Best Briars Poems
There was a day, a specific day,
When a pair of boots stopped walkin.
Leaving no average prints on the way,
That an average man could walk in.
Each step he trod was a step of faith,
All knew who walked beside him,
None were better or less than another
For friendship was this man’s fulcrum.
These boots had walked not an easy path
The hide battered from heel to toe,
By the rocks and briars of his past,
His battle, not letting it show.
Always found at other’s need
With a solution or a suggestion,
Sacrifice was his way of life
About that, there is no question.
To many, these boots all weathered and worn
Have no value at all to be told,
But the wise all know the boots strength is it’s soul
And Terry’s boots should be gold.
And Terry’s boots should be gold.
There was a day, a specific day
When a pair of boots stopped walkin,
They continue to lead me down a path of life
I daily strive to walk in.
Thanks Dad
Categories:
briars, character, courage, death, father
Form:
Rhyme
The Good Harvest
Years ago I was a farmer,
And my neighbor had a field.
But he let it go to briars,
He was not concerned with yield.
As I passed his field one evening,
In my pocket there I found,
Four tiny seeds left over.
From those I'd planted in the ground.
So I tossed them in his garden,
Not so mindful what would be.
If they sprouted with the briars
Mid the chaos what we'd see
Summer rains and hot sun blasted.
Wind and snow upon the ground.
In the spring I gladly noted,
When there among the weeds I found.
Little plants with leaves uplifted,
Burst through the cluttered sod.
Like the Saints on Sunday morning.
Hands uplifted praising God.
Four dirty unkempt siblings
Wiggling squirming in their chairs.
No one watching no one caring,
How or why we found them there.
Rowdy, lively always talking
They put my patience to the test.
But I found that they were hungry
So I did my very best.
Jesus loved the little children
Each one precious in his eyes.
Long years passed and I am grateful.
For I found a sweet surprise
In the field where I had labored.
The word of God as best I could.
I found four happy Christians planted
Strong and faithful, that is good.
Categories:
briars, bible, children, christian, farm,
Form:
Rhyme
Outside of civil man’s well tended garden,
A field of briars willfully encroached,
Threatening the peaceful flowers without pardon.
Oh these gardeners fought hard as the briars approached.
“You don’t belong here, you’re not good enough!”
“You are snarled with iniquity and with thorns.”
“You live a life so very harsh and rough…”
“What good can you bring?” they said with deep seated scorn.
And the briar replied that hot summer day,
“Deep within these unforgiving boughs
Lives a flower who doesn’t have much to say
Except a story concerning what you espouse.”
“You see there lives a dragon scorned just over the way,
Who tossed opportunity and harbingers to the wind,
Because life is glorious and he loves to play…
Carefree and cavalier is how his days were spent.”
“He playfully trampled gardens carefully tended,
By pious gardeners without wings who would never fly,
Until he happened upon a flower wonderfully scented,
Crimson in color, the flower reflected beauty in his eye,”
“Eagerly he reached forward to make it his own,
But this glorious flower was protected by thorns,
And gave the dragon a prick to change his tone,
And it was in that prick that true love was born.”
“Now the dragon is older and has spent his days,
Watching over this rose, the love of his life,
Learning about beauty and awe inspiring ways.
His world now protected by thorn and briar.”
“He has discovered great beauty and learned much,
And no longer does the dragon destroy with fire.”
“But should you gardeners even dare to touch
A single branch or bough in this tangled briar…”
“You will face both the Dragon and the Rose,
Who with great love now protect each other,
From pious gardeners who would have them go,
Because neither can be kept on a tether.”
“So snip your lilies and pluck your weeds,
Make your lives as perfect as they can be,
For in this harsh briar we continue to watch love grow,
That of a magnificent Dragon and the beautiful Rose.”
Categories:
briars, love, passion, beauty, flower,
Form:
Ballad
Blackberry Memoir
Blackberries, round and glossy,
Always invite me to return
To dusty country summer afternoons
When languid waves of mirages
Puddle into shimmering hiatus.
From the gently swaying hammock
I hear the rattle of berry pails
To see my grandmother, in her straw hat,
Smile an invitation - come with her
Into the wild blackberry patch.
Like garter snakes that hide in the thorny brambles
Tangled canes slither across the sandy path
No perfect rows only prickly trailing briars
That soar from the heart of the thicket
In arching limbs to touch on summer skies.
Like raven tresses the blackberry fruit glistens -
Capturing sweetness from the glowing sun -
Purple stained fingers release the ripeness
Then hear it plunk in the berry bucket -
Delicious as raindrops in a summer storm.
Warm evening settles in contented sighs
Watching moonlight creep through tangled vines
When juicy blackberry pie warm from the oven
Arrives on clear plates with salivating praise
Topped with ice cream dripping down the sides.
When autumn strips the jumbled canes
To lie barren beneath the winter sun
My grandmother’s blackberry jam journeys
In reveries of summer days to come
When simple berry picking untangles life.
8-2-22
Contest: Your Thoughts on Blackberries
Sponsor: Matt Caliri
Categories:
briars, fruit, life, summer,
Form:
Free verse
Hush
Hush now my lover
Come rest your head upon my shoulder
Let my arms league bring you closer
Quiet now my love
Or your tears will shred to my ruination
All the courage that I have
Let this soft caress to yours encompass
And do not hold upon the burning cup
It is so, how my lips are scorched
Come my love, disentangle your heart from this apart
Rest your weary self here
Lest this choke in my throat blister so
When I speak your name
It is for I; all the lovers under this sun
I see them of smiles and arm in arm
Rip my foot soles to desolation
I have no path to follow
Do not take on so, my lover
For if it must be, I will covet the lost
Of funeral marches
As for you, so I, for me, am not
In these seconds resplendent
In these minutes redundant
I to, hold upon the burning cup
To reek some revenge on your loneliness
I call God a fool !
And stand in defiant
Belligerent; should such love be squandered and sent to hell
I would stand, still
And call your name to the closing heavens
Tortured with some mercies over spill
And stab my accusation to the hearts of angels
Hush my lover, I beg
Your sobbing racks into every ounce of strength I have
And with gritted teeth inside my eyes
I can but cling to hope
And slowly die
With this forlorn and empty life
Please my love, should I fall amidst the briars
And my heart dig upon the shovels of graveyards
Spit rumored on tomb stones
And call all those other lovers liars
Come now, my bride, rest here
Follow me to these palatial dreams
Let us forget lifetime living
Let us forge inside an anvils breathing all that we desire
Hold fast to me my lover
Submit, rest, resplendent for our bravery
To look beyond hope and see beyond dreams
To the place where we were meant to be
Hush now my lover
Come rest your head upon my shoulder
Let my arms league bring you closer
Categories:
briars, loveheart, heart, me,
Form:
Free verse
sun-kissed briars droop
summer blisters scar grey twigs
cypress leaves ooze sweat
nightjars scoop dry ice
v ripples on rain starved ponds
homing pigeon’s drought
Date Created : 26/6/2020 Twenty sixth June 2020
Tania Kitchin’s Summer Haiku Poetry Contest
Categories:
briars, beautiful, bird, birth, care,
Form:
Haiku
This pain is all too real;
I wonder if anyone really knows.
All the hurt, I was unable to conceal,
For I stood alone in the garden of the wilted rose.
Alone, lost in old memories,
As the briars clung to my clothes.
I feel the bite of the chilly breeze
Standing in the garden of the wilted rose.
I look for answers but they can’t be found,
And my thoughts scatter as the wind blows.
Wilted petals on the ground held me spellbound,
But I finally escaped the garden of the wilted rose!
Note: I wrote this for Madison Thomer because she loved the line from my
poem, “Heartache”.
‘You can find me in the garden of the wilted rose’
Hope you like it, Madison.
Categories:
briars, depression, lifegarden, me,
Form:
Kyrielle
Knead the mind with prayer and reflection
no need to bring in outside deflections.
What you need is already there...
God shined the synapses
lay gold leaf atop gray canyons
where the potential of miracles lie.
It will take at least a lifetime
to realize that petals of tranquility and truth
can survive the most vicious fire.
Deep in the briars of doubt
within the muck of the mind
dust devil's like to tease
weaving petals to the lye.
Gather up the pristine petals pronto
before they wain-wither- petrify.
Make fantastic arrangements with God.
Be as a ruby throated hummingbird
traversing crystal time-sipping the nectar of divine.
For what is Kneaded in prayer, becomes what is truly needed within your precious life.
Categories:
briars, birth, god,
Form:
Free verse
Trapped midst bushes and brambles
No escaping their thorny briars
The harder he pushed and he tugged
The fying pan's oil emerging as fire
The Devil Himelf seemed to grin at him madly
O, how he yearned to flee, so badly
But he'd signed his name to fate's bottom line
One's word is his bond, ~ a mere matter of time
Categories:
briars, dark, fate, future, journey,
Form:
Rhyme
"The true beauty of love is clear
a bond to be until we disappear"...Poet
I know the pangs of yesterday
in my quest for eternal love
I've passed through the shades and shadows
of emotional failings
where my heart lingered too long
on endless memories
of passionate fires that turned into ashes
and lay as markers on the road of my quest
to find an eternal love
through the weathered days and nights
of life's brambles and briars
before her eyes found me, in a darkened wilderness
where her heart's lamp lit the way
to fulfill my quest
with sensual passions pouring
into my soul with a promised perpetuity
this love, this lover
gives purpose to dreams dreamt
in the ponderings of our world
where our binding souls fly
across the Milky Way
two star-dazed lovers in a universe of dreams
two flaming stars traveling through time
leaving a burning trail
like a match struck to flame on a black sky
that stills our heart's heavenly wishes
where we are tethered to beauty
in lover's arms of warmth and wonder
as we bathe in the sweet scent of roses
whose leaves drip dew upon our skin
until the dawn of each tomorrow
finds our hands tightly held
as we cross the fields and meadows
of untouched days
until our earthen yesterdays
meets the sky of our tomorrow
where we'll free the jewels we've carried
in our hearts
that add memories to memories
with each step taken
and brings us closer to our lives' final horizon
where love has led us
to this everlasting sanctuary of serenity
Categories:
briars, beauty, love,
Form:
Free verse
An evanescent bouquet of skewed briars,
is how a tinsel laden tawdry essence wickedly unfolds ,
scuppered signpost to a fetid human compost,
faint light pendant on soul crushed quantum migrant,
who might chortle at vivid veil flimsy vacuum,
skirt recklessly around bogus symbols,
peer behind the squalid limp sodden hedge,
mock myopic moribund mist upon boundary busting dawn chimera,
sneer at synthetic spectrum elastic in its irritating tidal wave surfeit,
cerulean fabric‘s milky way escape plot,
in a perilous quest for that eternal tape loop mantra,
the synaptic heart of that vainglorious horizon,
self-knowledge under charcoal moon and silver cloud veneer,
or feral waste rapid fire contagion,
the indecisive day glow dither on the margins ,
of fly weight feeble frantic dash,
that velvet shadow treason daubed pettifog,
known as tangential wanton cobweb fester creed,
the mind a bloated ripple vortex numbing in its scope,
golden mirage but faux fur real concoction,
against the banal backdrop of complex-ridden superficial eddy,
from floral garland poseur stricken en train,
some vox pop indignation mere shrinking violet showcase waver,
the gleam-hued truth has this dastardly demonic derailment,
that I brush aside as spiteful oxalic sting repost,
that deceptive mint green forest of chameleon cant,
sly nuanced molten maple syrup hint,
from out of kilter tree pierce otherworld,
unseen yet bliss-edged virtual garden of firm conviction,
not just from isolated enigmatic individual script,
such as torrid turbulence or mindless scattered rim shot,
when conventions can be altered in exotic prose,
human zeitgeist has this far too often penchant,
for silkworm rapt effervescent double speak,
whilst plain unvarnished uplifting utterance,
resides within the deep crystal spring well,
of us torch aloft emerald earthling sages,
please augment the rock buttress stark phrase,
whose bluntness is a carrier pigeon of candor,
devoid of muted gray cloud blind waffle,
aromatic sprig to giant spasm of bold pluck,
quandary of human race at hearth,
frightened cliques, hidebound yes men who yen,
to swim the azure gulf of august freedom,
to the Eden where lucid tongues herald pristine witness.
where values at the centre of our being should blossom
Categories:
briars, care, character, deep, emotions,
Form:
Free verse
My eyes wafted toward the edge of a thicket
Where briars and sage hastened to thrive
There amid brush and bramble, a delicate face
Peeped out from the dense shrubbery and pine
Lighting my heart and reassuring my senses
That life was about to start fresh this Spring
Laughed the hesitant blooms of a bunch of
Lemony yellow daffodils chuckling with joy
Brilliant creamy flowers on stems of emerald
Danced in the flickering sunlight that whispered
Through the wood and reminded me that life
Was about to start anew, fresh as these buds
Breathing through the whispers of delicious
Intimate caresses I chose a flower for my table
And grew more hungry for their flavors than
The food that tastes so delicious to the appetite
There will be brighter flowers, more vivid and lively
Swaying in the breeze, more lovely than moonlight dreams
But I don’t believe there will ever be a more beloved
Delicate smile from any Spring blush than the daffodil
The Most Beautiful Flowers You've Seen Blossoming This Spring So Far Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: M. L. Kiser
May 8, 2021
Categories:
briars, blessing, flower, joy,
Form:
Free verse
She rode a tiger's back
through a canopy of briars
beyond the speed of light
their silent claws slashing night
but tiger tired of the game
and shook her off to the side
panting over her bloodied life
it snickered like all tigers do
just before severing all ties..
though starving it didn't feed
it already took what it needed..
the indigo from the deepest sea
where all dreams dare not fly
and dead birds never sing.
Categories:
briars, death, life,
Form:
Free verse
My heart is in the Adirondacks
And day by day i drink the courage
captured in these mountain heights.
The trail winds across the slope where bramble
lies like Tangled Truth--Blending Berries and Briars
--Bold challenges for hungry wanderers.
The great white pine leans low in mountain wind--
but lifts its top again--the living hiding place
of antelope and bear--and little things
the birds and scurriers finding safety
in the needled limbs.
The contradictions here abound,
The breathless height amid hollow crevices,
The stillness--absence of humanity--amid
a cacophony of Nature's jumbled cries;
the barren rock 'tween rooted evergreens;
the toxic elder hiding almond scented mushrooms;
the dying elm that shades the sprouting oak;
The tumultuous roar of naked storms
Belied in the quiet tumble of mountain streams.
All these things--these contradictions
do but mirror the tortured passion
in my breast. Nor in the madding cities
or steepled churches hiding frightened people--
nor yet, in tenuous arms of would be lovers--
do i find peace. But only here--
where trembling deer dip cautiously
into the water's edge; squirrels scold
in unquiet trees, and wild turkeys
strut unfrightened across the wind-bare
rocks. Here--on a mossy bank--
where the current curves in gurgling smiles
around the jutting stones; here
in the flickering welcome of mountain shadows
the human spirit finds release.
Categories:
briars, mountains, nature,
Form:
Free verse
The elements of the heavens above
Where the birds go swaying and dipping down
And the clouds mist their way along the sky
There the dark sky shrouds the moon with a gown
In awe I spread my arms just to accept
The nature of the clouds and the cool air
Beams of white light coming out from the moon
Adds to the serenity that’s out there
I hold out my hand to receive a drop
A drop of dew from the heavens above
Tenderly I kiss it and fill my soul
Makes me want to fly with the birds I love
The highest point of the sky before space
Is where I end up, looking at the stars
No other beauty compares to this trip
I slowly fall back amongst the briars
I live meagerly here on this vast Earth
Then I fly again amongst the great clouds
I often go see with the birds up high
Joyously live my days with all that’s proud
Russell Sivey
Categories:
briars, bird, flying, heaven, moon,
Form:
Quatrain