Midnight (Writing as Curiosity)

Photo taken from the WEB.

 

MIDNIGHT

At the stroke of midnight
in the middle of winter’s bed—
Sophia.

The morning will bring an end
to our sweet affair—
The dawn, a curse!

Cloth of darkness, night,
please hide the sun.
His face reaffirms reality.

© 2014 by Charles Banks, Jr.
Writing as Curiosity
ISBN: 978-1-312-46796-5
Published by Lulu.com and Spilt Ink Poetry

© 2014 by Charles Banks, Jr.
Writing as Curiosity
ISBN: 978-1-312-46796-5
Published by Lulu.com and Spilt Ink Poetry.

October 6, 2014

Hello, Poets and Poetry Lovers! I am excited to announce the release of my seventh book of poems and fourth poetry chapbook on October 6, 2014. It will initially be available on Lulu.com, and starting in November, on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. From now until the book’s release, I will be posting poem excerpts on this blog!

Here is the synopsis to the book, written by fellow poet Sonia Di Placido:

“Classic poetic forms combined with the modern confessional of free verse, these poems inhabit a succinctly woven rhymes, verses and stanzas while professing the profoundest faith in romantic love–entanglement, desire, erotic sharing and compulsion. This is a “hopeless confession” filled with the irony of hope in love. Soft, gentle, fearless and shameless admonitions of losing oneself in the other are no threat. The delusion and sacrifice towards the profession of love remain an insignificant pleasure. The confessions here return to Neruda’s erotic–loss of self parallels and postulates entirety. Love resonates as the opposite of self gratification and self preservation. There are no boundaries. A poet speaks in tandem with the ancient scribes of Egyptian Love Poems–sharing an exotic papyrus of altruistic love.”

*As written by Poet Sonia Di Placido.

 

© 2014 by Charles Banks, Jr.
Writing as Curiosity
ISBN: 978-1-312-46796-5
Published by Lulu.com and Spilt Ink Poetry.

My New Book Cover!

Check out my new book cover!

“Confessions of a Hopeless Romantic” (Writing as Curiosity) is coming soon! Stay tuned for details!

 

Bedside Vigil (Writing as Black Angel) Excerpt from “Burdens”

BEDSIDE VIGIL

I sat vigil over Tony’s bedside
for sixteen hours before he died
on Christmas Eve, five days before
his nineteenth birthday.
Nurses came and went, checking his vitals,
propping his pillows, asking if he needed
warm blankets or the window opened.
We traded cancer stories and laughed about how
the hospital food reminded us of radiation treatment.
I went through 37 rounds
and had been cancer-free for nine months.
He went through 28 twice before the cancer
came back and took over his entire body.
When I got to the hospital, Tony was frail,
pale-skinned, and frequently lost his breath
in the middle of a good memory.
He died just before midnight,
as the Christmas carolers sang from down the hall.
I remained at his empty bedside
long into the silence of morning,
sitting vigil over what could have been me.

© 2014 by Charles banks, Jr.
Writing as Black Angel
Excerpt from Burdens
Published by Spilt Ink Poetry

 

Art by © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos

Burdens (Written by Charles Banks, Jr.)

Hello followers! Today, my third chapbook of poetry, Burdens is officially available on eBay and through direct PayPal payments! If you’re in purchasing a signed print copy, please head on over to eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Burdens-Writing-as-Black-Angel-/121255777643?pt=US_Fiction_Books&hash=item1c3b68556b or send PayPal payments ($8.00) to spiltinkpoetry@hotmail.com. PayPal payments also come with free shipping!

I would like to thank Fernando Gallegos for providing artwork for this project, including the cover art! Also, thanks go out to Denise R. Weuve, whose selfless help aided the project’s completion!

Happy reading!

 

Sincerely Yours,

Charles Banks, Jr.

 

Synopsis by Denise R. Weuve (Poet)

“It takes courage to be a poet, and even more courage to write from the dark places most people attempt to hide.  Black Angel (pen name for Charles Banks, Jr.) flourishes in these places.  He plows the earth to see what is beneath the soil, and finds the beauty in the lost seeds that were never watered, those trapped beneath oppressive roots blocking their growth, and all the “mislead beauty” that no one seems to care about.  In this chapbook collection, Burdens, you will find a man not afraid to show vulnerability and the harsh truths that surround his life.  In “The Fireplace” he starts the poem with, A reflection of scolding hot truths and each of these poems seem like Black Angel’s deepest truths.  “Inheritance” is such an example.  Here we have a persona so thoroughly incased in the truth of the life he has been trust into, that he sees no hope, and no empathy outside his own body.  When you reach “Finale” you will have been taken on a journey that questioned society, afterlife, diseases, love, and most importantly the self.  You will have no more answers than Black Angel does, but you will have visited a world that only he could have taken you to, and that in return will make you look more deeply into your own.”

 

Art by © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos

“Finale” by Fernando Gallegos

“Finale”
Art © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos
Inspired by the Poem “Finale” by Charles Banks, Jr (Writing as Black Angel)

“What Stalks Me” by Fernando Gallegos

Art by © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos.
Inspired by the poem “What Stalks Me” by Charles Banks Jr (Writing as Black Angel).

“Shattered Glass Bottle” by Fernando Gallegos

“Shattered Glass Bottle”
Art © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos
Inspired by the Poem “Shattered Glass Bottle”

Shattered Glass Bottle (Writing as Black Angel) Excerpt from “Burdens”

Art by © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos

“Shattered Glass Bottle”Art © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos
Inspired by the Poem “Shattered Glass Bottle”

 

SHATTERED GLASS BOTTLE

Glass is shattering at this present moment.
Shush! Can you hear it?
It’s the spirit of a fallen man,
a cry for aid.

But no one hears its broken shards,
No one hears its impact against the mighty wall.
No one hears its remnants make sympathetic notes.

Formally, a stout Vodka bottle,
but now a million reflections of a lost man.
Its contents comfort him,
a deceiving console.

So, can you hear it?
The spirit of a fallen man?
It cries out in a melancholy plea.
Shush! Listen and you might faintly hear
the mutes screams.

Art © 2014 by Charles Banks, Jr.
Writing as Black Angel

 

Art by © 2014 by Fernando Gallegos

The Love We Lost (Writing as Curiosity)

Photo taken from the WEB

In pitch-black midnight,

I donned the unfaltering F on my chest.

I whispered my sacred pledge.

 

But more drastic measures needed to be taken.

How else can it be explained?

 

We no longer love each other.

Let us put on brave faces and part ways.

Let us turn the other cheek and hide-

Bury our salty drops of poignant insignificance secretive.

 

How did we end up at this crossroad?

How did we beat each other to such a bloody pulp?

 

© 2012 by Charles Banks, Jr.

Writing as Curiosity

Excerpt from End of the Road

Published by Lulu.com in Print and e-book.