Best Barbs Poems
Open eyed, long tearless, foul silvered orbs
have you no pity? The aqua tide rides dry.
Blind staring scorches, accusing twin barbs
who burrow inward, a destiny to decry.
Scattered rendering, puzzled pieces aligning;
"Please mercy has a place, why can't I cry?"
Remove the cataract veneer, stop my pining
"Have you no place for maddened souls such as I?"
Nailed to the boards you see a canvassed psyche
dabbed upon a casein shroud in hues most bright.
"How many lamp lit days will you seek to find me?"
The light betrays me and I live in eternal fright.
Eternities unfold in Lovecraft Tales
upon the silvered side within my eyes; hell wails.
Categories:
barbs, pain,
Form:
Sonnet
Through frayed seams a rosy dream bleeds
needled and re-stitched
with threads of time and love and hope..
and still — a rosy dream bleeds
the miscarriage of a promised rose garden
leaving me bereft but for entwined bands of gold –
contemplative thorns tempt my angst
moony moody barbs bristle twigs of tenderness
sigh— it’s not a laurel wreath worn atop my brow
as I sit alone with a squeamish friend
my blue-sky-to-storm-cloud introspection —
as your distant eyes deserted mine long ago
Winter's beast laid bare a cerebral graveyard
lost you wander amongst laid-to-rest neurons
worn headstones of thoughts and laughter and memories…
you wonder why they hide — why they died
the crackle of cognitive circuitry quiets
branched-lightning fades from unwitting clouds
and aged roots of reality perish
our red rose finished fallen to pieces
you-and-me-petals a messy heap like old potpourri —
yet in dark’s hush love’s scent lingers on our dream pillow
Oh nostalgic sepals embrace me!
my heart yearns to return to the bud
to the fullness of our June bloom —
instead, I bury desires beneath life’s litterfall;
amid pollenless stamens and leaves of one-sided reveries
and cage my fear my despair behind purple thistle facing the light
as I free a smile for you, my love —
you my sun that still parts the rain-bearing nimbus
Categories:
barbs, age, emotions, fear, hope,
Form:
Free verse
There is much to be said about the value of friends
Those who lift us up when we try to make amends
A crutch to help us stand when we stumble and fall
Hit us with the power of truth, thrown like a fast ball
They offer welcoming shoulders to receive our tears,
Teach us the importance of choosing to change gears
To stand with us against the barbs of disgruntled foes
Refrain from judging when we've caused other's woes
Those who are patient listeners, offering us their ears
They dry our weepy eyes, smile at us and say, "Cheers."
We love their tender mercies in forgiving us our faults
Honoring them humbles us, and their character it exalts.
Categories:
barbs, friend,
Form:
Rhyme
A quiet fury gathered on Horizon’s distant side.
Its merciless intensity was destined to collide
with unsuspecting entities entombed beneath the ground
all huddled ‘neath a canopy, immune to earthly sound.
The timbered crown held steady 'till it met the tempest thrust.
Though some were felled by Heaven’s flogging, others stood the gust.
Malevolent gray shadows rolled and tumbled in the toil
as ominous dark nimbostratus stewed within the boil.
The sky peeled open wide releasing terrifying might
as spears of jagged lightning were unleashed upon the night.
A bolt was hurled from heaven and it found its mark below,
within the silent forest stood one massive tree aglow.
Barbs of lightning pierced its trunk and blew the shards of bark
into arrays of shrapnel as it ripped its limbs apart.
Then torrent rains began to pour upon its ravaged frame
to calm the rage sent from above, extinguishing the flame.
Those mighty winds have faded to a whisper once again,
the Sun returns its solace as it beams across the land.
The silent calm of morning is restored by breaking dawn.
For now the quiet fury from the Heavens has withdrawn.
Host: Mark Toney
Marathon Contest mile 25
1-19-2020
Categories:
barbs, allusion, angst, appreciation,
Form:
Couplet
Under the care of sun and rain
My leaves have unfurled
My buds have burst forth
My own will has been done
This was my beginning
Through the seasons
Spring brought me to life
Summer grew me to new heights
The fall must come sometime
The frost will encase my barbs
And I will return to meditation
Waiting patiently for my rebirth
For your light to peek through clouds
Your moon to hold me within night
When spring returns...
I will dance in the wind
A never ending flower
Categories:
barbs, analogy, birth, creation, devotion,
Form:
Free verse
I will release no rhyme
Before its time.
No limerick, ode, haiku, or sonnet
Will 'scape from 'neath
My poet's bonnet
'til it be trimmed, and tamed, and non-aggressive,
Or overripe with verbiage
Or punctuation too excessive.
I will not break
This pledge I take,
Cruel critics' barbs though I endure.
My verse I'll brace with style and grace
Until my place in poetry's secure.
Of course, should "laureate" become my haunt, too,
I'll release anywhere,
And anyhow,
And anytime I damn well want to.
Categories:
barbs, humor, poetry,
Form:
Rhyme
For your penny's worth of thought,
Please take two cents worth back.
For the destruction that you brought
With all that empathy you lack,
For your narrow vision tunnel
That's dug deeper than your tact,
We gift to thee a shovel
So your barbs you may retract.
17.11.11
Composed for Brenda Chiri's
"Judgemental People And Haters"
Categories:
barbs, anti bullying,
Form:
Rhyme
"There was an old cemetery
in that fence row.
Thirty some graves I've heard;
no record of it at the court house."
The neighbor pointed past
the corn rows,
Round Up sterile,
to posts askew
like aged teeth;
broken wire pulled down by sod,
prickly with random barbs
and wild roses.
No sign of it, or them,
who might be there yet,
no concrete vault
or weather weary headstone
to chip the disk blades.
Gone with
the builder of the fence
ever fertile dust,
scattered by the plow.
Categories:
barbs, introspection, life
Form:
Free verse
A. W. Nutter
Your beauty greets me in the morning
To your temptations none are immune
Like life, our time together is fleeting
So I visit daily to bask in your perfume
None can compare to your fragrance
Which enhances the hot summer air
Causing thoughts of love and romance
Enjoying the company of maidens fair
Occasionally your dark side emerges
Inflicting pain, by your barbs and thorns
It's always my fault, I hold no grudges
I should never grab you by your horn’s
No other flower has enjoyed the attention
Of poets and lovers, and those in mourning
The versatile Rose is used for every occasion
To express our deepest sentiments and feelings
Categories:
barbs, imagination, nature
Form:
It has been DECADES!
And yet, for some ridiculous reason, we
still choose to TIE our shoes and
BUTTON our trousers, ZIP our
blouses.
How ridiculous.
When Man first invented the wheel, do
you suppose that there were some naysayers who said;
"I'm still going to drag my loads through the dirt on a rope. It was
good enough for my father and by gawd it's good enough for me!"
I doubt it.
So. (BUTTONS FLYS LACES)
Why do we stoop to such Medieval methods of
attatchment Today?
Who knows. But I eagerly await the day that Velcro finally
gets the credit it rightfully deserves.
Categories:
barbs, philosophy
Form:
Free verse
She tells warm lies through lips cool as frost,
while her eyes cast frigid glares.
Her backhanded barbs, sharp as steel,
strike like ice crystals in your heart.
Infidelity coats upon her like a sheen of ice.
Beauty and slippery deceit, rolled into one.
And yet, you stand, as a man made of snow,
not truly seeing, not speaking out.
You slowly die, waiting for her to thaw.
A snowball in Hades stands a better chance,
than you, to win her heart.
For within her veins runs soiled slush
and her soul is an Arctic wind.
For the contest: Free Verse For Winter
sponsored by: Chris D Aechtner
Placement: 8th
Categories:
barbs, love
Form:
Free verse
Opening the door onto your secret,
my heart pounds at the display of old wounds.
Healing achieved by clinging to nothing—
a future only obliquely glimpsed.
My heart pounds at the display of old wounds
where other’s careless words and barbs had pierced.
A future only obliquely glimpsed
through a whiskey bottle nearly empty.
Where other’s careless words and barbs had pierced,
going through life like that makes one anxious.
Through a whiskey bottle nearly empty,
discontent is always triggered by something.
Going through life like that makes one anxious;
healing achieved by clinging to nothing.
Discontent is always triggered by something—
opening the door onto your secret.
Categories:
barbs, addiction,
Form:
Pantoum
"Troll"
The silent
incessant chatter
thick black ooze
jeers and laughter
jolt lightening barbs
slicing a heart in two
the dark undercurrent
pulls a light soul under
while writing life striving revolutionary new
troll smirks suffocating the sands of true
a new tyrannical rule eviscerates
the mind bleeds red
punched backwards
into murky clouds of deadly
midnight black and blue
dead
(LadyLabyrinth/ 2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vvs4__2XRI
troll/noun/1. (in folklore) an ugly creature depicted as either a giant or a dwarf
1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll
2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
3.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-07/online-trolls-and-cyberbullies-in-nsw-face-tougher-new-laws/10348246
4.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/uk-dad-live-streams-suicide-after-being-goaded-by-trolls-16316715
5.
https://nypost.com/2017/09/04/family-blames-online-trolls-for-driving-young-mom-to-suicide/
6.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6395503/Mother-teenage-son-driven-suicide-online-trolls-tells-heartbreaking-loss.html
7.
https://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2014/10/are-you-an-internet-troll-legal-consequences-to-consider.html
8.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-07/dolly-everett-akubra-campaign/10348252
Categories:
barbs, abuse, anti bullying, bullying,
Form:
Free verse
On a cold November morning
Frost wrapped the world in an ashy hue
Sucking the heart from silence
As an optimistic sun gazed through
Naked branches of oak and maple
Peeking through the limbs of gray
Lighting the indigo skies with grace
Dancing, flowing, praising
In waves of enchantment, such riches
Radiating warmth and awaking
The crackle of leaves, stunned
By the bitter air, the chilling stare
Of freezing sparkles on thoughts
Met by the luster of dawn
Revelations caress the mind
Of those who listen to the pulsations
Rumbling through the thoughts
Echoes of dreams, dulled
By reality’s dark plans for the one
Who listens to shadowy feelings
Deprived of hope or faith
Lingering on the edges of silhouettes
Who dread the moment, stirring
To life – the sense of delight
Inspiration and insight
Peppering the darkness in joy
Pleasures like seeds who’ll be growing
Love, the anointing
Of a life full of glory
A frosted November Sunday
Breathless and murky with hues
Of obscure inklings twinkling
Like the hesitating stars
On a quiet night
Flooded with desires, dreams
Amazed by the creation
Blessed by His presence
Even here – among the thorns
Who hasten to bite soft flesh
With frozen barbs, like wire
Bringing the ooze
Of crimson flowing over
Icy cool thoughts
Enriching the heart
With feelings from a deep
Longing, a need
For the belief that imagines
Love is forever
A never ending feeling
Forever giving
Never leaving
Always satisfying
On a cold and vibrant November morning
Love melts the heart
Who is yearning for the promise
Of a feeling that brings
Joy beyond words, more alive
Than the dance that inspires
Poets to write, artists to paint
As hearts unite
To share their life!
Categories:
barbs, inspirational, love, november,
Form:
Free verse
Another day has passed me by
Taken gently, by the falling sun, and the starry sky
Leaving stiletto barbs that heaven will hone tonight
Today disappeared
As a slim gray ghost that has been taken away
I never thought to say goodbye...
It seemed but one of many days
That come and go
But then a flickering shadow of bare boughs
A certain wind that blew
Curling brown leaves around my feet
As if to remind me
This was a phantom day
A slim, gray, ghost,
That never will pass my way again
My thoughts had other needs today
And reckless .... was I....
I never thought to say goodbye...
Categories:
barbs, introspection,
Form:
Free verse