Best Bloodstream Poems
A field afire
papery petals glow like ruby votive candles
a collection of cupped solar flames
vowed to shine despite the dew before dawn
evaporating any doubt the sun would rise
the mist would lift
consoling one in darkness
Rising up where wildflowers past have fallen
victim to soil fallow and shallow
your Spring growth resurrects my hope
as your resurgent blooms stretch to the heavens
I awaken thawed from the frost of loss
regenerated by dreams
of undying love sacrifice and joy
O poppy blood red
vast your bed a symbol of life and death
and imagination.. you inspire me with your irony
your roots belie a feathery foliage
anchored though airy
light and looking like you might take flight
but spirited blossoms stand an army of angels
earthbound and blushing
My breath stops when I gaze upon you — yet
when I walk among your thronging whorls
grazed by your grace
my chest rises and falls
my bloodstream set ablaze
by the grandeur of your inner light
my heart rejoices with the voices of breezes
aswirl with a swish through your scarlet banners of peace
We share a savor for new-day chardonnay skies
tender the warm tinge before summer’s singe
rhythmic air moves us with singsong sighs
a swaying dance of sepaled celebrants
with nary a fresh bud trod upon
crimson and sunrise spirit and flesh
raising palms and psalms in thanks and praise
festive in rebirth and remembrance
where tears fall not as rain but as
c o n f e t t i
as my heart carries the bouquet of your immortal beauty
like a bride on her May wedding day
Susan Ashley
March 11, 2022
*Dedicated to my father who gently passed on June 10, 2021.
You are loved and missed dearly, dad
~ First Place ~
Premiere Contest: Spring Showers or Spring Flowers
Sponsor: Regina McIntosh
*nary: not, or not any
(Image: Glow with pride: Express.co.uk)
Blindly..
I beseech you
for my eyes won’t adjust
to this shaded maze of despair -
neither the lantern’s flame
nor a compass rose can help me now
in disrepair I need to find you
with fingers outstretched I raise my arms
groping for you like a eyeless babe for her mother
..but you’re not there —
a cunning thief this despair
for stealing my sight for a way out
Why won’t the summer solstice light this darkness
nor warm this anguished atmosphere..
am I to die here where I lie?
my undressed soul exposed to the wind-chill of your loss
naked in biting throes beneath a stony sun
desperate to thaw ice dams lodged in my bloodstream..
the winter sallow of my heart’s shallows a skater’s delight —
a cunning partner this despair..
ice-dancing with my pain
Where is the air I need to breathe..?
it’s evaporated with you and the dreams we used to dream
the weaver a double-dealer stealer..
life no longer lives in my poker-faced lifestyle
nor in fantasies long gone from sleep’s clouds
moth-eaten desires and grit and tears
too holey and harsh to knit a warm reason to swaddle in -
just let me close heavy hope-chest-lids of empty eyes
and take my last shrinking violet breath —
a cunning spy this despair
for infiltrating my will to survive..
Susan Ashley
October 11, 2020
N/A
Premiere Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 22
Sponsor: Mark Toney
(reformatted)
~ First Place ~
Contest: Will To Survive
Sponsor: Silent One
Fantasy sold on a 50’s bottle cap;
a party-girl side-saddle sits
on a double-edged crescent moon
up high—a silver scythe in glamour-night-sky
corners of her cherry mouth tilted up
her left hand raises her glass a toast to the stars
frothy head of champagne-beer flirts
with lips spooning the rim
right hand holds the bottle instead of reality
look! no hands on a razor’s edge
precarious hilarious
a redhead with bouncy-curls and a flouncy-skirt
boot-heels over head when she laughs and Oops! falls
clouds catch her without friction and pillow her fiction head ~
but you—with wild escapade eyes—fell hard
far beyond Earth with not a soft cloud to cushion you
glam-allure just a sexy lore a filthy lure
but once you’ve been star-dusted and angel-dusted
it’s all the same…
vintage Miller bottle cap
a perfect circle like the fattened moon face
leering through broken windows
shards glitter the floor like fallen constellations
your black pearl eyes two muddy puddles
life drained through rows of tiny needle holes
slip-knot above your elbow just tight enough
your pulse beats its fist against the restraint
pounding—pounding—pounding
impatient to be bled and fed
you and this dragon’s den a dilapidated pair
abandoned and without family
you share the blank stare of broken windows
veins collapsed like crumbled staircases
empty inside of empathy and dreams—
a junkie’s spot where shooting stars crash
embers in your bloodstream turn to dust
you cook in a rusted bottle cap by candlelight
candle’s glow your Sun in a dirty universe
you pull back on the syringe with your teeth
this house unused by the living—a cold corpse
but in the warm rush of your skin’s flush
your gaunt gray body melts like hot wax
pale horsehair walls a slouchy silent witness
... your soul escapes as it scrapes across the floor
flurries blow in through broken windows
whirl of wind whistles on its rounds like a jailhouse guard
rattling beam-bones jangling ghost-bones—
user-litter scattered
like broken-wish bones
burnt fingertips and a "High Life" bottle cap
all that’s left
At what point do you realize
it’s all moving in the same direction -
in a flowing pulse that cannot be dammed, that;
collective hearts do march in rhythmic time
to a common drumbeat tolling time
upon all roads with perils and parades?
it surely wasn’t yesterday,
too busy today --
who cares about tomorrow..
At what point do you realize,
as you course through the bloodstream of civilization
with civilized -- and at times -- uncivilized blood in your veins
that the road you travel
leading you home -- and often --away from home
diminishes to a vanishing point? ..is it more than just an optical illusion?
gone are yesterdays, oh well..
live for today --
I’ll think on it tomorrow..
At what point do you realize
that all roads taken; the dirt road, the high road,
the reclusive railroad
the crossroads crossed at moments of truth —
achievement, derailment, atonement
no matter the direction -- or misdirection,
all reach the same destination?
every lost yesterday
paves a rear view highway
but today, this time, today’s not lost on you
for you now realize
how quickly tomorrow’s milestones pass
Susan Ashley
February 11, 2019
medallion dreams now turned to grey,
wild flower scented sheets once laid
on the line held with clothesline wood pins,
now all I can do is hang on to that rope line
for dear life;
(gripping goodbyes)
I sit at my sill inside the nook and
watch generational bonds form.
I look at my hubby and say with pride,
"look what we started, sweetheart..."
Sixty-five years of marriage with
eons of photo frames lining the walls-
for he is my mate to my soul;
my line to my life.
I've worn my heart on my sleeve
since the first time I gave my heart
away-
(high school sweethearts)
I was young,
fell in love too easily;
trusted blindly
but
it was worth every prick to my heart-
every bloodstream that flowed with
pain.
my skin untoned,
wrinkled with spots of age;
beautiful scars worn for years have
finally mended and healed-
for no longer am I scarred.
they say it time and time again....
but honestly-
no I don't wish I knew then what I
know now.
for it is through growth I lived
a life completely full of affection.
I know what it's like to fall in love so
deep your toes curl,
I know what it's like to have two sisters
choose death over life-
I know how it feels to embrace
a daughter on the day she was born,
and
I know how it feels to be loved so
unconditionally...
even the angels weep.
to be grateful is to have lived;
and that is what I shall die saying...
"blessed am I."
(gripping life)
Written: February 6, 2019
As I slip into the void of this endless black,
Stardust ignites the darkest night sky,
And though I want to I cannot ever go back,
To where our love once learned to fly.
Love seeps from curling words
into a floundering bloodstream,
While amongst the stardust fly birds
escaping farther upstream.
How could I have not seen
Your acidic tongue drips venom slow,
Your kiss concealed the poison between,
It all was lost within the glow.
Now I yearn for eternal rest
Amongst the stars and stardust,
My heart has ceased to beat in my chest,
While leaving you is still the hardest.
I am jealous
of everything that has ever touched you,
the breaths of hot sunshine that have soothed your cheeks with hope,
the moonlight that has painted your lips with lilly silver,
the darkness that has calmed you into soft slumber,
the rain that has pelted your flesh with sky splash,
the breeze that has lifted your hair with seductive intent,
Jealous of every temptation that has made your soul sweat,
every secret that has sworn obedience to your obsessions,
every kiss that has taken a taste of your sweet heat
every man that has collapsed into your romance,
every mouth that has spoken your name with awe
every second that has circled your psyche,
every particle that has pranced through your bloodstream,
every emotion that enlivens your ego,
every knot of knowledge that supports your smarts,
every star that has caught your girlish wishes,
every tear that slides faithfully from the pink rims of your eyelids,
every cut that has silenced your pride,
Jealous of every thing
that has left you, fed you, led you, entered you,
yet, I am grateful for all these odd and splendid things
that have known your beauty and pain,
for they have made my need for you real
and your love for me possible,
this jealousy is my love hypocrisy -
J.A.B.
High above, the storm grows bizarre
O maddened sea , rattling the mast;
My fate near water’s edge, aghast
A life shuffling as night is cast
All dim except one single star.
Through smog, a fair siren appears
Long the tresses, eyes made of green,
Rising to meet tempest’s bloodstream
In her lash, a shipwreck redeemed;
Calming my fright among hazed tears.
Ahead I lay on shoreline’s eaves
The buoyant glide of milder waves,
Softens with the nymph's hushed octaves
That even rough typhoon behaves;
As she coasts along, then leaves.
I wake to feel a heady scent
Lips tasting salt of restful night,
Upon dreamscape, snapshots delight
Till misty air grabs fancy’s flight;
Yet, her mystique leaves me incensed.
Contest: Your Best Poem #2
Sponsor: Shadow Hamilton
Envelope Quintet Form Rhyme Scheme: a.b.b.b.a
5/5/2013
It’s Christmas Eve; there’s someone at my door!
But with the horrid sound outside my window,
I wonder who is knocking and what for!
Midst violent wind I see a surreal snow!
Within it’s haze, there is a grotesque sight -
gigantic and so out of place, I quiver!
A snowman leers at me, and frigid fright
goes through my bloodstream like an icy river.
Again, the knock! Whoever could it be?
This morning I wished Christmas would be gone!
A premonition now is telling me
that nothing good is out there on my lawn.
My friend had warned me that I really ought
not curse this season. Oh, what have I done?
More pounding at the door, but I cannot
go near that door; there’s nowhere I can run.
I look out at the snowman. He is more
enormous than a tree, and now I hear
a sound like laughing elves outside the door.
I stand as thought I’m paralyzed by fear.
That movie! There’s a movie I heard of.
A boy hates Christmas, wishing it away.
A storm brews suddenly in skies above,
heralding a deadly Christmas day.
A Shadow Santa comes. This wicked soul
is known as Krampus, and he brings with him
an evil that can swallow people whole.
If I have summoned him, my fate is grim.
The storm keeps wailing; now there’s a new sound
of scratching on my roof, but there is no
more knocking. Oh, who’s walking all around
my roof? I run out to the blinding snow!
At first I can see nothing till my eyes
are drawn to where a great big bag was put
beside my door. What’s this? More Santa lies?
Though filled with dread, I push it with my foot.
There jumps out from the bag the strangest thing -
A tiny man; he’s made of gingerbread!
He laughs maliciously, and starts to sing,
“Before the night is over, you’ll be dead.”
Out on my lawn, I see beneath the snow
there’s something creeping fast and right toward me!
What creature slithers underneath the snow?
I can’t escape, so back inside I go!
I shut the door and bolt it, then collapse
Upon my sofa near the fireplace, when
I hear an eerie sound above. It taps,
taps, taps. It’s something on the roof again!
Past Christmases with family go through
my frantic mind; I cower there and wait.
It’s Krampus, and he’s up there in the flue,
and soon to be delivering my fate!
Written Dec. 24, 2015/ Inspired by the contest of TAMMY REAMS
and the current Christmas horror movie Krampus.
Gliding hands dancing on your spine
Playing melodies in your hair
Soft kisses delights in making discoveries
I see your soul clearly
I seize your face gently reflections shine
within the mind softly brushing
deeply plays a tender loving tune
fluttering beats touching shades of sunshine
All I need is my other senses to feel you
Sensitive sensations tantalizing inside
Blood pumping passion mysteries unraveling
rose of this soul softly whispers a jewel
in this deep nile let the stars be my guide
sparkling brightly winking delight
Ripples in turquoise waters running deep
Transformation in the subaqueous light filtering through
Indulge in a colorful spectrum of joyous release
granting loves magic in a shower of confetti
sparking magic granting wishes rising from the dust
lips the rose petals touching kisses softly
warm enchanting dreams in your inner beauty
Come lay here by me
Gliding hands dancing on your chest
Playing melodies on your lips
Soft kisses delights in whispering echoes
true the wonders of this world
whispering winds blowing sweetly calling your name
ocean waves rising unfolds kisses paradise
You are a clear vision
All I need is heart and soul to understand you
Instinctive intensity penetrating inside
Firecrackers soaring passion tales unfolding
melting in the embers of your beauty
sparks fly behind the mirror gems
opening in the chambers a ball begins shimmering
lighting up walls warmly in the four chambers
igniting sparks burning red flames join
silver dancing blue hotly holding beautiful
hands joined under magic spells loving like you do
Shimmers in moon rising and sun setting
Circulation in the bloodstream honey lemon love
Lingers in the aftertaste
smoldering embers of blue red flames
Co written by Liam Mc Daid and Angeline lim
based on the song love me like you do
Of the dark, offered in the morning cup,
and the chill of salted caramel cream,
spooning after an impervious dream
and clink-clink spell of alarum abrupt,
comes the ceramic to sip, birdsong up.
Fruity-caffeine drips into the bloodstream.
Imagery from a black forest daydream.
Pleasing sense and bonny sounds come to sup.
Draining of dregs, at last bit - bottom’s cold.
The Cupid sheet, vanilla, clings to spouse.
The warmth of my body under his skin.
The vigor of unharnessed dark horse bold.
His stirring, a second helping, aroused.
Pastels of cockcrow flutes, dawn’s violins.
So tell me was your soul weaved from platinum gold, liquified hot, bold mold when cold.
Tell me was your soul seamed with blindfold string, piece by piece so effortlessly, spiritually free
Oh baby please tell me was your soul dipped in gleam, a bright white light beam, directly into your bloodstream
Don’t you see your soul fascinates me,
So old, uncontrolled water mold, where’s the threshold, how do I unfold all that you behold
So my soul is so full of grieve, qunderachieved, with a heart on my sleeve
What do you see when you perceive me spiritually?
My soul so bold, not dipped in gold but aged mold, so old, covered in coal, a dust bowl, Aurora circle
Maybe you can see my soul isn’t half as glistening clean, but still it’s a pretty mean warrior machine, buffering to sheen as I speak... could you trust me
Soulful, is so full, every inch of mineral, drenched gold, covered in steel wool, it’s beautiful, are we compatible, maybe my love is magical, or unfathomable, let’s not make this tragical, to be honest I’m a bit radical, maybe a bit unpractical,
But tell me was your soul weaved with platinum gold, liquified hot, bold mold when cold?
Dear snake charmer, i see you brought your lucky charm
Go ahead and tame the poison in my bloodstream
Quell the anger in my snare, do the impossible and tame time
Make the audience clap for me, or you
Who cares anyway? as long as we steal every ounce of their attention
I just wanna play a little, fool around without sinking my fangs into your warm skin
I forgot how to kiss so all i'm left with is a hiss
Toy with my body but make sure i don't wrap myself around you
For the last time i hugged a charmer, i stole the life out of his eyes
Play me a song with your flute but ease up on the volume
I wanna hear your heartbeat as it echoes in the air
Say a little prayer for me, maybe you can cleanse me of the sins of my father
The one with the lethal tongue that lied to the children of eden
So how about you play that song for me
JGM
I’ve got poison on my lips
And in my glass, red wine.
I’ve got you in my bloodstream
And this porcelain heart of mine.
I’ve got oceans in my veins
And to sail them, you alone.
I’ve got a blood-stained hurricane
And you wear my poison as cologne.
You’ve got a storm beneath your skin
And then a storm’s what you become.
I’ve got my fire to remind you
Who burned and made you come undone.
See more at: http://dixiepoetry.wordpress.com
Friends don't let friends drunk dial
or drunk text
for some reason when alcohol mixes into the bloodstream
it is like a "hit or miss"
some people get drunk or tipsy and want to fight and talk s%*#!
others have a sip of liquor or beer and everybody they encounter is their best friend
I drink to have fun and KNOW my limits
I can drink grown men under the table, and still maintain common sense
I drink and have fun become the life of the party even!
My only downfall is when i drink i have diarrhea of the mouth!
I will tell u my whole life story and more u cannot get me to shut up
Then i grab my phone and call or text the only person i swore i wouldn't
and in the morning i look at my phone and see that i left a long text that can pass for a
short story
and I hold my head down. reluctantly read what i wrote the night before and then ask my girls
"WHY DID U LET ME DO THIS"
lol! My GUILTY PLEASURE...
I LOVE TO WRITE, SO WHEN I GET A BIT TWISTED I EXPRESS MY FEELINGS WITH SO MUCH DETAILS
HELD , CORRECTLY SPELLED AND NO WORRIES HELD
BUT I EXPOSE MYSELF TO THOSE UNWORTHY AND UNDESERVING
IGNORANT OR OBLIVIOUS TO THE OBVIOUS,
AYUDAME! FOR I NEED HELP
DO NOT LET ME TEXT OR CALL ANYONE WHEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE