Susan Ashley Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

April 13, 2025

N/A
Premiere Contest: 2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 19
Sponsor: Mark Toney

~ Sixth Place ~
Premiere Contest: The Cold Embrace Of Death
Sponsor: Sara Jama

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Sirens

The seas swell 
with saccharine sighs 
and stir my seaman's obsession 
with blonde pleasures,
but treachery’s buried 
in treasures feminine-gold.
A flute, a lyre, their voices 
nectar-dipped in danger.
Temptation burns with Hades-flames 
on sunset waters;
sea-devils, those she-devils
are salt-in-wound and sugar sweet.

Ooh songstress sisters, 
please just a taste;
a kiss on lips 
that set fire to desires 
with your song.
My sailor’s appetite 
hungers for your honey,
whet by curves, wet 
and flowing with fanned betta fins.
Ship's mainmast in full sail, 
filled with your chanting gales

to get there, find you, possess you, 
surrender to you.
Lessons of unholy-lore lost 
in depths of forbidden allure;
tidal surge drives my male urge 
upon damsel-damned rocks.
Scree, with greed 
drowns the sinking screams.
Cursed corpses 
litter seabed in breath-less murk.

Oh songstress trio, 
so fluid, 
so corrupt.
Your flute a primal plea, 
your lyre a trembling snare. 
Soprano hymns 
shiver moon-shimmer on water
as wind-songs commit mortal sins.
Fallen angels’, your sea-mist-sighs
are my lyric doom to die.

Black waves 
frothy like pints of ale
undulate with serpentine virgins;
weavers of wind 
and wave 
and spindrift spite.
This sailor’s fate 
awaits escape in vain. 
My bane, their sunlight-tresses 
turned a seaweed tangle. 
In temptress threads 
I'm wrapped before I’m dead—
cold embrace of death in shallows, 
a mariner’s gallows.

Gull, a laughing witness
fades in clouds. Knows my sailor’s 
crossed bones will brine.
Opiate of the sea: 
my soul’s shipwreck, 
their ecstasy. 
My blood, 
throbbing with lust, 
a poor warrior
against sirens’ maelstrom-song 
spinning my demise.

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Paul Bell July 2, 2025 at 2:09 PM Ah, many a sailor has been tempted by a temptress, and no doubt more will follow. I suppose there's worse ways to go. Titanic being one of them. Susan Ashley July 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM Dear Paul, your wonderful visit and comments are truly appreciated. Thank you for sharing in the futility of fighting the fated lure of lust as the sailor falls for the siren once again. Warmest wishes, my poet friend.. ~Susan

Mystic Rose Rose April 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM so many have perished under sea this way, beautifully described, you put your heart into this it shows, congrats on your win dear Susan Susan Ashley April 19, 2025 at 7:50 AM Dear Rose, I relish your wonderful visit and lovely thoughts about my poem. Thank you for sharing in this siren and sailor piece with me. Your kind congrats are truly appreciated as well. Warmest wishes my poet friend.. ~Susan

Lin Lane April 18, 2025 at 10:17 AM Dear Susan, your telling of the Siren's tale, the 'songstress sisters,' is ages old of their luring voices. Mythology blames them for the deaths of many sailors by death's cold embrace. Congratulations for your finely crafted lines being chosen for the winning list. Susan Ashley April 19, 2025 at 7:56 AM Dear Lin, indeed the siren and sailor lore is as old as sailing the high seas. Sara's theme "the cold embrace of death" lured my imagination to the envelopment of the dark sea. Thank you for your visit and insights. They are appreciated as are your kind congrats. Warmest wishes, my poet friend.. ~Susan

Nette Onclaud April 18, 2025 at 1:50 AM ohhh, i haven't done a ditty on sirens in a long while, but your brilliant write is now inspiring me to pen one....sweet congrats on your huge win, susan Susan Ashley April 18, 2025 at 8:10 AM Dear Nette, it's wonderful to see you! Thank you for sharing in the sirens' song with me. Your beautiful comments and kind congrats are embraced with appreciation. Warmest wishes, sweet poetess.. ~Susan

Sara Jama April 16, 2025 at 6:30 AM Congratulations on placing in my contest. I have always been fascinated by the lore of sirens. I love the descriptions in your write. From "a kiss on lips setting fire to desires with song," to fallen angels’ sea-mist-sigh a lyric doom to die," your sinister imagery of a watery grave is gorgeous. Susan Ashley April 18, 2025 at 7:56 AM Dear Sara, thank you for the honor of my poem's placement in your esteemed contest. It was such a pleasure to write for your contest prompt. This is another poem that wouldn't have been written if not for your dark, stirring theme. The spirit of your beautiful comments and kind congrats lifts and inspires my heart. You are truly appreciated, my creative poet friend. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

I Am Anaya April 15, 2025 at 11:18 AM O Susan, chilling waters and its depth have swept me off my feet! The hallucination of the siren song surely has left the sailors drowning in their illusive wake. Such a maritime marvel, congratulations to you on your placement in Sara's contest! ~ The grogs on me! Susan Ashley April 18, 2025 at 8:20 AM Dear Anaya, it's always wonderful when you appear on my poem's page! Sirens make the sailors swoon for sure lol.. I'm so glad to know that my poem swept you off your feet to a place where we can lift our cups of grog in cheer! :) Your beautiful comments and your poet friendship is ever appreciated. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Ink Empress April 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM Dear talented soul, Susan, I love your use of mythology in your poem and how youv played around with words, using poetic techniques such as assonance, alliterations and descriptive diction, and the theme that youv gone for is truly impressive and one that is in sync with my soul! I especially love the lines "oh songstress trio so fluid so corrupt flute a primal plea lyre a trembling snare hymns those wind-songs committing mortal sins" how soulfully moving! Deep! Pleasure reading you! Congratulations on your placement in saras contest! Sending you light always Susan Ashley April 18, 2025 at 8:04 AM Dear Ink, expressive and impressive poet, your golden presence adds a golden glow to my poem that it would not otherwise have. Thank you for your beautiful comments and heartwarming congrats. I'm thrilled to know that my verses were "in sync with your soul". That's deep and gratifying, my soulful poet friend. You are ever appreciated. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Andrea Dietrich April 13, 2025 at 10:14 PM Wow you got really inspired to go with sirens. I wish I would have thought of something so cool. My entry pales in comparison Susan Ashley April 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM Dear Andrea, indeed, I was swooning over sirens lol! Thank you for your encouraging comments. Your visit is truly appreciated. I have no doubt that your entry was wonderful :) Warmest wishes, my poet friend.. ~Susan

Silent One April 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM My dear friend, This reads like an allegory for obsession and the futility of resisting destructive desire. The sea-women (sirens? muses? lovers?) are both object and subject of power—worshiped and feared. The sailor knows he’s doomed, but sails toward them anyway. It's a meditation on surrender. Your use of enjambment and fractured syntax creates a breathless, almost gasping rhythm that mirrors the sailor’s descent—both into temptation and the sea. So excellently written.. Susan Ashley April 13, 2025 at 9:40 PM My dear friend, it’s always wonderful when your poetic presence graces my poem. Thank you for sharing in the imagery, emotion and futility of fighting the fated lure of lust when surrendering to it, if only to meet your doom, is so overpowering. You see into the heart of my poem with the ease. You have a true poet’s soul and you are ever an inspiration to me. So glad you enjoyed this poem, my dear friend, Silent One. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan