I spent poetic days living life on the strand picking thoughts from the sand just beneath blazing suns and freezing rains, dancing to the horrid pains coming from a shadows passing to a time when flowers grew by riversides' covered in forget-me-nots and hyacinths, grown still on top a hill that was built by the dead who died exhaling out a final sigh like zephyrs rushing in with whispers made from haunting words, often said, seldom heard:
"Forgive us for our sins."
"We are lost in ignorance."
"Forgive us for our trespasses as we forgive those, who trespass against us."
"Give us strength and a sword, so we may protect our loves and ourselves, from a world clearly gone mad."
"Return us back to paradise!"
"Return us back to paradise!"
"Return us back..."
And so we go back, to living life among the lost, forgotten, sadly lost, picking jewels from the sand...
Willie Sutton was not a “word whiz”
And you won’t find his name in “showbiz”
But his quote I prefer
Came to him while “in stir”
“I rob banks ‘cause that’s where money is!”
They found Love on the Outer Banks
They weren't looking, but it found a way
Dancing together out in the midst of the waves
Holding on tight like it's their final day
Two hearts beating, with the strength of a hurricane
I think that if you asked today,
Have piggy banks become passe,
The answer, if I had to guess,
Would be a most resounding Yes!
For coins are just no longer used
And kids might even be confused
Or maybe slightly take offense
If teeth were swapped for fifty cents.
Yet in my home, four banks still sit,
Each one with varied coins in it,
Plunked one by one into the slot
Which, back in childhood, meant a lot.
Today I dumped them out, then stacked
The coins in piles, using tact,
So neither grandkid throws a fit
Because I made an equal split.
I chose two banks and loaded in
Half dollar coins that once had been
Their father’s long-forgotten stash,
Now hardly recognized as cash.
Households unhitch, clapperboard hulls creaking -
the sound of storm-lashed rigging, as washing lines
and telephone wires twist
netting loosening foundations.
Where we once believed roots gripped bedrock,
planks bob in the swell, chests and their drawers
billow and fill.
Bed-springs gape, cupboards
turn inside out, what surfaces
is the face-up exposure
of our everyday innards.
Even as mailboxes are torn away,
we refuse to believe that a river and some wind
could move our lives so a far afield,
or that this world was really in fact,
just this shipwreck on a shore
that is always moving.
What we once thought of
as an address,
has turned out to be only a buoy
on an ever-moving wave.
In yonder glen where thistles bloom,
'Midst heathered hills and meadows groom.
A lark ascends with lilting cheer,
Its song a ballad sweet and clear.
The haggis grazes on the brae,
As daylight wanes at close of day.
Auld tales of kin and bonnie lore,
Whispered by the river's shore.
By yon bonnie banks, auld and grand,
Lovers stroll, hand in hand.
Beneath the moon's enchanting light,
They dance to tunes of Highland night.
Oh, gentle winds, oh, rugged glade,
Where Burns himself might find a shade.
With every verse, a heartfelt plea,
For love, for land, for liberty.
Rock-a-Bye money- dream you're on top-
please stay asleep till our worries stop.
Nest eggs are dwindling- balances fall;
lowering checking, savings, and all.
Rock-a-Bye money- values downswing;
much more is needed, we sadly sing.
Flying too fast from each saved-up nest;
try to sleep long and take a good rest.
Rock-a-Bye money, please don't you see
you're the support for all and for me.
Crisp dollar bills, coins shiny and bright-
please stay asleep to stop taking flight.
Rock-a-Bye money, pray you're not trash;
please close your eyes to this market crash.
If the banks fail, all cradles will fall;
down we'll all come- you, me, one and all.
May 7, 2023
Contest: Mother Goose Grows Up
Sponsor: Miranda Hawley
Parody of Rock-a-Bye Baby
A show supposed to be classic
But watchers' cheap applause did seek
The actors, no exception, sick:
Long the rude point in mind shall stick...
Why choose the slobbering walker
And mimic the labored talker:
On your clothes dripping saliva
As well taught by Trainer Silver
Before a thousand eyes go limp
While a camera films: an imp;
Oh! I forgot: it's about cash
You have a chance to in banks stash;
Yet, in US this would be punished,
All of you by some guns finished!
You have to know, my love.
Nothing comes close, my love,
To an East Coast kiss in the summer sun.
You have to know, my love.
We can go home, my love.
It is easily said and done when you feel outrun.
You're all I need.
Darling, share the load and see.
Walk Broad Cove Banks Road with me.
We are home on the hill, my love.
Life is a thrill, my love.
The ocean we see and the air we breathe is enough.
One day they'll be grown up, my love.
We will raise our cups, my love.
We got to the end together, as we said. It was tough.
You're all I need.
Darling, share the load and see.
Walk Broad Cove Banks Road with me.
After all these years, my love.
We faced our fears, my love.
Tired bones take us back to the seed we've sown.
All said and done, my love.
Dead and gone, my love.
Our legacy in their memory will roam.
Though the roads can change,
You and I know the way.
Close the map. Our hearts will guide us back.
You're all I need.
Darling, share the load and see.
Walk Broad Cove Banks Road with me.
I long to traipse across lavender heathered hills
and look across the North Sea as a winter wind chills.
Again, to dwell in a cottage, nestled in a green glen
or traverse Scotland's burns, I yearn. Do ya ken?
Years ago I sat upon Loch Lomond's misty banks
and to the beautiful Highlands I offered my thanks
for rugged terrain, lowlands and plains, and Aberdeen.
Haunting bagpipe songs, leaves me feeling serene.
My heart longs to wander free as I stand and listen
to gulls over the Hebrides while Atlantic waters glisten.
There's a stirring deep within my heart and my soul
to wear my clan's plaid and upon Ayr Beach to stroll.
January 5, 2023
Take Me There Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Margarita Lillico
Dancing in space
Waltzing in the universe
Pirouetting on cloud banks
Aah yes
Come with me
Let’s dance together
Ancient flute notes echo
Amidst starshine and lost memories
I feel you there beside me
Peeking around planets
Your eyes seeking me out
Our fibers entwined
Through passion and loss
Our unspoken words
Spun like gold thread
Around our bleeding hearts
An inhale ~ a memory
Meeting you in the ocean
Immersing ourselves in blankets of mist and fog
Lavender foam adorned with turquoise sparkles
Glinting off wave tips
My nakedness enveloped
Salty tears
My mouth open
Searching for you
I walk through time
Through walls of water
The waves part
As I find my way
Inward
Onward
To the sacred place within
I feel the air ~ quiet now
My fingertips sense my surroundings
I smell your heartbeat
In darkness my palms touch yours
A vibration of heat
Of laughter
Of knowing
Of ancient memories
Coupling our souls
Forever
Black smoke rose in the Godless distance
Every eye widening like the morning sun
In all directions, the orange fangs glistened
the emerald spires melting down one by one-
They silently prayed their way to the water's edge
a stone rosary in the rapids, to a strip of salvation
from the other side the leviathan silently slid in
faith became the same for saints and for madmen-
The flames were upon them just before dusk
the nightmares awaited them in the frenzy of time
the flock hopped into shadows just beneath the froth
the desperation of many is the bounty for a few-
The stars played sax to the rhythm of screams
as the rapids slowly turned to petals of crimson
vipers cackled at the scene from the banks of indecision
upon a rock isle they clustered 'round the death of a dream-
Beaches
Two edges either sides
Sea in the middle
Like banks river sides
At defaults of the poor
All their holds at banks sold
Of Lords in many folds
Banks going sold!
In the lap of holy Ganges
Mystic waves crawled upon him
Ripples of love embraced and
Divine showers Ganges wet his cheeks.
Saw him in reflections of depth
Blurred it away by blowing breeze
Hymns of nearby ramparts,
Echoed off and reverberated like holy smoke.
When moonlight lit the lamp.
Last shadows filled emptiness
Then saints preached "Death
As eternal stretches of life".
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