Best Linchpin Poems
My thoughts they roil like waters dark
in the abyss of blackest night,
with memories of mother’s bookmark,
of Longfellow read by lamp light.
She called, in the room around me,
the patter of other small feet.
Her gentle voice fetched angels .
Oh, the rhymes, they astounded me
like lullabies soft and so sweet.
All fearsome shadows, she’d dispel.
Maxine, my queen, read Tennyson
and the Charge of the Light Brigade.
A little girl dreamt of caissons
roll, and thunderous cannonade.
To be so brave, the small child mused,
mother her precious, heroine;
what would it take to stand so strong
without father, and not confused.
What words could be the linchpin
to right mother’s tell-tale wrong.
Such sad inspiration, mother,
oh, how I wronged you by being born,
though I loved you above all others.
Some thoughts of you make me forlorn.
Bring back the tales of mother goose,
three small kittens and their mittens.
Return the vision of your smile
the happiness your warmth induced,
let your spirit comfort, lighten
night, if only for a little while.
Categories:
linchpin, absence, loss, love, mother
Form:
Ode
Everyone had a unique reason for playing the Game
as we find different means for surviving Life
until the proper seconds of Death come stomping by with insistence,
some want intellectual respect shown with agitation in the opponent's eyes,
others crave the anxiety of prognostication
like gladiators uncertain of how to strike,
people commence the battle because they have something to prove
as Bobby boldly reproved the Soviets
on their asinine assumptions of superiority,
regardless, all who touch the Board want desperately
to understand the Game,
it's rituals, it's spirits,
the possibilities alive & haunting the 64 squares,
to honestly provide a homage of mind to History and to invention,
as if the nature of Chess is a dream of God's,
a subconscious engineering of grappling wants & needs,
of fears & hopes, of bravado & caution,
32 weapons arranged handsomely for the express channeling
of the Divine creative compulsion of Providence itself,
geometry made grand & gallant,
a homicide for Honor performed in the pressure of an hour,
all skilled players realise at some point
that quality brinksmanship ascends over the voice of victory
and can be reduced to the amazing beauty
of integrating logical processes with artistic allure,
misdirection a linchpin of the Master's ancient algebra,
momentum the indispensible monarch of strategy,
without It One is dictated,
mating nets, positional play, tactical moves,
a temple devoted to timeing -
J.A.B.
Categories:
linchpin, art,
Form:
Ode
Although yours truly modest,
the only personal issue
I will lightly boast about
constitutes lingering
self worthlessness bred
if not prior to first grade,
than most definitely incipient,
academic deadlines
loomed large with dread
and exacerbated by procrastination
quickly adopted as linchpin
damned obsessive compulsive
currents (i.e. thoughts) fed
modus operandi, which intricate
schema writ over lifetime invisible
within this talking head
who ironically enough
never uttered a beep
engendered from lack
of confidence, esteem,
somehow worthlessness,
insignificance,
emasculation, et cetera
took root, and didst leap
(axon to neuron)
and said mindset did seep
percolating into every nook,
and cranny comprising
aging shades, transformed
gray matter, sans this
beatle browed bummer, a deep
purple, though easily mistaken
for minuscule Uriah Heap,
or perhaps, ewe might notice,
(albeit while in a sheep
push disposition) similarities
between mine fist
sized thinker, and another creep
pee totally tubular Charles Dickens
character, or maybe
even a commercial
for nano bot sized jeep
grand Cherokee keep
up a moderate clip despite,
and/or because I
oft times feel a light
buzz sensation within me quite
average gummed up noggin
jammed numb skull,
(essentially barren aged
teenage wasteland recently
undergoing gentrification),
(yeah how really) excite
ting, a no brainer fright
fully glommed with peevish
gobbledygook plus worthless,
obsolete, and crammed academic right
hand busily twiddling, scribbling,
and sloppily drafting
error riddled assignments
deliberately failing heavily
marked with bright
colors adding oomph
to mental blight
punctuated by
attaining puny height
(...oh, about seventy inches),
nonetheless, my slight
physique and mute quiet
as a mouse, I might
as well hove been a stand in
for Charlie Brown right
down to the tree eating kite
good grief - never an ending fight
with Lucy, hence now this knight
in rusty armor forever
disparaged his might
and attests to
20/20 hind sight!
Categories:
linchpin, age, conflict, destiny, fate,
Form:
Bio
"I shall be telling this with a sigh"
Robert Frost
My thoughts they roil like waters dark
in the abyss of blackest night
with memories of mother’s book marks
of Longfellow read by lamp light.
She called in the room around me
the patter of other small feet,
her gentle voice fetched angels
Oh, rhymes how they astounded me
like lullabies soft and so sweet.
All fearsome shadows, she’d dispel
Maxine, my queen read Tennyson
and the Charge of the Light Brigade
a little girl dreamt of caissons
roll and thunderous cannonades.
To be so brave the small child mused
mother’s small, precious, heroine
what would it take to stand so strong
without father, and not confused
What words where the linchpin
to right mother’s tell tale wrong.
Such sad inspiration*.. mother
but a champion you were born.
You’re adored before all others
yet, tears bring memories forlorn.
So, dreams stream on of Mother Goose
three kittens and their mittens.
My visions of your fleeting smile
return almost every night,
and your spirit comforts, lightens
sights, if only for a little while.
Categories:
linchpin, angst, caregiving, childhood, daughter,
Form:
Ode
I sparkle and
burst into flame.
The winds leave no mark
of my ashes to claim.
While losing the linchpin of my body,
resulting in vaporization,
disarray engulfs my land
until I’m decomposed from composition.
I should be unborn.
This world fills me with remorse.
Corpses over corpses honor the dead’s tears
at the tomb with no guide
in which I reside.
Dishonor leads me lost and astray,
and this world is a wasteland—
a watery death of disarray.
Categories:
linchpin, absence,
Form:
Free verse
This one is for all the ladies who give up their priorities and career for their family. For the ladies who dedicate their lives in looking after husband’s parents, her children and indeed her beloved husband.
This one is for the ladies who lag behind whilst their spouses remain updated for being on professional ground.
This one is for the ladies who avoids argument and feud to maintain happiness and ambience of her home.
This one is for the ladies, whose birthday, every member of the house forgets but with all her love, she makes their birthday a special occasion.
This one is for the ladies, who do not complain about their illness and are available to serve when ever needed.
This one is for the ladies who are asked to “look within,” when her children grow, when her husband changes his priorities, when her duties as a daughter in law are almost done!
Not only through my words but with all the respect and understanding, I shall be there for you forever.
To me it seems, I have deleted my own life.
Yet, I have no acknowledgements, no respite!
All these years through the spin,
Now, when I was expecting a win,
You have asked me to look within!
From dusk, till dawn….
I cried for being used as a pawn.
Disgrace and wounds that I have never shown,
Have probably allowed you to take the lead on!
I thank you for asking me to look with in!
I feel strong and I know I have been a linchpin.
No, I am not sinking!
Despite your blames and meaningless inklings.
Proudly, I stand glinting!
I am loving and a caring personality.
Empathised all through, despite living through brutality!
How would you, parents and kids deny my hospitality!
I am so done with the sick banality.
I am a scholar, intelligent and creative!
To keep up your vanity and superiority happily submitted to your ego trip!
Quite elucidative that I should not have been so accommodative!
I have been there, through their teens and routines.
Yes, your kids are luminous, brilliant and pristine!
I am happy that I looked within!
Sponsor: Brian Strand
Contest Name: STRAND COMPLETELY NEW(4)any theme any form
Date: 4th July; 2020
Categories:
linchpin, appreciation, confusion, encouraging, identity,
Form:
The shadow of his flight swept across the ground.
Always the vigilant hunter at twilight's time of day
No swoosh heard from the hawk's feathered wings.
This swift and silent predator never makes a sound
when soaring through shrubs and trees after prey...
lizards, snakes, small game and other furry things.
His territory, the conservation lot next to my house,
is marked with many dried and brittle skeletal bones
and guarded from his perch high atop an ancient oak.
A mated pair moved in soon after me and my spouse.
She said he's a good neighbor and calls him Mr. Jones,
who keeps our yard free of mice, a congenial bloke.
One day the pair were flying together as if in a dance
when I noticed another hawk had sights on moving in.
To defend their territory, they gave it a raucous chase.
The battle ended quickly once they took their stance.
We also protect our home from intruders. We're linchpin,
at keeping it safe because it's our chosen nesting place.
I mark my territory by trimming the hedges and lawn,
keeping watch over it with eyes as keen as the hawk.
That mailbox bears my name proving this is my land.
I own all of it where the boundary lines have been drawn.
From one end to the other, I'll not surrender where I walk.
Anyone who tries to take it will feel the wrath of my hand.
Categories:
linchpin, home, how i feel,
Form:
Rhyme
Hurdles hold the happiness - holistically enshrined
People come to pray and tend to bow,
We all search for it - everywhere, though hardly find
Searches find blind alleys; because we don't know
Some may perceive it as preconditioned;
Some may search it in the way illusioned,
Disillusioned souls find fragments in hand -
Destiny brings them to a nowhere land
Is there any heaven, where happy - all beings?
Is there any hell, where there is no good thing?
We don't have to summit somewhere to become happy
Obsessions... that we have to leave and don't be sappy
Have you seen butterflies, crying for things - any?
Have you seen lions, gathering the kills - many?
Learn to live like a beast, without any desire
Nothing in hand you came here, destined to the fire
Ask any parting soul, how beautiful was life?
Smiles... as they last express, would dissolve all your strife'
Moments, my friend, moments we live - happy or sad
Gather all these little moments; soul is nomad
Feeling as part of the whole and seeing the whole within
Is the only way to be happy; it is the linchpin
Moments, my friend, moments we all - born or die
Moments... which we can't ignore nor can defy
17.04.2017
Categories:
linchpin, happiness, imagery,
Form:
Rhyme
I gift this here...
all my days...
...all my tomorrows...
For you I make this wish...
with loves trust...only you
may borrow...
...blessed with this one kiss
all consumed...
To retrieve another day...
...to console the greatest love...
...my love my heart resumes...
...Incline to applaud my hearts desire...
this love for you will not retire...
...For you have held my love steadfast
and true...
...This love, this love, in love with you...
Categories:
linchpin, passion, love,
Form:
Light Verse
Taking into account; the Poeter's quip
Shant it be unfurled to reveal thine
Penned and newly coined path of authorship
Paying out the Poeter’s plumb line
Veering from the course
Plotting new wave points
Carting the next rhyme before the horse
Beginning each line with the next conjoint
Taking time to proceed; and dote
Forsaking time tested ways
Remaking each verse concave and connote
Breaking the norm; within this phrase
Plucking the strings of a mental violin
That one trains to adroit and therein
Making each intellectual a rational linchpin.
Categories:
linchpin, imagery, imagination, language, life,
Form:
Rhyme
Nonetheless suicidal ideations severely
whipsaw punctuate, lacerate, assassinate
frescoed fiasco failure grimly livingsocial
ah...that dull cutlery eyed with temptation
one painful thrust hemorrhaging, whereby
carpeting permanently stained blood red,
(security deposit forsaken) cremation ought
not outrageously expensive, I subsequently
chickened out imposing eternity of fire and
brimstone self condemnation, denunciation,
excoriation gently tested as serrated knife
made contact against flesh of left arm..., no
strength prevails this Father's Day 2019
beset with gravity of black hole son wracked
fiasco frescoed across psyche adrip with
bajillion pearl jammed tears aghast at blank
tabula rasa with few hashtag marks evincing
feeble effort contrasted with abundant
adventure awaiting eldest daughter agog
at countless opportunities availed since...
her birth, when she exhibited above
average intelligence made bee line high
school International Baccalaureate program
(at Lower Merion) testament, asper flying
colors one keystone linkedin destiny toward
eventual linchpin, viz IVY League University
(handsome financial aid package allotted),
plus exemplary academic job well done, now
finds blessed progeny enroute to west coast
(sharing pricey apartment with emma man hint
beau), whereat this papa overjoyed at bountiful,
delightful, faithful indomitable laudable
achievement starkly aware how bleak and
forlorn hogtied hobbled horrid mine existence
never knowing "seat of spongebob squarepants"
experience analogous to rite of passage gaining
positive result regarding electric kool aid battery
operated litmus test forging steely mettle
comprising organic entity NON GMO, nor gluten
free genetic gifted body, mind, and spirit attaining
inherent maximization allowing, enabling and
providing decades to acquire financial means
to enjoy relative versus countless squandered
prospects yours truly (me) neglected to cultivate
leaving barren an existence not worth trumpeting!
Categories:
linchpin, 12th grade, adventure, celebration,
Form:
Epic
I sat at the bottom of your
heavenly stair case,
looking at your face that
makes me abase.
Terror and fear runs down
my spine,
making it seems as if our
relationship may be twine.
My feet trembles at the
hearing of your name,
and my soul has been
sunken deep down in
shame.
Every cell in my body have
been swimming in sin,
making me to lose a
linchpin.
My soul has been cast
down to the last,
for every sinful deed i did in
the past.
If only i can go back in
time,
i will gladly erase every
done wrongs and crimes.
Because right now my soul
feel lost,
and am determined to get
it at all cost.
If only i can get one more
chance,
i will atone for all my
mischance.
Right now my whole life
has been torn apart,
and am been left with a
broken heart.
Every day i falls down on
my kneels,
and cry for the pains that i
right now feels.
Each day i keep asking
myself inside,
what i was thinking when i
left your side.
I keep streching to hold
back your loving hands,
because right now i
drowing in sin like am in a
quicksand.
I keep hoping to have you
back in my mind,
for you are the best
treasure anyone can ever
find.
I plea for the forgiveness of
all my sins,
and a chance for my soul to
be pristine.
I have choosen to walk
back in your holy path,
in order for me not to face
your wrath.
You have been so good to
me irrespective of my
iniquity,
erasing my evil deed with
your divine immunity.
I have choosen to love you
above everything that ever
existed,
and to follow you till death
even when am been
taunted.
For i finally realised that
you are the way, the truth
and the life,
whosoever that ever have
you will surely have
everlasting life.
I hope to see you smiling at
me in heaven,
for thats all what i have
been craven.
Because right now am
curious and eager,
to be with you in paradise
forever.
Categories:
linchpin, religious,
Form:
ABC
Carefully watching every word I said;
For the moment I did not want to tread
any longer on this sharp vampire’s toes;
Something new I was going to compose;
‘Fable’ I asked ‘when are we to begin? ‘
I was going to become the linchpin
of the entire city of New Orleans;
I vowed by any necessary means;
‘We will fly at the last light of Sunday.’
she replied ‘Please arrive without delay.
With me you’ll grow. I have no doubt of it,
and will quickly build a finespun skill set.’
Sink into my skin? Well she had just tried;
That desire would remain unsatisfied.
Categories:
linchpin, dark, emotions, feelings, gothic,
Form:
Sonnet
Away from tireless desk job i.e.,which obliged
swearing allegiance, fealty, loyalty within complex
edifice, where obsolete quaint rubric, schematic,
thematic mantra "We Bring Good Things to Life,"
met with gnawing, emerging, chomping
objectionable quandary. The sedentary station
exhausted, milked usurped mental energies
linkedin hinged upon the figurative linchpin
sans contractual mandates. Steady employment
obliged conferring, forsaking, invoking credo,
ethos, hierarchical jujitsu marrying obligatory
penance requisite at General Electric, (which
daily tasks borne with gravitas witness
to crunching numbers vis a vis from gifted
mathematical application, and scientific mind).
Thus decades on end, my father remained
steadfast on this straight and true decree,
whereby dad (analogously applied his
Semitic nose to the whet grindstone)
applying inherent and learned math
ematical/ scientific principles respectively.
He made excellent use of mechanical en
gineering degree (earned free of charge
at Brooklyn City College viz Veterans benefit).
Categories:
linchpin, celebration, character, creation, dad,
Form:
Elegy
Who has bewitched thee, thou noble ones?
Chosen to be the head of thy race,
to fulfill thy creator’s will,
through siring, supporting, and securing a clan.
Prophet, priest, prince, and patriarch,
How did you lose your lofty perch?
What sinister spirits conspired
to undermine your primal purpose?
You are a victim of sin’s curse.
One social scientist suggested,
You may be a biological necessity,
but likely, a social accident.
Fathers are an endangered species,
Over-harvested by hookers,
Harpooned by harsh, pointed put-downs
and exploited by negative labels.
Their absence yields a baleful harvest.
Crowded jails, and drug infested streets,
busy brothels, and blighted precincts,
confused males and macho females.
Mothers’ role is elevated,
Fathers’ role is under-rated.
Mother’s Day is celebrated,
Father’s Day is lowly rated.
Great societies honor fathers,
Dying ones demean and degrade them.
How would fathers ever stand up,
when what they hear prompts them to stand down?
It is time to heed the research,
reap the rewards, and end the scourge.
When fathers fill their God-given role,
society preserves its soul.
Fathers are the family’s linchpin
Lynch them, and make society lame,
uplift them, and make society strong.
Make fathers the theme of society’s song.
Categories:
linchpin, dad, father, father daughter,
Form:
Free verse