Best Cavernous Poems
Dear anxiety
Nemesis to my reality,
mental manipulator of tentative trust,
massacring my once sagacious soul -
you cut me into a slice of loneliness.
The fault is in our thoughts,
so I am haunted by the things you never said.
You remain silent to society's subjective eyes,
but a glimpse of a poet's soul shivers,
to these vivid verses held by ghosts -
echoing a repetitive chorus in a cathedral of screams.
I'm an uninvited guest in an audience with you,
so I drink poison in every line I write about you.
These words burn my vocal chords,
but I swallow them anyway,
as my paper heart pumps onyx drops
crying through my veins to heartache's recital
of an infected celestial mind yearning for a remedy.
But life is a cupid cruelty in dulcet disguise,
when your heart is a sinister seashell,
oblivious to potions of omen brewed in pigments of pixie-dust.
You're an unwelcome melody to my mystic,
composing an internal deadly demeanour.
I am the ink stuck in your cage,
dissolving like acid in your controlled carnage,
confined to trembling bleeding intuitions,
lost in corridors of horrific obscure mirrors,
whilst paranoia palpitates in a whirling haze of
magnetic ice warmth, melting my sanity,
amidst crumbling stars that lure cavernous comets
of silver grief to pirouette above frozen seas draped with
a fluorescent creme of skies.
As oceanic tides of topaz rise and fall,
flatlined into pewter streams of emptiness.
The moon coruscates in coral blue lies,
passing through intractable phases of trepidation,
abandoning light in black tourmaline nights -
pivoting into a psychedelic trance.
Rainbows fade before we can embrace
their colorful showers drizzling jade jewels
that rhyme with kaleidoscopic kismet,
as life through rose coloured lenses turns
into a provisional poetic manifestation.
If only I could escape this self-inflicted dungeon,
but you pursue like a perpetual predator.
I'll forever expose your oppression through my poems,
confessing how I never asked for this enforced affair.
I know I'm my own storm, I'm my own calm -
I just hope this is the last time I write about you.
Beyond the sun's celestial dominion,
past purple shimmers of twilight,
I delve far beyond moonlight's golden glow
into the darkness of pilloried memories,
continually searching for answers but fail to find
those that keep my heart fettered in chains.
Within my restless sleep reveries trespass,
flowing through saturnine channels of my mind,
flooding my heart until only sorrow remains
with pensive images I thought I'd left behind.
I'm blinded, not by the bloom of starlight,
but by bewildering moments in time.
Dismal are the murky shadows looming
in the corners of these cavernous hollows.
They hover over my drubbing heart,
whispering taunts in descending echoes.
I grow impatient to end their clamor.
High is the morning's rushing tide,
reaching its frothy fingers out for me.
I rest on grains of moist ochre sand,
winnowing far beyond the limits
of disconsolate bereavement.
It's here that Autumn's demise
wears a shroud of withered leaves.
I lie quietly, waiting to close my eyes,
my tormented heart lingering in grief
that has haunted me since long ago.
As the sun begins its ascent from the sea,
dawn disturbs my quest for eternal peace.
October 8, 2022
2022 Marathon Mile 16 Contest
Sponsored by Mark Toney
~~~~~~~~~
Originally posted on 10~20~2016
POTD 19 September 2017
Apprehensively I tramp with my lamp - through a path shrouded in gloom
Silvery shafts of light entwine and fight through foliage as they creep
Gnarled branches twist as I resist their sinister outstretched grabbing reach
With a hushed bated breath I move in stealth - to allow the restless spirits sleep
I have heard and have feared the ancient Mystical stories that are told
Of a fabled cave of age where these immortal spirits abide
A sacred and elated reverie this questing soul with them seeks
To allow ‘The Oracles’ now - to show where my elusive love hides
I have heard it expressed in a blessed rapturous appellation
This glowing love from above that eludes this restless yearning child
A bliss infused kiss that Celestial Beings have been heard to applaud
A connection of perfection that would make Heaven look down and smile
In my quest to find the nest of undying unconditional love
I search alone to find my throne in the mighty caverns of the sphere
May the spirits guide until I find my bride in barren breaths of cold
And now I see in this mystic cavity an apparition does appear
In a gentle voice I do rejoice and hold captive in their chambers
My son are you the one seeking lasting love in our golden grotto
I say yes and will you bless my jaded journey thus far I have made
We’re beings of infinity descending divinity as above so below
I fall to my knees as they say with ease - Feel the vibes of the stone
Before you embark look within your heart - Love explodes there and beyond
I shed a tear with a cavernous cheer and find where I have failed
My soul anew now I'm due for my love to be Spiritually spawned
Acknowledgement from Maria (Down Under) -
To my very dear friend and Poet Extraordinaire`-The illustrious (((Winged Warrior)), for producing this collaboration together with me. It is no surprise at the effortless speed of this production - virtually overnight (because of the time difference), and then another night with the sprucing up. It was good fun and we must do it again WW.
POTD 19 September 2017
Music by Yakuro – ‘Through The Galaxy’ - Published on Mar 22, 2016
Copyright – Maria Williams and Winged Warrior – September 2017
Jesus Savior...Pilot Me from walkinginsunlight.com
Across the blackest waters
ripples of pain,
swell into an anguish splashing
against the blackest shore,
and in the rustling of brittle leaves
from the shadows of tallest trees,
the darkness beckons me
to climb aboard, climb aboard,
an empty boat waiting
upon the blackest shore.
Through depths of night, I ride atop
the black of cavernous waves.
They seem to be a hollow echo
calling out my name
from the splashing of the oars
to the splashing of my pain
against the rocking boat
in the blackening of waves.
Across the water, I stir the black
and do not feel afraid,
but wonder if the water knows it holds
my every pain
my every shame
and every tear
cried out on my darkest days.
Then, from the other side, I hear the splash
of steady rain.
The purging from above seems to calm
my darkest pain.
I dip the oars deeper still
to head for waiting shores,
and from the water's floor,
bubbling, rising
more and more,
I hear the splashing,
splashing
of my own resounding laughter.
Then, a calm lightens my struggle
as the sunrise pales
my dark disasters,
and in the glare of morning
from bright sunbeams above,
I remember with a prayer,
I am loved.
I am loved
I am loved.
Written 6/4/20 for Kai Michael Neumann's
Splash Poetry Contest
It has stood for decades along the county gravel road.
Skittering mice and barn owls now call it their abode.
What was once a stately building is now a shambles,
Surrounded by barren fields and prickly brambles.
Where once its weather-boarding was a bright cherry-red,
Due to the ravages of time, they're now a silvered-gray instead.
Yet can be seen a faded Mail Pouch Tobacco sign on its weathered side,
And a rusty weather-vane twisting in the wind, though a bit cockeyed!
Seasons of howling gales have striven to raze its sturdy oaken beams,
But they've held the old barn together though straining at its seams.
Its cavernous lofts once abounded with fragrant alfalfa hay,
That provided children a playground on many a rainy day.
It sheltered horses, sheep and cattle on frigid winter nights,
And for lack of electricity, it was lit by flickering lantern lights.
It was built when neighbors helped neighbors who were skilled,
At wielding hammer and saw and cherished great pride in their guild.
(The old barn of which I speak still stands on Indiana's Farmers' Pike,
Where I spent many happy times as an unassuming Hoosier tyke!)
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
Was Selected as Poem Of The Day by Soup 26 July 2016
POTD 6 Mar 2020
Oh, where are those waves
of bygone days
that caressed and rocked
on hearing you cry?
‘Sleep little ship’ I'd murmur low
while ocean crooned her soft lullaby
Turbulent change wrought by tempestuous winds
Fresh cravings to taste the salted breeze
In foam and spray twixt the now lashing waves
Illusions waft to tempt and tease
Resounding thunder heralds a storm
Streaks of lightning split the skies
Your torch burning bright to take the helm
for selfish reasons my love denies
Indecisions vacillate crucial visions
cavernous chasms far withdrawn
The deeper I think the lower I sink
The wind howls forth a cry forlorn
No delusion with love ~ high the price
In this icy realm my resistance will take
a solicitous change of a Mother’s heart
Look not the shattered glass in your wake
The impulses of the over protective mother and keeping her child sheltered in a bubble away from the real world is just not feasible anymore. The ‘Breaking Point’ is, when she must weigh up her own feelings - either relinquishing her relationship with her offspring by forcing it to stay, or breaking her heart if she lets it go.
Ultimately, as in the ‘Story of Life’…. Love conquers all.
~Happy International Women's Day to those celebrating on Sunday 8th ~
POTD 6 Mar 2020
Hell belches out more black-hearted ballads
than the accord of heaven that releases
only the innocent and wafting
lofty dreamings of a population
unversed in the ways of emotion.
They simper and insipidly bow and release
delicate praises to the air as perfume... oh joyful
white roses. Sweetly sing with your monotonous harpischords.
Not we.
We are the fire in the blackest midnight...
the mud that births monsoons of a terrible beauty.
We tremble lest our own fire overtake us, we are the torrents
that pain your face with every gleefull beat.
We are the dreamers of dreams.
We are lovers, burning holes in sheets of purity and
invincible morality... we scream and shiver to our toes...
oh haunting electricity.
We are intense anger... the fury of emperors untold...
we shatter our enemies into the oblivion they beg for mercy
fists bulging, contorted eyes stinging from the battle.
We are howls of bitter triumph, the sweet partakers of the
lost cause. We are brazen to the thought.
We are the aroma of sadness that arises from the blackest pit,
we are the oppression that snuffs out the candle.
We praise from the very depths of our cavernous abyss
our own masochistic knowledge... the fiery knowledge that burns us
as we consume ourselves.
Inside this Gothic womb, now but only a cold cavernous hollow
the votive flames steal away in puffs of smoke
as I kneel, atom-like, lost in loneliness.
Alabaster angels hungrily swallow empty space till they break -
bleeding prayers seeking life’s meaning
darkly staining the stained glass windows with nothingness.
Susan Ashley
February 18, 2019
~ First Place ~
Contest: April 2019 Premier 11 (Max Eight Lines)
Sponsor: Brian Strand
~ Tenth Place ~
Premiere Contest: Reflect That Emotion Premier
Sponsor: Nina Parmenter
DESERVE
Deserve- that in which we use to critique our life's ways
a way to hold back our existence
to project a negative
and cease the positive intake
Deserve - the breath we don't take
as life is critical and cruel
A risk we avoid
A praise we reject
A life unlived by definition of the term
Deserve - the animosity within that deprives us of beauty
a vast cavernous region of self loathing
unfathomable entities that we must surpass to succeed
striving for more - better
Deserve - enraptures a lustful desire to withdraw and hide
shades of veils, impenetrable walls of denial
vulnerabilities and nakedness
the exposure of truth - internalised
we hide - we die
Deserve - you deserve all that you have
you deserve the power from recognition
and you deserve forgiveness
forgiveness of self, of others; which cannot be attained
but self as best it can
Deserve - Deserve - Deserve
Angered by such a dismissal I am
so wondrous in 'sup-prose'
you ...
your inner musings,
your lexical landscape
your shy confidence
self depreciating
You DESERVE more
Deserve - embrace, reclaim, rejoice
recognise the wealth my versifying friend
the promise in the scroll of a pen
the battle within let it bleed across the page
and cleanse with deliberate introspection
stand tall...
for my friend - you DESERVE it all
Darkness descends,
And the destination lies far behind
God! Let the fire that burns in you eternal ,
Which is the only true fire,
Light up my eyes to perceive the right from the wrong,
The genuine from the sham.
I ask Thee, blaze my spirit with your fire
So that I get the prudence to escape the snares
Laid by wolves in lambs' clothing.
I ask Thee, the courage to dissent,
When forced to act out against my will.
The glitter of gold or the sceptre of power
Let them not dissuade me from my resolve.
I ask Thee, to grant me the fire,
So that I get the power to resist,
Justice denied, rights violated,
The weak exploited, the poor smothered,
The innocent accused and the guilty acquitted.
I await the true fire to ignite my whole being,
As the darkness of gloom envelops my spirit
Where fear like worms eat into my core.
I await the eternal fire to break into me,
To see myself bare and naked!
My cavernous interiors hide designs - malign.
How I put on appearances to suit my designs!
As I burn in the fires of worldly passions
Oh Lord, send the flames of your fire,
And with their tongues, swallow the darkness within.
March.6.2023
~ Placed Fifth
What Fire is Eternal Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Joe Maverick
WTF burning bright with pondering ink.
Graceful swans or blackbirds skedaddling
across the vast and empty space. The think
kerplunking into cavernous link.
The quill flying…descriptives diving
onto the writer’s canvas…surviving.
WTF, loud and clear, dear John…
the calligraphic rend of relationship…
The salutation is a haunting paragon.
Parisian-perfumed paper is withdrawn.
The ebony of the crow’s feather, fitting.
His abdominals are eternally splitting.
WTF, wet with mascara tears. Joy
at the indoctrination of its mirth,
bearing personalities of a girl and boy.
To induce was another cousin’s ploy -
joining in on the birth experience fun,
flexing his muscles, nearly triplets spun.
WTF, wading in pools of grace, prayerful rest
of folded hands - serenity glides over vellum.
The ink, so gentle, melodic, transfigured, blessed.
Saint’s swan lyrics - God’s glory expressed.
Whisper of angels, feathers like baby’s-breath.
Resurrected quill in pall of Christ’s death.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That Which Held Me In A Magical Spell
That which held me in a magical spell
Dark, its winding infinity and heart
Its red beach, covered in sad broken shells
Shreds of humanity once torn apart.
Within hard gaping gasps and stormy sea
Beauty once trampled in mad haste and greed
Else sadden look at folly within me
Why on our own swords we oft fall and bleed!
Deep thoughts and those silent murmurs in life
Echoes of cavernous pains, woe'some woes
Memories dredged up by dire worldly strife
So well hidden that no fear ever shows.
Mortal wondering, malevolent things
Deep sorrows and aches they come and they go
Weak flesh blundering(s), as a dark star sings
Each a dead corpse as lost and blind we row!
That which set me in a revolving maze
Phantasms of meanderings through deep hell
Gasping fears brought on by insipid craze
To search those nightmares we should never tell.
LO! Dare we unsavory black explore
Dawn armor to such inner sanctums raid
Seek long sought answers while we ask no more
Than devil's touch and the cut of his blades?
Robert J. Lindley, 6-28-2020
Rhyme Dark, A bold look inward..
( On the inner ponderings of the human soul
and life's many paths taken )
Where Man Walks Blindly And Heart Begs Relief
In the gnashing of teeth rests
a curse hurled at infinity
with its smug cannons of false piety
and impudent airs of erosion.
Where that mystical Chalice of Hope
walks upon its three broken legs
seven poison arrows await delivery
unto Dawn's wide and gaping jaws.
As solemn cries quake the dying tree
untouched fruit, begs the ants
see our value, our sorrows
and tear into us, divinely.
From within hurt's final locket
golden relief asks no more
midnight flights of fancy
or delicious dregs of sad sorrows.
From seas of swarming inequities
fly certainty of rectitude
pipes of anxiety
chasms of cavernous solitude
and spasms of deepest regrets.
Where hides oceans of serenity
touch of soft velvety clouds
fertile soils of sweet charity
warmth of dawn's gasping lights
its new greeting hands?
Robert J. Lindley, 5-04-2019
Free verse, ( Thoughts My Muse Once Forbade Me To Ink )
Note: From this following old poem fragment that I recently found
on the back of one of my longer poems, I sat down and decided to write a free verse creation from that ancient time in my life and my memory of my thoughts back then
("As I walk short plank over hollow seas
Begging my feet to race ever faster
Or else jump as if all falling was free
And no more was Fate my truest master!"
RJL,1973 )
Space that one I need to fill
Now empty but like a bitter pill
It’s hard to swallow it’s hard to accept
The space left when from my heart you crept
You crept away slowly through the years
You left me with the unshed tears
A cavernous space your legacy
That’s what you left when you left me.
But hold the press the story’s not told
Another is now in my arms to hold
The space is filled once more it seems
The space you left when you stole my dreams.
There is no space just room for two
I know you didn’t mean to be untrue
But life is harsh and it sometimes seems
That space is there to make new dreams.
© 25/02/2013
Contest Entry
Work of fiction
Take initiative go to the light where the force of darkness ends
A flame needs its kindled source as a sparking awareness mends
Our enlightened energy wrapped in an array of cavernous colors
Ribboned radiant impressions given in vast deepest depths squalors
A shadow self may live dormant and await unveiling the chaos within
When it has become an unbearable journey to live in your own skin
Opaque indigo stones skim over shallow waters in an empty well
Stratas rock labyrinths chiseled lies of neglect in a nautilus shell
Warm sorrel ribbon evokes sympathy in a disparaged tale of woe
A sorbet of violet, green, and tangerine conjure a melodious flow
What is truly a wellspring of a healing rainbow palette renders
We find the key to unlocking magic embers in dormant chambers
Dank darkness may lead us astray from individuality and truth
Take initiative, find the light of all brightest light reaching for you