Best Dispensing Poems
Aimlessly I meander in expansive barren-landscape
Whipped by the assault of rustling windy gales
Embossing sandy designs resembling ocean waves
Simulating pools of water in mirage of seascapes.
Plateaus upon reddish hills reveal cracked earth
Where decaying mangled-trees in rising heat groan
As cobalt-blue sky yields to darkened dye of dusk
And blistering winds blur vision whirling sandy dust.
From the apex of ordinary I intently walked off
Letting thirst of quest confound my whereabouts;
Lost and hungry now, signs of life I strive for
Hearing the chirps of crickets and croaks of frogs.
Exhausted I fall besides flowering cactus plants
Hosting frightened thoughts of dehydrated pleas
Awakening to twittering sounds amid birdsongs
Rising in breeze from distant oasis of Joshua trees.
As the daybreak on hazy skies paints golden sunrise
Trekking for miles and miles audacity reaches hope
Dispensing staggering words incapable to explain
Dysfunction now longing for embrace of mundane.
September 30, 2018
First place in I wander the desert alone contest, sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Also, placed first in standard contest #140 by Brian Strand
NOTE: Joshua trees are found in Mojave desert in California.
Feeling the desolation, of smothering air
Hemmed in by crowds; the obliqueness of fear
Throng of the city and no sight of the sun
Incessant noise and the desire to just run.
And I drive.
Arterial routes clogged by metal and wheels
Schizophrenic drivers living others ideals
Neon and lights sizzling the sides of the streets
Marketing signage, greed’s consumer receipts.
And I drive.
White picket fences, roses, and manicured lawns
Ridiculous box housing, erected for ludicrous pawns
Playgrounds, big supermarkets, cafes and parks
Sprawling suburbia with its pools built by sharks.
And I drive
Warehouses dispensing the needs of the hordes
Industrious factories like cash castles of lords.
Sawmills busily feeding more desecration of land
Refuse collection sites completely sterile and bland.
And I drive.
Ten-acre barons on frivolous bundles of dirt
Escaping urbanity in the unproductive outskirts.
Postage stamp fields supporting ponies and kids
While toffee nose parents sit in ultra posh digs.
And I drive
Paddocks of cattle dispersed through productive farmland
Shiny new tractors with men toughened and tanned
Marshmallow hay bales pimple the face of the ground
Irrigators urinate on earth until drowned.
And I drive.
Magnificent mountains covered in beckoning trees
Clear running streams and whispering breeze
Wild flowers gently waving as robins flit all around
Radiant true colours and smoothing calm sounds.
And yes I am home.
I dyed my small world
In the colours of grief
I couldn’t find comfort
But I longed for relief
All my fabric was dark
I was shrouded in black
The weight of the world
Felt full on my back
I walked amongst shadows
With a feeling of dread
No one could reach me
with the words that they said
Yet this wasn’t a place
I was required to stay
My Lord He whispered
“You can leave, it’s Okay.”
My love brought her brushes
Colourful paints and her crayons
With brushes fingers and toes
She spread joy around
She repainted my world
Yellow, Purple and Gold
Each painting a flower
I now thankfully hold
I embraced her rainbow thinking
Let my sad drop to the floor
Dispensing of my gloom
I didn’t need it any more
When the season of splendor sprinkles
the scent of sprightliness,
when the koels and kingfishers sing hymns of hope
and merrily waltz their wings of chartreuse dreams, and
when from her day dream, my muse emerges in ecstasy,
I dip my quill in vivid shades of ebullient sacramento ink.
When in a gentle stroke, the first ray of the golden prince
caresses the myrtle terrain of earth - his beloved princess,
and she wakes up from her dark moss slumber
blushing and swinging in neon shades of love
in a moment of delight as she becomes
a pinnacle of rustic beauty
sparkling and swaying in shamrock hues, and
when the harmonious harp of the buzzing bees
wafts in the air as they suck sweet nectar
from the brilliant blooms adorning
my muse’s verdant malachite rockery
adding vivid lime vibrance to the hustle and bustle
of the grassy gorgeous flower beds dispensing
the aroma of exuberant pistachio thoughts of my reasoning -
and becomes a harbinger of hope for my creative quill,
I passionately let my avocado ink
to pen its inspiring pearls of perception.
When my muse ponders
on the fragility of life fraught with
hindrances and hiatuses for progress,
yet wonders on how life advances
and ascends in the rungs of optimism -
like buds finding way to bloom
even in a pit of rocky soil:
my ink blossoms in the tender glow
of my lilac dreams of love and peace.
The Cronus prowls the darkened glade,
in pitch black robe of sackcloth made.
He foretells of eternal night,
and seeks to wield death's heinous blade.
From shadow he haunts woods and path,
dispensing of time's final math.
Frail souls evade his obscure realms,
they fear to meet his scythe's fierce wrath.
The Reaper's ghastly harvest knife,
sharp-honed, grim-edged, creating strife.
Oh, save us from his shadowed land
and from his dreaded afterlife.
Faint memory of morning light,
which salves our souls and makes life bright.
Protect us us from such mortal plight
safeguard us through both day and night.
The Cronus
10-10-14
Barbarous reason rejoices
and draws strength dispensing death.
Its celebration comes with
cold effigies of blood soaked,
ravaged, masked graves of silence,
leaving any subsequent regret
within the heart of the stonecutter.
The suffocating privacy
of each muddy sepulcher
calls out its loss-but who will listen
through the rumble of the caissons roar?
Fear has no time to mourn.
Only after the flame
leaves its postscript
are the cries of the Widow heard-
then wars agony entreats the soul...
There is a phrase of words be praised
I’ve heard somewhere before;
Down amongst the dirt and weeds
Of things we most deplore.
Which rob us of our rightful place
In the shade of dignity and warm sun:
“Forever to endeavor,
Persevere and overcome.”
It might have been a movie scene
With Clint Eastwood as I recall
Listening to a displaced Indian
Recant their final fall.
Dispensing with philosophy
Of a life lived on the run:
“Forever to endeavor, he said,
Persevere and overcome.”
Or perhaps another book I’ve read
Or a whisper in the wind;
Those words imbedded deep inside
My memory, like good friends.
Down in the brain beyond the strain
Of races lost and won:
“Forever to endeavor, they say,
Persevere and overcome.”
All the slings and arrows
Once released upon us all;
Sorrow and deceit caused by liars and cheats
While struggling over mountains wide and tall.
Bringing occasional relief but more often defeat
As if trapped inside a spider web well spun:
“Forever to endeavor, they say,
Persevere and overcome.”
When the girls with whom you've flirted
All have gone their merry way
Winning hearts, dispensing favors
In the flavor of the day,
There is one whose kept the home fires,
While her lonely heart has yearned.
Will she still be there to hold you
After your last bridge is burned?
Weigh temptation, is it worth it,
Seeking love for just the day?
Will there still be one who needs you
When all others go away?
When a loving heart is broken,
It won't be an easy mend.
Your promised heart to her forever,
Is no longer yours to lend.
If tomorrow, God should call you,
Take you from the life he gave,
Only she will long remember
To put flowers on your grave.
Hurry home now, Casanova,
Heed my warning and beware.
If too late you seek the home fires,
It may be she won't be there.
To celebrate a fiftieth anniversary,
a convenience store is dispensing coffee.
The best thing about it is that it’s free.
It’s hot, fresh, and with a flavor variety.
Twelve ounce small cups are available all day.
I got mine this morning right away.
It was just what I needed to get going today.
You have to live in a Mid-Atlantic state
to take advantage of this offer that is great.
Of all the different convenience stores in America,
the one with this terrific offer is called “Wawa”.
Red
I can see it still
The most brilliant red
I have ever seen
Years ago
Out with the dog
Cutting through the trees
In the undergrowth appeared
Flashing right in front of me
A dazzling ruby
Unreal at first
More like a dream
Like seeing a fairy
I thought I was hallucinating
The only thing there
Was an itty bitty bird dressed in olive green
It flitted about mere inches from me
Dispensing chipper notes
Doing its own thing
Then it happened again
That brilliant shock of red
To my surprise and delight
It was a hidden crest
Red of deepest purest hue
Graced the feathers
Of this tiny sovereign's head
You
The sweetest little king
The first time I saw you
I will never forget
Forever my lord
My Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Dusk
descends,
discreetly
disassembling
Dawn.
Dew
drips down,
dispensing
dispersible
drops.
(Lanterne)
Mar. 11, 2019
Light Up The Page 2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Joseph May
vintage coin bank
dispensing
cash for tootsie rolls
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
I got a lot of thoughts
rolling around in my head
Idea marbles,
colored black, blue, white and red
That’s very Afro-American of me
to be thinking this way
This ol’ noggin’ got a pocketful of idea marbles,
do you wanna play?
Let’s build something, what do ya say?
It gets pretty noisy upstairs sometimes,
adults sure love to fuss and argue a lot
So lets go to the playhouse
of our dreams
and tinker around
Gonna piece together a lightning quick social go-cart,
fastest dispensing of charity you ever did see
I love seeing compassion take the last lap of victory
What else can we build swiftly before dinnertime,
how ‘bout a love kite that flies higher than cloud nine
Let it get caught in the tail wind of a mighty breeze,
watch all the hatred disappear beyond the trees
I’m so glad you wanted to play
with my idea marbles today
Colorful thoughts that every adventurous child
should have, I pray,
as their 24th century learning toy
Curiosity that’s never put away
by any daring girl or boy
i
sat
a star
atop my tree for
all the world
to see
i
lit it
decorated
it was
a most delightful sight
my tree stood tall
i was so proud
dangling from each branch
i hung a wish for health happiness and love
dispensing wishes freely way out loud
merry christmas to one and all
i'd like everyone to have family and friends
around the table enjoying a fabulous festive meal
above all i mostly wish for health and a child’s passion for joy
love
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Part Two
SEVEN STARK WORDS
Seven alliterative blockbuster words struck so
they rhymed initially in juxta-positioning lineal parallels
pausing but in the fourth
to resume breath in the fifth
Leaving the interstitial morphemes in resonating ellipses
The economy of your parsing has wreaked havoc down the ages
in all trans-explicatory tongues
Tough-minded men come from afar
with other gods to serve
and sacrifices to make in the name of their Lords
bent your versification to limp rhyme
and left meaning a hung pursuit
in the hands of plagiarists professors preachers
who
not knowing nor divining the reason for your craftsman’s
concatenation of weighted phonemes
advanced theories for your elastic pregnant mind
strung myriads of pages in exegeses
each staking a claim to posterity
the villainous hanging on your lips
In a time devoid of papered learning for the poor
When to be born a Sudra or Pariah was a sin
When masters were those top-heavy manically-mantric Brahmin priests
Preying on the duped loyal sycophantic Vaishyas
wishing to earn karmic merit with their agricultural gain at their altar feet
such servant-financers as they by legions now lay their souls down
as even the long-gone royally leisure-dispensing Kshaktriyas
how would he who sought the spread of knowledge
not seek to encapsulate learning in mnemonic couplets
arranged according to rigid design
for those who could not count either
Ten fingers in the hand so
Ten the number of facets of a thought
a subject
a theme
even if theme subject thought were stretched too thin