Best Filmy Poems
You have raided my night again,
as the burst of a sudden storm,
sneaking into my loneliness,
at the most unexpected hour,
plunging me into swirls of pain
too deep for expression,
leaving me in utter disorientation.
I now drift aimless with muddled thoughts,
through the dingy avenues of the past,
never once able to sever the chord,
that binds me so tight to those memoirs,
exposing me to torrid heat
with my soul, burning down….
like a piece of smouldering coal.
Sleepless are my nights.
Dreamless are my days.
Like the sundown shadows growing bigger,
with every stride I take,
the farther I move, the closer you follow.
Can I convince you ever again,
I never meant any harm to you.
How wearily have I watched the flies,
lured by the dazzling light,
char into diminutive specks of black,
by the scorching tongues of flame.
Still, why did I let you burn,
in the flame of my accursed passion?
You were like a flower admired from afar,
afraid of even the gentle breeze coming near,
lest it might jolt the delicate frame,
and shake the petals down, sooner than due.
Yet vulnerable turned the moment,
when all of a sudden, it started to rain.
Like a child, eager to play in the puddles,
you ran out into the pouring rain.
All soaked through and through,
You came in…. awhile my gaze,
rested on the filmy fabric,
seductively clinging to your curves.
Then, that wild surge…. beat me down.
And Alas! Under a magnetic pull,
surrendered your fragile self with ease.
At that moment of self-abandonment
looted off all that you held chaste.
Never surmised, you were crying,
when I felt your cheeks, so wet.
Now I know, it was agony,
not ecstasy that I, then, beheld on your sentient face!
You refused to respond to my calls.
Unanswered went all my anxious queries.
Like a hibernating toad,
to some dark underground cave, you slid.
Abruptly, alerted on call,
by an alien sound, far from familiar
I hastened to the casualty ward,
and saw you lying limp,
with drops of blood, still dripping down
from your slashed wrist,
staring at me with an open mouth!
As I watched you lying still
with your eyes refusing to flutter,
I knew my world tottering below,
and my heart, set ablaze,
into a funeral pyre.
I feel a butterfly inside;
its wings are cramped within my breast.
The weight of flesh, o dull cocoon,
prohibits my free flight. At best
I only soar inside; my wings--
gossamer, light, remain untried.
I wait...I wait...until the day
the barred' cage is flung aside
and airy wings lift toward the skies.
I have felt this graceful creature
flutter faintly deep inside;
then, at times, so ardently,
I think no way will it abide!
It will be loosed! Its wish to fly
will push the bars of flesh aside.
Determined is this butterfly
to show its colors multiplied
and wing its way through azure skies.
The time is drawing near, I'm sure;
the throbbing swells within my heart.
The cumbrous cocoon, filled with life,
is bursting now, falling apart.
The butterfly is breaking free;
no more its wings will tightly furl,
but lightly spread upon the breeze
their filmy webs, gilded and pearled...
and, then, my soul will leave this world.
Faye Lanham Gibson
Copyright, 1987
Our love is lofty and infinite as the sky
On love’s filmy wings we soar ever high
It has the might of a towering mountain
And the upward thrust of a sprightly fountain
Our love soars like swift birds in flight
With the boon of newer vistas in sight
It is like the sweet lays of a song
All through life, its rhythmic notes do ring
Our love renews itself like the rising sun
Each day in golden flame, it does burn
It is like the life sustaining breath
That shall keep us alive until our death
Our love, we hope to keep it aflame
As a living monument in Time
Even after the sun of our life sets
In heaven we shall sing love’s duets
Placed First
Strand's (1072) poetry Contest
When my child hastens to her pillow,
To close her eyes and dream;
She drifts away with stars to play,
Where magic paints the scene.
Mermaids with their tresses wild,
Dance beneath the sea;
And dolphins sing their vesper hymn,
Among the coral tree.
Faeries dance in filmy gowns,
In woodlands dark and deep;
With stars to trim their silver crowns,
While blossoms rest in sleep.
She dreamt of a pixie painter,
And watched as the vision grew;
A violet smiled beside him,
As he dipt his brush in dew.
He painted all to please the mind,
The shades of earth and sky;
The buds of all the roses,
And a light in the bluebird's eye.
At last the dawn is breaking,
Rosy sunrise paints the skies;
My darling is awakening,
As she rubs her sleepy eyes.
November comes down gliding on filmy wings,
Bringing cool and dank days on her way
Sweet it is to watch the spectacular changes she brings
In a medley of colors, plants and trees proudly stay
Earth puts on a finery no other season can beat
In glinting flashes, the land and sky look so bright
The delectable pumpkin pie is the season’s favorite treat
As the day advances sunbeams fall in sparks of light
.
Early mornings come covered in snowy mist
Soon leaves nose dive and mournfully weep
The fallen leaves tremulously cry under our feet
As their last goodbye before they finally fall asleep
Evenings turn colorful with sinking sunlight, bleeding red
Squirrels chatter noisily as they gather nuts in the wild
As autumn tightens its grip, men retire early to bed
Wind blows all through the month with a temper mild
Soon the air turns chilly with blizzards coming in a row
And winter waits impatient for its icy-cold embrace.
The land will then be covered in a maze of snow.
Even the last flower shall fall and fade from earth’s face
The fallen dead leaves lying in piles and rotting away
And the sound of wind whistling the dirge of November
Bring to me the thought that we must all take leave one day
Down on earth, fall and rot, thus be fodder for new life ever!
Nov.13.2022
~ Placed First~
November or December Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Caren Krutsinger
it is cold and the flowers are dying
becoming withered memories
leaves are drifting and rain is falling
and the river flows like a stream of glass
the grass is fading
and birds are flying away
and the forest is taking on a sombre hue
and storms shake the ocean of my sleep
where my hair is soft as a spider web
and my filmy dress a paling green
and I stand still in this decay as a tree
with my arms outstretched to the sky
oh, the fine thread of summer is a fading thought
yet, there is a hazy beauty all around me
and within the crumbling fragile leaves soar
oh, the splendor of the whirling burnt orange
and red leaves spinning
like weeping blood red raindrops
oh, listen to the sweet chiming
of falling leaves
that I will hold like a blanket of memory
while the wind utters low wails like a hundred violins
and hidden birds sing
a beautiful symphony just for me
on my-
diaphanous gossamer filmy cloud-
sumptuous I float woebegone
flowers far and below
and bluebirds come
fluttering in the azure sky
twittering and its
beautiful
gossamer filmy cloud-sumptuous
the gobbledygooks with their nonsense
far and below
and bluebirds come drifting
from the garden and forest they fly
to
my diaphanous
gossamer
filmy
cloud-sumptuous
the dullards with their yada yada
far
and
below
come with their hokum nattering
and I
yell hey you
get off my cloud-
sumptuous you you
nincompoops
bluebirds
twittering and twittering
beautiful
assemblage of fluttering
whispering hissing
with meaningless words
you keep off my diaphanous
gossamer filmy cloud
oh gentle breeze
take this dreamer and flower picker
of buttercups violets
dandelions
I see them swaying far and below
in the meadows lovely
and I recall the little girl me
who picked them
for mothers kitchen ledge
oh let me drift and see far and below
on my
diaphanous gossamer cloud-
sumptuous
______________________________
May 28, 2015
Poetry/Free Verse/my cloud
Copyright Protected, ID 05-677-907-28
All Rights Reserved, 2015, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, Hey you, get off my cloud
sponsor, Skat, Judged 2015
Second Place
There is a mystic hint of endearment
In watching you through shadows ,
Like observing a diaphanous river
As it meanders its way down the bend;
Past reeds and grasses on a foggy edge
To somewhere new and therefore lightly seen.
The delicate, steady throb from your glide
Moves through cycles of my lulled vision
Bringing respite from your otherworld's form
Sailing on an air of unconsciousness
And pulling that filmy silhouette
Down , down to a ripple of celestial dreams .
I relish intangible thoughts about you
Flowing gently into me. You drift quiet, still :
Those ethereal whispers bidding me closer
Like the rivulet which beckons
Through your movement in it's veiled outline.
Silhouette Contest sponsored by Craig Cornish
9/15/2017
How fast time has fled in limitless wingspan
How months and years have merged into eons
Bringing such changes, so awesome and spectacular
I have come swinging open the iron gates
Of the Netherworld where I have been asleep
For over the last four centuries from now
From my prolonged slumber, I am just awake
With my memory intact as in the days
I walked the London streets on my way to Globe theatre
And roamed through the streets of Stratford on Avon
Here, I stand stunned like a Rip wan winkle
Wistfully staring at a world so strange
Wondering how in place of shacks, skyscrapers stand!
How the serene villages into bustling habitats made!
How the frilled frocks into jeans and shirts changed!
Seeing the changes that have come over now
I can only remain perplexed and “tongue tied”,
An expression I used long time back, but still in vogue
Happy I am to revisit the literate of the world
Especially members of my own clan;
My friends of Poetry Soup who wield their pen
To see words are latticed like filmy cobwebs
In diverse poetic forms, on themes and subjects varied
And in rhyming sonnets, my favorite poetic form
Though I stand in a remote and distant tract of time
So happy you still remember me and hail me as an immortal bard
And you name the young lovers- 'Romeo and Juliet'
And write on their amorous romance in honeyed rhyme
You call selfish and cunning people as ‘Iago’
And exclaim on being betrayed- “You too Brutus”
When you are confronted with problems insurmountable
Like Hamlet, you ask the million-dollar question-
“To be or not to be”
My friends, this is my parting words to you
You may live by fame as I do
Through verse, your name you eternalize!
When dead and in solitary vaults you lie
May your verses ring clear in umpteen hearts
And produce echoes that time cannot stifle.
Jan. 13.2023
~Placed First~
Shakespeare in 2023 Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Anoucheka Gangabissoon
In the folds of night, as a wave, you came
Charioted in a filmy dream
All night you were with me
In love’s uncharted land, we roamed
You sang to me sweet rhymes of love
Echoing the lore of romantic lovers
Your voice choked and moist with passion
Overwhelming me with an ecstasy so rare
You fondled me with infinite tenderness
Opening in me all inlets of pleasure
Our hearts with divine furore filled
And we knew love’s sweet benediction
In the seclusion of that silvery night
Looking into the corners of your love lit eyes
I saw an ocean of rising and receding tides
And took a dip in the whirlpool of love
All night I inhaled your scent
Knew the warmth of your breath
Siphoned the sweetness of your lips
Alas! With dawn, you faded away like dew
although weightless beyond skyline’s phases
visibly mirroring iridescent dew--
there is something soft about the blue-yellow
of twilight, like a meditation of fragile
chorale from swallows wafting along thin
outlines, minutes between dusk and sunrise…
low fire. warm joy. cozy beds.
and so, as moonglow wanes vanishes
bequeathing its crown to early dawn ,
we nourish the pulp of eve's honey
that twirls on a filmy carousel of regret
or perhaps, answered promises.,
for when eve’s dreams are gone, undone
we reach them within twilight’s embrace.
Dated 3/03/2018
For Pick a Title--Free Verse of Edward Ibeh
it is cold and the flowers are dying
becoming withered memories
leaves are drifting and rain is falling
and the river flows like a stream of glass
the grass is fading
and birds are flying away
and the forest is taking on a sombre hue
and storms shake the ocean of my sleep
where my hair is soft as a spider web
and my filmy dress a paling green
and I stand still in this decay as a tree
with my arms outstretched to the sky
oh, the fine thread of summer is a fading thought
yet, there is a hazy beauty all around me
and within the crumbling fragile leaves soar
oh, the splendor of the whirling burnt orange
and red leaves spinning
like weeping blood red raindrops
oh, listen to the sweet chiming
of falling leaves
that I will hold like a blanket of memory
while the wind utters low wails like a hundred violins
and hidden birds sing
a beautiful symphony just for me
Butterfly, gem of grace
Beauty's churned quintessence
Blend of rainbow colors
Bouncing on filmy wings
Blooms beckon their buddy
Brief, but blissful, its life!
A gauzy, filmy, azure sky, with glimpses of cerulean, and a bit of baby blue,
Is the perfect place for the celestial forms to hold a well-attended rendezvous
A sorcerer’s magic wand could have not created anything on earth more beautiful.
The breathtaking soul melding is sacred, as it morphs into ultimate kindred sharing.
With strong-hold in a cosmic realm, the entities exhibit a beyond-this-world-sense-of-caring.
A phantom idea, in the heads of dreamers who do not dare whisper of such wonderful,
Obsession of celestial bliss, held nightly above dreams, of commoners like me and you.
Ode to the Cockatiel
You exasperate me.
The most maddening creature
To walk,
Waveringly across the tabletop
Drawn by an invisible wire
To my bowl
You stand
On the tips of your claws
Four scaly toes strain
You peer
Over the edge
And take a nibble
Of what’s inside.
Did you like it, little bird?
Your beak smiles
As you climb,
Perch
on the rim of my bowl
And with neat bites
Eat my breakfast.
And I wonder,
Why do I keep you around,
You have no manners.
Sometimes I admire
Your slender tail,
Body the color of a storm cloud
Head the color of the sun
With two orange embers burning in your cheeks
And the elegant,
Filmy
Swoop of crest.
I pick you up
Light enough to sit on my finger;
I no longer marvel at that,
Long ago becoming accustomed
To the marvel living in my home,
I take you and
I scratch your head
I feel the softness of your feathers
Between my fingers
I feel your skull
And realize you are much more fragile
Than you like to let on,
You sweet bird,
Resting your head on my thumb
Trusting me completely.
And then my thumb displeases you;
You must attack it.
Hissing and pretending to bite it
And I smile
At my
Utterly confounding
Cockatiel.