SEEDS of MANAO
Thoughts, Ideas and Opinions in Poetic Prose
by Branch Isole
Copyright © 2010
Smashwords Edition
eBook ISBN 978-0983574415
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.
Manao Publishing
Hampton, VA 23666
Order copies of this eBook at
www.branchisole.com
ww.voyeuristicpoet.com
Author, Poet and Storyteller Branch Isole observes and comments on the motivations of our world both clothed and bare. Writing of issues and emotions often experienced but not always voiced, his style and presentation cast reflective identity against a backdrop of personal responsibility choice or avoidance. This is ‘Voyeurism Poetry’.
Seeds of Manao contains adult themes and language, some of which is erotic or sexual in nature and presentation. Seeds of Manao is intended for mature audiences.
Voyeurism Poetry ~ looking out, seeing in
“Many write of things known or experienced, I comment on those seen and heard.”
“I am the exhibitionist of Voyeurism Poetry.”
*******************************************************************
Contents
+ -
A Mothers Love
Abandoned Never
Apple Core
At My Door This Week
Baby
Bachelor
Bird Brain
Blessings
Blue Tooth Importance
Bull’s Eye
Bush League
Death’s Door Opened
Emotional Expenditures
Endangered Species
Essentials
Fear in Black and White
Final Flight
Fornication Under Command of the King
Freedom’s Risk
Freefallin’
Gentle Breeze
Hawaiian Sunset
Imaginary Lover
Inaccessible
Juxtaposition
Kingdom of God
Lahaina Town Crier
Light
Lucky You
Martyr
Mitochondrial Mybrosis
Monsters
Old Places
Once
One Hand Clapping
Pakanu Road
Patrician Prayer
Poetry
Polynesian Provocateur
Rapture
Skin
Soul Bartering
Stewardship
Sugar Daddy
Teacher
The Cost
The Hoe
Wedding Words
Westside AM PM
What We Say
You Decide
Introduction
Mana'o (pronounced Ma Na O) is Hawaiian for ‘Thoughts, Ideas and Opinions.’
The Seeds of Mana'o are all around each of us, in our world and on our paths. Cast on the winds of universal time and space, waiting for us to grasp them and make them our own, they are the seeds of our journey. By watering those that have been planted in our soul, spirit, mind and body we each blossom to become who we are.
May the contemporary poems herein, stimulate your mind and your emotions.
It is truly a pleasure and blessing to be able to share these Seeds of Mana'o with you.
Enjoy the garden.
Branch Isole
the Voyeuristic Poet
“I have believed in money
but all I got was greed
I have believed in vengeance
but all I did was bleed
I have believed in fame
but fame turned its back on me
If I had only believed in love
I would have been set free.”
~Peter Himmelman
from ‘Set Free’
on “Skin” ©
************************************************************************
+ -
Even perfect balance
Requires opposition
A Mother’s Love
The one thing we can all learn
From the true love of a mother
Is how to be more considerate
In our treatment of another
Abandoned Never
Lord open my mind
that I might know Your Word
Open my heart
that I might learn Your Ways
Open my eyes
that I might see Your Truth
This,
and every new day
Fill me with Your love
Your simple Commands
That I might now better understand
Not forgetting my past
my sins
my transgressions,
but living anew
with forgiving intentions
You have always been here
Now, that’s perfectly clear
It is I who was blind
refusing to see
Spent the time thinking
it was all about me
Fill the void
which lives within me
Mend the break
within my heart
Become one with my conscience again
From this moment,
We start
Apple Core
‘She made me do it’
he told the judge
‘she was tempted
and then succumbed’
“So she gave right in
without a fight?
That’s what you’re saying,
Am I hearing you right?”
‘That’s correct, sir
she knew it a lie
and I think she knew
the whole damn time’
‘She said
it wouldn’t wash
Not with you sir,
but that didn’t
for one minute
stop her’
‘No sir,
she was convinced
she could have it all,
then proceeded to shackle me
chain and ball’
“So you tried to refuse
her advances
her wanton ways?”
“For how long was this,
an hour, a day?”
‘Ah, to be exact
I don’t recall
Remember I mentioned
that chain and ball?’
‘I tried to get away
but she was so beguiling
I had to stay’
“So you told her outright
you told her ‘No’ ?”
‘Well, she’s a temptress
That’s for sure
You know she’s all woman
not a little girl’
“My question was
did you tell her ‘No’
in no uncertain terms,
Explaining to her
you are both here
new lessons to be learned”
‘Oh yes sir!
That was it,
but you know her
her voice is like a lair’
“So she dragged you down,
down to the ground?
You resisted, you kicked
you screamed?”
‘Yes, that’s it,
it was your previous instructions
to her I preened’
“So in summation,
you resisted
you tried
She convinced
she lied?”
‘Correct sir
she overwhelmed me with words
It was in the way she acted,
She held it out
I retracted’
“However, you gave in
believing her to be right?
And then,
you,
took a bite?”
‘Yes I admit it,
I thought I was free
to do that which I might’
“You listened to her
instead of me
Your actions
I wanted to forgive,
but then when on my walk
I called out,
you hid”
“Why didn’t you come out
and admit to your transgression,
apologize and explain
that you had learned your lesson
Then ask forgiveness
of my redeeming love
Instead of refusing responsibility
and passing the buck”
“For the balance of your life
you shall toil without rest
and for your efforts
to place your blame
somewhere else
My sentence upon you,
is death”
At My Door This Week
From our beginning
it was then I knew
as we both talked
only of you
No small place for me
in heart or brain
Against my own will
my emotions did strain
Pulled to and fro
if only I’d known,
but wait,
I did . . .
There beneath the shadows
did truth and reality peek,
Divorce
came to my door this week
Lust filled days
Craven sex soaked nights
You demanded
You demeaned
Slowly at first
yet always from you
a steady stream
I struggled to breathe
both awake
and in dream
My soul clamored
from you to break
My mind and body
wanton slaves
of your honey and cream
Setting a trap for myself
my promises to please
All the while sensing
deep within my being,
muzzles to muffle
the truth that did shriek
Divorce,
came to my door this week
Building a stage
upon which to flaunt
the props you required
until each and every
was fully acquired
Climbing debts’ pedestal
with titles desired
It would take my death
from you, to retire
Hooks buried deep
into meaty flesh,
down to the bone
your truths, all lies
Children; assurance, you’d never be alone
A proffered lifetime meal ticket
now punched and paid for
Divorce, this week
came to my door
Baby
I’ve been missing,
missing my baby
Sometimes her smell
on the pillow
next to me
is enough to start
all those fantasies
The things she does
The things she can
makes me feel
once again
total man
In a world that wants
to keep me down,
down on the ground
to grind and grovel
for a lousy buck
It’s she
who keeps me sound
It’s she