Best Journeyman Poems
Saturated with fish fry smells, Bar-B-Cue smoke,
rodeo dust and sounds of deep water blues,
with teasing frothing lace spread on the shore,
Gulf Coast birth breeze blew winds
in sails to Caribbean Sea, Blue Mountain
berries, banana walk yam hills,
And coconut rain drops tapping reggae beats
on zinc roof tops on cool verandah nights,
in herb scented air, curling roast breadfruit smoke.
The tarrying there tested the soul,
matured the spirit, fulfilled long tried
attainments of deferred dreams; then
the sea recruited its journeyman again.
Pacific Coast pleaded an adopted native son home. Home
to new sea shore sands dusted in smog self negation
of urbane destruction and self nullification of community,
caught in the veiled nightmare—lurking in the promise land.
Hence, lessons learned from a gospel tower that never knew a church,
yet gave life-lived sermons that put homiletics to shame, crucifying
pipe-dream pie-in-the-sky nuances on the crosses of realities.
Atlantic waves, undulating like rhythmic buttocks, frothed
a scent of magnetism greater than the tightening hold of gravity,
attracting an uneasy soul, searching spiritual solaced sands; only
to discover that the seas all share the same shored design: Yes.
Same shared sorrowful savage slave story! Different sea: same sand.
Now awaits Guinea Coast sunsets and Cape of Good Hope
cul-de-sac early morning sunrises; then on to the sands of heaven.
Regrets are for those who fail to chase their dreams to realities.
Categories:
journeyman, analogy, imagery, journey, metaphor,
Form:
Prose Poetry
And so it was in the time of high charges for the governed
upon entering the Narthex of the church
of the Cold Blue Static Balls of Charge,
powerful PUBLICUS UTILITAS proclaimed:
“Make way; for I’m the journeyman directorate
of the all powerful Red Hot Orange Conglomerate,
here to ground your independent shorts
unto our power grid.
Let the word go forth from this time and place,
no longer will you be able to reverse the
flow to lessen your monthly burden.”
And so it goes from that day to this!
For the MAGIC WORDS contest
Categories:
journeyman, satiretime,
Form:
Free verse
The Journeyman, Walt Whitman
Acrid smoke drifts over this lifeless battlefield…
Forlorn cries escape from his tattered journal, bound in silence…
From above, Vultures circle lazily, stung from below, the burning
Eyes of the gray-bearded one, give them pause…
Off in the distance, cannons boom, as sons and brothers deny destiny…
Blades of grass, turn to dust…
Only memories now, hands reach out as pages turn, releasing arrows
That pierce every generation, born of his pen…
O godless thunder, tear the earth below my feet!
O wingless warrior, carry me beyond this sightless grave!
I long, for those dreams I once revealed…
I long, for my purple mountain streams…
Forever etched in acrid smoke,
Forever etched…
Drifting…
Drifting…
Categories:
journeyman, on writing and words
Form:
Narrative
Sad Journeyman of Death
Sad journeyman of life’s unending tests
bides time in loathsome sojourn cross each dawn
respecting naught but future’s numbered breaths
a-weep upon the touch of bloodied thorn,
Aroused to madness ‘neath the scent of war
bathes in the fearful prayers as fleeing life
soaks the rusting fields of nevermore
too soon, too soon regaled by drum and fife.
Slowly the agony of youth expires
thrust now upon old roots as unleafed trees
clutch the unspent lies of life’s desires
to live, to age, another day to seize.
Sad journeyman this lonely hypocrite
Death wields his scythe yet doesn’t sharpen it.
10/29/2017
//sonnet//
submitted to – DEATH – Poetry Contest
Categories:
journeyman, death, family, war,
Form:
Iambic Pentameter
BOXER
The late October day
marked the last of the tragic
encounters framed by the ropes
he preferred to the streets where a
journeyman boxer needs more than
taped hands for the troubles he sees
There had been no title shot, no top
ten ranking, just fifteen years of blows
to the body, to the head, to the soul -
volcanic eruptions, fissures and
earthquakes, myriad tremors in the
plate tectonics of the fist-pummeled
brain
He needed sixty more seconds of glaring
bright lights and a bored, bloody crowd
in a small-time arena in a town far away
Sensing his moment, he slipped to the
right, flicked two stinging jabs, bobbing
and weaving, then three quick strikes and
a pivot to the left that put him flat on his
feet for a violent combination with a
killing uppercut that soothed the roar in
his head, reduced the blur in his vision,
sent the menacing shadow to the canvas
for the count then left him out on the
sidewalks working, breathing hard,
dancing and pivoting like a big circus
bear, punching the air on a cold
afternoon before wary passing
strangers who tried not to notice,
in a town far away!
Categories:
journeyman, age,
Form:
Free verse
he had often aspired to being a jester
the wise one of Tarot land
cheekily dressed with wit on his lips
as of late he has been caught up
in irreverent lies and half-truths
tossed at him in anger and drunken inhibition
and his glittery clothes soaked them up for a while
until he himself imbibed in retribution and pain
a toxic combination of venom and vile
far from the love that still is
distant from kindness and compassion
so much that when he looked into the mirror
a vagrant journeyman of feeling and thought
looked like a lost soul in the middle of nowhere
at first he shrieked and shouted his hurt
refused to believe that he himself had become
much more than numb
was far less innocent than his imagined whistles and bells
deceived him to portray
eventually the halfwit resolved to
accept his own imperfections
and called his purple garments blue and red
for the union was at great danger
violet and lilac notions turned into new ideas
at times his face contorted in horror
his hands portrayed claws
and his mouth vowed to stay mute at times
eventually there was hope
when he realized what to do
and what not to engage with
22nd December 2022
Categories:
journeyman, anxiety,
Form:
Free verse
The clown
Circuit circuits
moving round in circles
swings and roundabouts
junctions dead ends
living closures and
beginnings
The fool wise man
woman child in all
posits mocks
understands the world
beauty horror
misgivings paths
ahead and gone
retrieved adventoured
learned felt inspected
long gone present
Re-chisseles
comprehends in
jest and wonderment
The jester
foolhardy
and foolproof
scribes in stone
and pencil
when fool’s gold
is just enough
where paradise
develops based on
hopes beliefs
and inner truth
The clown speaks
joy in face
of darkness
insight desperation
inspiration sweating
away the clouded
skies of dogma
digma paradigm
A joker true to
juddered jibes
jewels miracles
astonished tunes
informal charters
melodies and scented
wordings
bridges schisms
buffering the madness
infinite insanity
impoverished delusion
A senseless idiot
giving idioms
meaning iconoclastic
impromptu impropriety
making sense of what
there really is
A bubble blower
whistle blower
soapy gentle creature
carbolic and pugnacious
peaceful warrior
observing pulchritude
a journeyman
The circuits circle
circuses' loops
and rounded
loopholes spirals
intervening interweaving
fabrics
tapestries
makes
the clown
Categories:
journeyman, life,
Form:
Free verse
Instinctively moving through time, my judgement results in my pain, at times it feels like this
world is unfamiliar or just does not entertain my triumph. Too many days endured
emotionless, thoughtless, does my heart beat in vain because it has not a purpose.
Recognizing my surface is a struggle, better days have to be ahead, only the strongest
survive in an era where being strong is not good enough. I long for a companion with a silk
heart trimmed in gold, a queen who is uplifting, i need strength at my weakest points. For so
long i have been loyal without reward, do i dare view ones reflection in the mirror, sacrifice
is the key element to my joy, true happiness is on reserve.
Categories:
journeyman, adventure, art, caregiving, confusion,
Form:
Verse
How have I loved your laws and decrees
and your Sun in the dawn of the morning
the orders that govern the universe
and their rulings the cosmos adorning
So finely tuned a precise instrument
it's crafting can no journeyman match
construction supreme no man has surpassed
nor it's equal can he ever attach
You have hidden their rules and movements
that a man could spend a lifetime to seek
but the years we're given have been shorted
and our will to regulation is weak
Its decrees are woven like fabric
on each writ does another rely
their sequence framed like a template
against its power can no man defy
Its display of symmetry exacting
it's direction none living can change
through its pursuit our knowledge deepens
but it's only simile can we arrange
Like flocks are the stars conducted
as their shepherds your laws do act
like the canon of statues their placement
their governing by decrees you enact
No man can act as its counselor
or rearrange its charge and command
for all that's demonstrated in nature
for all are subject to what law demands
By their study we learn how to measure
like a child the paths of all law
to investigate all time and reasons
of its operation we can all stand in awe
source Psalm 19
COPYRIGHT © 2012 C Michael Miller
via Duboff Law Group LLC
Categories:
journeyman, allegory, dedication, devotion, faith,
Form:
Verse
I tried to express myself like you,
Your style, rhythm, sense
Of pace and form, which floated
From the page with every piece I read.
It seemed your language was like
A drug, that filled each recess
Of my inner self, made me understand
I was now in a higher state of being.
Each word, every inflection, each
Observation transported me
On a flowing river, sometimes quickly
Sometimes gently and, unfailingly,
Carried me to the sea of knowledge.
I knew I hadn't always grasped,
Your meaning, your intentions,
And had to save your wisdom
For another time, when, with a
Maturer mind I could fathom
That which you had imparted.
But who are you; as others know,
You passed away a long time ago,
And I, a mere journeyman,
Hopefully, carries within me the
Spirit of your voice, inside of mine.
Categories:
journeyman, appreciation, beauty, creation, dedication,
Form:
Blank verse
Against stark elements, this compliment of two;
Shrug buffeting winds and driving rains to go;
To hold a course for only fate to sway.
This journeyman with trusty beaconsphere;
Let none invade this very private space.
Her radiance and warmth do light vague ways;
Illumination tricks the chilling void.
This pair companion rise to nature's test;
A trial that would serve only to hear say;
"Sweet beaconsphere to you I say this clear,
A thousand miles and more I am prepared,
And should the times be hard and we both fall,
That you are there for me and I for you,
You'll never find a partner quite so true"
Categories:
journeyman, dedication, devotion,
Form:
Free verse
He waits in a sylvan wood
mentor cloaked in
orange and black;
courage is the lesson
of this spirit of prey.
Empirical justice is
the swords he wields;
a traveler of astral light;
journeyman of the stars.
Daughter of Artemus,
and lifelong totem
hunting ethereal woodlands
sustenance of my soul;
silken-furred guide,
I melt into your gentility...
teach me.
Categories:
journeyman, dream, philosophy, poems, poetry,
Form:
Free verse
Better blessed be to journey
Than in triumph to arrive,
One on the way is alive,
There's death, ends where destiny.
Journey's the joy of this moment,
As is life, ceaseless that goes,
Journey’s end, disappointment,
Hope in journey that journeyman knows.
So Lord, nirvana's not for me,
Let me tireless to journey.
_________________________________
Musings | 01.02.05 |
Categories:
journeyman, death, destiny, journey, life,
Form:
Verse
Jesters jokers juggle
Jink joke as journeyman
Jag up one jocose notch
Jougs jesserants judder
Jussive jokes demand the
Jutty jailors’ justice
Juxtapose jolterheads
Categories:
journeyman, joy,
Form:
Free verse
grandpa, a hard rock fisherman
and fractured fly rod journeyman
eyed a fish in the morning mist
kissing with giggle and lemon twist
he said he saw a bobbing head
round and fat with locks of red
six feet tall as the tale is told
and painted in a mermaid gold
by hook and line the gossip spread
buttered like a loaf of bread
the silver hook that reeled us in
were the white pearl dentures left to him
anglers hail this fishy tale
marked on a scale from two to ten
we weigh the wink with a childlike grin
tossing the lines that drag us in
Categories:
journeyman, fishing, humorous,
Form:
Rhyme