Best Launches Poems
Notus comes creeping furtively from the south
hot and bothered from the blazing summer sun.
The wind of change...concealed it launches sudden storms
as clouds pile up across the sky, dark and towering,
lightning flashes, thunder drawls, torrential rain descends;
rivers swell to bursting point; fields are swamped, crops destroyed.
Then once again he sneaks away, planning his next move.
His neighbour, Eurus, wants to show he’s no less able.
Bearing his inverted earthen vase he goes along
clumsy in gait and spilling water on dry soil.
His forays from the east tend to be unlucky.
Autumn fades with a sigh on Aura’s gentle wings
as ice-cold winter rushes in impatiently
from northern frozen lands to take its place
goaded by the domineering force of Boreas
who moves ahead with strong, intense authority,
his violent temper uncontrolled. Despite his age
he pushes his galloping stallion to the limit
riding forth relentlessly, cloak billowing behind,
his white beard curled; shaggy hair spiked and frosted.
Roaring, across the land he speeds with utmost haste,
a sacred conch shell grasped firmly in steely hand;
tremendous power he exerts and blows aloud
while humans cower in dark caverns, shivering.
They know his moods and fear his devastating wrath.
In their minds, princess Oreithyia’s forced abduction,
rape, and carnal satisfaction are still fresh.
They yearn for winter’s bitter ally to move on
so that the gentle Zephyr enters from the west
bringing with him rainbows and showers of spring,
calm serenity, greenery, flowers, shades and hues,
romantic feelings, fiery passion and intense love.
Ultimately, all four have to heed and appease
King Aeolus, firm ruler and keeper of the winds.
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*Aura = breeze goddess
*Oreithyia = mountain Nymph
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18th December 2014
Contest: Gods of Winds
Sponsor: Shadow Hamilton
Placed: 2nd
A year ago, the Russian state launched an unprovoked attack
Seizing land from Ukraine but they've bravely fighting back
If Russia can't have it, they operate a policy of scorched earth
And turn many towns and villages into mounds of rubble and dirt.
Russia then weaponised their gas and shipments of grain
And tried to inflict on the civilian people unbearable pain
His criminal army targets hospitals, schools, homes and utilities
He thought the Ukrainians would surrender, rather than freeze.
He tells the Russian people lies and many believe every word
And he tells them he's protecting Russia ;I find that absurd
We've seen evidence of his atrocities against women and men
And it's heart-breaking to see pictures of murdered children.
Ukraine was never a bold threat to that rogue terrorist state
Putin thought the west would leave the Ukrainians to their fate
How wrong was he to think the western world would look away
They're helping Ukraine defend itself and NATO leads the way.
Russia's ancient equipment and army are no match for the west
And to help Ukraine defend itself it is supplying weapon's the best
The Russian dead pile up on battlefields but Putin doesn't care
And hides away in the safety and comfort of his underground lair.
Wagner mercenaries recruited from jails to increase Russian might
Told their sentences will be lengthened if they don't go and fight
The dregs of Russian humanity are now sent to the eastern front
Together with inexperienced conscripts who now bear the brunt.
Russia is asking for weapons from North Korea, China and Iran
If China supplies them weapon's then their trade we should ban
People say Ukraine should concede land so that the war will end
But Russia has shown its evil dark side and will never be a friend.
Putin keeps threatening to use weapons of mass destruction
And has now backed out of treaties and increased production
Does he honestly think that the western world will stand by
If he launches just one, then you can be sure the west will reply.
Vladimar Putin started this war and there is no one else to blame
He is a disgrace to humanity and should hang his head in shame
Decent Russians and there are many should topple him for his crime
And his war criminal army arrested and either hung or serve time.
Take me back to a more romantic time
Of kings and castles and love sublime
When chivalry was in the air
Let me kiss the hand of my lady fair
I'll walk the land in days of yore
When tales were told by a troubadour
I will go where the ale and wine are poured
I will serve my queen with fire and sword
I could scale the castle walls in the dark of night
To see the woman I love, what a beautiful sight
We could steal away from the castle and then
Join forces with Robin and his merry men
A life full of daring, knowing not fear
Dining in the presence of Queen Guinivere
Each morning launches new escapades
Mounting my horse to join the Crusades
Oh please take me back if only in a dream
Where honor and courage were held in esteem
Where wizards cast spells and dragons breathe fire
To become a knight was a young man's desire
Oh let me be brave in times of duress
And save that damsel in distress
Let me bend to one knee before we part
Gaze into her eyes and win her heart.
Beneath thunderous waves near craggy shores
Exist in frigid seas the ancient men of cold blue
Fallen angels who now cast to earth are kind no more
Courageous seaman’s souls they look to accrue.
Imprudent men have eternally suffered
Callously the blue men of Minch, have crested the waves
Pursuing those without wit, for the challenge that’s offered
Condemning fools forever to the brinies depths and it’s caves.
Beware of the blue men and their command of the seas.
Fierce waves will extend from a flick of their tails,
Exhaling breathe launches a furious breeze
Masts shall be shattered; and shredded are sails.
Consider angels as fair, but fear the blue men of the Minch
Salvation will always encroach with a twist
Quick be the poets, whose conviction won’t flinch
Sheltered passage from verse, is the pardon, that blue men insist.
Trading verse with the devil, would be sounder for souls
Blue men of Minch have true depth to both rhyme and their prose
Brandish poems from heart and the head instead of old scrolls
Caution for that cold clench of the sea, is the poet that froze.
Time: T minus 3 minutes
Launch Control: It's a go
He's in love
going where
he's never gone before
with the woman
a light brown goddess
that hurtles him into outer space...
Mission Control: You're go for launch
Launch Control: Roger
all rockets fire
like lava from a volcano
red orange, yellow flames
I am in zero gravity
as her lips touch mine
I am weightless...
I pass the sun
asking it about the Big Bang
the sun replied
it's great to become...
I wave to Orion
as he faces the charging Taurus
giving them a wink
through my small portal...
I have always dreamed
of exploring the Milky Way
and to see the stars
the way she launches me
from ground zero...
I can't wait
until tomorrow night
to once again
put on my space suit
and board her shuttle
this lady I've dreamed of....
Countdown
to another lift off!
Jan Allison's - Fun Pyramid Cruise
Rolling shores of sugar form on crimsoned lands
Tan children run through cinnamon granules between their toes
Crunchy warm, doing soccer flips, glowing orange with the sun
Cascading sugar crystals wave good-byes
The yellow waves, light on honey oceans rise
Jan Allison's new Pyramid Cruise Lines launches
The flag ship, Gold Pyramid, to everyone’s delight
On honey sun and honey moon it sails
Glitters on golden Pyramid and sea
It lifts into the sky, one hundred floors high
Each deck with fewer cabins to form a shape
The ship is the first of its kind
Built in the perfect image of a pyramid with diamond top
To the top which rises to a clear crystalline ball room
Jan dances their at night
A dozen roses on center table in her room
Three white ones, 2 bright red and purple
And let’s not forget the brilliant yellow roses
Sent by every friend, from them to her
With warm wishes for a wondrous maiden voyage
Starry skies over Damascus
Like a star chart for the
bomber pilots eating
Milky Ways and lives
Chocolate in the desert
for desert in consumption
The poem could stop here
its pretty clear not pretty
Petty lives perambulating
hiding hobbling around
on what was their feet
foundations souls and
is their ruin's wreckage now
The planes feature logos
“Just do it”
“Whiter than white”
“Put the tiger in the tank”
“Eat confectionary be happy”
What an advertising space
for the daily news rounded
up like the refugees
refusing to be refuse
“Powered by democracy”
“Fuelled by share holdings”
“Rocket launches for a better world”
in the weeping nights and days
lactating for another holiday
of some on sunny beaches
oozing oil wells wealth
and inequality
Milk where it needs not be
in luxury not infant powder
hungry breasts run dry by hunger
sapped empty in the face
of some lives counting
more than others where
camouflage is but
a distant varnish
in the pursuit of power
Soon their will be billboards
“Baghdad was not built
in a moment” “Invest in
Kabul” “Concrete for Allepo”
“Live the dream”
“Life liberty and the
pursuit of happy-mess”
“Constructing globality”
Munching away in my
cushioned arm chair
built from greedy land mines
I collude
“You can have your milky ways”
if the bomber pilots did not
eat them all
Whose wives implant their chests
with silicone from
the valley of evil
that forgot
Instead the artificial brain
the heart transplant
Mindful disposition
of humanity
Looking
instead at the stars
spangled banners
of Damascus
Milky ways
YOUR LOVE
(Music & lyrics by Joan Donnelly Ellis ( for Male Vocalist )
Your love has always filled my deepest longings
Your love performs actively
What I found hard to do you managed somehow to see me through
And awakened dreams that were once only fantasy
You're a work of art my living Mona Lisa
You're the mountain top a trumpet's claim of victory
You're the solid ground beneath my feet
The wind that launches a fleet of ships that sail with the best in life for you and me
Chorus:
You've given me loyalty, treated me like royalty
Even during the times when the opposite was due , ou-ou-whoo
Then you amaze me by asking wild and crazy questions like .
Why am I so in love with you
Verse 2:
No your love hasn't always provided what I wanted
But when it come to needs as if by magic you'd supply
Then you tell all of our friends to you I'm like Heaven's angel on lend
When I fall you rush to my defence with logical alibi
Repeat Chorus :
Boys carry their snow sleds
up, up
to the highest peak
scaling risk
their voices pitched
chattering noise of expectation
frozen giddiness on snow packed hills
boys belly flop onto plastic sleighs
bubble-headed jauntiness launches them
lunging down, down
bewildering "swish" of speed
smashing white drifts
projectiles scattered
boys tossed in snowbanks like pizza dough spinning
baked together in joy
pushing the balance of extreme
runs repeated
brash, blunt, bold
epic span of freedom
ignoring downfalls from ill timed moves
in a lost sense of direction
gleefully tired
snow flecked
boys wheeze the icy air
make their way home
their talk clotted with bravado
beneath it, the unspoken promise to never tire
of boyhood
in twilight, the slopes gleam
gouged by sled marks
that clear a path for growth
targeted direction
and if boys fall from the path
are there souls
who'll notice?
when ruts threaten
when sleds teeter
in unruly spaces
Poem composed February 2, 2022
Green the colour of hope
Tiny green buds start to emerge on dead looking branches
Winter has not chilled the roots to desolation
Life is anew just wait and see…… as spring launches
Itself into our hearts, we wait for the colours filling the isolation
That cold damp weather has brought.
Yellows of daffodils and narcissus waving their heads in wonder
As though looking around for the tulips and snowdrops
A mass of colour here on the ground….our eyes skyward wander
smiling at the shoots on the blossom trees, showing their crops
Along with all the mighty trees of old
Birds chirping in the watery sunlight
Much as to say ….we are here too
The wonder of Spring unwinds our love of life
Time to start again …. time to renew
Time to spring forth, time to give thanks.
penned 16 March 2017
With a step and a stumble and a kick of the heels,
My mind launches from the peak of the hill,
And I fly high through the clouds, without any wings,
With no idea, no plan and no skill,
Still my mind is relaxed, a paper boat that’s afloat,
Gently floating away down the stream,
Reflecting the shades of the fairies at night,
Reflecting the beautiful dream,
Of mushrooms lit bright with the light of the night,
By the tint that comes from the moon,
And they sway and dance with the magical folks,
Who create the colourful tune,
With a step I am swept away from this world,
Away to a place far and deep,
Every night when I lay to leave this cruel world,
And dream through the night in my sleep.
("Little Things Mean A Lot"
Kitty Kallen 1954)
If you think God tallies
in His columns of +'s and -'s
how many times man gets
to the moon or mars
you are really mistaken -- Little
things mean a lot. Like, personally
cutting the nextdoor old lady's grass
instead of just hiring someone
is more profound than 10 successful
rocket launches -- little things mean
a lot. The rescued kitten, the stray
dog fed -- the breaking of bread with
family and friends, this is how one's spirit
is healthily fed (little things mean a lot).
God pours all his wisdom as potential
into the hearts and minds of newborns
that they may do amazing things with
their lives. Little things mean a lot. Maybe
everything, far exceeding all our
imagined big things. Better to stay
grounded than to reach into the infinite
(wasting precious time) only to find what
was already within your near grasp from
the very onset. In our speed world
Big Things will always get their fair share
of attention...while far more slower dearer
little things can be lost forever. Little things
mean a lot.
“Doves”
Doves of peace cradled in both hands
lotus flowers unfurling, on each petal many faces
one name in between the two hands
claps for our self-acknowlegement in the now,
opens oceans held by the power of many wings,
one dove walks between the rolling waves reflecting
mirrors in that solitary place, there, we all confront
that which is contained within
parting days that shudder, we move through storms,
faith strikes our free choices, electric like lightening within the clouds
that which moves within the heart of us all, some are called, to be touched
within the conscious imagination
hidden within both light and dark,
only there, within the in-between of shadows
we ignore the others who say this cannot be true
so we decide to revolt against the norm, "We"
leave what is safe and sure,
here our voyage launches us forward
these new and different births,
where better worlds are created
within the hidden purity of light and dark
within the shadows of our imagination
Candide Diderot. ‘25
“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world.”
Buddha
“There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
“As the lotus rises on its stalk unsoiled by the mud and water, so the wise one speaks of peace and is unstained by the opinions of the world.”
Buddha
Ancient science launches research towards new technology
Learning new disciplines to increase the power of their patron
Creating new magics; generating spendable gold from lead
Hinting at greater knowledge hidden in the realms of men
Evolving sciences increase the expertise of kingdom soldiers
Machines, potions and tactics to defeat enemies of the king
Yesterday's mysteries leading the world toward today's reality
More than twelve hundred souls
Meet their watery grave.
German U-boat patrols
Spark a fatal shockwave.
This echo of the past
Resounds throughout history.
Rousing war unsurpassed,
Deadly shroud of mystery.
The empire aids Cunard,
Loaning millions in pounds.
Lord Inverclyde toils hard
On deceptions unsound.
They hide admiralty
Within their merchant fleet,
And in reality
War barons plot deceit.
Famed cruiser so agile
Brings home the Blue Riband.
Propellers prove fragile,
New designs would respond.
While retooling the craft,
Gun mountings are installed.
Hidden away most daft
Down where the ropes are hauled.
However they decide
To switch their new design.
Large cargo holds shall hide
Munitions in her spine.
War with Germany starts
With land mines and blockades.
America builds parts
While Britain launches raids.
The Isles become war zones
With no sure passage back.
Submarines would throw stones
To sink the Union Jack.
So Daniel Dow protests
This British smuggling ring.
The prior chief suggests
Attacks these loads will bring.
A German message warns:
"Huge risk at British sea!
If allied flags adorn,
They'll be hacked to debris!"
Captain Turner is picked
To lead the merchant ship.
"Speed shall avoid conflict
On this momentous trip."
Voyage two hundred-one
Departs Pier 54
Under a watchful sun,
Fresh ammo in her store.
Steaming toward Fastnet Rock,
Bowler Bill seeks advice.
Three ships are sunk in shock,
Warnings are confirmed twice.
Posting double look-outs,
They ready the lifeboats.
Bill secures a black out
While taking careful notes.
Thirty miles from Cape Clear,
The vessel enters fog.
Weather thwarts so severe
The captain slows their slog.
The periscope spots them
As orders are passed down.
One button shall condemn,
Destruction all around.
The Old Head of Kinsale
Watches the missile glide.
The bomb shreds to assail
Those weapons stowed inside.