Best Eschew Poems
YES DEAR!
I have here an old solution
For conflict resolution
Not to mention domestic pollution
I say 'Yes Dear!'
When the situation is tense
With a subject like pounds and pence
To avoid sitting on the fence
I say 'Yes Dear!'
Though I sometimes feel sure I'm right
And would argue my point all night
That would really seal my plight
I confess Dear!
So winning my point I'll eschew
Won't debate 'til my face turns blue
I'll admit what you say is true
- More or less Dear
Famous men throughout world history
Would avoid conjugal misery
If they'd just given in to Her plea
And said 'Yes Dear!'
Julius Caesar would have stayed serene
In the senate missed a nasty scene
When his wife said 'your chariot needs a clean'
He'd said 'Yes Dear!'
Harold might have continued as king
Sent William home without a thing
But he paused when his wife gave a ring
Said: 'I'm a bit pressed Dear!
MacBeth would avoid so much strife
And live out a peaceful life
If he'd put off his ambitious wife
With:'Give it a rest Dear!'
Prince Albert a faithful consort
Gave Victoria his total support
And nine children - a major export
Said 'Jawohl I do mein best Dear!'
Louis 16th got everything wrong
Made his exit quite short, not so long
Told his wife in a touching swan song
'Must get it off my chest Dear!'
The Iron Duke was in no mood for dallies
'Let's give those French a pain in their bellies'
But when his wife said:'You'd better wear your wellies'
Said: ‘By God! Yes Dear'
For myself, to fight would be absurd
I think conflict is just for the birds
And I know I'll always get the last words
Those being 'Yes Dear!'
3 March 2019
Make me actually LOL 2 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Nina Parmenter
Oh, mild flower I chanced to meet,
A ruby red, yet so discreet.
She'd never seen a hue my blue.
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
Her fragrance wafted on the breeze,
And all were drawn to her with ease.
I put down roots near her and grew.
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
Though in her garden all seems well,
there still are things she hates to tell.
Her thorns, a shield, conceal what's true.
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
Beneath her thorns, resentment grows.
Disturb her and her petals close!
I learned too well what could ensue. . .
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
A casual remark was said.
Her ruby rose turned scarlet red. . .
I guiltless pled. Did I misdo?
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
A fury she had kept so deep
had been unleashed; it made me weep.
Retaliation cut me through.
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
A leaf of peace she offered me:
Be friends, but only partially.
But I refused and shall eschew
Sweet deathly rose that I once knew.
Woo the woman
Love the lady
Mellow the maiden
Manage the maid
Garnish the girl
Dazzle the damsel
Bar the bimbo
Latch the lass
Silence the siren
Moor the mermaid
Net the nymph
Madden the madam
Tame the tart
Court the courtesan
Nudge the nurse
Null the nun
Shun the spinster
Strap the stewardess
Venerate the virgin
Vex the vixen
Vacate the vamp
Curb the coquette
Con the concubine
Whack the whore
Whip the wench
Pooh-pooh the prostitute
Slam the ****
Harem the harlot
Screw the shrew
Dally with a divorcee
Eschew the enchantress
Wallop the witch
Garb Godiva
Jail Jezebel
Lambaste Lilith
Dump Delilah
Gore the Gorgons
Harness Hecuba
Xpunge Xanthippe
Wed the widow!
~03/08/2013
~Contest: Your Personal Favorite #2
~Sponsor: L Milton Hankins.
The clock chastises me,
as painted petals bloom brilliance
in illuminated wonder that attempts
escape from the hidden crevices
deep within my beleaguered mind.
The beauty I seek is but an allusive dream,
flowing rags of worthless chattel
that fill me with words, heavy, like stone,
my rhymes but pointless emotional prattle.
Yet, still my need must pursue that dream
to create another verse so sublime as to define
me as me in a world filled with poetic doppelgangers
and, so, I write just one more sad, lonely line.
"Extant nectared incense she lit, burning inside, slow but alone,
Arrogant me, let her leave, as here I sit, awaiting the unknown."
Clever, perhaps, but are my words,
like the melancholy song of the lonely Lune,
beautiful?
Geez, or should I say jeez, no Cuneiform here,
shall I try once more...
"crystalline sparkles
achromatic winter jewels
spring paints with colors"
...to bring out in me that which,
through these many years of seeing
my world ravaged with emotional upheaval,
still, in its turn, allowing me to experience
love and enchantment from eyes
that held me in the warmest embrace.
"I see the storm as rage engulfs those lovely eyes,
the blue intrepid sea of passion's lost release.
Inside, the tears of torment flow to sooth the lies,
yet, pain remains in every moment's wish for peace.
As burning anger seethes inside of you
the path it seeks obscures your point of view,
and leaves the ragged scars of bitter love
left blurred like mist in sodden clouds above.
Emotional, these moments steal your gentle heart
and eat in to the darkened void that once was you,
but misplaced hate can not keep you and I apart,
when, with my shroud of love, your heart I will eschew.
I hope you'll see just how I feel for you,
for you are why I do these things I do."
Crap!
Total
crap I read!
and I chuckle
as I re-read it.
In a single sonnet,
iambic hexameter
and iambic pentameter,
the Bard must be turning in his grave;
I guess I'll have to try another day.
08/15/2018
Form:
My eyes were sorely struck when once they perceived
verity in your insightful words. Oh, how they grieved
when you chose to kneel low enough to kiss the ring
of a cunning being, whose unmerited praises you sing
My ignorance would have been a cliched state of bliss
if I'd not stumbled into great depth of a poetic abyss
'Twas with bitter regret that I unveiled your charade
No longer do I doubt the crux of a contrived crusade
With prudence and humble nature, you oft' disclosed
but a false facade was revealed and hubris exposed
As a poet you declared compassion and a meek heart
but sold your feeble soul for the nod of a counterpart
Poet, I hungrily supped at the banquet of your lines
but a person's integrity is one that genuinely defines
human value. From reading you, I refrain and eschew
Aware of your pretexts, I know what motivates you
*You may think I only post something on PS when I have a gripe, and I have when I've felt it was warranted. It's your right to believe what you will. My recent posts prove otherwise, but after very recently reading something that touched my heart in a sadly profound way, I chose to write about it instead of trying to forget that I saw the words. Writing has always been a means of comfort, solace and closure. This write serves as a dissolution for me.
vivacious roses pose
in air
oxygen free from the stem
arising like balloons
resurrection of rosies
blushing brides at peak
before their spoiling
before their mistreat
their passionate gowns sweet
wormy stems
await greening apples
Eden’s eschew
the ladies wave bye-bye
preferring the troposphere
fear of flying
ain’t there
angels, palms up,
invite their climb
up golden stairs
heaven is a lighthouse
waves crash on dry and crusty land
petals fall like rain
dowry to the grooms
wives look nothing like the brides
kites tied to home soil
desperate for heaven
a few grooms
smooth
the bed
water the roots
the rose thrives
2/24/2021
*Salvidor Dali’s Bleeding Roses
Wright, write right
Real men eschew fright
In this place, wrongs are right
Traditional rites in daylight?
Expose how that day turned night
In that pen there is might
Take a step with great delight
Right things be written right
Include that supernatural flight
Get thy vision shinning bright
Heave up thy humdrum sight
Think deep and be a knight
It could have been me,
It might have been you.
Race and color is baloney,
When another hurts you!
Three huge men, watched
a New York woman die.
They even shut the door.
I was both angry and wanted
to cry.
Her face was smashed by his
gigantic feet.
But those three men, who did
not a thing, explain that to your
maker when His face you meet!
It's easy to stop disaster... stop
being a wimp!
Open your mouth, distract them,
don't be a useless gimp.
Here's a simple ploy, that stops
any bully of a man!
Yell......"Your fly is open," he
becomes dis-manned.
I did that myself on the streets
of San Francisco!
A man beating a woman in
broad daylight, oh?
Blood flying just everywhere,
pedestrians ignored it?
I just got in his face, told him
to stop hitting her this minute!
Don't ask me where that courage
came from!
I just saw pain and wanted to
stop the bum!
He swore at me, in words quite
unintelligible!
Turned angrily away, and ran on
the double.
I helped the woman pick up her things.
She said, thank you and went about
on about her meanderings.
"Don't be a wuss, and ever allow another
to be beaten!"
Being a good Samaritan means you are
a credit to the human race.
Something that neither time nor age can
ever deface!
When police are not in the area to assist
you....
Support your fellow human,
Walking away, I heartily eschew!
Perhaps it was two beatings, I endured in
Chicago Public Schools?
That gave me the courage to make protecting
another, my life's golden rule!
4/1/2021
~5~
My dreary life shunned, a chance to escape;
atop glacial peak, glorious vision.
Oasis amongst the frigid landscape;
found sanctuary, almost Elysian.
Colorful fish dart, despite intrusion,
in clear blue water of idyllic lake.
Grand oaks' enclosure heightens seclusion,
if this be a dream, no wish to awake.
Surmount gnarly trunk, in bosom I nest,
relax for a spell, savour treetop view.
Ponder existence, I truly am blessed;
alas, paradise, soon time to eschew.
'fore starting descent, 'fore limbs are unfurled,
shut eyes and breathe deep, absorb nature's sounds.
This close to Heaven, at top of the world,
touch of Creator supremely resounds.
------------------------------------------------
(C) 12th May 2017
ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GHGH rhyme scheme
10 syllables per line (howmanysyllables.com - but had to remove apostrophes in fourth stanza as it was mis-counting)
For Brenda Chiri's Mountaintop Lake contest.
(3rd Place)
Used the following word(s):
#1 treetop view
#2 colorful fish
#3 clear blue water
#4 nature's sounds / sounds of nature
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Silence is not always precious made in gold
In fact can be base alloy: dull and cold
Gleam gone dim, for the lack of active burnish
Now withheld - the living spoken words that furnish
On the nonce, response that endows communication
For that, in essence, is our spiritual libation
The substance of our lives as social beings
How sad, we eschew this act of spirit freeing
Each one is as in an insulated box
Transformed with a machinery that mocks
In imitations mechanist that don’t embrace
Most live exchange that could be face to face
Ease of access comes with loss for which I’m vexed
Sending isolation messages by text
23 April 2018
We made a trip to town today
And took West Mountain Road.
My friend and I prefer that way
Back there, where time has slowed.
We drove past farms in rolling hills
Where cattle grazed in shade
The creek we crossed wore summer frills
A flowery masquerade
Huge towering trees were thick as thieves
Which hid us from the sun
Still on occasion, through the leaves
He'd tag us on the run
"round hairpin curves, slowed to a crawl
As slow as one would walk
Protected by an old stone wall
Ignored by squirrel and hawk
We reached the summit way too soon
Rewarded by the view
The height and beauty made us swoon
One reason most eschew
It was a roller-coaster ride
We marveled at our luck
A quick descent down the backside
Wind swirling in the truck
We coasted all the way downtown
To shop and grab a snack
Then raced before the sun went down
To take West Mountain Road back.
By Daniel Turner
I've never had a manicure
and yet I'm still a man
Though my fingernails are ugly
you should see my tan
Please don't suggest a pedicure
I don't need lovely toes
Fishing knee-deep in the river
they're apt to decompose
So I eschew the 'hair salon'
for ye old-fashioned barber shop
Where my man Floyd still uses
scissors, broom and mop
Were I adept at shape-shifting
I would avoid shadow-lifting
And eschew re-gifting,
I would spend more time sifting
Through forms more befitting
And most likely give up babysitting!
Were I adept at shape-shifting
I think I would consider quitting,
Or at least admitting,
Shape-shifting is hair-splitting
All things possible permitting,
And take up crochet or knitting!
HONORABLE MENTION
Written May 15, 2022
The old, relaxed; we pour ourselves a glass.
There is no need to stretch or change our way.
We know the flavors here; the only task:
ensuring it is just like yesterday.
Like sediment, this attitude does weigh;
we lie immobile, deign to be disturbed,
exchange bouquet for residual gray,
our appetite for joy, completely curbed,
our thoughts reserved to naught but that which is deserved.
Thus, when it comes along, we’re unprepared;
our skins are too inflexible to grow.
The thought of making room just leaves us scared,
so we eschew the new for what we know.
That which does not comport, we must forego,
and in this way, we struggle to survive;
our aging, brittle walls, like Jericho,
must be torn down to breathe, to come alive,
for we were meant to stretch, that we might truly thrive.
A leopard cannot shed its spots alone;
a dried out husk cannot make itself new.
The old man must be utter overthrown
before with new wine he can be imbued.
The old skin, by a Word, banished from view,
no longer to restrict and much annoy;
a transformation occurs through and through:
the old man dead, a child of God, a boy
who bubbles forth in endless, effervescent joy.
----------
Musings on Matthew 9:17
These are Spenserian Stanzas, 10A:10B:10A:10B:10B:10C:10B:10C:12C
Beware the tenderness of anyone’s toes
Especially that of your friends and foes,
For pain, they say, is its own reward
Can be magnified with additional woes.
Carefully measure your daily deplored
Consider exactly what you can afford,
Wise to keep in mind the old, old saying
A pen is mightier than the sharpest sword.
Eschew the obnoxious mouthy braying
Think about those words you are saying,
Not easily embracing mundane compliance
Your time better spent in earnest praying.
Be skeptical of those who seek alliance
For they have capacity to offer defiance,
For your actions they do not think right
When you are seeking a friendly reliance.
Be aware, my friend, of every slight
Keep both friends and enemies in sight,
And walk your own paths in caution
Especially when strolling in darkest night.
Edited and re-written October 3, 2021
(not for a contest)