Best Attempt Poems
If I had time enough to climb
this Everest of rhythmic rhyme,
I’d find my mind is wandering,
meandering through desert clime.
Each ancient word seems so absurd,
countless of which I’ve never heard.
The ear may hear, though wondering
and pondering what just occurred.
If days had space to ever trace
such epic poems of our race,
long hours of ours lost squandering
time, blundering one can’t erase.
Confine the lines under the bonnet
of sweet brevity's lean sonnet -
levity and glee arise!
These eyes will sing and smile upon it.
written 28 Mar 2020
1.
Mom
kept the perch
we caught in a bucket.
And when we took them home
She would clean and place them
In our twenty gallon tank
Where they bobbed in stunned silence
Eyes watching for any white movement.
Nobody cared
when they committed fishicide
on their domesticated tank-mates.
Even the little beta fish
Who had survived our six day pilgrimage from Florida, to find Mecca
was a cool whip container.
2.
Whenever we had guests for dinner,
Mom swooned they
were the smartest fish she had ever seen.
She bestowed upon them names - Jed and Lucy
tapping at the glass
with one extended finger,
feeding them fish flakes,
like porpoises fed from the teeth of a trainer in Ocean World
“You can’t keep perch in a fish tank”
the guests would say,
but
they lived for two years
bobbing and staring
in the vacant tank space.
3.
One crisp winter morning
Jed finished his breakfast of gold fish flakes, took one
last gulp of slimy tank
water
then hurled
himself off of glass
walls.
It went
over and over,
so hard
I almost thought
the glass would crack.
4.
Lucy
sat quietly and watched
him.
She too died a few days later
like aged soulmates
who often cease
to be after their amor
dies.
When someone left the lid open,
she plunged
her blue green skin shimmered
as she laid
making fish O’s in the dry air..
I often wonder
if the air that morning
smelled
like an ice floe
to a better place
somewhere Jed waited
with our beta and our angel fish
a place of worms, kelp
and dragonflies.
4.
Mom
emptied the tank of the murky filtered water.
Rinsed the ultra neon yellow fish gravel,
and placed the fake plants on a sponge.
Separating air filter, from pump
from clear plastic tubing
and put to rest
in a brown cardboard box..
She did it without a word.
Dedicated to all Soup poets and muse - please continue to help and thank you.
I didn’t know how to write poetry as I was new,
only 6 months in the poetry game so no shame,
many a day after writing I was feeling blue,
I thought I was stupid and everybody was to blame.
Met amazing people here and their care is free,
apparently it’s a rhyming thing or not,
it was driving me up the bloody tree,
thanks to all the positive input I got.
I now know more or less what is required,
I tried “Monoku” oh my, what a mess I made,
struggling to write at work almost got fired,
I was so embarrassed, under my desk I laid.
I tried to write a “Haiku”, I cant even say the word,
but nevertheless I tried, what a load of pooh,
valuable comments but almost meant how absurd,
I know why poets go crazy, and what they go through
I tried to write a “Kimo”, hey whatever,
what the hell is that supposed to mean,
but stuck to my guns and did endeavour,
produced what I thought was clever and clean.
I tried to write a “Verse”, was told to call it that,
submitted to contest, no comments, but N/A, again,
like I was talking to a stranger and saying sorry you just spat,
re-looked at my poems, I’m too stupid to give up and I’m vain.
I tried to write a “Sonnet” about my new sweetheart,
apparently it has only fourteen lines and limited syllables,
took so long she almost left me with a new broken heart,
no fuel in my car, and all the McDonald bills.
I tried to write a “limerick” an apparent popular form,
this is supposed to be funny have rhythm and rhyme,
previously for me anything that rhymed was the norm,
for that my English teacher should be smacked for his crime.
Finally I realised that its not just poetry but expressing life,
all you appreciate, love, you find funny and even hate,
your inner feelings, emotions, caring and your strife,
the special people on this site that help and patiently rate.
Now I do endure to write, and appreciate all and thank all,
for their positive input and renaming my form appropriately,
If my poem does not make it in any way or at all,
I don’t care because I am learning and will continue patiently.
Yes I do know the form is supposed to be "Rhyme" not "I do not know" - that is one of the intentions of the poem
When they declared allegiance
Overnight, you would not know
Who is by your side and who is not:
You would not know
If you are a victim or a culprit:
Whether you are prey
Or the hunter,
When the earth threatens
To swallow you in seduced heat
A blast man made and just in time,
It misses you by a whisker,
And yet it's strength
Is strengthened by the ones it struck;
It is then you know
That it was not just a game,
The fact that you survived it means
They have gone back to the drawing board:
They are all condemning it,
Among them are the ones who
Certainly committed it, and cowards they are,
They sing your slogans,
Wear your regalia, your face they want to delete,
That's when you know it was an attempt,
Suicide or assassination;
It is then when the victim
Is the first suspect.
In snow and mud stuck off the road
On hill—we killed anti-skid mode
Then cleaned your tire tread
And rocked straight ahead
So now you've no need to be towed!
I wrote this immediately after discovering the rhyme scheme of a triolet. It is not close to my heart and I put less than 3 minutes in to writing it. So, any advice or critique will not hurt my feelings lol. Cheers to testing the water
Cheers to my first, ever, triolet
I’m out on a limb
Here’s to getting my feet wet
Cheers to my first, ever, triolet
No matter, how bad, it’ll be my best yet
I kept steady, my pen
Cheers to my first, ever, triolet
I’m out on a limb
the neighbor's grass is always greener
and their house is always cleaner
but just remember
that come December
their family won't be any leaner
A Shotgun Gleaming
Spent Shells make noise in the forceful wind
Bodies lay lifeless
Note: Still learning how to create haikus feedback and help much appreciated!
Gazing heavenward
I oft forget Your essence resides within
and that I'm a reflection of Your perfect image
Perpetually abiding in Your redemptive presence
I humbly request Your loving providential guidance
and thank You for our intimate, sacred partnership
You presently reside in my heart -
Within that holy space
I regain inner peace and strength
though outward evil pierces every part of my being
and urges me to succumb
I release all fears
and relinquish selfish desires
I reverently ask that You
mend the heart of every living individual
for we are melded together as one
by Your Holy Spirit
Let us perceive and embrace the light
and healing power of Your divine love...
May we heed Your loving, continual call
Offer what little we may have
to those in need
whether in word or deed
Open our hearts and minds to know and understand
that this life on Earth is but for a scant moment
in the scope of eternity
where you exist 'now' and ever live
always with open arms
of Love, Compassion and Forgiveness
for all
who will
receive
We celebrate Your Unending Love...
Goodness, Kindness, Wisdom, Peace
Righteousness and Merciful Acceptance
with Joy and Thanksgiving
Amen
in a way i am lonely...stuck even to the wall like a fly surrounded by the swatters that intend to kill me...
why did you let them hurt me?
you had the knife
you just watched as they beat me into a barely living lump of blackened flesh
why did you let them? after all the times i saved you
you stood back and watched.
inspired by Sandra Cisneros
what my eyes behold
autumn trees giving color
winter right behind
The collors go by
Flashing yellow, red and green
I suck in my breath
As I watch his death
It all happens so quickly
In the middle of the highway
And it was seen
By me
I quickly pulled over
For the guy on the motercycle
Just got hit by a rover
Truck
I cover my mouth
And jump to help
Sirens come from the south
And I just stand there
Not sure of what to do
How to save a life
I just knew
It would be to late
Traffic piles up behind me
And I wish I didn't have to see
The sight before me
The broken body on the ground
No longer making a sound
I start to cry, tears streaming down my face
The EMT comes by, quickening there pace
But it's too late, too late
It must have been fate
Only I saw what happened it the dark
A suicide attempt
And it hit the mark
peace before a battle
taut for the trample
in the breeze petals shudder
*thanks Debbie for the revision*
DO is the mixture for my daily bread .
RE is the beam of sun , on my head .
MI , well ! I'm Seán and I write the odd poem .
FA..ther ,I am to our house and our home .
SO as I reap , those wild oats , long ago .
Lá is the Irish for day , as you know .
TI is my tipple , last thing at night .
High DO is the buzz , I get from this site ..
An attempt at Izzy's solfége contest ..