Best Gleans Poems
Two artists that once danced on high trapeze...
then fell to doom, his death a fate unkind.
All hope bereft, her sanity soon flees.
Life lingers on, enduring crippled mind.
In steel-toed boots and shabby overalls
she takes her toy red wagon for a stroll.
Young children run to hide inside their walls,
unable to divine her kindly soul.
Did you dream of him, poor Pansy dear,
in his spangled suit so bright,
his arms so strong, his breath so near
as you joined him in the light?
She buys some fruit to share while on her quest
with those the rich might think a waste of time.
But charity, like mercy, is twice blessed...
the seller's price is always just a dime.
Some cans, some wood, some soda bottle caps,
the woman gleans the cast-off rubble heap,
to build abodes from simple artful scraps
for those who have no other place to sleep.
Did you dream of him, poor Pansy dear,
did you dream of him last night?
When God called forth, your mind was clear
as you joined him in the light.
A muse on the loose. Oh, where might she go?
Special moments in life that made my heart glow
she visits with sentimentality -
to gild cherished memories of family.
Through scenes of a novel or some picture show -
a muse on the loose. Oh, where might she go?
Moved by great drama or by tragedy,
she sprinkles a flavor of melancholy.
To mountains or flowered fields or to the sea,
she's ready to gather the majesty
of nature around her! From beaches to snow -
a muse on the loose. Oh, where might she go?
From daily events of simplicity
to things unexpected that happen to me,
she gleans inspiration, then the poems flow.
A muse on the loose. Oh, where might she go?
Written Sept.8, 2016 for the Contest of John Lawless:
Muse on the Loose
Only Man sees beauty in a star,
or gleans delight from a bird in flight.
And He's the only being thus far
that can discriminate wrong from right.
Only Man can perpetuate hate
or feel the pain of love kept apart.
And alter the course of His own fate,
preventing problems before they start.
Only Man can decide to be kind
or separate His wants from His needs.
And ease the burdens of soul and mind,
while shaping His destiny through deeds.
Only Man can realize His dreams,
or understand He's destined to die.
And question what reality means,
distinguishing the truth from a lie.
Only Man believes He has a soul,
or that love exists within His heart.
And defining life, He takes control;
expressing Himself through works of art.
Written: October 1st 2023
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the ocean of silence, I’m stunned
Astonish by its grandeur as I descend.
A comely curtain of conciliatory calm
Elapse the chaos, surreptitious and warm.
In the hushed embrace of the twilight sky,
A silence plummets, ambrosial all nearby.
Astonied hearts stand in solicitous awe.
A comely night implies her ethereal flaw.
Emollient whispers waft into the air.
Surreptitious secrets are shared with care.
Incipient stars start their gentle wafture,
Surreal leaves create a ripple in nature.
Mellifluous melodies mend meteoric might,
Fugacious flimsies that fizzle out of a fight
Gossamer moonbeams cast their diaphanous glow,
Creating an aura of silence, tranquility, and bestow.
Ineffable fairness, fiercely feisty, not frigid,
The break of dawn silenced, as if timid.
Saturnine secrets shrank in secrecy.
Stupendous silence slides, sinewy spree.
Lull launders, looping the limp land,
As warblers start with a duteous band,
Sullen clouds gather, ominous and dark.
Yet awestruck hearts find solace in calm remarks.
Reassuringly, the heavy silence lingers.
Dour faces are glum, yet prudent fingers
Guide the oxymoron of emotions that flow,
Glowering and divine in their quiet glow
In the gloomy hush, discretion gleans hold,
As discerning minds decry peace in the fold,
The prudent ones, with a discreet glance,
Understand the power of silence dance.
Glum faces settle in quiet repose.
Views deepen, and worries dispose
Astounded by stillness, they are in awe.
Of absolute peace that stillness can draw.
Awestricken by the amorphous depth it brings,
They decry solace in the lull that silence sings.
A curtain of calm tumbles, amazed and serene.
As the amorphous depth of quiet is felt and seen.
Inauspicious cruxes balmily soothe fears.
As diaphanous whispers softly, quell tears.
Hinky hearts hearkens a hypothesis behind,
A voice uttered, "Love silence will never hide".
No query or qualm can squeal this bond.
Silence is where my peace is dulcet fond.
In the hushed embrace of the twilight sky,
Silence reigns, and my love will never die.
I wrote a poem, but don't know what it means.
Its mystery is what the reader gleans.
Now, its meaning is infused,
unless the reader is confused,
and the poem is blown to smithereens.
It's wrong to deny what your heart desires
If it's right, set your hormones on fire
No need to fight the temptation
Let out all of your sexual frustration
Don't hold back, let your imagination loose
Take your wild side for a cruise
If it is right for you at the moment
Don't be afraid to act on it
If he knows how to touch your body with care
Don't be afraid, relax, let him take you there
If it makes your body feel good
Let your body do exactly what it should
Let your hormones be your guide
Take your new vehicle on a test drive
Let your mind relax
Take it slow, let your insides climax
No need to stop or hesitate
Your body deserves to get laid
Ask yourself, how long has it been
Since your body has been caressed inch by inch
If it is feeling wrong, then you know it's right
Get some sexual healing, there are no red lights
Once he enters you, don't yell stop or no
Give him all green lights and let your juices flow
Once he gleans all of the sighs from you
Let your internal emotions wild and loose
Be selfish when it comes to your needs
For your body is what sex feeds
Don't be so quick to rush
Take your time, get more than enough
Love the night with every stroke of sex
Just make the night, one of your bests
My old friend struggles
with his life's meaning.
Familiar with dead cats, Newton,
Einstein and incredible fractals,
he gleans patterns instantly
and misses nothing
in his galactic surveys,
nor leave a clue unglued.
He can entertain the most bazaare
concepts in the fervent hope
that truth will emerge from under
some unlabeled rock.
But all such inquiry always gyres back
to herds and migrations,
lemmings and old habits,
and wave upon wave upon
an ancient beach,
simply maya and samsura.
The moonlight shimmered on the winding road
A chilled wind rolled to battle and smite
Slicing through the fog and croaking toads
There was a blood curdling scream heard that night
The fog's hand choked the throat of graves,
as it passed the stone bridge grasping its iron gate
Tall stones stood like marbled guards that wait
These sentries for death moonlight illuminates
A caretaker's eyes welded to shadows moving slow
A scream, a wolf's howl pierced to intervene,
the dark wings that flew by a dead willow
Frightened the caretaker, his imagination he gleans
No one knows of the caretaker's fate,
or of the shadowed wings he had seen
At each full moon near halloween,
a scream and wolf's call is heard pure and clean
They say ghosts had risen in the fog in flight,
by the stone bride with its iron gate
There was a blood crudling scream heard that night
contest Ghost Stories
10/23/14
Transposition
A human is afflicted
Constitutionally impaired
Stricken with a penchant
For humans inherently despaired
On the conscious level
Feels sensations of suffering
Gleans paramount endearment
For their dark proclivity
The human radiates benevolence
To the inviolable entity
Transmitting a vision
That life is worth living
Furnish with the knowledge
That existence must seek balance
Those who shine on others
The beams reach them too
Love begets love
Let us walk in their shoes
Sunshine Williams
Winding path through the tawny wood
Hanging branches form a shadowy hood
Dangling vines each spindled fold lace
Slippery, svelte moss cloaks the base
The vented light peeps through fibrous trellis
Addled mind with beauty to encase
Swerving shadows creep down the swaying lattice
Each truncated step to efface
Fallen leaves weave a sprawling mat
Soft soles o'er silky fibers prat
Trodding o'er tender mushrooms, rendered scat
Listless feet trample each groove; probe each slat
Restless roots the rugged edges trace
The undergrowth crowds the shrinking space
Meandering route into sleepy hollow careens
Whittled bushes, saw grass the stillness gleans
Through the swaddled cradle padded soles calmly pace
The rhythmic lullaby of whistling wind heart doth embrace
Through stunted hollow into bracketed thicket
Spiny branches throw up a cumbersome picket
Each spiked shrub colludes to form a sticky wicket
Bristling, twining band is serenaded by singing cricket
Struggling through the gristly garden
My stinging heels bleed for reprieve, pardon
Just ahead, a carpeted, emerald meadow streams
My sodden feet dance into the velvety seams
Any night endless, in countless shop doorways.
Down on their uppers, and satanic. strange places.
Spluttering, sneezing, coughing and wheezing,
In old cardboard boxes, rest weather worn faces
Catnapping for hours, gleans little cold comfort.
It's quicker with liquor, in brown paper bags.
A pawnshop's shopwindow, bears witness to sorrow,
Where all is exchanged, for the price of some fags.
Wearing second hand garments, from salvation counters,
No hope without dope, they suffer in silence.
A world where surviving, regrets to forget.
Downtrodden, despised, more often with violence.
The homeless seek shelter, a bed for the night.
Too few, for too many, for too many, too late.
Indifferent to hardship, they just melt away,
Swallowed up by the night-times, irreversible fate.
5/ 23/ 2017.
on my brim
dons tangible markings.
Crafted genes engage
to warn iconic
of principled
death.
She measures
her tacky line, loping
anchors across
waxen badges
encrusted with
doubt.
I don’t fear
the web she spins
above my cerebellum
since due warning
of predatory intent
gleans.
In the garden, by the fountain,
I was sitting in a chair.
As the visitors approached,
I saw them hesitate and stare.
For the pool of water glittered
With a sea of silver change.
Not one warning sign was posted,
Which to me was kind of strange.
I imagine out-of-towners
Or some locals on a tour
Make a wish and toss their coins,
Which settle on the fountain floor.
Do these people think their wishes
Have a chance of coming true?
Or is tossing coins in fountains
Just a thing that people do?
If you add up all the money
That museum fountain gleans,
It could really be a fortune;
And I’m curious – who cleans?
But much more, I wonder if the wishers
May be disenchanted
When they realize that their wishes
Somehow never do get granted.
Still, most people think it’s fun
To make a wish and throw a coin;
And if I am honest, I’ll admit
At times I’m apt to join.
"If I weren’t afraid, I'd..." move to heaven.
But suicide is frowned upon, up there.
It seems there is NO path free of leaven
neglect yields censure, insults follow care
Does gay marriage do well to make this point -
should kids not be borne to this broken world?
Not a lifestyle I'd prefer or anoint,
but granted, earth's end IS being unfurled.
Unfurled with red flags touting abortion,
A second issue that I can't endorse.
As ethical questions flout distortion,
many gallop down this barbaric course.
The border gleans talk, such politic-ese
Opinions thereon, I judge have gone south.
Concentration camps, bah humbug, puh-lease!
"Want credit for the rain, take blame for drought."
August 17, 2019, edited September 10, 2019
back in the days before coronavirus captured the conversation
last line quote, Dwight Morrow
Fall's bright colors are taking flight like birds on the wing
It's the right time for a clime change and seasonal transformation
brisk winds whisk leaves in plight and can no longer cling
Autumn sends a note that portends a change is in the air
Months of holidays and sublime door displays in celebration
of prime family feasts and Halloween beasts that surely scare
There are ripe fields to harvest with care and yields to measure
Nature conducts bright scenes as she gleans to write an orchestration
of Winter snows and light woolen clothes, a season to treasure