Category Archives: Poetry

My Poems and Short Stories – in Paperback and #Kindle

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

My little book of poems and short stories is now in Kindle and paperback. Read on!!

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Poems and Short Stories by Joel D. Hirst (me)

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Back a few hundred years ago, or maybe even in the early 1900s poetry was considered the apex of literary work. Most early writers strove to be poets. Garcia Marquez and Neruda and Yeghishe Charents. Then came the literary boom … Continue reading →

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Ozymandias (Harry Melling in Buster Scruggs)

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Joel D. Hirst

I have become haunted by this poem by Percy Shelley, particularly as read by Harry Melling in “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”. Melling is a genius, probably the only good thing to come out of the Harry Potter series. Shelley … Continue reading →

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In Days of Pest – A Poem

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Joel D. Hirst

‘Putrid vapors’ did the plague they bring? Miasma fetid, stench that brings the blight? Or was it God who cursed and brought the thing? That robs us of our loves in dead of night. From when it came, so sudden … Continue reading →

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Latter Plates of Novel Men – A Poem

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Joel D. Hirst

In words that paint, I hide away; Hoping armistice to stay; Immortal craft ‘gainst tempest brewing; Ever madness quill eschewing. We write of beauty ‘fore the storm; Our words they dye the summers warm; The flowered glade, the meadow golden; … Continue reading →

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For Want of Those Who Would Care

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Joel D. Hirst

“A poet’s real biography is the biography of his inner self, the history of his spiritual life, inseparable from the life and history of his people (…) The sense of civic duty in poetry is nothing abstract, nor dependent on … Continue reading →

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Will It Be Enough?

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

Streets are charged, electric; Milling crowds are hectic; The rage it does now overflow; The violence is pyrectic. Boy he lifts a rock; Inserts it in his sock; Around, around his head does go; To ‘nother lad doth knock. Vendor … Continue reading →

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“Why Should I Listen To You?”

Posted on August 17, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

“Why should I listen to you?” wise man said; “You hatched that fool plan in the small of your head; It has no more chance in the world to succeed; Than does son of a horse and a donkey to … Continue reading →

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Beware the Dreams of Other Men – A Poem

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

Beware the dreams of other men, the hopes of those not shared; Hark not to visions of one’s past ‘rise up from those who dared; Look only now within thyself, and not to search beyond; Seek out the truth that … Continue reading →

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Ancient Battles Underground – A Poem

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

Ancient battles, under ground; The living they hear not a sound; Voices plead in soft despair; Telling those who come “beware!” “Here were fallen men of old;” The tortured tales to living told; “They fought for things that had no … Continue reading →

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