A PLAYER
Booked for a film for one day.
I rehearse my line and wait until the
crew is ready for me.
It’s a cold night shoot, but the hot
spotlights flood the set with
achievement and attainment.
I perform. Hot and sweaty. I derig.
I exit, never seeing the crew again.
The rest of the night is waiting for
me ; the night is young and the city
is new.
To celebrate, I go to a night club.
Make out with a man twice my age
and half my talent. I perform again.
I cast aside the desperate man.
I book a twink who takes me to his
place. I derig. I perform again.
Hot and sweaty for the second
time tonight. I exit, never seeing the
twink again.
The joys of being a player….
You, the great blasphemer, did snort
“I will be Christ. I will be the Most High
Above the fifty stars and courts
Above every deity of the sky”
Worshiping the idol of forts
With gold and silver, but with no ally
O orange morning star… O Don
You will be brought down alive
By Life, the daughter of Wisdom
To where no rose can grow and strive
With no oak tree to rest upon
With no eagle to arrive
Trampling you underfoot
Generations will think
“Is this that man who put
The whole earth on the brink
Turned his kingdom to soot
Killed liberty in a blink”
(Influenced by Isaiah 14:12-17)
It was likely lichen's provided the fuel
Evolutionarily leading to mortal and mule
They worked with the fungus that brung us to fore
Elevating our thought to what we thought was more
Than what had preceded, receded and left
We then reseeding, believing the best
It was what our creation and station now made
Us to invent cultivation and blade
Use in one allows us to grow strong and tall
The other decides what will stand, or will fall
It's best in the harvest when feeding us all
The test is the anger that comes with the Fall
("Crappy Karma Happens Merit Badge", 2010, original oil)
It’s easy to take what you’ve been taught,
Take what you’ve learned,
And think because it is yours
It holds the higher ground.
It’s a basic flaw of being human
This closed mindedness,
And it’s called confirmation bias.
We select for what we want
And we like what we receive
Until something or someone
Comes along to shake us up.
These little earthquakes
Are what make Life worth living.
And from the damaged foundation
We build again,
Bigger, better or smaller, smarter
Change is change
And it’s all good, even when it’s not.
Life is humbling like this,
Building and building, but in the end
Leaving us with nothing,
But also in that inevitable humbling,
A little less secure in our ignorance.
Some would call that
The birth of wisdom.
(3/16/26)
A feather's touch, your light
Warm and glowing bright
An angel in the night
Softens my will to fight
Instead instills belonging
Pales my ceaseless longing
Though ere I push those away-
Who would love me
Sooth, I am weary of the fight
Midst safe solitudes, in my right
Accepting being wrong and of bone-
And flesh, less immortal than alone
I would die loved by a mere few-
Than worshiped by prideful throngs
E'en tho', my angel, thou fade from view
My heart beats once more where it belongs
Thanks to you
The folds of arrogance loosen and spill,
Though draped upon the shade of restraint.
?
Relentless flare of crimson defiance,
Met with the cool stubbornness of blue.
?
Tomorrow tangles like wild vines,
Today wields a blade of bitter resolve.
I see myself as fair and helpful
a friendly ally... so I'm surprised
to see me singled out and
ostracized from your bubble.
Perhaps I've insulted you
by not agreeing with your views
though I've gone out of my way
to be diplomatic and polite.
Perhaps I've not lavished you
with honours when judging
my contests with blind impartiality
and that displeased you enormously.
Perhaps I've given you a suggestion
to consider ways to improve your poem
and you assumed I showed arrogance
and deserve to be cut out of your circle.
I'll never know the reasons that justify
why I've been singled out and ostracized
and you obviously have no intention
to discuss or reconsider ~ it’s your call.
So be it ~
AP: 1st place 2025
Saklas, the fool who within his heart of indulgence
Whispers: “There is no god greater than me”
Coiling and consuming himself in self-indulgence
Isn’t he like that voice in you and me
Samuel, the blind idol who proclaims to the world
Roaring loudly “There is no god but me”
His roars thundering within the cosmic underworld
Isn’t he like that voice in you and me
The serpent begets nothing god-like or natural
The lion just dims light for you and me
Sneaking arrogance and boastful vainglory coiled up as one
Pride, wisdom’s veil and denial of the humble Son
The serpent and lion are coiled up as one, for us to see
Yaldabaoth, the idol of pride and wisdom’s folly
Is it hubris or arrogance to write
as if we know it all, but deep inside
the jagged lines of life will interrupt
the smooth edges of our prose, and the night
will cast the shadows of ego aside,
as in the spider’s web we soon are cupped,
entangled in the bravado we spect
to expose in others (that in us denied),
so nirvana is poisoned and corrupt,
unlike the phoenix we will not resurrect
from the ashes of our past.
I heard a Peacock boast — aloud —
Of Feathers — finer — than the Cloud —
He preened — before the Mirror — wide —
And found — himself — Deified —
He passed the Sparrow — in the lane —
With not a nod — nor hint of pain —
Oblivion — his only peer —
Except — the Echo — in his ear —
He climbed — a Twig — of borrowed Grace —
And shook — when Wind disturbed his Place —
For Pride — is brittle — as a Star —
That dazzles — but — does not go far —
The wiser Owls — in dusky Trees —
Surveyed — his Fall — with silent ease —
And whispered — “Dust — resumes — with breeze.”
Dear vanity o dear vanity
How silly do I look to thee
Arrogantly parading across Main street
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
I love the way you cleverly
pontificate and think you know it all ~
so quick to dole out your advice.
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
Under the guise of altruism,
you rank right up there with other pests ~
wish there was a prize for 'most annoying'.
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
You don't need any details
the solution's already in your head ~
who wants any of the facts?!
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
Do you even hear yourself ~
your words and tone are laughable
but there's no stopping you.
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Humility is to apologize although it's rejected
Showing respect although you're disrespected
Being humble isn't something most practice in daily life
Most people focus on who was wrong and who was right
Humility is the hardest quality of character to apply
Imagine being honest with a person who constantly lie
Humility can be shown if assisted by the quality of love
You can't have one without the other their hand and glove.
Forgiveness is another sign that displays the quality of humility
To forgive and forget isn't something that's beyond our ability
We're taught by human nature to be on top and be elevated
That if you allow yourself to be humiliated that you'll never make it
Constant competition among the people in the world to be flawless
Pumped up ego, to be conceited, always being presumptuous
We do all of this just to be knocked back down to ground level
Is it really worth it to imitate the characteristics of the devil?
She poo-pooed her constituent quickly
with, “Well, we all are going to die”
like a queen talking down to the peasants
from her castle way up in the sky
She expressed no concern for the voter
or her plight should she lose Medicaid
with an arrogant wave she dismissed her
and revealed that they all had been played
So the people who put her in office
called her out with a chorus of boos
and the threat to remove her forever
this is known as Republican Blues
Okay then, I’ll admit it. Yes, I’m lazy.
Not quite the hardest worker ever known.
My talent is a Motorola phone:
to drink the colour of a mountain daisy
or taste a mirror (doesn’t that sound crazy?)
I need to keep it charged: I have to hone
those Pasolini “pentals” of my own
(“that’s mental petals”, says the Bolognese).
I enter things without the least compunction:
no sooner enter, than believe I’ve won:
no sooner win (excruciating pun)
Narcissus-like, than find the photo-function
to say that, on reflection, it was fun:
like playing chicken at a railroad junction.
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