Best Flounders Poems
I don't need mawkish photographs to see
the drowning rowboat tethered to the dock,
a withered seahorse clinging to debris
as umber water seeps through feeble caulk.
The cord grass will have grown up through the planks
to marry splinters teeming on the pier,
putrescent pillars tilted by the banks;
a pallid corpse beside the marsh's bier.
Those summers when we sailed through brackish mist
have long since gone the way of floating sculls
that languish in the asters to be kissed
by empty oarlocks perched atop their hulls.
Your August ghost still flounders on the fen
then sinks beneath in nightmares now as then.
"Streams of Gold, Blazing Andromedas"
Engagement came at a cost
the written word read
and worn like a purple robe
to keep out the cold
stave the hunger off,
feed the soul eveything,
Everything, is what it wants,
silky words like feathers
tickle the closed throat,
the lips open the kisses
like envelopes
eternal sweet plumbs,
like losengers
in a glass swear jar
too many now,
innumerable,
judged and fined,
selected and sucked
unreasonably
for some kind longevity,
the life, for all it's worth,
in treacherous weather,
sometimes flounders,
pauses for a while
looking upwards towards
an empty sky searching
and waiting, for far away lost gods,
then uncomfortably dressed,
the robe, loosened, like a pagan,
the written word read
and worn on the outside
like a purple cross,
the stars glittering in
reflective windows,
the view immeasurable,
the external shell
disgarded and dropped
at the feet of absent minded
causes, the reviews smile
like wolves lost, they're
missing the red hoods,
they're missing
the real treasure,
the deep buried plot
the naked pleasure
of walking away
graces a certain freedom
priceless, like rare diamonds
entwined with diamantes,
who can tell the difference now?
twinkling like blazing andromedas
at the distant edge of their worlds
Engagement locked in at a cost
fresh water pearls
au natural, nothing
false here, the
kintsugi veins glow
lux vitae
in fig leaf stories
a naked life shining,
seen running in
broken streams of gold
the missing Page left opening
marked unopened books,
walks like a lost adventurer
through stories
that arrive on leaves
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
With vile intensity
hatred
infiltrates
the hearts of men,
turning
brother against brother,
friend against friend,
dividing
our once great nation.
Right is wrong;
wrong is right.
Confusion
reigns as
wisdom
flounders and
hatred's
vitriolic verbiage
tears down
and
destroys
trust and unity.
And all the while,
Satan
is dancing with glee
on the ashes of our
hope,
and the soul of our
nation
weeps.
O God, save us from ourselves!
For Brian Strand's July 4 Free Verse Contest
2/2/17
Entered in John Hamilton's Upside
Down World Contest
Tied for 2nd place
Of late, nature moans inside a scraped womb
As her lush environ FLOUNDERS breaks out…
Played like a trusting NEOPHYTE from woods to rivers
She endures the BOMBAST of dirt through man’s crimes:
Awaiting kindness …amends remain undone
While LECHEROUS deeds persist without guilt, why, why?
More wrongs ravage innocent fish and flora
Infecting her very marrow, to drain away.
Loot, SMOLDER, rip a body ! Time runs out.
Mother Earth answers through bloodied jolts…
By will of PROVIDENCE, she whips a storm without INHIBITION
Halting indifference, her fire scalds air’s layers,
A battle citizens might grow DOLOROUS over--
Until her soul is nourished back, till she moans no more.
-----------
Eight Word Free Verse Challenge
For John Hamilton’s Contest 6/13/2019
her thoughts, dolorous, often smolder in her mind
long before they are penned upon paper
often crumpled and disregarded
like kindle for a fire
they call them poems anyway
she is inferior, a mere neophyte
fueled by inhibition
that flounders her way through life
and on the page alike
yet they call her poet
perhaps she has the providence
from her youth as her guide
to rid those memories
or spark the fire that burns
as she pens what they call poetry
she doesn't see her worth
between her words
or lecherous stares
cast from unworthy men
that burnt through her soul
she remembers only
a collection of bombast thoughts
that haunt her mind
as she writes them out
then damns them
through the flames of memory
yet they call it poetry
June 12, 2019
I'm out of my element, a beached whale
that can't breathe, drowning in a world of air.
A tattered palm-frond caught up in love's gale
surfing upon cascading waves of hope,
I defy the odds of chance and elope.
A lonely calf, I swim to what's out there,
but my impulsive plan is doomed to fail.
A tide of lies drains this waterless place
where love flounders in barren solitude.
A mountain of rot reeking in disgrace
discarded by a putrid ocean of fear,
with a broken heart and a sand-filled tear.
Bobbing in lukewarm pools of platitude,
iceberg-dreams dissolve, leaving little trace.
(Rhyme)
Aug. 9, 2018
Locked within godless rooms
Sealed in vaults of megre immagination
Can you hear the words?
It’s not enough
Unable to grasp metaphor
They wither
Minds mirror plastic flowers
Lifeless without growth
Petals lacking vital scent
Too many wild verses;
Lay trapped within closed minds
A scripture’s message naught
but bones of righteous intent
They cannot see past black & White
The visions a pen can paint for thought
Lost within preconception
Beauty flounders in dogma’s grasp
Between the lines;
Forgotten ashes
The day metaphor died
Navigating troubled waters,
love flounders on depression's shore.
And only time can heal your heart;
till it isn't hurting anymore.
Rescued by hope, dreams are salvaged,
cleansed of any feelings of shame.
And fantasies, fully restored,
reignite passion's dormant flame.
You wipe away yesterday's tears,
determined to find your soulmate.
For when you do, you will find love,
and you'll know it was worth the wait.
An indescribable feeling,
love enters your heart like a dream.
And by making you feel wanted,
your self-esteem rises like cream.
As a wave of joy surges forth,
euphoria engulfs your heart.
For when life is filled with magic,
lingering doubts quickly depart.
Went on a fishing boat
Caught three fish
Bested my friends who
caught nothing
The day passed in a
kind of haze
Didn't even drink a beer!
but was happy with my 2 flounders and one striped bass
My fish were tossed back into the water
So they could go on
with their aquatic lives
Answer the call of the ocean! For in it lies the secret to life!
Villanelle: Even childhood teenage nurture stops not the rupture
Even childhood teenage nurture stops not the rupture
No eagle first takes the plunge without daring demon death
Yet mindless mistakes make us the picture of caricature
Make just one mistake a day in the year and collect torture
Shut the day out alone in shell and court worsening health
Even childhood teenage nurture stops not the rupture
Could the straying baby elephant avoid instant capture
From the pride of lions stalking in frenzied stealth
Yet mindless mistakes make us the picture of caricature
What original sin smacks not of the mistake of rapture
Where the hapless heart flounders in Adam’s gasping breath
Even childhood teenage nurture stops not the rupture
Were not the juicy fruits Eve bore the objects of rapture
What did she promise more than the pulpiness of wealth
Yet mindless mistakes make us the picture of caricature
Human error tosses our lives into the churning of culture
Err not and the lives we lead lead us into the noose’s wreath
Even childhood teenage nurture stops not the rupture
Yet mindless mistakes make us the picture of caricature
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2014
In a storm the lighthouse beacon
beckons ship in peril to come closer.
There is no where else to go.
A shining light offers refuge
But fails to deliver, as the light
warns of danger lurking nearby.
Sailors see the light and head for it,
Hoping to navigate from there as a waypoint
But in the storm's turmoil and confusion
The light lures the seafarers closer to danger,
But by then its too late to veer away, too close to avoid
the peril the lighthouse warns of.
Safe within the lighthouse keeper watches in horror
Seeing the boat floundering, getting closer and closer
Hoping against hope that the ship will steer away,
Failing to understand why the ship has headed his way.
But the ship keeps on coming
In desperate plight, when any light offers hope,
to escape the relentless ravages of the storm.
The ship plows on and on, closer and closer,
Then flounders on the rocks at the feet of the lighthouse.
Smashing into matchsticks, the crew tossed overboard
Like rag dolls, limp; all hands aboard lost.
The lighthouse beacons beckons,
luring crew and ships to stray too close in desperation.
I came into this beautiful world,
The reason is love.
That selfless love and parent’s Devotion,
The reason is love.
Appease or Persuade, Jealousy and Dispute,
The reason is love.
Love for money, love for honey, name and for fame, love for kin, love for friend, every thrive and every drive..Love, Yes! Love is the reason behind every game!
Infatuation though momentary,
The reason is love.
Friendship, Hatred, Competition and even Cooperation,
The reason is love.
Rivalry, Loyalty and Betrayal, Blessings and Abuses,
The reason is love.
Love for money, love for honey, name and for fame, love for kin, love for friend, every thrive and every drive..Love, Yes! Love is the reason behind every game!
Strength and Courage, Sacrifices and Surrender or Destruction,
The reason is love.
Aspiration, Passion and Dedication,
The reason is love.
Flounders, Contentment and Depression,
The reason is love.
Love for money, love for honey, name and for fame, love for kin, love for friend, every thrive and every drive..Love, Yes! Love is the reason behind every game!
Pain and Relief, Triumph and Defeat,
The reason is love.
Death and Reincarnation,
The reason is love.
Love for money, love for honey, name and for fame, love for kin, love for friend, every thirst and every quench..Love, Yes! Love is the reason behind every game!
14/03/2019
Slinking away a gaze in silent distress,
by that guarding railings, a light it descends
her mind it flounders in self made heaven
swarms around that verity clean shaven.
Sultry dusk marks again an end,
of whimpering yearns in their flawless defend
his allure ode always in aloft
through entangled vines a place they sought.
Bygones and blood relations, they forsaken
but oh not a fiddle of reluctance it given
it's not wrong to deem the slightest
barriers she breaks to the furthest.
Dispiriting clouds enshrouds her in twilight,
his scenic visage twirls around in silhouette,
ages she will dwell in that eternal solace,
immense love brim full, were they ever realised?
Hopes glimmer beyond horizons afar,
and lingers not a qualm of what destined for,
beguiled always in his limpid purity,
like trellis his arms, she buries in felicity.
Put forth, in some array, to just regroup
the Senior's left, advantages the soup,
that healing art, asunder, wages loop
sits idly by, while effort leads the coup!
Not merely mass destruction, pieces youth
some beauty, just assumption, wrath's uncouth
the topping of life's gumption, stilled to view
as war less, time is drifting, in a groove!
A court of trial, as often times the tread
is just a nod away, a smiled imbed
that recognition's foundling, further read
the stupor of forgetting, files with fret!
Is aging the encumbrance, or faith's dread
to see the children, numbered to exceed
and then the effort, slumbered to recede
some patronizing's drummer that repeats!
Our countryside a wonder, Spring's reprieve
as effort left to nature feels the beat
my soul's encounter jumbled by retreat
the golden years, so compromised to meet?
Would march my errors dunder to the street
in trust's consideration of my years,
the stumble, now the victor, if be sweet
the victories confirm, fear obsolete!
Ne'er ending, the encounter of entreat
what Kingly entourage, I would entail
the nourishment of fondness, so completes
my resolute encounters not assail!
O'er love, the vestige flounders with repeal
swear not the victim, scoundrel's filing scorn
to overcome the sound rolls not congeal
and liven beauties heart skoal . . . . moments stored!
She brightened like a child whose broken toy is glued together,
summon tears as one summons servants,
and danced like a flower in the wind.
She disclaimed the weariness,
that dragged upon her spirits like leaden weights,
exude a faint and intoxicating perfume of womanliness,
like a crushed herb,
and felt like an unrepentant criminal.
She flounders like a huge conger-eel
in an ocean of dingy morality,
gave me a surprised look,
like a child catching an older person in a foolish statement,
and gave off antipathies as a liquid gives off vapor.
She has great eyes like the doe,
heard me like one in a dream,
and let the soft waves of her deep hair fall,
like flowers from Paradise.
She looked like a tall golden candle,
moved like mirth incarnate,
and saw this planet,
like a star hung in the glistening depths of even.
She seemed as happy
as a wave that dances on the sea,
walks in beauty like the night,
brilliant, and as hard too, as electric light,
silent, standing before me like a little statuesque figure.
By Seth Yuhi Musinga