Best Elicits Poems
*
hold
on to
prayer, it
elicits
H O P E
***
Categories:
elicits, faith, hope, prayer,
Form:
Acrostic
CRAZE DURING FOOTBALL GAME
Up yellows; greens; reds and blue,
tell me! Tell me, who is through?
Passes. Crosses. Headers. Shots.
Volleys, blasters, more scissor kicks
tell me! Tell me, whose on the spot!
Ninety minutes with some overtime
eleven players playing in the field
each one targets to be World Champ!
The strikers and defenders immense
so are Audience claps, dance, rants!
Dripping sweat from turning, running
Tension rising! Twists are rocketing!
Audience wriggling, nonstop cheering!
Thriller, action, comedy plus tragedy,
Oh all are drawn by its classic drama.
Perplex hard attacks, clever corners
rise from a penalty or free kick yell!
Elicits an alarm to goalie keepers' eye
He in eagle's arms and kangaroo leap
Tell me! Tell me, has one scored a goal?
Around the globe, fellas or gents in craze,
amazed and tantalized by Football game!
_________________________________________________
Written 6th of July, 2018 @ 10:46am
Categories:
elicits, appreciation, football, love, sports,
Form:
Blank verse
"Swallow A Smile"
When it first started
which would be impossible to trace,
we've accepted the fact that a smile
is only worn for the face!
Realizing what elicits this gesture
is when we are thoroughly pleased
as the corners of our mouths
tend to rise with relative ease!
What if we took that feeling
and to make it more worthwhile,
what if we did something
so simple as this....
"Swallow A Smile!"
That's right!....
"Swallow A Smile!"
Send that feeling way down
to our feet!
Who wouldn't want
to feel that feeling!
"Man!, that's got to feel sweet!"
What's the worst
that could possibly happen?
A case of the
"Giggles"
as it goes down!
The very idea to
"Swallow A Smile"
sure beats wearing a frown!
Unfortunately the world today
is in such a turmoil filled state!
Whatever could help
to provide relief,
"Wow! Wouldn't that be great!"
There is something
that pleases everyone
and causes within great joy,
like watching a child
light up like the sun
when they receive a new toy!
So the next time
something good happens
and you want to feel
"like your rolling in the aisle!"
With nothing to lose,
go ahead, try it once!
Enjoy the feeling....
"Swallow A Smile!"
WTA-IV 3/22/2016
Categories:
elicits, humor, imagery, simple, smile,
Form:
Rhyme
A welcome sight the lights ahead - like misty globules on ink black foam
The billboard elicits a sense of foreboding - Welcome to the Midnight Bazaar
A lack luster moon adds to the mystery – nervously I enter to ask my way home
A familiar song plays in the somewhere, the name eludes me - how bizarre
Somberly dressed people scurry past- eyes focused on illuminated screens
Refusing contact, shoving past rudely as I ask where this place would be
One of them in riddles tells me - this is home - the place to be it seems
I wonder if the scales of reality have tipped in favor of insanity
A stall arouses my curiosity and I look as a butcher of sorts places
Bleeding hearts getting desired effect - starts a pushing jostling frenzy
Uninterested in the clowns on stilts with their painted morbid faces
Children walk with sullen looks - expressionless eyes that fail to see
Crowds clamor to buy sea food - how absurd - especially as a smell of decay prevails
Fresh produce on sale with dyed color bleeding and truffles of mud is there something amiss
A man wanders around with passports on offer - Buy yourself a Life - his sign displays
Relief at last - a stall with books and maps – here is my escape from this tainted Abyss
This God forsaken place is not where I wish to stay
And I must strive to leave it before the light of day
An exorbitant sum I pay eager to escape his cloying breath, his black toothed smile
A commotion at the far end - some sort of bidding - curiously I venture courage giving me wings
A sign proclaims ‘Souls For Sale’- in rage I scream ‘you cannot sell souls - This is so Vile ‘
Dark soulless eyes in chalk white faces – Bore right through me – Look right through me
I run screaming, falling, clawing the map that shows all roads lead back to this Hell - I scream
Waking myself - knowing the name of that song still in my head - Shaking from this macabre dream
Footnote:
This was not meant to be a pretty poem. It exaggerates the state of a world that has seemingly lost its focus and empathy. Let's not let this happen
Take a bit of Dean Kontz, Stephen King and the unnatural things going on with food enhancements and you have the stage set for a macabre nightmare!
Categories:
elicits, dark, dream, fear, scary,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
No encore demanded, I stand alone
No applause as I hang up my ‘microphone’
But what do they care, for no empty chair
Has ever acknowledged good tone
I took to this stage in a different age
I think then, the Stones were the rage
Yet, I’ve appeared here, daily for years
And sung like a songbird uncaged
But this, my last bow, arthritic now
Elicits no ‘Bravo’ or ‘Wow’
I gave it my best, my stage put to rest
A field I can no longer plough
For fifty years hired, tomorrow retired
This caretaker? No longer required
So thanks for the chance, to sing and to dance
Enacting the dreams I desired
My time to go, my time to rest
The silence now, inside my chest
Applause resounds, my lights go down
I take my leave, where I lived best
Categories:
elicits, death, retirement,
Form:
Rhyme
INNOCENCE
Once a child…
The thought elicits a slight warm smile
And I sit falling back for a while
Metamorphosis is gradual
Yet when clearing is realized -
what a strange revelization of self
With easy ignorant aspirations –
That so small self
Being molded shaped
Recognition is quick… but
Content?... Happy? … Angry?... Sad?
What makes me tick?
Mainly well at least partially
It must be expectations,,, expectations?
YES!
And all the developed conflicts surface
Flood my imagination… imagination?
YES!
Oh I was a dreamer
A prestidigitator
Of scenarios
With no thought of reality
(Reality contains an element of hope
Hope is universal) (Everyone knows that)
Coming – to
I shake my head
A head filled with chaos
I was a happy child
Now thanking God
For childhood innocence
Dave Austin
Categories:
elicits, child,
Form:
Free verse
He approaches fast
We bump - silly heart beats wildly
Him - lost in thought- No word of apology
We pass each other
He approaches fast
Eyes so blue - elicits soundless sighs
He stares - out into distant skies
We pass each other
He approaches fast
Sensual lips - beg a moonlight kiss
A dropped beat- my heart does miss
We pass each other
He approaches fast
New day dawns - new courage found
Courage flees - from lips no sound
We pass each other
He approaches fast
Gold tipped streaks - on hair of brown
He neither smiles - nor does he frown
We pass each other
He approaches fast
Hint of down - on a manly chin
Imagining stroking it - I hide a grin
We pass each other
He approaches fast
Convinced he’ll smile - eye contact meet
He hurries by - I concede defeat
We pass each other
He approaches fast
Smile he does - chatting on the phone
Pangs of hurt - He’s not alone
We pass each other
He approaches fast
I hurry on - with eyes downcast
A bump I feel - and look aghast
I look into the bluest eyes
My heart it stops
I groan
I die
A quizzical smile plays on his lips
Oh beating heart that soars and dips
And so this moment I shall seize
Forever in my memory freeze
We stand and grin- no words to utter
Still ----We don’t pass each other
Footnote:
School over and kids thronged a mall, where I sat sipping my coffee in a café. I couldn’t help overhearing some high school girls, loudly talking about their teenage crushes which prompted me to write this amusing poem. I’m sure parents of teenage girls the world over will undeniably identify with. Oh!! And of course Taylor Swift was one of their favourite singers.
Music video by Taylor Swift performing ‘You Belong With Me’ (C) 2009 Big Machine Records, LLC
Published on Jun 16, 2009 #VEVOCertified on April 16, 2011.
Categories:
elicits, crush, emotions, fantasy, teenage,
Form:
Verse
God does not play a child's game of hide and seek
You will find Him standing at the side of the meek
Do not search for Him behind a stone temple wall,
but He will hear your prayer when on Him you call.
Though His reply may not meet your expectation,
trust that He will guide you to eternal salvation.
His Holy Spirit is manifested when you're in need,
He sits at the banquet where on His Word you feed.
Inside a cavern is a place God would never dwell.
His presence is felt on mountain peaks, in each dell.
His home is the Heavens. Invisible to you He may be,
but you can find His hand in everything you see.
He abides in my conscience when I'm about to stumble,
and though I have free will, He helps me stay humble.
I hear Him asking me, "What path do you choose to walk?"
Fatherly advice, for I am a sheep in my Shepherd's flock.
When I read Scripture it's as if I'm listening to Him speak,
and I've felt Him wipe away tears flowing down my cheek.
He elicits every beat of my heart, for He gave me breath.
and He will be with me at the moment of my death.
Never, will I be worthy to look upon the glory of his face
for I am just a lowly daughter, and far too commonplace,
but I feel His tangible bearing when I need Him most.
Seek and you will find* that He is real, and not a ghost.
Since the time God created man and life had begun,
He's had no reason to conceal Himself from anyone.
From His all-seeing vision, none of us can ever hide.
These thoughts I believe, and in you I piously confide.
August 25, 2022
Where is God Hiding contest
Sponsored by Unseeking Seeker
*Matthew 7:7
Categories:
elicits, god,
Form:
Rhyme
The faintness of flight overwhelms me
boxed in caged, corseted, in a cattle car of the air
pristine bells and whistles cajole the herd
as the breath is cycled and recycled through the
bellows of plasticine and metal
germs jumping from orifice to orifice
knees crushing bosoms braced for the portent
the potential
the promise
of the fall.
Faintness elicits only minor response
from the tenders who un-tenderly steer the crowd
small moans garner memories of the mallet falls..
but fail to unseat the kindness
so needed..sought
watery eyes wave
and the floor seems the only safety
and still the settlers stay settled in their complacency..
neither rising to gift an aged woman with their perch
or commenting as she hits the floor
ah the joys of twenty first century flight
in the belly of Virgin America.
Categories:
elicits, adventure, allegory, animals,
Form:
Free verse
A cartridge filled with a horde of shackled emotions, am I,
Trifle feelings loiter within me, until she elicits them out,
Wizened by time, she knows that otherwise I might turn mordacious...
God guides my pen and has assigned her my way,
~ She is the vociferous voice of my heart ~
She knows my malleable moods and masterfully makes magic
By weaving whispers into wistful words,
~ She is the byzantine boon of my being ~
With cogent candor she cajoles me to compose poesy,
She and I share a companionable camaraderie...
In the mystical moondust of Maker's majestic mercy,
I acquiesce to her ingenious genius,
~ She is an efficacious eclectic enigma ~
For sometimes, she plays truant tricks,
Her surreptitious evanescence is a conspicuous conspiracy,
Abandoned, I have to await her august appearance...
The soft stardust of her sartorial splendor,
Renders me a mere puppet of her puissant prowess,
~ She is a phenomenal Phoenix ~
For she encourages me to endeavor towards excellence,
Her alacrity aggrandizes my acumen,
Having faith in her fortuitous favour, I flourish...
~ She is my God-given "gift of grace" ~
Her multifarious munificence is a monumental mystery,
She has transformed me from a fruitless flibbertigibbet
To a fulfilled female fount with her unfailing finesse...
~ She is my mysterious, magnanimous Muse ~
Feeling forever grateful to God for her grandiloquence.
5th January 2023
Categories:
elicits, appreciation, muse,
Form:
Free verse
A beautiful, colorful day elicits fantasy,
beginning with a dawn of tangerine-hued sky.
Envisioning a monarch’s wings fluttering,
into the sky with poetry I fly.
Lovely mellow noon offers pink quince
blossoming beneath a sky clear blue.
I imagine strolling with my love along a lane.
Romance, along with nature, blooms anew.
Radiant sun tumbles unabashedly violet
into its deep, mirroring, rippling sea.
I picture myself as a purple starling.
Winging beyond the horizon, I flee.
Lucid moonlit night opens pensively
as if it were a muse in a robe of bluish-gray.
One of myriad stars I now become,
wishing from Dreamland never to stray.
Categories:
elicits, day,
Form:
Rhyme
Except for the snow, it’s a monochromatic scene
The pond is frozen to a reflecting mirror finish,
In the fields there is not a speck of green to behold
Overall, the countryside is bleak in winter’s cold,
With clumps of sage punctuating the near pasture
The trees have given up their leaves in past autumn,
While a trickle of smoke is creeping up to a hazy sky
Onto the briery bushes an inch of snow has settled.
I can imagine the family gathered around a fireplace
The only vestige of warmth in the entire painting.
Livestock are locked securely inside a barn on the hill
All is serene in this landscape, though it elicits a chill.
written January 17, 2022
Categories:
elicits, perspective, seasons, winter,
Form:
Ekphrasis
Written: February 16, 2024
"Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought".
Quote by Marcus Aurelius
_______________________________________
We remain drawn to places we recognize well.
A mirage of lovely sights where dreams swell.
Rumbling rain clouds—odd swirls—rise at the pond.
Whirling thrill, an ecstatic genesis, swirling beyond.
Standing face to face, level with the moon.
Do poets and stargazers witness novel swoons?
In fierce verdict, the moon has closed its eyes.
If the sun stops beaming, how will moonlight arise?
The clouds cover the stars, and ideas sparkle.
Moon may decode terms by light dots in partial
You may be a flame or a mirror; both emit light.
Yet a flame must endure, rambling as glass blight.
Never shall the sun set, nor the moon rise.
Now it's time to detect without any prize.
Return the favor to those who wronged me.
Pursuing revenge, this tale is timeless history.
There is an outcome to every deed.
We are bound by Newton's laws of flow heed.
Entrails broken down resolve the algorithm.
Gaze upon your rambling in the same rhythm.
Sample my gilded projectile—hear the blast.
That inspires fear and mystery—peace is the cast.
Witness the radiant beams piercing overnight.
That stumbles in the blink—of an eyesight.
They draw to ramble in the void space.
With shades of deep, melancholic grace.
Antagonism elicits rambling to grow and thrill.
A mute bird flies and glides in their quill.
Categories:
elicits, allah, appreciation, character, deep,
Form:
Rhyme
In this new world, the reality of insanity
Elicits frail morality, losing deep values
To cuthroat urbanity. We thirst for quick fixes
And dismiss gentle formality although life
Grants humanity its spirit’s wholeness—
How can greed and power allow us to ignore
Kindness, simple vitality borne from Hope,
Our birthright amid mundanity? Is man’s dream
Caged in temporal inanity where success
Is appraised by materialism or arrogant fame?
Such brutality! We forget the path of compassion
As time forges on in despotic volcanity, while
Children grow imbibing a mentality that existence
Lies in crude profanity based on self-interest…
Where is love in this equation?A doomed fatality
Of modern times , perhaps. I wonder.
Contest: Word Challenge for Silent One
1/27/2017
Categories:
elicits, corruption, humanity, life,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
Northside of Chi-Town is full of emotion.
In the ‘45 Series Cubs and Tigers are battling.
Sianis buys two tickets to show his devotion.
Is booted ‘cause his billy goat won’t stop bahbling.
He curses the Cubbies and causes a commotion.
But spring is rooted in fans' love and devotion
Like lush, green, yellow, crimson, ivy will never
Stop growing. Year after year fans fear
Hearts will shatter but remain forever
Faithful chanting “Wait ‘til next year!”
Generations grow up cheering with great emotion.
Generations grow old enduring gut-wrenching loss
Bleeding among Lovable Losers time
And again, but no Cubbie faithful dares cross
To the Southside—it’d be a traitorous crime.
In 2003, faithful fans’ love and devotion
Promises fruition as Dusty Baker
Arrives Northside heralded as the Cubs’ savior.
But NLCS Game 6 at Wrigley is a heartbreaker.
Cubs need five outs but collide with a traitor.
Steve Bartman’s still in hiding; his name elicits emotion.
Castillo’s bat aims grenade over foul territory.
Cubs’ fielder Alou springs towards the heavens to snatch
But when feet touch dirt Cubs land in purgatory.
Faithful gasp: Curse of the Billy Goat sets a rematch.
Since that fateful day in ‘45 exploding with emotion
Wrigley hasn’t seen another World Series.
Since Bartman's affair in 2003, Cubs haven’t won
A playoff series. But Billygoat yaks to Mrs. O’Leary’s
Ol’ Cow an’ scoffs at the new scapegoat’s unearned run.
In 2011, after 91-losses, Ricketts proves his devotion
Adding the sabermetrics guru who now values emotions.
Epstein arrives at Northside championing human connections
Rebuilds Cubs’ roster with players who reverse the motion
108-years and character solves equation for a winners’ resurrection.
Hearts ripping open is a crushing emotion
But fans never stopped believin' in near
Foreseeable future ‘cause they’re loyal
Lovers and nothin’s as good as baseball ‘n’ beer
At Wrigley for 81 games on your own home soil.
Categories:
elicits, america, angst, baseball, celebration,
Form:
Rhyme