Aggrandizement kissed Aggression ~
Amelioration sat out the dance
Science
never answers
the primary
questions
it ponders
in circles
deck chairs
rearranged
Reciprocal
theorems
of self
aggrandizement
indentured
to kingdoms
where dilettantes
reign
Why
is there love
why
is there war
why
are we human
why
do we grieve
Why
do we question
why
is there joy
why
are there feelings
that
foster belief
Is
consciousness
timeless
do thoughts ever die
is prescience
a quotient
does truth
ever lie
Is looking
for answers
outside the true
realm
the act that
betrays us
and damns us
— to hell
(Dreamsleep: March, 2025)
I coulda written that song, “Purple Rain.”
It didn’t take that big of a brain.
And I coulda written that song “Hotel California.”
But girl - I do wanna warn ya!
I’ve always been considered at least halfway insane.
The stench of puerile self-aggrandizement wafts through the air, a noxious cloud of platitudes and pomp, as the pusillanimous pustules of pseudo-intellectualism congregate to lavish accolades upon one another. How... amusing. The notion that these self-absorbed aesthetes, ye armchair sybarites, consider themselves arbiters of taste and talent, is nothing short of grotesque. And yet, here it persists, leeches on the cadavers of real artistry, perpetuating a vicious cycle of backslapping mediocrity, as they vomit forth oozing saccharine, cliche-ridden tripe, and elevate it to the status of holy scripture. Quaint indeed. The stench of their ignominy is almost... palpable.
How does it feel to know that playing by the rules was your downfall, I said I would be the last poetess standing because I can do: abattoir hymns of crimson vortices shredding the children to rain sanguinary as viscera chunks hail from above. Sorry ai can’t touch me, it would freak out to even read that. I may not have won many contests, but oops. Hehe.
If a time and place is different
for them to fire off their weaponry,
to lie and win against a significant.
What keeps a similarity in liability,
to lie and win in a predicament
where skill is an absolute necessity?
Bold and without a last abatement,
I see through the lies of industry.
Bold and without a past abashment,
wouldn't be paid a cent currency.
Seen by gross pure aggrandizement,
violent potent a cologne adversary.
Laughably, an obvious despondent.
Is there no end to one so lairy?
A stone thrown, I notice your salient.
I won't resemble the tuning veeries.
Even no pruning, losing an assailant.
The truth is tied up in flimflammery.
Path set by the trying time rodent.
Cocky, peacocking varies ostentatiously.
Read past the first half constituent.
Go pass-through a proof for checkery.
Auction of nonsense falsified Rembrandt.
Author a snow cipher meeting misery.
lies and obfuscation
revenge politics
game of the day
extremists
s p l i t
hold hostage the government
power money
self-aggrandizement
rule
oaths of honor, loyalty
strewn by the wayside
Congress in disarray
called to a halt
impasse
God help
the American public
Like a deadly drug, it makes us dance
Put our nose in the air, turn our backs .
Craven souls, want another chance.
Walking over friends, we call hacks?
On, yes we sign, love, but mean it not!
How many trophies can I win ~ I want!
More flattery, please, as we do begin,
On this racetrack of pride,self loved sin!
Classical poets here, very despised.
Only new poetry forms have a place.
We want only our names in the skies.
Self-aggrandizement, a sad disgrace.
4/19/2023
We are on a precipice of War
Yet you spurn the most skilled Knight
Just to stoke your selfish Desire?
You choose pettiness over the Realm
The tempest is Imminent
Yet you let the chief captain disembark
Just to assert your dominance against mutiny?
You choose self-aggrandizement over Lives.
Oh Master!
The country is at war again
War of hustle and bustle for power
Power for self aggrandizement
All in the name of democracy
Birds of prey are in full flight
Hunting for the Carcass
Of the comatose nation
All in the name democracy
Friends are turned foes
Adversaries have become strange bedfellows
Scuttling shamelessly from one nest to another
All in the name of democracy
The country is at war again
Tension and pressure everywhere
This is the season of double-speak
All in the name of democracy
Truth stands on its head
Lies of yesterday
Have become truths of today
As mendacity has murdered credibility
All in the name democracy
This is what I am enjoined to be:
Hyphenated !
Bound to vacillate between self-aggrandizement and self-annihilation
I straddle two unrecognizable worlds
only to find solace in none
I am the begetter of my malaise
all made of ungraspable memories and deferred living
Unable to liberate presence from the grips of absence
I dwell on both edges of supposed being
that meanwhile refuse to be reconciled
?for fear that I dare reconstruct my long lost identity
There I stand
a hyphenated land
gazing at imposed images
donning the masks of free choice and self-agency
My Dance of Poetry
When my soul and I dance in accord,
Then and only then
Will I be able to write my poetry.
I cannot get more than I give!
Yes, I comprehend the world is indexed
aselfish place,
Where to be number one muddles all
minds,
And we forget love is more than just
being kind.
To see we bless another soul, is indeed
a noble goal.
Gratitude for this gift of poetry comes
from God.
It's really not our own doing, I realize
that sounds so totally odd!
Staying true, writing my very best
That's all God asks~ it s a noble quest.
We write down our words, we think
They are terrific.
Others look at them as nothing more
Than a traffic ticket.
This is my personal mountain to climb.
To keep on going, even though, this eats
my whole day.
I'm not here for self-aggrandizement,
But to support others on our mutual-
soul trip.
Panagiota Romios
4/23/2019
1:40pm PST
oft times brutal not so short,
but nasty acknowledgement,
(this anonymous, conscientious, efficacious...
frivolous gent writhes at bloody history),
yet mindful premeditated how to be worthy,
and now feels forced to be acquiescent
(as well other citizens might) calling
(er...actually writing), an August
aegis body vowing to be adherent
to codas, doctrine, ethos...adjacent
with government sanctioned destruction,
and indefinite adjournment
of peaceful coexistence with native peoples,
who never accepted unfair (raw deal) adjustment
(most often forced with violence) preceded,
and/or followed by admonishment
of aggressive, corrosive, deceptive...
indiscriminate butchering and adolescent
women and children,
an irrevocable Janus-faced advancement
fate awaiting all aboriginal tribes
fueled by advertisement frequently with bounty
fast forward to present age of affluent
price tag to lobby and or represent
deliberate gerrymandered voting districts,
where trumped up agent orange
iz new black aggrandizement
finds Donny Brooks saturing the media
with proclamation defamation of this very day
stigmatizing valuable news as so subtly "FAKE"!
Inept illiterate and corrupt politicians
Hail the Roman patricians
Men and women depending on Buffoons
And an Orange haired tycoon
Explanation of standing positions
Require a doctorate in disinformation
Machiavellian court of intrigue
Policy and norms exhaust fatigue
Diplomatic and economic principles erased
Stature of women disgraced
Leaders stooping to obscene new lows
Standing in line for the Fox shows
Citizens disenchanted and propagandized
Blacks and browns disenfranchised
What a huge disappointment in leadership
Down to the bottom drip by drip
What ever happened to educated and refinement
Religious principles for self aggrandizement
What is mistaken so is
dire self-aggrandizement
by ambitious fellows
re-baptized by citizens
hijacked by opportunists
as true love for a nation
It is a nickname, a vanity
MIRROR
so profane
looking me over
head to toe
a counselor
no - a judge
i’m ashamed
you shriek
infinitesimal fragments
fall to the floor
quite mad
i’m stuffed into this tiny dress
no one can tell me i’m too fat
but your teardrops whittle
at my self-aggrandizement
i cheat on my diet
swallow each shard
now you see my heart
and i can’t hide from your eyes
66 words
5/23/2017
One of five-70 words or less contest
Word choice = mirror
1st Place
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.