Best Idled Poems

One day I delivered a poem
one that seemed to be premature
so I swaddled her up
and set her aside
to grow 'til I felt reassured

How she yowled and howled for attention...
how she cried so piteously!
How she coughed and she sneezed
whimpered and wheezed
then threw up all over me!

Still...

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Paradise Psalms

Island drums midst strewn drafts, echoes,
Involved labyrinths summon by themes,
Some rhapsody erupts, purging rocks,
Every village, swelling amid chants,
Empty huts, crowds around fires,
Swayed hips, held lips sparks,
Duality exposed in harmony,
Illuminates isles inherent,
Entertaining charisma,
Captivating trusting,
Vessels in passing,
Amongst alluring,
Souls escorted,
To a dreamt,
Paradise.

ship swells midst idled 
labyrinths heed...

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Tidal Waves


Brackish debris filled surf retreats
depositing into hard sand graves
pictures stolen from post cards

Shards of a city strewn disjointedly
still ticking clocks idled in the moment
streets awash in decorative disarray

liquid mud roiling through the streets
ravenous pain stalking its victims
cold shock of sunshine’s failure

hands clutching grabbing
carried on...

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GOD’S SHADOW/for contest


There were prayers – hollow, empty – prayers.
Oh, the hands were folded, heads bowed,
voices muffled in saint-like submission,
reverberating the words – following
as children do - just a little behind.

Prayers of supplication, beseeching forgiveness
for the unimaginable sin of being born – in sin.
Humble prayers...

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The colors of my mind
  Collide in conversation 
   But all I see
   Is black and white
   Thoughts so empty 
    That feeling should 
      Not be there 
 ...

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"I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it..."  E.E. Cummings

Hello my dearest darling, it was our time to wake,
The rustic rooster had already roused my reverie,
Heralding the dewy dawn 
Of our new great day.
For I...

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Sweet silence of a Sunday morn,
The world of weekday chaos shorn,
Not even the honking of a horn
As traffic idled,
Held back by the arms of the Law,
Impelled to wait, with tempers raw,
Stewing in the sun's hot maw,
Impatience bridled.

And as I stood outside a shop,
Wondering why the...

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The Robin knows the time of day,
the time to stay, the time to fly.
The story goes, or so they say
this is the way to Lora Lai

Pinch me once, pinch me twice
or better yet, don't pinch me at all.
Just do your best, defeat the test
then grab...

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With much trepidation I visited the local "hair stylist" today.
It was a "hair raising" experience as compared to barbers of yesterday!
'Twas thirty years since I'd heard the snip of a barber's shears,
Since my long-suffering wife had trimmed my hair for many years!

My hair had become...

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A SUBTLE JOURNEY 
I have dipped my feet in the seven seas.
I have seen great wars between adversaries.
Many mountains I have climbed to overcome atrocities.
The ***** I have is from within.
I am on my life journey of refinement. 

Sadness has caught me in the gorge.
I...

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My share of mistakes I have made,
Detours I’ve taken, dues I’ve paid.

In dubious company I’ve found friends,
Indecision followed the best-laid plans. 
Loneliness has rushed me into love, 
Courting heartbreaks and a cold rebuff. 

By my errant mind I was ill prepared, 
For Fortune’s intentions undeclared....

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Seemed like eons to Pa since he began another daily grind.
The more he tried to stay ahead, the further he got behind!
The boss harassed him all day long - nothin' at all went right.
"Lord, have mercy!" he prayed.  "Relieve me of my miserable plight!"

First,...

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It seems to me my life, 
since a time not very long ago, 
has somehow been restored.
That again my world is bathed in light
though I had seen the sun disown me
beyond some distant, dark horizon. 
And it seems that blood's warmth has been rekindled
where frost's...

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'...the great tide that treads the shifting shore.' 
                                Edna St. Vincent Millay 


Sluggishly...

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Once was a man who loved with all of his heart
But it was because of that love that made him more dark
A darkness unlike any night and void of its depth
Then like a cocoon of baby spiders it crept all through his flesh
For the world...

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