Best Familiar Poems

There I was standing, deep in thought  
You never crossed my mind,
Until you appeared out of nowhere

No warning,
just with that familiar smile,
Like you've been there all along
Waiting for me to look up

I was taken by surprise
The impact you had,
The impact you still have

On my...

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The teardrops fall like drops of rain,
splashing against your broken heart.
And subjected to years of tears;
paper promises fall apart.

Your fate is all too familiar;
you found the soulmate of your dreams.
And then, doubt somehow surges up,
initiating silent screams.

Reacting to fading feelings;
hope morphs into pain and remorse.
For...

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I’ve tasted betrayal before just like I have tasted lies
but each time it’s so bitter, the taste always a surprise.

I cannot expel this sickness you left to rot in my soul
the brittleness of your lies that made you lose control.

So I am left no resolution...

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"The Familiar"



Softly ever so Softly 
on hardened paws
Nemesis 
follows the 
Red Apple 
scent of 
Her sword
 
a peony pink pocket flushed
velvet violent violet viola 
playing
warm honey dripping 
from the pocket 
it buzzes 
as if with bees
and it burns

Softly ever so Softly 
on hardened paws
Nemesis 
follows...

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We are not familiar –
we are city dwellers.

We have passed each other
on crowded city streets.
Proud yellows protruding
through concrete cracks.
I have danced with “lady slippers”
in a shaded cluster of trees –
marveled at their footwork,
I have cheered the dandelion,
that tenacious little terror,
for its unrelenting determination
to survive our...

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The streets of yesterday, comforting
   The landscape of tomorrow, forbidding  

Familiar foods rouse fond memories
   Tampering with tradition, disapproval

My well-worn armchair's form-fitted to me
   That new recliner, stiff as a bad knee

Your scent, your aura, ingratiating
  ...

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sometimes..beneath conceited clouds we swirl~cloaked in rainbow radiance..

self-serving songs sung by familiar faces~ but are we too naive..

to see past nebulous spheres ~ cunning wings of bittersweet butterflies..

not every tuscan twinkle is gold ~ nor do they speak tea rose twilights.....

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Jane had a stutter
She took her time to speak
Her little sister Lucy lisped
Which sounded rather sweet
Her father had a loud voice
He was master of the house
Her mother spoke softly
Like a timid little mouse
Her brother was dumb
And he couldn't say a word
Grandma was deaf
She mixed up...

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I’ve a vast store of mem’ries about Chicago
as I’ve lived there for a couple of years
helping out in the parish of many immigrants,
especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans.

I’ve made friends and a number of them
still continue to correspond by emails;
it’s like a treasure-trove of relationships -
where...

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I saw a look of hurt so primordial, the dust teared and cleared
Every wrinkle, every agony,
Every twinkle in his eye hopelessly wrought by words
He struggled with a bag of old books,
His white hair scraggly, his breathing heavy

I, with sorrow wrenching from my soul,
Sought his own,...

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Refreshing feel of identifying with music in my life,

The mother’s voice still echoes sweet in all life’s strife’s.

She taught me to walk, run, dance and sing,

My mother still stands strong in love and vigor in my life.

 

Kindergarten, the start of knowledge in life,

Where Mini,...

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I take you to dance
In your dress of blue.
Santana’s black magic woman is playing tonight.

Swaying to the music, I wonder about your true home,
Your tangled story, your fine shelves of books.
I have an ocean of questions but a thimble of time.

Maybe The Art of War...

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Mind maze moves mime
Ask apt align
Charm cocoons chimes


Live lovely lift
Address appease
Attend adrift


Meet mystic mess
Zeal zone zooms zest
Etch each express


Take time to tell
Signs speak sure sell
Faith funds foretell


Loss loiters lines
Appeal assigns
Echoes entwine


Thrill tensile toss
Movement minds moss
Lift lousy loss


Odd one only
Niche noise naughty
Ends etch easy


Kind keeper's kin
Indulge...

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The smell of baking bread
A welcome at the door,
That comfortable armchair-
Paintings on the wall,
Gran-kids coming to call,
No ceremony or fuss
Family and us-
Bibles & books abound,
His love to surround,
Loyalty is found...

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how comforting the lull and low
of my own familiar calm
silence surrounding me
with the warm embrace
i only know too well 



AP: 2nd place 2022

Submitted on December 20, 2022 for contest A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE CHOICE no.55 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND

Posted on December 5, 2022...

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