Best Guidelines Poems
I’m sitting at my desk typing on my computer.
My head is a satellite broadcasting a disrupted signal.
I can’t get a clear picture of what I want to write.
The channel keeps changing as I switch between memories and then it happens.
A message alerting me that I am now off-line and the “system is reconnecting.” It’s something to be said about how being unplugged charges you up. I soon began to pick up on a signal as clear as the sound of the bell when school is dismissed. The freedom to express myself is like a jolt of energy.
I was shocked.
I realized in my disconnected epiphany that containing written poetry, with procedural processes for seeking approval, and being paid a cash payment for placement, down to one page is preposterous.
All the glory of poetry and its ability to take life’s pie and divide it into figurative slices is so fulfilling, and to think, I’m usually greedy, however, I’m willing to share my last slice of pain topped with passion and joy but it seems that you’re on some type of “character diet.”
I guess the paper weight was too heavy.
I guess my head was in the clouds.
I guess it was just pie in the sky.
Approximately 250 words can fill a typed page double-spaced.
100 words of love, 100 words of rage carefully placed.
50 shades of feelings reverberating self-induced healing, metaphor after metaphor leaving a reader reeling, the way words and their syllables intercourse with double meanings creating couplets on paper kneeling as if they were proposing to your intellect.
With these words, I thee wed. I promise to be faithful and true, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, till death do us part, so help me, poetry...
I am sitting at my desk typing.
My mind is a sweet tooth that’s tasted a slice of heavenly pie.
Unfortunately, you have to watch what you read and count characters,
and I am done sharing.
On the side of the winding road
They stood with wooden expression
With singe focus to keep and goad
Those that pass in rapid progression
On the side of the road’s edge
They stood holding each other’s arms
With a solemn silent pledge
To protect those passing from harms
On the side of the road they stayed
Metal warm and wood sun-bleached
As they dedicated protective prayers
As to passers-by they silently preached
And even if unnoticed by all
Those in error were protected from the fall
Protected from the plunge to doom
As the fast-lane dangers always loom
This whole time I’ve been,
Slipping away from who,
The photographs tell me is you.
And the memories led me,
Indefinitely through,
This swaying path that was all I knew.
And as the,
Inevitable nears,
I learn to disregard my fears.
And though I have,
Struggled on my way,
I’m proud to say,
That this is who I am today.
CREDO-POETRY IS AN ORAL ART AT ITS BEST WHEN RECITED
it then becomes a two-way unique one-off.experience .
TRADITIONAL LINE CAPITALISATION RHYME ..in tetrameter (ABBA).YES..
but NOT otherwise as it creates a natural pause (ie it stilts) & thus disrupts the flow
WRAP AROUND LINES are a no-no
they are not visually conducive to read digitally or otherwise!
POETIC NO NO s -acrostic,kyrielle terzanelle villanelle ,pantoum & the 'syllablics'
they can be good for a learning exercise,a bit like scales are important when learning the piano but are too contrived & mechanical IMHO for our art form
PROSE POETRY ok if visually shaped in open form style*
FORMS THAT ALWAYS RING MY BELL shape,emagi & ekphrasis ,imagist Rhyme,alliteration,clerihew,footle&hiku*(both in the singular especially)
*OPEN VERSE uses spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols relies upon 'the one breath limitation' this intuitive cadence pemits the 'reader' (reciter) to respond in an interpretative - interplay unique to the ' happening
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Having never studied poetry, but composed and wrote it most of my adult life, in the Army, commissions for lovesick, homesick mates. In civvy street, mainly for my wife, the odd commission for enstranged lovers, and off the top my head as party pieces. My point, not once did I consider poetry forms, one or two exceptions, limericks one but no syllable counts, like the poet who said, "sorry, thought syllables were some sought of lolly", soon found out but he was lost, said, "I write what I feel at no cost", "prose I only write on topics jolly". The fate of poetry, tough question, no I don't agree, but, in eight lines, briefly, to warm the hearts of those that read! I now commit to types, sticking to the guidelines when informed. An immediate example is what I am penning now, which applies to both form of prose, no line breaks in either. These modern times there are but a few that stick to rules, I cast no aspersions, they are not fools. Now I must reiterate, I, having never studied poetry, do now, but now and then I hesitate, not for me to change poetries fate, but breaking rules, when you know, is surely not the way to go, it's not too late to change you know!
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Eight lines of fate, when you wonder if it is too late Poetry Contest - Sponsored by Silent One
27th June 2018
Guidelines for Abnormal
Started off with gatherings which were informal;
Then had started checking out what was normal;
Wanted to know,
Blow by blow,
How to establish guidelines for being abnormal.
Jim Horn
At my funeral they will be playing Helen Reddy
“I am woman, hear me roar!” Cher’s “Gypsy’s, Tramps and Thieves”
And Adam Lambert. I love all his stuff!
I will be sitting behind my grandchildren, sending them the giggles
My besties will tell the funniest stories; there will be no crying.
People will be lying in the aisles kicking their feet in joy
As they hear how cute, clever, silly and insanely fun I am.
Flowers? Not unless they are marigolds.
They make my cousin Suzanne break out,
I would like to see her face as a big red strawberry welt one last time.
Sometimes beliefs that we held in our youth
Lose the certainty we once regarded as truth,
Then we have to decide what to keep, what to shed,
What still fits us or what is beginning to shred.
Simply clinging to all that we learned in the past,
Even though, at the time, we believed it would last,
Doesn’t factor in various ways we have changed
And the lessons from which we have gotten estranged.
Therefore, no one should judge if we pray or we don’t;
Some traditions we’ll honor but others we won’t.
All that matters is that we’ve no reason to hide
If we follow the guidelines we harbor inside.
Strange times mean you’ve got to think fast,
Or our COVID gains just might not last.
With six feet of space,
Put a mask on your face
When you shelter from nuclear blasts!
The sunniest mornings,
the most contemplative afternoons,
the most starry nights,
conveys my soul,
guides me through life...!
The coach on the sidelines
the foreman in the shop
Each follows certain guidelines
so his team comes out on top
Our leaders in Washinton
they have their guidelines too
They each stick a finger in the air
to gauge which way the wind just blew
D-eadly
I-nfection
A-ttacks
N-ose
N-astily
E-ndangering
B-ody
A-s
Q-uarantine
U-ses
I-ts
N-ecessary
G-uidelines
Topic: Birthday of Dianne Baquing (April 09)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
G-uidelines give good chance
I-n containing the terrible threat;
N-eatness and cleanliness
A-bate the dreaded droplet.
E-xact guidelines give good chance,
S-trict standards stop the spread;
T-he contagious coronavirus
O-f hazard will be dead.
C-ontrol the contamination,
A-pply the physical distance;
D-efeat the invisible infection,
O-nce guidelines give good chance.
Topic: Birthday of Gina Estocado (June 05)
R-estrictions
A-nd
Q-uarantine
U-ltimately
E-vade
L-ethal
D-isease
A-s
G-uidelines
S-top
I-nfection
Topic: Birthday of Raquel C. Dagsi (May 27)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
Unity brings all together
Humility keeps them forever
Humiliation sets them apart
Prosperity makes all bright
Possibilities they all ride or strive for.
No discipline
No results or success
Steady insults
Brings you regrets
If you wanna know
Please always ask questions
Not living with assumptions.
Every habit
Is a consumption
Consuming your time or money
Giving memories
When you start fading
Making you lazy, then you start acting crazy.
When you don't get the glory
It makes you shady
When you get the glory
You start glowing
If you forget your shortcomings
You become cunning
Then you think those that are holy
Are living funny, just because your value only depends on money.