Best Measures Poems
October blows a symphony of sighs
with blustry gusts that presage winter's bleak
arrival as I shuffle through the park,
kaleidoscope of leaves a welcome prize.
Swings unswung on, roundabouts without
the rush of children stutter to a halt.
October blood suffuses to the hilt
my heavy heart, and calms a soul in doubt.
Images, bright images that have no
need of language, the pictures tell the tale,
a gang of schoolboys, picnic-packed, hale
and hearty, hoping for a hint of snow,
their teacher, raven-black, with no command.
Oaks stand guard, ramrod-straight like sentries,
rhododendrons, strong and sprawling bushes,
a place to smoke illicit contraband!
The dial at sunlight's pleasure points to time,
the weather vane makes plain the wind's direction,
no need of clock or any vain contraption
to guage the day, its reason or its rhyme.
The stillness of the morning and the day-glow,
and meadow grasses blessing me with softness,
the rippled waters thrilling me with sweetness,
what other measures do I need to know?
October blows a symphony of sighs,
of spells and incantations for the wise,
who, weather-worn and beaten, seek the skies
or haunt the woodlands for a siren's eyes;
for nature is the most compelling teacher,
companion to my father and my mother,
she cavils, then is kind, just like a brother,
and binds our earthly tapestry together.
Categories:
measures, nature, me,
Form:
Verse
...inspired by 'Especially When The October Wind' by Dylan Thomas
October blows a symphony of sighs
with blustry gusts that presage winter's bleak
arrival as I shuffle through the park,
kaleidoscope of leaves a welcome prize.
Swings unswung on, roundabouts without
the rush of children stutter to a halt.
October blood suffuses to the hilt
my heavy heart, and calms a soul in doubt.
Images, bright images that have no
need of language, the pictures tell the tale,
a gang of schoolboys, picnic-packed, hale
and hearty, hoping for a hint of snow,
their teacher, raven-black, with no command.
Oaks stand guard, ramrod-straight like sentries,
rhododendrons, strong and sprawling bushes,
a place to smoke illicit contraband!
The dial at sunlight's pleasure points to time,
the weather vane makes plain the wind's direction,
no need of clock or any vain contraption
to guage the day, its reason or its rhyme.
The stillness of the morning and the day-glow,
and meadow grasses blessing me with softness,
the rippled waters thrilling me with sweetness,
what other measures do I need to know?
October blows a symphony of sighs,
of spells and incantations for the wise,
who, weather-worn and beaten, seek the skies
or haunt the woodlands for a siren's eyes;
for nature is the most compelling teacher,
companion to my father and my mother,
she cavils, then is kind, just like a brother,
and binds our earthly tapestry together.
Categories:
measures, on writing and words,
Form:
Verse
I am tired of the denial
Refusal to face the facts
Not learning from doctor’s reports
Not listening, so that we can plan
What is happening is unfolding,
All around us every day
No matter how it’s minimized,
The virus will have its say
Truth will emerge beyond,
Anyone’s trying to control…
What others believe right now
It is a time to work together
Not a time for carelessness,
Or accusations against truth tellers
It is a time to appreciate the gift of life
Treat it with conscious, gentle gestures
A time to adapt for safety measures
Heidi Sands
3/8/20
Categories:
measures, health, truth,
Form:
Free verse
October blows a symphony of sighs
with blustry gusts that presage winter's bleak
arrival as I shuffle through the park,
kaleidoscope of leaves a welcome prize.
Swings unswung on, roundabouts without
the rush of children stutter to a halt.
October blood suffuses to the hilt
my heavy heart, and calms a soul in doubt.
Images, bright images that have no
need of language, the pictures tell the tale,
a gang of schoolboys, picnic-packed, hale
and hearty, hoping for a hint of snow,
their teacher, raven-black, with no command.
Oaks stand guard, ramrod-straight like sentries,
rhododendrons, strong and sprawling bushes,
a place to smoke illicit contraband.
The dial at sunlight's pleasure points to time,
the weather vane makes plain the wind's direction,
no need of clock or any vain contraption
to gauge the day, its reason or its rhyme.
The stillness of the morning and the day-glow,
and meadow grasses blessing me with softness,
the rippled waters thrilling me with sweetness,
what other measures do I need to know?
October blows a symphony of sighs,
of spells and incantations for the wise,
who, weather-worn and beaten, seek the skies
or haunt the woodlands for a siren's eyes,
for nature is the most compelling teacher,
companion to my father and my mother,
she cavils, then is kind, just like a brother,
and binds our earthly tapestry together.
Categories:
measures, writing,
Form:
Verse
Wild garlic flowers encompassed
her youthful, porcelaneous
neck as she slumbered in her bed.
Two silver crucifix bracelets
securely fastened to both wrists.
Her rhythmic inspirations heaved
the cleavage between her breasts
that deepened on exhalation.
He stood at the foot of the bed
red eyes peering from dark sockets
on a deathly pale, bat-like face.
A sneer revealed behind blood-red
lips two sharp conical canines
that were rendered useless this night.
Happy Halloween!
Categories:
measures, holiday,
Form:
Verse
Lines are drawn and measures made by different definitions
Kilometers or miles or feet, or inches just to name a few
As long as the results the same, it really doesn't meter
Bob Quigley
Written for "On Your Feet" contest
Categories:
measures, philosophy,
Form:
Sijo
God is the law over the nature of the Universe.
God's order of things is great and diverse.
God is timeless in his sense of being.
God is not of the temporal succession of existence in his laws of decreeing.
God's measurement of time is perfect in his creations.
God's force is in the fullness of divine interpretation.
God created a fine tune in physicists of energy and spiritual continuity.
God's amazing ingenuity.
God's creations are the reflection of his Glory.
The wonderment of his handiwork tells his story.
Categories:
measures, religious,
Form:
Rhyme
out of germany an anti christ came
soon after WWI hitler was his name
he made a lot of speaches
and he wrote a book
but it was the rage of the people
where the world would not look
and comming out of the land
they say with seven hills
comes another anti christ
with germanys help to build
asterity measurse to fuel the fire
greece is looking for an anti christ to hire
Categories:
measures, history, introspection, natural disasters,
Form:
By This Hope My Spirit Often Measures
Pain and sorrow I need never borrow,
for Fate too often looks darkly my way.
I live today, knowing worse tomorrow,
may find me enduring a dreaded day.
Sun may rise but my lot crashes deeper,
as calamity grabs at my hurt soul.
If worse, I just may become a weeper,
and blackness reap its darkest, scary toll.
Pain and sorrow, I need no such bad friends.
This life may yet bring me far more treasures,
with sweet fruitful years before it dare ends.
By this hope, my spirit often measures!
Sun may rise, granting me sunshine so sweet,
my heart sings out in joy, not in defeat!
Robert J. Lindley, 3-15 2016
Syllables Per Line:
10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10
Total # Syllables: 140
Total # Lines: 17 (Including empty lines)
Words with (syllables) counted programmatically:
Total # Words: 108
Note: Back half of our home flooded Friday, from ten inches of rain in less that a day.
Four days of ripping out , cleaning and now drying.
No use in crying.
So I write a sonnet to mark this day and a better future that my life may find.
Categories:
measures, dark, loss, places, rain,
Form:
Sonnet
Sometimes you have to take drastic measures.
Sometimes you have to say hard words
to get the point across,
to save love,
to save the world,
to avoid the loss.
Sometimes fear is the mirror of the hot blood that flows
in a bulging vein,
in a throbbing brain,
in the black hearts that reign.
Sometimes you have to look,
have to see,
have to realize the dangers to you and to me,
to save the birds, the air and the trees,
to be free to drink, to eat and to breathe.
You have to face the monsters.
You have to fight the kings.
You have to expose the truth
that money spent on weapons brings.
By: Carole O'Terry Duet
Copyright: 1985
"All Rights Reserved"
Categories:
measures, earth, political, pollution, war,
Form:
Rhyme
grim measures for similar states
successful, expressed for reliable mobs
of absolutism, a gallery for Maghreb’s
intellectuals with frail aims
infringing mourning words, words of familiarity saved
for mobile polities, throbs
life, mummified and buried bodies and robes
of rebels recalling shades
edging, forming better incestuous ties and ordeals
lying bare, conjoined with flashy movements
of isolation, optional signs
distorted senses, resolving identities
of sepulchers, not salvaged forever, endorsements
of decadence agitated condign
Categories:
measures, allegory, allusion, creation, dedication,
Form:
Sonnet
Before The Blacktop Ends
David J Walker
The world wends
And extends
A mile or two before
The blacktop ends
It ends in dust
It ends in rust
Transcends the trust of
Casuistic treasures
It measures miles
It humors trials
And tempers time
And fills the files
With pleasures
Only pleasures
And clings to things
Familiar
Before the blacktop ends
Categories:
measures, allegory, death, life,
Form:
Rhyme
Magazine Madame measures mammoth mackerels
Manipulating measurements, marking misguided memos
Momentous mistakes moves and muffles meager mackerels
Manufactured mutilated memo mystifies many, milking money
Magazine magistrate Marine Morey measures mackerels
Making meticulous memories, mimicking Magazine Madame
Categories:
measures, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Alliteration
Exceptional times require exceptional measures
In our everyday lives we experience this truth
Times of stress, or, in rare incidence for pleasures
A challenge from our peers sparking curiosity,
Provoking us to engage in the most insane ruse
Wisdom shows itself in most annoying paucity
Comes the time when we eschew such rashness
But, in youth, almost every adventure is novel,
So, we entertain ourselves in unabating brashness
And exceptional times are replaced by maturity
Having experienced almost everything before
Comes the time when exceptional measures bore.
Written May 2, 2022
Categories:
measures, growth, life, perspective,
Form:
Rhyme
Freedom in infinite latitude of grace
Answering questions life cannot face
Inspiring a victor's heart in salvation's race
Templed in the love of Christ, the joy to taste
Heaven as bread, and earn it as place.
ii
Measure to me all
The landscape of broken will
Indwell finite space
To endure the night
In raptures claiming presence
Of eternal day
Passing through darkness
With soul untainted, flawed light
Imaging glory
I hold with hands firm
Beyond the brim of eyes span
The great coming, here!
I behold in grime
Figures of hate, bruised and bare
Loving enemies
Earth is illusion
The kingdom is veiled by love
Absent from the heart
O Master, bless me
When night has no moon or stars
To walk in this light
To soar above fear
Treat a pauper like a prince
And sing to the cross
What I see transforms
Daylight is a prayer new
Night a song of praise
It is a gift rare
For opened hearts, and bowed wills
And love of the king.
In pain there is joy
If love's purpose tells sweet gain
So still I remain.
Categories:
measures, faith, prayer, love,
Form:
Senryu