Best Containing Poems
Black
The shade of void;
containing
universes within universes.
Black is the onyx eye of God;
the obsidian mirror of prognostication
the future’s revelations.
Black is the beauty that highlights color;
pigmentation swimming in the void;
abstract muses, dreaming dreams;
birthing visions.
Black is the liquid zen;
where I become one with the source.
Categories:
containing, appreciation, art, color, dream,
Form:
Free verse
You come to me through breathing nuances of your soul
Pinpricks of laughter, tears, and excitement
Memories buried deep within
Trickles of blood
Moments of loss
My body warms
My heart expands
I am a conduit
To receive the gifts you bring
Dancing cells before my eyes
Seducing me with their movement
Our beings so blessed with
Magic and purpose
We function, often without thought
To the complexity of the mechanisms within
That pump our hearts
Containing light years of wisdom
How precious life is
How fortunate we are
To feel bliss, love, anger, and loss
We are capable of gazing into each other’s eyes
With compassion and acceptance
Able to feel the touch
Of another’s lips on ours
Miracles happen before our eyes
We can grab a tendril, a tailfeather,
A mane, or a hand
And surf the wave to gratitude
Anticipation ignites within my soul
Understanding the delicate balance of nature
Encompassing man, woman, child, and animals
Brings welcome sweet tears to my eyes
To receive the offerings of compassion, kindness, and humility
And sharing them with others brings joy
I am one
We are one together
All of us making our way
Through darkness and light
Fluttering monarch butterflies fill the air
As we gather and rise upwards
Riding the wings of the ancient bird tribes
Unspoken words fill the gauzy lavender sky
A pod of whales below guides us
Gentle giants leading us towards
Promise and new horizons
Ushered by the heartbeats of wonder within
Categories:
containing, appreciation, butterfly, community, dream,
Form:
Free verse
The big headlines cause sensation,
Media’s chosen information.
Manipulative, they entomb
the big elephant in the room.
Stress is put on the suggestive
keeping tongue and the mind active.
They sweep aside with furtive broom
the big elephant in the room.
Gain is high on the agenda
grabbing votes in referenda.
They hide, on purpose, I presume
the big elephant in the room.
Many topics are selective;
they are made to look attractive.
Who dares to tickle with a plume
the big elephant in the room?
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A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains, each containing a repeating line at the end of each stanza. Each line within the poem consists of eight syllables. There is no limit to the amount of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the accepted minimum. Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB, dbdB.
This form is a pleasure to use because of its rhyming scheme and the strong pivotal line on which the whole poem rotates.
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Premiere Contest No. 13
Sponsor: Skat A (2016)
Contest: Poetry Writing #1
Sponsor: Broken Wings
Placed 1st
15th December 2015
Categories:
containing, silence,
Form:
Kyrielle
a carpenter chisels creativity ~ his son saves souls
[First of May: Here in Malta, apart from celebrating Labour Day,
we also celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.]
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A Work Perspective Monoku Contest
containing alliteration.
Sponsored by Beata Agustin
© 5th May 2022
Categories:
containing, work,
Form:
Monoku
God gave a promise to us,
that our children would be more than the stars in the sky
He would give us life abundantly;
multiplying and expanding without end,
vast and innumerable will God's family be
Children of eternity
Be we have not all been faithful
to believe this holy vow of promise
Selfish desires possesses the wayward souls,
careless pleasures are all some seek ...
bodies addicted to sexual stimulations
Unwanted seeds conceived in beds of lust
are taken to the high priestess Noitroba,
and placed on the sterile altar in her temple of death
Drink the chemical poison,
wither the life within
Twice dead ...
make the dying womb barren again
Life was given unto them,
but they, selfishly, refuse to give life to someone else
Pleasure seekers, sex slaves
Chained to carnal desires
They love to indulge in acts of procreation,
but they hate to taste of the fruit it produce
They spit out the seeds
Where are their children,
where are their children's children?
They possess no Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
a dry tree is their DNA spiritual makeup
So many empty vessels containing no seeds of life
The children of eternity will still sprout into existence,
though some have tried to turn God's fertile truth into a barren lie
God gave a promise to us,
that our children will outnumber all of the stars in the sky
Categories:
containing, children, death, life, spiritual,
Form:
Free verse
One day I delivered a poem
one that seemed to be premature
so I swaddled her up
and set her aside
to grow 'til I felt reassured
How she yowled and howled for attention...
how she cried so piteously!
How she coughed and she sneezed
whimpered and wheezed
then threw up all over me!
Still I tenderly tended her bedside
and lovingly nursed her along
determined to sacrifice everything
to raise her up healthy and strong
As she grew and recovered, she wandered
and crawled over everything
and I found I had trouble containing
my rambling, unruly offspring
She became an inexcusable bounder
a wayward and bratty ingrate
who despite all my love and affection
refused to make sense or read straight
She dallied in questionable places
she idled and shiftlessly shirked
lazily lagging, ignoring my nagging
while I selflessly, endlessly worked
Firmly applied discipline to her
and structure, and meter, and rhyme
but she bucked, and rebelled, and bit me
and stayed up beyond her bedtime
We wrestled, and wrangled, and brawled,
bickered in bitter altercation
if I didn't do something quite soon
she would ruin my good reputation
At length, I decided I'd had it
we had reached the end of the road
and although she clung like a wet paper towel-
I flung her and flushed the commode!
Categories:
containing, humor, humorous, silly, word
Form:
Rhyme
Of the items in the store,
All were second hand
An old computer did I buy,
With a broken stand
One side was badly scratched
Two knobs were missing too
But that’s not the story
I’m about to tell to you
T’was about the second week
Of the ‘puter at my place
Sitting there against the wall
Near the old staircase
I recall the night was late
As I readied me for bed
When I turned the ‘puter off,
The screen … it turned blood-red
The appearance caused a start
I gasped a gulp of air
I couldn’t turn my gaze away
I stood right there and stared.
Then a low murmuring
From deep within the set
Cold chills ran over me
I’ve not forgotten yet
A voice, low and menacing
Containing graveled rasps
I could not then stop again
My involuntary gasp
I stood there mesmerized
My gaze remained transfixed
Emotions racing through me
And all of them were mixed
The Voice on the other side
Of the blood-red display screen
Issued a command to me
So ominous and mean:
“Place your hand upon the screen
And repeat these words to me:
Where you are right now,
Is where I need to be.”
I felt my arm move upward
Powerless to resist
I felt a burning in my palm
As the display screen it kissed
I heard a voice and realized
The speaker it was me:
“Where you are right now,
Is where I need to be.”
As the words transmitted,
Involuntarily,
I could feel a change come on …
Overwhelming me.
As I stared in disbelief
My hand – it disappeared
Absorbed into the blood-red screen
As the burning onward seared …
Through my wrist, up my arm
It’s hotness I could feel
Inward was I screaming
Not believing this was real!
In reflection from the screen
I was being pulled into
I saw a face, and then I screamed:
“That horrid face is YOU!”
The rapid assimilation
Continued then until
All feelings were extinguished
And all was calm and still.
A trillion beings there transformed
To tiny bytes and bits
And ‘tis every part of us
All websites now transmits
Now here I am deep inside
This computers’ display screen
If there’s disturbance felt
Oh so sharp and keen
Just place your hand upon the screen
And read these words to me:
“Where you are right now,
Is where I need to be.”
Categories:
containing, computer, conflict, dark, fantasy,
Form:
Rhyme
Ashes and Thirst
Evil comes in all shapes, and all sizes.
We have all heard this many times... before.
But how truly large, or small can it be?
I want to ask this question you see.
I want to know the answer,
and I want to know why.
The water in the tap is no longer clean.
There are only 49 days left.
Las Vegas, New Mexico... is on the clock.
The whole city, will die.
Why?
Ashes from trees and flowers,
ashes from cars and trucks,
houses and furniture,
personal items
... and dust.
No rust!
It floats up in the air,
without a care,
coming down here and there...
as it pleases.
The ash, making the land
dark, and unusable
with poisons yet
un found, going by unnoticed.
They are the bounty of tomorrow,
containing all the sorrow,
from one bad instance to the next.
Then, the floods come from all directions.
They are part of the whole.
The water... now blending with the sewage,
and sludge, again... undrinkable by man or beast.
This story will repeat itself,
until the cycle is broken,
or the Lord returns.
How is your water supply?
Categories:
containing, abortion, america, anxiety, funeral,
Form:
Free verse
Heres comes the nervous breakdown,
quick depression into slow anxiety.
Heres comes the nervous breakdown,
swallowing pity of yourself.
Heres comes the nervous breakdown,
cold heat shaking your bones.
Heres comes the nervous breakdown,
aching brain, twitching veins.
It's the nervous breakdown
with explosive results.
Why the nervous breakdown?
Because too much knowledge provokes me.
Bring the nervous breakdown,
sadistic, painful enticing.
Stop the nervous breakdown,
I cant find my purity.
Hopeless enemies
of ones self slipping
into my mind of cleanliness,
polluting my being, turning
it into an everlasting jungle of mazes
containing horrible truth of
my family, my friends, my country.
I want it back.
I want it back.
I want it back.
My original self,
my starting line,
my old life.
Why has the essence of family tainted
what is theirs to enhance?
My head hurts,
it bubbles with the
honest to god reality
that is my creation.
Still the nervous breakdown,
here only minutes but already
it is acquainted with me.
Now I shall begin life anew
into an anxious depressed, shiny and new.
Old self being.
But if I'm finally used to my new attachment
then
why
does
my
head still hurt?
Categories:
containing, angst, confusion, sad, self,
Form:
This poem may get into trouble,
The world wants identity double.
Attempting to culture commonality,
The world champions individuality.
Theft of language has become all too common,
Yesterday’s use today identifies one a strawman.
Definitions change, words take on other meaning,
Often toward groups one way leaning.
At our language different groups continually hack.
In the case of *****, African American, now Black.
Or European, White, then Caucasian,
Korean American, Indian, rather than Asian.
Why is it that unmentionable words,
You know them, our dialect’s turds.
The use of people demeaned still proliferates,
While outsiders use carry’s different weights?
Color, religion, disability, sex, and age,
All lines in the sand drawn to disparage.
We should agree that race be set aside,
Bound together in one Human pride?
Our world needs new words and labels,
Not old words containing past fables.
Words that create, unite, and rejoin,
Not words that change on the flip of a coin.
Straight should mean unbent?
Snowflake should be heaven sent.
Gay should be a happy feeling.
Black’s big “B” should begin peeling.
I applaud the generation of Ze.
The neutral meaning of he or she.
A word with definition created anew.
A word defining both me and you.
8/31/2017
Categories:
containing, change, color, confusion, gender,
Form:
Rhyme
Again another day has come to pass,
I sit here sober, looking at an empty glass.
For if I could tell you the things I've seen,
You would reply, I'm living in a dream.
I've seen two angels in my lifetime,
Both in spirit, both shared a sign.
One held my heart in her open palm,
As I lifted my head still remaining calm.
The other appeared to me when I was at death's door,
She hovered above the ground never touching the floor.
I saw a golden vessel it was right by her side,
Containing all knowledge inside it did reside.
But my eyes were fixed on the beauty she did bestow,
Surrounded by coloured textures and how they did glow.
Exhilaration filled my mind I was no longer in fright,
I just couldn't believe this beauty was in my sight.
So this is my story of when I had died,
Now I'm a firm believer in the other side.
And if you doubt what I have said is true,
Then you shall see with your own eyes too.
Categories:
containing, angel, beautiful, beauty,
Form:
Couplet
Magic Beans of Many Colors
In a magical fairyland I reside,
herons, toucans, rainbow lorikeets, peacock angels,
hummingbirds, ostrich, even a cockatrice
of magnificent colors that harmonize.
They take flight and soar in the glorious effulgent wide
blue sky; roost on the limbs of lush crisp green trees,
or wander the landscape foraging on meat and plants.
Magical animals, dragons, unicorns, ,Pegasus
Gamayun ,skvaders, wolpertinger all exists.
A forest of trees with canopies so large and trim
the folks build tree houses on the strong large limbs.
Spiral ladders and ropes are used to get upward to their dwellings.
Out of my window I peek, a raven with black glossy plumage
color of soft elegant black silk appears with a gift in his beak.
He has brought beans of assorted colors so rare, a gift from a mage.
I wonder if I plant them is it worth
the effort, what it would bring forth.
I hurriedly get up in the morn, dress,
and have my hot breakfast.
I rush out with my gift to my secret place
a cave where my treasures I place.
By the entrance I dig the moist fertile ground
and plant my rare beans of assorted colors.
To my surprise, a wondrous sight I see.
As soon as the rainbow beans touch the soil,
feel its moisture they establish their roots
and grasp the upturned soft brown, fertile soil.
I stand there and watch in awe
As Hedera vines creep and reach around the mountain side
As it reaches out the stems gets thicker and restricting,
It’s bursting leaves greener and containing
All of a sudden, they stop growing.
Little doors are opening as little people dressed in green peek out.
Leprechauns!!!
Now I can follow my dreams of riches
And look for the pots of gold under the rainbows
5/1/2016
1/25/2015
Categories:
containing, fantasy,
Form:
Free verse
Blanketed in crimson, Mars glows with fire,
while Venus sparkles with deep medallion-
The twilit moon shining in fierce desire,
each planet aligns into a stallion.
Jupiter is the largest sphered planet,
it acts as a strong mirrored reflection-
Pluto’s surface is rough like harsh granite,
the sun and Neptune make a connection.
Our home galaxy is the Milky Way,
containing two hundred billion bright stars-
The comet soars like a keen castaway,
bringing stunning life to earth from afar.
The pure wonder of the solar system,
brings phenomenal wonder and wisdom.
May 11, 2017
Categories:
containing, sky, stars,
Form:
Sonnet
War is a time of great conflict
bringing so much misery and suffering
to a generation of people mistreated
on their knees in it's wake
prayers are calling to Heaven
Where the innocence of children
becomes tainted
no longer having a voice
little ones confused
scratching behind the ears
Silence there dwells
hate filled secrets buried
under the carpet of lies not revealed
from the unspoken truth
Invaders are tyrants
dressed in suits no doubt
employing soldiers
brutally abusing their powers
given unto them by the peoples vote
With no morals how does society stand a chance
They are blind unconscious
to their acts and deeds of mercy
Sitting on their high seats of office
Purely a stand up joke
with false handshakes claiming peace
Stealing is not a God given right
quoting justice seeks answers
We have all been deceived
Democracy of the poor struggling does not exist
I call for world peace
Address all issues
laid out on the table containing truth
The day for nit picking is over
End this shameful bloodshed and violence
because there is always two sides to every story
Victims of racism
no blacks
no dogs
our race came lower classed than animals
shame on your envy of our father's faith
Kept down for centuries
Sold as slaves of little worth
I am a writer of my times
Where everyone
should have a voice equal
not hiding in the cupboard
Love in God's light
has taught me morals
thou shalt not steal
or take what does not
belong to you pride
Hate with the demons
you dwell crying
over your own spoiled milk
Where was Europe
during this crisis time
when human rights
became violated on our soil
As a child to have a gun
pointed at your face
is down right cruelty in the act
twisting acceptance of arrogance
through the vision of my eyes
looking down a barrel at me
Even yet years later
they remain silent
why I ask myself
when the grass is cut
before your eyes
into addressing murder and child abuse
big issue to act on
in realities fact
the reaper of truth sheds light always
Categories:
containing, blessing, feelings, god, hate,
Form:
Political Verse
BUTCHER PETE
In the vault below lies the mince, of butcher Pete
Got dragged into a meat processor by the soles of his feet.
RADIOACTIVE SCUM
The Russian soldiers who stormed Chernobyl, are buried in lead coffins below.
And in the dark of night you can see, their radioactive glow.
FARMER MURRAY
Here lies the 'aromatic' remains of the farmer Sid Murray
Missed his footing and drowned in a vat of cow slurry.
PUTIN
At his victory parade in Red Square Putin, had a fatal heart attack
And the inscription on his headstone reads, Karma will always get you back.
MANUEL
Below are buried the pieces of Manuel from Havana
Went swimming and got eaten by a shoal of piranha.
SID
A bookcase containing books about the paranormal and death
Toppled over onto Sid the librarian, and they haven't found his body yet.
JIM
Jim the electric clock maker got electrocuted and died.
It seems that for poor Jim, time was not on his side.
BROWN BREAD ED
Baker Ed fell into his hot oven, and was baked with the dough
And all the mourners were given, a slice as a memento.
LION TAMER FRED
In this vault lies the headless body of lion tamer Fred
Who stumbled onto a lions mouth and who then bit off his head.
ARCHIBALD DE WITT
The world famous conductor Sir Archibald De Witt
Was hit with the arm of a trombone and fell dead in the pit.
Written 27th April 2022.
Categories:
containing, death, humor,
Form:
Epitaph