Best Mapped Poems
Crowned poet,
posthumous Queen
of the private world,
you explored
every subtlety of the soul
and mapped the wonder
of existence
to its last drawn breath.
What price did you pay
deep in your alabaster chambers,
charting the course
of a nameless presence
stretched across eternity,
giving it a home
in the exquisite vessel
of your words.
Categories:
mapped, poets, tribute,
Form:
Free verse
An almost stillness came about
as she strode into my door,
like breath itself refused to move,
fearful of touching her mysterious beauty
But her obsidian eyes betrayed her.
Sharp and gleaming,
with a silver sheen
she looked at me,
and I knew…
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Molten lava spilled forth from her mouth, melting our clocks—
eighteen hundred nightmares compressed in two hours.
Long hand moving forward, as the short hand moved backward
How can memories persist in such an acrid life?
She spoke of a beast in the guise of a man,
one who ravaged innocence with the flick of a click
A coward that collected milk teeth for hardened bones
of other horny beasts with no spine
That throaty tenderness when she spoke
sprinkled crystal seeds of frustration in me
She says he loathed him, denied she loved him
but her obsidian eyes betrayed her
There she was, a bud he plucked from the nuns’ garden
He grafted then he pruned her,
spreading her pollen, wafting her scent
yet folding her petals to himself
Caterpillars feeding upon her leaves,
she lets them devour her,
yet once they are wrapped in their cocoons to sleep,
she stabs them with her thorns.
Tears then slid down from her midnight lace eyes
and it was all I could do to catch them
She said she was weary of curtailing butterflies,
of tearing their wings before they can even fly
I had to ask, how many… how many winged gems?
She lifted her sleeves, and showed me her scars
One ugly mark for each innocent child plunged deep,
my heart getting slashed at least three hundred a beat.
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A certain stillness came about
as I strode into her door,
like fear itself refused to move,
letting breath touch her mysterious beauty for the last time....
Her obsidian eyes had betrayed her.
Sharp and gleaming,
with a silver sheen
I looked at the knife beside her.
Maroon-mapped sheets, a stunted womb.
Strains of Bon Iver’s “Flume”
flit past the sighing air like a butterfly,
and I knew…
08112014
Categories:
mapped, abuse, dark, mystery,
Form:
Free verse
When all of youth flees
and even the whitest eye reddens, rheums,
words, fair words, dispel the gloom.
When hands are mapped with age and knurled,
still, they transform the page, the eye, the cage,
for where words flow, the mind goes,
to the pristine smiles and
the smooth curves which once were
yours, your cheek, your neck, your hip.
Deny me anything but the word
for it’s magic will soon be all that remains
of fleeting youth.
Categories:
mapped, devotion, friendship, hope, inspirational,
Form:
Free verse
How did a decent lady like me end up here, anyway?
The only girl aboard a ship of unsavory men.
The last thing I remember was sipping a glass of wine in a tavern.
Then, when I awoke, I was at sea,
on a vessel, and surrounded by pirates.
Shanghai'd, I think they call it.
For what purpose, I do not even want to think about.
However, I found that out rather quickly.
Then, I learned something else.
A sharp cutlass and a loaded pistol are a girl's best friend.
I am hardly the damsel in distress, for I can take care of myself.
There is one thing on board this ship
that I do not mind thinking about.
The captain, or so he calls himself.
My gaze often finds him, though his never finds me.
Only when he is giving me orders.
I have been entrusted with the helm of this vessel.
While he stares off into the waters of the Caribbean Sea.
Perhaps, planning our next heading.
The seas are strangely calm at the end of this day.
The sun is half way sunken below the horizon,
making the usual aqua-blue waters glow a golden-orange.
I stare into the dark eyes of my pirate captain,
they reflect the sunset, and shine like the gold of a doubloon.
His eyes are a lost treasure that I hope will find me.
I would trade all of the hidden treasures in the seven seas,
just for one look of those eyes.
Rubies, rare pearls, sapphires,
even gold cannot entice me more.
I leave the ship's wheel to make my way
down the wooden steps to the empty deck.
And, I ask him if he has our next route mapped out.
The captain leans against the ship's rails,
looking down as if contemplating.
He slowly turns his head,
and looks up at me with those enchanting eyes.
Then, he gives me that mischievous half-smile....
Categories:
mapped, adventure, fantasy, romantic, sea,
Form:
Free verse
I met her in the wake of night.
A tiny flake of gold,
traveling at the speed of light.
I dipped my plume, and
used her bright white on a canvas black,
mapped my way to her land.
Before I had another thought,
my heart racing,
gone this woman I sought.
On the following eve,
I returned to the blind spot
Hoping for a reprieve.
Nothing glowed not then,
not 'nother 'leven times, 'n still I tried,
but for not again
then above the silence of a scream
I heard a glow, saw a sound,
I felt a vision, a faceless dream.
It was my headless woman of yellow ore, my finely cut prism of glass,
With an inviting scent she beckoned me to taste her fast
Like a ray of sun I travelled through and to the other side I did pass.
From solid to a multicoloured arch, from half to whole,
and almost before it started, it ended,
a dark grey cloud, with lightning, thunder and soul
a lively pillow of moisture,
burst.
March 2 2016
armand
Categories:
mapped, beautiful,
Form:
Rhyme
Dedicated to my friend and fellow Souper, Jannie Breedt
Ocean-born wave rhythms rock their roll
just as motions my own soul does extol
since first we seascaped soul to soul.
From your African, violent, dust bowl
straight to my United States’ role,
joy surfs the tides making us whole.
Your expanse is constant inside my coral mind
as though our ebb and flow were cast entwined.
An ocean sees our coast lines combined.
Though our shared depths are confined,
our seawaters’ yang is surely aligned.
I sail my authentic towards your motion’s drift,
feel its sincere floatage dip down and high-lift.
Never do I rue an anchor of sea-worn shrift
turning shallow the depth of my sailed gift.
Our vibration rides the same sea of mapped calm.
You soothe my torrid zones as a salt-healing balm
might whip storms into the tranquility of a psalm.
Your grace and kindness of steady waves
fill my otherwise deep-sunken sea graves.
Bright life vests secure notes you sincerely toss afloat.
Our waters churn beyond human means of control -
they plunge and sweep as independently designed,
leaving us with merely sand’s feel to finger sift.
Yet my endless depths harbor no sinking qualm
for my intangible drownings, your tangible saves.
I am a better me with each beached, ocean note.
... CayCay
February 19, 2018
Categories:
mapped, dedication, friendship, giving, growth,
Form:
Rhyme
This happened to me twenty-two years ago. I thank God I am still alive.
I feel the ripple in my life's cycle,
impending risk that could rape my soul.
I look in the mirror, but no tears flow.
A virus cramps my shallow feelings,
an ominous glare that obscures.
The pungent smell of disinfectant
the impersonal looks of nursing aides,
the indifference of certain medics,
the fearful looks of other patients,
the smell of living death.
The surgeon comes,
examines,
prods,
feels
listens.
Like an auctioneer's hammer,
going, going, gone.
The verdict is announced,
a triple by-pass,
serious but operable.
"Don't worry, man!"
I look up at the wall
that surrounds my cell,
and see Him hung
on old worn wood.
Is it so difficult, Lord, to die?
Am I on my own in here?
Will I survive?
A tear trickles slowly down my cheek,
but now my inner self is lit.
I wake up from my stupor.
Life is a pattern,
mapped 'til our death,
but no man walks alone.
I smile,
I receive faith.
A glow illuminates my soul.
Tomorrow I may be dead,
but I am sure, Sweet Jesus,
I will survive, for meekly
I accept Your will.
Categories:
mapped, hope, how i feel,
Form:
Free verse
Live for the now
We need to embrace it
It is all part our journey
Somehow we all have a purpose
Or you would not be reading this
You were part of His plan
Just moments in time
The heartache
The joy
Live for this moment
Enjoy the awesome opportunity
Nothing else should matter
We have the now
Though nothing is guaranteed
We may have a mapped out plan
We have no crystal ball
Try and embrace it
Even when you are stressed out
Embrace the now
Let’s not worry about tomorrow
Contest: My Most Inspirational Poem
9th Place
Categories:
mapped, inspirational, life, inspirational,
Form:
Free verse
Each crescent moon rewinds time’s notes
and sweeps me back to our blessed haven
where long has stayed my peaked presence.
I would love to be back in our cozy cabin
where we grew magical feelings of happy.
All of our shared yesterday seconds
were love expressed while money distressed
and both such ways were my life’s best days.
We could barely afford a potty when on our
first anniversary you wrapped a Scottie puppy
inside an old jalopy that was red bow capped.
A car some might call shoddy mapped our
love in endless feelings of freedom's happy.
Tonight’s moon knows our fiftieth anniversary
soon comes, it poses then my life will be done
and with Scottie, you will greet me in our old jalopy.
I have long prayed to regain our embracing love
within Heaven's divine feelings of happy.
Categories:
mapped, absence, car, death, devotion,
Form:
Free verse
#68. MOON WINK
I took a trip for fun,
between the Earth and Sun,
slid quietly between,
the star sun's scarlet sheen,
from its radiant show,
and in it's earthly glow.
I cast misty shadows,
on planet's green meadows,
and people took up hands,
like stretchy rubber bands,
to greet me with great joy,
like a new kite or toy.
Metallic ships went by,
with sunbursts on the fly,
between planet and star,
I'm incredibly far,
I’m always just right here,
with the sun over there.
Your sable shades cloaked earthly eyes,
I heard the awe of your surprise,
I felt a popularity,
of power all had come to see,
I'd be like the great Houdini,
hide the sun and make it teeny.
I blocked the amber sun from view,
and cast dark shadows over you,
a coyote barked a gentle cough,
and Venus slid her blanket off,
the crickets sang, but not for long,
the Sun insisted, I was wrong.
Then out it came with dazzled light,
a Sun cracked smile of spewing fright,
a cheshire grin of searing heat,
red with anger and blind conceit,
he hid from me all Earth's creatures,
with fuzzy dim, blue-green features.
Then, I saw you'd all gone,
with the Sun turned back on,
you loud creatures all clapped,
with my next route well mapped,
for the light had returned,
and my dark magic spurned,
as the lesser soft light,
when you seek me at night.
Then you said you were done,
with your star studded fun,
with cameras and scopes,
and space colored hopes,
a quick jump to that car,
you lost me and the star.
On a soft summer night,
with gold glints of starlight,
look me full in the face,
as I beam from my place,
then, wave long as you think,
what I hid in a wink.
-Edlynn Nau
© August 25, 2017
Categories:
mapped, earth, humor, moon, relationship,
Form:
Personification
I have always known,
I was a slender
pale vein beating
in the throat of the earth
feathering at its nape,
and that I was rarely
noticed
but the hand of a god
was rested on the pulse
of me and a speck of dust
has been anointed by his hand
the Snow globe of winter
cracked open
as incandescent fingers
of light dropped through,
I knew then
this was a day
unlike any another
I was in
the thrall of madness
the last time
I felt the eyes of a god
rest on me
but now I’ve been touched
Is this the madness
of divinity
or a reality in awe?
I don’t care, anymore,
this speck of dust
has now been mapped
by the hand of a god
and in his heart
there is a place
ever waiting my return
this simple speck
has found a home in heaven
kissed by the stars
Categories:
mapped, faithgod, god,
Form:
Blank verse
(blank verse)
Not long, but clear and strong, came Dad to me.
He'd died six months ago, grief still my decree,
yet Dad's words steered me away from tragedy.
This gave me proof that death invites no fear.
Souls ebb and flow, roll like ocean's own tide.
Death must be two doors, one souls pass through,
and one love-sealed to hold humans earth bound.
When flesh life dies, one's spirit life remains
on journeys aptly mapped for souls' growth-gain.
Each soul endures umpteen human lifetimes
'til spirit consciousness shines light divine.
Now mortal senses hold the universe,
when spirit senses would spare us our worst.
In race and gender, many are fast wrapped,
yet death shakes gone both sad, human rigged facts.
Misplaced emphasis could be what ends us.
When spirit sense outweighs human nonsense,
we shall seal heavenly wrapped, peaceful traits.
Categories:
mapped, death, fear, spiritual,
Form:
Iambic Pentameter
*Image of Sailing Ship by Pixabay.
Course Of The Tradewinds
Fair winds nudge the sails, as thoughts wane the souls,
talks start out its trails, whilst the crest waves rolls,
whilst the crest waves rolls, talks start out its trails,
as thoughts wane the souls, fair winds nudge the sails.
Men and sea outlast, yet men's souls yearn home,
stubborn sea steadfast, as dreams match seafoam,
as dreams match seafoam, stubborn sea steadfast,
yet men's souls yearn home, men and sea outlast.
Work fills mindful heads, decks swabbed and nets filled,
worn bones on slept beds, rough seas make men skilled,
rough seas make men skilled, worn bones on slept beds,
decks swabbed and nets filled, work fills mindful heads.
Shout from the crow's nest sends crew on top-deck,
those upheld the quest, mapped charts kept on trek,
mapped charts kept on trek, those upheld the quest,
sends crew on top-deck, shout from the crow's nest.
2020 June 04
*1st Place*
A Brian Strand 4 or 5 line
~~Brian Strand: Judged 2021 August 05
*1st Place*
Swap The Verse
~~Joseph May: Judged 2020 June 28
Categories:
mapped, boat, men, sea,
Form:
Quatrain
Materials are arranged into an element table
As complete, clear, reasonable as possible
All they have been most ideal
So, heat balances and explosions stop off
Slowly come the wind and the sounds of
Flowing waters, birds, and people
Mixing up the fragrance with invisible
And the mechanisms set to be mysteries
As boundless and complicated as the Stella
The stars in the sky are either dim or bright
The earth is therefore successfully born
The Creator was worried a lot
Human beings acting as ignorant kids
Who may Happily dismantle their home
That's to date not actually impossible
So before went out for a tour
He crushed the mysteries of nature
And spread the pieces into people's mind
Left no one could restore it as a whole
The mechanisms still remain though
None of a piece could easily be told
To acquire knowing the essences of nature possible
Only is no one ignored and free speech restored
No matter what they say as long as they say cordially
It should have listened and carefully mapped out
Categories:
mapped, creation, mystery, nature, science,
Form:
Free verse
This life has become unbearable
Two ships passing in the night
For there is no greater loneliness
Than the loneliness of together
How two people can desecrate
Each other with such brutality
Two lives torn into tatters
Addicted as we, both to pain
It is easy to complain of suffering
To wallow in the agony
Hearts that beat so separate
Never again to beat as one
Dreamed it would be different
Not hollow, empty and dank
Not the life mapped by myself
Never thought I wanted this
There is no end to the bitterness
Those circles spin round and around
Trapped in a life so mundane
Feels there is no way out
There is still a part that hopes
Of a clear sky on a clearer day
To wrestle on with obstinance
Until I allow me to be me again
Categories:
mapped, break up,
Form:
Blank verse