Best Crushed Poems
Look past
the faded little girl braids and bows
in a polaroid picture
buttery yellow skirt
curtsying a smile
frog prince
imprisoned in her palm
under a creamy pound cake sun
(her grandmother’s recipe
sugar and spice folded carefully
with love and guilt
into a thick summer sky)
daisies like polka dots
piecemeal on her bonnet
seem to stare down
her face with jaundice eyes
slanted above ensnaring weeds
swirls of sorrow linger
in knee-high field
where flowers grew wild like
freedom once felt
Look closer picture fading
She is running
legs bent shouting from the page
stockings peeled off
lanky legs running
through her pain
till her heart detaches
from a barefoot soul
She still feels spiky burs in her heels
drops of blood
zigzag numb
beyond the treeline
memories meld
love and loss
euphoric rush warm winds fuel
an urgency her creation
until lightning strikes
her grief rushing to catch up
through crushed wildflowers
fragmented patterns
under paths at her feet
tears flooded her field overgrown
She remembers to forget
Her mother
buried under
a distant willow
She was taught
by her grandmother
to be composed
poised like other girls
wad up unpleasant feelings
slip them into a corner
of the cedar chest
under layers
of afghans and quilts
she laid them to rest
long ago but
never stopped
her fidgety legs from weaving
through floral tapestries
of field and meadow
wild brush turned emerald green
in mourning
Her daddy passed away
ten years ago today
He was buried with wildflowers
tucked softly
in his lapel and praying hands
he always said windswept blooms
reminded him of his girls
If you look closely at the picture
of that faded little girl
you will see her running
from the graves
as the wildflowers crush
beneath her feet
Love Was Sent, Treasure That Healed Two Crushed Hearts,
A Collaboration with Susan Ashley
Life shattered, soul crushed, another one has perished
once gone from this world was all she ever cherished
No amazing and joyful tales to tell the kids
just naked silence, from raging of black rapids
From heavens above, truest of gifts handed down
romance sent, from He that wears faith's eternal crown.
In that gloom and doom came our Spring's resplendent morn
Love, joyful sound of Living, thus we were reborn
Love, its Lights flamed, happiness needs no explaining
summer warmth came from darkness rapidly waning
O' what glory, shall your heart forever hold mine
our sweet blessing, came from angelic hands divine
Within nights, kisses that sated our hot desires
came oaths of eternal love that never expires.
In that gloom and doom came our Spring's resplendent morn
Love, joyful sound of Living, thus we were reborn
Our soaring passions’ pure as nightingale’s song
enrapturing seduction righted what was wrong
upon our heartstrings’ twilight music we did fly
as supernova lusts did unfurl ‘cross the sky -
scintillating stardust showered us with magic
our souls’ kissed in sparkling bliss since events tragic.
In that gloom and doom came our Spring's resplendent morn
Love, joyful sound of Living, thus we were reborn
Dreamy nectar - ripened wine, whetted revival
as I sipped upon your essence for survival
rousing the wild-honey luscious look in your eyes
behind ambrosial mist passionate beauty lies
on thirsty tongues of fire we burned ‘till morning’s light
melting past the pain in moonflower swirls of night
In that gloom and doom came our Spring's resplendent morn
Love, joyful sound of Living, thus we were reborn
Robert J. Lindley and Susan Ashley
(a collaboration), April 24, 2019
Poet’s note: My dear friend, it always a great honor for me to be able to collaborate with you and truly enjoy your inspirational verses! Such a blessing is to me a very precious gift you give me and my appreciation is sincere and honest in this my admiration for both your great friendship and your magnificent poetry talents!
In their eyes a disingenuous dream, pertinacious pestilence in their stream,
Solitudes sanctioned in their scheme, sacrificial surrenders in their scream…
Hearts contused crippled and crushed, of their voices hindered and hushed,
Landscapes forgotten and flushed, bruised, and battled for death has brushed.
In their world, a cataclysmic crumble, as they rejoice in a homeless humble,
All surrounds their squashing stumble, traumatized in a tenebrous tumble…
Hunger a friend through the night, an empty shell awakes the morning light,
Ecumenical echoes that do excite, as pious pretenders plague their plight.
Subdued souls within a shameful storm, trampled tears of their nomad norm,
Against their will, they must conform, white gloves command in a sinful swarm…
Vanishing views in their mist overpowered and oppressed in a tangled twist,
Will their love ever be missed, for we are all God’s children upon His midst.
_______________________________________________________________
...listen to the poem after 30 seconds of the video...
June.16.2020
CRUSHED
Sponsored by~ Anthony Biaanco
N/A for contest
I don't have to be
your ocean,
your sky,
your moon and stars and sun.
Just let me be the ground that carries your weight,
every move you make rearranges me.
Let me be the earth that is crushed with your heaviness,
all your steps marking over my flaws.
Please let me be honored by bearing the burden of the beauty that is you,
because in that gift I become the most beautiful me.
That Day, Life Crushed
I was resting on a lake dock that was in deep decay
it ran fifty yards out into the seamless water
that day my baby brother had went to swim with his friends
a normal summer day that shone with splendor
and peaceful was the soft blowing wind
only fate was awake and moving ever forward.
There I was in peaceful solitude , resting
gazing at the lapping waves as they spoke
ignorant of what had taken place only moments before
the passing of a young and promising life, my brother.
Sun still beamed, wind still blew and life changed
a truck came racing across the bridge
I saw my best friend waving at me franticly
then I heard, I knew tragedy had befallen somebody
somebody I loved dearly.
Moments later, the force of truth crushed me into a ball
it was as I feared, a death, an unimaginable horror
my baby brother was dead, my fourteen year old baby brother
gone, gone , gone!
Electric current had destroyed his life
destroyed my life, sent me into a seven year rage
I said my goodbyes in a quiet rage and vowed that God,
God would pay for this!
And so it began a terrible journey into a dark abyss
one that consumed and slowly ate my soul
my soul it ate with relish and glee.
I became a punisher of God!
Yes, such misery did I heap out by the bucket
by the ton and ate it's glory until-
Seven years later, light came into me as I slept
I woke one morning to find that the one punished was ME!
God had told me but I refused to hear
Now I heard and that truth crushed me again!
The road back took time but seven long years was over!
life returned, joy returned!
Majestic love returned to reclaim it's treasure-- my soul!
My soul rejoices to this day,
this day I see God stayed with me as I ran away!
I, he that runs no MORE!
Robert J. Lindley 06-30-2014
My first ever write about my brother, Billy Joe Lindley
fourteen year old and the girls adored him,
that summer electrocuted by a faulty electric pump at a
friend's house by the river.
1976, I think about him every day since, he was an angel compared
to me and why, why did I live!
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For the Sad contest.....Any Sad Poem, sponsor, Broken Wings
~ Hey, Karin - returning your note ~
Perhaps I'm not your type, alas
But I'm behind you, here in class
Adoring each and every thing you do
The way you talk, so soft, yet clear
And tuck the tresses 'hind your ear
(The hair I'd love to run my fingers thru) ...
I love the way you tilt your hip
And always bite your bottom lip
Whene'er you get excited or annoyed
The way you pass me little notes
Crimped origami birds and boats
Advising me which girls I should avoid ...
For me it's not the threads or bling
It's each sweet, steamy little thing
That other guys don't care about at all
And yet, if added, two-plus-two
They make for one amazing YOU
(The enigmatic YOU I'd love to call) ...
You might not know me very well
A semester - long enough to tell
I'm apt to always treat you with respect
You're quite romantic, just like me
And know that love can someday be
As faithful as two hearts can thus affect ...
So, if I may, I'll start this task
As rhyme and meter, meant to ask
If you might give us just an evening each?
Perhaps a steak house, Japanese
A theater then - that new release
And then a peaceful walk along the beach ...
The stroll may seem a bit too soon
But sad to waste that lovely moon
And what romance it weaves, no one can tell
I hope you'll flip this page and write
You'd love to date me, (Friday night)
But quickly now, before they ring ...
The bell!
~ 1st Place ~ in the "School Time Crush" Poetry Contest, Faraz Ajmal, Judge & Sponsor.
~ This poem did NOT place ~ in the "Crushed" Poetry Contest, Anthony Biaanco, Judge & Sponsor.
Sadness only taggs along after elation,
chains prefer to cling to the freeman's skin,
heartbreak only follows trust and expectations.
trying to breathe,
with lead-lined lungs,
In an oxygen deprived world
during an asthma attack.
Grasping for the peices.
Pulling them back.
my mind ceases
on the brink of a panic attack.
my hands begin to shake
eyes watering on the brink of tears,
the last of my sanity to take,
drowning in my fears.
You were a bright, yellow daisy
in the garden of life, so cheerful
kind and accommodating.
I basked in the sunlight of
your tender care and attention
my own flower bloomed and thrived.
Our roots ran deep and grew strong
in the rich soil of our lives
together, you and I, our vines intertwined
but in time...in time, our seasons turned
from spring to winter, and I began to die.
For I was poisoned, slowly, subtly
dying without knowing it, dying on the vine
strangling with the weeds, suffocating
the colors of my petals were draining away.
I gave and I gave, with little return
we shared confidences, vacations
food and family, yet you became jealous
and turned away, unsatisfied, turned
to other flowers, lied and betrayed me
my petals were plucked off, one by one.
How naive was I! You knew what you were doing
you knew, and you took and you took
you used and abused my kindness
and sucked the life out of me.
Your fake flower kept shining, while my
own flower wilted on the vine.
I have faded away, a jumbled mass
of jaded leaves and petals
rotting into the ground, crushed.
I may never open up my flower again.
Written on 5/5/2018
Fragile are crisp clean lines that edge an invisible thread
Carelessly crushed beneath the unknown forceful dead
Efforts of gripping the reality through truthful grief pained wash
Casual condolences lessened love communicated instant message loss
Reversal to rewind wheels spinning overtime must stop
Cursed hearted minds bottomless drift into a despaired rot
Treads that slip tears away from the wearing of a long road
Finding courage to carry on strength caring for our body our home
Gathered senses speaking sparingly to form any reason after death
Momentous is the rationality that wildly spreads a laid to rest
'Any Couplet written in October-November' Contest Sponsored by Laura Loo
I hear it though a friend
and my knees begin to bend.
"It's Sasha"
My eyes grow,
the world begins to slow.
my heart stops beating
logic is fleeting
Hands quiver,
a gut-wrenching thought
clings hold in my chest
Vision blurrs,
tears well up,
lungs get tight.
8 pills she took
for hope she forsook.
Not one word on her pain
I was cluless again.
Failure floods my lungs
I seem to have lost my tongue
feet slowly plodding foward,
the little left of my mind disordered.
Words fail me
why didn't I foresee.
Knowing she is alive,
makes some fear deprive.
Too much unknown
the worry has grown.
England is her land.
and stuck, here I stand.*
I wish to reach across the sea
and tell you how okay it will be.
To wrap my arms around you
and make the pain undo
you from its tight grasp
all day your on my mind
hoping for some refuge you'll find.
craving to alter the past
wondering the possible contrast.
I could've done more
to express that you are cared for.
to show your not alone.
If only i'd known.
Sasha.
you are beautiful
you are smart
you are silly
you are playful
you are caring
you are adorable
you are honest
you are a sister to me
your laugh makes everyone smile
you are sensitive
yet you are strong
you are pure as an angel
yet wings tainted from pain**
you lift others up.
no matter your down.
If my words cant reach,
then strain I beseech.
you aren't alone
we love you down to the bone.
And nothing can change that.
Sweet
Adorable
Sensitive
Honest
Affectionate
Even the stronest flower
must rest it's petals.
Just remember
there is a time
for you to open again.
Moonlight glistening off the dew
resting on your reborn arms.
nothing as beautiful as you can stay hidden forever.
so let us in,
let us warm you from the freeze,
let us help you streach you weary leaves.
Sasha,
We all care about you.
and we are all here for you.
you will never be alone in this,
all you must do is reach out,
and you will find arms waiting to catch you
from your fall.
You are stong
You can do this.
I love you flower.
I love you Sasha.
{*So far away- Avenged Sevenfold}
{** Angels fall by Breaking Benjamin}
Awake on a numb dark night he wonders--
tired cells of his existence blazing
on fiery topanga in crushed slumber.
Anxious, chained, gasping at barriers
of individuality or a species that contain
appeasements in layered singularities
or contradictions in linear multitudes.
He drags himself to a paraphernalia,
his search for conquests shivers
in tangled cobwebs his fingers dance
to grand designs of his fantasies.
Oh! how he habitually gets drenched
in warm showers of colliding galaxies,
exploding curses of humanity in hammock,
Aesop's fables plagued in sloth.
His trembling raptures of oceans azure
send chills down the spine of raging coal.
Elevators of his dark realities push him
to take a fall as the Lady of Shalott
atop old cliff of his clueless journeys,
burning mankind, wars, paranoia but wait--
blurred visions of forgotten land arise,
painted from a million oscillations in cosmos,
unwritten pages of blood red stories
crushed and absorbed in soils of time,
simmered to seeds of hopes in his mind--
his fingers dance to tunes of a faint voice,
a dead soul sings amid a snowstorm,
'Oh come crushed souls, let's sleep tonight,
tomorrow you'll squeeze some lost hope in light'.
June 16, 2020
CRUSHED Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Anthony Biaanco
~Premiere Contest Winner: 9th Place
He unexpectedly lost the other half
of his soul. Now he's merely
an empty shell, crushed under
the elephantine encumbrance
of unimaginable grief.
The hours are miserably long;
nights are infinitely longer.
He's a thousand shards of glass;
crushed coarse and fine
in equal measure.
The coarse pieces of himself
he's picked up from the asphalt.
The fine remnants remain
perpetually scattered
every which way.
He'll never be the same
Crushed by grief yet he still
soldiers on with life. Slowly, a smile
is returning to his face and eyes.
His wife's memory, his consolation.
CRUSHED Poetry Contest (Winner: 4th Place)
Sponsored by Anthony Biaanco
Date written: 06/16/2020
[SIZE=5][B]You Crushed The Bright Yellow Moon[/B][/SIZE]
You crushed the bright yellow moon,
And you spat at the gleaming sun.
River, its gilded breath flows
I yet long for our love to live
Lord knows you gave wicked hard blows
Tho' I gave all love I could give
I a seaside pleading Neptune
Sweet rain splatters, fills me right up
We were lovers that met in June
Your love my darling fills life's cup
Our kisses were grapes on the vine
Each night a steaming lover's feast
Always on love's heart we both dine
Til you ran so far away East
Now these words fly from a sick man
Whose heart lay here in broke pieces
Forget, I try hard as I can
I so miss you and your nieces
Darling, I pray you love can see
That its powers you again find
Love has a monster grip on me
My sweetheart please change your mad mind.
You crushed the bright yellow moon,
And you spat at the gleaming sun
You left me with an empty spoon
I so fear, that we are now done!
Robert J. Lindley, Rhyme
9-06-2023
Note: One
I dreamed of her late last night
She came to me and this she said
Forgive me darling, you were right
I so miss you, I am now dead.
Note: Two
Sad but such was so very true
Her passing was sad, this I knew
Hearing that made me so damn blue
Part of me still deeply loves you.[SIZE=4][B][/B][/SIZE]
In a game of love, shadows loom,
A crush that turns my heart to gloom.
I walk a path of silent pain,
Where love's sweet whispers turn to rain.
In dreams, your smile lights the way,
But reality brings a disarray.
A crush, a weight upon my chest,
Love's bitter game, a harsh jest.
Your smile, a ray in the dark,
Yet it conceals a painful spark.
In this dance, I'm just a pawn,
Crushed by love that lingers on.
Each beat, a melody of sorrow,
Love's song with a bitter tomorrow.
In your presence, a storm takes flight,
Leaving shattered dreams in the night.
Oh, unreturned, love's bitter taste,
A silent scream, a soul laid to waste.
In shadows deep, my heart does cry,
A wounded love that won't say goodbye.
So here I stand, love's chance denied,
A heart shattered, feelings set aside.
A crush, a storm that won't depart,
Love's painful symphony, crushing my heart.
stencils of night’s mist
brush your graveyard with ash dye
laying on crushed weeds...
this heart spills a requiem
and my tune—love’s offering.
.....................................
Brian Strand's Contest 245