Best Bridged Poems
September hues of school day smiles and bran new leather bags
creative minds as young as baby figs with eager hearts of lore
My days were full with mischief makers and bragging scalawags
but as the evening fell it was dad and I and paper planes galore
Lined creased papers pressed against father's smoky fingers strong
a wide tooth grin that said it all, while folding them in Ludwig style
Symmetrical wings shaped at the edge to fly through standby throng
inside a backyard airfield 16x24, .. we launched then bridged a mile
One was shaped like a prayer mantis one was fashioned like a jet
homework waited as we glided through a glide-path then a runway
Aerobatic landings that were much more thrilling, then a Lego set
oh the wanders of those days when we both knew, how to play.
August 13, 2022
Sponsor John lawless
Contest Name PAPER AIRPLANES
I bridged the chasm and entered ambiguous halls
Climbed over barbed fences inside my mind's walls
To glimpse the core of how men and women relate
Among flowering vines behind the garden gate.
Within a flower is both gamete and stigma
As semen to ovary - what an enigma!
Nestled deep in my breast, I hear a sultry voice,
"Which would I be if I'd been given the choice?"
I am content with my life in a single ilk
I give in to the urge to wear lace and silk
A little more mascara and blush on my face
I desire to be a lady with charm and grace
I wear jeans and boots, shorten the length of my hair
But some days high heels are what I choose to wear
Two halves of one heart, beating in rhythmic sync
Twins in one body but both sharing the same link
One set of footprints I leave on a virgin shore
I know who I am, but sometimes yearn for more
I'm searching for what lies behind the waterfall
The answer discovered when I hear my siren call
One foot in each of two very different worlds
Climbing trees like boys with painted nails of a girl
When asked my favorite color, I always say it's blue
But I'm also partial to pinks in pastel shades and hue.
I search my thoughts to see if gendering is mental
Knowing I'm more the damsel, not frail but gentle
When my psyche roars like a lion, I can repress
the savage beast in me when I wear a pretty dress
In kindred thoughts my anima/animas keep in touch
I respect my masculine inflection, but not too much
I don't saunter like a guy. I'm not one of them
My hips sway like a girl, so cherchez la femme.*
*Cherchez la femme is a French phrase which literally means "look for the woman."
Nothing is ever time wasted,
just the interlude to the rest of the album. Soon it becomes nostalgia. To think you almost pressed the skip button..
It's all about trying new things.
Slowing were briding the gap.
Looping untold tales of blues and jazz into our samples.
The things considered classical.
Instant vintage.
The things we keep hidden in headphones,
The venerability of hype.
It's always about the crowd.
Afraid to digest something different.
This was the first time I met her.
At first I laughed,
Reaction that I faced my own ignorance.
Listening again finding purpose.
Not knowing that we'd come to spend the rest of our lives together.
All three minutes and forty five seconds.
I was dishonest.
Not revealing anything real about myself until I heard it for the first time.
The first time she sung.
Music.
This wasn't an image to be upheld in front of others.
Or the gossip type spread circle to circle.
I was never exposed to this.
Skimming the top layer ready to press next.
Too far caught in the slander that first impressions can give.
History often repeats itself but this wasn't the case.
This was wholeheartedly the epitome of how she effected me.
The rhythm of how she moved.
How she spoke.
Like that I matured almost instantly.
She became my biggest influence.
A two way street that bridged the gap of my own ignorance.
After time I began to leave my headphones on the dresser.
We were amplified.
She'd follow me everywhere just as I'd follow her.
Soon it caught on to the masses.
Each and every thought became a publicist of what she'd recite over and over again.
A parental advisory issued with every cover.
Finding the one became a catalog.
Stumbling back to the first interlude all over again.
The copyright not for sell
There was a time in life so long ago
when all my visions suddenly seemed dark;
the nighttime sky was void of moonlight’s glow,
and sunless winter days were grey and stark.
I felt as though the walls were closing in,
and squeezing from my soul my very life
as I was drowning in my sea of sin
surrounded by the darkness and the strife.
As I lay in the gutters of my dreams,
a hand so tenderly reached out to me;
a stranger lifting spirits from extremes
then bridged the raging waters of my sea.
His soft grey eyes so gently gave a nod,
and suddenly I saw the face of God.
May 17, 2020
Poem of the Day - May 19, 2020
Thunder and lightning ruled the black night
As the frightened young mother struggled
Beads of sweat ran down her pretty face
The old midwife calmly sponged off sweat
She hummed a lullaby to soothe her pain
Praying that the husband would be back soon
Five miles to travel in treacherous weather
Seeking the one doctor for hundreds of miles
Twelve hours of labor now seemed like days.
Fell trees and shaved off roof tops, toppled by whipping winds
Rising rivers were swollen, and flooded make shift roads
Endless rain poured like there would be no end
Meanwhile her unborn child lay bridged as it battled for release
Suddenly the door burst open and the doctor rushed in
His clothes sticking to his skin; there was no time to change
With his palm he felt her forehead asking pertinent questions
He and the old midwife tried manually to turn the exhausted child
At each attempt, mother’s painful cry was heard in the distance
She gave one guttural scream and usherd her baby into the world
The child, born limp, barely breathing as the mid wife took her away
He starred into her eyes, and knew that she was beyond his help
He brought the new born to lie in her mother’s warm arms
The silence was noticeable; the raging storm had passed
The sound of light rain, now a comfort, gently tapped upon tin roof
In a soft, weak voice she called her husband and managed a smile
Then she blessed her child with words from a mother’s heart
“May you be a light, swift as lightning when days grow dark.”
“May you have wisdom and foresight beyond your days”
“May your heart nurture and remain open to love”
“Like rain, may you bring life to all “
“Born this stormy night, your name will be “Rain”.
~*~
By : Audrey Carey
Note: Imagination at work:) Written for Constance's "Rain, The Story" Contest.
My imagination took me to some little village in Africa. This scene is played out in
many villages where health care is non-existent. However, there's always, thanks
to God, a wise, caring "midwife" to help mothers during delivery.
Everyday, countless miracles are performed by God through "midwives"!
We may not have the ability to find words
that match the intensity of being in love ~
the overwhelming happiness and emotion
that most of us long for, and dream of.
Sage poets of old wrote in their lines divine ~
Where love burns desire is love's pure flame.
Drink me with thine eyes, I'll pledge with mine,
a passion so unbridled, nothing will ever tame.
Love should forever be an adventurous journey
bridged with magical moments in exotic places
sharing intimate whispers of our desire and lust
and adoring looks of joy upon our sated faces.
Your look opens me like blooming petals of a rose
as tenderly you hold me beneath a moonlit sky.
It's then we meld, soul meets soul on lover's lips
and each caress leaves us breathless with a sigh.
You made my heart abandon its dwelling place
and nevermore will it be capable of returning.
It echoes in the beating chambers of yours,
a flame that you kindled and will keep burning.
I love you because the Earth turns round the sun
so if things on earth may be to heaven resembled,
then it must be a paradise on earth we've found.
We're bound in love, both joined and assembled.
Let not the gleam of moonlight, nor of sunlight dim
without words of love spoken in adoring synonym.
As Earth spins in harmony around the flaming sun,
we rise and fall together; two hearts joined as one.
August 21, 2022
The Meaning of Love Contest
Sponsor: Anoucheka Gangabissoon
*In order, italicized lines are based on quotes from:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ben Johnson,
E.E. Cummings, Percy Bysshe Shelly, John Clare,
Nikki Giovanni, and Aphra Behn
if there be
subject and object
in our active cognition
implying separation
as in a distance
needing to be bridged
through exchange of emotions
for feel good factor
it is then a trade
and not love
likewise
reciprocation apart
expecting recognition
signals a dependency
in absence of which
so called love
disappears
we can give
only what we have
thus we begin with self love
only if we love ourself
can we love others
at all times
instantly
love is unthinking
embrace without thought
a fusion of hearts
love in love with love
just for love alone
seeking no echo
to its outpouring
eternal
love is
a union
singularity
one without second
transcending space time
as the bliss essence
in fullness
samadhi
22-January-2021
After The Funeral
Tim had found his place after the party. Faring well in his urn he waited to be scattered. Compartmentalised, fragmented and united into two batches of memories.
Indian Ocean
Passionate love on beaches
Drift wood adventures
His friends and family celebrated his life. Lit a fire, gathered smoke and cherished what pastures had given them. Salutation, saltation and salt on sad skin. They rejoiced in ambivalent moments of loss and beginning. That was the easy bit. But Tim had always been eccentric and maybe the waves were too smooth on their own. Easy had not been his domain. Always up to challenges and arduous paths, het set a task even in death. ‘Go tell it on the mountain’.
Climb Mount Everest
Fresh air healthy exercise
Dust sprinkled on snow
Would his children rise up to the dare and defiance? Could they respect final wishes? Was it one step too far? Had it been jest and on whom was the joke? Strides upon strides they stumbled to the top of the world. Caressed their blisters and bridged ascent in meaning and closure.
Serene harmony
Stunning demise flying high
Carbon clouds condensed
such atrocities
subtract us humans
irrespective of
but then comes along,
common sense approach
decisions made
find him alive,
send this boy home
mothers grieving
combat found
bridged safely
firmly held
Ryan
freedom
saved
.
Posed such, in its formidable array
would guess that all protection in refer
not deem my soul respectively, relay
but from some archway's character of serve!
That guard of my esteem, not turning gray
is from some inner peace, not just of nerve
the loyalty I've bridged by my own stay
now chances not its entry as conserve.
For naught the times, nor beckoning's concur
that shoulder decorated stood its ground,
some rite of passage, measures not impure
or guesses at my fancy, or my frowned!
How steady in some answer of reserve
would guarantee its effort, so unbound,
that resolution's comfort not deserve
or its entailment daily ne'er impound!
Is freedom such an answer, I not need
when life holds such encumbrance up her sleeve,
prescribe me not, in entities concede
but brave begot ~ a childhood of bereave!
The Sentry, grasp the plot ~ remit, receive
to bear it all, a blossom of Faith's core
that from behind, attacks are so conceive
the narrowing's remind, an open door!
The harrowing of purging not refined
a net of undeniable content,
the message straight from cowardly assign
and from its framework, instigates resent!
That Hell be guarded once, and so confined
the nature of the whore that so compels,
is tempting of man's nature, so inclined
and reconciles its effort, "all is well!"
And so it be, prerogative regress
is functioned only lightly to incline
to rob my thought, my enemies redress
and matter less, to only spend my time!
Forfeits agenda, reconciles, climbs
that merit of dissension leaves encore,
all but that host's dimension steeps unbind
revolving with ascension ~ perish more ~
And tumbles its direction ~ out of line!
To be continued ~ The Sentry Rhymes ~ Dangerous times.
Note ~ Guard duty is one of the most sensitive, and loyal of commitments.
Such as that of a noble entity, a queen, an endangered person, or even
a family, spouse, children. Today our protection needs to be more loving,
more personal & caring, not back turning, and avoiding. Our own National
Guard need to be here, at home, on board, with their reason intact, and not
forged from some idealistic, protectionist bourgeois ~ needing to be
everywhere else!
The sweet unfocused dream of love,
Wandering summers, fireside winters,
Autumns drifting deep in red-russet-gold,
To say nothing of spring, the lovers’ month.
Let pens drop and conversations falter,
Watch wistfully from windows,
Forget your waketime reasons and
Stand lost, for a moment, in
Sensation of feeling
Unencumbered with the day’s
febrile fugitive motives.
Look up lost at questions,
Lose the fork among the food,
Float in and out of rooms
With the lightness of ghosts.
And in all of this unthereness
Know you are holding her close
Across the ocean of darkness,
Cruel distance bridged through
The soul’s own flight.
By Cherbo Geeplay
It rains so much in Monrovia that a
day is like the bloated dough on a
grey earthly May, washing over October.
My love, the sun, hides in her bright den
refusing to be seen. Life comes to a slow
twiggy motion; the forest is breathing
with moisture, like a hut puffing smoke as
a pipe. While the creeks bridged their ledges,
there is a seismic run-down Waterside!
Enough, no more, the sewage can take!
She is in my arms, listening to the music
pounding the roof. Still, calm, reading
Ebony Dust, though, with lightning bolts
yelling to be heard.
The clatter is like
a rumble---tumbling falling rockets.
The sorry corrugated zinc holds her
seams, the bed is dry, but the room
is a puddle.
The city is
cramp and damp, like a soaked
sponge dripping with water. The
hustling contested old city in an
evening fog, the Mesurado in
a bulge, taking Fanti fishermen
to and fro,
to the edge of Westpoint.
To love in the midst of mists,
of raging thunder under your ears
and an air filled with blithering vermin,
is to drink a linctus in anger, cooped in
wretched penury. So when the wait,
cannot wait to be over, you my love
must endure, waiting to part with the
wrath the rains imposed, much needed
however, to calm the California wildfires,
gifted on these shores, for
free. Now: you
understand, then,
the irony of nature!
_____
Copyright 2018, Adelaide Literary Magazine, New York
Your chase!
Reminiscing on the oceans I had to dry up
and the volcanos I had to ice up
just to capture the epicenter of your heart
well protected by strong canines
of your carnivorous standards.
Hanging with the clouds of the highest heights
and combating with the dragons
of the Amazon Forest
was worth all the efforts.
Your Love!
shines in vitality
attracting even the goddess of sexuality
as it preserves the indwelling desires of two hearts.
We stayed isolated in the entire world
at midnight, siting on the mountain top
the moon directly above us
showcasing our shadows
melted together with no space in between.
The stars, singing hymns of love
while the trees danced to the romantic melody.
Just the two of us
and the entire universe
bridged by space full of your praise as I behold my Queen.
Whose beauty compresses the wealth of Europe
and gentleness makes
the Dove and the River team up in envy.
Your absence!
Life endeavours have fixed
putting us in an equilibrium of distance
as I perish in a state; psychiatry has no definition.
In the midst of Adult Buffalos
you leave an unprotected Cub.
You aren't gone, just far away
yet I feel like a member of a loser's club
as love has converted me to a scrub.
Thinking I'd be as worse as
a depression endemic atmophere
with loneliness and plutonic cold its major contents,
unfortunately, my heart is its suburb
completely eaten up and infected.
What can make me lay for days
in the bathub;
rejecting everything beautiful and lovely,
and the ointment of darkness I rub?
To all these my Love!
Your absence is the nub.
But I need to stay strong
as I await the purification of your presence once again.
I found my endless love in you....
My love for you is an endless love.
Always, like an ocean waves, rolls over inside my heart
You are always in my heart and soul
and bridged the gap between the ocean
My time cannot be limited for your love,
because I have endless love for you
Your love has a hold on me is magically beyond imagination
that brings me the most precious gift of love
I always think of you day and night
and cannot be forgotten your sight that gives me pride
When my soul rapture as you embrace me
then my love travel like a ray of light in your heart
My heart and your soul are connected with strong love
and it makes us good ingredients of happiness
No words I can write and say, how much I miss you
and how much you are mean to me
Always, I want to share all my love with you
because I found in you my endless love.
Ravi Sathasivam / Sri Lanka
All rights are reserved
I walk along the margins, of the shoreline of the sea,
gathering abandoned shells, in search of a sea star;
a tumultuous tide rushes and bellows ~ wild and free.
I build castles, bridged with moats and towers with glee;
sculpting sand for a grand chateau, designed for a czar.
I walk along the margins of the shoreline of the sea.
My glory dampened; no building here, has a guarantee.
Hungry seagulls swoop for fish, on frothy foam and spar;
A tumultuous tide rushes and bellows ~ wild and free.
I stumble upon sand crabs, scuttling near dunes, so wee.
At the rim of the horizon, sailing ships, appear from afar.
I walk along the margins of the shoreline of the sea.
I venture to an obsidian ledge, at a ninety angle degree;
waves slamming and crashing, dispersing into a reservoir.
A tumultuous tide rushes and bellows ~ wild and free.
Gazing at the view, images of impressionists I see;
the masterpieces of Courbet, Degas, Monet and Renoir.
A tumultuous tide rushes and bellows wild ~ and free;
I walk along the margins, of the shoreline of the sea.
Date: August 8, 2022
For: First Person Villanelle Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: L. Milton Hankins
Rhymes verified on rhymezone.com