Best Amounting Poems
At day's end a retreating sun banished
Awestruck we witness its closing farewell
Silently the last veil of hue vanished
Our woes amounting to mere bagatelle
Nightfall air transfixed as if by a spell
Overcome with a wave of emotion
Rose sublimely over the citadel
An opalescent moon set in motion
‘Twas a night of magical proportion
Willow trees swaying in the summer breeze
Billowing waves pulsating devotion
Surrendering unperturbed with such ease
A sumptuous spectacle up above
Reflected in a sea of divine love
AP: 3rd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on May 13, 2018 for contest SUMMER LOVE SONNET sponsored by JOHN HAMILTON - RANKED 3RD
Categories:
amounting, devotion, love, magic, moon,
Form:
Sonnet
At times we tend to feel nothing but pain,
feeling like we have nothing to gain,
our hearts once again a wrecking ball and a chain,
on our sleeves an obvious worn out blood stain,
Our thoughts slowly driving us insane,
in our hearts an obvious torture chamber,
broken hearts not amounting to much,
hearts on the mend fending off life's saber,
Our hearts laboring to do something we savor,
tasting happiness again we do someone a favor,
as little by little we remove our hearts road blocks,
our hearts beating merrier to the ticking of the clock.
11-14-16
Categories:
amounting, cheer up, heartbreak, life,
Form:
Light Verse
It came to me
upon reflection
Life is one
great big collection
Starting with a
teddy bear
and ending with
a gasp of air
The time between
those points is rough
accumulating
all this stuff
Books and knick knacks
line the shelves
and in it all
we lose ourselves
Hand-me-downs
and souvenirs
hoarded all
throughout the years
Cups and saucers,
pots and pans,
electric heaters,
ceiling fans
Pictures, music,
magazines
amounting to
a hill of beans
Clothes and cars,
boats and planes,
nervous breakdowns,
aches and pains
Husbands, wives,
foes and friends
This great collection
never ends
And once our time
on earth goes by,
the years wind down
and then we die
We never seemed
to have enough,
and someone else
gets all our stuff
Categories:
amounting, humor, life, perspective, vanity,
Form:
Rhyme
We had started preparing dinner,
but when I told her they were grazing out back,
she wanted to go see them for herself. I folded the dishtowel
and put dinner on hold.
I suggested we take scraps
Lettuce leaves, carrot tops, apple cores, …scraps from the counter
The three horses were clustered under the trees,
munching tall grass, not far from the house
Only barbwire, the swing set, and their indifference between us
We tossed pieces of lettuce over the fence, and called out their names
At first they pretended not to notice us,
but finally one pony swished his tail, and slowly, sidled closer
My grandchild held out the apple, with a hesitant hand
At first she was afraid, of losing a finger perhaps,
or her quivering thumb
But, I told her to flatten her palm, hold the apple like a gift
The pony devoured the apple, and continued to nuzzle her hand
Barbwire is no restraint…. And love has no constraints
Sometimes amounting to nothing more than
an open heart, and open hand and an apple core
Categories:
amounting, life,
Form:
Free verse
In that meteoric moment
she exhibited eternal qualities of wonderfully wrought womanhood,
calm,disciplined and candid,
adorned with few distinctions from the rest behind her
the loving leadership was projected in painstaking posture,
brutal perfection,a suffering of diligence amounting to total serenity,
she being a gem amongst stones,
for inexperience a cure,
synchronicity simple & symetrical like ripples in a river,
the troupe twirls & turns as leaves whirl gingerly in pools of water livid,
their torsos taut like trunks of young & vital trees,faces flowers,
brilliant when in cold morning view,
hands impossibly curved on extended arms,hearts placid,
without looking the dancers drape their faith
upon the integrity of her warm luminosity,
the lead lioness quietly commands their orbiting obeisance,
in her hushing eyes the sparkle of a rich race communicates confection
to the contemplative congregation,
she is a Godess in the midst of nymphs,
something dangerous,calamitous,manifested mutely in the expression
of a posterior dancer
whom strangely stares at the back & soul of the leading lady in stance,
this suggestive & supportive figure embodying dispassionate envy,
strategically laying seige
to the gloriously innocent leader of this cultural romance,
a reminder reminiscent of Eve's two children
in the forgotten fields of antiquity
where success was hunted savagely by the weakness
inherent amid imps -
This poem is premised upon a photograph of a traditional Cambodian dance troupe -
J.A.B.
Categories:
amounting, angst, integrity,
Form:
Didactic
Great stature,
enormous strength;
huge, colossal
the way my heart exploded
so many different ways to express it
Does anyone hear the sound a heart
Makes when it breaks
Even continents away
Did she hear it?
The only one that mattered
It seemed like four days ago
We were so in love
Frolicking in the opulence,
Luxury of our acquaintance
Our love compared to the strength of the greek gods
Basking in the afterglow,
Proposing a toast,
With reason to believe it will not collapse
Without knowing our pride would lead to our demise.
And leave us cold, destitute, shocked beyond our mortal
Comprehension
Sobering to the thought this is the end
And the heat we once shared can’t take this chill away
Blistering,
I had to leave my body as the frost was setting in. . .
In d i s b e l i e f
This is just a tip of the iceberg
How could “us” the greatest love story
Go down in history as a shame
Will we be known as the world's greatest love tragedy?
Sinking down to the oceans living room
Look at me soaking in all my tears of sorrow
Cubit measurements of the ocean amounting
To the number of shed tears
Poisedon, nowhere to be found
Must have won the fight with the Titans
Was I the Titan,
And you Poisedon
Was our love destined to fail before it started
Who is to blame
This seems like a case for a wrongful death suit
Never to regain
Nor to recover
Just a titanic mockery
Be forewarned before you sign on
It may look good,
But we didn’t see what was lurking underneath
So much planning for our debut
A year in the making
Big lights
Cameras, the fame
So much for what we thought we knew
Versus
What we didn’t see coming!
Categories:
amounting, life, heart, heart, love,
Form:
to friend or not to friend, that is not the question
I'll be damned but I'm game
These facts cannot be left unstated
whether it is right to suffer
the lingering stings of speculative moments
or just to click the button and add
and in much suspense wait to be accepted...
... to like, to delete, to poke....
no more and by delete to say we end
the heartache and the thousand natural shocks
from endless notifications,
Some to block and others promote
and escalate to instagram and skype
and grab a chance to live in style
true to form, you thought i wouldn't have known
oh, don’t say why, we all need
to like, to be liked
to inbox perchance to receive, eh, that is the dream
for in that one message pleasant realities may come
when one will have updated one’s status
attempting to prompt a response
hoping friends will like
there is the mistake
that turns to a disaster all of Facebook romance
for who could bear the responses of a lover's ex,
friends with benefits would pour disdain
on the ceaseless updates amounting to silly display
you two get an inbox, they'd say,
but from inbox and chat many shy away,
too much paper trail along the way
so, thus stated, still lingers the question paused
from the very first breath this poem has known
to friend or not to friend,
if yes, to what extent,
if not, then what is the next step?
Categories:
amounting, confusion, crush, introspection, poets,
Form:
Ode
Stayed at Home Instead
For a while in salt water we would splash
After that lay down and start to crash
End up dreaming of the many things
Which to us joy and happiness brings.
Then we later had to leave the beach
Pelicans and seagulls as they screech
Waves forming and into shore did flow
When wind built up and started to blow.
Raining hectically had been outside again
Where all our patience was wearing thin
Wanting it to be sunny and nice and warm
And we were just affected by a big storm.
Weather and wind finally settled down
And it was then that we all went to town
To drink and dance at a beloved bar
But before we left someone clobber our car.
My moral I am stating and making is
Boiling down and amounting to this
This very poem you should have read
Laid down and stayed at home instead.
James Thomas Horn, Retired Veteran
Categories:
amounting, funny, humorous,
Form:
Couplet
A dumb officemate landed a promotion but not me,
it's alright, it was not based on good looks anyway.
I am grossly underpaid but come to think of it it's okay,
I cannot be relying on this damn oil company's charity.
I wrote many songs that no one buys even for a dime,
perhaps, like Van Gogh, I was born ahead of my time.
Got into karate and my opponent broke my collarbone,
well, even the great Ali's jaw was busted by Ken Norton.
It did not hurt a bit at all, not amounting to a scratch,
although it was like a kick landing right on the crotch.
A woman turned me down but it was clearly her loss,
crazy not falling for a guy who looked like Tom Cruise.
I admit my poems stink, sorely lacking any meaning,
but Joe's are even worse, not amounting to anything!
Categories:
amounting, friendship, funny, life,
Form:
Couplet
"You stir the peak of my night holding my vision in sight. The blue of your eye roams in my midnight sky"
She entered and grabbed my soul
light danced across the oaken floor
my eyes fluttered, at the thought
of these feelings that you brought
soft caresses amounting
to more than just a morning ride
as your scent on my pillow pushed
ever into the recesses
of what was a battered mind
welcome was the sun and the wind chimes
playing along with every pang and patter
tiptoeing my chambers deep inside
a stirring called to hurry and leave
clouded or just a fantasy
springing in this fear
I took one more breath of you
and your blue pulled me back to bed
Categories:
amounting, love,
Form:
Free verse
In the vastness of space,
Emptiness is vague,
Where miracles take place,
A disposition to create,
It starts with a molecule,
Then a few into clumps,
Growing in momentum,
To an uncountable sum,
Amounting, inviting gravity,
Merging more closely together,
The unyielding embrace of alchemy,
Yielding clouds and colours of allure,
Unkindly pressure collapsing,
A gleamer of hope reborn,
Illuminating the darkness, a new beginning
A light seen to set our wishes upon,
The heavens that hang in the sky,
Show us lessons of transformation,
Despite the pressures that come by,
Accept and evolve for a star will awaken.
Categories:
amounting, life,
Form:
Rhyme
One, Two, Three
The Sea.
Four, Five, Six
Broken Sticks.
Seven, Eight, Nine
Never be mine.
Ten.
Here I am again.
Counting,
The numbers keep amounting
To what?
I do not
Know.
Categories:
amounting, angst
Form:
I sit in the chair, nervous and accepting of the fate I have created. I have earned the right to be here, through careful planning and methodical artistry. How is it my fault if they fell for my antics? They called my ideas diabolical and inhumane, as I orchestrated one masterpiece after another. Sure, it was with human life, but none of those lives were amounting to much. I, with my good looks, and my persuasive charm took hold of each one of them, one by one and made them my own. They, with their thin frames and feminine curves eager to assist when they smelled my enticing cologne. They pulled me close to assist me and looked lovingly into my big blue eyes unknowing that they would feed my inner sexual desires and end up strangled on the side of a road. Interstate 90 was an old friend who assisted me in my most devious encounters. I was fueled by media, and sexual violence portrayed in Hollywood on big screens everywhere. You want to put something on trial? Put the media on trial!
The media with its glorified sexual violence that fueled my inner beast, causing it to surface and take me over. Once it came out there was no taming the beast- not until someone lay lifeless at my hand, me breathing hard, satisfied, then coming back to my senses and terrified at what I had done.
Do I feel remorse? Yes, of course, but not so much for the victims or their loved ones but for the ones that are to come because in all of your cities there are dozens more just like me and you don’t even know it.
You don’t even see what you are creating with your media and your sexualized violence. This chair I sit in now is uncomfortable. The straps cut into my arms, the thing strapped onto my head. You think you can kill me? I will just change form and continue to rape the minds of the innocent. Go ahead, pull the lever. Pull it again, watch me smoke. Smell my flesh as I leave this world and to you who pulled the lever...Oh yes, we shall meet again. But will you meet me, or the beast within?
Categories:
amounting, confidence, death, goodbye, murder,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
Poverty seems like a repellent stuck on the poor
Whose only fault lies in owning no property or asset to parade
Among wealth admirers and worshippers to whom poverty seems dour
In contexts where ostentatious display of wealth cuts the grade
That profligacy and extravagance attract
Robbing the poor of the dignity glitter
As though on purpose fleas of poverty they contract
Dumping ugliness on the poor on whom fruits of affluence litter
Dwindling humanness and affection which wealth simpleton conflate
Into little human worth and warmth
Where spooks of poverty deflate
In proportion to the increase in affluence sloth
Sown, grown and thrown with utter scorn
To belittle
Abject poverty misguided affluence thinkers warn
Amounting to little less than spittle
Poverty peels off humbug and complacency
Exposing deeper layers of flawed humanity
Denuded of perspicacity and sagacity
Sometimes concealed in the deficit of humility
That often mars circles of affluence
Where possession seems to epitomise human dignity
Mistakenly regarded as diluted influence
The poor exert in extolling human unity shorn of wealth affinity and motility.
Categories:
amounting, poems,
Form:
Free verse
I would say for one,
you’ve been a lot of fun.
With the verbal eccentricities
showing in poetic entries.
that appear as lingual anomalies
to the insolent majorities.
With what you have shown,
you have a style all your own.
I think your work is fine.
In years amounting to twenty-nine,
I would say you’ve accomplished much.
With your poetry as such,
why don’t more admire your craft?
I would have never laughed.
Be proud of what you have done.
For twenty-nine is the square root of eight hundred forty-one.
Just a drop of water in a vast ocean.
I feel you have just begun.
in your short time revolving around the sun.
Categories:
amounting, dedication, holiday,
Form:
Rhyme