Best Jealousies Poems
Why do people, want to cause
Other people pain
Where is the Love
That will break the chain
Someone says something
Then it's tit-for-tat
I've played this before
We all know the score
Now who's up at bat
I think it's time, for us to play
The self healing game
Before there's no one, left
Around to blame
One that's more thoughtful
And much less insane
Let's reach for the Sun
And help everyone
Come out of the rain
All we have, is this fleeting chance
To get this right
No time for jealousies
No time to fight
Don't say, that you're sorry
Don't seek to forgive
Just start here today
And throw it away
And learn how to live
I really have outdone myself this time!
My ‘God Machine’ is finally in place!
I’ll never have to fret about a rhyme,
Or stop for a red light that changed from green
As if it sought to put me in my place
A random hiccup clearly quite obscene.
I really am quite clever I must say
My ‘subtle knife’ (1) allowing me to splice
My ‘God Machine’ into time’s tawdry day
The true God left completely unaware
That He is now controlled by my device
And just another victim of malware.
It seems there’s quite a lot that ‘God’ screwed up
That I intend to change now I’m in charge
I think that its bad form to cover-up!
So what’s the deal with dying anyway?
Let no one die will be my countercharge
And life is just a breeze on my freeway!
All pain mere nuisance, manna heaven sent
And sin gives you enormous facial zits
While love and kindness clear up all your rent.
Though talents differ, jealousies dissolve
As differences bring none real benefits
And non-destructive social moves evolve.
All birth defects, parental wealth passé
Genetic weakness gone with dodo bird
No accident of birth gives worth per se
Sins of the parent cannot taint the child
That God might favor one is just absurd
The color of one’s skin no more reviled.
But now I find my plans have gone awry
My God Machine decided I’m a flaw
It seems that I’m outdated samurai
Humanity endangering MY plan
Just plankton in the future’s yawning maw
Machine judged only advocate for man! (2)
Brian Johnston
November 5, 2014
Poet's Notes:
(1) subtle knife - A reference to a magical knife that can open windows in time in one of the 3 books in the Phillip Pullman trilogy 'His Dark Materials' including The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
(2) My poetic version of the lesson of the book and movie 2001 (written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke) where HAL, a computer so smart that it becomes sentient, decides that that only way to really protect a manned mission of a spaceship to the planet Jupiter is to kill all the humans on board the spaceship. The crew's humanity HAL decides is just too big a risk to the mission that HAL is charged (by its human programmers) to protect.
Yeah,
go ahead stare at my crows feet,
I don't mind
I'm proud of them
earned every one...
broken my back
broken this
broken that
ninety proof patch
thatched hut for a heart
and broken clock soul
Yeah, crows feet, look closely,
there etched in unforgiving-unforgivable
tin miscarriages
cornucopias spilling the seeds of lust
sticky-petty jealousies on a path of forever
the broken flesh of those never born
gouging at the skin around the soul.
You on the other hand
don't have any crows feet
your pallet and brushes are clean.
haven't earned any
haven't buried what you love...
enough
given (it )all to a heart
only to retrieve (it) from the earth
to be put out of it's misery.
you haven't gotten those pixie dusted eyes broken,
but you'll catch up... some day,
its coming
way-way down the tracks...at the empty station,
where nothing breathes but crow prints
in a fragile evening mud-
The
three-fold
flame of Christ
must be embraced
first with love we give
to all the world. This is
how God wants for us to live.
Once we let go of childish ways
like petty jealousies, pride and greed,
love can then grow to light our earth-life days.
With love comes also something we all need:
wisdom to know best how to proceed
along our pathways, and with this
something else then comes along
to bring more peace and bliss:
The power to glow
as we grow with
the three-fold
flame of
Christ.
June 17, 2022
for Unseeking Seeker's The Three-Fold Flame of Christ
If the world were filled with angelic souls
With inspired insight and matching goals
There would be peace, not appalling wars
Only bountiful serenity for me and yours
Famine and strife would cease to exist
Plans to feed the world we'd all enlist
Violence and murder would be no more
Anger dealt with swiftly we'd all strive for
Unheard of would be prejudice against another's race
Everyone warmly welcomed anywhere into any place
No more long hours at a job that makes one cringe inside
Encouraged to be in a career that makes one smile with pride
Our children would never feel unloved and unwanted
Abundance of hugs and sweet kisses would be flaunted
Marriages would thrive and not end in divorce
Being with our true soul mates we'd all endorse
Jealousies, insecurities and hatred would be wiped out
Contentment and confidence would be what we're about
If we all collaborate to make our world a better place
Happiness and tranquility will be ours to embrace
03/14/2014
Differences can tear apart or bring you close together
Sometimes songs have harmony when sung by birds of different feather
Listen close and you might learn about a thing or two
Close your mind and shout a lot – no one listens to you
I jumped in the soup, a neophyte, afraid I might get burned
But found support from learned souls, everywhere I turned
Taken to places I didn’t know exist; a new world opened up to me
People willing to share their gifts of limitless possibility
But, some were stubborn and fought a lot about forms and certain rules
Some were full of jealousies and were being rather cruel
And at times, the soup began to acquire a bitter taste
But soon you learn what ingredients to savor and which ones are simply waste
Differences can tear apart or bring you close together
Sometimes songs have harmony when sung by birds of different feather
Listen close and you might learn about a thing or two
Close your mind and shout a lot – no one listens to you
So, jump in,
Take a swim,
The soup is oh so fine;
Add some spice,
Help make it nice,
And bring along some wine;
Sit over here,
And bend my ear,
With thoughts I never thought;
I want to learn,
From everyone,
The things that they were taught.
Differences can tear apart or bring you close together
Sometimes songs have harmony when sung by birds of different feather
Listen close and you might learn about a thing or two
Close your mind and shout a lot – no one listens to you
by Joe Flach, written and posted on 6/2/2014 for Dave Wood's contest
She throws hateful words at me
And I echo more hate right back
After twenty years of matrimony
We have perfected our lame attacks
Familiarity, contempt does breed
As the long-time married surely knows
But in love, just like where soldiers bleed,
All is fair and anything goes
She knows all my insecurities
And knows just where it hurts
Our love is stained with impurities
As we eat our just desserts
Underneath our outer jealousies
The lava of love still gently flows
But on the battlefield of our miseries
All is fair and anything goes
Silence is an unspoken truce
As we attempt to mend the wound
Around our necks hangs the wedding noose
Neither surrendering too soon
The peace table is a soft mattress
Where tenderly we land the blows
Being guilty, we don’t dare confess –
All is fair and anything goes
NOTE: This was written for Chris Aechtner's "Anything Goes" contest. Although I realize, "Anything Goes" was not the intended theme and that Christopher was simply opening his contest to any and all kinds of poetry, I thought it would be fun to use that as the theme of my poem.
Valley and Mountain
The valley in our lives is so often our own
hates, jealousies, and faults.
The mountain standing majestic and tall
is Love in all forms.
It beckons you, it says come here and find
what is in yourself.
Some think you need to be on top to have it all
others know this is not it at all.
The base of any mountain of Love is where the
top is found.
It bounds and bounds all around knowing the
steps to be take by all.
It is one at time as we come and go but best
of all this is not all.
It is more than standing majestic being tall or
trying to beat all.
It’s being there, for all.
Viola Fuller
1879 – 1909
For it is written in solemn Chinese ideography,
That two women under one roof spells trouble.
For indeed my life found trouble
And death quite early due to influenza.
I spent my leisure hours in China Town
16 miles to the west in old Los Angeles.
Spent hours in the mildewed shops and the seedy cafes.
Finding culture, romance and ruin in the moody moonlight!
Finding spontaneous spasms in the back musty rooms.
It is true Roscoe Settle found my inner source.
He probed for the truth of my deep hidden springs.
Riveting moist springs of passion and sexual majesty.
Together, as like intertwining tied ribbons,
We embraced the spectral fireworks of a multitude of shooting stars!
Embraced the soaring glissandos of life and love!
But in the end
I decided to kill him dead.
I could not bear for one more minute, the other woman,
That other thing named Lottie Gordon.
But it all backfired on me.
For instead, I killed his father,
One Marcus Settle: late of Whittier Town.
Forgive me Providence, for I have sinned.
But in my sin,
I have found eternal rest from my nagging jealousies.
Found eternal peace from the tortuous kisses
Of one Roscoe Settle!
I SALUTE THEE,OH MY GREAT SENSE,
YES MY SENSE OF FORGIVENESS,
IN FURY AND PAIN,IN INNOCENCE AND TRUTH,
I HAVE FORGIVEN THEE,
IN THE ART OF RESPECT AND IN THE HOPE OF HEALING,
I HAVE FORGIVEN ,
JOURNEYING THROUGH INDIFFERENCE,HATRED AND OVERBEARING
INSOLENCE,I HAVE FACED,HOPED AND EVEN FEARED FOR MY SPRING TO
COME,
I HAVE SEALED MY LIPS IN DEEP SILENCE AND WAITED SECRETLY,
I HAVE SUFFERED QUITELY,
I HAVE SEARCHED ENDLESSLY,
I HAVE STAYED FRIGID AND COLD JUST BECAUSE I REFUSE TO BREAK,
REFUSE TO YEILD TO THE CRUEL AND UNJUSTIFIED CHAINS OF THE
VICIOUS CIRCLE THAT SURROUND ME,
I STAND ALONE,
FACING ALL,EVEN IN THE MIDST OF THE UNCONCIOUS GLOOM AND COLD
DEFEAT,
HATING ALL,BUT SMILING,
YES INSANITY BUT BEING ALIVE,
I REMEMBER THOSE DARK NIGHTS CLOUDED WITH HAUNTING FEARS,
WHEN I CRIED LIKE AN ANGEL,
AND GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYERS,
I COULD FEEL A LIGHT BURNING INSIDE ME THEN,
YES A LIGHT OF WISDOM AND FAITH,
I KNEW THEN AS I PAINFULLY AND WITH DIFFICULTY UNDERSTAND NOW,
THAT TO REACH MY HEAVEN I REALLY HAVE TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCIES
THAT THIS MORTAL NATURE OF MAN DISPALYES UPON ME,
I WILL HAVE TO FIGHT,FACE AND SOMETIMES HEAR,
THE DECEIT,THE INJUSTICES,THE JEALOUSIES,
THE CORRUPTION OF TRUTH,
AND I WILL LIVE THROUGH EVERYTHING,
I HAVE LEARNED TO FORGIVE THE BITTERNESS IN LIFE,
I SAVE MYSELF FROM DEFEAT,
I KNOW I WILL SURVIVE TO REACH THE BEST,
BECAUSE GOD WHISPERS HOPE INSIDE OF ME,
COURAGE TOO,THAT IS MY PRIDED SHIELD.
We are in a recession
Are we a bankrupt nation?
If that is true than why are athletes still getting paid millions!
There is so much blood spilled
Our young are been killed
Now days who can we trust
Even our televisions had to be adjusted
So much unnecessary drama
Too many fatherless kids and baby mamas
Repeated convictions
Increased drug and sex addictions
Fear of terrorist having nuclear weapons
Why is there so much jealousies and hating
Government health reform
Alaska is getting warm
So many unpredicted and unexplained storms
The country for eight years is still at war
Does it seem like we are becoming poor
The country is stressed you can tell by all the protest
Evil and hatred has been released
It is the work of the beast
Our food, toys, health, and water is not safe
That is why we have to believe and have faith
This is a repeated circle of life and it is called history
I believe there is a victory
His name is Jesus……….Smile
He died for all our pain and anguish on the cross
So all is not lost
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
--English Proverb
EVERYDAY WITH YOU BECOMES ANOTHER HOLIDAY AS EACH NIGHT BECOMES A SWEET REVELATION TO A REFRESHING, LOVE AFFAIR. TRULY, YOUR LOVE BECOMES A NEW SUNRISE AS EACH NEW MOON, CAUSES EACH CANDLE LIGHT TO MULTIPLY ITS ILLUMINATION AND WE ENTERAIN THIS PRISTINE JUBILANCE OF US.
OUR LOVE IS FAR MIGHTIER THEN THE DARKIEST OF TIMES. YOUR MARVELLOUS BEAUTY CAN EQUATE WITH THE RADIANT BEAUTY OF "THE QUEEN'S GARDEN OF VELVETY RED ROSES." I SHALL NEVER BE ABLE TO THANK OUR LIVING GOD, FOR BLESSING ME WITH MAGNIFICENT YOU.
WHEN I GAZE UPON THE RHYMIC DANCEOF THE STARS, I AM REMINDED OF HOWYOU DANCE UPON THE CHAMBER STEPS OF MY HEART. CAN PARADISE, TRULY BE WITHIN YOU, WOMAN?
I DO KNOW OF THE UNSEARCHABLE LOVE AND BEAUTY OF OUR GOD, THROUGH THE MESMERIZING BEAUTY OF YOUR PRESENCE. FOR, ROYALTY AND NOBILITY UNVEIL YOUR ENRICHING SUBSTANCE. YOU DRESS WITH THE CLOTH OF WISDOM! YOU WEAR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THY DELICATE NECK AS THOUGH IT WERE THE RAREST OF IVORY PEARLS! THEN YOU BATHE IN UNDERSTANDING AS IF IT WERE A SWEET AROMATIC OIL AND SPICES FROM A DISTANT LAND. TRUTH, FAITH, TRUST, AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE WILL BE THE NAVIGATOR OF THIS INCREDIBLE VOYAGE. NEITH THE STORMS OR JEALOUSIES OF LIFE WILL SEPARATE US FROM THIS GIFT WE SHARE FROM THE LIVING GOD, BECAUSE THIS CANST NOT BE AN ORDINARY LOVE.
Some lover's jealousies are such a tight squeezing embrace
that the loved one can't help feeling
coiled and embroiled
like in the grip of a loving beast or literally a bear's hug
And which makes her sigh,
why God ever chose to model her into a beauty
For the near perfection of her face and figure
highlights to him his imperfections
such that her illustrious famed facial grace
transforms him into a suspicious tamed beast!
A possessive kind of guy miner tis he
who jealously guards
this beauty secret
like upon having struck gold
and wishes to lock her up from the world
like a real-life Rapunzel's witch.
Yet as no black clouds can hide the radiant sun
her world soon comes to know
of her innocent screened charms and beauty
despite his protests and measures.
Yet in a world of unscruplous looters
this louvred love cage turns out to be that blessing in disguise
She can no longer be preyed upon by any predator guys.
Thus both lucky and unfortunate is the comely woman
But let her bloom and breathe
in love's cell or engulfing dungeon
for a free bird she was never meant to be for long.
And let her wedded man be her love's protective warden
so no body but he is lured by her look and lovesong!
She can't just forever fly and sing foot-loose and fancy-free.
A plethora of cocks out there might try to charm her
with their new feathers
serenading her with new love songs in the wind.
All she must do is
snap out from
and slip away from
their flirty fantasy.
For she can either opt out and walk out
or stay in and stay on, but not both,
for the sake of her beloved
and wise values of scruples and principles.
(Written about 2005, as a sonnet, but I cannot recall why I used 13 rather than 14 syllables per line. Maybe Petrachan? Forgive me if it fails the sonnet test.)
For My Wife and Daughters: STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
eighty percent water in me wants unity here
oscillating in bones, gurgling words in my bloodstream,
verging on vigorous waterways, my own river
converging dreams, I take our daughters to park and stream
few, if any, waterfowl and fauna peek at us now
tiny tributaries of separation bring dirt
now, even in spring, the waters are still running low
no flowers or flora frolic between sky and earth
we inhabit deltas of exuberance, then the freeze …
shallows of calm showed my girls sunfish, pebbles galore
abounding like diamonds in my land of jealousies
now, as streams in the world begin to slow, run shallow
I am one in the God of all, born of Africa
my daughters’ bloodstreams murmur songs of America
A perfect plain in the Sub Sahara
Discerning screens, Japanese Madara
Your frame formidable despite design
Why shan't I sing aloud about your shine?
Your songs of praises serenades females
A wrecking train that never derails
Conquered jealousies try to bite your style
They lost teeth from treading your field of mines
You oppose disruptive dictatorship
A might that oppresses oppressors' grip
A real lion, the rest just copycat
Your tales get people wild like bank alerts
Your burning desire defies flame tests
But your heart I treasure here in my chest!
©2016.
Kunta.
Birth name: Olaoluwa Ola-Williams.
Note: Olaoluwa Ola-Williams is a resident of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall (also known as The Baluba Republic), University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Though not a pure sonnet, Kunta borrows some styles to make it seem like one. The poem is a tribute to the legendary hall of residence.