Best Dissonant Poems
Quietude endows hushed mystical space
Admonishing words have no role to play—
Look how in solitude its posture bends
Bowing in deference to calming intellect.
Listen to the utterance of wailing heart
Where grieved voices subtly resonate
In stygian echoes of aches and pain
As bawl of mortal life kneels down to pray.
Touch of gifted hands magically illuminates
Enlightenment of soul’s secret message
Setting aside obtuse incredulous images,
Silencing the whims of infuriating regrets.
Glowing in epiphany of truths ornate
Emanating from the heart’s regal reign,
Voice of divinity in conquest reverberates
Winning decisively dissonant arguments.
Gaining wisdom of supreme knowledge,
Free from shackles of ordinary, mundane;
Revelations disarm the earthly laments
Basking in discovery of heavenly solace.
March 2, 2020
Poem of the week on March 8, 2020
Placed 1st: Picture prompt poetry contest
Sponsor: Brenda Chiri
Placed 2nd: Your Best Free Verse 2020 Poetry Contest
By John Hamilton
Though she holds his hands, he feels all alone
As moonlit desires sense his dissonant vibes
Emanating from pulses beating in discord
Plundering away ambiance to vacant thoughts
When a cogent conversation becomes a task.
Silence he placates discarding her prompts
Preferring the dark over company of stars
As a lone-bird sits forlorn on a leafless branch
Awaiting for daybreak to build a new nest.
Steadfastly she holds on to her view of galaxy
Undeterred by forces of invisible black holes
Comforting his woes till he rejects her call,
Deciding resolutely to abandon her place
When the lone-bird flees before daybreak.
November 5, 2018
Placed first in contest #520 by Brian Strand
In the midst of great turmoil and strife,
There is a force manifestly to be heard…seen….touched
A voice—ever so soft… yet loud enough to break mountains at their base
It can make a grown man cry—can distort the finest face
Lead the mother eagle back to its nest…
Run its hands against a tumultuous sea to rest…
Shedding tears of empathy when the woman,
With child, is seen- alone…sore. . . distressed
With mind enduring beyond mortal endurance
With arms stretching across the universe of opportunities and darkness
With eyes blossoming like those crazy sunflowers reaching to the sky…
Suddenly… you will feel its yellow fires
It is the very storm that knocks us down
To the depths of humility...patiently waiting for the perfect time to strike,
It comes like an earthquake and tremors the very soul into action...
It is the war of mercy that will devour to create and rejuvenate!
It tells the geese to fly south, whispering them in the right direction...
It is the soft growl of the lion that wakes its babe to safety...
Like music, it can soothe, or agitate,
Its rhythms changeable…forgivable…
When you take a wrong turn, a dissonant chord harsh as lightning will expel
Suspended in the air—colors more mysterious than hell
And when you love—oh how sweet love carries cherished lips cosmically….
A smile of the most precious melodies ring
New colors—see it, new colors shall spring
What this light truly means is to be revealed
Only for the precious few who listen and truly feel
Wrapped in the soft ribbons of love beyond all mortality
Beyond space and reality
Beyond the very tip of the mountain,
That never had to be touched to be brought to its knees…..
Not once did this force ever have to take the woman by the hand
And say with conviction… “everything will be okay….”
Because phenomenally… she would simply hear it in melody,
Inspired by the blazing sun of a newly dawned day-
Freshly caught tears of joy priding the lonely spider’s web
For Justin Bordner’s Divine Intervention Contest
Thank you, with love,
Laura
When I’m in glee of your alluring smile
As you gaze merrily ebullience of dawn
Caressing blush of emerging sunrise
Scintillating fervor upon magenta arc
Whispering gingerly to budding revelry
Strolling in morning’s flowery breeze
Creating your own moments of intimacy
Ignoring plea of my romantic appeal,
If only I could be that spectacular sun
Whose arrival you await so longingly;
May be, I too, can live in your dream.
When somber moods reign the night
And darkened clouds shroud horizon
I hear the clamor of dissonant vibes
Speaking boldly, yet saying nothing
Awaiting silently for glimmer of light
Exuberating luminance of galactic arena
Where, in its adoration you feel lost,
If only I could be that brightest of stars
Twinkling for you from heavens above
And touch like it does your fervid aura;
May be, I too, can conquer your heart.
When face of your winter turns harsh
Thrashing snowfall in freezing storms
You seek relief from autumn’s reveries
Reminiscing in zeal of crimson prairies
Nostalgic in colors of passionate alacrity
Rejecting emptiness of frozen vagaries
Eyeing instead for enchanting greenery,
If only I could be your spring’s ballad
In lyrics that arouse pulses of desires
Elevating harmony in rhythms of harp;
May be, I too, can seduce your song.
Sometimes you tell me, I’m your dream
Sometimes you say, you own my heart
Sometimes you vow, you are my song--
As the dream and the song live on and on…
August 4, 2020
Placed 2nd: If only, may be, sometimes poetry contest
Sponsor: Silent One
There's a river that twists in the mind
that I plunder and ravish with sieves,
on crusades to the summit of rhyme
where my Phoenix of tropes and schemes live.
In a war to free diction's fair Queen
where the Soldiers of Babel bemuse
and the modern day graceless regimes
are in battles to stifle my muse!
In my quest for her verse of prestige
I have traveled a nexus of words
with this Lexis of language on siege;
where the dissonant hum drum is heard!
Oh, the poise of my bayonet firm
as I pin down my thoughts in a rush!
Oh, the will of the language it squirms
as her essence of glory I brush!
She's the Queen Muse that whispers within
as she watches me battle with style,
she supplies me the yarn that I spin
as she lends me her rhythm awhile.
It's the moment her Highness is freed
that the Armies of Dissonance fall
and the sound of Perfection can bleed
in those lyrical sounds that enthrall!
Silence
The sweet rhapsody of quietness
Sit back and savor
the music of the void,
where no dissonant voices are heard
It's so relaxing in this soundless realm;
break not the peace, speak not one word
Stay muted,
let all unspoken thoughts flow within
a serene state of mind, cascading down
into a calm stream of consciousness
No discordant utterances echoes through this vale of tranquility
The absence of strident, background noise
causes
the ears
to fall
sound asleep
Not one disturbing word to be heard ...
There is only blessed silence
floating around you as you dream deep,
thinking of me,
in the heart of the night
This is as it should be
She walks with dreams, deep passions woo,
Into euphoric ambience of a moonlit night
Carrying sweet secret, so intimate and true,
Sprouting in her womb blossoms of delight.
Though they are together, he feels all alone,
Trapped in turbulence of memories unkind,
Nothing she can say would emotions atone
Grief of matrimony he chose to leave behind.
Agitating unspoken, dissonant pulse of strife
His turmoiled heartbeats now brutally amplify
Frightened by weary past to embrace a new-life
When spiteful bonds of yore earnestly decry.
She tries, yet decides, now is not the time
Waiting till moon and stars are so inclined
To witness with Venus, dear-moment sublime
And unveil the script that destiny designed.
Clenched clandestine vibes utter a soft sigh
As happily her stomach churns butterflies;
And, until next-time, she bids him goodbye,
When they’ll guess the color of baby’s eyes.
Vulnerable she feels now, how will he react:
Will he welcome baby, yet harp in the past?
Will he face with courage or opt to retract?
Convulsed, she shudders~ will this love last?
May 5, 2023
Placed 1st: Pick-A-Title, Vol 36 – Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Searching your voice amid dissonant vibes
I followed your shadow into shiny meadows
Till mild breeze conspired with gusty winds
Turning sunshine into gushing rain showers.
Lost in the rainstorm was my clueless heart
Oblivious of directions to romantic path
Aimlessly zigzagging deserted barren land
When bountiful fields were always at hand.
Glimpsing sunshine that's no longer mine
Peeking from vestiges of rain drifting by
Painting lonely sky with panoramic scene
I reminisce how lovely life might've been.
Had I protected our nest from nasty winds
Hearing silence when music stopped playing,
Birds of our morning would still be singing
Praises of sunrise glistening misty prairies.
Showers left gifting spectrum of your sun
Uplifting my vision to sanguine horizon.
Hearing your beat I intimate your arrival
Taking my cue from our blooming garden.
February 19, 2018
Placed 8th:Sunshine and showers contest by Robert Haigh
In a house of cards
in torrential rain
social media overload
floods my brain.
Wave after wave
you feel the pain.
Heading down the hallway
into the dark,
the imminent
and dissonant
hellhounds bark.
From the penthouse of hypocrisy
I jumped onto a train
Heading nowhere and arriving too soon
I watch as a little girl forever reaches
for her red balloon.
The Queen of hearts has her axe to grind
Her targets locked.
She rears back
Lowers her blade
As another head drops
We’re well away from this blood lust fray
It’s just a matter of time
til the skeletal banshees and their vigilantes
wave red flags
for their divergent paths
Driving away
ALL that is meek
ALL that is good
Running in circles
forever misunderstood
In a black glass
Chipped and cracked
You can see them still
Never approaching
Never fulfilled
In a timeless dance
They writhe and flay
This storys’ musical refrain
Frozen silent
Their world will ever remain.
Free Verse Old or New Poetry Contest
Sponsor Joseph May
The sea summons in unrelenting whispers
haunting the night as waves spin their spliced harrowing tales
Hallowed echoes an unending scourge over tenderness
weeping secrets wait held in bondage’s everlasting kiss
Terrified to speak as translation becomes disloyalty
aching is betrayal and compassion is flammable fragility
One misstep and balance becomes twisted alienated from truth
as fear takes hold from these toxic dissonant words
Scathing reproach becomes buried beneath tidal swells
carrying out its inevitable pilgrimage towards unrighteousness
Cold suspicion scatters on the shores in broken shells
trapped by suffering and tormented by long ago betrayals
Decaying memories never lived once imagined still dwell unanswered
this is not love quietly whispers on the wind of denial's farewell....
There was a season, precious was that time,
When you were my dawn of ebullient sunrise,
Song of my mornings, exuberance of spring,
Blossoming gleefully life’s verdant prairies
Whispering to dreamy nights hints romantic
Adorning love verses in indulgent promise.
As autumn arrived, you were still by my side,
Though vigor of hearts soon began to parch
As resplendence dried amid meadows’ sighs
When memories of spring autumn spurned
For music of romance was abruptly paused
And you left the stage as emotions stormed
Leaving behind effigy of affections denied.
There I struggled in turmoil of the bygones
Recalling forever-vows pledged for lifelong
Dissonant in your resolve~ time to exit now,
When rejecting my pleas, you were soon gone,
Refusing to ponder where did love go wrong.
Those days of spring still bloom my prairies,
Your passionate themes still blossom my dreams,
Though you have left and time has moved on
I am still holding on to reveries of our past
Knowing, at times, while love may not last,
It still strums the music and recites its song.
October 25, 2022
Placed 1st: Inspired By a Song-Once There Was A love
Poetry Contest; Sponsor: JCB Burl
I
Anchored on a sun filtered shore
Upon rocks which lay the days of yore
In swirling pristine aquas of alluring calm
Let it serenade heal my bruised palm
To chronicle tales of my hearts longings
And memoirs of my gradual bondings
To enthral my thoughts in the expanse of time
Parading on the lowly impasse of my prime
To write poetry ,prose or mystery fiction
Titled love on a mission to submission
For winds of change will unravel the future
And the dust of defeat will cover the past
II
Invulnerable In dens of sublime realms
where embers of hope forever gleams
Sparked moments that never fade nor flicker
Down the coconut groves lining the ocean Vast
Departing the depths of calamity chosen
To savour the dews of my late night hours
And devour not the memorable endeavours
For beauty was with me in those moments
One Inevitably engulfed in avid desires
An adherent of the much awaited messiah
With amalgam of glee and humility
And simple life of truth and sincerity
III
Traversing the blissful cavalcade holds
I contemplate in dissonant folds
Harrowing scenes from the sunset vives
I linger in my skimming crimson skies
Seemingly, my life plied on out worn roads
Embalmed by these hands in worded codes
In tongues of my fore fathers decent
I will lounge in their culture with no lament
Like those who came before me
Who fought oppressors from over the sea
and their legends enshrined in echoing songs
Of "murmurs of pleasures, pains, and wrongs"
IV
Whereon mindful of the lot i ought to do
Arrayed within scenes from over the hue
Gradually with hasty steps into depths unexplored
And withdraws, into chambers of happiness and scenes adored
To let the crest of my turning tossing mind detach from fearful odds
And my blessed struggling kind flee from the twilight of the earthly gods
So my heart and soul finally infuse with the fluidity of my course
Down the avenues of my maturity
Down the patterns of my progress
Down the depths of my humility
Down the tangled maze of my life I confess...
..In swirling moon beams of alluring calm
A faith in doubt amid a battering qualm
Under clouds which housed the days of yore
On this shell and plastic littered shore.
Purposeful thought leaders, empowering intellect they reign,
In disposition phlegmatic, indifferent to pleasure or pain,
Rejecting emotions vain, impassive within taciturn domain,
Questing for mindful contentment, virtues of reason ordain.
Missives tolling of rectitude, emanate from heart and mind,
Guiding sanctity of awareness, wisdom virtuous aligned,
Maximizing positive thoughts, amplifying tendencies kind,
Of knowledge and understanding, spirits tranquil designed.
Freeing from distress, achieving balance in purity sublime,
Reverberating in noble song of life, echoing through time,
Strumming happiness, where refrain of reason is prime,
Where goodwill of speech, and actions benevolent rhyme.
Enlightened people find harmony in realms of self-control
Overcoming disturbances that in silhouettes of past troll,
Vying aspirations of tomorrow, enamored in sanctity of soul,
Consciously shedding negativity, passions imprudent extol.
Volatility of perturbed life calms, embracing thoughts divine,
As sapient ways of erudite mind, on arc of cognition shine,
Triumphing over negative vibes as dissonant distractions decline
When goals of reason and acts of virtue inextricably entwine.
Happiness rages outside smiles that wend ‘round my cracked doorway sirens fade from
the street music stops commercials scream dissonant chords walk across cat eyes lay
down on the keys sorrow is best sealed in lips a crying child throws angry toys rocking
-chairs whine with worried whistles in an empty room a grandmother snores despair
stares catatonic truth with no pupils no moon gleams blanks black-out while walking i
forget who i am frozen no sensation trees hold their breath words swallow spit scenes
flex and constrict this is outside of yourself concentrate nothing is behind you footsteps
cars crack snow dances mid-night the still blurs death stands and exhales ebony rooms
drifting with nothing to dream i open my eyes and read the clock my thoughts slam shut
When the river of poetry has dried
Like parched clouds waiting for warmth
When the rain beats down on emptiness
The god of rain demands to be penned
I pour myself a glass of wet wine
An offering to Bacchus to entreat
My muse, but she ain’t listening
Her torrent of words fall on deaf ears
I light two cigarettes as an offering
My sooty lungs are a poor sacrifice
Still my muse refuses to talk sense
The god of ash will not spill beans
Poetry has dried, but I am faithful
I’ll cup my hand in the pouring rain
I’ll bind dissonant words like cold fusion
Marry consonants and vowels online
Anything to rise above the mundane
I offer sooty words to show I’m here
Do poets online get drenched like me
Stumbling in the rain posting virtually?
My eucharist is dipped in whine now
Comments become sacramental breads
Poetry is a vice best felt in the rain
Washed clean by constant wringing
So I’ve made a poem out of rain
Turned water to prose like Jesus
I’m on Golgotha with Him every day
Extolling in the driving storm
Both of us bleeding or crying
Eli eli lama sabachthani?
God, my gods why have you
You abandoned me?
You must know it's just a cross
It's me counting rain drops
When the parched clouds part
Let the sunshine be though hard