Best Artfully Poems
He is the king of words and poets alike
Assay as you may, this man you won’t smite
His armour sparkles in night or day
Defending those too meek to say
His table is round, there's room for all
There are chairs with wheels so no one will fall
He hands out bronze goblets with sparkling wine
This king of lush gardens has spine
Renowned through the kingdom, for deeds he’s done
There is no battle, he has not won
His knights are loyal to a fault
So you better beware who you assault
Lancelot and Guinevere are by his side
Uniting followers far and wide
So sit and drink with us in harmony
And enjoy food presented artfully
Eventide’s misty winds gently oscillate
Colorful clusters of crepe-myrtle flowers
Crowning atop rows of elegant tree-trunks
Blooms lavender, pink, red, and purple
Hanging in air from tips of twigs slender
Bowing to earth, donning green foliage
Arrayed in symmetrical flower-bouquets.
On a summer stroll, my hand you hold,
Gazing rhythms tilting back and forth
Swaying gracefully symphony of colors
As synchronized whispers merrily rustle
Echoing intentions of doting twilight sun
Beholden to season's gift of blossoms.
Gales now swirl, petite petals disperse,
Whirling confetti, drifting dances aerial,
Sprinkling fine motifs of tinted splendor
Twisting, turning, in eve’s amber passion
Flying all over, as we gaze, wooing love,
Where violet-sky above artfully evokes
Opaline glimpses of dreams ephemeral
Inscribed in spectrum on crimson horizon.
Written: March 13, 2021
Placed 6th: Submitted on October 14, 2022 to:
2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 17 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Mark Toney
Poem of the day on March 15, 2021
Placed 1st: Flower or flowers in imagism form poetry contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
Placed 1st: All yours (March 17) by Brian Strand
A coloratura rises
from the suede-edged shape
as the gnarled grande dame
comes to light.. a vision
draped in sweeping evergreen
and a pale cape of kidskin haze -
a beguiling soprano in soft-
focus fools the guileless sunrise
with a diva’s deception --
for in the vaporous golden hour
she can still be breathtaking
the age of change
is beclouded - softened
in gray’s cashmere atmosphere
where blending and bending of
over-ripened perceptions
are smoothed with a dewy smudge..
roughened boughs
and litter-fall is obscured --
unless, you get up close
harsh lines become artfully coy
in the bosom of the pearl mist;
a bedimmed dreamy blur of
Impressionism masks her reality
with the sleight of hand and a mockingbird’s aria
Susan Ashley
March 8, 2020
~ Third Place ~
Premiere Contest: Brian Strand Contest No 1183
Sponsor: Brian Strand
N/A
Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 6
Sponsor: Mark Toney
*coloratura: runs, trills, and other florid decorations in vocal music.
A lyric soprano of high range who specializes in such music*
*aria: an elaborate melody sung solo*
Gray smeared sky like a quilt of rags
Winos sip rot gut from brown paper bags
Threadbare cloud crotch splits up the side
Rain pours down, you got nowhere to hide
Cheap umbrella from a street corner pimp
Turns inside out before going limp
Putrid puddles, soggy doggy doo dollops
Are artfully dodged by high-heeled trollops
A rat scurries by with a piece of bread
Like the ant that totes a leaf on its head
You too once held big dreams in your grasp
But they got drowned with a gurgling gasp
You told me before, no you don't stutter
Your genius ideas got washed down the gutter
Now like a scavenger after a flood
You salvage what's left from out of the mud
Ashes to crashes, lust to rust
In the end it only goes bust
Caught in between the future and past
You start out just fine but finish dead last
____________________________
by Brian McClain - Jan 23, 2016
I was caught by a train yesterday
I hear people say
this often in exasperation
exaggerated tones
with over-dramatic groans
as if the train somehow
physically captured them
in its large mechanical grasp
diabolically refusing
to let them go
Yesterday
I was caught in a different way
imagination captured, you might say
captivated
charmed
and enchanted
by the passing art display
Something about the way
vibrant, vivid colors
unexpectedly
splashed out on moving canvas
of rust red and dull gray
traveling fast
across the city
feisty train talking smack
with tags and words amusing, witty
strange, disturbing, edgy, gritty
grinding down the tracks
Sometimes shocking-
artfully rendered obscenities
or surprisingly
endearing
cartoon creatures
manga characters
from overseas
expressed with impressive
expertise
and ingenuity
As other drivers sat nearby
fussing, fuming
missing the show
pawing their floorboards
like impatient horses
hands gripping wheels
ready to go-
I watched the trains in
constant childlike
wonder and delight
for those twenty minutes of my day
two trains gone by, one each way
...Then watched the other cars
rolling through
still red
flashing lights
as soon as crossing arms
were lifted halfway
rushing, roaring
trying to make up
the time that was “taken”
by the railway
Poetic words on
paper creased,
tell beauty of a
mind unleashed…
Pen is to paper - as
chalk is to slate.
Your mind is a
canvas - that I’ll
illustrate.
You’ll envision an
image artfully
crafted,
when reflecting on
poetry cleverly
drafted...
Secrets once
chained, and a bit
undefined,
will come into focus
inside your mind.
A likeness derived
from inspiring
scrawl,
unlocking the
dreamer that’s
inside us all...
Copyright © 2014
Published in Rhyme & Rhythm: A Poetry Collection (2017) A poetry book by Cole Banner available at Amazon.com
She is draped over a chair,
Artfully fashioned
Like a fine piece
Of silk.
He imagines that her softness
Would sweetly mould into
His hands
Like ripe fruit.
She stays still and silent,
Letting him consume her
With his hungry eyes.
He drinks her in,
The fullness of her breast,
The gentle curve of her hip
And the honeyed tones of her
Naked skin.
Her natural beauty
Has him mesmerised....
Lips apart,
Heart pounding,
Motionless.
He feels the heat of creation rise in him
And with power and purpose,
His eyes break contact as
He touches
His brush
To the canvas.
© 2012
Ruby Honeytip
This morning we jogged early
I was back in my flat by six-thirty
From my tenth floor view of the Charles River basin,
The morning was incandescently flushed by the peach-colored sun.
The transparent clouds seemed stylistically stained, artfully workshopped,
which offered a softened, Tiffany glass effect wholly worthy of worship.
I can’t stop to admire it. I’m jamming things into suitcases.
Cramming things into boxes, giving things away.
I had a second interview Monday afternoon, for Johns Hopkins med school. They put the question to me:
“The semester starts in 18 days - can you do that?”
“Yes,” I replied, and just like that, I'm a Blue Jay.
Of course, I had to withdraw from the masters program but Harvard gave me a full (95K) refund - I think they’re more excited about my med school admission than I am.
I’m not afraid of discordant notes.
They change the landscape.
Take us to new emotional places.
Any major work is going to have them.
.
.
A song for this:
Hang on Little Tomato by Pink Martini
It's Amazing by Jem
may her flames never burn out
whilst I can rekindle active embers
all that lies beneath
fullness of beauty
this form, this aura
smoulders
though she lies sleeping
she lights the room
every aspect of her shining
I gaze upon fabric that drapes -
in awe that nothing that touches her skin
can fail to become beautiful also
she falls artfully into slumber
the very representation of a dream
shimmering as if a thousand sunsets
shroud and surround her
comfort she finds in her own frame
equilibrium, stillness -
breath may or may not disrupt
so I dare not breathe
for I do not wish to disturb this beauty
may she exist forevermore
resplendent as evening sun
for she transcends
what it is to be mortal
When you said to me,
"Climb up here, It's pollution free."
Sacred. Safe.
Your rarefied air.
Calculating, you seemed so free.
Safeguard. Sage.
I said I could breathe...
Underrated your density.
Saintly. Sane.
High-minded insight.
When anticipated terror
denuded me,
cool rarefied air
regulated insanity,
far gone fear.
I will breathe
in your rarefied air.
Let it burn brisk
in brittle, brave lungs.
Gasp and grasp
life's flame, full flare.
Lunge for high notions,
those far-flung schemes.
I will breathe in
High mind's smoke,
hung in air-
that ghostly stroke of genius,
rare token in disguise
Well spoken word flurries
whipping away thin guise.
Floating crown
adrift on high.
I will breathe in
Your rarefied air,
because I listened to you.
"Clamber up, high!
Unfazed view will circle you,
miles on end surround you.
No going around the bend.
Nowhere else to go.
No zig zag escape.
No spike in pressure.
No deep depression.
No bad atmosphere.
No stabbing shove.
No push or pull on edge.
Just your pledge to breathe.
To move in one direction.
Forever. Mentally "together."
Stay in good shape."
I will breathe out.
Your rarefied thoughts
congeal life's force,
slows down blood flow.
Till body gloved heart
faintly, faintly glows...
Concealed fire's torch,
caved embers die down.
Stripped artfully apart,
Your rarefied airs
blanket my mind in snow.
13/10/2018. Purely fiction. On the pros and cons of mentorship. "Higher" education is not necessarily a good thing. Learning lessons are.
I have felt the rain
I have bared witness to such horrendous pain
I have died a few times over
I have hidden inside a smile
The fresh scent of morning dew
A sea faring fog, coming for a landing
As I travel back to childhood days
Where meadows and the sea were paradise
Now in the dark of night
In the dank basement of my life
I have become the carpenter
With hammer and saw, I build a crate
Then I craft a box of lead to lay inside
Then still, I mold a box of silver
To lay inside the lead box
Upon which I make one more box still
Crafted of pure gold
Artfully engraving my life on the sides
I have toiled for years
Creating these fine boxes and wooden crate
Now comes the most difficult task of all
Scalpel in hand, I cut out my beating heart
I lay it softly in the golden box
I seal each box one inside the other, until I seal the wooden crate
The box of my heart has turned crimson red
My blood the final artwork on my finely crafted piece
With my last breath I fall upon the crate, quite fully dead
My heart now protected, from all of romances arrows
Poison arrows fall and black roses cry
Colorful Me LSD
Kaleidoscope euphoric psychedelic dreams
Rainbows colour perfect peaches and cream
Splashes orgasmic silhouettes of tiny screams
Cobalt rain droplets in a sunny set theme...
Tiny pearl spiders spin opaque webs in my spine
Snow plowed glass hazards in white chalked up lines
In awe to see so artfully the world in this design
Cosmic Being floating heavenly sure I am just fine...
Static electricity behind my waterfall aqua eyes
Oceans of misery as I bid a colorful goodbye
Back to mortality in a black and white world full of lies
Lucy in the sky in tiny blue diamonds she cries...
05/31/16
Hey my Sparkling light from heaven of blue sky,
Marrying You,None of the path in life is empty without Your love!!
You are the dawn turning my night into day,
Nature residing in You is the god's gifted creativity,
Life is been delighted with wonders and joy's being with You!!
Hey my Weatherbeater, with You everyday rise with the Upstream and
vanish my worries,
You are Staggering force of water with whom I wave!!
You are the Iconic Prism of my life deviating a beam of romantic ness all
around,
Stopping by life's biggest question you were the one who took my
breath away!!
You are the like the Seaboard bracing the sand and getting dissolved in
passion of Love,
Hey my Jewel casket, I feel secured in your sheathe!!
You are the one who always glimmer amongst all the planet,
Yes Your Lovely smile stucked between paired lips always pleased me
absolutely in its own way!!
Fabulously enduranced my soul,
Artfully You committed!!
Wanna fleet admirally along with You,
Hey my prismatic light, being with You spectral colours bloomed in my
Life with Your refraction!!
Something apparently sensed , something made us connected,
Something arised our feelings, something exchanged our emotions!!
Something made us hear the faint phantom bells from the heart,
Yes Your Stupefyingly impressive attitude, integrated
orientation,Extravert disposition connected me!!
Blissfully You call me as darling, addressing me as Your Life partner I really
felt blessed,
Conjuring togetherness had made our life magically beautiful!!
Wooing with You, days is passing amorously graceful,
Hey Colorful palette, Every shade in You made me feel stimulated!!
You ignited fire in me, Aroused craziness to its height,
Setting sun kindled the sky with red and orange ,likewise You spread
the flames of love drived in every route!!
Tying the knot, we eloped away.. created wonders everywhere!!
The Mystique of Mars
Mars, fourth planet orbiting the sun,
was once a harbinger of hostility and aggression.
Aptly named after Roman god of war,
with sister Earth, it shares the same star.
Red, resplendent orb gracing the night sky,
like a whirling dervish, it artfully dances by.
Two moons captured in a strong gravitational grip,
Phobos and Deimos tag along on a wild cosmic trip.
From ancient times clouded in a veil of mystery,
we've tried to delve into its origins and history.
Is it home to an unfriendly alien race?
Or is it just a cold, devoid of life, kind of place?
While much about Mars is yet unknown,
perhaps, future generations will call it home.
Two Women, Similar Yet Different
Educated yet could not prevail,
School of hard knocks,
Similar Yet Different.
A lavish life yet unfulfilled,
Appreciative of what life brings,
Similar Yet Different.
Ignorance lacking accountability,
Responsible yet naive,
Similar Yet Different.
Egotistical taunting artfully,
Craft fully expressing discontent,
Similar Yet Different.
Crocodile tears yearning notice,
Noiseless hiss of strength,
Two Women, Similar Yet Different.