Best Netted Poems
written on time’s page
with finite syllables of dust
he spelled my heritage
from earth to sky
along an umbilical line of faith
we fluttered from the lips of fingers
fully form for purpose
written on an invisible calculus
that bring monarchs where birth mark lingers
and salmons somersaulting sluice and streams
turtles, penguins, and herons white wings
netted in design with nested tabula rasa mind
I have an argument
against the beginning begotten from a bang
before atom or element
I have an argument against force and natural laws
at work without mass or embodiment
for embryonic gravity or forces weak or strong
I have an argument
that the singularity could not become more than fragment
of energy again if a single atom explode
its forces flocking away from fusion
for energy fission to explode
a theory
flimsy as spiders web
dethroning my majesty gulped
in primeval slime unlinked history from love
minimizing the particular time of our becoming on ships
that met the stagnant eyes of swampy thoughts … shuddering
in vain
the whip cracks louder than pain -
and on our black blistered backs … crumbling
soils in desertification threw some syllables skywards for mercy
starvation winds with sickle clouds of rain
they lie again ... leaving us without inheritance
for all our labors, lost, and grievance
what bang can buck the strain
and bring us broken souls to glory again?
You seduced, you stole, you exalted, you annihilated,
You elevated, you decimated, you connected, you sucked me dry,
You opened me up, you closed me down,
You delivered me to ecstasy, you devalued and discarded me,
You were sensual, you were sardonic,
You made my heart smile, you tore out my soul,
You put me on a marble pedestal, you stoned me with your vicious tongue,
You bathed my heart in liquid gold, you buried me in quick sand,
You crowned me as your princess, you burnt me at the stake,
You were my prophecy, you were my satan,
Your hands knew every inch of me,
You tore out my essence and trampled my boundaries,
You pledged unity only with me, you cheated,
You held me tightly in your arms, you suffocated the life out of me,
You cast, you hooked, you netted, you feasted,
You made every nerve ending shiver deliciously,
You became my nervous breakdown, you were my divine intervention,
You disconnected me from my higher power,
You were luminous, you illuminated, you are an illusion.
You loved and yet you didn't.
Because love is real. And you are not.
Mister Joe, poet, jangles loose change in his pocket,
Jogging memories and garnering thoughts as he walks.
For Mr. Joe's brain washes, tumbles and dries,
his gems of thoughts in hourly cycles, with riddles, jingles and rhymes.
Each wash-up, extracted, pegged, and hung up to dry,
To taunt and flap jangles for him, his readers and strangers near by.
Mister Joe's charm icons are processed, mulled over, distilled and wrung out for meaning within.
His jangles find meaning in bumps on smooth paper, read as Braille.
His jangles arise from stones skipped over calm smooth waters,
yielding meaning in the creases and ripples created.
His jangles rattle his sleep awake each night, with sky rockets of images and flashes bursting.
His jangles are a empowering, rewarding, revealing, enlightening,
and sometimes troubling and haunting, but can't be undone.
His jangles are his rhyme and reason, his friend and confidant, his mater and aether
His jangles are really what he's all about as a poet,
as a miner and peddler of ideas, and as a prophet and revealer.
Mister Joe's charms jangles the minds of his readers
His words cast nets to trawl up memories and concepts,
lured within the reader's mind with word play and twists.
Seas of dreams and memories are netted, prodded and poked
To yield twinkles, sparkles, hums, grunts, and nods of appreciation and delight.
His jangles finding meaning and echoes with links and associations, never before conceived nor considered.
Mister Joe's catch of memories once jangled, are returned to reader with care
Embellished and enthralled by meaning, relevance, word play and twists.
The reader now has new jangles to add to charm bracelet on wrist, or to jingle with loose change in pocket.
Mister Joe, the poet, and his reader, now walk and dance with jangles, jingling echoes within.
Wind, your double essence is well-known.
Whispered summer breezes you exhale;
Then suddenly you turn. You surge and wail,
Expelling rage, you bluster or you moan.
Your brute relentless nature then is shown
For you become a cyclone, Hound of Hell,
Or show yourself a monsoon, squall, or gale.
Unquelled, a devil’s wrath with dust is sown.
As you intone, we’re stricken by your power.
Whipping wind, who thrashes us below,
You’re merciless until that final hour
Your vehemence ceases. Gust, I hate you so.
You scour Earth for those who next must cower.
Two-faced tempest, most indeed you BLOW!
For the NETTED by WORDS: HER SILVERED, TENDER WEBPoetry Contest
I used the theme found in "Wheeze of a Wind" which had been entered
by Nette in another of Cyndi MacMillan's contests:
Timeless Yet Contemporary, A Sonnet Thang
Note to Nette: My sonnet cannot hold a candle to yours. I think your contemporary one was better than my traditional one; however, I hope you can feel my anger about wind in it!! I just love how you did your modern sonnet for Cyndi!! BTW, I MISS you. Where ARE you anyway???
The ink drips from the pen placing the words in a line
Cherished moments written from a moment back in time
Pondering thoughts come one by one
Placing the story from where it begun
White satin gown and a neck of pearls
Long blond hair with sparse of curls
A netted veil eyes shaded in blues
Blue flowered bouquet and fine white shoes
Vows from the heart rings of gold
Another page written on the story told
At the alter her love awaits wearing colors of the same
Gracefully walking closer to except his name
A beautiful bride playing out her day of glory
As the ink drips from the pen to tell her story
In the sudden hotness of the day
The bench beside the roses seemed set right.
We sat and talked about the flowers so gay,
and whether Love is visible to sight,
The flowers seemed more beautiful and rare
Than any flower I've dared my eyes rest on.
I welcomed them with bold yet merry stare.
Ah,all too soon bright summer will be gone.
The sun was at the apex of the sky.
We caught the moment like a netted fish.
And as we looked the broad white clouds blew by.
All we can do is wish and wish and wish,
Now back to dishes,socks and "what's for tea?"
I live so well because you so love me.
In hushed whispers, Mariners told stories,
Of a octopus like cephalopod creature;
With a tentacled beak and jet thrust power,
A creature as long as a school bus.
Scientists dismissed all this as just myth,
But they did admit that there may be;
Giant creatures roaming the dark, deep oceans,
However in 2007 one was netted.
The New Zealand trawler San Aspiring,
Fishing in the Ross Sea of Antarctica;
Netted something, 34 feet long, 1000 pounds,
A giant monster, it was a colossal squid.
But more amazing was that this female,
Was considered a comparative midget;
Colossal Squids can grown to 46 feet long,
They are the largest creatures on Earth.
Having the biggest eyes of any other animal,
The size of basketballs with huge pupils;
Also, it is said that they are highly aggressive,
Even attacking predators like Sperm Whales.
Gouges and battle scars on whales, unexplained,
The gigantic female, in a lab somewhere, frozen.
______________________
August 21, 2015
Verse
For the contest, Giant Animals
Honorable Mention
"Valentine Fatale"
Pull the violin
strings
from the heart
like a corset undone
there the softest rose,
blood red plucked,
the thorns played
and petals cast
as kitty discard
from the breast
of a Valentine fatale
voluptuously falling
into the open arms
of Love, spilling
over into romance
like a broken dam
ripely held in the
bow of cupid smile
passion full
drawn into
the delectable swim
twirling swirling down
into the warm velvet
like moss, so green
against reflective
sapphire pools,
the dangerous sea seen
like an inviting ocean to kiss,
in such vastness taken,
the lost fast falling
thick panting eyes
mirroring each other
in the dance,
like a waltz Viennese
Love, spilling over,
like a broken dam
fallen, then,
pulled back
into the catch,
netted and tangled up
in the ropes of
Rubenesque romance,
eye to eye
hand to hand,
a burning flame
ripely held in the
bow of cupid smiles,
incandescent
fiery twin arrows,
the well lit,
seduction
(LadyLabyrinth/2023)
Flood waters gushed in
From all sides roaring dreadfully!
Only sinking heads of water reeds,
And a few hut roofs could be seen,
That too remained shedding tears;
As the dark cloud-mountain burst.
Mango trees lost arms, some shoulders,
Coconuts perched on its strong boughs;
The mighty survivors of all seasons.
Snails, Frogs, Snakes and gnats,
Ants, bugs, Lizards, spiders,
Set out their conventional exodus!
King Fisher and Woodpecker found
Abode in hollow jack fruit tree!
Poor and feeble mass, hunger-stricken,
Assembled by the wet school floor,
Waiting for the next charity food-serve;
Hot porridge and wild-roots boiled.
Burning chilly dish would add heat
On their ice-cold tongues.
Mothers had their saved rags in lap
With their tender ones mewling in,
Their ribs netted with wrinkled skin.
Fathers looked at the skies and winds,
Returned to the old wooden benches,
Cursing their fate, while the slant drops,
Pierced on swollen flood-waves.
A blind fight of ripples large and small
Left yellow froth wear a taunting smile!
They could not hide the dismay of
An impending disaster, that would
Shatter their small dreams
Into many a chips, beyond bonding.
Stars got blind by the broken clouds
Ascended from the verge of horizon.
Nocturnal chorus of legendary frogs
And of beetles added awe and gloom.
Some slept with open eyes and sense,
As they knew how dreadful the water
Might turn in the monstrous night,
Sweeping off every trace of existence!
ESTIMATING NINE MONTHS FROM ESKIMO KISSES
TUNDRA tunics
tendered,
holding hot
homeothermic
sentient swaddling,
stirred with
warm waves of
cocoa cresting charm,
bathed in barometric
swoon.
sweetheart neckline
netted nefariously
close -
charm capitulated.
frowns forever forlorn,
as aromatics allure —
cologne colonization,
fever-pitch
of friendship,
not so subtly
sensuous —
harbored hashtag,
blue breath
below freezing —
frenetic, freeing
OF ovulating applause.
12/4/2017
I went ghetto gold .......
I was told that when I flip this,
I'm come sicker than syphilis,
My verses come in 3's like triplets,
I drop ebonic type scriptures,
That keep your eardrumbs numb,
when my psalms roll off my tongue,
my adversaries hide & run,
as the oxygen escapes from my lungs,
I lace my poetic sermons with codeine
the mo' feinds means the mo' green I separate,
I'm a cheese head like in Green Bay
so I stay in a chedda' state[money state],
of mind frame & 1 of my prophecies,
I will rise at a high velocity,
and my thoughts'll be,
sprinkled[spoken ] far from sloppily,
when my voice is transmitted,
the pathetic get netted & shredded,
by my unsweetened poetic antidotes
see i'm sugarfree like diabetics,
Strong Faith,Family&Love's a good trinity,
and my deliveries,
during my performances or soliloquies,
will let all know this should be,
broadcasted throughout history,
I'm the vocabulary minister,
If your poetry soul's empty I'll replenish ya',
and when I'm finished
I'll stamp your inner thoughts
with the Rhyme Pedllaz signature,
And my mouthpiece unleashes verbal hand grenades,
from the block to the stage,
and the weak gets quarantined
when I deliver 1 of my spoken word plagues,
You can wipe your ears off now.
Dear Friends , Last year end , while reading about the Red Indian Tribes of America , I got
inspired to write this simple poem about the
Dream Catcher ! Hope you like it .
THE DREAM CATCHER : A RED INDIAN LEGEND !
(I)
The continent of North America during those
ancient times ,
Were inhabited by various Red Indian tribes .
The Delawares , the Mohawks , the Choctaws ,
The Dacotahs , the Omahas , the Blackeet ,
The Camanches , the Ojibways and the Apaches !
They inhabited the forest , the prairies , the marsh
lands ,
The great lakes , the mountains and the fen-lands !
They lived close to nature and honored their Gods ,
With the spirit of Nature all thing were fraught !
If we recall the story of MacKenna’s Gold ,
The ‘Shaking Rock’ and ‘Canyon del Oro’ ;
Of human greed - breeding death and sorrow !
Which in celluloid has often been told ,
None could take away that Apache gold !
( II )
Today I narrate a legend of the Chippawa tribe ,
Of their ‘magical net’ for a peaceful night !
An old medicine man of this tribe ,
Wove a magical net with gossamer strings ,
To catch the dreams as they float by !
He hung this net above the bed up high , -
To catch the dreams as they float by !
This wondrous net trapped all bad dreams ,
Letting the good ones pass through its netted
seams !
And as the bad dreams got entangled in the net ,
The good ones descended upon the sleeping bed !
So should you come across this magical net ,
Never argue about its price , -
Just buy the one of your bed size !
Then hang the net high above your bed ,
For there is nothing to be afraid !
Since dreams shall never ever cease ,
Have sweet dreams always , with a good
night’s sleep !
-Raj Nandy
New Delhi
Sage Saga Of A Home On A Hill
Having drank from the sun at meridian,
The moon drunk with the light
Of reflection, always dissipated dreaded darkness
Seeking to veil the Hill—Raised bump
Of nature’s glowing face;
This swollen womb of nature nourishing beginnings
Of generations plodding centuries wounded
With trials and tribulations—Grand Canyon invisible walls
Mocking the abyss of Middle Passage ocean depths
Carpeted with ivory bone trees rattled by circadian waves
Splashing stilled sandy sea shore stones sunken in time.
Beginnings begin with the eruption of sunlight;
Rays flowing lava-like to chloroplast genes
Of generations of quantum leaping Greens
Synthesizing seminal spirits spewing
Audacious faith—audacious faith blooming
Mushroom cloud determination rising
As a risen national family tree;
Branches thrusting tentacles forever upward.
Streaming through, flows a river Brazos
Whose residents often crawled, netted and hooked
Their way to the Hill—accepting all aching
To give or receive freely—nourishment.
A gumbo gathering of love supreme;
Charged sable soul soars—sailing
Pillow puffed verandah skies;
Stoking old horizons—searching
Mountain top promise land dreams.
Where I have been I have just begun to go;
Returning to the beginning—
To tap the toasted roots anchoring the journey’s
Design—etched beneath the shade of limbs
Of an ancient Chinaberry tree
Looking out over the Hill—
Shadowing shelled street that oysters built.
The senior poem now resonate an ebony perspective:
“…It’s sweet to dream of Venice…It’s great to think of Rome…
But when it comes to living…There’s no place like home…
So it’s home again and home again for me…”
My Hill—My home…My family tree. Here I grew; here I be.
Grandma's misty blue eyes sparkled
A small smile lingered on her tiny soft lips
When I seated on her sapphire blue satin bed
Her powdery blue boudoir always wove magic
Like snow and sky romancing behind netted curtains
My decade old eyes were arrested by
Her sapphire glittering on her finger
It seemed nothing less a robin's blue egg
Her dainty fingers in slow motion
Clicked her casket open like abracadabra.
My excited spirits surged with her treasures
Was sure they must have been
Stolen from Aladdin's cave
She clasped her dozens of stringed solitaires
Like lighted stars around my blue veined neck
Her matching tiara on my head was pinned
She slowly took off her solid turquoise ocean
From her finger and kept it in my hands
She kissed me whispering it was mine
But I would have to grow up first
We shared many beautiful days
Slowly granny was becoming weaker
Dreams turned into nightmares
My granny was not responding
The whole large family laid her to rest
Granny and her world of treasures
Vanished into the blue
January 13, 2016
Contest: Into The Blue
Sponsor: Anthony Slausen
Before the dark obscures the sky,
I sat gloomily looking out of the window, wondering why
wishing one of the stars tonight will glide and send you smiles
right here in my heart: a feeling that cannot deny
creeping worries and gloom-----sinking to the bones
of my fear, I close my eyes, hope and pray. Here,
my heart trembles, fear of the unknown
ghost of formidable weather in the origin, and what
a pal humbly does, not to close the jar
spills the ink, not to count the molecules on air
if possible, pull down all the stars above
all in her wish you’re at best right where you are.
More thoughts of you, in succession comes
lighting the pent-torch in search of love ones
my echoes traverse, emotion balances: still,
the fleck spreads out and runs in a glut
sacred novena uncontrollably flooded since the start
my ranging gloom. However, excitement of our plans await
scribbling countless words….I wish my break swiftly comes on its wings
ink profusely flows releasing conglomerations of feelings
outpouring all the words from a pal’s warmest embrace
dream once dreamt printed on my hymn: the pledge
and the joys how we shared once through pen
light and happiness: worries no more
The power of ink, words unfold surge and drifts away as
my fingers open a glint of hope, I’m waiting
Jan. 21, 2012
Nette, my dear poet friend and very talented kababayan come back home now, please. This poem which I hardly tried to write with the inspiration of one of your super winning poems is not primarily for the contest; (‘though I’m entering it) but, for me to send all my warmest thoughts of you. We’re missing you now here on soup. I hope you're doing well and hope to see you soon.
Third Place
Contest: Netted by Words: Her Silvered, Tender Web
Judged: 2/19/2013
Sponsor: Poet Cyndi Macmillan