Best Duelling Poems
"Blind Man Turns"
Rest easy in my lull, Love
Love
is not the gentle goodnight, Love
in the beguiling
silence of Lost Lovers' Woods
It is the war we
all wager
reflections
in each other
We run from it
We run to it
The Labyrinth
we all are
striding fresh
through greener than green grass
roads we never thought
we’d journey
futures like bruises
bruises like roses blooming
bruises like sunsets fading
War torn
We All are
the softer, truth seeking and
the fallen, sharp metal shards
Love runs harder
than war
Love runs towards
you with its arrows
Bleeding slowly
Bleeding fast
Love
Heads or
Tails
Hearts
saved
Heads
rolling
Tongues
dry for a pass
wanting wet
trysts for duelling
tails short and long
tales to be read
to the dreams
that once in the past
were futures
formed like a sprouting bean in the belly
from
Love
Falling free and hard
short lived butterflies
wings transparent
veined in vanity
are
the Brave
waiting for
the burn
Love
bleeds hot
bleeds fast
Poets kissing soft warm bellies
whispering breath over sensual hearts
where the hot
holy see parts
singing
“this will last”
The Golden Grail
shining
waiting
for you
door
open
without
chain mail
holds a heart
bled and worn
An offering on your short
spare alter
never entirely yours
but always mine
blind man turns
his heart ripe like an apple
open and
star seeded
Light Burns
waiting to be tasted
a swallowed soul
without feathers
born again
(LadyLabyrinth / 2020)
Categories:
duelling, love,
Form:
Free verse
The Dilettante Diaries: "In Stasis, Black Iris"
Oriental Lily's
Stamen bleeds
blush ochre dust
like icing sugar
duelling tongues
sweet captive
musk
over stagnant
white pure perfume
Stains soft feather fingerprints
sweet bruises across warm velvet skin
imprints a new story
a kiss lingers
there just there
you know where
secret whispers begin
Again
Again
Ripe Tiger Lily
purrs
petals opening
languid longing
Luscious
Laugh
Vibrant
Sin
Again
Again
Velvet revolver
deep
like
Turin
Worships
the
Holy Ground
She grows in
new secrets sown
something grows
something begins
Again
Again
Aquarius eyes
languid pools
for windows
drinks her in
like a
hummingbird
drinks her
charms within
Leo addictive deep
crimson
she is vibrating
Life
draws you in
Luna cool
kisses her
heat
she is the
Sun
revolving
you her muse
a lesson for now,
lean in
A revolver cocked
for killing past hurts
opens petals
ruinous
deep ripe purple
plum
unfurls
begins
begins
again
again
Evergreen
Verdant
Elixir they
sleep to dream
Just words
in the
luminiferous aether
waiting
waiting
waiting
intoxicating
New Chapter
In Stasis is
Black Iris
Surrenders
control
relenquished
Souls are
transforming
trading
Black Iris
lies in waiting
(Lovejoy-Burton/September, 2018)
1. Georgia O'Keeffe, "Black Iris", 1926
2. https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/
3. https://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138467808/stieglitz-and-okeeffe-their-love-and-life-in-letters
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEdKPHGHoMc
Categories:
duelling, art, freedom, imagery, psychological,
Form:
Romanticism
“Rewind Forward”
Memory mirror
supple sylph yields
and naked
walks through liquid glass
towards your dark eyes
to float in black
legs wrapped
rapture drawn deep
unclothed into your arms
bathed bare
you climb my mountains
pull me in
your fingers coiled
tight and unforgiving
around my silken hair
mouth drawn to bare
omni amor libido
opalescent skin glistens
slow dance
silence listens
caught in time
elementals float in the aether
no walls no stairs no roads
bodies in rhythm rhyme -
in your dark mirrors
are all my blue skies -
dream duelling flames
tongues do not speak
they torch a burning blaze
there are no nights
there are no days
two flaming souls
deep dive
erotic waves
they read no maps
trysting in their lovely trap
Pantoums
each the other world
Phantom
opium kissed lips
repeat repetition
Ships lost at sea
in our ghost myst
a fierce longing
a holy confederacy
Kisses long and languid
Luscious long neck licks
Drink my life
Your need is met
my mead is sweet
and want is whet
Honey swallowed
lost in the love
love in the lost
trapped in the net
an open cave
doorway
where lush moss
waits wet
treasure found
treasure kept
sensual salty
her sea is met
pounds to your
foreign uncharted shore
two rare pearls
are free yet
bound and kept
on the other side
awake forever
with the never slept
hearts open
wounds bleeding
turn the key
Mirror Memory
(LadyLabyrinth/2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqEZ_RQ4Cm8
"Flashbacks", Emika
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF6v7yCthd4
"Flashbacks (reversed)", Emika
“We did not touch each other. We were both leaning over the abyss.”
Anaïs Nin
“Our love would be death. The embrace of imaginings.”
Anaïs Nin
“Secrets. Need to disguise. The novel was born of this.”
Anaïs Nin
"But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover..."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan
Categories:
duelling, desire, for her, for
Form:
Romanticism
The mind of man defines his self
Thought separates him from the beast.
For rationale transcends all else
So with reason was man bequeathed?
Nature adjusts its balanced scales
Predators thrive upon their prey
Quarry decays in mankind’s trail
While intellects cloth, does sadly fray.
Conceit within sees simple creatures
Instincts supply for lowly needs.
Hunter, hunted, duelling features
Equal basics provide life’s creed.
Assuming nature has mans own evil
Perceptions mirror his within.
No other beast shall cause Earths’ upheaval
‘Twas humanity first committed sin.
Smart man can plan tomorrow’s time
Consciousness learns from lessons past.
Hear and heed are two peaks to climb
Strides from missteps are often last.
Meek swallows will defend their nest
Grace transforms toward obstinacy
But repose rewards a fruitful quest.
Vengeance just grasps humanity.
It’s man that fights a thousand wars
Pleas to ignorance seldom thrive.
Nature’s pursuits have righteous core
A pair for death means life survives.
The mind’s a mask of cunning guise
For closed minds, know not how they feast.
Heavy footsteps can cause demise
And what sets man, apart from beast?
Categories:
duelling, analogy, angst, environment, perspective,
Form:
Rhyme
The mind of man defines his self
Thought separates him from the beast.
For rationale transcends all else
So with reason was man bequeathed?
Nature adjusts its balanced scales
Predators thrive upon their prey.
Quarry decays in mankind’s trail
Intellects cloth will sadly fray.
Conceit sees but simple creatures
Instincts supply for lowly needs.
Hunter, hunted, duelling features
Equal basics provide life’s creed.
Man that looks finds natures evils
Perceptions mirror his within.
No beast shall cause earths upheavals
Just man will oblige earthly sin.
Smart man can plan tomorrow’s time
Consciousness learns from lessons past.
Hear and heed are two peaks to climb
Strides from missteps are often last.
Meek swallows will defend their nest
Grace transforms to obstinacy,
But repose rewards a fruitful quest.
Vengeance just grasps humanity.
It’s man thats fought a thousand wars
Pleas to ignorance seldom thrive.
Nature’s pursuits have righteous core
A match for death means life survives.
The mind’s a mask of cunning guise
For closed minds, know not how they feast.
Heavy footsteps will cause demise,
and what sets man apart from beast?
Categories:
duelling, humanity, introspection, philosophy,
Form:
Quatrain
Classic silent films
Redundant technicolour
Piano plays mood
Panther and snow leopard
Duelling with chess
Under a scintillating firmament
A dome of diamonds floating on infinity
Moonlight softly slicing the shadows
Illuminating their world of concentration
Alternating attrition
Pawn takes pawn
Bishop takes pawn
Rook takes pawn
Knight takes pawn
Who's winning?
The back rows don't care
The pawns always get slaughtered
Monochromatic menagerie
Colour falls victim to Darwin
Survival of the hueless
Polar bears, penguins, orcas
Denizens of the icy white
Magpie's musings
Cogitating a colourless cosmos
With polka dot dalmatians
And Rorschach fresian cows
And bar code zebras
Mezzotinted mother nature
Despite its wonderous beauty
Always has a few skunks
Jet and pearls for the rich
Coal and chalk for the poor
Obsidian and quartz for the wannabes
A nun and a priest
In theological debate
Reconciling scripture
With how the real world with real people really works
Playing dominos
To divine answers
To divine questions
Passing holy judgement
By chance and cunning
What's the alternative?
A pool table of eight balls?
A heartless (and diamondless) pack of cards?
It doesn't matter
To those who see
Truth as black and white
Food race!
Tuxedoed athletes!
Chequered flag drops!
Raisins and pearl onions
Caviar and rice
Faster!
Black pudding and chicken
Licorice and mash potato
Faster!
Black beans with cream
Oreos and mayonnaise
Finish line!
Hurray for the winners!
Bread and blackberry jam prizes!
Everyone else starves
Brightling and darkling
Eden's white vies Hade's black
Madness lies between
Written 16th February 2017
Entry to "the colours black and white" contest
Notes:
"Colour" is not a typo or a spelling mistake. It's how us Brits spell it.
"Divine" means "discover" as well as "about God"
Magpies are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpie
Mezzotint is a grey scale printing technique https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzotint
Categories:
duelling, allegory, animal, color, fantasy,
Form:
Free verse
Classic silent films
Redundant technicolour
Piano plays mood
Panther and snow leopard duelling with chess
Under a scintillating firmament
A dome of diamonds floating on infinity
Moonlight softly slicing the shadows
Illuminating their world of concentration
Alternating attrition
Pawn takes pawn
Bishop takes pawn
Rook takes pawn
Knight takes pawn
Who's winning?
The back rows don't care
The pawns always get slaughtered
Monochromatic menagerie
Colour falls victim to Darwin
Survival of the hueless
Polar bears, penguins, orcas
Denizens of the icy white
Magpie's musings
Cogitating a colourless cosmos
With polka dot dalmatians
And Rorschach fresian cows
And bar code zebras
Mezzotinted mother nature
Despite its wonderous beauty
Always has a few skunks
Jet and pearls for the rich
Coal and chalk for the poor
Obsidian and quartz for the wannabes
A nun and a priest in theological debate
Reconciling scripture with how the real world with real people really works
Playing dominos to divine answers to divine questions
Passing holy judgement by chance and cunning
What's the alternative?
A pool table of eight balls?
A heartless (and diamondless) pack of cards?
It doesn't matter to those who see truth as black and white
Food race! Tuxedoed athletes! Chequered flag drops!
Raisins and pearl onions! Caviar and rice! Faster!
Black pudding and chicken! Licorice and mash potato! Faster!
Black beans with cream! Oreos and mayonnaise! Finish line!
Hurray for the winners! Bread and blackberry jam prizes!
Everyone else starves
Brightling and darkling
Eden's white vies Hade's black
Madness lies between
Written 16th February 2017
Entry to the "best free verse" contest
Originally entered to "the colours black and white" contest
Remastered to reduce number of lines
Notes:
"Colour" is not a typo or a spelling mistake. It's how us Brits spell it.
"Divine" means "discover" as well as "about God"
Magpies are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpie
Mezzotint is a grey scale printing technique https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzotint
Categories:
duelling, allegory, animal, color, conflict,
Form:
Free verse
Thou hast had to play the role of crazy, obeying thee, displaying my faults and
portraying the shame of me. Breathe, free, finally free. Fire! Adores you and
welcomes you to an empire of the new. I tossed the idea of inviting a few, opting
instead with pleasure for you and only you. Never will failure ever be considered,
pending impact impedes speech and renders me down to bereave. Grand! I have
been dying to see, love, yes love and its grandiose display, always will be my
reasoning. It reels me in and cleanses with nature, pure as pure is in creature. Am
I? yes I am, though not sinister. Unstoppable and driven by attraction to disaster
and admiration of whisper, this hush is listless, wrestle it, don’t miss this. Satisfy
desire lets make it glamorous in dedication. Fire! Re-lit! Savagely craving the
moment that we meet again. Imagine the breath and the chests, tension and lust
duelling with hatred and love. Trust is a laugh though laughter will bring it back,
time will help. My muse, do you not understand? I need the right to exploit my light
slight hand under right eye, you cannot subdivide the mind of a made up guy. Love
be my minds light, love blind my minds fight, right the pain and create love new, so
that tonight we may sing. Dying young is not a necessity of living forever but love
certainly is. We are majesty and perfection in love, it was majestic and perfected in
new. I do not want your hugs hello or your waves goodbye, rather please supply
onto I the dreams that I dream and the wishes that I provide. Real life not fictitious
false life liked delights. What will it be like when we meet again? Electric?
Dangerous? Casual? Loaded with hatred? Will we feel obligated to hug or smile?
Even if our stomachs and the others eyes tell us not to? Betrayal? Really? Dig!
Deeper! Dig! Deeper still! Find it, learn it, believe in it, trust it, crave it, welcome it
without denial.
Categories:
duelling, lost lovelife, love, me,
Form:
Prose Poetry
The acrylic line pulled taught as he bit down.
The lake was so still as to mimic a black oil slick -
She suddenly breaks away and churns like an overcooked pot -
Ripples glide along the boats surface
As he grabs the rod.
Closure burns hot in his mind as his weathered hands grip the reel.
The tug of the monster that lurks beneath the boat -
makes his cameo appearance in the murky underbelly -
Thudding against the bottom of the old boat
As the crickets sing.
His mind randomly jumps back to a memory.
He remembered his father’s old tackle box -
Remembering the pity he had on the writhing worm -
And the sickening feeling as dad hooked him
And cast his line.
His wife knew he was out here and disapproved.
Even though she didn’t even say a word but turned over -
She avoided saying a word while he pulled the rubber waders
Over his plaid pyjama bottoms
And quietly closed the door.
This was surely the biggest Bass on this cursed lake.
Confidence oozed from his knarled fingers as the catch came closer -
Finally he’d prove the old bat wrong and defy his lodge buddies -
No more mocking and no more duelling with the woman
He sighs with relief.
The rod bent under the heavy weight of the bass’s fight.
But he was determined to prove his wife wrong -
The lake was alive with excitement as if the trees themselves
Were watching every second leading up to the arrival
When the line broke.
Categories:
duelling, adventure, life, nature, people,
Form:
Narrative
Exorcist -
i need an exorcist...
for Lord, i am possessed -
there are two souls trapped inside my chest,
entwined like duelling snakes...
their conjoined clamor drums in my ears,
shaking me from the pit of my
belly to my aching skull,
they struggle against each other
like squabbling Siamese twins -
beleaguered inmates they are, prisoners in my body's jail
they are rivals for my heart -
that never give up the fight.
24/7 they disrupt my life, rattling their sabers against my ribs...
nameless, faceless, nonetheless i know -
one of these souls is mine - i think - but the other...
the other soul is yours.
oh ho yes! i didn't escape you darling;
that day at the airport, when our romance crashed and burned,
when i turned on my heel and walked away (without a backward glance)
i may have left your body behind, your corroded spine
and weak-willed heart;
but your soul tagged along for the ride.
interloper...
you slipped in through my lips and lodged yourself
in that little space between my diaphragm and my heart.
now there you sit, hunched like a goblin,
with streaming black hair...
and out here in the waking world, i can feel your influence
overwhelming me...drowning my feeble reality.
my soul isn't strong enough to fight...
and now I'm turning into you.
your long unkempt hair is mine, snaking in blonde tendrils
down my ramrod spine...
your rock tees and tatts decorate my milky flesh,
your music pounds in my head, subverting the focus of my life
to the darker side, where the cookies are hash and the milk
is laced with Russia's finest...
worst of all, the image of you is no longer just a harsh memory,
but a painful presence permeating every fibre of
my aching heart.
i wish i could forget you, i wish i could be free...
but with this parasite soul of yours buried inside,
freedom is just a hopeless dream...
a flimsy fantasy...
Categories:
duelling, angst, introspection, lost love
Form:
Free verse
Mum said "birds of a feather flock together"
so I searched for a man who liked similar weather
until Dad stressed "opposites attract"
and I tried to determine just what I lacked
"Small packages", Mum said, "held the best things"
so I looked for a humble guy with diamond rings
until Dad said I should find a real go-getter
because it's a fact "the bigger the better"
When I fancied a guy from amongst the herds
Mum said "action speaks louder than words"
but Dad said this advice should be ignored
because "the pen is mightier than the sword"
Mum believed men should be kept closely entwined
because of the saying "out of sight out of mind"
Dad urged I give them space and make them ponder
because "absence makes the heart grow fonder"
I worried how I'd react to being charmed
Mum emphasized "forewarned is forearmed"
The male perspective gave my ego a hit –
Dad said "cross that bridge if you come to it"
When I found love the saying Mum liked to push
was "one in the hand's worth two in the bush"
Dad said "there's always time to be the faithful wife"
and persuaded me "variety was the spice of life"
I struggled at courting and was getting old
but "you're never too old to learn" I was told
However my confidence was hit for a six
when Dad said "you can't teach an old dog new tricks"
"If first you don't succeed try, try again"
this was Mum's attitude toward courting men
Dad's radically differed of course –
he told me not to "flog a dead horse"
My parent's advice couldn't have been sounder
for I found a genuine all rounder
but I hope he can live with the reality
I now have a split personality.
Categories:
duelling, hilarious, humorous, marriage, relationship,
Form:
Rhyme
Inspired by the Alphabet Soup Contest which I missed out on:
Calling on my lover
Duelling heart now recover
Emotions filled to brim
Flowing over the rim
Gleefully giddy in thought
Having found that sought
I for you ready
Just sure I'm steady
Keep company all lifetimes
Laughing past hard times
More may come but worst is gone
Now in joy we face new dawn
Out of trial's ashes formed our jewel
Photo memory lest I revert to fool
Question love none will ever
Requited love none can sever
September 14, 2016
Rules:
- 1 rhyming poem with a minimum of 16 lines and a max of 20 lines.
- Whatever letter that your first line starts with,
the next line must start with the following letter of the alphabet,
and continue in that pattern to the end of the poem.
- Your rhyme scheme can be rhyming couplets or abab or abcb.
Categories:
duelling, emotions, feelings, writing,
Form:
Couplet
Lost in my thoughts,
A town of horse draw carriages,
Two gentleman's duelling,
Shots being fired one gentleman dying.
A woman's screams
Full of hurt,
has she drops to her knees and sobs uncontrollably.
Town people go on with their day
Has her heart break cry fill the air and floated on the wind,
People said that the earth felt her pain.
Has the birds took flight.
The ground rumbled and day turned to night,
Rain poured out of the sky
like the stars cried.
written by Davina browne
08/10/2015
lost in past life's
Categories:
duelling, feelings,
Form:
Light Verse
The utter splendour of garden life
Encompassed by nature, calm and serene
A sanctuary away from all that strife
What a pleasure it has been!
Wondrous sounds competing all around
With eyes closed, I listen in
Standing barefoot upon grassy ground
A blissful deluge has me in a spin
A lonely droplet descends from above
Splash! A pond ripples of a glistening fluid
Hidden within a small meadow grove
A droplet lost in a swirling multitude
Ponds, hedgerows, and colourful meadows
An array of habitats, for one and all
The river sparkles as it flows
A falcon glides, I hear his call
Duelling dragonflies have set the scene
Blooms of yellow, blue, and vibrant lime
And all the hues found in between
A magical moment captured in time
This enchanting space touched the hearts of many
A slice of heaven for all who stood within
A defining place along my spiritual journey
It resonates deep beneath my skin
Categories:
duelling, garden, happiness, imagery, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
Displacement.
Slow motion memories;
A conscience pricked, in pictures; develop,
And are delivered to the senses, on
The white wings of the winter wind.
It blows lazy! And sharp; skin parts bare,
Bristle in shivers, woven close and damp.
This wind, sweeps withered leaves, drifting deep.
Collecting amongst names, stoned, and forgotten,
They lean on the edge of forever.
But! There is hidden memory,
Locked into the leafy dew rot; oaks are,
Acorning amongst frozen Angels.
Abandoned by pew-less warehouse chapels,
Bramble tied tight, marbling alone, and time-stained,
Various Devils seek to hide in, corner-less walls,
Rooks rise startled, duelling sharpened beaks;
Alone in the slanted mist, the weathercock rusts; and drips,
Each dawn, is nearly north, and south is, very - still.
Stumbling steep, the smell of slipping stones;
Sulphuring piquant; underneath, boot clad feet.
Further has become further than far away, for ghosts,
Pushing through slipping time, journeying on,
Sweet water foams white, cools lips, and falls away.
Sparkling distant in the light of blind lanterns.
The call of home rides on the darkened wings of eve-fall,
And we-fall, further into the feather filled dream pillow.
Safely parcelled in a cloak of starry skies, with heavy eyes;
The hymns of Owls lullaby limp limbs, bound for sleep.
Childhood silhouettes washed faint fly beyond hills of hours,
Swimming against the tide of youth, pyjammed in night sweat.
Categories:
duelling, fantasy,
Form:
Imagism