Best Girded Poems

Gene stood. Skyscraper demanding. Cold steel.
Thirty-five hard years. Over now. Just like that.
Corrugated box. Family photo. Timex watch.
Bitter coffee. 
Stale sweat.
He walked out. Sun blaze. Fireball. Air thick.

Sidewalk. Familiar corner. Man there.
Black skin. Weathered face. Cardboard sign.
Gene stopped. Eyes met. Silent understanding.

"Seen you," the man...

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Clans, Ilks and Tartans

Woven into threads of red and black,
Girded by grids of white,
Distant plaintive bagpipe memories
Of sunset over Kilmaurs –
A crest that bears a unicorn
Touches royal roots
As a poet’s tribute to a patron lost
Watches neighbors Campbell and Montgomerie
Then looks out on the seas from...

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You look at me and see a northeast highway after winter
Cracked, worn, roughened by conditions not meant to be endured.
I was once the most beautiful cobblestone pathway through a garden of ripe, unpicked fruit.
I was the apple whose sweet center no man could resist tasting
But...

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The amount of good and evil

Constant remains

Throughout space and time

There is

No more suffering than good fortune 

No more good fortune than suffering  

In the universe and in the human soul 

This is the law of being,

A constant flux of the two forces

Expression of a...

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On a broad street 'neath spreading sycamores sits a stately dwelling.
Its elegance and surrounding grounds are so very compelling.
Gracious gardens and towering pines enhance its wide expanse,
All girded by a charming, yet sturdy, white iron picket fence.

Gingerbread ornamentation adorns its every eave and gable.
At the...

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Fall the night upon me dark
Naked born this journey embark
Of friend or foe as yet unknown
Time will tell in deeds be shown

In shadow times when virtue fades
Within a soul love does degrade
All around in greed and pain
A girded heart with taut refrain

Fall the night upon...

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John the Baptist in a camel hair "suit"
Girded with a leather belt to boot
On a steady diet of wild honey and locusts
It's a wonder he was able to maintain his focus...

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Already was straight up the flame and steady
To speak no more, and yet away it went
Being the sweet poet to let it ready,

When another, which followed in ascent,
Made us to turn our eyes to top from low
Since emitted sound with confused accent.

As the Sicilian ox...

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PSYCHOTIC JOURNEY
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


Feeling really beat,  I went to bed early last night
Suddenly awakened feeling something’s not right
There was total darkness, I was not in my room
Lying on a cold flooring, with a feeling of doom
Hearing moans and murmurs the sounds of pain
Someone close...

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"The Lord is risen!”*  
keeps on reverberating
as vibrant resurrection-shout 
for life-transformation
conquering old nature
vanquished by God’s salvation-might
toward empowered service
wrought by the Holy Spirit.

“The Lord is alive!”
ceaselessly echoes 
jubilant resurrection-truth
along faith-perseverance
smiting doubts' grip
through Scriptures' assurance
bracing against angst of confessed iniquities
to radiate Christ's light.

“The Lord reigns!” 
serves...

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The gates open at twilight
Gates for the strong, lost at night

The keeper sees everyone that passes by
Through the gates of brass and willoughby

Tormented souls bereft of sight
Under the curse of stolen moonlight

Outside the gates are flooded by roohu ghosts
A brouhaha of wandering cluster posing as...

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the heat is on and the temperature feels like its hot as hell
the heat is on in every aspect of life in these turbulent times as well
environmentally, economically and politically society is at the boiling point
people are frustrated, discombobulated their noses are all out of...

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Steel mountains tower over ancient minds
The mismatched soul anachronism  
Instincts progressively lagging behind 
Primitive brain sees a deep red cataclysm

Ghostly mastodons stalk the fluorescent plain 
A daunting checklist of tasks today 
Frigid rivers to be crossed in your brain 
Endless list of invisible foes...

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In the midst of whatever has you bound up and under attack
The presence of God can break every chain for the Lord has your back
Be it mental, physical or psychological chains that are holding you down 
The presence of the Lord has the power to...

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I gave my life for you, 
My grit was your prosperity, 
So that you could do. 

I swallowed at the task, 
Girded myself bravely, 
Prepared to have a mask. 

When self-awareness engulfed, 
And loneliness overcame, 
Determination was loved. 

I fought a man every time, 
I...

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