Best Cascaded Poems
I watched it fall
In spiralling flight
This browned yellow leaf
A saddened sight
For not long ago
It was alive and so green
In a canopy of cover
Above the stream
I watched it meander
Around rocks and through eddy's
On the stream it continued
Becoming more unsteady
It's protective coating
Now a shadow of it's past
As the water moistens
It's out on it's last
It came to rest
Between two rocks
As the water cascaded
To the bottom it dropped
The end of it's life
But it's journey goes on
For nature will use
This leaf that roamed
.
On my walk around the green meadow
in the sun splattered mesmeric mornings,
I used to see an old lady of the neighborhood,
sitting straight like a lone statue of cold stone
on the road-side bench I always crossed.
The golden stream of surging sunbeam
cascaded down the engraved web of rills
on her septuagenarian fragile face.
She would raise her thin ivory hands
from the recess of reclined lap unmoved,
flail in frail gesture in the scented air,
murmuring ‘good morning’ perhaps,
I could hardly hear in the rustle of leaves,
but my long day waited to begin
with the shining dawn of her smile,
drenching me in the silent shower of joy.
I still walk as the senile sun rises everyday,
but its searching rays saddened like me,
don’t find the lady on the bench,
but she walks smiling with me,
down the memory lane.
Written : March 22, 2020
July 23, 2022
Contest : 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 9
Sponsored by : Mark Toney
The rain cascaded, those tiny tear drops.
Leaving a small path, on her smooth plump lips.
It was like nature pulled out all the stops.
I drank from her bounty, with thirsty sips.
Those tiny teardrops, on her smooth plump lips!
Drifting on passion, rising with the swell.
Paradise fullfilled, love's secret revealed.
As a gentleman, I can never tell.
So those details, in my heart have been sealed.
I can never tell, love's secret revealed.
We parted ways, after the morning storm.
Our tsunami, was a wonderful kind
She walked away, I admired her form.
I'll remember her, she'll stay on my mind.
After the morning storm, she'll stay on my mind!
Second attempt for Craig Cornish's contest.
Form: Manassian Quintain
I hope I got it right this time Craig and Eileen!
My first attempt was "Crashing on The Shore", thanks
Seren for letting me know I messed up the form.;0)
Her dark hair, laced with silver strands,
cascaded once with sable glint,
then lost (with drifting of the sands
of time) the chasteness of its tint.
It still grows long, but she has kept
her dark hair laced with silver strands
pulled back, attractively upswept,
at times enwrapped in stylish bands.
She misses days of few demands,
the ragtop down, her locks wind-tossed.
Her dark hair laced with silver strands
reminds her now of all she's lost. . .
She combs it out in dying light
of dusk and dreams a lover's hands
were touching it this moon-streaked night -
her dark hair, laced with silver strands.
Not chained is the heart would draw near
Feel the breeze of Heaven while heaving
The hand of Faith shall free souls and steer
A divine fountain of Love receiving
Cascaded words flowing over any weir
A grace gifted by inspiring teacher
The poet in you shall have no compeer
Nourish the soul from every single creature
Love lulls human heart to see its sea
And to eternal Love bears a vower
Lead your dives and surface.. beam to be
Sea limits can’t reach just drink its power
The sea churned heavy in the wake of rolling,ripping thunder.
As rain cascaded from the skies the vessel was pulled under.
The winds were shrieking as the sailors ran to clutch the sails.
Into the night could now be heard those far off deathly wails.
Another man went over every time the dark sea burned.
When suddenly there was a light just where the storm had turned.
Within the light is where these beautiful creatures now emerged.
Half woman and half fish they swam right where the waters surged.
The men were frightened yet enthralled by their amazing beauty.
As one by one they lost their heads forgotten was their duty.
The creatures wrapped the men within their long and tangled hair.
And slowly every sailor was drawn into their seaweed lair.
As the storm raged on the creatures took the men below
to their deep home within the tides and this much we do know.
The shipmates never were seen again-they called them lost at sea.
But the creatures say they took the men so they could set them free.
for contest "Fantasy"
"a dagger of pain, a tear of grief" - Quote by - Constance La France
With the melodic cadence of my fervent heart,
pulsated the charming tinsels of the mesmeric night,
gleamed my love for you with the enticing tinge,
suffused with the sequins of the silver moon.
I felt in a trance the sweet touch so tempting
of your captivating charisma intangible,
but you drifted away from my engrossed perception
like the autumn cloud wafting in the twilight sky.
In the barren valley of flowers my cataract heart,
cascaded as the stream of melted glacial mind
beyond the turquoise course of lingering longing,
on the desolate plateau I wandered going nowhere.
From the ebony edge of the gloomy night
storm clouds surged with blades of shearing pain,
lacerated the lilting facade of the sky I call my heart,
where the shards of dream floated in tears of grief.
______________
May 16, 2023
Contest : Writing Challenge A Quotes
Sponsored by : Constance La France
I was a runner
fleeing from homespun horrors that
wrapped around my delicacy like a tourniquet
Only a child attempting to bestir
the warrior dormant within;
having no idea the enthrallment
she reveled in,
I learned to accost my demons
Nigh, even at the wide-eyed age of eight,
scarred
shattered
broken
I found, in a hand-crafted cardboard crate,
my only chance at freedom
Every Saturday I'd sneak away
to my makeshift universe
that gave life to dreams unspoken --
I would crouch and crawl
through thorn-encrusted branches
enclosed in a thicket,
sunbeams cutting into the tangles
alighting my face, piercing my eyes
The oceans breath
cascaded over the brush,
and everything, suppressed,
would fall into a hush
until I breached the winding path
Amongst the jungle of weeds/rose garlanded structures,
high above the jagged rocks
and wide open mouth of the watery abyss,
my hideaway centered --
flimsy cardboard walls,
brightly painted bold brazen symbols protecting all who entered,
tightly sealed with an invisible lock
opening only when voices of forgotten children fluttered through the air
I'd stand silent beneath the incandescent sky,
for just a moment,
breathing deep the silken salty breeze
and thrust my arms out to the sides
like the seagulls hovering over the loud, fathomless cavern of the sea,
Losing myself in the mist
Moonlit Snow
So swiftly snow cascaded wide and deep;
Now pristine blankets of white wonder gleam.
Only the moon observes while earth's asleep
With snowfall magic and its peaceful dream.
Sandra M. Haight
~3rd Place~
Contest: Best Short Acrostic Poems
Sponsor: Andrea Dietrich
Judged: 01/08/2016
======================
~1st Place~
Contest: Wind Snow or Rain Acrostrain
Sponsor: Jan Allison
Theme: Snow
Judged: 12/08/2015
Death shadows, furious, frenzied, fought
Waiting for this wretched soul to rot
They redeemed me, tortured me, ceasing not
Crows perch upon my severed breast
Picking at the insipid flesh
Vultures of glee coo and ratify my rest
Love pierces my heart that is dead
Maddening my severed head
Feeding ones engorged instead
Deprived and empty of soul within
My ribcage grows bare and thin
Eaten away by my own cruel kin
Skeleton bare and scorned
Fowl breasts of youth unadorned
Cascaded in grotesque glory, basked and ever-mourned
I fly! Hovering over my body too weak
As tears fall down my hungry beak
Let me fly north toward winter so bleak!
The tears freeze on my cold bones
In the dark snow that blackens, I grow old
As wind, birds and corpses forever moan
Homeward north I fly…I feed
I, the coal-beaked corpse still need
To roam…to rot…to unremittingly greed
I am shadow, vulture, corpse, woman—all in one
Feeding on my own meat, enriching everyone
Absent of my own skin, the pain has just begun
For Justin Bordner's Death Shadow contest
Your ebony hair curled and cascaded untamed,
some swirled in the stream of craving squall,
some laced the lilting lattice of lust
on your forehead of ivory canvas,
engraving the contours of the evanescent charisma.
I wondered if this was your last fleeting irmage
I would glimpse flicker in the wind to fade in oblivion,
if there was no tomorrow.
Your almond eyes deep as the azure sea waltzed
to the melodic waves of the fervent music,
the eyelids danced with the flutter of beguiled butterfly,
floating in the air of yearning on the charming wings,
weaving the wondrous fabric of trance.
I wondered if this was your last dormant dream,
I would deem drift away in the wind to wilderness,
if there was no tomorrow.
Your crimson cheeks soaked to shine
the patina of the blooming rose I adored,
spreading the seductive scent in the bemused breeze,
with the touch of my desire caressing your face,
rippling with rapturous hues of glowing glamour.
I wondered if this was your last portrait painted
in the twilight hour I would see glow,
if there was no tomorrow.
The buds of rose bloomed on your luscious lips,
swathed in the lilac luster of the sunburst dulcet dawn,
the attractive allure glinted with gorgeous glow
like the pearls of dew on the pristine petals of pink rose,
shining like a star in the sequined sky.
I wondered if this was your last lyrical smile,
I would sense in my memory as the stardust sonata,
if there was no tomorrow.
Against the magenta horizon the waves cascaded
as the eventide ascended and daylight faded.
No scene was as lovely as this lighthouse scene,
it brought me ease as it was beautifully serene.
This was a picture of pulchritude only God created.
A flashing beam strung through the ebon skyline,
and the heavens showered with stars of divine.
There were nocturnal sea creatures causing commotion,
roaming throughout the azure darkened ocean.
It was lovely and splendid, God’s perfect design.
Weathered rocks stacked up against the base
of this lighthouse I wanted to sketch and trace.
So I pulled out my book with my pencil in hand
wanted to reveal to the world so they’d understand-
this lighthouse was a place of comfort and grace.
No I’ve never seen lovely until this very night…
sitting here in silence gazing at this house of light.
Lighthouse Poetry Contest
Eve Roper
December 23, 2018
From the yonder hazy horizon, the hills painted blue
undulated down the emerald copious landscape
in rhapsodic rhythmic waves that cascaded still into my view.
Its curling contours carved for my hamlet a serene shape,
That once cradled my endearing home in quiet milieu
in the bounty of the beguiling nature that made me agape.
The fairy flotilla of cotton clouds I would see roam,
make the mesmeric celestial panorama framed high
upon the seamlessly curved canvas of the cerulean dome.
With the serenading winds whistling in the sapphire sky,
my childhood ebullience soared secretly to a great height,
followed the winding trails of the colorful kites I loved to fly.
A silvery stream glided with the sparkle of delight,
surging joy with the shimmering allure of liquid pearls,
flowed blissfully with the flamboyant façade forever so bright.
On its rippling waters swirling within the gentle whirl,
I sailed paper boats tinted with all the rainbow colors,
saw fascinated these glide away wobbling in the current’s curl.
These sailed to a distant fantasy land, where I didn’t know,
I imagined entranced by the charm of infantile dreams,
on these spectacular boats my mariner mind would someday go.
From obscurity all these boats and kites I can’t redeem,
for in the twilight zone with dust of time they’ve disappeared
beyond the horizon that is sinking now with the dusky gleam.
The fondest childhood memory hasn’t yet deserted me,
for crossing all the signposts in my walk of the last mile
in the glitter of the sunset hours the child in me I still see.
Dragon Anguish
Adam clenched his fists attempting to block his senses
from the growing growls that hammered against his rib cage.
The thousands of millenniums he had lived barricading his heart
from all worldly emotions.
Adam looked up at the daunting sky to flaunting dark clouds
creep overhead. He breathed in the sweetest aroma of petrichor.
Thunder grumbled breaking the silence in the coldness,
as strikes of white lightning flashed across the night sky.
He couldn't stop the desire to shift into a dragon and fly.
To feel the wind beneath him again, to stretch his wings
and weave between the clouds and roar.
Adrienne, his beloved was a mortal.
She was a lovely lithe blossom that he had vowed to protect.
Her smile would inspire leaves turn green
and flowers bloom and burst into color.
Her eyes were the color of the forest that would shimmer
like the night sky with a thousand stars.
She had a riot of long burnt umber hair
that cascaded down her slender back.
His memory's grip, craving her, again and again.
Kisses that engulfed and would open the doors of heaven.
Releasing a fiery passion within him engulfing his world.
When Adam had been gone hunting for food for several days.
Men from another clan came down from the hills
pillaged and burned the village, not a soul had been left alive.
He raised his head and gazed into the night,
never again would he unlock his soul.
Adam shifted and jumped as he spread his leathery wings
and flew in the cover of the night sky and the clap of thunder.
10/13/2018
Poetry Contest: Fiction - October 2018 Writing Challenge
Sponsored by: Dear Heart a.k.a. Broken Wings
Her silken hair fell over her stunning gown.
The gossamer veil cascaded down.
Her sadness she tried to hide.
Bright eyes opened wide.
She beguiled.
Bride.
Falsely smiled.
To tell him, she tried.
Her love was never implied.
Tiara jeweled as a queen’s crown.
Her silken hair fell over her stunning gown.