Best Camouflage Poems
Very many years ago,
In the land of rich men called NO,
Bobo, a poor man, had nowhere to go,
"Give me a little space to stay", he pleaded, but lo,
"Your place is out of the city," they shooed him and so,
Outside he stayed in sun, rain and snow,
Rainbows glowed, stars shone, sun rays blazed on NO and Bobo.
Reality was - All the people
In the land of NO
Benefited Out of Bobo's Woes;
For when Bobo died, (and 'twas soon)
The heavens cried, (so did stars, sun and moon)
All lights stopped shining, (darkness invaded)
The men started whining, (fear pervaded)
The rich men died, (one by one)
No one did abide, (no, not one)
NO was no more NO without poor Bobo;
The rich did never know that HE had been their Rainbow.
03/30/17
Mistress of deception,
as in victual monogamy.
A deceit of one’s perception,
without an irksome homily.
Mushrooms drop into a pot,
with peppers, once pureed.
Zucchini dance as they are tossed
amidst confetti of celery seed.
Onions sing out with Garlic,
part of the tomato cabaret.
They drop, sway, and frolic,
below the leaves of dried up bay.
A precipitation of spices,
fine herbs and hot chilies.
If omitted a possible crisis,
like the heel of Achilles.
Then a most decisive stroke,
wheat pasta hits the stage.
With every furtive jab and poke…
Spaghetti is still the rage!
I slid down the rainbow
Yet you couldn't see
all my colourful friends
escaping insanity
Unicorns and fairies
dancing in rainbow light
If we weren't camouflaged
we might give you a fright
Some friends are bright yellow
others are quite deep blue
Seven colours to choose
many wore more than two
My friend, Count Dracula
is mostly fond of red
The Dye from his clothing
was gifted by the dead
I'm fond of indigo
some others prefer green
But the best was violet
as worn by Mr. Bean
No need for sunglasses
they will not help you see
Camouflaged in rainbow
don't you wish you were me?
They tell me to express myself with words so foreign that I question myself.
Verbatim. Diction. Syllabic expression.
Please explain to me, a kid from the projects, what the hell you talkin about?
Cuz where I'm from you spit rhymes like bullets.
Lock and load.
Don't wait for a reaction.
Ready, Set, Go!
Crime is our muse, drugs are our fuel.
You can judge from a distance but remember.
We don't affiliate with none of yo crew, talkin bout red, white, and blue.
I consider myself patriotic to my youth.
But if I dare break down these walls myself....
You will see that I am an exquisite young lady hidden underneath "white trash."
I call it camouflage.
Don't you see?
I can explain to you the differences between an Italian and an English Sonnet.
Describe the meter of a Langston Hughes piece, or even write a couplet myself.
But those things won't teach you how to survive.
No.
Not around here.
So I'll act illiterate, and act like I don't give a ****.
Just to prove a point.
But in the back of my mind I'll be counting rhyme to make sure that words come out in time.
All the while I'll delude my real self till I am no longer in the presence of fools.
I'll hide behind the green bushes and tumbleweeds that are my second self.
And put my dictionary back on the shelf.
Because unfortunately to be real means to be ignorant, and to be intelligent means to be indignant.
Violet it pours, sinuous swirl into the glass,
Rich in darkest ruby amethyst lavender glory,
Lower left in France, Bordeaux, Chateau Margaux,
Floral wine that hides you from almost everything;
It even smells like violets.
Indigo Children are wrapped in that aura,
New Age thinking; are they protected from evil?
Blue was their name, was their car, their house at the end of the street.
They sheltered in silence; kids never answered in school,
Their father seemed mute, the mother spoke two words to me
The one time I was in their hushed house - a big room with cool air,
The children slowly orbiting the parents like faint, cold little moons.
Green river rushes screened me from the world
When I was river-swimming young.
Yellow, the color of cowardice and hot stars.
I'm a coward - nobody's ever done anything to me;
You haven't, but a part of me will always hide from you,
Even if it had to go to the far side of the sun.
Orange was the giant pumpkin long ago,
My full body mask for Halloween,
A lair behind the dark face,
Watching trick-or-treaters approach.
At their closest, I would roar at them,
A true if momentary spooking.
Red was my friend's truck when I was seventeen.
Out with my brother and his buddy, the four of us, autumn night fun.
Steering broken, hit telephone pole guy wire,
Pulled the pole down on the truck; smash.
Silence, no movement, then my brother said, "I'm okay."
Other two not talking, more red from my brother's friend.
I ran to nearby house, ambulance came,
My friend's neck broken, my brother's friend dead.
No camouflage for me with this red.
I wish I could go back in time and remove it from my rainbow.
March 24, 2017
Camouflage
© Ben Burton 12-01-2014
A leopard cannot change his spots
Nor would he if he could
They offer him some camouflage
When lurking in the wood
Van Winkle would not leave his cot
For roughly twenty years
But what a lesson we were taught
Be careful with those beers
A period is but a dot
Yet, such a potent thing
For if some reason it is dropped
The words start jumble-ing
Some authors will not change their plot
Though editors insist
How many classics were not wrought
Merely because of this?
In Ferguson the people fought
Set fires and looted, too
The facts did not deter their cause
Contrived police abuse
Obama does not care for cops
He went on the attack
Implying Darren Wilson shot
Merely to kill a black
Oh well, the liberals are naught
(With those last words, they fled)
My spotted leopard trick, they bought
Elsewise, they'd not have read
finger wrist elbow
get in touch with the blood yacht
camouflage of lust
I glanced up the road and was taken aback with what I saw.
I looked again and to my surprise,
There was a troop of army guys coming down the road, all decked out in rainbow colored garb.
How could their coats of many colors fool anyone, and be camouflage.
Hotchpotch splotches dabbed on khaki, perhaps a fancy dress disguise
How silly they looked. Were they ashamed?
How could they go into battle dressed like that, when their foe would laugh at them.
Perhaps this was the tactic, distract the enemy, get them laughing, and shoot them dead.
Would the rainbow uniforms foster camaraderie among the troops?
Like a fancy dress attendees at a ball,
When its fun to look silly and its safe to laugh at each other.
As the soldiers marched in step towards me,
I noticed a frivolity in the demeanor.
Their step was more a meter dance step with fling, flare and flourish
Than a heavy trudge of hob-nailed boot banged on ground.
Perhaps the fancy dress had lightened their mood and plod.
As the dance party got closer I could here the chant they recited as they marched along:
"Are you ready kids?"
"Aye Aye Captain"
"I can't hear you!"
"AYE AYE CAPTAIN" "AYE AYE CAPTAIN"
"Yeah... I hear, yeah"
"Aye Aye Captain"
"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"
"Spongebob Squarepants"
"Spongebob Squarepants"
"Spongebob Squarepants"
So the Rainbow Colored Camouflage had worked a treat!
Silly soldiers singing silly songs, in their silly coats of many colors.
Recalling how in the bible, Israel who loved Joseph more than all his sons,
Made him a coat of many colors.
Perhaps the soldiers too, were spoiled favorites of the commander chief?
In the forest, one I saw
Groping down a tree limb
Trembling like an old man
Dressed in a patchwork robe of
Green, gray, yellow and brown
Its colours were like the bark and leaves of the tree
At a glance, it could have been a cluster of
Yellow, brown and green leaves shaking in the wind
With a slow and deliberate gait
Changing colour at will to match the surrounding
The body gives the appearance of being rather compressed
With a pointed ridge along its back
Large eyeball, fused eyelids
Having only a small opening
Through which it looks for its preys
Shooting out its tongue several inches
Picking off insects with great skills
Lying horizontally in the back of its mouth,
A cone-shaped bone; the point forward
At its base, the long hollow tongue is anchored
Long muscles held the tongue
Pleated with accordion bellows
Compressed around the bone
Turning individually, its turret eyes
Within the range, an insect it spots
Powerfully, the long muscle contracts
And held the tongue over the bone
Like a compressed spring
The tip of the slippery bone tightens
And the tongue shoots out
Stuck on the gluey tip, the insect
Its long, limp tongue, slowly drawn in
Like a baby eating noodles
To see it again, a joy to the sight
This great chameleon!
Rainbow coloured camouflage
The rainbow whispered “look at me I am a cameo in abused disguise”.
"You are a beautiful mean to an end, a pot of gold awaiting where you
touch the horizon, elusive no doubt but tangible in dreams and in wishes”.
‘Faruq’ true to his name, the one who distinguishes truth from all falsehood,
vowed to ‘Nahla’, or the drink of water, to be with her forever come rain
or shine, when the Bedouins halted for their wedding under thorn’s holy arbor.
“There will be moist earth under the sacred tree”, promised the shaman,
drank potions from ‘Ausaj’, danced, convulsed and exulted as everyone gathered
under the ‘Sdir’ tree with the promise of sustenance and children from heaven.
It was a monkey’s wedding, glistening sun combined with sprinkles of drizzle,
but the rainbow forgot that camels and goats don’t mix with mischief-makers,
imported from modern changes of climate, greed, power and destruction.
“I have been camouflaged, misconstrued, disenfranchised, seven beautiful colours exuding disaster”. “No, you have your rightful place under the skies, warmongering nations ignore you, they exploit the fruits of the desert, relish oil of demise”.
Ear-piercing storms erupted and lightening ensued with full thunderous wrath and
the tree of life got splintered and divided, ancient reality was crushed under modern delusion.
‘Faruq’ and ‘Nahla’ could not believe that their short marriage was over, they joined their ancestors, struck by the rainbow, who had masked the power of drowning waters, looked helplessly on.
Meanwhile tanks, constructed and draped in seven deadly sins, kept their tracks
in the quick sand of glory, deceit and rape of the planet, full,evil steam ahead.
“I feel so guilty”, uttered the rainbow, “I could not display my true colours”, but the wind and the Gods replied “Not your fault, do not take the blame, when gold turns to tar”.
Army suits they wore at war.
Butterflies flying at the bar.
Change their colors like cheetahs and cats.
Dark comes i'm scared of bats.
Easy for them on hide and seek.
Find them not, i'm getting weak.
Giant trees you see in the forest.
Hidden with dangerous beast.
Iguana and giraffe are endangered species.
Jaguars are strong can't torn them into pieces.
King of animals they are lions.
Like leopards they are union.
Makes me sick, makes me confuse.
Nothing i can do makes me anxious.
On that wall a beautiful woman.
Pink and silver she's holding a fan.
Queen Elizabeth looks not for me.
Reminiscence of Helen is what i see.
Teary eyes, you can't refuse.
Unidentified, i'm confuse.
Very concealing but amazing.
With your color so exaggerating.
Xenon is weakly interacting.
You beautiful creatures get some rest.
zebras and tigers are the best.
Hues and shades of pinks, purples and
blues reveal my intimate desires for change.
I’ve been to the mountains and seen the
islands of Hawaii and yet, my need to
conceal my hopes and dreams remain.
No further from tomorrow I await my
dreamlike passion to disguide my heart
with a veil showering me like a rainbow.
I see night and day and through the pain
I know the reason for this desire is simple.
I feed off beauty, yet thirst for obscurity.
I crave the soft comfort of a spectrum
leading me to distant fantasies.
Crimson...chartreuse-
chameleon...and medallion…
These hues bring a kaleidoscope of revelation
I need for my existence. Before I became a
woman of hope I was a girl of discouragement.
Selfish and full of doubt for all things good
in my life. Until the day came I erased my
pessimism, I had been shadowed by the ebony
of darkness. Now I shall endure the chimera
of my cloak and stay hidden through a shroud
of beauty. My reason is simple. My idea is pure.
If I blind everyone from what pain is found under
masquerade, maybe…just maybe the world will
see me as I wish to see myself one day. Full of
the majestic colors of a rainbow. So, my rainbow
colored camouflage shall remain shielding me
from a world of discrimination and cruelty.
I shall shine forever in the mist leading me
to the land of make believe.
March 28, 2017
Some people wear smiles out in public
as if those smiles were sewn on their faces.
Often they are adorned by costly apparel.
The women, in flattering makeup and
with hair beautifully coiffured,
flaunt gowns created by renowned fashion designers
and accessorized with glittering jewelry
and expensive heels and handbags.
They are the rich, the “beautiful people,”
social butterflies in a rainbow of colors
seen attending their special clubs and functions
or charity benefits,
where they flit about with others of their elite class.
I have seen them on television
and representations of them in movies.
I suppose viewing them impersonally this way
is the closest I will ever get to them
as I sit watching them from my well-worn sofa,
knowing that nobody can have a life
so seemingly perfect
yet marveling
at their rainbow colored camouflage.
For the Rainbow Colored Camouflage Contest of Ir0nic ZiNk
Rainbow colored camouflage, some may think, what a ridiculous idea, what a ridiculous idea, for rainbows are rare and high in the air, so what benefit would it have? Unless you were trying, to reckon a rainbow parade but that may come, to haunt you in the end. Yet, there is a bird, which is quite beautiful and has indeed adapted, wearing the colors of the rainbow and well suited to live in the tropics. It can hide among exotic fruits and blend in among the flowers of paradise. The Rainbow Lorikeet sounding, like some strange creature, from Doctor Seuss but that is it’s name and the male and female look the same.Truly a pretty Polly parroting, the colors of the rainbow. Oddly, they make rainbow camouflage work.
RAINBOW COLORED CAMOUFLAGE
Mood ring changes blue, green, black
from childhood to…well I dye my hair so you can’t tell.
My high school diary reads as black gloom, a steady diet
Of negative emotion…bratty if I must say.
My slim days of college like a magic 8 ball,
shake it up…blue happiness to black cape depression.
A breakthrough came when my dad pushed me
In the direction of the United States Navy.
Well that marble must have been rolling around
in his head, considering I might stay at home forever
or lead a dead end existence.
My mood ring had never been so vibrant -
hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple!
I can see the ocean in the sky,
ride the purple waves of life,
with an adventurer by my side.
I often think: oh you, of little faith!
God sees potential while you stare at the sky.
With Hawaii came double rainbows,
places I never knew I wanted to see,
a fantastic place to raise my family
on sweet pineapple and boogie boards.
I change, kind of like a chameleon, making
the most of life, with each grand breath.
I’d say I have a rainbow heart, God’s promise
ingrained in me. I hide in his presence.
You’ll find me playing double dutch
hopping over multicolored bows.
3/8/2017
Ir0nic’s Rainbow Colored Camouflage Contest