Best Inlay Poems
Joy of Christmas tolls hooray, buoying elation of Santa’s sleigh
As celebrating the birth of almighty sacred church bells ring
Reverberating in melodic music ~ chiming, jingling merry way
Halls of happiness aptly display, glittering décor of golden inlay
Where in rhythms of pious hymns carolers gaily dance and sing
Joy of Christmas tolls hooray, buoying elation of Santa’s sleigh
Around tree’s ornamental arrays children sway, pry, and play
While echoing from heartbeats of glory pulses of prayers ding
Reverberating in melodic music ~ chiming, jingling merry way
Moonlit stars scintillate glaze of silent night’s cheerful-- yay!
Streaming themes of angelic euphony, praising heavenly king
Joy of Christmas tolls hooray, buoying elation of Santa’s sleigh
Boughs of green holly, donning red berries, venerate holy day
Conferring glee in blessings of divinity, as spiritual rhythms swing
Reverberating in melodic music ~ chiming, jingling merry way
Invoking eternity in wreaths of flowers devotees earnestly pray
As faithful cling to missives of peace the beloved angels bring
Joy of Christmas tolls hooray, buoying elation of Santa’s sleigh
Reverberating in melodic music ~ chiming, jingling merry way
December 26, 2020
Poem of the day on December 27, 2020
Placed 1st: Deck the halls poetry contest by Joseph May
Categories:
inlay, celebration, christmas,
Form:
Villanelle
A stairway of tinted boulders reveals
The fable of old gods marking a past,
Etched on tall red-stones divinely claimed…
And as I ascend to touch a warm glow,
My feet quiver among hallowed mounds
Of blazing rocks, of sacred pillars.
In awe, I listen to Jordan’s songs
As one city’s heart flames through Siq winds
Humming through early noon’s desert trail
Which climb inside my pulsed breath…until
Tears stumble into a warm prayer
On a rosy frame of blest temples.
Journeying to Petra silences me,
From tribal gems and inlay jars soaked in moonlit dust
To camel rides with Beduoins exploring a grandeur
I can only own within my thoughts…
For its mystique spreads on life’s essence
Where I greet the humble soul within.
Foreign Travel Contest
For Thvia Shetley
Submitted 9/26/2017
--------------------------
City of Petra, Jordan-- one of the 7 wonders of the world
*Siq-- the entrance that lies between
Petra's red-hued mountains
Categories:
inlay, appreciation, places, travel,
Form:
Free verse
T
A
TAJ J TAJ
MAHAL MAHAL MAHAL
[W] MAUSOLEUM IN [U]
[O] A MARBLE SPLENDOUR [N]
[N] AN EPIC IN STONE,A MARVEL [E]
[D] FOR HIS BELOVED MUMTAZ MAHAL [S]
[E] T HIS FAVOURITE AND MOST CHERISHED T [C]
[R] A QUEEN, BUILT HE,THIS NOBLE MOGHUL A [O]
J EMPEROR , A MAGNIFICENT MEMORIAL J
[O] MAHAL IN HER FOND MEMORY AFTER SHE LEFT MAHAL [H]
[F] ******* HIM SUNK IN UTTER GRIEF,WHEN SHE ******* [E]
BREATHED HER LAST, GIVING BIRTH TO THEIR FOURTEENTH CHILD [R
[T] IMMENSE WAS HIS LOVE TO IMMORTALIZE, HIS VOW [I]
[H] BEREAVEMENT'S PAIN EXUDED AS LOVE IN STONES OF MONUMENT [T]
[E] IVORY WHITE MARBLES LAPUS LAZULI,TURQUIOSES [A]
PIETRA DURA, ARTISTIC ,BEAUTY PERSONIFIED SANS ANY WONDER [G]
[W] THIS TOKEN OF DEEP LOVE FOR DARLING WIFE [E]
[O] STANDS SYMBOL OF ETERNAL LOVE TODAY RIFE
[R] ADORABLE,MAJESTIC REPOSITORY SO ROMANTIC [S]
[L] THE KING AND QUEEN LEFT BEHIND LOVE LEGACY [I]
[D] HISTORY WILL HUM THIS LOVE STORY FOREVER [T]
[E]
ON MOONLIT NIGHTS ON BOSOM OF YAMUNA RIVER,FROM PLINTH TO DOME MARBLE SHINES LIKE SILVER. IN EVERLASTING SLUMBER LAY IN TOMB THE
QUEEN WITH HER KING BESIDE, THEIR STORY IN LOVER'S HEARTS RESIDE.
LONG LIVE ETERNAL LOVE OF KING SHAH JAHAN, LONG LIVE THE TAJ !!!!!!
28th December 2016
~ For Concrete Crush Contest~
Glossary:
Pietra Dura: Inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to create images.
Categories:
inlay, appreciation, art, husband, love,
Form:
Concrete
Love is the bind between sighs and cries
And can release warm light upon the dark
Has the strength to move within lows and highs
And shine on troubled hearts with rainbow's arc
Love is a realm with dreams of tomorrow
Will build a world within a world yet known
Can heal an injured soul of its sorrow
And will inlay in a heart a truth to own
Love can keep the long years through days of gray
And is a universe which never grows small
Will walk the graveled roads and always stay
And has deepest feelings at beckoned call
The sounds from love's strong heartbeat can enslave
To be the music heard until the grave
3/2/19 contest What is Love
Categories:
inlay, love,
Form:
Sonnet
My psyche's playground
Is a horrific landscape:
There is no escape
From the snagging cleft
Of its jagged inlay,
As steep as a million years of seeping blood
Coagulated through coldheartedness
Confusion and subterfuge
- It's like coming home when your lover's asleep,
Or breaking a promise by taking a peek;
Personal experience tells me,
That right about now,
It is nearly
time for me
To take my extended leave...
...Can we keep this between you and me,
Exclusively?
I never really liked you very much anyway;
But why should we let something like that
Stand in our way?
And try and hold us back?
Or stop us from running away?
Maybe even together (someday)
But not necessarily on the same planet...
...Is this a joke?
A poem?
Or an insult?
I don't think I get it?
I really cannot be expected
To know the correct answers
To these specific types
Of metaphysical questions;
Yet...
...That's what makes me an artist...well, isn't it?
What are you?! - A friggin' idiot?!
Don't answer that:
I was just starting to like you,
Even though, it is true what they say:
I do think you are incredibly stupid
Considering your unexpected age...
...But we can still be fair-weather friends
Whenever it isn't raining again...Is it just me?
Or is it always raining these days?
I can evoke a joke or a poem
From almost any known substance
Comparable to injustice!
So why then, won't anyone pay me for my poetry?!
Is it because I'm still drinking too heavily?
Somebody, anybody
- Seriously, please; just kill me
# They call this "topical" humor, but I still don't get it...
...And I feel like I'm running out of time to "get-with-it"
- Any suggestions would be appreciated....
Categories:
inlay, angst, crazy, political, silly,
Form:
Free verse
The number seven carries me away
Where imagination and numerology have a stay.
Dreams live celebrating each new day
Free from realities and evil’s prey.
Seven years of praying brought marriage my way.
But that was only one life’s foreplay.
Seven years later, a dreadful fray.
Divorcement angered ended love’s array.
Forgive seven times seven at hurts’ buffet.
Swallowing pain in self’s causeway.
Asking God for a happier ray –
Still hiding hope in a lonely chalet.
The number seven also served Yahweh.
Six days to create, then, came rest day.
The Book of Revelations is smitten by “the seven” foray.
Saints who know their sevens might reach Heaven someday.
Does the number seven govern my life? Nay!
I calculated my destiny number this way:
Using the name I was given on my birth-day,
I assigned numbers to letters as charts outlay.
{[(4+1+5+5) and (1+5+5) and (3+9+1+5+6+6+9+4)]
= {(15) and (11) and (43)}
= [(1+5=6) and (1+1=2) and (4+3=7)]
= [6+2+7=15] = [1+5] = 6} LOL! Number six! Hurray!!!
Destiny number six says I will be happy and gay
While living life with a humanitarian inlay.
Artistic endeavors through my life sashay.
Creating beauty, by providence, my life’s mainstay.
But over to destiny number seven I stray.
Sharing findings and seeking knowledge, I daresay.
Two attributes that stayed with me along life’s runway.
Numbers six and seven blesses me…at least half way!
© July 13, 2010
Dane Smith-Johnsen
LINKS of INTEREST:
http://www.angelfire.com/az/rainbowbridge/seven.html
http://www.aboutnumerology.com/destinymeanings.php
Categories:
inlay, lifelife, me,
Form:
Monorhyme
The eye-to-eye association flick life away.
Pretty natural tones ring out in my flyway
Light, invisible hands bait me to the clay.
It's excessively captivating of a grasp to assay.
Blissful lyrics led me to find my way to an archway.
I heard a sublime newly birth beat straightaway.
This soft, serene sparkle enlightens my allay.
Light stream is drawing me closer, yet I'm splay.
Bright rays awe me as I convey a lovely hallway.
My body, then again, lies on the chilly, acrid clay.
It feels incredible to be released of such a weigh
I was bare and defenseless, alike a newborn aweigh.
Steady heartbeats draw me near my doorway.
Once I hand up control to virtue, I can utterly inlay
Still, I'm alive, and I enjoyed doing it anyway.
I can't ponder anything when I stare at the Milky Way.
A dyed eye-to-eye correlation feature is held at bay.
Why should we fear death? Because of doomsday.
All were created by God, the sole crucial soothsay.
We are all born to die, thus is no need to yell or dismay.
1st Place contest winner.
Written: August 16, 2021
Your Best Monorhyme Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: William Kekaula
Categories:
inlay, allusion, appreciation, birth, death,
Form:
Monorhyme
All these connections like points on a compass
constant awareness like breath on my lips
knowing that you are still out there and wondering
if you still are pining for things that you miss
Have you gone traveling to the pinpoint of green
in seas which welcomed your skin in a dip
and have you peeled open the rind of the moon
to hold to your lips to reflectively sip?
Have you brought marble to inlay your stairs
and have you played chess with your two other halves?
Have you enjoyed every roll of liqueur
in an alcohol burn? Why, I'll bet that you have.
Somehow, I'd know if you breathed your last breath.
Somehow, you'd send me a palatable sign.
One that I'd wrap around tooth picks with tassels
and dip with decision in myrrh berry wine.
Somehow, you'd know if I sent you a letter
sealed up in wax made of salty old tears
scented in strawberry cream, filled with stickers
chosen, collected through turbulent years.
We hold the secrets and scents of enigmas
right on the small of our backs in our sleep
Striking awareness like points on a compass
all in the layers of dreaming to keep.
Categories:
inlay, people, places, time,
Form:
Free verse
...I remember when it was SOMETHING.
A Lesson OR Blessing, actually BOTH.
Is blood thicker than water? Not if bad blood has formed. Was it always tainted, beneath the naked eye of a surface picture painted?
Life's moments are so fleeting...
I can't imagine partaking in unnourishing concepts and allow for the mere sake of repeating. Wouldn't that be defeating???
There's nothing can be gained, once all
GOOD energy has been drained! It can't be "returned or renamed" Retrospectively, concepts can't sustain "ideals" electively.
No fairy dust. No holiday or every blue moon so called trust...sadly there's rust.
I choose to blow it away with breath & depth protected inlay; can't allow nothing to delay, deter, "stir" my peace, for a piece of me...my heart, that part, that is my Core and Soul OFF LIMITS.
It wasn't Always like that, but Splat...
when remembering, I GAVE and thoughtfully.
Release to allow Peace.
Something had to Cease...
Now, I Am SAVED.
SELF-LOVE INCREASED!
©Renee D. Gross {GHPPR} March 12, 2023#
Categories:
inlay, change, family, growing up,
Form:
Rhyme
So cinch tight my shimmering dark sorrel
With fine hand-tooled saddle of silver inlay—
I’ll pull on my calfskin chaparajos
And through that old heartpine gate I’ll ride away.
I’ve been too long on this sagebrush prairie.
Through many a rancho gate welcome and not—
With some I stayed and herded and prospered,
While with some I gave up much more than I got.
But I’ve rode toward that last gate in my life
And next that rosadero I’ll sit for awhile—
Until that bright entryway swings open
And I ride in meek and accepting as a child.
So cinch tight my shimmering dark sorrel
With fine hand-tooled saddle of silver inlay—
I’ll pull on my calfskin chaparajos
And through that old heartpine gate I’ll ride away.
Categories:
inlay, cowboy-western, death, faith, forgiveness,
Form:
Cowboy Poetry
There’s a burning yen nomadic deep within entrenched,
to absorb fresh environments ambrosial on foot,
where incidental hue or august colour wash abound,
or that March bloom tantalising shady patch,
with its dreamlike mystic wide-flung allure,
some blue pigment dawn whisper tempting spur on,
that hidden orange-red sunlit prompt I can’t curb,
I follow blindly without oppugning brier cloak
pitfalls,
yet noonday mishap neither blight nor wanton cross,
as other fellow venturers might script a manifold offshoot,
but from sound and slant sentient aspect,
I can awaken fond galvanic episodes,
of uproarious elation emanating from a golden grained beach,
where energetic offspring unleash their zeal,
adjacent to labyrinthine thriving townscapes,
ancient river, the stuff of verse and bard,
parallels its salted surging thunderous ripple,
with its indigo bold rush beneath a stoic wharf.
to capture lush spots
with the pourboire of bright eye
as timeless haven
Yet late phase hours settings have cachet,
in tandem with the peep of day burst,
as I reveal a harvest swept ashore,
flotilla at a dock and day boundary,
so nocturnal bliss enraptured round each plinth,
and plethora of svelte unearthly steps,
where haunted hair-raising halos splash,
adding lustrous night fly element,
beside the raucous alleyway caper,
inchoate, invisible, intriguing inlay,
shards of boisterous daring impishness,
cast at my intrepid moonlit atman,
enigmatic echoes chase skinflint shadows,
whoosh of splintered black ice sepulchral,
under reckless swerving car manoeuvre,
muddy slush speckled rim upshot,
street lanterns wondrous wide arc madrigal,
spoon wink and woo lambent opus,
banisher of eerie eve ghost glow silence
earth atmosphere shall
watch bemused as moonlight orb
peers at globe beneath
Categories:
inlay, celebration, character, color, deep,
Form:
Haibun
THE AL-ANDALUS QUARTET: PART THREE
GRANADA / KHARNATA 1492 AD / 897 AH
I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
with my beautiful sisters Albaicin and Sabikah
The crown that I wear is al-hisn al-hamra
and the shadow of my Spanish self is a City
of Islam
The cool mountain waters that nourish
my gardens of intoxicating bouquets and the
colors of paradise, are washing away the prayer call
of the muezzin, the rituals of the faithful, the final
veneer of my people on this land
Many must leave, take their arts and their sciences
to Fez and Meknes, to the rarified air in the brown
upland valleys of the Rif and the Atlas to inlay
themselves in the crystals of sand which, driven
by winds, must reshape the walls of North Africa’s
soul
But here we remain, poised to continue as echoes
and apparitions, distorted reflections in the historical
mirror, the dominant element in the paradoxical
palimpsest of the regional landscape, enchanting,
seductive, that as Al-Andalus becomes Andalucia,
the victorious colors of Castilla and Leon become the
newest of flowers in the mosaic of gardens among
the wandering alleys, within the highest of walls,
behind the wrought-iron gates and the crafted wood
doors in the slowly disintegrating mists of
remembrance between shadow and form
in the spirit of Granada
Emanuel Carter
Categories:
inlay, christian, history, islamic,
Form:
Free verse
All is red in Birstay
city of red clay
We throw it all day long
and sing a merry working song
In rhythm with the wheel
Once a month merchants come
to make trades,
on the way
to the Kings market square
A festive place to be
Troubdours, jongleurs and jesters
perform for their keep
and every desire is traded for
in the street
There's booths selling hot food
and some sell drink
flags and pendants fly
while children play
as Knights and Queens
The most beautiful pots
come with birstay kiln marks
especially the ones I make
because I inlay
dragon scale in shades
of turquoise and jade
Birstay won't go
where I dare to go
to find the best
prettiest scales
Where dragons shed
Near the cliffs
of the sea
Once in the courtyard
The nobles set their worth
So commons can't afford
Only Kings Queens and lords
One day I gave aid
to an old friend in need
and couldn't leave in time,
but was out of all supplies
of what pottery buys
It was already late
in the day
with no time to waste
I just loaded the wagon
and went on my way
The moon shines bright
and the scenery is plush,
but the old road is deep in ruts
Rock, shake and bounce
slow but steady
along with the pots I took
Finally I see
the campfire
of the merchants
Will they let me make a trade
so I can
be home
by the first
light of day?
What is this I hear
a low growl like hungry bears
I Stop to pull my bow
and lifting my lantern high.
I turn all around.
Nothing is seen
but the growl
still goes on.
I continued cautiously
but now the fire looked weird
like green and purple from here
with no flash nor flicker
and up above
a line of lamps
each as the full moon light
circling high
above the ground
going slowly around
Over my head opened a door
that revealed a light
bright and white as if it were day
A plank reached the ground
and on it stood a silhouette
of a person
He was small and grey
so then I felt brave
but when he reached out to me
I fainted
Barely awake I blinked my eyes
open
and I found I was
surrounded
by people strange and tiny
Categories:
inlay, change, confusion, courage, fate,
Form:
Free verse
#A GIFT...AN UPLIFT! A GLORIOUS SHIFT OCCURS WHEN HAVING BEEN PRIVY TO AN OUTSTANDING SINGER! THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW, YOUR HEART FEELS A GLOW...
BECAUSE A SINGER HAS MOVED YOU SO...
"A SINGER HAS M O V E D YOU SO! ! !"
ALLOW ME TO SHOW, AS FOLLOWS...
THE GREAT MR. LUTHER VANDROSS
{ONE AND ONLY, MOST DEFINITELY* SOLELY!}
QUEEN VOICE: WHITNEY HOUSTON
THE DIVINE MS. SARAH VAUGHAN
AL JARRAEU - MORNIN', DISTRICTED, BLUE SKIES
GLADYS KNIGHT
OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN
PHYLLIS HYMAN
KAREN CARPENTER
TEDDY PENDERGRASS, SHARON TATE AND
HAROLD MELVIN
AMY WINEHOUSE - "LOVE IS A LOSING GAME"
SEAL, CHRIS ISAAK, TOM JONES
BROOK BENTON, DAVID RUFFIN, LOU RAWLS
BING CROSBY, FRANK SINATRA AND ELLA FITZGERALD
LEN CARIOU - "PRETTY WOMEN"
ANITA BAKER, REGINA BELL AND CHAKA KHAN
STEVIE WONDER, TONI TENNILLE, LUKE EVANS,
MARVIN GAYE, ADAM LAMBERT AND
RUSSELL THOMPKINS JR.
ANGELA WINBUSH - "ANGEL"
JOHNNY CASH, K.D. LANG AND
FREDDIE MERCURY
SARA BAREILLES - "SMILE"
NANCY WILSON, BARBARA STREISAND AND
SARAH VAUGHAN
JOHN DENVER, JOSE FELICIANO, AND
JOHNNIE WILDER, JR.
NAT KING COLE, BARRY WHITE AND
ISAAC HAYES
LEON THOMAS - "SUNFLOWER"
MINNIE RIPPERTON, DORIS DAY, AND
TEENA MARIE
CELINE DION, LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, AND
PUTRI ARIANI
STEVE PERRY, LABI SAFFRI AND
ROBERTA FLACK
THE GREAT DONNY HATHAWAY
THIS WAS ONLY TO NAME "A FEW"
WHO'S MISSION BLEW US AWAY...
MADE OUR SOUL SWAY, WITH A MEMORABLE TAKEAWAY! IT'S THOSE UNFORGETTABLE, INCREDIBLE NOTES SUNG IN SUCH A WAY, FROM THEIR SIGNATURE INLAY...
"FROM THEIR S I G N A T U R E IN-LAY ! ! !"
THEIR GIFT, OUR UPLIFT, WHAT'S MORE PURE? NOTHING SHORT OF THAT, THAT'S FOR SURE!
WOW!!! WHAT MEMORIES....
SUCH EVOKING OF OUR SENTIMENTS AND SENSORY...
WHEN A VOICE WAS CREATED TO REMEDY! ! !
"THANKS SO VERY MUCH...ELLA! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"
Renee D. Gross {GHPPR} September 12, 2023#
Categories:
inlay, appreciation, celebration, dedication, feelings,
Form:
Rhyme
Grandma had a garden
that she carefully tended to
she talked to her fruits and veggies
as she made her walk through
On this particular day
my hardball went astray
landed smack in the middle
of her green garden inlay
Swiftly yet gently
she grasped me by the hand
proceeded to give me
a helluva righteous reprimand
all the yellow flowering blossoms
among the numerous rows of squash
'twas the only female producer
that my hardball had hit so harsh
My curiosity drawn to this enigma
If I wanted to eat
I learned I should take care of the stigma
My curiosity drawn to this enigma
If I wanted to eat
I learned to take care of the stigma
All the fine yellow blossoms
packed full of staunch sticky stamen
Ya'll it meant nothing a'tal
without the proud stigmas pheromone call
After that haphazard day
We often walked through her garden that May
I began to look at life in a gratuitous way
She would coax and water and sing
to that injured blossom
each and everyday
Yes that 'ol she bud began to wilt
I was filled with tremendous guilt
Stubbornly Grandma persisted
Though I was tempted to resist
Compassionately I assisted
Come morning dew
We witnessed fruit
Her squash gave birth that day
"The wilt was labor pains "
"Such is motherhood," she'd say
My curiosity drawn to this enigma
If I wanted to eat
I learned to take care of the stigma
My curiosity drawn to this enigma
If I wanted to eat
I learned how to take care of the stigma
Categories:
inlay, appreciation, caregiving, culture, family,
Form:
Lyric