Best Fleecy Poems
Called to journey
Through the passageway of my heart
I close the door and turn
Exposing myself in full surrender
Fuzzy whiteness vibrates around me
A fleecy cocoon tickles my limbs
I feel your fingertips calling out to me
Royal turquoise butterflies appear
Leading the way onward
Dissolving light waves reveal
Frolicking foam caressing sandy shores
Transparent bubbles look up at me
From in between my toes
Walking slowly, I pause
I lay down ~ cradled by the beach
Exposing my flesh to
Lapping waves which nuzzle me gently
Rising to my knees
I lay my ear against
The calm waters
Waiting for your call
Caw Caw Caw
Attentive seagulls glide close by
Bellies against the surface
Of ocean’s breast
I hear you whisper
~Join me my love ~
I raise my arms up
Feeling the breeze kiss my fingertips
I float upward
Lavender lenticular clouds
Create continents and islands
Of hope and discovery
I touch your heartbeat with
My outstretched hand
Allowing you to lead me
With your magical magnetism
Guiding me to realms unknown
We drift upward viewing twilight tendrils
Of mauves, sages and fading Prussian blues
Each movement a deepening
Of heart and soul
Receiving embedded hieroglyphics
Of passion and pain
My heart expands
My soul delights
As I weep silent tears of gratitude
Remembrances of lifetimes past
I gaze skywards witnessing
The three sisters on cliff’s edge
Pillars of strength and wisdom
Sharing insight
Pink smoke hovering
Around their downy silhouettes
As hawks, snakes, and reptiles
Of the canyonlands observe
Coyotes howl in the distance
Sensing the ceremony
With eyes closed
I feel the embrace from you
From my sisters
From the elements
From the animals
Our shared connection
We are one
I send my kiss out into the universe
As heaven’s face smiles down upon us
Snow falling—
Falling.
Feathers escaping from the pillow-heaven
Confusing the air
With the steadiness of a stampede
Advancing, clinging, smothering.
Snow falling—
Settling.
White fleecy lambs atop every protrusion
Sleek ermine boas
Draped upon the naked arms of nature
Bare of their green velvet capes.
Snow falling—
Drifting.
The spatula of wind
Smoothing mounds of marshmallow frosting
Billowy swirls
Of whipped immaculate splendor.
Snow falling—
Burying.
Obscuring the drab tired earth
Her deep wounds of time
Dissolving shadows of other seasons
That Spring may arise again.
Abigail’s Spring
Beneath the shelter of winter’s barren arbor
My winter abused heart
Watches the day’s light linger in the sky resisting darkness -
Begging to play a little longer every day –
Pushing twilight away at arm’s length with pink and brilliant orange
Leaving wispy trails of color in the sky;
Urging empty branches and shivering wheat
Lift up their eyes from bruising rains
And crushing chill of wilderness storms;
Seeing here howling tirades of blizzards
Trade places with long sunbeams stretching slowly
Across my sun starved shadow, warming the winter’s wildness -
Coaxing pale green shoots to peek timidly at meadows
Covered with patchwork quilts of blue and yellow -
Orange scattered across arching hills –
Welcoming the face of spring with arms spread wide;
Listening for the bleating of black faced sheep
When they shed their fleecy coats;
Not looking back into the breath of moaning winds,
Longing sighs transformed into shouts of laughter
Chase themselves across the plains in children’s games;
My spirit, once wrapped in hibernation, feels the changing of the wind
Running up the road – knocking on the gate -
With a moveable feast born of abundance;
Stone cold frozen heart beats again in rhythm with gracious blessings
As the simple sparrow teaches
Her young to fly with the morning light
Rejoicing on warm nights filled with songs of mourning doves –
My face turns - embracing this greening valley -
As spring sprints breathlessly up the path.
April, 2020
Contest: Personal Favorite No. 2
Sponsor: L. Milton Hankins
5/16/20
Contest: Poetry Marathon Mile 13
Sponsor: Mark Toney
30 Lines
First place - Brian Strand Your Choice B - 5/17/20
Number 1 Best New Poem - 6/13-20
Poem of the Week - 6/20/20
First place - Brian's Choice G 6-21-20 - Brian Strand
First place Your Best Poem of 2020 - John Hamilton
Top Ten, #10, Poet Destroyer 11/7/20
Chosen for publication in PS It's Poetry
Etheree 10- 12-23
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Waves ~
Waves
Glide in
On white wings,
Fleecy whitecaps
Flutter in rhythmic
Rhapsodies of seafoam
Swell across the naked sands
Hypnotic serpentines slow dance
Surges of rising tides bear spindrift
To sparkle like crystal frost in sunlight
Ebbing billows crescendo in withdrawal
As the shore clings to the waves caress
Tidal pulse bids the shore farewell
Leaving sandy signatures,
Lacy ripples of ebb,
Tidepools overflow
Driftwood harvest
Seaside gifts
New waves
Form
I was a planetary climatologist, who studied climate variability and change,
Like sweet variability of stunning, green tulips, in lavish garden rearranged.
Studying the said effects on the biosphere, absorbed so many daily hours,
Like industrious days of fragrant, amber honey, after tumbling into flowers.
My labors impacted energy usage, along with food production and health,
And the survival of endangered species, like golden rays of natural wealth.
Faddish flowers fascinated friends, who flattered them, at my broad fence,
Under fleecy, lemony clouds, fast moving, and orange sun, grown intense.
Famished, feasible family feasted, in lavish flowering fragrance of Fridays,
When fugitive, frosty stars flickered, winking at green garden bonsai trees.
I lived in the house of emerald echoes, in vivid memory of nature's sound,
From birdsong to crickets to evening wind, and brook of babbling renown.
Sachets swept away a sudden sadness, as robins sought another summer,
On my street of starry-eyed forget me nots, like a tune with no drummer.
Nobody knew latest neighborhood news, like my nearest friends next door,
Like chameleon sun, crisscrossing teal sky, wholly ignorant of 'nevermore.'
Pink birds were living high, and red butterflies viewed a world, ultraviolet;
And yellow bees went about their sweet labors, since queen bee desired it.
Strawberry clouds sailed around the world, for clouds ever love adventure,
As dogwoods barked in summer's dog days, during a gold noon surrender.
As I was walking home one day, the sun vanished as skies turned ominous.
There was a lightning flash just before the thunder, loud and cacophonous!
Suddenly, I saw a male face in the clouds, that was bellowing and enraged,
Like blizzard winds through naked trees, howling at a lush year that's aged.
Taken aback, like butterflies in gusts, I had come face to face with thunder-
The mighty, furious face of the storm, and I was filled with sudden wonder!
Then came the silver rains, sideways slanting, at the dead end of drought;
And I raced home like all uneasy nature, in the successive hours of doubt.
Scintillating sun had returned next day, after banishing the tangerine mist,
As benevolent nature was no more angry, its tale ending in an orange twist!
Silver shimmers
reflected by the sea
When dawn kisses each
silhouetted tree.
As sunrise pierces
fleecy clouds of blush
A canvass bides the
eager artist's brush.
Our Banyon bids adieu
to fowl in flight...
Their songs reverberate
in morning light
Attesting to the joy
each dawn excites
In explosive colors
which Sol ignites.
As breezes blow through
azure skies above
I share divinely Dawn's
sweet gifts of love.
12-24-21
'STRAND NO 1042' Contest~First Place~
Sponsor Brian Strand
Merry Christmas (Mele Kalikimaka) from Hawaii….Aloha
Let me 'neath fleecy clouds be. For spring is here.
God's creation all for me. For spring is here.
So many glorious gardens to admire,
Clematis attracts a bee. For spring is here.
Aubrietia produced in profusion,
Scented Daphne in valley. For spring is here.
Up in the mountains, veiled with alpine flora,
Wild primrose and rosemary. For spring is here.
Orioles and robins lured by blush cherries,
Magnolias so airy. For spring is here.
But there on the calm wide seas, racing dinghies
Ketches, sloops sail to the quay. For spring is here.
Oh man, what's that I hear, someone is sneezing?
Hay fever? Or allergy? For spring is here.
11 syllables per line.
11 September 2020
Ghazal Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One
I lay prone above the surface of the earth:
a boundless expanse of ultramarine blue,
gazing at every living and nonliving thing,
the air so clean and pure.
Where are they?
cotton pieces that loiter around
like fluffy soft white bunnies
that scurry around
scattering and wandering playfully:
clouds that float with fleecy wings
oh.. I do not see them today!
It is a beautiful early evening;
As no clouds to obstruct my view,
from above, I could catch a glimpse of
many a poetic mind: dreamy and forlorn
lying on their back in the grass, here and there
within corners of the earth,
staring blank at my vast serene blue
when waves of woes were crashing
at the rocky edges of their mind -
and into a deep trance, they enter.
To ease their distress,
I whisper into the ears of the infinite seas,
to send gentle cool breeze their way
and wake them up from their reverie
with a gentle kiss in their gloomy eyes,
igniting embers of hope in their dreary mind.
As they open their eyes
and wake up from their trance
with many a fresh thoughts to pen -
their muse gets charged
by the charm of my
ultramarine blue inspiration: I become
their unbounded diary of blue pages,
as they now sprinkle their inspired ink
on my vast blue expanse with their
bright gleaming perceptive eyes.
Date: 11/14/2021
2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 19 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Mark Toney
"U" Contest, New Poems Only Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
Image: Cloud Fantasy, by Susan Lawrence
On spring's green carpet I repose, revitalizing the soul
passing slow minutes pondering the sky
The lake whispers a morning meditation
as memories abound of cloud fantasies
a thousand ships of condensation dreams
Assorted sizes, shifting shapes
capriciously changing contours and colors
white, dun, pewter gray, dusky purple
magically mirroring my many moods
Fleecy, flitting, tiny, quiet, wispy cirrus all alone
like first day of school in a new town
Thunderheads colliding with cold fronts
hurling lightning in angry retribution
resolute battleships storming towards war
Stratus clouds, flat and unruffled
soothing, like grandma holding a cookie sheet
embracing landscapes like a comforting blanket
hugging hilltops in a friendly fog
Misting up at a feel good story
spilling tears on the gloomiest of days
A nimbostratus orchestra performing
a symphony of snow for mountain dwellers
a reverie of rain for desert denizens
Bouffant hairdo like a 60's prom queen
strutting across the sky adjusting her tiara
cotton ball cumulus, billowy like a verbose uncle
enhancing sunsets with colorful stories
.....
The soul of the sky is Sol-
our daylight and warmth, essence and marrow
The stars are sky's artists painting our stories-
archers, dippers, swans, seven sisters,
scorpions, lions, hunters, heroes
The heart of the sky is Luna-
a nightlight for sleepy children
a lamppost where lovers meet
a lantern for the darkest of trails
but clouds are the personality of the sky
written 24 May, 2022
//Inspired by the wonderful art of PS member Susan Lawrence, after viewing her landscape paintings at susanlawrence.net. Each landscape is framed by a different personality of cloud; I encourage all to pay a visit to her website to enjoy her portraits and abstracts as well as landscapes ~ John//
Winter Sonata 11-29-23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Winter Sonata
In grave allegro solo grey gathers,
Strings of winter fantasias
Brewing staccatos of frozen fall remnants,
Downbeats for the first movement
As shivering sleet wipes away bucolic barcarolles
Rocking on sapphire barges,
Harbingers of hoarfrost and hibernation,
When leafless boughs conduct the opening motif
To summon deepening darkness
From restrained shadows of turbulence
To beat warnings on frosted windows
Of snug dens – sheltered hallows.
Sweet solstice flutes sing adagio
Then scatter crystalline mists across snow packed paths
In the movement pathetique when sunglow
Glides between aspen,
Ankle deep in fleecy billows,
Sugar flakes flutter in Heaven’s perfect pitch
Rhythmic silent rests hypnotize crisp midnights
When fluttering flakes of dreamy andantes
Ride on melodic cantabile whispers
In flurries of fleecy decrescendos
Spells of codas, enthralled by idle snowfall,
Glitter in lyric tinsel of sparkling crystal beads on twigs.
Movement presto crescendos in frenzied storms
Snowfall pizzicatos fall in descending measures
When rondos of wind song ensembles
Ascend in frigid notes of icy scales
That pirouette in pulsing beats with resonate strings
Plucked by boreas in thundersnows percussions,
Vivace mistrals whirl in powdery ghosts
That spin in tremolo trills of icicles,
And in whiteout scherzos of blizzard sonatas,
Dizzy with solstice frosty fevers
As winter’s thundering cadence modulates
Into vernal sighs of resolution.
The scarlet sea is almost calm tonight.
The sinking sun splashes its fiery rays
over the billowing flame-tinged waves
as red-stained sails stretch full to catch
the lively saltatory breeze and meander
their surest way back to their safest sanctuary.
Aloft the snow-capped mountains
send a few rumbles of an impending storm.
Fleecy clouds race one another
as swallows play their last undaunted game
before the tranquil day comes to a close.
Is not this a sunset of wonder?
A time when suddenly you feel
you're not alone? For all around
is nature unaffected, clean and pure,
a blazing beauty so rare that somehow,
to me, it spells there's something more
those rules that guard and guide
the universe in its heavenly melodious motion,
a singing of harmonious mellifluous cords
that urges man to free himself
from wanton worldly cares,
and give himself more
an intimate relationship with the One
who created all.
Is it but a passing moment?
Or should I strive to capture
that one fleeting heavenly rapture,
an urge of fleeting tender compassion,
and give heartfelt thanks to my Almighty Lord?
Tropical sunshine
streaming down
from a clear blue and white sky
with fleecy white clouds
edged with wisps of mist
like giant grains of popcorn
drifting slowly by
way up in the sky
The sunshine
bathing the sugar cane fields below
with golden sunbeams
saturating the texture
of its long grass-like leaves
with its radiance
enlivening them and
transforming the fields into
an emerald sea
of brilliant green
Tropical breeze
swaying the sugar cane leaves
gently caressing them
making them dance in unison
like the waves of the ocean
The dancing leaves
vibrating in harmony
with each other
create a murmuring sound
that builds in intensity
and reaches a crescendo
like the roar
of the waves of the ocean
setting the leaves
in a wild dance of ecstasy
and then gently subsiding
to the soothing sound
of a gentle breeze
inducing a state
of peacefulness
and tranquillity
At such moments
alone with nature
one can feel a strange unity
with everything around
Unity that is so strong
and overpowering
that one loses consciousness
of one's individual self
one has no consciousness
of time and space
but only of that moment
- the infinite eternal NOW
One's consciousness seems to merge
with a deeper consciousness
of the unity of all things
in nature and the cosmos
One experiences an awareness
of a deeper reality
that is impossible
to describe in words
One makes contact
with one's cosmic roots
in a dimension where
time and space
are irrelevant
It is the synchronisation
of one's consciousness
with the absolute
and ultimate reality
of the cosmos
As a young boy, around nine or ten, I used to love to be in the sugar-cane fields in my native tropical island, Trinidad. I got a natural high, being dazzled by the brilliant sunshine and listening to the sighing of the sugar cane leaves as they swayed in the breeze like the waves of the ocean. I felt that Nature was speaking to me, transporting me to another world where I connected with my cosmic roots, becoming part of the unity of all things.
The grandeur of a majestic mountain
standing proud against the horizon
with its snow-capped peak
enveloped in fleecy white clouds
against a clear azure blue sky
The glorious majesty of a stately sequoia
towering above the surrounding vegetation
being the largest living thing on earth
its massive trunk over thirty feet wide
with its gnarled rugged beauty
The wondrous artistry of the setting sun
edging the darkened clouds with silver linings
and painting the evening sky
in brilliant colours of the rainbow
mirrored on the ocean's surface below
The awesome power of a thunderstorm at night
with jagged bolts of lightning
that split the darkness
and light up the surroundings
with blinding dazzling intensity
The thunderous roar of a mighty waterfall
cascading down in huge torrents of liquid fury
smashing into the water below
creating mists of water droplets
that transform the sunlight into a rainbow
I was drawn to her in temporal depth of night,
glancing her way in beams of harvested light
But in mourning her, I wept behind shrouds,
concealed by a hovering bank of sullen clouds
She'd danced for me in a green ruffled gown
Her supple skin changed to russet then brown
How she teased me from the height of her haven
So fetching, she'd aroused the caw of a raven.
Though love was too brief, merely one season,
my ageless vision had been ripened by reason
I watched as she fell prey to a merciless wind
and cursed it in anger as though it had sinned
I'd flail the slayer of my adored one's demise
but I can't bridle the wind, racing through skies
She was stolen from me by another's touch
Stripped from limb and held captive in his clutch
I cried softly when night finally faded away,
forfeited my will and the power to hold sway
My tears mingled with each crystalline snowflake
Stars never knew the breadth of my heartache
A fleecy white blanket has mantled her tree
I'll imagine she's there sleeping, thinking of me
And when in Spring she awakens once more,
from aloft I'll beam at her, rekindling our rapport
Are they whipped white milky cream
Sprinkled from heaven - or
Chunks of white cotton wool that
Reflect and gleam twilight rays
Ah! fluttering with fleecy wings
Through a shimmer of orange
Are they a host of graceful angels
In satin white frilled gowns
Hovering around shining bright
Drifting in delicate glide
Ah! fluttering with fleecy wings
In the bright serene sky
Are they a herd of white bunnies
Fluffy and soft, bobbing around
Scattering and wandering playfully
Scurrying and hurrying
Ah! fluttering with fleecy wings
Across the bold blue sky
Are they a colony of white and grey seagulls
Swooping and circling restlessly
At the looming of a storm
Whirling and swirling
Ah! fluttering with fleecy wings
In the dark blue overcast sky
Date: 05/12/2021
2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 15 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Mark Toney
'Say It Again' Poetry Contest
Sponsor: William Kekaula