Best Furls Poems
purple heart on wall
coffin's flag furls in fall wind –
day to remember
*Entry for Deborah Guzzi’s Holiday Haiku contest in honor of Veterans Day
Categories:
furls, holiday, war
Form:
Haiku
Everywhere I look, all I see is nothing
A vast space full of water, the current pulling me out to nowhere
Kicking and screaming I’m trying to stay above the wild waves
But the crash and smash against me, the water filling my lungs
I cannot breathe and I cannot float much longer
I want so desperately to have something to cling to
But yet I am alone in this fight, to keep my mind above
To keep myself from sinking to the depths of depression
A dark, endless pit that I will not be able to escape
The burning anger above me
And sweltering sadness beneath me
Challenge me in my everyday
To try and hold on to the thin lines of reality
The lines that are blurring before my very eyes
I do not know how much longer I can keep
I want it all to end…but I do not want to end it all
I am so tired…so very tired
But sleep dances away from me,
Like a young child on a play ground, sleep runs and hides
The giggles of him I can hear, here and there
But I cannot reach him
He his beyond my capacities, beyond my boundaries
And I’m losing this fight to stay above the water
I feel like I’m drowning
‘ISN’T ANYONE THERE’ I cry
And I weep, but honestly I really don’t know why
Why I feel so trapped in this grey world
With no escape and no reverence
I am lost in the wild furls of my psychotic mind
Where no one can find me, no one can help me…save me
Alone and drowning I try to grasp onto the thin wisp of hope
But it is false and was gone before it ever appeared
I am lost, with nothing but the water and fire
The darkness, and terror
I have nothing to hold onto
Yet I keep fighting, I keep fighting this losing battle
But I do not know how much longer I will last
Categories:
furls, allegory, depression, fear, sad,
Form:
Free verse
The moon rises to see nothing
Everything empty, with only the wind left
Desolate despair reaches into an eternity
Vanquished 'till death they part in the shadows
The stench of death billows and furls
Suffocating like a blinding fog
Rolling in and out of consciousness
I wander in this desolate I called ''home''
Now I look upon the wasted remains of things once familiar
Love and hatred mix into one
The burning desire to leave and never come back overcomes
Will-power lost inside; buried beneath
The sights I envision are all I have left
Nothing exactly as it used to be
We built upon everlasting sorrow
Making new out of old and discarding the rest
But as I dwell in ancient memories, I stop
Something is missing in the dreams I encounter in sleep
But there, the memory is uncovered in the blackened mist
Now I may lose myself in never-awakening slumber...
Categories:
furls, saddeath, death,
Form:
Free verse
A stone's cast ----
but what great arm has set about the motion?
was not the first mother reared? ----
her children on the smiles of angels?
her womb filled with devotional design;
to flourish to some end with hope in God's motivation?
..... back to the (garden), with this posy and its ink near end,
and its quill dipped still in mystique;
yet I did not come (here) by chance,
nor was my mother born from some heathen improbability,
there can come no answers in doubt;
for fear of the wolves the woods are too shadowed
and loiter most grimly,
always death on the wind....
I shall not doubt the design in the weave the Great Artist
hath woven, and what magic touch with the world's eye in mind;
only the dullard doubts the infinite graces in the reflecting pool,
and the skeptic accursed without revelation -----
his own child but water, flesh and bone
and the cold earth but waits for him,
in the bellies of fattened worms;
when death's breath whispers and curls and furls
as serpent wisp-mists, coiling to mortal truth ----
he shall cling to God and eternity!
Have I died a thousand deaths?
walked the cool of earth ere?
tasted of the sweet nectar of love,
and the bounties beyond death?
That we will to live, and climb to some end,
the jagged-precipice, and toil to experience
and seek the Final Mighty Mount ----
is our great testimony to eternity;
To leave our fingerprint upon the world,
and slip into paradise as a welcomed wind 'neath its door.....
Categories:
furls, creation, death, faith, life,
Form:
Free verse
Written: December 11, 2024, for contest Sponsored by: Robert James Liguori
________________________________
When dusk strikes, the magic swirls,
In the grasp of dawn, a wispy heart twirls.
The shades waltz as a painter brush whirls,
In a vacuum night, dream faintly furls.
We whimsey we'd catch the rainbow past,
Ride the wind whispers in a peaceful blast.
Sail aboard ships of wonder over skies so vast,
Still, life's intricate yarn holds shadows cast.
With each glitter and moonbeam embrace,
Warm mutters soothe, eradicating the trace.
A crystalline elixir, hope unending grace,
In a chaotic world, I'll waltz amid the space.
So hear the moon croon, as the world feels right,
Through lilac and lavender, our hopes bear flight.
In the bittersweet dance of our love’s pure light,
We embrace the shades, and in time, we unite.
From periwinkle skies, where stars softly bite,
To obsidian hoops, in the gloom of the night.
The elixir of life offers sweet, gentle height,
And while sunrise glows, we dream in spite.
The crimson and green, in dawn’s golden light,
As hope drips from vials, crystalline and bright.
With each ebbing moment, pain feels contrite,
Yet dreams linger on, with a soft, tender bite.
So bless me, as the dawn’s light breaks,
With glimmers of hope that the dawn makes.
In every hue, from crimson to blue ice flakes,
A kaleidoscope of dreams, pure and slake.
From blue skies to lavender pillows,
I shall find my path home by shadows.
In this upholstery of wonderful bliss,
So bless me, bless me, with dawn kiss.
Categories:
furls, analogy, appreciation, rainbow,
Form:
Monorhyme
I once met a man with ears so large
That “Dumbo the Elephant” had less by far.
Protruding outward from his head to the sky
Way up to the clouds where the birds did fly
Landing upon his outstretched sails
Building their nests inside his furls.
And so he lived with birds too many
Hanging ‘round his ears a plenty
With people looking on chagrined
Wondering what on earth transpired with him
To make his sweet sound catchers grow
Larger than Jacks Bean Stock
Wouldn’t you know?
And so he lived his life with nests
Inside his lobes and gave his best
To all those birds and people too
Laughing and joking ‘til they turned blue.
No less than the air he often shared
With those who came to see
This man with the pair of unflappable flappers
Was no less than you and me.
Categories:
furls, humorous, people, people,
Form:
Free verse
THE POET MEETS THE JOURNO
All right, so I introduced you to each other,
She, sotto voce, with sweet piercing alter
Ego and intransigent integral and inviolate
Laws, you with your collection of newspaper
Cuttings of riots, strikes, and the dialectical
Alternative: mottled eyes and the poor man’s pudding
Of truth, flavoured with salt fish loneliness.
In the dim furls of the watchman’s banner
The night was just ending, so go to it -
Discern why I separately loved you.
As I make my way home by myself,
The pure gold of my honourable gesture
Will shine like an Indian summer on a child,
Be meditation for your spirit on our silent spring.
By Rosemarie Rowley
Published in IN MEMORY OF HER, Dublin, 2008
Categories:
furls, celebrity, conflict, courage,
Form:
Sonnet
THE BREAKFAST OF SCANDAL
Once upon a lofty testament
The blue print of a rhapsodic love furls
Among the two betrothed by a mutual affection.
Their love echoes and here to stay and born.
Their twin love merges to one
By the highly acclaimed folk,
A great éclat from dawn to dusk;
The world transfixed with joy;
Those who could not attain such,
Wish themselves the devil's blow,
And a few carapace of such great virtue;
Their footprint on earth the words of all.
Their matrimonial altar lay upon trust,
They stay in quietude and harmony,
None will one-day dream to dispute them
Or to harmonize their grievances;
They stay like the two eyes that never share a duel;
If all could by a means be like them,
The world forever shall glamour and clamour peace,
They love so much, both at the table
And in the "washing room" helpmeet they are.
Sometimes cited by the arbitrators to their client,
Sometimes a pacesetter to the religiously inclined;
A perfect example to the world around and beyond,
Both the dramatist and the poet their critics they always be.
And the kings sit and take no decision without them.
While the works of men decay,
At the credo of indecision,
The ploughing of scandal overtakes the bedrock of trust.
Her faux-pas display a maximum foolery,
In the eyes of the fire on the cloud,
She burnt their property,
And sent her lover to hell,
And swallowed a knife.
A mystery to the world unraveled,
Each hand on the chin awaiting solace.
The world is borne and grieved;
Ours is to bear and stoically shaved.
Categories:
furls, anger, angst, anxiety, betrayal,
Form:
Free verse
The city has evacuated the streets at this hour,
and vacancy has given his unsteady feet
right of way at every intersection.
The traffic lights, sticklers for rules, continue
color-coding priorities for non-existent movements,
frowning on his jaywalking but indifferent
to his zigzagging.
The bar has dispensed all its sympathy for one night,
so the flood of misery has now been diverted
by closing time into the open,
private grief on public display on an empty street,
the whiskey in his stomach threatening an uprising,
pushing his upper body and legs in two different directions
but doing nothing to blot out the
full-screen news ticker rolling across his
consciousness for the first time
with a single breaking story:
SHE LEFT ME FOR ANOTHER MAN SHE LEFT ME FOR ANOTHER MAN
SHE LEFT ME FOR ANOTHER MAN . . .
He’s reeling from the hollowness that still seems
to be expanding in him,
feeling singled out for suffering,
not yet knowing that he’s merely
following in the footsteps of countless others
who have lurched and stumbled in the same way to
a semblance of emotional balance,
the pain inoculating him against future pain.
Through all the green and amber and red lights
he staggers on towards the limits of innocence,
until the night furls its shadows,
and the sky is a furtive grey.
Categories:
furls, betrayal, drink, growing up,
Form:
Free verse
A golden sun I yearn to see t'morrow
That’s never, ever dawn in my life-time;
The crows will caw with its first-ever glow,
And wrens will timely chime a welcome rhyme.
The sun will brightly dawn with healing rays
And scorch forever to cease that Covid, beast,
Who chokes our throats with his, malicious gaze,
And furls the table, laid for ceaseless feast.
Red-bills will bring the news of a vaccine,
And hospital beds will lonely … bemoan;
Young men will queue for delicious cuisine,
And elders will break their bedridden zone.
They all will coolly fly in festive air
And dive in fleecy dreams with little care.
That’s = that has
Syllabic count: 10 syllables in each line.
Rhyme scheme: ABAB; CDCD; EFEF, GG
Sept. 30, 2020
COMPLETELY YOUR CHOICE(23) any theme any form Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Brian Strand
Categories:
furls, blessing, celebration, farewell, natural
Form:
Sonnet
Firefly tango, lighting up the meadow
Whizzes, whirls, flits, and furls,
The little varmints buzz around,
Unaware we are watching their every move.
We older folks are no longer chasing them
or popping them in Mason Jars
To be our own little flashlights until their lights
Stop glowing, and they lie in the grass we put
In the bottom of the jar, dead from heartache.
We used to punch the holes in the tops, but still,
Their will to live was taken from them, so they
Chose to die, as captivity does that to lots
Of creatures, including fluorescent fireflies.
The children run into the house and I warn
The flitters, but they are too busy doing the
Firefly tango to listen to an old woman like
Me, so I sit now, watching the children
Cavorting in the meadow, attempting to
Catch their flashlights for the night.
Categories:
furls, nostalgia,
Form:
Free verse
This umbrella thing is not cool
I feel like such a silly fool
since I'm on my way to the pool
It's not a rule It's not a rule
It's purple satin edged with pearls
Cute when carried by little girls
but too fancy for us squirrels
Yes, it furls Yes, it furls
It doesn't work well with my shape
I might stay drier with a cape
when over my tail it would drape
Like a serape Like a serape
I like that you feed me and yet...
you cause me to worry and fret
I really don't mind getting wet
I'm not a pet I'm not a pet
I don't want to nag or complain
but let me scurry in the rain
A squirrel with an umbrella...
It's so insane It's so insane
Categories:
furls, rain, silly,
Form:
Monorhyme
Cloudy day
Daisy shivers
As Nature's enforcer blusters and blows
The persuader is no where in sight
Daisy isn't happy
She'd rather hide too,
But that's not her destiny
She straightens her stem
And furls out her petals
She gathers her anger
And pollinates the world
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all rage could be expressed so beautifully?
Categories:
furls, social
Form:
Light Verse
Me again:
Blue parrots screech hawkers off the streets
Where rats and mobile devices scream
Insults into the ears of the sewars.
Whiskers and teardrops and plops of fun
Which dangle relentlessly above the
Green shoreline.
Playing musical pillows at sinister
Dinner dates In Sports bars with
Ponytails swinging and everlasting
Ss flying and flirting with blue
Spit flickered lips. Lest those lips
Go white I’ll write and wrongdoers
Will waltz into the twilight with
Their glorious mistakes.
Obey these invisible margins and
Tread these see through lines
Boys toys and girls toys are
Not to be mixed with those of the
Kids from the neighbourhood next door.
My fiddle will flee if you open
Your eye.
My obedience will flag when you
Look too hard at anything
Orange. Please and manners fly
Diligently tests and marking will
Not be completed.
These fish will suffocate once
They surface. Their faces extended
And their fish breath Fresh and
Poignant in the cool Sydney night.
11 July 2020
When these sores blister once more
And the creepers of this crises
Existentially intertwine with those of
The vines existing every-where, the
Aching strains and actual bodily pains
Will face into the façade of a
Blissful encounter with a unified flying object.
Mists and turmoil. Insecure privacy.
Lost loved ones and furls of ferns
Flirting with the edge of my conscious.
Industrial lovers mechanically
Pounding the pavement and seeking
Exists and making segments of
Cement crack and twist. These
Divine distractions create dopamine
Hits which levitate the mind and
Cause the toes to curl in a luxurious
Pantomime.
Categories:
furls, beautiful, blue, fear, forgiveness,
Form:
Free verse
When he comes home smiling, moon blooms,
With stars, her darling kids,
Yet when he far does roam, she glooms.
She furls her wings and burns her ends;
Without his love, she shrinks;
She bends, and bends; her gloom extends.
Wearing sadly a thick black shawl,
Abandoning her choir,
She bemoans, and him she does call.
On hearing her plea, home he comes,
Brighter moon does bloom, and
Merrily with him, songs she hums.
[Nature]
Syllabic count: 8/6/8 in each stanza
Oct. 24, 2020
Writing Challenge – Tercets – Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Constance La France
Categories:
furls, moon, romance, sun,
Form:
Rhyme