Best Lessened Poems
a rose is a rose
though bent by the spiteful wind
some petals are lost
its fragrance has not lessened
beauty changes but remains
its essence the same
yet overlooked, you pass by
touching another
perfection your objective
you forget time's truthfulness
beauty is fleeting
roses were not meant to last
yet this bleeding rose
pummeled and bent, almost crushed
offers you the sweeter scent
Eileen Manassian
Categories:
lessened, mental illness,
Form:
Sedoka
Ever so much more than friend
Wearing scars of love's lullaby
I can still see you at the end
Our song often left wounds to mend
Each time we'd return; blood barely dry
Ever so much more than friend
To the depths of spite we'd descend
But against hatred's grip we'd ally
I can still see you at the end
Betrayed by hope left alone to fend
Holding on; clasped hands cracked & dry
Ever so much more than friend
Cuts slowly heal, the burn lessened
The allure to give up we'd deny
I can still see you at the end
We stand frayed on a path we didn't intend
My hand in yours I walk with closed eyes
Ever so much more than friend
I can still see you at the end
12/05/2017
Categories:
lessened, anniversary, best friend, courage,
Form:
Villanelle
This darkness overwhelmes me yet a glow it lights my path
a fire burns inside me to defrost the winters wrath
This weight I bear suppresses hope and brings me to my knees
Yet someone here has heard my moans and calms my raging seas
Time and time again I fall, so wearily I tread
But then appears an outstretched hand, and nothing more is said
she lifted me beyond the precipice of laden fears
embraced me in her tenderness and wiped away my tears
This lonliness that fills the space where joy did once reside
Is lessened by a friendly soul, with whom I can confide
Heavens light sent from above, a stepping stone of hope
Placed along this winding road to help this blind man cope
Categories:
lessened, hope, me, me,
Form:
Couplet
Welcome back, dear me
let’s sip vintage wine and merry be
awakening to a radiant dusk exactly as is,
caressed by sheer madness igniting
a dance a swing with a playful breeze
and to soak in evening’s tickled mist,
as reaching out to others completely
drains my core like an overused machine ;
my quality time lessened slain by kindness...
Now, my days taste the cherry of life
indulging in forsaken passions leisures denied…
Yes, it’s all because self-nourishment
rings aloud: buy that violet lipstick,
paint the moon with enthralled eyes… throw a sinful dessert party and ride the carousel with complete abandon!
If Mom calls and neighbour Pam asks for extra help in her garden, I’ll wink gently—
Say no. For my heart is running empty,
It needs to be fed with jazz's tempo
without the guilt trip. So, I’ll smile at my body
And leave all for a while, as real love begins
with me, lifting this soul on the halo of fire--
Categories:
lessened, self,
Form:
Light Verse
A child's view:
"Why did you leave us dear mom and dad?"
"Did we do something to make you mad?"
Tears on our faces, as we see you drive away.
"Please come back, we'll be good everyday!"
Our foster mother hates us, we don't know why.
Maybe she hits us, because all we do is cry.
My sister tries to protect me, but she gets beat instead.
It's hard not to hate her, she raps her knuckles on our heads.
But I'm just 3, my sister barely six.
We don't know what happened...how do we fix?
"Where are our brothers? We miss them so!"
"How can you love us and just let us all go?"
An adult's view:
Scars of abandonment haunt our souls.
Self confidence battered and full of holes.
Hate and resentment learned so young.
Our spirits crushed, our sorrows unsung.
Trusting of others is extremely hard.
Self protecting.......eternally on guard.
Escaping the past, we run away.
Coping mechanisms always in play.
Failed relationships in abundance.
Struggling against all compliance.
Memories buried in recesses of the mind.
Lessened only by the passage of time.
Categories:
lessened, emotions, life, pain,
Form:
Rhyme
The world’s astronomers after a tumultuous debate
have decided to reduce the number of planets to eight.
Little Pluto out in the reaches of the solar system
has been the subject of controversy and criticism.
This body orbiting out in the deep solar space void
is now classified by earth’s sky watchers as a planetoid.
Since the solar system was discovered by Copernicus,
it’s the second time something has lost planetary status.
The object named Ceres was considered as planetary,
but was lessened to an asteroid in the last century.
Some astronomers suspected another planet did dwell.
The search for “Planet X” was begun by Percival Lowell.
The orbits of Uranus and Neptune showed perturbations
by some outer unknown body pulling with gravitations.
For many years, the world’s big telescopes were aimed at the skies.
It was a long and frustrating search causing some tired eyes.
Many astronomers hoped to find this mystery body.
Clyde Tombaugh finally discovered it in 1930.
Pluto has a very large body called Charon for a moon.
A highly eccentric orbit brings it closer than Neptune.
It’s far away where our sun is shining with just a faint glow.
These are a few of the facts astronomers would get to know.
Pluto’s considered one of many things called a “Plutrino”.
It’s the largest of bodies orbiting in the “Kuiper Belt”
Reduction from planetary status is what they all felt.
Categories:
lessened, space, body, planet,
Form:
Rhyme
ALAS, POOR LINDA
Alas, poor Linda! I knew her as PD,
a poet of infinite interest,
of most excellent insight.
She has borne the brunt of conflict
a thousand times, and now how abhorrent
her unannounced dismissal.
For we are not punished
for the sins committed
but for those “perceived”
by the keepers
of the gladiators graves.
So let us raise our bloodied shields,
raise riot on their wounded face
demand the King we raised to power
remove his foot from trampled flower.
Return to us her petaled voice
lest all be lessened by such loss.
John G. Lawless
5/4/2016
Categories:
lessened, eulogy,
Form:
Verse
What Love commands the train fulfills,
The six thirty bounds to Coney Island
Where the green Ubers awaits the passengers
Morning greetings, (Urdu) of few words, were the
Pakistan, rules Mermaid Street with the neon green
Were too mama? where too, two dollars:
A repeat routine for most of us,
Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, we all start our day at some point. And we all seem to start it differently. (Kevan Lee)
Five forty showers, get dress out the door before six a.m.
Grab the garbage, and walk three minutes to the subway,
where love commands the train fulfills, which lessened
My morning depression until midday, (who control whom)
Why was I born, why am even here, what is my personal worth?
Timeless question, who would remember me, when I am gone?
The train, the cabbies, would the streets miss my dragging feet?
Self-observation, is it worth a Newyork minute of whom will miss us. (really)
Void, void, void, void, void, void, void, and more void,
Just allowed the few that might to do some adjustments
For the sake of remembering me, for the sake of losing my car fare,
For the sake of not receiving, my monthly fees, and T-Mobile
you definitely would, release me from my grandfather plans:
Today, I sit in silence, away from all sounds, only the sounds
Of a keyboard, and my heartbeat, as the mouse goes click, click
For the sake of remembering is that a poet is only good at recollecting, reflecting, and making his audience believes in his words:
This Photo by Unknown Author
Categories:
lessened, absence, angst, anxiety, appreciation,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
Love possesses a soul of it's own,
organic and autonomic
It propagate waves of attraction,
moving strangers closer to the sphere of friends
Thus you and I became ...
Feeling the elliptical bond of mutual desire,
we steadily, over time, moved past the platonic,
into the sublimated hot zone of privacy ...
Together alone
I energized into the matrix of you,
and you molecular phased into me
Thus we became one soul entity
I fell into the gravity well of your heart,
and you lessened the density of your core integration ...
letting me easily pass through the membrane of your mind,
by way of mental osmosis
Thus you and I became ...
Our sum greater than our parts,
our combined love weighed greater than our hearts
As I look through your eyes,
I see life in a completely new dimension of sensation
As you gaze through my eyes,
you observe the spiritual revelation of love's elevation
And thus we two became ...
One with the universe
We became
one with all things
last and first
Categories:
lessened, love, relationship, romantic, spiritual,
Form:
Free verse
This barren desert hot and dry
as noonday sun is beating down;
I’ve walked for miles, no one in sight,
and over head the buzzards fly
awaiting death to end my plight.
My throat is dry, my skin parched brown
while on my face I wear death’s frown.
I long for water wet and cool
to quench the thirst of this old fool
who took off on this trek alone
to cross this desert on his own.
But wait...what yonder do I see
off in the distance, lush with tree;
perhaps some water could it be?
And shade to cool me from the sun?
It can’t be far until l’m done;
I guess it not but just a mile
before I reach this desert isle.
But wait...what grief as I approach
it seems oasis growing dim;
the visions on my dreams encroach
and disappear with reaper’s hymn.
My gait is lessened to a crawl
through desert sand on hands and knee
that burns my flesh as I advance.
With weakness, on my face I fall
and wonder why I took the chance.
But still in yonder sand I see
the lush oasis luring me,
yet in my mind I know not real,
this damned mirage my dreams to steal.
My life is flashing ‘fore my eyes;
the end is nearer I surmise.
I think of her, the moments shared
and her vile voice that said she cared;
I thought our hearts forever paired,
but like this vision in the sand…
‘twas mere mirage on barren land.
The noonday sun I cannot bear
as grains of sand mix in my hair,
and now I know that doom awaits;
the buzzards lurk as death bells chime;
my weary soul left to the fates
as reaper’s hymn tells me it’s time.
January 4, 2020
Categories:
lessened, angst, death, image, imagination,
Form:
Rhyme
They spoke in a singular language
A language none but they could know
She with the moonlight in her eye
He with the hush of fallen snow
They moved with a slow beginning
By the light of the rising moon
In the night on the white of the snow
To the sound of an ancient tune
They hummed alone – And they carried
About themselves a certain weight
That some might possibly dismiss
As being neither small nor great
And yet to them, these two, on the move
With unstated purpose pressing
Upon their steps, each weary step
A symbol of their load un-lessened
Bore witness to their anxious plight –
And wherefore did they travel, and what from
That required they steal silently
Across the tundra on the run?
Was it a secret they alone
Could share, and with none other
But the moon and the shifting snow
And the misty night for cover?
Of this they spoke in muted silence
In a language only they could know
She with the moonlight in her eye
He with the hush of fallen snow
Categories:
lessened, journey, language, moon, silence,
Form:
Rhyme
Of first embrace and broken glass
I cherish that first spark
New light upon our forest' dark.
Do you recall that northern wind?
It came at first so swift
Perhaps our growing light enraged
Poor Hopelessness', her whims denied
Inspired shadows from retreat
Those having once left us in our light.
"There's hope for you!” her battle cries
“Forwards; towards the glowing night
Attack! The lion will not bite
I promise he will turn blind eyes
Go back! I will cover your eyes!”
“Follow storms winds descent
True path through forests dense
Enter hence.
Rip, tear, rent!
From low to high
Head to toes
Even to above
Where dark forest glows
Churn even these shades
Whites and grays
Yellows arrayed,
Where once were dulled
"My children do not stop there!"
She would say,
"You must inscribe them full
Lest unseen hopes, occupy as slivers
As pretending tones, they have been known to hide
Shimmers upon the edge of shades
We must leave them emptied, lost whims, denied
Their ways left as waste to ruins
Despairs do not relent with dooms
Leaving chance to sparks in time
Per chancing kindles from hearts that loom.”
“Descend, my raging opaque!
The dense itself engrave
Teach young love old lessons
That she may now know at such young age
The heart of this forest lessened.”
“Now go' my shadowed tails delight
Slice sharp paths without care
Cause those within their ears too bear
The roaring of fresh leaves…
Torn from their rightful place
Before the given time”
“Dying screams let them endure
Let them feel your shadows
….Purge!”
The cold so swift
We were so sure This was spring
........residues
Your body’s naked form, lovely
Dropping, encircling our flame
Dying breath
Woman’s instinct
Nurturing
Disregarding winds intent
Then came the rains' extinguishing
Saving coals
Your hands were warm
My feet were cold
I shiver at this memory.
…Rains cold intensity
The downpour overcoming
Me
I'm sorry I could not see
My circle enclosed circles now
Circling
I knew the dark complete
As our smoke heavenward arose
To late this pittance; ash offerings
Ashes on the ground
Then came the rivers rage
Cutting its path through the heart
Forever too leave
Forever leaving its mark
Upon our forest dark
Meandering on; its choosing path
And I with it beside; belonged
For a chosen time
My love again I say
For a chosen time
Do you understand?
I chose the time of days
My shame
Categories:
lessened, devotion, life, love, passion,
Form:
Free verse
Defying oblivion-propelled anguish
our eyes linger at family pictures
beholding life cycle's vibrant features
now vanishing, causing hearts to languish…
There’s Dad of boyish grin; Mom with glad smile
juxtaposed along their grandparents’ glow
exposing vitality’s lessened flow
yet, cheering us to preserve good old style…
Though fading from their brilliant hues and tints
home photographs still capture our strong bond
we as members cling to … now ~~~ till beyond
by God’s grace, blessing ceaseless love* imprints.
*Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
February 27, 2021
2nd place, "Vanishing" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Carolyn Devonshire; judged on 3/1/2021.
Categories:
lessened, blessing, christian, family, god,
Form:
Enclosed Rhyme
In the blink of an eye the earth reversed
the sun rising in the west setting in the east
gravity's pull suddenly lessened it's hold
heavy things grow much lighter and floated
Look up to the sky and see what I mean
houses, cars animals and people flying
water running uphill instead of down
mighty oceans now the sky adorn
All still just kept within earth's strati-fear
beneath shines a land so strange
empty lakes and ponds now up in the sky
bewildered animals flying by, oh so high
As the day grew slowly to its close
gravity started to righten herself
and things began to resettle themselves
yet landing in totally different places
The poles became hot lands of sunshine
while the tropics were buried deep in snow
oh what a pickle it all was the army striving
to return things to normal but all in vain
Mammoth rescues of creatures to their normal climes
speed was all important before they perished
to our credit most were rescued and re-homed
our earth always mysterious is now reversed
How will we cope in this new places
well come back in a thousand years
I suspect human nature will be unchanged
still the same old BS run by the same morons
Categories:
lessened, imagination,
Form:
Imagism
Fragile are crisp clean lines that edge an invisible thread
Carelessly crushed beneath the unknown forceful dead
Efforts of gripping the reality through truthful grief pained wash
Casual condolences lessened love communicated instant message loss
Reversal to rewind wheels spinning overtime must stop
Cursed hearted minds bottomless drift into a despaired rot
Treads that slip tears away from the wearing of a long road
Finding courage to carry on strength caring for our body our home
Gathered senses speaking sparingly to form any reason after death
Momentous is the rationality that wildly spreads a laid to rest
'Any Couplet written in October-November' Contest Sponsored by Laura Loo
Categories:
lessened, america, car, community, culture,
Form:
Couplet