Best Namesake Poems
(Dedication: For Dave Wood)
Do follow feel, do simple write;
Align your flow, align your say;
Voice lines that heal, voice verse that cite;
Echo fond glow, echo fond stay.
Watch feelings surge, watch intent spur;
Opt for plain smile, opt for clear poise;
Options emerge, options recur;
Deed springs fine style, deed hurls fond voice.
Passion greets choice, passion meets peer;
Offer to cast, offer to soar;
Endow your voice, endow your cheer;
Trust first and last, trust tact and oar.
Leon Enriquez
09 mar 2014
Singapore
My grandfather's name
Was given to me at birth
To honor the man
That my father never knew
Having died in World War Two
It could never contain these things inside,
they amass so high –mountains of them
Whispers from the many who have ventured in,
now silent echoes heard till its rhythm stops
Weakness pays a visit now and then to interrupt
the day to day pulse, adding things to make it drip-drop…
I can see pain whenever I want, just peer through its scrapbook,
edge worn pictures of the many who still whisper litter the pages
Some days I have no use for it; it gets beaten so badly, unrecognizable...
I excuse it from function, I shelf it, it can serve its purpose some other day
One day soon maybe I’ll lock the doors, shut all out and purge the halls,
seek the dark corners where voices still whisper and relieve the books of its photographs
Reward those who took liberty with it with an onslaught of my own,
riding on the wings of vengeance as I send pain in search for a new home
I guess this won’t change my vital organ of flesh,
still unable to hold what it produces, none for the better I suppose
Doomed by its addiction to the matters of its namesake,
no ride of retribution can cure it, nor rash recourse redress it…
Since the Sculptor’s last bit of clay produced it –it has been strong in its beat
and pinned to the sleeve of my life, where like many it will remain precariously exposed
Shielding it will only reduce its splendor, a sun masked behind an overcast of guarded feelings….
Sealing its doors, hardens it; shelving it lends to atrophy; sending indiscriminate flames throughout its contours will cleanse love and pain alike
Let whispering voices echo its halls, and allow its library of annals to provide a refuge for pictures,
Love will have a place in it to live and to die and with both provide aging testimony of immortal words…
Written 10 December 2013 at North KAIA -Kabul, Afghanistan (North Kabul International Airport)
Little Miss Sure Shot Gains A Namesake
Rhinestones and rawhide
Prancing horses and the dream
Of the Old Wild West;
Dazzling the Old World crowd:
6 shots through a card tossed in the air,
Ash shot off the Kaiser's cigarette -
These things made the old, defeated Chief smile;
"Little Miss Sure Shot" wowed the rubes and the Crowned Heads
Alike.
Thus the spangled life of Phoebe Ann Moses,
Ohioan farmgirl,
Winner of a Thanksgiving shooting competition.
She took her gift
And rode it into History;
The common clay of her
Molded itself into myth.
As may we all,
If we find our gift -
Shaping it with faithful patience
Breathing a bit of our souls into it,
Becoming Mythic,
If only to our inner eyes.
And the myths sometimes come back around,
Wandering, unsettled spirits that they are;
To return as memories, dreams or namesakes.
Somewhere in the skies,
Riding a silver steed
The likes of which she could've never imagined,
The namesake meets a woman
Who lands him before they land,
As neat a trick as nailing
That falling, flipping card.
Her aim true as ever.
The ghost crowd roars,
The rhinestones blaze,
The old Chief smiles -
"Little Miss Sure Shot" hits her mark again!
All I know of my namesake
is a photograph
a young attractive
smiling woman
with long red hair
holding me
beside it in my mother's handwriting
"...(called after) ten days old"
Grandma says otherwise
That I am named for her sister
who had a twin
who changed her name
from Mavis to Sheila
to not have two in her class
I looked up my name
it is Gaelic in origin
meaning gentle spirit beloved one
to which I add
denied
I think I will be Mavis instead
3/11/19
What's In A Name Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Kim Rodrigues
Fancy speaks clear of charm that spills,
Use joy to niche your purpose grand;
Now dance with cheer as joy feeds fill.
Delight fond reach with riches friend,
Expand the feel of visual plots.
Please pleasure point with special fun,
Rich textures still move splendour's lot;
Observe that joint with love's long run,
Feel how time sows an estate bold;
Urge heart to face that passion wise,
Note that soul knows the take untold;
Deed time to trace zest's warm surprise,
Intent good health to stay the course,
Sense ample wealth that feeds true cause.
Leon Enriquez
29 February 2016
Singapore
Opt for a way for fun to pun,
Nice words can trace wise thoughts profound.
Live well each day with lively run,
Explore fond space upon these grounds;
Open and find true love that greets,
Now live true zest that makes things light.
Etch and align true joy most sweet,
Notice the best syncs with fine sight;
Rouse deep feelings that nurture health,
Intuit grand flow from precious poise
Quest from being the source of wealth,
Use love to show as blessings voice;
Embrace a heart that love may live,
Zest ever starts to bless and give.
Leon Enriquez
06 November 2015
Singapore
Jack Upheld His Namesake
her jack-in-the-box order arrived at her door
it was extra everything and she let out a roar
jack was quick and nimble
he added an extra pickle
when jack left he upheld his namesake and lore
connie pachecho
2/9/17
The game
Squashed his frame
Socks tainted
Carved out plain
But the road map was tame
Animals replete
With zoo keeper seed
From marsupial greed
A black out rabbit hole
Concealed the frrozen deals
Pincers chopping dollar backs
Red with collar grabs
Soapy suds and beer
The watery love endeared
To carry a child burden
For the sake of namesake
Dust off the the boot heel kickers
And fly kites with cotton pickers
Some GUY wanted to SUE me; he had a CHIP on his shoulder. Just because of a picture of ART that I DREW of a ROSE that I threw off a CLIFF in the RAYNE that landed in a BROOKE on his property. I was STEW-ed, KEN he do that? To be quite FRANK with HUGH, I think on the EVE of the court date the judge WILL CHUCK it out the window. MARK my words, the LIL RICH JACK won't ROB me. I'll speak into the MIKE, Jump with JOY... and have a fine glass of SHERRY after I send him the BILL for the court costs. I'll just turn the PAIGE and wait till DAWN and go vacation on some SANDY beach. I'll let that DICK BOB for apples.
Okay story told, Now I'll go work out at the JIM, eat some eggs with a sausage PATTIE and then go release my emotions in the JOHN
Nurture nice near
Apt ample dear
Mind profound cheer
Etch plain verse mime
Sense a deep chime
Ask joy to rhyme
Keep kindred kind
Each symbol signs
Love flavours find
Embrace your space
Opt to lift face
Note what you trace
Align pure heart
Endow fine start
Zest mellows art
Vouch placid poise
Emboss clear choice
Reap happy voice
Zeal frames crisp strokes
Wise words now yoke
Ink thoughts that poke
Zoom with good speed
Odd touch greets need
Feel code and creed
Charm styles fine say
Old yet new way
Zesty sweet play
Leon Enriquez
16 April 2018
Singapore
Apt as the feel of wise surprise,
Live lovely times where joy knows grace;
Etch a grand will in precious prize,
eXpound fond chimes with sanguine face;
Ask to be bold and brave and meek,
Now and here see the quest of light;
Dream then unfolds with truth you seek,
Etch what may be your profound flight;
Reap what you sow in flush of truth.
Choice charms the way to sculpt fine act,
Affluence you know in tact of proof;
Love floods each day to sire fond tact,
Embrace your fate with poise of voice,
Blessings fill plate with sacred choice.
Leon Enriquez
05 October 2017
Singapore
Our name is spoken carefully
Like it can break in someone's mouth
No one forgets it
No one says it without meaning
This name was not given
It was carried
Through storms
Inside the pockets of the frightened and the brave
It doesn't matter if it was mispronounced
Until the syllables bled
It doesn't matter if it feels heavier
Than the shoulders meant to bear it
This name is key
This name is a mirror
This name is a debt no one can repay
And when we sign it
Or whisper it
Or echo it from someone who knew us
The air shifts
Something remembers
Pain is not plain
Nor vain is pain,
So look again,
Wear well each pain.
Vain words can stain
Yet pain is pain,
Deep but not plain,
Live well each strain.
Yet once again
Live not in vain,
Rise with each pain,
Love truth said plain.
Vain lives not plain
In spite of gain,
For ego pains
Fall just like rain.
See beyond pain
To truth most plain,
That shows again,
Joy not in vain.
Leon Enriquez
18 May 2017
Singapore
The home nestled in the hue of the blue hills,
on the wall of my longing there hung a mirror,
opened my one way window on the wispy sky,
like a bird I spanned with the wings of youth.
In the winds of the waning time I flew away far,
at the luring end of the memory lane lighted,
the nest I had kept abandoned for a long while,
I nurtured in the fondness of a nostalgic niche.
Soaring above the strata of clouds of many skies,
reached the edge of the horizon of the spent sun,
where flow of flight stopped at the twilight hour,
the whirlwind whispered the homecoming song.
The wheel of time turned on dry dust of the past,
with the southern wind I rose, flew home joyous.
I looked into the old mirror, obscurely clouded,
saw my namesake, much younger, I’ll never forget.
September 21, 2019