Best Ensign Poems
ASP OF GRIEF
She buries her head upon this asp of grief —
soft with reptilian fangs, hard with poison.
Her covetous husband lies upon the Nile’s reef.
She holds her abdomen in her arms - his son.
with lunar belly...
the shape of her husband’s seed
...a fateful eclipse
The pit with its bone-chilling cold, hisses with hatchlings,
dreaming of spoiled seeds and seas with a vortex,
coiling around ships. A queen’s lips burn red, yearning for her king.
An abandoned wreck will not lay eyes upon his baby’s sex.
insanity’s kiss...
eyes burn with crimson lipstick
...unrepentant flames
She plays with sticks and desire, enticing asps of despair —
gorges with vampiric teeth. She embraces their mock
and likewise teases, beckons and pleads for death so fair.
Like a breeze about her ankles snakes snip her royal purple frock.
entanglement frays...
dyed purple threads unravel
...rigor mortis strikes
His candle ensign in the dark, a resurrected hero of vanity.
The light flickers with feet in the sand, footprints at lover’s leap.
His profile in death’s shadow, his purple passion of insanity —
laughter litters this carnivorous cave where ashes of dust heap.
alluring ashes...
Salome’s serpentine dance
...Cleopatra’s veils
The sound of a knife being sharpened, his sword with venom drawn,
leaps upon his self-righteous chest, a single blade’s deep penetration.
No handsomer lover, thighs of steel, tanned and craven brawn.
He lost his rapturous beauty bright and fleeting, weeds of veneration.
bilious-amber
mixes with his crimson blade
— a suicide pact
4/28/2018
Kirk: ‘Lt. Uhura, come to my quarters at 1800 hours’
Uhura: ‘Yes captain, might I ask what’s up?’
Kirk: ‘Nothing now but something WILL be at 1800 hours’
Bones: ‘Jim, is this a medical issue?’
Kirk: ‘You bet your ***** it is, Bones’
Sulu: ‘Captain, a Klingon ship is approaching’
Kirk: ‘Blast that sucker to smithereens, I got a date’
Chekov: ‘Captain, you’ll need protection on this mission’
Kirk: No problem Ensign, got a few here in my wallet’
Obi-Wan Kenobi: ‘May the force be with you’
Kirk:’ Thanks Obi, but you’re in the wrong contest’
Obi-Wan Kenobi: ‘This isn’t PD’s contest?’
Kirk: ‘HELL no, now SKAT will probably disqualify us’
Obi-Wan Kenobi: ‘Well, may the force be with you anyway’
Kirk: ‘Look Kenobi, nobody’s forcing ANYBODY here’
Spock: ‘Captain, I’m receiving a message from SKATfleet Command’
Kirk: ‘What Mr. Spock? And why do you always talk like that?’
Spock: ‘To qualify for the contest, the writer has to command the ship’
Kirk: ‘Damn it all! What the…FRONT AND CENTER WRITER!’
Writer: ‘Um…All hands on deck?...Anchors away?’
Uhura: ‘Ohh Captain KIRRK, it’s 1800 hours’…
Kirk: ‘Not now Uhura, I’m not in the mood!’
Uhura: Ohh Captain WRITERRR, it’s 1800 hours’…
Writer: ‘Kirk, you have the helm. I’ll be in my quarters’
Spock: ‘Fascinating’
Kirk: ‘Shut-up Spock’…
Tim Ryerson
Theme: Sexual harassment in the workplace
For SKAT’s contest
The mighty 3rd to the north did steam,
Chasing a ghost not to be seen
Guard the landing your task assigned,
Quiet the day is to be benign
At dawn the Imperial fleet does appear,
Surprise complete, ranging fire splashes near
Outnumbered and out gunned, duty is clear,
Close the range you must in spite of your fear
Laying smoke, a jagged course you take,
An account of yourselves you will make
Steel your heart and make sure your eye,
For each salvo keeps you alive
Toe-to-toe the battle, you exchange mighty blows,
Triumph impossible, yet into the fray you all go
In perfect rhythm, the mad dance goes on,
As smoke filled gunhouse loads powder and shot
Decks strewn with the dead and dying,
Teams repair to keep the ensign flying
Struck and struck again, yet to point blank you steam,
Hard to port, you cross the “T”
“All guns to fire at the turn, torpedoes away!”
The enemy scatters in disarray
Too late, mortal blows you take
To the deep, no more your enemy to rake
One final salute their captain does render,
For you fought to the death and did not surrender
On this all men do still agree,
These were the finest two hours of Taffy 3
*****************************************
On October 25th, 1944, 3 destroyers and 4 destroyer escorts of Task Force
Taffy 3 engaged a combined force of Imperial Japanese Navy battleships and
cruisers in a 2 hour running gun battle to protect the escort carriers and troop
transports taking part in the Leyte Gulf landings in the Philippines. Two of the
three destroyers and one of the escorts were sunk while sinking three
Japanese heavy cruisers and damaged three more. Due to the fierceness of
the attack, the Japanese fleet retired from the area thinking they had been
attacked by a much larger force. At the outset of the battle, the commanding
officers of these 7 ships, without orders, individually decided to attack and
headed at flank speed to the fight all knowing they would most likely not
survive the day. Almost 1600 did not. In a final act of respect, the commander
of one Japanese cruiser saluted the crew of an American ship that had just
sunk as his ship passed them floating in the water.
A subtle march hush saddles the valley
whilst dawn’s reveille is the seagulls call
staid water’s brim against ancient galley
once flew the ensign how the mighty fall.
For here she lie ‘o’ top of salty graves
where wretched souls ne’er see another day
their silver horizon the restless waves
that howls the sirens song of doubtful bay.
Long gone the storm the cries of emotion
of those whom hankered for a better life
yet still the tempest doth rule the ocean
to take at will the rights of man and wife.
Gone the prisoners of her majesty
damned to the colonies over the sea
the bay holds no bars grants them amnesty
their spirits to roam the ocean floor free.
There’s no one left to wail or shed a tear
to pen a shanty of that tragic hour
nor weave a poem of hysterical fear
build a monolith a marble tower.
21/06/2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 4 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Mark Toney
Built in a Belfast shipyard
for Shaw Savill ‘n Albion Line.
On her flagstaff wind ‘n lee
flew the Southern Cross ensign,
down a slipway to the sea
launched afar by Her Majesty
Behold her pale eau de nil
green ‘n painted hull of grey,
at twenty knots her rate
twenty thousand tons aweigh.
On the seas a ship of fate
the world to circumnavigate
Yon the Empire far ‘n wide
from Southampton to Trinidad.
Where from ship to shore
off I waved goodbye as a lad,
till in the distance I saw
my home to be nevermore
Smoke from her aft funnel
into a big Caribbean sky blew,
then set a course westerly
by merchant captain ‘n crew.
And to each port ‘n quay
across the ocean carried me
I remember gazing in awe
up ‘n down her length ‘n beam,
at the mighty waves below
and how sea ‘n ship did gleam.
In canal gates under tow
winding our way lazy ‘n slow
Crossing the equator I saw
Davy Jones ‘n King Neptune
rising up out of the deep
‘neath a high December moon.
Till in safe passage ‘n keep
back to the depths they leap
Out on Oceania as a boy
in the lido deck pool I did dive.
The Southern Cross ‘n me
would our long voyage arrive,
on in all her hope ‘n glory
the grand old lady of the sea
On final Far East voyage
would alas be her swan song,
beached on a tidal seaway
sold ‘n scrapped in Chittagong.
A line flagship in her day
stripped bare where she lay
Written: May 2017
One in a million, gazillion, bazillion
Worth more than gold dollars a trillion or a billion –
You are my beacon, a Christian, love driven.
No heathen, no herdsman, no huntsman or felon.
No elfin, no ermine, no coward or chicken.
No Klansman, no demon with madman's affliction.
No Gremlin, no goblin no devil dare action.
No draftsman, no doorman, no footman in fashion.
No henchman, no lynch man, no hack man or hangman.
No plowman, no pressman, no herdsman or ranch-man.
No oarsman from Dublin, or coachman from Britain.
No Cajun, no Haitian, no Frenchman, not Latin.
Not even a Martian with earthly transactions.
My hearts guiding light, my soul's satisfaction,
I know your great love by your kindness in action.
You read every thought and broaden my smile.
You stand close beside me mile after mile.
No hardship that comes can tear our love down.
Nor turn your demeanor into an endless frown.
Brought together by fate, marriage became our ensign.
We walk together on a straight and narrow line.
You are my fortune, my gladdening in famine.
My almsman, my sweetheart, you loved my tears away.
My one in a million, gazillion, bazillion
I thank God everyday that you came my way.
A gazillion, bazillion, and trillion thanks I send to you.
I promise that my love will never say adieu.
My Norwegian, I love you.
© November 12, 2010
Dane Smith-Johnsen
The fighting Temeraire
I fought at Trafalgar yet this is my reward
dragged to the scrap yard a dagger in my heart
The red ensign flew proudly by reputation was high
My crew and my captain spoke my name with pride.
Turned into scrap just for the cash
My history reputation just thrown in the trash
a nations national treasure turned into tins
just so a chancellor can balance his bills.
Now history as faded and so as my my fame
It's turners picture in the gilded frame
that keeps my exploits alive, till this day
I'm the fighting Temaraire the famous painting !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighting_Temeraire the painting !
05052016 comp entry
Confronting betrayal midst guilt admission
my soul accepts God’s instruction*
never redefining it based on my notion...
I'm warned of such wrong commotion
that can lead to my destruction---
Such gives my spirit peaceful jubilation!
Battling against conscience when holiness does shine
my soul succumbs to God’s design
stopping to pursue after my selfish dream sign...
I should consider that I can't resign
from the tasks to me He did assign---
Such propels my faith toward victory-ensign!
Facing consequence of disobedience when I'm incorrect
my soul is resolved not to neglect God’s project
and not to insist on my own prospect...
I take heed that I don't reject
His best for me in every aspect---
Such enables my servanthood of grand respect!
Overcoming carnal nature of slothfulness as His steward
my soul complies to God’s standard
while yielded to His strength for trust to soar upward...
I acknowledge pride’s pull downward
so I pray for His powerful safeguard---
Such shields my heart from arrogance-hazard!
Confessing total need for the Saviour for revival vigor
my soul worships God along His splendid honor
offering reaching-out deeds out from His loving savor...
I turn against worldly, fleshly ardor
to pursue after heavenly, eternal fervor---
Such frees my will against meaningless endeavor!
*Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
April 11, 2018
Edited on April 19, 2022
Rhyme in Didactic form
Featured as one among PS Poems of the week from February 20-26, 2022.
10th place, "Soul Betrayal" Poetry Writing Premiere Contest
Sponsored by Unseeking Seeker; judged on 4/24/2022.
On the 70th of VJ Day we salute the Forgotten Service the Red Ensign heroes
of the longest battle of all, the whole war: the only good war for Freedom's cause.
When a merchantman got hit, the employers' did a nasty trick, stopping pay on the
day, one in four of the heroes all died in the forgotten the Mercantile Marine.
Not just Brits served their time, but others from the watery the globe, of all
religions and none; some sacked at the end of the War, to go home to wars.
Let us raise a glass or two to all our Allies too and be thankful that former enemies
are allies and friends now, and remember Milton who knew a thing or two about
war: "Peace hath her victories no less than war" yet if we really have to fight that
we have the people and the ships and allies if we are in extremis.
Salute the Red Duster All.
athat let us raise to ons and nonether countries different of different otemn afrredom's cause long bloody
The train trundles on, leaving behind at each station a soldier with his own past
Heavyweight in its endeavours portraying its only passengers as its un-holy cast
Each face a palpable grey, their blackened eyes sunken within their vast sockets
Each sat at their given seats characteristically sullen, with their hands in pockets
One only feels the coldness, within each carriage that descended upon them all
As not one ice breath plume emanating from the mouths, or nostrils did sprawl
Lifeless grey of their eyes gave nothing away of their hell, or of the horrors seen
Of a war where no real moral understanding is ever found for any of us to glean
Each un-sung hero now taking his last journey home, each to its own eternal life
Each one given their own time to offload their burdens of the unforgivable strife
Only once the reality of what has happened did the train lessen its speed to halt
As the one last soldier left his seat, then upon the platform made his last assault
He was going home now, but with no lessening of the grey pallor within his eyes
His home a cold grave now, lying under the darken un-forgiving, harrowing skies
He had fought for his country with an unquestionable honour, lay now as forgot
His remains under a white ensign Portland headstone buried within its own plot
A young man with no wife, or child, just parents themselves long gone deceased
His secrets of the war held within this mound of earth remains to all unreleased
So if passing a graveyard, and upon your eyes a lonely regimental grave you see
Place a flower of remembrance and set a well-earned soldier from his sleep, free
True add verse situation,
whereat me mission
trans send dint state didst ache
after yours truly nearly
did nearly break
chassis 'pon took drastic
over corrective measure,
not quite August,
nor jejune piece of cake,
while rounding raised
curbed contra corner
suddenly felt wrath of wife quake,
viz passenger rear tire
gone flat as a pancake
impresario found myself
hearing Thus Spake,
Zarathustra, when in truth...
twas ma constricted trach.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Some weeks back
acting so cool and chic - bank
king all bravado, machismo
self importance, and frank
lee babbling like a cripple creek
off by a black key with Hank
Williams tune imagining
myself swaggering like a lank
key trump petting Don
(feigning faw being "Beefy") plank
walking lampoon able
laughingstock Freaky, thank
less as a lapsed worn eraser head
pencil necked Geek yank
key doodle dandy hood be
forced to do penance as cap
pit dull leotarded asinine
arthouse flop, where nary any words
(worth their weight in gold)
described my benign
behavior, NOT even
smattering of unflattering deign
nig grating hammock colorful expletives,
that would find an ensign
sailor to blush at my inept
shameless travesty over the line
utter in apropos totally tubularly
moronic juvenile mine
ness zero car raze zee antics,
didst drive my doppelganger nine
tee bajillion miles away in search
of another auto body – pine
ning for newer model
then a 2009 Hyundai Sonata sign
ning off contract with this
stunt driver wannabe
unimpressively try'n
to act the blithe dare devil,
while thee spouse didst wine
and scream more'n bloody Mary
as the gunned axle nearly broke
trying my damn nest to
"FAKE" dagger a type cloak
his husband resembled a fool,
where angels fear to tread didst evoke
unsuccessful, unstinting, and unsparing
unstrung epithets of colorful expletives
unsuitable for poetic folk
boot urgent prayer went out
to incredible Hulk
Hogan, and/or even the ghost
of Andre The Giant, this haint no joke!
“Good day!” Such makes hearts jubilant
While expressed with face that’s vibrant
Wishing all to be triumphant
Along the Lord’s light --- radiant.
“Peace be with you!” Words so joyous
Hope-filled against being anxious
Since the Creator is gracious
Granting sweet bliss, indeed precious.
“Take care!” Oh, verily loving
Easing the angst of the grieving
Cheering with compassion-driving
While reaching-out, and care, giving.
“God bless you...” echoes victory
Assuring goodness*-propped glory
Vanquishing downfall’s misery
For constant thankfulness’ story.
“That’s okay” with great thumb’s up-sign
Affirms faith achievement ensign…
For roles Almighty did assign
My special son nods, “Yes, I’m fine.”
*Psalm 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
April 25, 2022
1st place, "To lighten the load" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Angela Tune; judged on 5/9/2022.
a sure sign of spring
red stripes like glowing ensigns
the male marks his tree
New Zealand all over Sea and land,NEWS
On blood bath of Kiwi ever since her birth,1856
On killing 50 lives settled to fight their bellies battle
“Land of long white cloud” mean New Zealand
How truth this? 50 bodies lined up on land wrapped in white cloth like cloud,how meaningful the name New Zealand?
All of Asians,Africans,Middle East and more some went on God’s path still their cars in Christchurch parked!
They born in their mother lands to die to go as martyrs in their new other land
Those all let their lives at God’s palace on a Friday,a day of festival of poor in prayers holding tight the keys of Paradise.
They all found their path to walk direct to Heaven on aqua made red carpets just stretched all over the floors of mosques of Christchurch.
Destroys terror any land but in New Zealand terror went error to make this all plus land so blessed!
By nature a mother loves her all children alike Prime minister Jacinda Ardern and her all 4.8 million Kiwis proved in public adding some more letters to the definition what is love,affection and what is humane?
The gunman Godse killed Mahathma Gandhi to become popular the gunman Tarrant proved Jacinda Ardern a good ruler!
In the short list of world’s best leaders,Nelson Mandela,Lee Kuang Yew, Mahathir Mahmoud,Imran Khan,Tayyip Erdogan now Jacinda Ardern to last.
Madam PM you deserve a Nobel prize but poor Poet I can’t reserve for you it until the vehicle carry it get reversed.But one I can say to God to serve you the noble!
Madam PM your right hand is so soft to slap on the faces of the world’s best!
Kiwis proved by action what’s affection and what is peace to this world Oh,Pigeons fly away Kiwis now for peace!
Hats off New Zealand,the UNO thereafter for peace,ensign of New Zealand to fly high shining the four stars thereon to shed light to all the four corners of the globe!
Kate Mulgrew played Captain Kathryn Janeway.
Robert Beltran played her first officer, Commander Chakotay.
Tim Russ played the role of Lieutenant Commander Tuvok,
the show's Vulcan equivalent to Star Trek's Mr Spock.
Robert Duncan McNeill played Lieutenant Tom Paris ,
the starship crew's most expert pilot.
Garrett Wang played Ensign Harry Kim,
Kim was Lieutenant Tom Paris's best friend.
B'Elanna Torres was played by Roxann Dawson
the crew member's half Klingon half Human.
The endearing Talaxian specie known as Neelix,
was played by the actor Ethan Phillips.
Robert Picardo played the ship's medical emergency holographic doctor.
Jennifer Lien played Kes, a specie known as the Ocampa,
and last but not least my personal favorite character of mine,
the amazon, buxom blonde Borg known as Seven of Nine,
played most cerebrally and seductively by actress Jeri Ryan.
In my opinion it's the best Star Trek series adventure.
It ran for seven seasons; Star Trek's Voyager.