“Key”
Thirty pieces of silver.
That ancient story of betrayal
sits shining next to thee,
It flips poetic meaning supernaturally.
We wonder how We came
to this Synchronicity.
The upturned face,
a legacy.
Seeking answers
listening to silence, unanswered.
The questions evade.
The mind lifts,
the sharp point drops its messages
into the grooves of other dimensions played out
like a child’s game where we wave in lyrics,
where the music silver lines the terra firma roads
along the landscape of Life’s turntable.
Inside you something turns, burning
a flame inside a Memory
presents a key.
Candide Diderot. ‘26
“In the sharp gust of love
My memory stirred
When time wreathed a rose
A garland of shame
Its thorn my only delight
War torn, afraid to speak
We dare to breathe
Majestic
Imperial
A bridge of sighs
Solitude sails
In a wave of forgiveness
On angels' wings…”
(Siouxsie & The Banshees)
Matthew 26 NIV
I love the gentle snowflakes falling
floating down from the sky like feathers
drifting, twirling, dancing, whirling and prancing
blanketing my city magical white
I was born into snow
the wind howling through the trees like banshees
city drifts and cars slipping
I arrived a snow child
I like to stroll the city streets
as magical snow changes downtown
pigeons hover on the ledges
folding their wings together
Ottawa steeped in history
the buildings are old and beautiful
gray bricked, elegant and sturdy
many homes Victorians
My city boasts of many winding trails
but nothing is more amazing than in winter
a crisp, walk among sleeping trees
oh, love hiking past a frozen stream that still ripples
I have creaking rooms in an old city building
outside my window trees in all seasons are my view
but winter snow falling on my city stirs my soul
I can hear my beloved snow calling me
come, come, come outside my love
I lay in the dust turned to mud by the blood of innocents,
my name i heard whispered on the sighing breeze of night
flahes of somrthing bright illuminated a ruined city.
broken buildings like jagged teeth seemed to laugh,
screams like banshees filled the sky dropping death
down upon the heads of those already dead.
What hate must be brewing in peoples hearts,
that no one lifts a finger to help.
They say that God gives them the right,
however no one knows what God they serve.
Little children some still babes lay beside me,
blank eyes looking up,as if pleading for help.
My tears are spent and as dry as the sand beneath me,
My time has come to travel a new path now,
Following the trail of those gone before,
A trail of tears no,as no tears are left to shed.
Meeting fellow travellers of all nations,
murdered ,is all they say.
Andrew Provan McIntyre. 01/07/2025.
Shadows in every corner
The devil rising up from the floor
My Mental health is on the edge
I can't take anymore
Banshees that scream fly around in my head
Graves are opening and releasing their dead
Frozen to the spot I can run or walk
Scared into silence can't seem to talk
I don't know reality and I don't know what's fake
Me being alive is just one big mistake.
Some camels have spiders
that assault their riders,
or so come the tales from Iraq.
They’re known to eat horses
in multiple courses
and carry them home on their backs.
They’ll chase down a Humvee
while screaming like banshees,
with armor resistant to flack.
With vertical jumps,
they can launch from both humps
in two-fold arachnid attacks.
I know that it’s tricky
when reading a wiki
to separate fable from fact,
but if all this is true
and one came into view,
I’d flat-line from a cardiac.
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.
Israel will be free
from Muslim killing sprees
Israel will be free
from screaming leftist banshees
Israel will be free
from antisemitic UN decrees
Israel will be free
from the Jordan River
to the Mediterranean Sea ~
Israel will be free
When dawn drifts into charmed meadows
enchantment fades with the shadows,
drinking perfume from the night's air,
stirring fragrance that lingers there.
Faintest mist sprinkles wild grasses,
when dawn drifts into charmed meadows.
Sewn jewels on satin sashes
of Sylphs dancing with Tylwyth Teg.
Fae play elaborate charades
before meadow enchantment fades.
When dawn drifts into charmed meadows,
Brownies comfort mourning Banshees.
Asrai frolic with the Selkies
as darkness fades into bleached sun.
Magic leaves as it had begun
when dawn drifts into charmed meadows.
5
"Mythic"
Overseeing the savages,
the gods watch from their war room above,
pinning their voodoo dolls on the table
Federations of strange angels
about to cut through
the silver lining
into the bloodied
muck of it all
mythic gods of old
spilling a chilling
new meaning
to it all
Halloween arrived
too early before them,
they have seen it all before
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
[Verse 2]
"Shattered fragments of the past
Meet in veins on the stained glass
Like the lifeline in your palm
Red and green reflects the scene
Of a long forgotten dream
There were princes and there were kings
[Pre-Chours]
Now hidden in disguise
Cheap wrappings of lies
Keep your heart alive
With a song from inside
[Verse 3]
Even though we're all alone
We are never on our own
When we're singing, singing
Home, home!"
(excerpt, lyrics of "Israel"/Siouxie & The Banshees, Nov 1980).
Full lyrics of the song, "Israel", in comment boxes below.
Some people don’t hike through the wood,
especially on All Hallows Eve.
Ghosts of boys and girls of good
float at the campfire, if you believe.
Elves and pixies dance through the trees,
with taunting, mocking, and leering.
They swing and sway in the brash breeze,
their faces frighteningly jeering.
What was that? The crack in the wind
unleashes demons and banshees!
Their hideous yowling will send
even the bravest to their knees.
Ghosts and goblins arise from their graves,
harmonize in a cacophonous chant.
Don’t try to hide in the darkened caves.
They’ll find you in their raucous rant.
They’ll steal your bones with giggling glee
and make toothpicks with your ribs.
Quickly now, turn. Run, and flee
before they find you and call out “Dibs!”
RED fire ball submerging,
we slip from the light
watching our shadows bloom.
A smoldering sphere,
not clean-cut, but badly drawn,
its REDNESS wobbles and fumes.
as it downs itself
still smoking a last shred of day.
For a few long moments Banshees
go silent.
Curious Giraffes stretch their necks
to sniff the freshly deceased,
as one by one
they black-out the flares
of self-rising spirits.
Another evening
in the zoological realms
of space.
The sun-swimmers flop on the beach
basking in the last RED drops.
Venus in her dressing-room,
is plugging-in her shine.
She adorns her gown
with fractals and sprinkles.
Mars goes in and out
of its dust filled hollowness,
seeking a deeper RED
to die within.
Skin still blistering with sandy itches
we head for home
ignoring the sighs of a leaking
and sullen surf.
A herd of colorful umbrellas
fold their pronged headgears
down into a dimmer,
more dusky RED decline.
Halloween
Beneath the moon and the stars so bright,
hideous creatures born of the night.
Their screams of horror and wailing fear,
for we are coming and we are here.
These fleeting spirits take dark winged flight,
calling to the heavens spreading fright.
They are ghosts, goblins, banshees, and more,
hordes will come and pound upon your door.
And if you dare to open it wide,
welcome these spirits to step inside.
With bags held open each girl and boy,
chime trick or treat with smiles filled with joy.
All hallows eve has come it is here,
with children laughing and children’s cheer.
By
Josehf Lloyd Murchison
"Razors in their Gloves"
Keep thy enemies close
befriend the smiling banshees
holding their cowboy guns
such beings in love with love
all’s fair in love and war
dripping honeyed lines
for greenants to walk along
truth be known they’ll be
back in the ring
before too long
kissing windy cheeks
shaking hands
with razors in their gloves
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
Winter - W/S
snow thunder rumbles
white fire sparkles in flurries
hummingbirds dine at feeders
brittle wind torrents
howl like exiled banshees as
a fat robin hunts for worms
1/9/23
Contest: Winter Sedoka
Sponsor: Charlie Messina
Cardinal and the Rose
As greyness dyes white clouds
When icy fingers rattle wind chimes of icicles
A shiver rustles still meadows of frost bouquets;
Through brittle gales that howl
Like exiled banshees
A tiny golden cardinal seeks
The last yellow rose of summer
That still blooms in shades of sunlight,
In hues of joyful perfume,
To catch her falling petals etched in sunbeams
As the solstice savage delirium casts them
Into the consuming crystal fire of frost;
Before they whither into forgetfulness
This tiny symbol of devotion
Gathers memories of warm afternoons
To line her winter nest with petals of hope
And the fragrance of joy for golden fledglings
As gilded buds return on new stems
To repeat the cardinal’s warbling song.
1-5-22
Contest: Cardinal and the Rose
Sponsor: Craig Cornish
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