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Notes About The Poem

Guernica, large oil painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso named for the Spanish city that German aircraft bombed in 1937. The work received mixed reviews when it was shown at the world’s fair in Paris, but it became an icon as it traveled the world in ensuing years.

Word Bank Poetry Contest

Sponsor is Sotto Poet

Third Place

 

I am looking for poems that incorporate at least 7 (SEVEN) of the following words • Cascade • Myriad • Lilt • Serpentin• Slither• Lunar• Nebula• Phosphorous

 

Artists and poets always have been at the forefront of political issues.  Picaso painted Guernica, world famous portraying the Spanish atrocities, and Basque Pablo Neruda wrote about the brutality of Latin American.  Goya portrayed brutality of the French Revolution. So don’t attempt to reign in our emotions we need to express the very core of poetry itself—I Am Anaya                                                                       

Artists At The Vanguard

Tie my hands so I may not touch others with potent realities
Bind me from what transpires about                                                                                     
Shackle my passions of indignation’s 
Muzzle my voice meant to below and not lilt
Blindfold me not see with a painter’s eye I rely
The art you’ll recognize, warscapes that captivate
Hinder me from perceiving what to navigate               
Shield me from poet’s stories begging to be told,
like the Buddha confined, b’fore escaping his privileged environs
Shroud what are already squinting eyes kept from comprehension
Gagged and kept in ignorance and with festering hypertensions
Cover my mouth for I shall not speak what is called truth               
Crush my spirit in defeat, trampled since my youth
What  is  left  for  me  on  this  earth?
Taken a fin d’une époque, an  end  of  mine  mirth
with a madcap army closing in, and a harsh prison penance
a desperate gaiety leaves its efflorescence, crimson wall art stains 
no more shall be a poets words and nothing beautiful remains 
ergo focusing on the vanguard 'tis rendered impotent,
when the rearguard deserts
Lavender lovers are fine they share a rapt audience,
tho we need to discuss harsher matters with more gravitas   
For this is  chattel slavery,  is it not?
Man enslaved like cattle, let me speak out for my heart is worn 
My  tears run  dry,  f r ee  m e  for life has taught me that when 
there are many coincidences, they are not
Excessive serendipity harbors an urgent message
speak softly at me be aware I scream a loud from the top of my lungs
ask questions not to be in the dark, my spirit cast 
k ee p   my spirit   f r ee   respect me!
Jail me in the dept of dungeons like the poets of yore,
Tho stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage

War is this  fellow  poets,
if you want to see a man returned from the dead
if you wish to confirm with your own eyes
that someone escaped the claws of death,
then  I’m sorry  to  disappoint 
I was never there, I was detained by those who don’t believe in order 
or justice and those who articulate tell me that we should not be free 
deem free speech promiscuous shall one day note that they can still change sides
Traitor, deserter, statesman, insurrectionist, call me what you want, 
You’ll say ‘I know I am fighting for the right cause, sadly it was for the wrong side
It’s what you’ll say, you shall see for yourself that
divine justice shall be liberating
Battles are fought for love and wars are lost,
Sometimes not all is fair in   L 
                                            O   V    E     and     W A R …
The devil hides behind many masks
and it can be a place where the serpentine
slithers in a demon’s lair
Lavender lovers are fine, they share a rapt audience
Under a lunar twilight's sky tho I shall resign
So, love doesn’t put her in danger
No, not in the nebula darkened horizon
What separates enlightenment and dull ignorance?                    
We’re making headway, a point of view, posits
They come alive in their works, all great poets of significance 
don’t hide themselves in velvet closets
And they shall live on forever in our hearts
If you don’t choose what’s right life shall choose for you
Courage and resolve are called for unlike the myriad 
of numbers unaccounted for, they cower ‘neath a rock
I shan’t remain a naïve babe in the woods
I flow like the waterfalls which cascade
whilst passions gush like the rushing rapids
Evil reigns supreme when good people do nothing
Phosphorous is the plaything of the devil

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Sara Kendrick Date: 6/15/2025 5:05:00 PM What a creative winner you have in this one. Way to go. Congratulations on your name being on the winners' list. Sara K Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 6/16/2025 9:35:00 AM Tyvm, Sara! The Ukraine war is devastating killing 207 Artists and 106 media! This is NOT what we want here dear Sara, my heart hurts and we must speak out for our freedom of speech or else~ "NO KINGS" Anaya

Robert Gorelick Date: 6/8/2025 10:51:00 AM It's large, it's expansive and Picasso painted it in black and white like a glaring headline in a newspaper because, forever timely! Spirits are meant to soar not to be shackled, take flight Anaya, brilliant! My best Robert Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 6/12/2025 3:40:00 PM Belated thank you's bestie! Y e s , soar and roar poems~ tyvm

Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 6/4/2025 5:38:00 AM Dearest Anaya, Yes, your words are a battle cry, unflinching, urgent, and fiercely necessary. Every single line was a refusal to be silenced, a demand for truth and justice that shouts the legacy of artists who dared to confront power. Anaya, your voice truly and surely burns with conviction, full of history, pain, and hope that cannot be caged. Poetry’s core is courage to be unyielding, unbound, and forever vital. Excellent Read! Spring Blessings, My Dear Anaya, Daniel Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 6/5/2025 10:01:00 AM Daniel you are my guest of honor, a renaissance man of words, song and deed. You possess all the qualities above-mentioned and shall be lotted for in your legacy. I may speak of what maybe to come, it starts with monitoring the journalists and reporters then trickles down to the poets and artists. "The man who controls the radio-waves controls the people"— Hitler. Oh and the contest called for 8 words! lol TYVM for your review, enjoyed!

Duke Beaufort Date: 6/3/2025 5:17:00 PM Anaya, you capture the essence of the painting in words that stun. It's a difficult read since it describes so much of what's wrong with our modern human societies. We'd hope that we would have made considerable progress since Stone Age times, but it does not seem to be the case. The fact that you write about something like this is a sign for hope. There are some who would like to see fighting end. Will this ever be? Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 6/3/2025 5:24:00 PM Yes, DB, different as in poets should be free to write their own truths and politics it wasn't always that way, I'm so afraid all may change. Even here, poets don't agree with freedom to have their own political views as you may know. TY for the kind visit Duke~

David Kavanagh Date: 6/3/2025 1:49:00 PM An unflinching piece Anaya, and rightly so, the terrible truth is more than we can handle sometimes, and that’s fine, but doesn’t mean it should be glossed over or propagandised in order to further some cause, poets should pen reality as it is, anything less becomes fiction, oh I see you mentioned Pans Labyrinth to Paige below, its quite an unsettling yet must watch movie, a bit like your poem here, all the best in contest, cheers David Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 6/3/2025 4:32:00 PM Tyvm, David! Y e s indeed, and as for the movie, I think it changed my life in such a way that I was thrown into the world of wars dark realities although a dark fantasy with Guillermo del Toro. It earned the longest standing ovation ever ~ Cheers! welcome back

Paige Hind Date: 6/2/2025 12:41:00 PM Interesting, thoughtfully written- the painting is a very complex thing to write about- well done, Anaya! Very deep, and I appreciate your perspective on war Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 6/2/2025 7:09:00 PM I'll read the overview, have you heard of Pans Labyrinth? If you can handle subtitles..I think you'll like it, it's very dark Paige Hind Date: 6/2/2025 3:37:00 PM Oh, yes, I know that. Have you seen the movie "Closet Land"? You should. It hits on what you're writing about. <3 I Am Anaya Date: 6/2/2025 12:50:00 PM Paige, Tyvm tho this is not an Ekraphsis, its our artists, poets propagative to express our multifaceted thoughts and not be bound and persecuted like the poets in history. Paige even today there are artists and writers being persecuted for creative expressions........ very important. ah, TYVM!