Best Defoliated Poems
" Amid the jagged shadows of mossy leafless boughs"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Gold tinged paints dripped from the air,
under the clear opalescent autumn sky,
jade foliage turned to full-bloom flower,
I flew my heart like a bird over the canopy.
The canopy of your allure so beguiling
took me to the enticing heights of ecstasy.
The nest we built in the cleft of boughs
glistened in love-laced moonshine night.
Night of strife surged a wrecking storm,
the nest crumbled to debris of despair.
You flew away to the sunny sky obscure,
left me to suffer in the spasm of winter.
Winter frost slithered with the north wind
to desolateness of the defoliated boughs.
I felt my love freeze in the congealed heart
amid the jagged shadow of broken wings.
" Without love, we are birds with broken wings"
- Mitch Albom
November 28, 2019
For Brian Strand's Contest A Brian Strand July 12
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, bird, lost love,
Form:
Free verse
Down the stairs turned chiseled rocky steps
the bare beauty cascades like an ebullient rapid
raw grace of Eve glistens on the satin skin
tinged with the hues of primeval nature exposed
sculpted in curvy contours of Michelangelo finesse
and charisma.
Amorous luster flowing in the cleaved vale
carved between the ambrosial mounds
opens up on the vista of the ivory meadow
supple rhythm of scented jasmine allure
wafts on the canopy of the yonder thicket
and waits.
The porcelain ballerina feet as insipid as
the stark sorrow of the defoliated winter tree
half-way on the staircase stuck motionless
a statue draped in symphony of au naturel shape
moonbeam lattice covers her with silver screen
and enigma.
October 11, 2019
A Brian Strand 1097 Contest
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, beauty, body, imagery,
Form:
Free verse
Golden paint drips from diaphanous air,
beneath the opalescent autumn blue sky,
jade foliage enfolds full-bloomed flowers,
I fly my heart like a bird over the canopy.
The canopy of your allure so beguiling
takes me to the enticing height of ecstasy.
The nest we build in the cleft of boughs
glistens in love-laced moonshine night.
Night of strife surged as wrecking storm,
the nest is demolished to debris of despair.
You drift away to the sunny sky obscure,
leave me to languish in the spasm of winter.
Winter frost slithers with the north wind
to desolateness of the defoliated boughs.
I feel my love freeze within the arctic heart
amid the serrated shadow of broken wings.
_______________
Written : August 10, 2022
February 6, 2023
2022 Poetry Marathon Qualifiers' FINAL
Placement Poetry Contest
Sponsored : Mark Toney
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, imagery, lost love,
Form:
Free verse
On the frail wings of winter the northern winds depart,
their whisper the wafting icy cloud clumps hear in turn…
"fly beyond the horizon yonder, wait, don’t fall apart,
after annual arctic slumber as twin drifter we’ll return”.
The misty layer melts, the sky becomes cerulean clear,
the sparkle of spring descends rippling in diaphanous air.
Wispy strips of silken cloud in sapphire expanse appear,
suffused with sunshine the blooming buds unfurl in flair.
Defoliated trees come to life after verdant resurrection,
sunburst sky sprays color on pearly dew in the meadow.
In the flow of zephyr floral fragrance finds the direction,
trails the lured butterfly in the arena of springtime show.
____________________
April 27. 2022
Rhyme checked on Rhymezone.com
Contest : Spring Rhyme-8-12 Lines
Sponsored by : Tania Kitchin
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, nature, spring,
Form:
Rhyme
This banyan tree on the wayside pasture
boughs cradling the nests secure
the birds of blue return,
verdant foliage making shade serene
the scorched travelers rest awhile,
the tree revels in pride.
The winds of harsh time take the toll
gaping trunk wrenches the soul,
defoliated, the skeleton stands stripped.
The birds don’t return,
the travelers pass by,
in sorrow the shadowless tree tracks the setting sun.
Until the storm comes
lays the tree on the ground it stood so long firm,
shovels scrape the soil, fills the void,
buries the last remains of its roots.
In the twilight hours of loneliness
as I see dark clouds gather on the horizon
the sound of scraping of shovels
returns to me louder and louder
from the empty pasture
where the banyan tree once was,
and I wait for the storm.
March 7, 2019
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, death, sorrow, tree,
Form:
Free verse
When the opaque nights were starless,
and the depressing days desolately cloudy,
the journey through the tortuous valley of life
wasn’t easy as it was meant to be.
When the wilted flowers turned pallid,
and the defoliated trees tarnished tawny,
I lost the tantalizing trail of the garden path,
as in the unshed tears of toil hapless hopes sank.
The jagged pathway of listless life I traveled,
was sorely winding and the time finite.
At the end of the tormenting tunnel
I didn’t see the glitter of the guiding light.
When in stormy nights I was in the wasteland wilderness,
the surreptitious destiny designed for me,
the shards of my splintered sky fell asunder,
I forlornly envisaged strewn all around me.
I didn’t question the supreme designer’s motive,
and His ways of mundane manifestation,
but prayed for the sparkle of the sapphire nights,
and for the shower of the sunny days’ shine.
Without complaint I endured complacently
the transient time’s turbulence as His gracious gift,
waited for the spring to bloom the divine flowers,
and grow the emerald trees to enliven the blessed me.
When under the ruins of the fallen sky
my broken dreams were in the debris of despair,
I traveled within crossing the dark corridor,
and in the soul’s precinct I discovered the heavenly light.
In those precious moments I totally surrendered,
and remained subservient to His omnipresence.
I got the inner strength to hold up the falling sky,
and those enlightened instants kept me going.
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, god, life,
Form:
Free verse
Desiccated in my torrid wasteland,
soil brittle and dry, turns to dust,
soars high on the wings of summer wind.
Some blows away from me,
some I gather in my sagging palm
for the skeletal roots exposed fragile
of my magnolia tree I reared with care,
year after tenuous year.
Each passing day engraved in the veins of leaves,
changing into verdance of memory.
The dust storm scraping the edge of listless time,
rose from the depth of dusky horizon.
The surge swept the dislodged leaves away,
in the rustle I heard them whisper…
‘catch us, hold us before we disappear’.
Through the dust swirling to nowhere
the last rays of the twilight sun filtered,
its spectrum soaked the vestige of soiled dreams,
streamed through the enlivened essence.
I now chase the drifting mirage,
morphed into the fallen leaves flying away
from my magnolia tree defoliated,
the boughs bare and unburdened.
Across the melting shadows of the clouds adrift,
through the golden beam of the setting sun
I’ll run until I reach the end of the garden path,
catch someday the fleeting leaves,
hold them until they turn to buds of hope,
slip through my weathered fingers,
fill the void where the ancient magnolia tree
in my pasture once used to be.
It will rise from the dust of pain,
and make me happy again.
March 22, 2020
Contest : Strand Choice N, Any Form, Any Theme
Sponsor : Brian Strand
Categories:
defoliated, hope, inspirational, life,
Form:
Free verse
Pro Patria Mori
Missouri volunteers bit bullets, watched
as Santa Ana's baggage washed
their brazen hair, hip deep
in the Rio Grande.
The ancient river moved across the land
Like slow drool down a leather cheek.
Bang! Paul Bunyan's balls
rolled down the Great Divide, rattled
across the porcelain sea.
Oh, the girls!
Hair hot and black, Whoopee!
Their tongues as pink as baby fat.
Now tongs drop a hissing crepe
on the defoliated plate. Butter complicates
our fingers, soils the bib.
We crack a claw. Like a crib
at Benin, wary and dull,
the eagle fills his nest with skulls.
Categories:
defoliated, america, military, patriotic, soldier,
Form:
Verse
On a frosty opaque day in windy winter
I, an old defoliated tree denied the sky and the soil
by the young aggressive ones spreading branches,
walk out of the green forest in sheer desperation.
Crossing the contorted contours of the barren badlands,
I go across the pallid plateau to a city quite far,
where I could see no sun shining with survival panacea,
so I couldn’t soak the rays to get my lost foliage back.
I could neither find sustaining soil of bonding sympathy,
so I couldn’t stand upright in the storm of strife.
Dejected, I then morph into a human figure without roots
in the remote corner of the concrete forest.
In dismal unkind desolateness my heart soon breaks,
and the forsaken fragile hands hang unheld,
picking up pining the strewn shards abandoned,
from the cauldron of a smoldering summer day.
Disillusioned, I walk back to the forest I once left,
and burn the essence of humanity in the forest fire.
January 29, 2021
Title used : If I Were A Tree
Contest : If I Were A?
Sponsor : Mysytic Rose Rose
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, city, humanity, tree,
Form:
Personification
With August came hot breeze,
Temps above 110;
Heat, defoliated trees,
Been worse?
Don't know when.
The grass is dead,
No need to mow.
Air so dry,
The Rooster can't crow.
Today a darkened sky,
Splotches, like grey stain.
My recurring thoughts are why?
It does not rain.
Categories:
defoliated, seasons,
Form:
Lyric
sweat on the defoliated landscape
that had once been his scalp above his nape;
thinks the mirror
is in error,
believes from the bald truth he can escape !
Categories:
defoliated, life, people, seasons,
Form:
Limerick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTUMN
gold red yellow hues
bewildered confused my mind
the colours of death
-
a breeze a leaf flies
gales trees defoliated
alive future... hope
-
squirrels buried nuts
their survival depends
both ways sustenance
-
wildflower meadow
their vitality returned
stored a future waits
-
all animals know
instinct kicks in... shorter days
asleep do they dream
-
kicking up dried leaves
blackbirds a robin redbreast
we hear the rustle
-
bright bright hawthorn haws
yew berries red keep well fed
death for me and you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Categories:
defoliated, autumn, nature,
Form:
Haiku
The tassel
Seems to be blossomed
Having created with beauty
And shedding aroma passim
When the time comes close
And to closer and close up
The tassel
Seems to be hybrid
Having hidden conventional qualities
Nothing to be seen
Expected beauty and
Conceived aroma
The tassel
Where stands
Roots of brought forth
Clasp poisonous thorns
Even blunt
It is destructible
The tassel
Untimely born
That may not blossom and smell
Defoliated body of line
It has being decayed
Respective ignorance of origin
Throughout the time
Emerges like an atavism
Udaya R. Tennakoon
Categories:
defoliated, beauty, faith, friendship, imagination,
Form:
Blank verse
On a frosty day in winter an old defoliated tree
denied the sky and the soil by the younger ones
walks out of the green forest in sheer desperation.
Crossing barren lands goes to a modern city quite far
But could see no sun of hope to get the foliage back
And could find no soil of compassion to stand erect.
It becomes a human without roots in concrete forest
Its heart soon breaks and forsaken hands hang unheld.
It picks up its broken heart on a burning day in summer
Walks back to the forest and burns humanity in forest fire.
September 14, 2017.
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, beach, humanity, tree,
Form:
Personification
In my desiccated wasteland,
soil, dry and brittle, turned to dust,
swirled on the wings of the summer wind.
ruffling my rose sapling, I reared with care.
The reticulate veins of the curling leaves,
changed into winding lanes of fading memory.
The desert storm slashing the edge of listless life,
swept the falling leaves away.
Through the dust screen spinning to nowhere,
the residual rays of the setting sun filtered,
the spectrum soaked the shards of shattered dreams,
I tried to preserve in the niche of essence.
I chased the shifting mirage,
that morphed into the fallen leaves,
drifting away from my defoliated sapling of rose,
the branches bare in desolation.
Across the melting shadows of satin clouds adrift,
through the golden beams from the dusk horizon,
I ran on the trail of the fallen leaves floating away,
caught them at the end of the garden path.
I held them close to my heart,
until they turned into seeds of hope,
slipping through my weathered fingers,
they fell where the sapling of rose was once.
In spring they returned rising from dust,
and flowered again as the rose of longing.
______________
November 25, 2022
For A Brian Strand Premiere Choice Contest
Categories:
defoliated, analogy, hope, lost love,
Form:
Free verse