Best Extremis Poems
Besotted winged pollinators
roistering barrage drowned
amidst general insectivorous cacophony
indistinct auditory signals communicated
intermingled with bounteous wafting fragrance
midwifed edenic floral pullulation
sensate admixture viz colored spectrum
amidst unrehearsed extemporaneous
orchestral suite bedded lambs
amorous ewe man like bleating songs
nature all aflutter actively socially vociferating
profuse living color rainbow pastiche
teeming soundgarden smorgasbord
cornucopia ignites mordent Utopian aural swath
visual vistas stilling spellbinding
spilling riotous carpeted web
uniting doubting Thomas's existentialism
despite unanswered queries
asper diverse modalities each specie evolved
to survive despite countervailing destructive forces
generating plethora pandemonium ironically
promulgating harmonic exemplary convergence
Highland Manor concourse aflame with new life
parented by instinctive imprimatur anonymous patents
now genetic mapping usurped with untold outcome
analysis bred crispr discovery Earthlings fiddling
glorifies honied indemnity Judeo-Christian kudos
leaves of grass kudzo resistance mutation immunizes
biosphere once prolific differentiation shrinks
becoming monocultural setting virtual stage
catastrophe plus food shortage would become
global debacle predicated, sans virulent
viral and/or bacterial strain renting asunder
tripwire unspooling delicate webbed whirl
already widely compromised more so
since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring
*****sapiens population explosion
pits profligate predilections planet Earth in extremis
dire crisis cavalierly dismissed humans
in hot pursuit racking up superfluous wealth
dirty deeds done dirt cheap - tricking
mother nature, who will unwittingly
spring scrumptious feeding off scrimmage
forcing capitulation or total extinction
meanwhile fostering long tall floral inflorescence
a composite having sessile flowers
apiary abuzz, cuz queen bee
can no longer wax bereft of royal jelly.
Categories:
extremis, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Elegy
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
Categories:
extremis, war,
Form:
Prose Poetry
exclamation, which does nothing to stem dead locked high tide
proliferation of high-powered assault bazookas
manned by berserk cruel death eaters,
arch nemesis picks off life with a blip
simultaneously bipedal hominid(s) grip handily rounded dirk
as backup in case clip
misses mark, where siege mentality induces
nationwide sprinting into lockdown mode deterring by a drip
fiendish homicidal metamorphoses, where transmogrification
of generic guy wielding weapon subjugating hostages pits malignancy fill lip
mailer daemon hell bent on besieging bait (unaware
Snapchatting linkedin flickr ring beings) burst deadly quip
barrage of bullets malicious intent to spray
killing machines deliver click and rip
paying plenti deathly instagram howls amidst pandemonium,
thence funereal slip
epitaphs etched on tombstones proliferate taking souls to Hades trip.
Brutal and nasty nefarious scheme directed at humble lettered folks
(like those comprising my home town -
once evoked pastoral meme Lake Woebegone)
minding their p's and q's, when in extremis
out of the blue nightmare interrupts idyllic dream
a sudden bitta bing bitta bang rings terrorist catcall
followed by red tide and river of bloodied body where caskets
rendered veneer of dark wood within lies corpse,
pistol whipped, shredded and outkast, where mortician daubs creme.
Soundcloud boom echoes, thus occurs staccato sinister sonic strafes across
freshly fielded tombstone; pearl jam gray slate, some formerly anonymous
namesake, which underling, higgs bo son or daughter blitzkrieg cross
invisible trajectories shatter (at shutterfly speed),
democratic rubric rendered dross
disposable lives of society with senseless slaughter, whereat somber silence
pines nostalgia for Mill on the Floss
when life seemed innocent against gun metal gloss
wails of agony at another human loss.
Categories:
extremis, absence, dark, faith, hate,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
I Cannot Weight To Hmm...
Be Pressed By A Dumbbell
Two fifteen pound
steely danse sing
wrought iron dumbbells
ill-tempered, impatiently,
and intensely a weight
their turn to hmm... press me,
and forthwith dense trait
heavy handed prestidigitation
to yours truly, this primate
currently attempting
to craft sad excuse
for a poem, sans far fetched
notion, aye trite re: late
engendering, foisting, and goading
bizarre lifelike qualities
to inanimate solid helpmate
to build (and/or oven
just tone) muscles bitterly, painfully,
resignedly wince, where washboard
abdomen long a goner
impossible to recoup,
whar hide didst narrate
ting hours sculpting great
former Adonis build
on these, now nada so lovely
bones, and experience
spiritual strife to oscillate,
perhaps witness sing
angst to esse skill late
heady feeling healthy vim within
myself, how just
with verily at least dedicate
half hour exercise can be great
for body, mind, and
soul triage, otherwise...
basic gravitational laws
of physics gladly
hand me unwanted fate,
how gradually physique
will eventually demonstrate
flabby, droopy, and
unwanted addy post tissue create
ting another reason to berate,
castigate, emasculate, where
self repudiation will germinate
(albeit, thence in extremis), yours truly
doth relinquish fitness regime
resulting sparking, and taste
testing casus belli dictate
tête-à-tête, viz hasty
unconditional surrender to
a void mortal kombat,
which latter, would exterminate,
the forces of yin and yang,
re: lee (I rub hurts) loch cur,
thence finding me fraught,
(yule hiss see - uselessly)
grant ting soul
option to disintegrate,
in the event emotional civil war,
rents asunder every fiber
of mine being, which
wrath wracked wraith self destruction
twill woefully satiate.
Categories:
extremis, angst, appreciation, dad, endurance,
Form:
Free verse
an inner conflict dust brew
within this scribe, who offers ye to chew
(like sweet treats metaphorically) thee do
tee incumbent, when Doomsday clock
counts down minutes few
according Al Gore rhythm
unstoppably ticking,
when life gets turned to global goo
tenderized viz Doctor Zeus
if not Horton Hears Hoo
then most definitely The Lorax
(couching urgent morals underscored
by satellite photographs
showing melting icecaps or igloos,
which planetary sos, sans in extremis
requires joint effort of Gentile and Jew,
plus every other sectarian credo,
dogma, ethos...knew
clear family, and whatnot
to become linkedin with Linda Loo
yes, we moost not forget
Old McDonald with his moo
moo there bovine creatures
agedly hobbling along, or new
lee born, cuz juiced one day
per three hundred and sixty five
(six with leap year -
to appease ghost oh Rachel Carson
imagine dragons festooned leotard
with brand name Oroblu)
or poor ole Whinny The Pooh
eternally stuck in Rabbit's
hole sum Hutch as a queue
doth loosely form dreaming up and rue
mien hating solution
(burning the midnight oil) true
lee trying to remedy plight
of said bear character,
perhaps unstated message being woo
king in tandem solutions to resolve
wretched condition of world wide web
possible by bridging differences
between me and you, and you, and you...
Categories:
extremis, 12th grade, 5th grade,
Form:
Light Verse
It would be odd
but somehow comforting
knowing the exact moment
when I die
yet live on.
No, not a resurrection
or reincarnation,
but rather a destruction
of the facades I live behind.
Do you think what I see
in another’s eyes is real?
Or In the mirror each morning?
Do you believe that what
others see of me is the truth?
The answers are always “no.”
I am made of reference to myself.
I keep my true self from myself,
not even knowing who I am
until I am “in extremis,”
when I act without regard or filter,
when hard pain
or the pain of others
or death
or birth
or joy
or deep love
or touching God,
as did St. Joan inside the fire,
strips away vestiges of my last defenses.
I think about this:
To have a film,
made by some cosmic cinematographer,
capturing the instant
of subtraction of all my masks,
to be able to relive the moment
they are stripped from me,
to see the eyes that see me,
to see me,
to see it happen,
to know when it’s done.
Categories:
extremis, philosophy,
Form:
Free verse
On Dinner and hearing the news
Your soft touch, elbow to elbow, not withdrawn, steady;
An unnecessary head on shoulder in lament.
Casual glances, a quiet acceptance of the gift of food
The next night.
The inner tremor of excitement, that suppressed desire
Might be shared and returned in kind.
A hesitant embrace and parting kiss, no certainty,
No casual expectation.
And then doubt, insidious doubt, the intrusion of reality;
Followed by the sadness of self knowledge and
The inexorable truth of physical age, with the foolishness
Of mental self deception.
And then the starkness of life in its rawness and agony;
Life on an Indian street, whole family
Less those daughters sold or married as children
Into what despair and baseness?
Death, casual passing in extremis, just blood and bones,
To be collected and given rudimentary burial, to pass
Into history and be lost, unlamented, unremembered
A brief candle in the darkness.
What if we spoke our thoughts with no heed of consequence?
Would then a simple yes or no suffice, with no judgment,
Or unfeeling criticism or labelling as an unwelcomed intrusion.
An acceptance of true feeling?
Is our caution and anxious avoidance of exposure to others,
No more than an affection of superior sensibility?
Are we not, in truth, no more than a Calcutta family,
Contained within a few square metres of open pavement?
Categories:
extremis, death, social,
Form:
Verse
To Evil
You're apposite to Bad
Though abstract you are
We've seen your vivid actions
Through your acolytes
Your opposite, the Good.
Your rivalries long run forever
That one day -you will submit
To Godness- is not in your dictionary.
Your cohorts, men.
The way they succumb to you
Is not well known.
Some say it is destiny some say
They allowed you in.
Your utmost harm, death.
This you inflict on your enemies
And suprisingly even to your obedient goons
Have you ever thought of your coming death?
I don't know
But if not for your existence
Good will not be learnt.
Heros and heroines wouldn't have been known
Even the Saviour would have stayed up unknown
But for sincerity
Your bad exceeds your good
And still indestructible you think you are.
Your enemies, the inflictee.
Has always surpassed you with
Their beliefs by their sides.
Your devices, The inflictors.
Has always enjoyed doing business with you
But not for long they realise.
Most of them you betray using death
But few you lose to repentancy.
List, i will not, all your inflictions
On the world premier of which
Is Hatred.
People unknowingly wish
To see in extremis
To see you burn forever in inferno
There fore Evil, Evil i beseech you
Come not to me on what i have ecrit
Not to, not to me, i reject you
Please Begone!!!
Categories:
extremis, faith,
Form:
Free verse
1. Firm and old, aging forever.
2. Touching the hard surface
It blooms with the little things
Seeing my face, smiling as I do it
It’s small, simple, and working.
3. Roots are strong and tight
It binds everything together
Spreading far and wide
To the cores of the Earth.
4. Look at the tree’s bark, so jagged and uncertain.
Like a maze for ants.
5. Feel the bark, where the heart is
It’s the pulse of a sad tree
Knowing, Remembering,
and Soon in extremis.
Categories:
extremis, nature,
Form:
Other
Earth Day April 22nd 2024
I lament bidding Gaia's creatures adieu,
an inner conflict dust brew
within this scribe, who offers ye to chew
(like sweet treats metaphorically) thee do
tee incumbent, when Doomsday clock
counts down minutes few
according Al Gore rhythm
unstoppably ticking,
when life gets turned to global goo
tenderized viz Doctor Zeus
if not Horton Hears Hoo
then most definitely The Lorax
(couching urgent morals underscored
by satellite photographs
showing melting ice caps or igloo,
which planetary sos, sans in extremis
requires joint effort of Gentile and Jew,
plus every other sectarian credo,
dogma, ethos...knew
clear family, and whatnot
to become linkedin with Linda Loo
yes, we moost not forget
Old McDonald's with his moo
moo there bovine creatures
agedly hobbling along, or new
lee born, cuz juiced one day
per three hundred and sixty five
(six with leap year -
imagine dragons festooned leotard
with brand name Oroblu
or poor ole Winnie The Pooh
eternally stuck in Rabbit's
hole sum Hutch as a queue
doth loosely form dreaming up and rue
men ate about the old woman
who lived in a shoe
mien hating solution
(burning the midnight oil) true
lee trying to remedy plight
of said bear character,
hemmed in courtesy
*****sapiens population explosion
whereat their den only
allows, enables, and provides
cubby hole view
perhaps unstated message being woo
king in tandem solutions to resolve
wretched condition of world wide web
possible by bridging differences
between me and you, and you, and you...
essentially everyone
comprising the human zoo.
Categories:
extremis, 12th grade, america, appreciation,
Form:
Rhyme