Crying Scene

If you're going to drop the gauntlet
at least put on the dress
of a full warrior    -
paint, rouge, lipstick,
sheer stockings and
enough powder to smother
a savage;
then form a straight line
and chant the litany
(wise aboriginals never forgive, you know)
and a good poundmaker is so adept
at keeping score.

Paul Cameron Brown

Paul Cameron Brown is a Canadian poet known for his extensive work in both poetry and art criticism. Born in western Canada, Brown has had a prolific career in writing, often intertwining themes of human experience and nature. His works have been showcased in various literary magazines and anthologies. With a style that is both reflective and evocative, he has gained recognition not only in Canada but also internationally.

Paul Cameron Brown

Inside Seam

Paul Cameron Brown, Simple Poetry

In The Cenote

Paul Cameron Brown, Simple Poetry

Wild Card

Paul Cameron Brown, Simple Poetry

Testimony

Paul Cameron Brown, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Terminal Living

    "Everybody in the world is frightened of getting cut."
    Charles Manson

    I
    The image complete
    - collapsing corpses, rag dolls
    with skulls shot away ...
    ruby-red blood spurting
    slipstick/eyeshadow/mascara
    all so reptilian replete.

    II
    The long fingers of the pianist
    playing rifle fire to a
    captive audience,
    stiletto tones;
    the trance effect,
    precedes a cobra's strike,
    summer without smoke.

    III
    A glass of absinthe
    - the Degas painting,
    Marc Lepine measuring out his vial,
    measuring the worth of a single
    woman and finding her long on the call,
    cartridge shells exploding
    filaments of smoke
    (long and blue)...

Paul Cameron Brown

Gladiators

    No broken visor, emptied glove
    abandoned cudgel, opened net
    - only gathering spots on spreading sand.

    Clang of cymbals
    wrench of flesh,
    death is a morsel
    delectably met.

Paul Cameron Brown

Pillage

    It's chess of sorts but
    reeks of you -
    the hand carved emerald rook, for one,
    and so many Black & White squares
    that tiptoe like many a patio stone
    between our warring minds.

    I think of rollaway mats
    lepers use to beg on,
    habitually to die on
    or marked cards that
    outside castle walls
    dicers' oaths
    must originate from.

    I am having trouble
    keeping the pieces straight.

    I mean, you're White
    & concluded the beginning of the end
    with first move; still, I'm prepared
    for nothing short of winning.

    Should we discuss this
    growing stalemate near
    the Bishop's mitre
    and exploding gun
    or against hungry faces of exp...

Paul Cameron Brown

Chinatown I

    And a little farther
    the Fu Manchu mustache
    curved in mock epic proportions
    of a scimitar un-sheaved for action,
    perhaps the executioner's progress
    his victims entombed to their skulls
    in rolls of quivering earth -
    the parting of the ways
    coming as your coin drops
    to the rasp of his
    tin cup chuckle.

Paul Cameron Brown

Warhorse

    Taken as metaphor ...
    Ophelia's funeral oration,
    derogatory snout
    of the Morning Glory
    breathing pollened fire
    overladen steps of the church.

    II
    Limestone rock
    caulking in grey
    limpid cracks ...
    doublet and hose
    then gold doubloons
    down sunlit honey
    where a smear of red lichen
    onto brown-yellow moss
    colonizes rock.

    III
    Poor Ophelia, dicing
    for a sedentary-free Hamlet,
    duty-free of fissures + frost.

    IV
    Elusiveness,
    water rushing over stone
    torrent of words
    (Ophelia receiving these),
    red hand of the berry
    swollen shut,
    prisoner in the dock
    bird of quarry, pit
    &am...

Paul Cameron Brown

Blackamoor

    Breaking up -
    as in the cloissoné jar you dropped. . .
    little regard,
    a few brittle pieces scattered about the floor.
    Let's call it "shedding feelings". Expensive?
    There's always another humidor tucked away in
    the cranny of another antique shop; after all,
    a woman is only a woman
    although a fine, Cuban import
    is a worthy smoke.

    "What this country needs is a good 5¢ cigar".
    Panatellas?
    He might have added tight-fitting, long lasting.

    Nooks & crannies.
    Little things, your ways. Fruit fly (perhaps damsel wing)
    as symbol of perishability. My emblematic coat of arms.
    No season of regrets, rather
    snatch of minutes, the oasis span of a single candle.

    Who knows?...

Paul Cameron Brown