍♀️✨

[Robert Trakofler]

Well I’m glad you enjoyed the book:) this site feels more like a tomb than a poetry forum these days I can’t tell you how non reciprocal it is here now you have missed nothing