I take my pain to where ragers rage and writhe
in their self-absorbed gluttony on all-winter days
their tea cups are only for them
interspersed with silence and solitude
the streets are buildings without them
who are the signposts talking too?
I could have been one of them
I was one of them
and still am if hills facing the sun are cloud covered
and I don’t look out of the window to notice
then, in those un-costumed days, I am
but, and it has taken rotations of earth
backpacking through antonyms, through tropics
I have conquered tinnitus, now a comfort blanket
aiding sleep as a heart monitor line crossing a screen
I have conquered deep wells, now jews harps
jaw harps if you prefer, gewgaws, yes I have conquered
the cave of crawling space days
goblins are only a light switch and their rising finger away
but my rising finger plucks at overtones and distances
between neurons, between stars, between mees
its sound soothing, rubbing balm on a restive chest
the vibrations are fizzing and feeding me
I take my white noise and float away
sound, my therapy
Categories:
backpacking, inspirational, introspection, life, mental
Form: Dramatic Monologue
I searched 'ere the dawn, where could it have gone,
for now, it possesses me, as a mystery, till dawn met me.
I've no rhyme or reason that a loved entity goes awry,
having to comb with despair and melancholy choking air,
hence, I must cease or I will be deceased. I choose to
be, than not to be, mid the numbers of worth--counting.
Now that I've deduced the severance of said company,
to be amiss, or, lost as in unrecoverable. So, I will forge
ahead, much like this climbing star training its new day
as it's backpacking a whole quarter welcoming--it's Fall.
Oh my, much ado has gone awry, high and low, 'neath a
crooked sky. My thorough efforts abandoned my fruit of
labor, with harvest ripening fields, and the forests crispy
hues. I have forsaken a driven entity that proposes life.
A ray of hope, beaming from a drifting star hovering over
the lost, now found. There is still a sliver of time enough.
I must tighten the notches so that its stretch will be of
favor to the distant ones who'll all rise across the seven
seas, for I am the soloist. The powers that made me, an
Indian, task Summer to stay awhile to hear my drumbeat.
Categories:
backpacking, appreciation, summer,
Form: Free verse
Florid banshees recoiled, neck and hankering sneer.
A succinctly exuberant suggestion when selective.
Came on, fell flat with laconic ornamentation.
A miniature jaunt, interment; glove comparted.
Pin-striped foxtails attuned tune maddening clairvoyants.
Precisely predisposed, wine-flavored latten tobaccos.
A wooden-tipped juxtaposition, stilling waisted.
Bygone midge nonguarded, slunk olive drabbing on bayou.
Thicken handkerchief lightly dabbing brow.
Darkness entrapment, fiat practice gymnastics.
Money management, coinage magnet, honored in mathematics.
Backflipping,
Backtracking,
Backpacking.
Super-Soaker moisture, quickie; quickly, socks on prickly.
Sloped incline, inside Mount Saint Helens' Slip 'n Slide.
Categories:
backpacking, dedication, devotion, endurance, extended
Form: Imagism
Nothing excites or amazes me now,
I've either done it, seen it
Or heard about how.
I can read it, need it and heed it in 2 hours
But there's nothing out there that really inspires,
Not like way back when, as I'd brood at the thought
Of backpacking in Asia or
something of the sort
No. Now, though I'm thankful I'm alive and breathing,
Such a pity that humanity oft leaves me seething
Categories:
backpacking, anger, dark, depression, mental
Form: Rhyme
A one-time backpacking zebra with a rah rah rah
Went down the mountain sliding down a long seesaw
We yelled hey wait! Don’t you usually walk.
He gave us a rude hand gesture; and a little squawk.
I did not know that backpackers rode down sleds I yelled.
He mooned me good, which I thought was even ruder still.
I was glad when he ran into a picnic table at the bottom of the hill.
Which was not kind, but it was the way I felt said my brother Bill.
Categories:
backpacking, 3rd grade, 4th grade,
Form: Rhyme
While backpacking in downtown Mumbai
I digested a spicy meat pie
It wasn't too long
'Till I smelt a pong
And then felt something run down my thigh.
Categories:
backpacking, humor,
Form: Limerick
Many think that I'm going on vacation,
when I go thru hiking,
backpacking where the deer and the antelope roam,
but I am not at all going on vacation,
by any stretch of the imagination.
The truth is I'm going home.
Categories:
backpacking, how i feel,
Form: Rhyme
If I weren’t afraid I would run toward the mountains.
Backpacking, hard and fast, with my sleeping bag and such.
I would hitch a ride with sixty-five strangers,
Getting to know them, making them my friends,
Exchanging phone numbers and letting them sleep on my couch.
But I would insist on sleeping in their yard,
Not caring about snakes or spiders,
Welcoming them too
Not being afraid
any more.
Written: 9-13-2019
Contest: If I weren’t afraid
Sponsor: Line Gauthier
Categories:
backpacking, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Free verse
Backpacking
I search my truth
place unknown—
With abandon
limbs roam free
on brown pampas,
thirsting for newfound conquests.
Contest: Whitney 2
5 Sept 2017
Categories:
backpacking, adventure,
Form: Verse
If you'll indulge me, this short poem, based on George Formby's WW2 forces song, was inspired by my son;'s experiences of backpacking in India over the past month. In that time he met ONE other traveler that wanted to just chew the fat, have a chai and watch the world go by with. Every other traveler he tried to engage in a chat or some site seeing (and sight seeing!) was at best indifferent and at worst simply rude.
So for (most) of the backpacking fraternity on the sub-continent...
Bless'em all.
By The Didds.
bless 'em all! bless 'em all,
the boorish, and with minds so small,
gone to India, to travel and learn,
sat in their hostels avoiding sunburn,
never speaking to others at all,
as back to their smartphones they crawl,
There's no conversation, in the Indian nation,
By gap-yearers less than enthralled!
Categories:
backpacking, adventure, father son, loneliness,
Form: Free verse
My body,
carries
the weight of the pack.
Walking,
and seeking to pray.
Vast space
opens,
my unlockable hope.
Silence,
keeps monsters at bay.
My breath,
eases
at the sight of the moon.
Echoing,
everything is okay.
Lupine flower
kisses,
my unloveable me.
Fields,
offer beds to lay.
My spirit,
strengthens
inside of my walls,
pushing,
them out of the way.
Snow bank
freezes,
my unstoppable terror.
Trees,
whisper I may.
My heart,
sits
on top of the mountain,
crowing,
to meet the new day.
Glacier stream
quenches,
my unrelenting longing.
Trails,
wear anxiety away.
My soul,
joins
along with the rest.
Melting,
to oneness anyway.
Nature God,
consumes
my insatiable loneliness.
Everything,
makes connection today
Categories:
backpacking, abuse, beauty, hope, inspiration,
Form: Free verse