Best Entrenched Poems
It was magic beans you placed in my hand as we held
Ones you nurtured, embedded deep within your love
I know because it tormented me with euphoria planted
Stalked me earnestly with your charming advances
You know I climbed walls 'til next you stood at my side
When you occupied me and I began to grow, the eclipse
Was gigantic, extraordinary, a wanting wildness sublime
You were my mystical hen, the one who laid Golden Eggs
You made our home a majestic castle suited for royalty
It was magic beans you infused in my hand as we held
Made me spin searching for a long pole to slide down
Escape with you my loving wife from the Giant Ogre
Inside me, I who feared commitment, a long time alone
But now you are the only enchantress I need or crave
And when it is my turn to die, take with me to the grave
The feel of you deeply rooted beyond my meager frame
From the soil above my coffin will grow beyond the sky
The largest plant with leaves shaped in awe of our lives
Steps beyond the clouds you'll find me playing my harp
An angelic music and song that will herald our union
Speak of our story in fable for children's open ears
Adapted to capture their imaginations, inspire them
Lift a glass in cheer to magic beans entrenched in you
01~12~2015
Maurice Yvonne
Sponsor: Poet Destroyer A
Contest Name: Magic Beans
Categories:
entrenched, love,
Form:
Free verse
Time marched ahead relentlessly,
While I was unaware.
I jogged around the corner and
Old age was waiting there.
I didn't want to meet her,
But had to be polite.
She said she'd like to stay with me,
Perhaps just over night.
I let her stay, " Oh, woe is me!"
She hasn't gone away.
She brought such heavy luggage that
I fear she's here to stay.
A satchel full of aches and pains,
A bag of moans and groans.
She is becoming so entrenched
I feel her in my bones.
She follows me around all day
And spoils my appetite.
If I escape to early bed,
She awakens me at night.
Take my advice dear younger friends,
Don't stop to tell her "Hi"
If you should catch a glimpse of her,
Just keep on jogging by.
Categories:
entrenched, age,
Form:
Rhyme
I dreamt of blue birds
and buzzing bumble bees.
I roamed with the bison herds,
prayed with mantis on our knees,
and butterflies in the breeze.
I greeted the cheery chickadees,
dragonflies, and snowy owls.
I marveled at graceful manatees.
raucous sounds of guinea fowls,
and warblers’ velvet vowels.
I raved at ravens
dancing on a fertile field.
Mice sought havens,
safe shelters that red ants build
in hopes from spiders to shield.
I spotted rain-drenched
autumn leaves in tapestries,
their beauty strangely entrenched.
Purple hues imbued in varying degrees,
of gladiolas and sweet peas.
So many perfect pleasures,
many another than these.
All of God’s treasures,
created with love to please,
arranged to calm my world with ease.
Categories:
entrenched, animal, bird, dream, environment,
Form:
Rhyme
The folly of the fight
These four walls; such contemptible and wretched creatures-
mock me, taunt me, deride me as weak and worthless.
I am shackled to the two evil twins-Misery and Myalgia.
As I wrestle with my afflictions, I throw tantrums-like a feral beast
charging towards the drawn sword.
However...I succumb to the inevitable.
I sense the folly of the fight and submit,
although-unwillingly to this intransigent,
auto-immune disease.
How do you fight an enemy entrenched in your marrow?
This enemy is urging me onward on this death march,
and it is unrelenting in it's insistence.
Death, at times, feels like a release of sorts,
but I could never indulge myself in such disgraceful folly.
The pain is intractable, inscrutable, but...
I soldier onward... until the end.
August 07, 2020
John Derek Hamilton
Categories:
entrenched, body, how i feel,
Form:
Free verse
Flowers Emerge
Impose your will on the pretty flowers as you may
Trans-formative wonderment of nature
Entrenched, defiled, they pop up any way in clusters
Vivacious are the colors above the solid stem
Cut cold to death, decay and pain, to follow winters grip
Excellence defined in the ability to survive
Dangerous are the forces that persist to derogate them
Yet they prevail against all odds
Death comes but they regenerate
Grass is their shield. Dirt is their pillow there
Negative winds carry with them ice
Reds and yellows grow on below the sun
Visceral, strangled roots, fragile faces, petal soft, grow cold
Ingenious species, green with envy on the leaf, rise again
A Cacophony of nature’s birds and bees disturbs the peace
Flowers come in abundance, remain, friendly on the green
Distinguished in divine fashion, exquisite, generous to the last
Elevated smiles on pollen grains contain the seed of life
Flowers emerge, aware of life
11/22/14 Poetry Contest - "Encounters With Flowers"
Categories:
entrenched, appreciation, beautiful, beauty, creation,
Form:
Free verse
Memory or dream from hell I cannot tell
The vision of stygian forests where harpies dwell
And men from them among men spawned
Greedy gullibles that on pagan mysteries fawned
Evicted from stygian caves to wander bared
Of human comport and yet in human shape
By cultures of war in Cerebus’ loath prepared
These monsters of men defy, steal, kill, rape
The African land still, and virgin virtue defiled
In all her children stolen, manacled, despised
Toss upon dread waves like dead meat, disguised
From pity of sharks, innocence, kindness biled
By the same fiends frantic at the Judean cross
And this colonial evil is unsurpassed in dross.
They should have known such deeds are wrong
If they had known we are people too, and he
The Eternal light, the bringer of the griot's song
How they murdered him in grim glee of prophecy:
When each of us are enslaved or kill, he dies
Again in that wickedness entrenched in vanities.
Categories:
entrenched, historymen, men,
Form:
Verse
the injustice of
the powder blue box
standing proudly
on the corner of
fifty-seventh and fifth
A symbol of division
extending the partition
between wealth and
everyone else
back around the way
the old shabby
half shingled house
was home to the
second hand charlie brown
size thirteen shoes
worn by
the size thirteen girl
sitting on the second
stair stoop
when she was just thirteen
no one heard her scream
no one saw her run
and hide in shame
under the rough wool
of poverty that had never
comforted or warmed her
her playgrounds were
clotheslines for volleyball
and cracked tarred side streets
for hopscotch
forced to scratch and climb each day
up through that
crammed and crowded pit
fighting to reach the light before
the trap was sealed shut on the door
there’s a quota, you see
only some will be allowed
a chance to be free
everyone knew
most will not make it through
the others doomed
to return and make do
forced to accept
false narratives and
live by corrupted rules
but just remember
the megaphone
fed down into the abyss
is an acoustic indoctrination
and it never ceases to play
“two plus two
equals four”
a deliberate
echo to trance
the suffocated poor
yet one percent
know the real truth
two plus two
equals anything
you want it to
entrenched in power
they refuse to let go
protecting the system
they must maintain
the status quo
so she stands in line
to make the climb
determined to reach
the top in time
she knows her freedom
is just beyond that light
as she hears the trap door
slam behind
she feels the warmth
of destiny on her face
knowing that countless others
are left behind
trapped in a sinkhole
of poverty and oppression
in a mental cage
that denies their rights
Categories:
entrenched, life,
Form:
Free verse
My world changed so fast
that it caught me off guard.
I never thought I would see,
the hate and pervasive bigotry
that exists in the world today.
And then, the internet came along
and shrunk the world to fit in your phone;
opening doors that were once closed.
But, at the same time
supplied every kook, grifter, charlatan, and conspirator
festering on the fringes of society, a bully pulpit;
to cater to a select audience of like-minded trolls.
Corruption, fear-mongering, peddling lies
and alternative truths,
are entrenched in our government,
entertainment, and news.
World War Three, which was once unthinkable,
is gaining favorability with the masses;
fueled by cultist propaganda and doomsday bravado
that spreads like a virus on social media platforms.
We are polluting the land, poisoning the oceans,
and brainwashing the minds of our youth;
without any regard for the truth.
I remember a time when people didn't lock their doors:
neighbors greeted one another with smiles and waves.
But today, I fear that we've been caught in the worldwide web
of a technological spider's electronic threads,
and sooner or later, we will be eaten.
Categories:
entrenched, america, anger, anxiety, computer,
Form:
Free verse
black hole lover
you are
and I,
a prisoner in your event horizon
an astral point of no return
trapped in perpetuum-
two captive hearts
wildly beating
out of sync
time warps, distorts-
cosmic love strings
unravel, become frayed
beyond repair-
despair
the universe
expands then contracts-
entropy inevitable
so too our love-
white hot then space cold
destined to spiral into
insatiable cHaOs
A prisoner I am
in your
salaciously spun silken web
and you
the black widow
enticing me, luring me
until at last I am at your
mercy
pleasure and pain make for an
alchemic, euphoric mix
but prey must be
devoured in the end-
evil fangs penetrate
my flesh
the poison in my blood
entrenched
delirium before demise
still, with my
dying breath
I whisper-
more please
Categories:
entrenched, romantic love,
Form:
Free verse
I’ve always been restless since I was a kid,
to settle near drives me insane.
I’ll just throw together the best that I can
what I own and be gone again.
Boxes long packed I had stacked in a shed,
are obsolete, so I feel that I have
to lighten my load for my road ahead,
then discover an old photograph.
Stopped in my tracks, I sit on the bench;
I look deeply into the face.
My eyes go all misty as I travel back,
to a little old weatherboard place.
Where I remember the warmth in the kitchen,
on those cold and wet winter nights.
Hot steaming soup; the open wood fire,
and the flickering kerosene lights.
How the family was close knit together.
We hadn’t even heard of T.V.
Chatting while eating our Sunday roast;
neighbour visits for hot scones and tea.
Bare footed we ran through the paddocks,
seeking out mud or a puddle.
If we came down with an ailment,
the remedy - a kiss and a cuddle.
Patched up were my breeches and socks.
Most ‘jumpers’ were ‘hand me down’.
I was so proud of my ‘new’ clothes;
showing everyone who came around.
Rabbit was our staple diet.
Trapped in the bush at the back of our home.
‘Chooks’ we kept for the eggs;
only eaten if we killed one of our own.
Blinking, I came back to earth;
took a breath and so pleased to find,
what I believed was forgotten,
is deeply entrenched in my mind.
Dormant I wait for the moment.
Something releases memories I have.
A tear falls and darkens a spot,
on Mother’s faded photograph.
Categories:
entrenched, memory, mother,
Form:
Rhyme
When symphonic waves crash on soundless shores,
Listen to the cadence of silent seas,
He's a virtuoso of voiceless woes,
orchestrating pre-written faith, at ease.
For every tainted tide, transpires a tune,
If you lend your ear to the unsung sighs,
perhaps sonorous currents too would croon,
amidst ringing reasons that fall and rise.
There's a fine song for every shipwrecked heart,
entrenched in rhymes from the soul of sand dunes.
Healing comes through searing sirens as art,
rhapsodizing themes of roaring runes.
As waters whistle, hushed air ricochets,
resonating the melody of a dulcet dove,
breeze beneath ripples rewinds and replays,
in divine dialects through language of love.
Whilst chorus of crickets swiftly unfold,
allow nature to compose musings of the ocean.
Words can only whisper deep scars untold,
in poetic crescendo, that translates intense emotions.
Categories:
entrenched, deep, emotions, feelings, inspirational,
Form:
Rhyme
Coach Dad
It is a magic time when a child ventures
Into the world, spreading wings,
Beginning the oft painful process
of moving from the nest to the sky.
And it is a fragile time, where first experiences
Weigh heavily on shaping the direction
In which young life begins to move
And often whether it moves at all
It is a trying time, of fear and nervousness
One little step out on their own
The start of something bold and beautiful
The molding of a young child's eye
Much is made of parents and peers,
Oft unaddressed is the role of others
Teachers and coaches, a collective entity
Not dissimilar from fathers and mothers
The torch of responsibility being passed
If only for a brief moment
No more clinging to the safety and comfort
of what is already a norm and known
Encouragement or unkind words
So often a matter of chance and moods
Have mighty impacts on growing hearts
Precious opportunities to help a growing life
Young minds and hearts right on the surface
We remember our coaches, good and bad
Caring or not, patience or none,
The struggles, thin times and thick
A team of seven year olds
Is not unlike a litter of unruly puppies
How will they ever pay attention?
Give them a ball, a glove, and a game!
Pride, courage, athleticism, self-confidence
All showcased for the world to see
Taking turns and building bonds
Grasping much more than a newfound skill
If you can stand to be measured,
and fail by that measure, even repeatedly
But come back from it, you'll forever have
One more vital skill in life’s toolbox
One youngster will not win the game alone
But the team can, and its joy
Is multiplied many times over.
All these things and more can be taught.
Whether it be on the field or off
Teamwork, respect and camaraderie
Will forever be entrenched in the mind
Of a well instructed boy or girl
5/4/16
© Tom Quigley and Tim Smith
Categories:
entrenched, baseball, children, growing up,
Form:
Free verse
Blood masks the lea, the blasted loam
upon whose breasts soldiers came home.
The earth, herself, held each to chest
the mist of sky killed with each breath
as ruined green became their tomb.
Men strafed by shells and gassed by fume:
cast akimbo, blown to their doom
entrenched, barb fenced; death coalesced;
blood masks the lea.
Eight million French, their valor shown;
most shy twenty lay beneath stone:
Russians, Brits, Italians, Yanks, rest
thirty seven million, our best
slaughtered and listed in old tomes;
blood masks the lea.
An Ekphrastic done as a French Rondeau
after:Flanders Fields by John McCrae
Categories:
entrenched, death, war,
Form:
Rondeau
Traveling twisting mind streams.
Grounded to earth that conforms to flow freely,
Gently follows carved curved paths,
Nothing can block its destinations track,
Tandem in movement supportive round ripples,
Rocks on which it rests and slides in tides,
Glides, eddies, and tumbles,
Calm in cool pools.
No strains against nor entrenched,
Conforms yet grows in light wide water windows,
Changes through time as it bends, it tends,
Cleans spiritual souls that mystic sparkling sight lends,
Turbulent, transforms with mounting energies,
Eternal shifts from small cliffs and life reflections,
Boundless directions share theirs,
Open to the currents creativity,
Positive energy flows and travels there,
Becoming aware, joined with passionate raptures.
~ William Wooding ~
Categories:
entrenched, fantasy, inspirational, nature, travel
Form:
Alliteration
She has strong shoulders and hands,
able to bear any burden
carried by a man
She possesses a firm mind,
a steely resolve that bends
to no Y-chromosome kind
Yet she retains the heart of a woman
My woman is she,
her man is me
The heart of this woman
is the bravest heart
I've ever been blessed to see
She has sturdy hips and feet,
able to move mountains
of entrenched sexist disparity
She keens an unbreakable will
Mistaking her femininity as a weakness
will leave you always fighting her uphill
It's a battle you can't win,
because you already lost
before the conflict even began
She had you pegged right from the start,
a macho bully ... not very smart
Get you unfocused, upend your apple cart
Diminish your ego and you will meekly depart
Did I mention that my woman has the biggest heart
The heart of a woman like her,
can't be dominated by no man
She gives her heart to me freely,
just as I give mine with loving reciprocity
Yes, she has the heart of a woman unchained,
my warrior woman she will always remain
Categories:
entrenched, identity, inspirational, strength, woman,
Form:
Rhyme