Best Clank Poems
The Clanking Chain of Wild Geese
I was watching the September sky every day,
With a hope to once again get a glance,
Of the clanking chains of those lovely wild geese,
That suddenly appears with their music melodies,
But quietly they disappear every year,
Like a Rainbow that comes and gets lost gradually.
No one knows when like a rainbow,
The wild geese would appear suddenly,
While changing their forms like clouds in the sky,
Mesmerizing our eyes for few seconds or more, and then,
Disappearing in the sky, like the dim vanishing evening.
The wild geese often appear in the sky,
Forming a shape like the garland of God,
And quickly changing shapes, like our emotions,
While moving in the sky like an arrow,
They sing the joyous songs of today, not tomorrow.
Forgetting the past and the future like an arrow,
Which keeps running, until it reaches its marrow,
The destination to pierce a heart,
They create either a joy or sorrow,
While singing a song of today, not tomorrow.
Oh, September sky I watch,wonder with ,
And hope to see them once again,
My childhood friends wild Geese,
Coming from north and vanishing in south,
Like my thoughts which arise and fall.
But this year, I did not see the winged necklaces of God,
Neither could I see a rainbow being formed,
Nor even hear their chorus like songs,
No clanking of wings, No music of their joys,
No rise and fall of images like thoughts,
No sounds and music touching my heart.
One day, I was stunned to hear,
The species of goose are in great danger,
Man has stolen many of even God’s necklaces,
The rainbow of birds and the grandeur of sky,
A great heritage of Nature is vanishing before our eyes.
Oh, my sweet friend,
Will I ever be able to see and hear you again?
When you would clank your wings, in the windless sky,
Creating a dance and music, on such lofty heights,
Where no musician can ever fly,
With a hope till I am here on this earth my friend,
I would keep waiting and watching
For you O wild Geese in the September sky.
Ravindra
Kanpur India. 1st Oct. 2010
Dedicated to my loving wife Dr. Shashi Kapoor, as a birthday gift for her
Birthday on 2nd Oct. who loves animals and birds more than any thing
Else.
Categories:
clank, imagination, music, naturemusic, hope,
Form:
Free verse
Here I rest, a rusting hulk
Alone, aloof, within my bulk
The hiss of steam within my veins
The pistons pulling at the reins
Mere memories now of a loyal life
Now round my rivets rust is rife
No clank of coal, no whistle shout
No churning wheels, no water spout
Now rust flakes fast to line my grave
Where only leaves and litter pave
This epitaph to a faithful slave
And don't deny I served you well
Yet now condemned within my cell
Of rusted rails that bind me fast
Those guiding hands of days long past
When smells of grease and hissing steam
Echoed gleams and children's screams
As stones and steel rushed past my head
Now tears of rain make up this bed
A burial cloak for a servant laid
To rest and rust in romance dead
Categories:
clank, nostalgia,
Form:
Elegy
Cry Mama! Cry!
Let your tears clense this barren land.
Let them wash the depravity envaded
Taste the honey and see the blood full of sorrow.
Painting there, a masterpiece of an apocalypse
'Clink, clank' went the sound and the orchestra pitch
was the screaming of their slaughtered daughters.
A symphony orchestrated by greed
They, all the spectators, listen to their amusement
Like a carousel, there was no ending to this music
Love was a scar bore by many soldiers
as a tale of their foolish days
A journey imposed by the old world
Please Mama, your tears are needed
Cry, clear away the segmented pathways and free your children
Let your river flow,
Cry for us salvation
Raise up your faces please and see this beauty,
the hope of hoping,
the faith of healing,
A new paradise luscious in its virtue
And now,
Now mama,
the only symphony is the chorus of the hummingbirds,
the pitch of the gurgling streams,
Amen
Tears of hope, a new beginning, the tender shoots of possibility.
Now i see morning from noon, clear skies once more
and to this I greet you with many tender kisses...
Good morning
Categories:
clank, change, humanity, imagery,
Form:
Free verse
Softly uttered, beneath cold biting mist,
footfalls muffled through stifling drifts, empty sidwalks embrace noone,
Frost heavily pluming, clinging on each sigh
In night's brazen stillness, beneath eerie lamp glow waning,
When dawn's long in coming, and all sleep like the dead,
Ah, then lets take a walk shall we , you and i?
Strolling as one, hand in hand, through icy winds
Past the churchyard gates, snow laden and chained,
Beyond empty glances of headstone cherubs,
Far off in darkness, solemn bells toll with straining conviction,
as winds moan wistfully, the tolling pierces the heart,
And I wonder in passing, how many more walks have we,
Beneath the silent moon overhead, white as bones in a shroud,
Shall the secnt of cinnamon haunt me into my dreams, yes i am certain,
For your eyes resemble heavens gates, amd my soul longs for redemption,
An angel draped in my tattered, time-worn jacket, littered with marks of life's ventures,
And yet you bear no wings to fly, but still you comfort me as morning draws nigh,
Crosstown bungalow, windows shuttered, still as my breath
As you I guide you once more up treacherous steps,
Our hands we let fall, a yearning stare betrays me,
"Tomorrow night again? Or when shall it be??",
Only a nod and a smile left imprinted to my heart,
"Hang on to the jacket. I'll pick it up in the morning."
Your smile never falters, unweathered by the wind,
And I turn to leave this night and you,
Leave this world behind for the rising sun,
An arm reached out, gripped with sorrow and infinity,
Pulled back into your everlasting embrace,
A kiss so deep, I feel I'm drowning,
God, let me drown...let me...drown....
You're gone.
Empty streets the morning finds,
save for me and my memories, trapped between time,
Stray dog struts past, hunting eagerly some alleyway breakfast,
But my business waits at the churchyard, still silent, still chained,
I climb over and drop, the gates clank in protest,
Between the rows of headstones, I walk in solemn sprit,
Thirteen rows now, then fifiteen, I know the way well,
And upon the eighteenth row, I find without mistake,
And draped across the frozen ground.....
My tattered, time-worn jacket.
Categories:
clank, bereavement, good night, relationship,
Form:
Sounds of summer invite my good cheer
Chirp, chirp, chirping of the gentle sparrow,
Even the roar of the machines mowing near
The clank of tractors making furrows narrow.
Gentle breezes swishing through sycamore trees
Chatter of red squirrels playing in the breeze.
I hear the mockingbird’s trill in the hedge row
As I stroll through the meadow’s golden hue,
The click of the crickets, a dog’s bark although
My little Jose is gone, making me feel blue.
A cloud overhead drips droplets of warm rain
And I, once again, am in my favorite domain.
A crunch of old leaves beneath my shod feet
On the path to the brook, the babble is inviting,
Sounds of summer make this perfect day complete
Even sizzling sunshine overhead, never slighting!
I am especially happy when my senses are delighted
Frankly, a stroll through the meadow makes me excited.
Written July 1, 2022
for “Onomatopoeia” Poetry Contest
sponsored by Emile Pinet
Categories:
clank, sound, summer,
Form:
Rhyme
It came with a flash upon my back
Caught off guard, suspenders hanging
Madly rushing to find a place so safe
From around the bend with a honk
“Hey watch your steps” was a shout
Horn blowing while in passing
One disgruntled taxi driver glaring
Newspaper umbrella in ruins
Noisy rumbling above from a subway
Heading down the track, clank, clank, clank
Brown dog barking, woof, woof, looking back
Shelter at last, finally found a spot
The rain came down with a heavy shout
Caught shirtless and without shoes
Now sipping coffee listening the blues
Feeling brand new tasting some stew
Categories:
clank, adventure, funny, imagination, life,
Form:
Free verse
I tried to reach out, blink in silence and say my words, but there is a lost syllable and a forgiven diction. I buried my art, my passion.
I tried to tear my skin apart, carve in silence and swim in the blood, but there is a broken knife and a tired hand. I buried my sorrow, my passion.
i tried to hold your hand, glimpse in your heart and kiss it close, but there is a fragile door and the locks made of dead petals. i buried my love, my passion.
"I went back to the grave, holding your favourite lilies. I dig slowly beside you and reach the metal clank. I loved you passionately and obsessively.
The box handle creaks and opens, a canvas with dried blood stains, a half fractured knife and the unsent letters.
a lady walks up to me, handcuffs me back and requests that i slowly move away from the evidence and let go".
I buried your body, my passion.
Categories:
clank, abuse, addiction, anger, angst,
Form:
Narrative
TO PRESERVE YOUR HEALTH
YOU MUST RESERVE YOUR DATE AND TIME
TO ENTER THE EMPIRE OF DEATH
“Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la mort!"
Sign in Paris Catacombs
SKELETON OF PARIS
i dared each dank step
into the catacombs of Paris
thank the Lord
each step was not
creaking bone
i’d descend, of course
my choice, my feet
move into the nether
the deep dark secret tomb
a heavy door
surreality adorned
below the stinking streets
the foul history
of death
dredged up
from six feet deep
dusted and cleansed
the mandibles,
joints, heartless
bones
the boneyard quarry
accentuated death
having a new spin
on “putting our heads together,”
a collaboration of dust
the bleak hallway, I dare
not touch, i cross myself
ashes to ashes, dust to dust
attempting to stay in the center
of the narrow way
O the clink and clank
the synergy
that will fuse these bodies together
at the end of time
who will be the first to awaken?
will he or she faint away
as they discover
their dissected bones?
The artful remains of Robespierre, Lavoisier,
Danton - the dearly beheaded come to life,
guests of downtown…way downtown Paris.
Upwards of seven million squeezed together.
The leap of disease…the health crisis relieved.
1/13/2022
Categories:
clank, death, paris,
Form:
Free verse
I’ve been told
“things work out for the best”
in that way each of us
Divinely blessed
God in control they say –
if only Time didn’t hurt…
I believe in life hereafter
I believe no wrong God
can’t have undone; someday
somehow our dear Lord to make
all losses won --
God in control they say --
if only Time didn’t hurt…
God in control they say
though ticking I find unbearable
swinging pendulum a clank and
clunk~ when a heart sunk
too deep one’s despair...yet I
am told, God is always
fair – always there – somewhere
taking loving care
God in control they say --
if only Time didn’t hurt...
No theologian am I
just a common soul, treading, adrift;
questioning if sane to trust in fate --
dialogues with God sounding always
one sided debate --
I believe in love
while more questioning
my faith
God in control they say
your silence pushing me
further astray --
if only Time didn’t hurt...
If only Time didn’t hurt…
If only Time didn’t hurt….
Categories:
clank, confusion, divorce, forgiveness, heartbroken,
Form:
Free verse
from: "The Calyx of the Oboe Breaks", by Conrad Aiken:
"The calyx of the oboe breaks,
silver and soft the flower it makes;
and next, beyond, the flute notes seen,
now are white and now are green."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The ides of March have gone and come.
Still, strains of vernal music sound
clear echoes, in my ears, of early times,
of other years: an orchestral swell
of oboe, flute, and violin.
The feel of warming wind,
the scents of orange blossom,
daisy, buttercup, and clover
I once enjoyed --
are those days over?
My recent times are flavored
with metallic clank, with oily odor --
my eyes fatigued by newsprint
and small-screen glare.
And music: the blare
of claxon-horn and siren-wail
and, sometimes, noise which
issues from a box borne on shoulders
through the street; an empty, but compelling,
quite insistent, loudly pulsing beat.
I welcome all new, although slight, intrusions.
Pale sensory perceptions bring back images,
now faint, once acute, of places, times,
and pleasures past. Faded sights and faces
and shadowy, unquantifiable pursuits
evoke a time when love, like freedom,
didn't cost a dime.
Categories:
clank, angst, depression, introspection, life,
Form:
Free verse
Clink clank clink clank clink clank
slow steady pace, metal hitting pavement
pausing when you pause
following you home, the man is bones
and a tie, top hat, tails, not tap shoes
more like chains, the sound a horseshoe makes
when it hits the stake, clink clank
what does he want, why follow you home?
His teeth gleam of green fire, his hands haloed
by electric blue, he's a Halloween special
turned out just for you, clink clank
he wants to touch you, better run
His eyes are on fire, he's spewing smoke
from his nostrils, there's no place to hide
clink clank is faster clank clank clank
has your breath caught in chest yet?
When he touches you, you'll melt, one touch
you're on fire, one scream from your mouth
brings no one out to save you from his wrath
clink clink better speed clink clink nearer ever nearer
Is it candy that fuels him? Toss a Mars Bar or two,
toss the whole pillow sack, watch it burst in flame
there's a door if you can reach it, just up the hill
huff puff clink clank, there's a door with a wreath
Flowers black as coal, it opens a bit, precious light
spews forth, saying welcome your welcome
if only you can outrun him, outrun the bone man
the man with top hat clink clank clink clink after you
The door widens, your belly hurts,
beneath your mask you drip sweat,
and just as you reach it, hiss, pain, flame on your back
and from the door, bone man exits clink clank
Two bone men, will take you to the fire
two bone men, don't want your scary mask,
the candy you can keep, your tears mustn't weep
just pass over the pumpkin, they'll be gone from sight.
Clink Clank, phew, bone men, toting pumpkin,
lit from within, their hands holding it, opposite twins
clink clank, they are going, going kabooom
straight into the air, and off to far off moon, phew.
Categories:
clank, fantasy, holiday, seasons, spacehalloween,
Form:
Free verse
yank yank
clank clank
© Apr 05 2010
Categories:
clank, funny
Form:
Free verse
It started with a drink I drank till drunk
when I started to wonder if I'd blink till blunk.
As I opened my eyes in a stink I stunk
and I started to think and thank till thunk.
Life beginning to sink, it sank till sunk.
I was feeling the fink; a fank with funk.
With my money going clink and clank till clunk,
I was poor to a plink of a plank gone plunk.
When I thought of a link I had linked till lunk,
come as fast as a mink of a mink gone munk.
And I started to write in an ink gone unk,
just to write down a story in the pink gone punk.
Then I started to slink and slank till slunk,
all from writing a story of kink and kunk.
Just afraid of an ending that I'd flink and flunk
as if out on the rink to rank my runk.
All to make me a trink of a trank to trunk.
I was rich in a prink of a prank gone prunk.
Categories:
clank, creation, children, kids, fun,
Form:
Monorhyme
CHAINS
1940s
“Joe’s”
“Good food”
The sign says
Hole in the wall
All you can call it
Joe and Ethyl – owners
Honest as the day is long
Just plain folks and nothing fancy
Never make the show on Iron Chef
Just looking back this modern day and age
NOW
Chains
Yes chains!
Big city
Bit city chains
And modern people
Honest folk all in chains
The chains have run all Joes out
We all clank like Jacob Marley
While the rich eat at the country club
And not at chains – Joes are gone forever
Categories:
clank, business, history, lifeday,
Form:
Etheree
Silence, darkness.
Not a light in the furthest
Reaches that my eyes can test,
And yet,
There’s a shimmer, a glimmer,
A hint, a rumour,
Of hope yet to come.
A tremble in the earth.
Trembling expectantly, eagerly.
And as that shimmer, ever brightly,
Increases, the tremor afoot, charging
Almost an earthquake,
I finally see it!
That light
That ever-so-spoken of light.
A glimmer, a shimmer…no more
But now, a beacon
A herald as it beckons
Drawing my tired limbs to the horizon
Hope, potential
Unstopped, raw, expectant.
Stuck to the shaking ground,
Ignorant of the sound,
A clank, a roar, a whistle.
A rush of air, oncoming,
Right for me; crushing me
Too enticed, engrossed, absorbed,
To get off the tracks,
Of the oncoming train.
Categories:
clank, earth day, faith,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue