Northern breeze
blows golden leaves,
Spinning down
from maple trees.
Fall-foliage
blanketed knee-deep,
Rest around rich
scented sediment.
While the crunching
Sound echos,
Over the canvas-
covered Converse.
Swirling ...
a constant melody,
Around the timeless
day of the season.
Copyright © Kelly Besaw Gallo | Year Posted 2022
Who was Saint Nick?
Was it a military trick?
Just like a Screen Actors Guild member
You might remember
St Nick made this thing stick
By changing his name to Santa Claus
Then magically he started breaking down walls
Stuffed with love
Santa’s message flies like a dove
It takes faith for children to learn how to wait
They have been told when most the world is cold
This gigantic elf with eternal health
Comes into their house as quiet as a mouse.
Giving something to them
usually left under the tree in the den.
But what does this all mean in this children’s dream.
If you think about it over that Christmas meal
The subject does make one welcome with a warm feel
Already anointed a King we celebrate this fact with songs that we sing.
Jesus recruited bread when he wanted to be fed.
His friends wrote things down and published it when Jesus was no longer around.
An understanding on what thing are about
Can be the true gift when someone is trying to work something out.
At the holiday table interpret what it meant when Jesus was born in a stable
During this time, they wished upon a star
With new hope an answer will come from a far
Does a voice actually come when this is done?
Not really but, this is what was won
You see Jesus gave his life and he really did not have a wife
It was an awful thing since the power of be did not like it when they called him king
Years later here comes this artistic portrait
A man in a red suit who was deemed worth it
Like a main character in a book
Everyone imagines Santa’s look
Just like the holy spirit who steps in to say never fear it.
You do not see Jesus or Santa Claus
But they are there standing tall
In conclusion this is a peaceful solution
That in the end and when asked to defend
It is faith that is the greatest gift
When one needs a lift
Carry on with this delightful tradition
Knowing full well it is a well thought out artistic mission
Copyright © Marc O'Brien | Year Posted 2019
Act 1: Scene 1: (As the curtain opens, we see the bulky frame of Farmer George. He paces
the worn floor of his large open kitchen. He has just come in from harvesting his crops.
Seated at the table is his wife, Florence (Flo), a more educated person, demure, and usually
calm. Today she sits, as if in peril, large green eyes darting nervously back and forth as they
follow his every move. Across from her on the table is an uncut melon; next to it, a large
knife. Both husband and wife appear agitated, and an argument is about to ensue as George
leans suddenly forward, glaring at his wife’s startled face, placing both his large rough hands
heavily down on the table squarely in front of Flo. . . )
Flo: Mercy, George, what’s gotten into you? You’re nearly giving me a heart attack!
George: Don’t tempt me, woman. I want an explanation from you and I want it RIGHT
NOW! No more ‘a this dilly dallying around. What in tarnation was ya doin’ out there?
Flo: Why, I’ve been in here cooking, can’t you see?
George: Cooking? Cooking? I’d say you been cooking up something all right and it ain’t
been here in this kitchen!
Flo: Why, whatever do you mean, George?
George: I seen you out there by the barn, Flo. Don’t you deny it.
Flo: I am being perfectly candid with you. I’ve been right here cooking you this supper since
4 o’clock! Why on earth would I be out behind the barn and at this hour?
George: That’s what I wanna know! I seen you from the field, Florence. Not more than
fifteen minutes ago! I might’a lost some hearing, but I sure ain’t lost my sight yet! You was
runnin’ toward the house like yer skirt was on fire. So whaddaya not telling me?
(Florences’ gaze settles on the one kitchen window, and suddenly her eyes get very large. At
this precise moment, a loud crash is heard from outside. Bruce picks up the knife from the
table and dashes off, bellowing, exiting stage left.)
For Rambling Roses' Act 1, Scene 1 Contest
Copyright © Andrea Dietrich | Year Posted 2010
I'm an American Girl.
I believed in stories
with a Disney ending.
Picket fence dreams
and picked pocket realities.
Golden opportunities,
silver linings turned gray.
Live to fight another day,
try to find another way.
Don't think too much,
or have too much to say.
I'm just the little blonde
with sticky popsicle hands
and pink corduroy pants
Riding a bike
with a banana seat.
We all had big plans,
big dreams with no means.
Always apologize,
even when you know
you're right,
and always be sweet.
Fill a man's mouth
With the cookies you baked,
and fill his shoes too,
with your little girl feet.
Don't forget...
to give everything away,
and of everything,
always be a little afraid.
Don't ask, and don't tell.
When he smiles,
believe in all the lies
that he sells.
Don't ever ask for anything
for yourself.
Be strong,
but always appear
just a little weak.
Pretend away your fears,
Wipe away the tears.
Flash your best
Barbie doll smile,
and turn the other cheek.
Copyright © Melissa Burgess | Year Posted 2023
American Osmosis
Jamestown was the source of this
Movement that swept across the continent
At first the ships were left behind
And people used what they could find
A mule, an ox, a Percheron
Whatever they could sit upon
They loaded up and west they went
Some went north and some went south
They filled the land e're which they went
The Louisiana Purchase was the big event
That sealed America’s destiny
Soon the country was spilling westward
To be the first to make a print
Where no one else ever went
They hoped for happiness as their destiny
The Donners never did find any
There were others rushed by gold
With hopes of riches they would hold
But mostly what the immigrants found
Was this great nation which was bound
To fill her borders sea to sea
With citizens like you and me
We owe thanks to Conestoga and Civil War
Beaver hats and railroad cars
Pulled behind the great iron horse
Of muskets bore and coon skin caps
Horses and cattle and leather chaps
Cowboys, six guns and barbed wire fences
Rangers, Marshals and bar maid glimpses
Pony Express and long coach rides
Wagon loads of buffalo hides
And the Indians who gave their homes
Of mountains and prairies where bison roamed
To live among us brave and bold
Absorbed by the manifest destiny told
Of the American Osmosis
Copyright © Ray Dillard | Year Posted 2010
Beach Boys
Male, wise virgin sly.
within their pubic-awkward
brawn, they testify
to ultimate wry-caricatured
innocence of flesh.
The body? Yes. But strutting chaste
and mirror brave--enough
for mirror bluff.
None dares to risk
(or daring, could but hate)
A dim-lit face-to-face
With female, wantflesh Odalisque.
Copyright © Christopher Bowen | Year Posted 2019
BEING HUMAN
Brave she was and searched for light in blinding darkness
Encouraged by intense desire she illuminated odds and evens
Intuitively she knew how madness was insanely normal
Not straying from the path of love and kindness empathy she
Gallivanted meandered in everlasting human passion for the truth
Humble modest and embracing she cast comfort and compassion
Unsurpassed inquisitive kindness and belonging and she ventured
Manifold on many pathways star charts pedalled mutual attraction
At many crossroads halted listened reflected glistened followed heart’s emotion
Never ending moon spoons scooping longing souls embodied Universe
Bestowed upon with gravitation sense and sensual sensation he
Entered entertained a new realm of depth enlightenment and feeling
Intertwined his wings her roots their flights of fancy grounded elevation
Nurtured natured danced nubile naked dreamscapes fantastic fantasy
Gave rise with her together to birth to freedom liberation new beginnings
He liberated consciousness from iron cages of defence rationalization
Unwound some endless loops of gloomy thoughts and doom and
Mastered majestic miracles of letting go releasing gathering complete
And unbelievably mosaic canvass stretching poetry in motion tapestry
Near fairy tale community of clarity togetherness gratitude and joy
Being lost and found in each and other in each other in enterprise
Enchantment and the aura of unexpected unchartered magnitude
Intense illuminated rainbow spectrum’s crimson violet orange indigo
New found mindful mind and minds affection intellectual pheromones
Glowed panoramic mounts and para-mounts aphrodisiac amour took shine
“Human-amour’ being two in one and one in two human humane and beautiful
Untold stories history projections narration twine of lover’s union fashioned
Multiple layers dimensions soul mates and twinned and mingled twinkling eyes
And trusted in trusted holding hands and holding him and her and them and with
No other words expressing human being’s beauty than love and love and love
04th July 2016
Copyright © Kai Michael Neumann | Year Posted 2016
I can't trust you any
more.
You let me down and
you betray me everytime.
I told you he doesn't
love me.
He doesn't crave me
in the middle of the
night.
I'm not the very air
that he breathes.
Why do you insist
that I pursue him?
He makes me an
emotional basket
case.
When I'm happy he
made me laugh.
When I'm sad he
unknowingly made
me cry.
When I'm angry it
was something he
said or didn't say.
He lights up the
room when it pitch
dark. I want to be
his whole world,
just he is to me.
But this is just a
dream and
a mere fantasy.
So I beg you dear
HEART don't betray
me again.
Alexis
2-18-16
Copyright © Alexis Y. | Year Posted 2016
1. All I want is an increase in bonding
and on that smile to be a shareholder
watching the growth of your guts silently
to tenderly tame a curious filly
and put our hearts to a lovely feast
Chorus
I’m trying to make you see
I’m trying to make you know
I’m wishing to make you feel
that your heart is all I need
2. Let me shield your errors with a bumper
allow me mend those cracks love, with my splint
I’ll make those pains exist in brevity
making sure your shame and worry don’t bloat
to raise happy moments, never to slump
Chorus
I’m trying to make you see
I’m trying to make you know
I’m wishing to make you feel
that your heart is all I need
3. In the land of beauty, you are sovereign
perceived so perfect as I stay snowblind
your resistance seemingly factitious
clearly flaunting your charm on a showboat
but to another, you showed the sky light
Chorus X2
I’m trying to make you see
I’m trying to make you know
I’m wishing to make you feel
that your heart is all I need
Copyright © Funom Makama | Year Posted 2017
I'm sunlight
of the deep
brightly colored
red and pink
orange striped
yellow green
black dotted
like the wings
of a flying
monarch queen.
In the sky of the sea
freely glide
tree to tree
anemones, coral reefs
of their polyps
have my fill
then at night
in crevice reefs
hide my brightness
and go to sleep.
Copyright © Frances Schiavina | Year Posted 2017
I stare at the
chair of memories
where you once sat
and lingered.
I see your sweet
silhouette
as shadows shift
across the ground.
Merry eyes and
rippled laughter
barely contain your
ecstasy.
Joy overflows
at the occasion
of your living
close to me.
And yet...
The threads of time
weave
their tangled patterns
relentlessly.
They scatter pieces
that fray
and slowly lose
their luster.
As the carefree summer
turns imperceptibly
into the autumn night,
so I sense a subtle
change
that I had never
seen before.
Splintered fragments
pierce my heart
and bleed cold and
thick with pain.
The heavy anvil of
rejection
gashes wounds that
will remain.
Now you are gone and
I'm alone
staring once again
at the crumbling
chair of memories
collapsed and broken
ruined end.
Written on 7/30/2007
Copyright © Laura Leiser | Year Posted 2014
My dear ChatGTP
My dear ChatGTP
Welcome to our world
All the glory, All the fame
You may run faster than the fastest
But can you lose a winning battle for your beloved.
Can you shed tears of joy, seeing your child get a kindergarten prize.
Can you feel your heart sink in sorrow, to see your love depart from your life.
Can you feel the presence of your love, even when she is not present.
Can you feel like a million dollars, embracing your grandkid.
Can you be a son, to see God in your mother’s face.
Can you be a mother, who sleeps hungry, so her child can eat.
Will your heart ?? sing out a melody, seeing a romantic moonlight.
Can you give all that you have, for one smile of your dream.
Can you stand in front of a Tsunami of hate, and only wish good.
Can you wait for a lifetime, for her to lift her veil.
Can you have faith, to turn an idol to God.
Can you be so immersed in love, to see God in all that you come across.
- Dr Fazal Faroqui
Copyright © Fazal Faroqui | Year Posted 2023
Chiffon Lace
So much that I want in you
And so much to push aside
So much they try to stop me
And so much I try to hide
So much, let's come together
So much, and then I cried
So much this fuqqing weather
It's too much
I fuqqing tried
You're all I feel inside me
Inside I feel so high
Sometimes I see you see me
And sometimes afraid to fly
Sometimes I say you're "My Girl"
And sometimes I see me lie
So stay let's play forever
Someday you'll feel the same
Just stay and we're together
Today let's watch the rain
Today to come inside you
Today I feel this pain
Someday I'll get to hold you
Someday you'll hold me too
That way I see inside you
I hope to see you soon
Then one day we'll watch the sun rise
From the bottom of the sea
We'll laugh and play together
Forever you and me...
by Christian Alexander
Copyright © Christian Alexander | Year Posted 2014
Part One.
A silent yawn, the moon awakes.
Compels its patron planet's shape.
As oceans shift by its command
And with its might recasts the land.
Below the lunar rings of mist,
A strip of cloud, a stolen kiss.
The harvest yields a poet's line
on hay-rides of forgotten rhyme.
Part Two.
While far beneath the grain we reap,
Magnetic powers guard our sleep;
But in this source protecting Earth,
It warps the minds of some at birth
A missing foresight of control,
Malignant thoughts that urge, cajole.
Your moonlit steps they wait to hear;
A twisted grin, as you grow near.
Iambic Tetrameter / Cateletic.
Rhyme / AA-BB
Gene Bourne
02-02-14
.
Copyright © Gene Bourne | Year Posted 2014
The summer day is so hot
friends stay away.
I can picture them-
like me-
leaning into open refrigerators
and freezers
with frozen chicken,
hamburger,
Minute Maid.
We breathe the air
and fan the coolness
into ourselves.
We are not at all
thinking of wives or children
who try to sleep in the heat.
These moments are only for us,
the stolen coolness for us.
The appliance for food,
the cool air, accidental.
We stay apart
until the sun fades
and then with bottles of beer
begin our exaggerations
each one.
Copyright © Douglas Brown | Year Posted 2020
Sitting atop a large flat stone in an open field
Brushing aside his long silver locks
Bringing to his lips a long clay pipe
Steadying for a light, his gnarled knuckles make this a fight
His sandals dusty, brow wrinkled and damp
His eyes, an odd milky hue of liquid blue
A group of younger men sit to his front
Some on a stone, several on a log
The moon crescent
The breeze light, the dusk hot
The earthy smell of horses dancing across the night
Rising from the burgeoning rye fields wafts a hopeful promise
A younger man stands to be recognized
He is tall, lean, well muscled
Wavy brown locks cascade across broad shoulders
A leather band binds hair to head
A strong hand resting atop the pommel of sword in scabbard
Tell us wise stranger
We know great success
The fruits of our labor are bountiful
Behold endless fertile fields of rye and stores of meat
Our stomach’s are full, our trade is rich
Our enemies at bay
There are none better
Yet we are unfulfilled
We have not mastered the most important art of all
One final achievement and we will be truly rich
Yet the road ahead is dark and unknown
Love – what is the secret of enduring love
Why are we cursed to know only hollow carnal pleasures
Slowly rising to his feet, leaning upon his walking staff
A scowl overtakes his ancient face, pointing while chanting
I have learned many things in my time
But what you ask is the most sought after secret of life
The very grail of love
I have spoken of this with many wise men, kings, queens, warrior’s and merchants alike
And I have learned this my sons
I have learned this
A life together flourishes only as well as lives apart
Yes you confide secrets that bind as one
Yes you share danger, thrilling and chilling
Yes this forms bonds of trust, in which you must
Yes you share pleasures of flesh yet this alone doesn’t endure
Certain to leave your love vacant and poor
To this, I know there is more
You seek everlasting intimacy, so listen to my prophecy
You must allow her to grow
To realize her full self
Do not attempt to control her way
Enable her to blossom separate from your union
If you fail you will pay
Unless you dare to be alone and together
There is more my sons
Hear this and make it tribal lore
Never stop learning and trust her for the same
Share your fears, your self doubt, your failures
Reveal your weaknesses and you will know love everlasting
Celebrate your individual successes as one
Help her to achieve what is hers and ask the same
When she speaks succumb to attentive silence
Fix your gaze upon her eyes
Listen to the rhythmic song of her breath
If you can, your love will know no death
The young man strides forward
Could it be so simple wise father, is this the grail of love
What I describe is far from simple, he declares with a glare
His voice booming thunder, a new wind kicks up dust
The dusk turns crimson red filling hearts with dread
There is one last commandment I must share and I do so with great care
This golden rule is your precious jewel
And if you choose, your love, you will never lose
In a hoarse, hushed whisper he imparts
It is laughter my sons
Together you must laugh
Laughter is the elixir for which you search
Laughter is the highest perch from which may will see heavens dove
Foreboding the arrival of endless love
Laughter is to love as blood to body, as air to life, as tree to air, as hope to humanity
Laugh together and you will find what you seek
But I lament, most of you will leave me in torment
Destined to plant your bastard seeds through lifelong meaningless deeds
Write these words so they are preserved
You must choose love eternal
Laugh alone and together and you shall both live forever
Copyright © Anson Decker | Year Posted 2017