Best Forestalled Poems
I imagine being there in enchanting places
Conjuring up insights of sensuous images
Driving friendship to threshold of romance
Confessing my love when she isn't around.
When the uplifting sky adorns rosy sunrise
Quickly I abandon the constraints of norms
As soaring vibrancy celebrates the new day
Guiding my hopes to contours of happiness.
A look in her eyes now transforms my heart
Sending intimate hints to commit a trespass
As a glimpse of her smile boldly reaches out
Tearing down the barriers that hold us apart.
I've seen a change in the way she responds
When walk in the park turns to jubilant stars
And touch of her hand claims a flirting glance
Enticing our vibes to command fervor of life.
Yearning for encounter of alluring emotions
Fire of desire intoxicates dreams of the dawn
In passionate kisses forestalled for so long
Reaching finality of love in each other's arms.
January 16, 2019
Placed 2nd: My friend, My Love contest by Julie Leigh Rodeheaver
HM: Strand #700 contest by Brian Strand
I know it's there somewhere beyond the clouds,
beyond the snow which gently floats and falls
on arborvitae's shoulders like a shawl
and o're the face of summer with a shroud.
Above where prayerful birches rise unbowed;
and stand once more among the proud and tall,
no longer will the season be forestalled
once the gifts of nature are endowed.
Across the forest floor the winter's chased
by waves of green now stirring in the frost -
impatient youths who gasp first springtime breaths
and proudly flaunt the colors they replace,
while buried hints of Autumn are embossed
beneath the ice that feeds upon their death...
Conductor’s wand in final phrase
Forestalled the anticipated roar,
Cast deafening hush of silent awe,
Leaving the audience ablaze…
May 10, 2021
ELEMENTS part 2: WIND
Fiercely, it seemed the furious wind forestalled
The baseball game, bat and ball suspended.
How now must the players play without palavering
all over the green grassy glittering ball field?
Each one with helmets, tough hamstrings and hairy chins,
Chasing after that classic colored little ball
That the bowler spins lifting shins showing that
He'll get you out without any fuss for now.
A powerful element which elects at times to elope with roofs,
Assuming a windy whirling wrecking stance,
As though its speed should stall scheduled events
For which flyers were planned printed passed around.
A heavy task tidying up after this tempestuous wind,
After gales of gusty glaring gusts, push you from behind.
What a chaotic cheerless crowd, chattering on home,
To tell the terrifying tale to others.
Title: ELEMENTS part 2: WIND
Sponsored by: Brian Davey
Contest Deadline:
4/16/2016 @ 12:00:00 AM
Little bird, what troubles thee
is it the worm in your belly
little bird, what pains thee
is it the worm of misery
is it the bitterness in your heart,
or the offense you can't forgive
is it the anguish that sets you apart,
or the hurt that holds you captive
is it the cancer of bitter love,
or the loss of deserved affection
is it the cruel withdrawal of
his tenderness and compassion
life is much too brief
and youthful love's even briefer still,
your forestalled relief
keeps you from seeing His eternal will
what befalls you
is neither unshared nor a mystery
God sheds His tears for you
in the midst of your painful agony
little bird, what troubles thee
is it the worm in your belly
little bird, what pains thee
is it the bane of misery
Form:
First off-
you're E~did,
fawned like frozen in a wrong beam of time-
God is only justified by his own usury,
and we don't do the forgotten as a figurine...
We all are falling,
forwardly and softly forestalled,
faked,
forgiving four fickle frogs,
finding our fifty nine frot foe,
just as we fizzle the fantastic flowing fight, fitted-
if that's enough to gloat see me stuck in the next simple dictionary-
having nothing to say to the ears of men who listen,
children who dream,
women who can misinterpret.
Sleeping is optional,
sojourn is an ancient land full of those flaws,
free,
we are not this-
fleet,
we are so fast at adeptly encouraging the sanctimony of the next...
“Float to me”
Changing directions
in a forestalled motion,
balanced on the side of truth while practicing losing my step
in the rushing waters of life…
I slip
Clinging to a lone branch
I find it blocking the sky, pulling shadows from mist
and teetering on the edge of someone’s sacred sanity
as I fear drowning
Dampened skin mimics feelings
as loneliness meanders by like a crooked stick
riding the surface to an unknown or wanted destination,
against its will
To my chest it rises
slowly forcing images in my mind,
those what ifs, whys, sinking forgotten, missed by none
When my eyes,
stern and fashioned of blinded occurrences that swallow
the light of day and the masks of sympathetic stares,
focus
For in the distance,
tapestries woven of heartbeats glisten on the ripples of a naked moon beam,
motioning to me in pleasing movements a’ dance on its reflections
Passionately in syncopated volumes she whispers,
louder than the hope now swirling in the rising swells
and broken slivers of drastic wastelands which
sit vacant in my mind
“Float to me”,
I hear as the cool waters so elegantly gather about her perfect feet
Her toes grip the rocky floor in such beauty that I fall helplessly,
allowing nature’s crest to take me, singing me sweetly to this pristine dream
Disbelief churns in fountains of doubt fed wishes and desires
as I submerge in the beauty that is her
Engulfed by white capped rapids beating faster…only my heart
She, with silken fingers plucks me from the surf,
her fragrance, lilac and magnolia, intoxicate me
We stand, shades of the deep sky and starlight beacons illume her face
As fireflies play in the trees and
our lips meet, my pulse floods with fever
Her desperate thoughts invade my elated mind and I agree
Together we plunge to the depths of forever
as I, no longer fearful, drown in her love
I dreamt of what I could be
when this faithful deluge
give up
when my day
finally breaks
My bamboo bed
tripled its size
and has only few sticks
still left
Behold!
the depth of father’s grave
came forth;
so also
the forestalled
hopes of grieving mother
still in her mourning cloth
I could smell
the tantalizer
grandmother once prepared
for father
oblivious what next day
portended for us
When the hard nocks
of the rain
broke through
my thatched roof
and ceaselessly
came in droplets
on my brow
It furrowed
to clearer vindication
The light I saw
shorn so bright to be true
every thing in me soothed
and I knew I was coming
closer to where it all started.
Finally I arrived
the dingy room
where grand father
always sat alone
resting his fragile neck
looking at the world.
He ceaselessly crunched
at his well separated teeth
scolding and questioning
his unseen guests
Un-seeable guests
who claimed his only son
only last year
they still want
the remaining
contract performed
Ridiculous. Callous
I imagined grandfather
Must be telling them.
I imagined
Okosisi would dare the spirits
and refuse to die
at least for my sake
whatever the cult may say.
The strands of his hair
hung somewhere in mother’s kitchen
and she knows the price
we shall all pay
if that loop is mistakenly
eaten by the fire
I imagined
Okosisi would dare the spirits
and stick to his gun
and refuse to die
and if he lives
and the spooks demand me
who will continue the family tree?.
Form:
Smooth, effervescent glowing skin
Free of blemish and blighting toxin
Undulating curves of glossy satin
Red cloak shrouds comely Saracen
At the core a being of fibrous substance
From stem to sternum burgeoning affluence
Delicately woven fabric with scintillating elegance
At close quarters emanating a sweet fragrance.
A free-flowing stem signaled detachment
A stalky divide prevented rapprochement
Intricate, inner designs forestalled advancement
Coarse, deepening chasm threatened determent.
Forthwith, I loves tender began to preen
Steadily peeling through the stealthy sheen
Cutting to heart's core, affections to glean
Loves' seed from ensconcing barriers did ween.
Form:
My Modern Age Reality
The daily commute a daily grind
Bumper to bumper you will find
Asking “are you out of your mind”
Hoping to spot someone that is kind
Road rage is now the new adage
To get where you’re going at this stage
Maybe this can be forestalled with courage
Though that is wishful thinking at this age
My child in the back seat
She’s my daily joy when I do pick her up and we meet
Her arms outstretched as if to greet
Though the morning drop off isn’t so neat
A woman in a job no less
That a man used to do my guess
Why does it feel so thankless
Although that paycheck is a bliss
At the end of a long day I just want to rest
But hubby dear has announced a guest
Shopping, cooking, cleaning is now my quest
After all we want to show our best
The closing of the door and a big sigh
Tells me that bedtime is nigh
But first tidy up both low and high
Maybe it’s worth a hug from my big guy
My head comes to rest on the pillow
A last glance out the window at the willow
And a snuggle with mine bedfellow
Leads to a day’s afterglow
That’s all I have for today’s sideshow
Andreas Simic©
Worthy Words of Wisdom
© Ben Burton
Beware harsh words which sometimes pierce the lips
Or enter cyberland through angry fingertips
Though silence might not sit well with a friend
Silence leaves no footprint one might soon wish to rescind
And worst of all the ones that cannot ever be recalled
For death denies apology, regret can't be forestalled
Which leaves but one sure method with no inherent risk
Worthy words of wisdom proffered by our mothers
To the point and framed like this:
"If you can't say something nice about somebody
Keep your big trap shut"
God what a mess,
My head is spinning,
Each day more stress,
Am I still winning?
Wall street crashing,
The economy near stall,
The media’s constant bashing,
Pelosi’s new curve ball.
My plans are now in tatters,
Forestalled at every turn,
To do what really matters
Is all I truly yearn.
I’m gearing for a fight
The like they’ve never seen,
I use my mouth to bite
And care little if I’m mean.
I’ll tear each one to shreds,
Flail them side to side,
Get well into their heads,
Give them quite a ride.
Clearly they don’t know
The grief they have in store,
They’ll reap what they now sow,
It’s nothing short of war.
Like Bombers flying high
Releasing their payload,
Shells falling from the sky,
I’ll give them what they’re owed.
Cross me once
And risk my wrath,
Yours the choice
To take that path.
Cross me twice
And stay awake,
You’ve cast your dice,
What a mistake.
Time is a thief-
a thief that steals dreams-
then youth-
and finally life.
Time is an enemy-
an enemy that cannot
be appeased-
defeated-
or forestalled-
only sacrificed to.
As long as time has existed
not one second has ever been
repeated or reclaimed.
Time gives back nothing-
it only takes away.
Time is a taskmaster that extracts
a high price when wasted-
yet promises no rewards for
frugality.
Time cannot be managed-
it manages those seeking to do so.
Time creates all and destroys all-
time is life and time is death-
time is infinitesimal-
time is eternal.
Time is our captor-
yet also our liberation-
and until such-
only coexistence is allowed-
an uneasy truce.
Time is the overseer of all things-
we are all its slave.
March 7, 2014
She patiently sits by the telephone
Awaiting a ring from the one she adores
It seems far too long since her husband's been gone
She wonders if anyone's minding the store
She flips on the switch in the darkened hall
Walks quietly over the holes - back and forth
Reports from her gun long ago were forestalled
She wiped clean the deed by excising the source
Mary what you doing now
As Spring perfume inspires the air
Rise up from your rocking chair
It's so lovely in the South
Mary, what you doing now
Suspicion had mounted until they were caught
There in the hallway, her sister with him
Screaming, she shot five more times as they dropped
On learning the truth, Mary ceased to exist
Mary what you doing now
Inside those honeysuckle prayers
Ask forgiveness, you'll be spared
Long forgotten when and how
Mary, what you doing now
His mother just died
Your sister was kind
A guiltless embrace
Til you blew them away
Mary what you doing now
Have you no memories to share
Must you always sit and stare
Dead within and lost without
Mary, what you doing now
Say, Mary, what you doing now?
May tides of the sea thwart!
May the manoeuvre of Sun and Moon be forestalled!
May cool breezing be ceased! May raining billow be foiled!
Whatever may befall!
May the earth be restrained!
May the birds twitting resonance be precluded!
May the flying bird’s pinions be shackled! May the blooming floret be evanescent!
Whatever may befall!
May terra firma and sky be adjoined! Whatever may unearth at this juncture!
But the solicitudes of yours may not be discarded from my reminiscences.
How sensation it is! How wonder it is! Without you there is no life for me.
Whatever may befall!