Best Lapse Poems
TO A POETIC TIME LAPSE
As the sharp rays
of sunlight slowly sliced
through the tarrying tinted clouds,
I wiped away the web
of darkness of night;
broke off a piece of time
and used it to scrape away
the corrosion of agony
from the heart of my mind...
and resuscitated my eroded faith.
Today I will open
dusty luggage of creativity
and pull out wrinkled war worn words:
etch ebony emotions of long lived life
onto refined pulp of trees;
weave soul stirring songs;
mould scented flowers
of peace and love; justice...
feel the breath of God
warming my serene sweet soul
while feathering the nest
of my pregnant poetic mind.
For Timothy Lee
You are the one and only perfect male for this girly female.
Your body, so strong, manly and taut, is meant for my body soft.
Your hands eager, sensual assails make my senses lapse and fail.
Your manly, intimate onslaughts erase my every thought.
When your intent looms to impale, I soon forget how to inhale.
When my impassioned mouth is caught by your desirous lips as sought,
and your flesh-kisses press lust trails rendering me as velvet wails ...
oh, then ... you perfectly astound as I melt perfectly unbound.
It's time to celebrate a New Year
with an old tradition and much cheer,
so while the ball is dropping
the champagne will be popping...
Here's to headaches and actions unclear!
A chance encounter on a
crowded street
An awkward hurried hug
Can't seem to catch a carefree
beat
With someone that you once
so loved
What was it that so connected
us when
We suffered each others pain
Were we really that much
different then
It was great to see you again.
Every now and then,
A memory will surface,
Emerging from within,
Secretive in purpose.
Revealing bits of life,
I didn’t know exist,
Ashamed of what I’ve done,
Things I should resist.
They happened in a state,
That surely wasn’t me,
Inhibitions undiscovered,
Exploration; casually.
Liquor of deception,
Relaxing from inside,
Conspiracy of cells,
Contempt of what they hide.
So far away,
All the recollections,
Maybe yesterday,
Created these perceptions.
Save me from myself,
Both of me collide,
Wading in the ocean,
Brought back with evening tide.
Putting together days,
Making sense of nights,
Disgusted with results,
Of unrelenting heights.
Flashes of men,
Getting what they want,
Obliging to the fullest,
All the while I haunt,
A body that I share,
With a decent girl,
I am the oyster,
She is the pearl.
I know she knows,
That I exist,
Who else would have,
Slit our wrist.
Arriving with the whiskey,
Taking it from there,
Undo her blouse,
Let down her hair,
Let go of dreams,
Rules and restrictions,
Misrepresent,
Her derelictions,
And when I am tired,
I allow her return,
Hiding the truth,
That she wants to learn.
Lapse
When efficiency and effort lapse
Law and Peace fatally collapse!
JM
20th January 2014
Losses of days make worry haze
Time is forgettable in mysterious plays.
Deadlines I fear as consequence
Emerging light one's only essence.
Goals make believers solidly blind
To undying fates in the mind.
Wounds converge on the palm
Waves silence in the calm.
Nature holds life's rhythm and blues
Ending wars assimilate forgotten clues.
Oh, Sir, surely you must be mistaken
For I have every precaution taken
To never allow a ticket to go into arrears
Hearing of these arouses my deepest fears
Thinking I must have a lapse in my brain
No, no! It cannot be this sorry refrain
I have never felt such a betraying kiss
As this, that I might have been remiss
Failing to pay a debt you say that I owe
Alas! I shall have to check my finances, tho’
I’m sure I’ll find that these have been paid
I quite remember on the hall bureau, I laid …
Uh, … I remember writing the payment drafts
To the DMV … yes, the DMV … oh, drats,
But did I forget to put them in the mail?
Give me my license, I’ll send them without fail!
THIRD PLACE WINNER
Written February 1, 2022
especially for “DMV” Poetry Contest
sponsored by Matt Caliri
Drops of rain
a pulse of pain
Down from head to face
stiffening my veins
i see lights in the streets
shinning though the evening mist
afternoon turned night
a sorrow face of dark
Pain as i say goodbye to day
to it am saying ' i'll always be a friend"
and hope every morning to be right here
God willing, i'll go nowhere !
...a true story
Her house was just a shell, a burnt-out ruin...
standing apart, the other houses still intact
with painted jalousies and window curtains.
She must have fallen asleep, the cigarette
still dangling from her arthritic fingers;
I never saw her without one.
She told me of her life in Poland during the war,
but not her suffering, she never spoke of that.
She smiled wanly as she showed me old photos
of her family and friends taken on holiday when
she was younger, long before the ravages of war.
TV was her constant companion along with
her nurse and her beloved Pekingese,
always sitting on her bed. We'd talk for hours.
She was always interested in my schoolwork,
and why didn't I have a girlfriend?
Now she lay in hospital small and silent;
there was nothing I could do but hope and pray.
When they drew the sheet up over her I felt an
emptiness, but no tears came. Fourteen years old,
my first death up close. When I got home to mum
and dad, only then in their comforting embrace
did I sob my heart out.
Her house was just a shell, a burnt-out ruin...
**********
In memory of Dr Elizabeth Haubold, a Paraplegic,
whom I visited in her home for company,
conversation and errands. May She Rest In Peace.
.
Nature's neon lights
Colors a delight
Glory for man's eyes
Dancing lights
In deep cold of night
Aurora Borealis
Like living in king's palace
Time lapse scenes
Set to classical music
Cure for a body algesic
For a few minutes
Release from all conscience
Absorbed in the moment
Nothing like Aurora Borealis
God's invention_ not neon lights
...a true story
Her house was just a shell, a burnt-out ruin...
standing apart, the other houses still intact
with painted jalousies and window curtains.
She must have fallen asleep, the cigarette
still dangling from her arthritic fingers;
I never saw her without one.
She told me of her life in Poland during the war,
but not her suffering, she never spoke of that.
She smiled wanly as she showed me old photos
of her family and friends taken on holiday when
she was younger, long before the ravages of war.
TV was her constant companion along with
her nurse and her beloved Pekingese,
always sitting on her bed. We'd talk for hours.
She was always interested in my schoolwork,
and why didn't I have a girlfriend?
Now she lay in hospital small and silent;
there was nothing I could do but hope and pray.
When they drew the sheet up over her I felt an
emptiness, but no tears came. Fourteen years old,
my first death up close. When I got home to mum
and dad, only then in their comforting embrace
did I sob my heart out.
Her house was just a shell, a burnt-out ruin...
Places that once had names
changed by wind and rain
and sun and shifting sands
once mapped and framed
bad lands claim
dry bones.
Desert meets sky
and rivers run dry
and road is lost
to all who try
to find their way
to shining pools
of silver lies
miraged below
forgetful skies.
Days go past in time lapsed
skies changing fast to black
to red to blue to white
and back again
to no end
in sight.
4/7/14
MEMORY LAPSE
they peer at me
in short panted
breaths
against cuts and
breezes
childhood days
and drifts like
wood in dark
mahogany
past pastels
through every
heart torched that
touched my soul
now life gapes
huge holes
cracked mirrors
with
fissured tears
faces that visit
and giggle
clueless
dim-witted
brainless
obtuse
a memory lapse
unaware
of what was
left behind
© Kim van Breda—16 October 2015
A billowing curtain
brushed at my face,
as barking dogs
your steps did trace
With bated breath
I waited in tremble,
and with a hefty knock
my door did rumble
Pulling myself
from out of the chair,
I was shaking to fall
half way there
Hand on the door
face to wood,
I listen intently
for anything good
The whispering winds
carried a voice,
to open the door
I had no choice
Hand on the knob
hearing a click,
knowing my life
was about to shift
Lighting the porch
In washes of light,
looking to find
no one in sight
Shaking my head
and closing the door,
as a shove so hard
made my ass meet the floor
Breaking my arm
in the fall,
I lent my back
against the wall
A bulge in my back
was a reach around,
feeling its handle
I lay it to ground
Searching shadows
sick in my gut,
sweating profusely
I heard the door shut
Steps so light
I could barely hear,
someone was coming
I felt the rising of fear
Steeling my spine
I clenched real tight,
and heaved that Axe
into dark night
on hearing a grunt
I turned on the light,
but then I got
the biggest fright
Laying spread eagle
on the floor,
was the delivery man
from the grocery store