Best Betwixt Poems
She was a faerie
an elfin
a creature of the land
living in harmony
with the universe
the forest
in her element
her nesting ground
a magical being
transient
reluctantly
crossing over
dragged down
falling off the edge
a misadjusted weight
drowning
gasping for air
a fish out of water
who didn’t fit in
or belong
in our realm
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on January 16, 2021 for contest COMPLETELY YOUR CHOICE(41) ANY THEME ANY FORM sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 10TH
Originally posted on October 3, 2019
Betwixt and between
Sadness and mirth
Happy but sad
For dear Mother Earth
Feeling sorry for
Adding to the mess
Not really aware
Of my part I confess
Betwixt and between
Feel guilty at times
Having so much
While others are crying
The worldwide problem
Of hunger and disease
Is difficult to remedy
Impossible to ease
Betwixt and between
I sit here and cry
'Bout the inequality
Don't understand why
Do we throw up our hands
Say nothing can be done
Go on and forget it
Just enjoying the sun
Betwixt and between
Filled with sadness and love
Gotta keep on trying
The two logics of twain
can drive one insane
if one doesn’t learn refrain
from the one marked as Cain
learning refrain, voids the pain
Love marked concept as Cain
also Able precept was very plain
that a soul might learn refrain
that two brothers avoid the pain
Love is life and voids afford pain
The reality is of the twain
balance betwixt your twain
with love now and again
learn in life to avoid pain
no man can serve logics twain…
Selah
Betwixt-Between
I woke up
in a dream.
The smell of
tastes gone before.
Authentic tulips
blended with
plastic imitations.
"Bluie" chirping,
"CiCi" meowing at kitchen's door:
A cloak of weariness
vying for more
attention;
as I drift into a
light of sun...
Thama Logan 5/7/2022
It’s good to get together as friends and confreres
like in table fellowship or religious convocation
and then, enjoy the company of each other’s culture
as Italians, Colombians, Filipinos or Brazilians.
The day after Easter Sunday adds another occasion
for us Scalabrinians to be reunited at this point in time
sharing the gifts of food, life, humor and relationship
with a space for fraternity, some updates and good wishes.
Truly, it shows the spirit of oneness and fraternal fellowship
sharing the commonality of our commitmment to faith
as brothers in Christ and members of our Founder’s order,
the religious congregation that cares for migrant people.
There’s much to do and plan for what we aim to materialize
in today’s world where migration poses a huge issue
like a salad bowl with mozzarella, tomato and olive oil
a metaphor for migration that deals with human cultures.
Described in the Bible as a growing missionary virtue
hospitality as a key to open one’s heart in this journey
With fearlessness and confidence, it’s a major issue
depicting the picture of global movements raised in action.
Our days of darkness, our bickering confreres in places –
where community life matters and features one’s emptiness
in dealing with one another in our quest for human and divine.
it’s indeed a challenge and will always be a test of faith, thus far.
This helps us understand through our setbacks, pains and joys,
with friends around and those who share with us many times
those sacred stories of being called to worship God and be present
especially in the Eucharist that nourishes our souls to be whole.
Betwixt and between
Sadness and mirth
Happy but sad
For dear Mother Earth
Feeling sorry for
Adding to the mess
Not really aware
Of my part I confess
Betwixt and between
Feel guilty at times
Having so much
While others are crying
The worldwide problem
Of hunger and disease
Is difficult to remedy
Near impossible to ease
Betwixt and between
I sit here and cry
'Bout the inequality
Don't understand why
Do we throw up our hands
Say nothing can be done
Go on and forget it
Just enjoying the sun
Betwixt and between
Filled with sadness and love
Gotta keep on trying
With help from up above
© Jack Ellison 2013
Can you feel?
Can you feel the tremor?
That rocks your world
That shakes the cage
Like a beast trapped outside
A beast raging against the bars
It lifts, it throws, it rages
Can you feel it?
And in the aftermath,
You can hear the cooing, cajoling
Of puppeteers laying strings before your bars
And they croon and cluck like fretting hens
Petting your bars and calling for you
to reach out and take these strings
Tie them where they cannot reach
Deep within, where no one else goes
And let these good people in,
They preen and you shake your head
Seeing the gleam in their eyes
Oh so like the ape’s
Cooing, cajoling... cawing
And oh, how you can feel it...
But I’m here so hold on
I’ll sit by your bars,
I’ll sit by the door
right beneath that lock that turns from within
And I won’t rage, or set the siren’s call upon you
I’ll sit by your bars, and keep you company
My friend;
But Cold bars let through a breeze friend...
Your sharp breath is not secreted away
And with every breath you take
Your lungs are profaned
And you cannot hide
Behind bars
You cannot hide
From My voice, or my presence, or my eyes
My eyes that see too clear
And you cannot hide from what I see
What you can feel
Pressing in, from us all
So just let us in
My friend,
Let us in, for we will not be kept out
Life does not surrender, life does not hold back
Life seeps through
Every crack,
And be sure, there are cracks everywhere
Where there are breaths to be shared, there are bars to let them through,
And you feel it don’t you?
That which you see deep in my eyes
You feel it
That feeling so clearly reflected
When I look into your soul
That fear alive in my eyes
That rages within you,
But don’t fear a battle you have lost
Do not fear the day you must face the world
The world, friend, has never
Turned its face from you
And the rest of us:
Well we are not so brave
We are not iron bars moulded to flesh
That fear you see is real
And it is ours all
But we cannot hide
From what burns within
And I will not die
Hiding from life
And I will not cower when I tremble inside
I will not rest in a cage when I am tired
And I, friend, I am so tired
Of living between bars.
God, make your shanty in my room
I firmly fathom, what's your doom
Your handle caused a million streams
Moonlight that bliss, within my dreams
Among moon insight, we'll resume
8th Place Contest Winner
Written: June 9, 2022
The Moon in June (Choose One of Five Forms) Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Andrea Dietrich
When I was a girl it seemed time took much longer,
To pass by and let me be older not younger.
It seemed all the good things were far in the future,
And I feared in the waiting I'd slip into a stupor.
I was too young for most things and too old for the rest.
I was stuck in the middle, an unwanted guest;
Searching in vain for the place I belonged;
Awaiting my prince to come sing me his song,
Sweep me up in his arms and then whisk me away,
To a life filled with gladness as fairytales say;
But life is no fairytale it's business at hand,
If you want to survive then get with the plan.
We have to grow up, take the bull by the horns;
For life's what you make it, you have been forewarned.
My life is much better in some ways it seems.
Though I must admit it's not like my dreams.
I've learned from experience when less than enchanted,
I'm happier when trying to bloom where I'm planted.
The brown lawn may not be an eye catcher or head turner,
but a Rose of Sharon tree, reminding me of the Middle East
and the Holy Land, grows quietly and slowly in my back yard,
sandwiched by two varieties of plum trees. To the east of it,
there is a lemon tree, a row of catcuses, and Two tall Palms
overlooking everything. Due south of it along the borders of
the house beneath my humming bird feeder, there grows,
though seasonal, the most beautiful flowers. In my front
yard, there stands a large fruitless mulberry tree, the beloved
of birds and squirrels. In addition to her role as nesting place
and play ground, she also serves up plenty of Summer shade
and not a few of Autumn leaves. My roses, the sweet bearers
of beauty and color as well as my guarantors of thorn pricks, stand guard at my front window next to the front entry door.
102819PoSoupContest, Writing Challenge-Flowers, Dear Heart
Wlishkobi Ode; 15P
Context,
Boer War , South Africa
The Battle for Spion Kop
Slag van Spioenkop
Ladysmith , Natal
23 January 1900
British forces under the command
Sir Redvers Buller
Dug in to take the higher ground
on Spion Kop
In order to engage the Boer army
encircling below
Lead by General Louis Botha
The rest is written down in history, folklore and infamy
And a famous football club's stand named after it
Dedicated to it's fallen
2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusseliers
243 Dead
1250 Casualties
I write this only because,
i myself visited this hilltop graveyard paid homage and knelt before it's unkept memorial upon it
And instead of feeling what i thought
i should be the travesty, horror and
utter futility of war
And whilst leaving took 1 final glance over my shoulder at the vista and panorama only to be over come by the sheer unadulterated serenity and beauty
And i left perversely thinking what a beautiful place to die
Death has a hell of a lot to live up too
Straddling is safe with grips each side secure,
but progress requires the flip flop position,
secured on one side or the other, not looking down or back.
It’s iffy to lift a foot implanted
with footholds secure in straddled camps.
To poise precarious with return annulled
to go binary with uncertainties, with flip or flop.
It’s yeah or neigh, not betwixt nor between,
for or against, not poised procrastinating
nor straddling serendipitous with free fall.
Like a climber, securing three firm grips before
letting one grip go, and reaching up for next handhold.
This keeps ambivalence under control,
stepping adroitly and securely,
without looking back or down,
making assertive progress one step at a time
on a three-legged stool.
We here all of these songs, and their beautiful....
Tis what appeals to the here as now; these secular
Eyes cast within a pagans, prize ? Her world which lies.
Form:
Betwixt the Between
We pass one moment to next
The fruit from the Tree in hand
Mortal be careful the taste
When foot first touches the sand
Ormuzd and Ahriman stand there
Saviour or savour to take
Which will you choose to endow
Each choice is one you must make
Both good and evil reside
In every moment of time
Behold you’re witness to Life
Make sure it is yours not mine
HOW DO I TURN FROM MY WICKED WAYS?
I DON'T WANT TO GO ASTRAY
BACK TO THOSE AWFUL DAYS
BUT WOE UNTO ME IF I STAY
BOUND IN THIS SIN I LAY
WHATSO EVER I SOW I SHALL REAP
BUT KNOWING, HOW DO I GO CALLING?
CALLING FOR MY LOVER THAT'S DEAD TO MY BODY
CALLING FOR DEATH TO COME TAKE ME INTO FOLLY
WHY MY HEART LONG? WHAT DO IT LONG FOR?
I USE TO KNOW, BUT WHAT'S TRULY THERE
TRAPPED BETWEEN GOD AND MY LOVE AFFAIR
HOW LONG WILL THIS LAST? HOW OFTEN WILL TEARS BE MY PAST...
PRESENT AND FUTURE. MY ILLUSIONS ARE TAKING CONTROL OF ME
NO MORE SECRETS CAN BOIL ON THE INSIDE OF ME
I CAN'T TAKE IT, I WON'T OUT OF THIS TRAP
BUT DOUBTFUL, SCARED I'LL BE BACK CRYING FOR HELP.
I KNOW ANSWERS, I KNOW THE JUDGMENT
I'M BETWIXT IN BETWEEN MY SOUL
LIFE OR DEATH
HELP ME NOT TO TURN DOWN YOUR HELP
HELP ME NOT TO FALL IN HIS TRAPS
I'M WEAK AND NEED YOUR STRENGTH
TRAPPED IN BETWIXT LIFE OR DEATH