{"id":7291,"date":"2019-05-04T17:45:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T22:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/?p=7291"},"modified":"2025-03-12T15:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T20:54:24","slug":"poems-joseph-roque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/poems-joseph-roque\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Poems by Joseph Roque"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Hours<\/h2>\n

Original Online Poetry<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Three Poems by Joseph Roque include The Hours, Solitaire, and Ghosts & Granite.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Hours<\/h4>\n
\n

The hours after midnight crawl
\nalong nonchalant walls,
\nleisurely disregard
\ncircadian punctuality,<\/p>\n

pay no heed to those poor souls
\nwho cannot sleep; petulantly pray
\nfor the night’s end.<\/p>\n

The hours do not compromise,
\ndo not reprise
\nanyone’s pain or suffering,<\/p>\n

The hours move,
\nbut never go anywhere,
\nmute, morose, and mindless,
\nthey are immune
\nto critics and complainers\u2500<\/p>\n

couldn’t care less
\nabout the 3D mess
\nof my restless dreams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Original<\/p>\n

Solitaire<\/h4>\n
\n

What if we could play
\nwith time, the way we
\nplay solitaire?
\nMove people around
\ninstead of cards, control
\nthe destinies
\nof where and when
\neveryone goes.<\/p>\n

We could cheat death,
\nkeep our loved ones
\nhere, long as we wanted,
\nlocked in place,<\/p>\n

in neat rows and columns\u2500<\/p>\n

no one goes
\nanywhere until we put
\nthe cards away,
\nif ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Original<\/p>\n

Ghosts and Granite<\/h4>\n
\n

Wrote most of my poetry
\nat Swan Point Cemetery,
\nsurrounded by fantasy gardens
\nand rollicking, restless residents
\noffering suggestions.<\/p>\n

These slumbering spirits compete
\nfor my attention, from the Civil War hero
\nin the southwest corner,
\ncannon balls on his granite coffin,<\/p>\n

to the children who crowd around me,
\ntaken from this world early 1900’s
\nby fever and consumption,
\nI hear them all, whispering in the wind.<\/p>\n

Even H.P. Lovecraft,
\nhere since 1937, has something to offer,
\nespecially around All-Hallows Eve.<\/p>\n

I listen to them all. These are my friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Original<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Poems by Joseph Roque<\/strong> have appeared in Aphelion, Silver Wings Magazine, MadSwirl.com, A Tender Touch and A Shade of Blue, RagMag.org, eMuse-zine.com, Faith Hope and Fiction, A Long Story Short, Psychopoetica, Cerebration, Censored Poets, The Poet\u2019s Haven, Death Head Grin, Eunoia Review, Pens On Fire, and Zygote in my Coffee.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read more poems by Joseph Roque at Faith Hope & Fiction<\/a><\/div>
<\/div>\n
\n

You may also like the poem: “Last Vows<\/a>” at Faith Hope and Fiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“We could cheat death, keep our loved ones here, long as we wanted, locked in place… Poems by Joseph Roque include The Hours, Solitaire, Ghosts & Granite. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[325,97,124],"class_list":["post-7291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","tag-ghosts","tag-poem","tag-spiritual"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Poems by Joseph Roque | Faith Hope & Fiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""We could cheat death, keep our loved ones here, long as we wanted, locked in place... 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