Best Gnashed Poems
O April
how I’ve longed for your return
to breathe new life
into this gnarled body..
for these roots to be unfettered
from the grasping earthen frost -
the past season of fanged nor’easters gnashed
me bare - leaving me mauled and dulled
alone with stiffened limbs
lifted to face
the hard glower of old man winter
with not a morsel of mercy to be gained
but April
now that you're here to share
the innocence of the daisy
and the honeyed scent of the sweet pea
I feel inspirited like a sapling young and tender again;
mild is the fog’s embrace in early morn
as I taste your sweetened rainwater
and gentle is the rhythm of baptizing
showers bathing dark days away..
and ever grateful is my grayed heart
as it begins to beat
with the fresh pulse of verdant rebirth
oh April
how easily you inspire
my shy imagination to fly
with the zephyr's muse
to expand my artistry
in an afternoon’s brushstroke of forsythia light
dreams once frozen now thawed and golden
eager to flourish in bloom
awakening the poetry
in a new leaf’s unfurling whisper -
a whisper that grows a praising wind-psalm
as choirs of bursting buds
celebrate revival
with a rustling alleluia!
star-shaped sails rouse in swishing sounds
their leafy lyrical breath one with the breeze
my green-laden boughs now a wellspring
of exuberant born-again voices
a thronging rejoice lifted
to the heavens on the whisk of the westerlies;
supple is my sweep and sway ‘neath
the soft-bellied skies of Spring
dear lady, April
how I revel in the glorious abundance of your Nature;
your nurture enlivens my humble woody being
and though gray may shade my weather-beaten heart..
evergreen is my soul
Susan Ashley
April 12, 2021
~ First Place ~
Premiere Contest: April
Sponsor: Regina McIntosh
Eyes glued to the sky
Thumb finger tumbling
Tears cascading from above
Heart filled with grieve and grieve
Encroached of the unknown
Future punctured with uncertainties
Realities gnashed at me
The night settled on my thought
The morning is aging
It is time to go home
Which home?
Where is the fulfillment in these drifts of life?
Must i go home unfulfilled?
O, is this the end of my enterprise in the human cosmos?
Woes’, my dearest friend!
I have partaken in battle.
Facing the fury of ravenous dogs!
They gnashed my bleeding limbs!
In the darkest hour, I stood!
Hands calloused, reaching to the sky!
Gently offering stretched fingers.
Grasping for abandoned faith!
And love.
Yes…. oh yes! And love!
Crumpled upon baron soil!
Knowing well, that within this ticking life...
I will once again - be forced to the battle.
Yes, I carry many scars!
Songs of joy abound.
For, I am victorious once again!
No manner of man shall deprive my stand.
For my pillar …is faith.
My breath is life!
Therefore, in fiery death!
Or quiet, passing in the night!
My presence is known!
Thus, my story is told.
The snow silently cloaked the land
falling slowly but insistently
creating large drifts against the walls
bigger and bigger get the flakes
A world of white where ever you look
gnashed here and there by trees
sticking up their bare branches
which are now also snow laden
Sheep struggle through the drifts
helped by the shepherd and dogs
fast as a flash the collies mark
until the shepherd digs them out
Still relentlessly the snow falls
roads and trails disappear from sight
I look out over the white landscape
and feel as if I am in the clouds
written in 2013
More things can happen or could have happened,
From a cold metal,
Sharpened in fine fettle,
Making skin nettled,
Damaging the mettles,
To keep minds unsettled,
Provoking to ask, if this is or if this was real or mental?
Blade on arms,
Skin might be harmed;
Skin was gashed,
Blade grinding and gnashed,
Red colors coming in a flash...
Blade on gut,
Feeling a sudden jut,
Provoked as a rut,
But, this was a guff...
Blade on neck,
Thinking about a sudden sweep,
Discord trying to overcome conviction and peace,
Even though, the blade failed again,
Failing to provoke the red gushes and streams...
Blade on heart,
Might be the last battle so far,
Trying to not give in, being so hard,
Though in the past, there could have been to many cuts,
And more deadly slashes,
Creating red splashes and plashes,
As I slowly might have fought, winning or losing,
Against the sleeping and life flashing feeling,
As I bleeded out..
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....“But Solomon built Him a house. However, the Most High does not
Dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: `Heaven Is
My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me?
Says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made
All these things?` You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!
You always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed
Those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have
Become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law
By the direction of angels and have not kept it.`
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they
Gnashed at him with teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit ~
Gazed into heaven and saw The Glory of God, and Jesus standing....
At the right hand of God, and said, `Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
Standing at the right hand of God!` Then they cried out with a loud
Voice, stopped their ears, ran at him, with one accord; and they
Cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down
Their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned
Stephen as he was calling on God and saying
`Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.` ~
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, `Lord, do not
Charge them with this sin.` And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
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....“The Book of Acts, Chapter 7.” *
The hot breasted sea
Gave urge to it
Its hot passion free
The wind expanded
And all night
The currents swell
Till daybreak and alarm.
With frazzled hair
And frantic hands
Her splayed protruding teeth
Gnashed at coastline
And puffed towards the land
And we with baited prayers
In silence waited
For the grey clouds to cease
Menacing the day.
The sky in torrents opened
The sun bolted away
There was a roar
A twirling dance
Before the death of trees
The scattering
Of transient things
And then came the flood
Of anger and disbelief
Then came the horror and grief.
The water gutted everything
Broke the walls
Took the crops with the wind
And hills and coast in shambles
Seem desolate
Like chaos before all beginning
And I among the weeping
Pondered the wrath of wind
Pondered the single dead
And waited for the new world
That such disaster brings.
Congressman and senators forewent
all manner of civility, fidelity and integrity wii
hull ding broadswords, derringers
and firearms as all hell broke loose as testimony
to the dire prognostication foretold
more than saber rattling and Gatling guns que
kind from lambastes, fisticuffs
and brickbats ratcheted up as agents provocateurs nee
said obedience to semper fidelis credo, coda and cock knee
stance when dire straits called for restraint
against excess versus raising cane old hickory
i.e. Andrew Jackson latched onto when opposing with energy
and verve espoused by fellow delegates, and his hologram ghost bloody
from battle scars outside and/or inside
the halls of government where blows bashed
dovetailed elected legislators to officiate
as angry birds viz brouhaha clashed
Federalist against their nemesis
of the twenty first century
during the term of Donald Trump
who throve on the cutthroat frenzied
internecine lawlessness dashed
to and fro, hither and yon any hope for civilians to escape bloodshed
spilled from without vaunted halls of justice,
the approach of doomsday
writ large as anarchy and mayhem flashed
with uproarious coup d’etat,
when Democrats outliers gnashed
teeth, and nonestablishmentarian outlaws
pistol whipped and hashed
tagged traitors who roared America
went bankrupt at sold at fire sale price slashed
when Donald Trump ran the country
into the ground evidenced by Molotov Cocktails residue
in concert with the sulfuric odor of hand grenades trashed
Born dead put in a bucket,
Bellowed and got himself saw,
Tetanus at 10, bloody bad luck
Pus filled veins had for sure,
Doctor’s would take his leg off.
father said “no good , no more,
one legged horseman, is useless,
might as well be dead for sure,”
snatched from the Mungindi hospital,
went to a herbalist, Chinese lady’s door,
she medicated, doctored the cripple,
back on two legs now for sure.
Doctor’s teeth gnashed,they knew it all,
Said "he will die of Tetanus poor boy,"
Alternative medicine was on the ball,
They had to eat their words, some call,
The bitterest taste of the gall.
Nancy Jones
Contest Name A Toothful Ode
Popcorn and assorted snacks in hand
My vision obscured with the theatres darkness
The streets permeated with shrieks of horror
Artificial blood oozes earthward from the victims
Flesh being feasted upon
Brains gnashed into pudding
Goosebumps slither up my body
Lights illuminate the deadline of the movie
-
Bewilderment dominates humanity
Our perception dazed in abhorrence
The pavement eclipsed with hustling bodies
Genuine vital fluids cascade from carcasses
Sinews chomped on
Squishy matter engorged in mouths
Horripilation wriggles in me
Hope abandons existence
-
Despair fluctuates through me
My sight conceives facts
Asphalt collides with my face
Hemoglobin departs out of my possession
Body tissue separated from my leg
My cerebral cortex out of reach
Agony scorches inside
Endurance beckons me to flee
-
Delirium sears through
My eyes dim and hazy
An alley my last mortal destination
My internal juices idle
Epidermis mutilated
My mind discontinues
Death replaced with the need….
The need to feed
monsters groan hair in wrinkled gnaws…
hell chews hope in gnashed cash…
greased volcanoes sire rising screams…
burn of cyanide and bunkers reich…
flags star stud the roar of flames…
Walls all closed in
leaving windows to shatter .
fragments strewn below bare feet
cutting, impaling soft flesh unforgiving.
confined in halls narrowing
as I run to a place, a point
devoid of escape
The beast draws closer now
gnashed teeth froth venoumous kill lust
as talons trace along the walls
etching all my secrets in oak for all to see
for here and evermore
My precipice of horror force feeds
all wrongs suggestively, digestively
to purge karma pits placed
dormant inside and residing
as my only hopes of righteousness
are cast aside by regretted meals.
beast draws closer clawing
skin of back now flayed
exposed and bleediing completely
lungs gasp defiant punctured
yet survivng drawing gasping breath
If the exposure is your weapon, beast
you may never defeat me
bleeding I will claw back and kill
any idea that aims to asphyxiate
ambition--my self doubt beast will never defeat me
gnashed teeth
and battery flavored asbestos
& so open minded
that its fallen out
a Chernobyl sneeze
deteriorating
the gestalt
It laughed back--
Craven beast in need of feeding
Feasting--fleeting feeling...
Hungry fangs gnashed...they gnawed
Mashed and clawed...flaying flesh in a pool of cess
Washed down with milk from breast
Habitual inkling to kill things
Waiting not to mate until spring
Impetuous creature defies phylum-
defines asylum...sickening, spontaneous species
flings feces-howls at the moon
Cage can't contain, nature won't explain
this beasts absence in a chain
Contributes to no cycle-rips, maims
claims habitat at a laundry-mat
Missing link makes cousins of apes
murder, molests, rapes...
Filthy wraith bathes in hate
Made in a higher likeness
God must spite this human"itus"...
Inspired by Kristen Reynolds "March Madness"
JUST LIKE THAT
Amidst mixed expectations; came the unexpected
It all happened too sudden as was never expected
Out rightly, everything started to moved in the wrong direction
All that functioned stopped to function; the un-functioned started to function
Everything out of everything; it was too much for a surprise
Failure gnashed its ugly teeth at them; they became failures.
High on hope as the preacher made believe
To keep waiting as the adviser convinced
Time after time; our wall clock turned into television
Eyes fixed at every moving second; still waiting on hope
Just at the last hour when our eyes seemed to have shifted from the clock
Success happily smiled at us; we became successful.
Look! We need to talk
I guess I will start by saying that I’m sorry
I never planned for this to happen; though seems still a plan
I thought I was in control of everything; so I thought
As it appeared we have lost control of the most important thing between us
We went on our separate ways; to look for something else to control
With love gone; we chewed silently on our broken hearts.
Just like that...