Woodland to saunter
Braced up across hilltops,
Tendrils of leaves curl like locks
Fresh the mist sprinkling my face.
An airspray of radiant mist
Flows on her grasses evergreen
Till birdland stirs and whistles..
Joy in her field's embrace.
Velvet lays on ground
My dream-like eyes twinkle,
While blooms come dancing
A raucous merry-go-around;
The light tap on the skin,
Curious heart so ravenous
Through every magical whim.
Somewhere to surrender,
Melting down my cheeks
Upon the forest floor
The nature of my inner beast
Drips from thrill of wonder
From rare absence of reason,
A moment where innocence drifts
In wilderness ' arms blessing seasons,
The childlike creature in me
Soars into ladders of bliss!
Grief is a beast with weary eyes
Waiting on a chord unfinished—
The tinny purr—
A waving growl of tambourine,
Death’s rattle sounds the closing bars,
That dissonant finale.
Crest on crest the ocean marches,
Leave forever in their wake,
Repeating patterns, variations,
Enigmas do their shadows make.
Dawn’s dunes of drought, by dusk
Drowned out by moon’s dictates,
Rhythm of the days; advance—
Recede, advance — avast!
But naught to cease, eternal orbit,
The silver body leaves,
New treasures in the dune lands,
Awash with tracks of feet,
Impervious to changing shore,
Where land and water meet.
Grief is a beast with weary eyes,
Packed down on pilgrim’s road,
To the modest nettled tomb,
Where dust to dust are sunken bones.
Your grave will grow no younger,
Unlike you, ever older.
So, rise up the soul, distilled delight,
Your grave will grow no younger—
Condense to something less,
Unlike you, ever older—
Alight as crystals on our walls,
Deign to our quiet burdens bless.
The Earth weeps, not with rain, but with a silent grief.
She watches from the highest mountain,
her body now a canvas of wounds.
The rivers she sang to sleep are choked,
their voices hoarse with poison.
Her forests, once a thick green cloak,
are thinned to skeletal threads,
the songs of her creatures silenced.
The sky, once a blue, limitless promise,
is now a grey and gasping breath.
She sees her children,
the ones she shaped from clay and starlight,
so busy with their perfect lines and metal boxes,
that they no longer see the blood
that stains her gentle hands.
And what can she do,
but watch as they tear at her skin,
and wonder at the heart,
that learned to love, and then to kill.
Holding rage in a cage,
I engage in the battle,
It rattles my inner space.
Emotions chase away the peace,
The beast is released,
The energy is peeking.
I'm tweeking out,
All I can do is shout,
Doubt and fear is all I hear.
I can't see clear,
Veering into the dark,
My spark grows dim.
Fighting him to get free,
I fumble around for the key,
While the energy envelopes me.
Rage helps develope me,
Into a being that can hold weight,
Caging the want to hate.
Feeling how I vibrate,
A warning of my mental state,
I know rage is at the gate.
Using the key I open the gate,
Now as a team we can operate,
Creating chaos to weather.
We're a dangerous tether,
It's with me forever,
It never meant to take control,
It was only the soul,
Seeking to be whole.
In the dark and stormy night, a predator lies in wait.
A grave in sight, no need to fight,
he's here to seal your fate. Winter has come,
your time here is done, no time for you to run,
the time for that is already too late.
With icy breath that smells of death,
he knows just what you do, and he's coming after you.
I woke each break with cast a shadow on my chest,
a nameless weight that stole my needed rest.
It spoke in lies I dared not try to fight,
and turned the morning darker than the night.
I laughed in rooms so no one saw the ache,
while every smile felt brittle, thin, and fake.
It fed on doubt, on all I held in fear,
until my hope grew faint then disappeared.
And saw not ruin but a quiet resurrection.
A spark within me, stubborn, fierce, and small,
whispered, rise now…you will not fall.
I never struck it down with a conqueror's sword—
I just smply prevented confiding the fibs it made.
I stood unarmored yet would not yield—
my heart-- the only weapon I could wield.
It roared, it clawed, but I refused to bend;
its reign of silence met a sudden end.
And in that breath, my life was rearranged—
The day the beast cut down, was the day I changed.
Pick-A-Title, Vol 54 Poetry Contest // Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
Contest Judged: 9/5/2025 5:24:00 PM
( 2nd Place )
Written: August 13, 2025
It stalks in silent corners of the mind.
A whisper, jagged, dark, and undefined.
Its claws creeps walls we dare not show,
eyes ecstatic where our hearts should glow.
It scoff on mistrust, on every hidden fear,
gnawing at the edges of what we hold dear,
A silent growl underneath the laughing sound.
A truth too fierce to face the day unbound.
Yet deep down inside the marrow of this fight.
A spark ignites a flutter of quiet light.
We don’t meet the beast with sword or shield
but with the quiet courage the heart alone can hold
It howls, it rampage, yet we will not fall,
it's shadow recoils before our inner call.
The beast is vicious, but we are more vicious still--
Adepts of the darkness by our iron will.
The beast bites the hand
taught to feed and stroke its mane
the wild creed and lash
can't be tamed chained nor retrained
hunger defeats any pause
each person harbors
a beast that they dare not rouse
that prowls through their dreams
for denial whets their fangs
and strokes more intense hunger
I know all its words
I share its profound dark breaths
I walk where it stalks
know that its way is ruin
but the beast is my shadow
I forged my own beast
as a dark-born reflection
a natural kin
to unmask the buried truth
I learn in no other way
we meet by its fire
to combine our restless breaths
feel our pulses match
trade discord for true accord
and turn our truce into peace
So you can define a tree
From a forest if its near
But I cannot make you see
And my words you cannot hear
You destroyed a lilac grove
You’re a beast with no remorse
I don’t share your need to rove
You’re the effect with no cause
Now the Earth is yours forever
Make it flat, cut off the trees
Get your desert back, whatever
It may cost - I pay for this
Doc Tarr and Professor Feather
Offer jobs for naughty boys
Others can enjoy the weather
They may take it as their choice.
Beauty and the beast, two splendid hearts that beat as one. Beneath
Love's tender embrace, the Prince was destined to find himself again. .
A blossoming friendship happened between the beast and Belle
Castle sized emotions and devotion grew, for she saw what no one else saw
Kissing her with tenderness and shyness he approached her with a smile !
He was transformed into a beast by a mischievous enchantress
Oh the loneliness he felt as a curse forced him to stay within castle walls
Love was the only cure and if it didn't arrive before his 21st birthday, then ?
Each petal would fall inside the glass globe and he and the rose would die.
Love is the fountain of inner awareness, so when Belle arrived,
Only the radiance of her beautiful face made him feel like a Prince again !
Voicing a promise of love, he came out of the black hole of love and entered
Eagerly into her world, filling her with passion, empathy and true love !!!
The earth, the population's burden's beast -
we take its flesh, its skin, and blood and bones.
We fight for its spoils. Terror is unleashed.
We have graduated from throwing stones -
mankind, once a hope, soon to be deceased.
Can you hear the hot, fevered beast's last moans?
Beneath our planet's provident blue sky,
we'll kill ourselves before the beast can die.
In a gentle manner..There is emphasis on care.' Protect and
Save the eco-system.' Thats already 'out there' yet the rhetoric
Becomes dragonlike.' Should you err.? 2020 was an intro.' There
Will be more He will dare.' Lahina saw fire..Did it fall from
The sky.' What will you sacrifice? When the real test is nigh'
Will you bow as a pagan? Will you take the wrong mark.?
Be warned though it be daylight.' Plans are being made for
When its dark.'
The clouds were moving swiftly
across the darkened sky
The howling wind raced through the trees
the leaves were flying by
His heart was beating like a drum
that pounded in his chest
Trying to release the demon
long ago at rest
His body started to convulse
it shook without control
In one more minute he would lose
the last part of his soul
Transformed into a savage
with no logic and no reason
A cursed abomination
he is doomed through every season
Now the man is gone
and in his place there stands a beast
The darkest part inside of him
once hidden, now released
The creature howled out at the moon
a tear was in his eye
Because inside the monster
lives a man who still can cry
I test the winds every day because I live in a forest
I am a pyromaniac, but I do want to prevent forest fires
Today the wind is calm; it is a great day to scare the neighbors.
I drag twelve boxes out, stuff two with paper and light it up
Fire is not a steady lover; she is a frenzied volcano
In minutes, she is reaching toward the sky in bright orange flames
I sit mesmerized, fascinated, not caring if there is a forest fire
My husband runs out of the house to stare; he is like the neighobrs
Fearful of my excited beast of a fire who is crackling gray and black now
Yet too scared of me to say a word, for I am a frenzied pyromaniac.
a r~a~g~i~n~g beast that r~o~a~r~e~d loud through dry grasslands
e~m~b~l~a~z~o~n~e~d just like sunlight rays in forested ~s~e~a~s~
a glowing friend who radiates love's embrace
a relentless enemy that rides on a wild horse
a beacon of hope that beams brilliant stories
for darkness to gleam and for b.r.i.g.h.t.n.e.s.s to awaken
a fierce warrior who pierces the dark night unscathed
yet still consumes the trees whole
in its vastness, water bows
the golden orange-red glove worn by darkness
when sojourning through a borderless furnace
yet b~u~r~n~i~n~g—like blue b.l.a.z.e.s
it still cooks the meals
that kitchens conjure
and still b~u~r~n~s grubs to a-s-h-e-s
when eyes s~l~e~e~p and noses go on vacation
we kneel for it to conflagrate better as a friend
than to stir with eyes as s.c.a.r.y as being trapped in a dark tunnel—
but in life's sojourn,
we can't but still welcome its f.i.e.r.y flavors...
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