Robert J. Tiess

To anyone still somehow waiting to get this incredible collection:

I just received my copy, and, as I expected, the poetry and artwork are entirely exceptional.

If you enjoy excellent poetry complemented with mesmerizing artwork, I encourage you to consider getting this book while it's available.

A Poetic Jewel from Late Antiquity: Prudentius’ Psychomachia PETER HULSE An epic battle of the soul.

I meant to say...

This poem is shown here spanning two columns
(flowing left/down then up and right/down).

Here's some more about Prudentius' Psychmachia
from Antigone Journal...

antigonejournal.com/2023/05/prud...

THE TITLE OF THE POEM: Psychomachian THE POEM: Believe there will be finer times when chilling possibilities are mostly fictions scarcely read in warmer small-town living rooms, where TVs never bleed out news and dreaming heals easily along with more belonging songs. Believe there climbs a higher hill untouched by such destructive "love" that worshiped as the heretic no longer living by the word because the lie became its truth, chaos its rule, fool's gold its wealth, inequity its principle. That's how soul wars snuck up on us: so stealthily as decadence disguised as riling righteousness —so "good" so many swore by it, its dogma marking darkness light, disharmony harmonious, all crucifixions beautiful. With flashbang headlines quaking faith and splintered pillars faltering, foundations cracked, no longer kept facades and constitutions firm on top of every dithering and trembling and dissembling and aftershocks of aftershocks. With winning losing, virtue vice, confusion oozed unfought through thought. Deceit invaded reigns and gains to pledge allegiance to the sin that twists illicit into fit, pollution into oxygen, demonic into godliness. Then "strength" made weakness, honor shame, prosperity our poverty —yet questions meant deliverance once we could leave our lesser selves, return our search toward something more than worldliness, that great disgrace. That's how we started saving souls. .THE END OF THE POEM. Poem by Robert J. Tiess Copyright © 2026

My poem Psychomachian

on the ongoing "soul war" for and in minds all over.

It's partly inspired by Prudentius' ancient poem Psychomachia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychom...

ALT text + link: allpoetry.com/poem/1890075...

#poetry #poems #souls #goodvsevil #spirituality #wars #awareness #minds #peace

Your kindness is greatly appreciated.

For #TankaThursday #frozen

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degrees snowballing
glaciers bursting into bergs
water wears away:
melting permafrost assures
no frozenness holds for good

. . .
. .
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#TankaPoem #micropoetry
#climatechange #globalwarming
#poetry #poem © me 2026

@evecastle.bsky.social

Thank you so very much, Bethany!

For #vss365 #bend

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#poetry #poem
#haiku © me 2026

@vss365hq.bsky.social
@blsamaddar.bsky.social

2/2

Both Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech and James Russell Lowell's poem have a lot to say.

Here are some links if you'd like to learn more about the speech or the poem:

on the poem
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pre...

on the speech
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_...

#poetry #speeches #mlk #history

The Present Crisis Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide

1/2

In his 1967 "Time to Break Silence" speech on Vietnam and justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted James Russell Lowell's poem The Present Crisis.

The speech at American Rhetoric
www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlk...

The poem at AAP
poets.org/poem/present...

#poetry #speeches #mlk #history

I'm so glad you liked my poem!

April has personal significance for me.

My dad (in 1987) and my mom (in 2020) passed away in April.

My grandma (in 93) and my grandpa (in 92) also passed away in the month of April.

So, for me, April really is "the cruelest month" (to quote Eliot's The Waste Land).

💙

Thanks so much, Paul!

💙

THE TITLE OF THE POEM: A Knight's Progress THE POEM: How could I visit every square around this boundless checkered board that's running out of sight and time? I've learned the rules, moved nobly on, respecting measures, turn by turn, yet I see pieces leaping wrong. No rook should glide diagonal. Now random knights ride anywhere? Since when are kings bulldozing pawns? Break free from dead chess metaphors which trick us into "wins" or "loss" and treat like life a battle zone. Among the trillion intervals between our charge and charred extremes old ranks and files vanish fast. Ignore false talk of royalty: maneuvers need humility, not crowns or jewels or pageantry. Let's not pretend we're enemies invested in these tournaments competing for a day of praise. I think you're wanting progress too beyond the cardboard armor, shields, these backdrop castles, paper swords. Forget crass gambits, sad pursuits, the made-up banners, plastic grails. The stalemate was no strategy. Let's check and best ourselves instead and make a nation love may reign —in all directions—glorious! Or would you be "victorious" and game away so hatefully? Know love is my Excalibur. .END OF POEM. Poem by Robert J. Tiess Copyright © 2026

Image credit: Life Is Not a Game by Robert J. Tiess Copyright © 2005 Image description: on a black and red chess board there are human-looking chess pieces looking on with concern and sadness at one of their own fallen pieces who is disappearing into the board. One chess piece near the top center of the image looks up toward perhaps the player with a facial expression that may suggest bewilderment or simply a question of why such suffering is taking place.

My poem A Knights Progress

(spanning 2 columns)

partly inspired by the Knight's Tour chess idea
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight%...

ALT text
+ text link
allpoetry.com/poem/1888866...

#poetry #poem #chess #metaphors #suffering #progress #unity #peace

Image:
Life Is Not a Game
© 2005 Robert J. Tiess

For #7syllablesentence #love
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Love,
let no one
gain your hate.

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#writingcommunity #poem
@poetguygabe.bsky.social

My #DailyHaikuPrompt #haiku
(theme: #lotus)

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beetles, Buddha, bees!
lotuses so welcoming,
spreading tolerance

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#poetry #poem © me 2026
#nature #flowers #buddhism

@dailyhaikuprompt.mastodon.world.ap.brid.gy

Dark Adaptation Clarity through Patience and Perseverance

"Dark Adaptation"

my poem + image + essay
on seeing more in the darkness

It draws some inspiration from backyard astronomy and eyes adapting to see more stars...
robertjtiess.medium.com/dark-adaptat...

#poetry #poem #essays #essay #awareness #darkness #light #mindfulness #attention #caring #truth

Thank you, John! I'm grateful for your response to my poem.

So true, Gabe!

#7syllablesentence #awe

Simpler things awed us back then.

#words #writingcommunity
@poetguygabe.bsky.social

For #vss365 #sear
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TO A MAD BRANDER

You stoke a low flame,

smirk and brandish
burning iron,

thinking you might
sear my hide.

But have you seen these
hooves and horns?

Imagined how
they may impress?

Or must you learn
the difference
between a frail calf
and a bull?

.
#poetry #poem
© me 2026

For #PoemsAbout #TimeSlips

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FREEZING POINT

You wear shoes where
we've needed skates?

Who managed traction in
this frost?

We're slipping over thinning
time,

its lake of April memories
winter didn't crystalize.

You'd wait for August?
That's too late.

.

#poetry
© me 2026
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

My #haiku entry
for #DailyHaikuPrompt
(theme: #candle #sunset)

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sunset then... candles?
why not starlight, meteors?
fireflies count too!

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#light #nature #illumination
#poetry #poem © me 2026

@dailyhaikuprompt.mastodon.world.ap.brid.gy

For #vssdaily #raft
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EVEN KEEL

Observing paddlers
oaring rapids:

shared efforts
keep the raft afloat

through spinning, misting,
turbulence.

They never dwell
on capsizing.

They know there is
no going back

and steer together
as a crew.

That could be us:
a real team.

~
#poetry
#poem © me 2026

Image credit:

Garden Beyond the Gate
by Robert J. Tiess
Copyright © 2015

Gardens Beyond the Gates Contemplating Doorways of Possibilities

"Gardens Beyond the Gates"

my essay on T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets,
Possibilities, Decisions, Time,
and What Was and Might Yet Be...

I hope you enjoy it.

Essay link:

robertjtiess.medium.com/gardens-beyo...

#poetry #essay #possibilities #decisions
#doors #gardens #time #metaphors

"Eggshell Shockumentary"

Thanks, Paul!

My #haiku for #DailyHaikuPrompt
#creek #smoldering

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lightning, smoldering...
blame late or absent rainfall,
not the dried-up creek

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#poetry #poem © me 2026
#fire #droughts

@dailyhaikuprompt.mastodon.world.ap.brid.gy

Robert Tiess My 2009 3D art project "The Snowman Who Longed to Touch the Sun" drew some inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Man" story: https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheSnowMan_e.html...

My 2009 3D art project "The Snowman Who Longed to Touch the Sun" drew some inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's 1861 "The Snow Man" story:

andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersho...

I have more to say about this here...

www.facebook.com/robertjtiess...

#parables #education #reality #poetry #art #snow