Best Mantled Poems
Cherokee chamber,
where a pow wow stampeedes preconceptions of inheritence,
from Her beaded neck charms of chance & chains of change
glisten from opulent offerings of roots, corn & lavender ablaze
on an alter of unworked stone mantled with skins strong beasts knew,
She is a " Stomp Dance " Queen with an owl as a friend and a spider as assassin,
with rattlesnake ribbons around Her wrists and prayers in Her braids thick with traditions,
the walls of Her teepee painted with the pigments of buffalo blood & sunflower pollen,
portraying a history hewn from customs known to Spirits and men alike,
the " Stomp Dance " Queen speaks for Her People and sings from the stars,
I found this Tribe, not in Appalacia nor on a prarrie stage but in the smoke of ceremony,
the Cherokee Princess has rattlesnake teeth tied to Her thigh & turtle shells upon Her hips,
She played the rabbit on the scene, then the wolf, if you know what I mean,
celebrated by the warriors as a tomahawk maker,
praised by the medicine men for Her Visions,
and feared by the Elders because of wrath that may follow Her steps,
the " Stomp Dance " Queen is a Princess, She is a Cherokee with a song Her own -
J.A.B.
Categories:
mantled, native american, dance, for
Form:
Romanticism
My Childhood Home
My lovely childhood home, I miss it so...
built Eighteen Eighty-Six, so long ago.
Three floors, all rooms with mantled fireplaces;
carved woodwork, archways, spindled winding stair;
cathedral ceilings, sparkling chandelier
in dining room enjoyed on holidays.
Third floor not used but built with parkay floors
and doors that opened to small balconies.
Off the front door, a porch wrapped 'round two sides...
was like a fairy tale when I was young.
Such lovely grounds; garage with two horse stalls
and covered sleigh with velvet seats of red.
White gravel paths with gardens either side;
the rolling lawn, majestic tall pine trees
and rippling stony brook below the hill.
My childhood home fulfilled my childhood dreams–
so happy there with my dear family.
Until I married, it was home to me.
And since home now is not too far from it–
I often pass the site of my old house.
On left, before I pass under the bridge
that sprawls across the Hudson River now–
the empty view brings sadness to my heart.
To build that bridge they tore my old home down–
the only house to make this sacrifice–
The vision of my childhood home is gone.
As I ride by I feel them wave to me...
the ghosts of past, and my dear family.
Sandra M. Haight
~1st Place~
Premiere Contest: Enchanted House
Sponsor: Nayda Ivette Negron
Judged: 05/23/2016
~1st Place~
Contest: A Child's First Home
Sponsor: Verlena S. Walker
Judged: 10/17/2015
Note: Newburgh-Beacon Bridge was completed and opened in November 1963
New York State claimed our home via eminent domain and purchased it in 1960
Categories:
mantled, childhood, home,
Form:
Blank verse
I was drawn to her in temporal depth of night,
glancing her way in beams of harvested light
But in mourning her, I wept behind shrouds,
concealed by a hovering bank of sullen clouds
She'd danced for me in a green ruffled gown
Her supple skin changed to russet then brown
How she teased me from the height of her haven
So fetching, she'd aroused the caw of a raven.
Though love was too brief, merely one season,
my ageless vision had been ripened by reason
I watched as she fell prey to a merciless wind
and cursed it in anger as though it had sinned
I'd flail the slayer of my adored one's demise
but I can't bridle the wind, racing through skies
She was stolen from me by another's touch
Stripped from limb and held captive in his clutch
I cried softly when night finally faded away,
forfeited my will and the power to hold sway
My tears mingled with each crystalline snowflake
Stars never knew the breadth of my heartache
A fleecy white blanket has mantled her tree
I'll imagine she's there sleeping, thinking of me
And when in Spring she awakens once more,
from aloft I'll beam at her, rekindling our rapport
Categories:
mantled, lost love, moon,
Form:
Elegy
Quiet is the night, laid blight amid this infernal necropolis
Loosely mantled soil, smother marrow of perished veneration
Yet windows still aflame, a dormant witness to troth thirst
Cold and stiff, until a shift, unearthed
Categories:
mantled, death, fantasy, grave, imagery,
Form:
Epyllion
I, griot, of the Hamitic shrine
I, oracle of the orisha's ebon throne
I, child, of Melchizedek line
I, olive tree in a desert sown
Mantled in the robe of his grace
Amid cherubic beasts all four
Upon golden ground bend my face
And felt his spirit in my core
I, messenger, I, human
I, frightened, shivering thing
I, the image sculpted in his hand
I, with longing for eagle's wing
Voice of the voiceless let me speak
Faith of the discourage, here, I kneel
Ragged in sins and broken weak
And still your anvil on me I feel
Categories:
mantled, faithlonging, me,
Form:
Verse
By Rachel Heffington
The dusk is like a bridal maid:
The rose is mantled on her cheek,
A single shimmering diamond-star
Clings to her hair so dark and sleek.
Her skirt of azure gently rests
Within her modest golden hand;
Her veil of quiet darkness flows
After her hem has swept the land.
Categories:
mantled, imagination, nature
Form:
Soft skies of blue and ivory
Circling the planet of light and ebony
Colored eyes enthralled by the cold of the night
Waving lightning mantled by fright
Winds embracing acquiescent bodies so bleak
Unshielded pillars of the strong, not weak
Grounds bracing the faithful with might
Bounds of serenity awaits so light
From His numen all wonders come in piece
Bodies and souls live and die with peace!
Categories:
mantled, faith, life, light, seasons,
Form:
Imagism
The Mountain
Iconic
white peak floats
over the region from Seattle to
Tacoma. Seen easily on clear sunny
days, natures heavily glacially mantled
edifice inspires us to reach great heights, as
we stand in awe of this beautiful sleeping volcanic strato
giant that we have called Rainier, also known earlier as Tahoma.
Written 07/09/2015
Categories:
mantled, beautiful, beauty, fear, inspirational,
Form:
Concrete
Crafty, conniving, sly and stately,
I am associated with dead and lost souls,
An ominous bird of yore spawning myths and legends,
A messenger of deities in the mortal world,
I am a wily mediator between life and death--
Dreaded but revered nonetheless!
I showed Cain how to bury his murdered brother, Abel,
Perched on the shoulder of the god, Odin,
A royal resident of the Tower of London,
I hobnob with sorcerers and saints
with monarchs and mendicants;
With beady eyes and lustrous ebony plumage
I am mantled in a grave aura of foreboding.
Take heed when I fly across your path,
Perched just above his chamber door
I made Poe fella famous evermore!
Raven=magic, shape-shifting, creation.
"Picture yourself as a Bird" contest by Andrea Dietrich
Categories:
mantled, bird,
Form:
Personification
The afternoon clouds came floating by, rolled over the hills, and fleeting streaks of orange hues flashed the sky. Incense-colored wisps of wind mantled the earth. Like a dream, the flowers withered and faded.
A passing shadow --
It was over after
A breath and a sigh.
She sat at the old Victorian bench, an engraved sight this early evening. There was nothing out there but gloom. The night sky veiled her garden blooms. The light was absent and colors cannot be sensed. Yet, her face was all aglow, enraptured with awe.
Courage --
In the bosom of love
There is no fear.
She sighed to the evening sky, asked it of his thoughts, and to breathe on her flowers. She wanted to feel colorful evocations in her soul. She surveyed the black earth and a garden with a mind of its own sprung up to life. It swarmed with smiling blooms, roses, dahlias, hyacinths, and wild flowers. Explosions of colors with a memorial scent that holds no secret that it loves.
The dead lover's scent --
A tomb of ancient blooms
That never fades.
- maria 3.8.16
Categories:
mantled, courage, love, memory, nature,
Form:
Haibun
Have you ever seen a talking Lunar Moon
Wrapped in a sarcenet heart-gold cocoon
Floating in the night sky like a balloon
Breathing the fire like the dance of typhoon?
She is...
An Angel mizzled from Heaven with snow flurry !
An isolated crimson rose that typify axenic glory !
An elegant ruby-red macaw mantled in alluring jewellery !
An olive sunrise in midnight that wreaks luxury !
An epic living legend that trembles the mystery !
Despite the blood that failed to bind this relation
and the religion that blasting a firm objection
She is my sister and thats my final decision
and I can't express this relation with diction
Categories:
mantled, love, sister
Form:
Romanticism
It might as well be another late afternoon
when new moon rises, bathed in honeydew
and gleaming with soft weariness: above,
mantled clouds bleach the lanes with first tinges
of blue-gray light, while figure sways pouring tea
and mint cheese on park benches, whistling
strains of linear intervals…intervals where violin
tones tap the breeze for some hint of mellow
hush. This sense of accepting what weighs
or buoys the tracks of soothing energy
pushes feet to circle among tumbleweeds,
ready to sink into hours of a genial night:
Like so, throats wheeze the vowels of tender
tunes brushing refrains of charity for some
sprig of warm comfort: after all, how can
a bursting sun account for the speed of fingers
clutching nicks of time mortal in workrooms,
racing barbed rails of hours hours lashed by
the 9 to 6 office grind… and to drop, drift,
dry off the weary body crackling stiff bones …
it’s about time for half-closed eyes to rest
from a dazed world demanding submission;
That is why heaven fashioned nightfall misty.
.............................
Piece De Resistance Contest
Written 5/14/2018 Re-entered 7/18/2018
Categories:
mantled, recovery from, work,
Form:
Light Verse
No breath of air to ease my heart,
No reason found to be a part,
The time has come to close my eyes
As my soul goes where the raven flies.
Outstretched I feel my fingernails
Join with dark wings on feathered trails
To touch the breath that took my sighs
As my soul goes where the raven flies.
All vision seen through eyes of black
For a moment I can’t go back
My desire to reach the winter skies
As my soul goes where the raven flies.
Mantled wings lower me to ground
In darkness hearing ev’ry sound,
I’ve left behind the mortal ties
As my soul goes where the raven flies.
Ascending to the greater height
The truth found where darkness meets light
My doubting voice no more denies
As my soul goes where the raven flies.
Form: Roundelay
Categories:
mantled, faith,
Form:
Rhyme
O Raven perched atop the willow tree,
A guardian of all that he can see.
His grating call to summon the twilight,
And brings us safely to our rest tonight.
O Raven soaring on your wings of black,
Always onward and never looking back.
Carrion hunter searching through the sky,
He takes my soul to where’re he doth fly.
It is the world of Man that holds me down,
Yet my soul is graced with his mantled gown.
Form: Sonnetina Due
Categories:
mantled, animals, faith, nature, religion,
Form:
Verse
A pharmacon was not be, God saw you confiscating drowsy
He mantled him in his loving arms and whispered come with me
The Family has minus one gentle fervor and heaven one angel more
Fathomless in my heart your memory is kept of one i admired and shall never obliterate
Oh! The duress of life; death which has taken you away and impeded me to see you no more
And has made a veracious soul at composure
You fell asleep without goodbye but memories of you will always stay
Thank you for the foothold, care and love
I will miss you!
Categories:
mantled, absence,
Form:
Elegy