Best Niches Poems
Captive damsel of creative-writing programs,
Personalized, eulogized job of small groups,
The frenetic activities handy to very few,
Poetry now belongs to a subculture hew.
We have accredited professional poets,
Creative writing teachers at all levels,
Composing computer- created poetry,
Creating illusion of the Golden Age artistry.
These professional poets have secured
Their own niches in the academic world,
They cry over the spilt milk like jackals
Snarling over a dried-up well with no aims.
Quantitative work is guaranteed success,
Accuracy, meaning, technique matters less.
=================================
Fourth place winner
Contest: Poetry for poetry's sake of Paula Swanson
Quo Vadis is a Latin phrase meaning "Where going"
Categories:
niches, satire,
Form:
Sonnet
Dedicated to my Friend, Andrea Dietrich
A blessing meant to materialize is how I define Andrea’s role in my life. Andrea is a bright light of warmth that I began to seek more and more as our personalities seamlessly bonded in fulfilling and meaningful ways. While we share the same continent, thousands of miles separate us that will eventually be conquered by the powers of friendship. I have told the universe that I insist on such! I will admit a slight fear; Andrea has an abundance of energy whereas I’m a napper who might fall face down trying to keep up with her. To me, Andrea is goodness personified. She has the heart of a caring teacher as I’ve learned when I’m baffled about Soup matters or other, for she instructs without even being asked. My friend is consistent, reliable, organized, committed to people and things she cares about. Andrea can be much too hard on herself for she is a perfectionist. As a writer, she is a talent whose well of creativity has no bottom but an endless stream of imagination that blesses everyone who reads her. In many ways, Andrea has an innocence that I find difficult to verbally discern though I am keenly aware of it and delightfully refreshed by it. In a world of business and family schedules and demands, I greatly admire Andrea for carving out niches where her individuality is nurtured and sated; she knows who she is. She is a genuine, individuated individual who truly seizes each day in her best grasp to live with her best effort. I love her very much.
she's always been good
i have colored outside lines ~
we bonded as friends
Categories:
niches, blessing, care, fate, friendship,
Form:
Haibun
There’s a sense in which all life is scum on this earth
(without God as creator), life here (more debris
that just floats on the surface of things, that evolves
to fill niches that former life spawns) has no worth
in itself, demonstrates all life does is make space
for more scum, that will live on life’s poop, or it’s flesh.
And if God does exist, might this God view with mirth,
not the flora, but fauna (that fled from the sea
to escape what would eat it) could think World revolves
for its pleasure! Dare parasites dream that their birth
is a proof of God’s LOVE, virtue, intellect’s, ‘ace
in the hole’ for our kind; hint we’ve souls God should thresh?
Does my life have more value if I have a soul
or does fantasy telegraph who has control?
To choose God makes things’ better?’ Is what I ‘think’ JUST?
If God’s real or God’s missing, what grownup owns trust?
Just how long is one day in the life of a God
for creation took billions of years, should we pray?
Is our Bible infallible, final, ordained
‘truth of God’ or a primer for 1st graders, ark
for man’s soul, meant to save us from ‘downpour of pride?’
We grow trees meant to float us, or harvest what’s there?
Do you lie to your kids when they voice, “It’s so odd,
Why’s sky colored, not black?” Are you filled with dismay
to say, “It’s not my choice, but the color’s constrained,
to be just what it is by creation’s real SPARK!”
The truth’s Science, not faith, or stained truth’s override!
Oh, the mind of a man is a tawdry affair!
Is Spark SPARK? Can we know? Still, faith calls SPARK, “I AM!”
There’s no epigram spoken more valid, less sham!
Truth is God could be ‘real.’ Safe bet universe ‘is’
and reflects God’s true nature (if God sourced ‘Whole Biz’)!
Long Tooth
June 18th in 2020
Categories:
niches, faith, fun, philosophy, science,
Form:
Rhyme
What's in a name
I looked at my name
and I now must confide
I found so many things
that were waiting inside
I checked all the letters
for what there could be
And sat there amazed
by the stuff I did see
There’s a hinge and a chin,
a big grin and a cheer
Cries and a siren,
some heirs and a sneer
Found resin and rings
a genie, a screen
A singer, a signer
a sire and a scene
Saw generic hens
and ringers sincere
A Grinch and an inch
and rehires right here
There’s niches and riches
and itches and rice
A sheen and a gene
and a niece, very nice
So many things
I found in my name
No time for them all
and that is a shame
But maybe real soon
when I find extra time
I’ll post a few more,
just as long as they rhyme
1/13/17
Written for the: “What’s in a name?” Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One
Categories:
niches, fun,
Form:
Rhyme
House just turned one hundred years old
wooden floors preserve foot-fossils of ancestors.
A fresh coat of paint cannot muffle yesterday's fireplace carolers.
Our stockings hang aside the stockings of ghosts.
House has a heart-a pulse-is layered in golden life tones.
I feel at ease in every honey smoked room
and perfectly balanced on the uneven floors
I don't mind the infinite cobwebs
that once were catchers of dream.
Its three peaks and thirteen stairs
had significant meaning to past tenants.
It means nothing now for certain -but it doesn't matter.
I respect their strong marriage to the pastel past.
There's pockets and niches
whos' purpose is long forgotten
Just like I will soon be.
Discarded tin can in a wildflower field.
Winter evenings that I spend with house
are the warmest I've ever had.
I pray it feels the same about me...
hanging a stocking filled with endless gifts
from a pale, blue collared memory.
Categories:
niches, home,
Form:
Free verse
WHY AM I HERE AND FROM WHERE DID I COME - INDIVIDUALITY
I am a lifespan.
The future goes beyond that.
Anyone gives him or herself one hundred years even when he or she lived only fifty.
I am a destiny.
I strive to continue on until my hundred years are known.
But, nevertheless, I live for peace and meaningfulness.
I am a schema – a base of knowledge that breathes to discover.
I am a journey partook to uncover things unknown.
I am life now, and I am here to acclaim my own.
I am a niche in the world.
I am imminently framed.
I am that that proclaims the existence of personal recourse.
I am a voice, a look, and an expression.
In years to come and not beyond that, life spans.
The future we are not.
We are here to create a better tomorrow.
Our destiny is not perceived.
We are our creators.
Life formed for meaningfulness.
Peace is an ideology to this.
But, we represent the philosophy of war.
In a time of conflict, our belief is we have the right to bear arms.
Understanding brings times of peace and a cold war.
We are a lifespan in endurance.
We are niches in the world of humanity.
We are equity and identity, which manifest individuality.
Life is only a span of time.
Our future is stated as: “Within ten years…”
We ask what we will achieve.
The future is infinite, and we are limited.
What sadness this may bring.
None, we are here as we are now, and the future belongs to life existence.
We are a lifespan within this medium.
Imminently, we frame.
We are proclaiming our own.
Our niche is defined.
Anyone gives him or herself one hundred years even when he or she may live only fifty.
Many bridges we will cross.
Life formed to structure.
_____________________________________________________________|
Penned May 25, 2015!
Categories:
niches, philosophy, visionary, voice, wisdom,
Form:
Free verse
Captive damsel of creative-writing programs,
Personalized, eulogized job of small groups,
Quo Vadis poetry, a damsel in distress?
The frenetic activities handy to very few,
Poetry now belongs to a subculture hew.
We have accredited professional poets,
Creative writing teachers at all levels,
Composing computer- created poetry,
Creating illusion of the Golden Age artistry.
These professional poets have secured
Their own niches in the academic world,
They cry over the spilt milk like jackals
Snarling over a dried-up well with no aims.
Quantitative work is guaranteed success,
Accuracy, meaning, technique matters less.
+++
December 16, 2014
Form: (Contemporary Sonnet)
Categories:
niches, how i feel, introspection,
Form:
Sonnet
Still hallowed is the well, and so they pray,
offer: prayer cards, candles, and bitty photos
of children to come and those now unmade,
each woman rife with grief in longing’s throes.
The sound of stream shakes beneath their feet
in the grotto chiseled from native stone.
Niches, shelves and ledges teem, replete,
with mementos of maid, mother and crone.
Pain crusts on: salted wounds, walls and gelid moss
where teddies and barrettes dangle on bows.
Those lost appeal to Brigid, through her cross
in summer, fall, and through the winter’s snows.
A woman’s grief seeks relief at sacred stream
here all who mother come to pray and dream.
First Published in Eunoia August 19, 2015
Categories:
niches, children, spiritual, women,
Form:
Sonnet
Each night a brown orb spider,
a piece of night from under the eaves
spins a sticky intricate web
against the silhouette of leaves
Kangaroos the color of bark and stones
begin a dawn retreat to a rose lit tree line
I peep from the window- stretch and yawn
as grey mist fades into spreading sunshine
myriads of birdsong in filtered zones
as dew reveals gossamer webs on the lawn.
Tiny finches are flitting down,
from twig to twig to a birdbath of stone
They dip and splash and re -alight,
as I sit and watch in my dressing gown.
not moving in case I give them a fright
absorbed in them I am least alone
Their colors are grey, bright green, and brown
Rain scents of earth and eucalypts
a bush path strewn with bark and puddles
under swaying strands of weeping leaves
in shadowy niches of scented idyls
aware of the tapestry nature weaves
HUMAN NATURE - 4 STANZA, 7 LINE
Contest Judged: 2/12/2016 12:00:00 AM
Sponsored by: Marugu Mo
2.nd Place
Categories:
niches, beauty, bird, day, earth,
Form:
Rhyme
I WISH I WEREN’T A COCKROACH
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS
I wish I weren’t a cockroach, its no fun at all
People stomp on me, if they find me in the hall
I need to hide in gloomy spots, niches n crags
Arriving at your house, at times in grocery bags
I can not show my presence, during daylight hours
Food you drop while eating, no longer yours, it’s ours
Don’t blame me for squishy feelings, that you deplore
Clean up your bad habits, leaving edibles on the floor
Those wet n dirty clothes, you pile up in the corner
It’s where we meet and greet, a common roach agora
You pay an exterminator, to find out where we hide
Spreads insecticides, in hopes that we will die
You may kill some of us, but no matter how you try
For 300 million years: we know just how to survive
My cousins called German roaches, small n quick
Big ones in Florida, palmetto bugs, wow, that’s rich
We are a world wide, of that, there is no question
And when we multiply, it’s called an infestation
For all these eons, we continue to force our will
But now there is an ominous threat arising in Brazil
Someone uncovered that we’re a source of protein
As a food source, a menace certainly unforeseen
It seems they fry us in boiling cauldrons of oil
We become really crispy, guaranteed not to spoil
Well, that may finally do us in, a grim fatality
Being bred in the open and offered as a delicacy
Being boiled in oil, a fate that’s frightening to me
After considerable analysis, I want to become a flea
Categories:
niches, allusion, angst, fantasy, children,
Form:
Rhyme
Never meant to add skepticism to her already hectic life
Just tryin to be her optimism see her through rough nights
But sometimes when were called upon we have the best intentions
The road is blocked probably be late it wasnt our decision
And when i get there understand you'll have my full attention
I'll sit you down and take your hand I've mastered how to listen
Experience this ambiance Im caught up in your essence
We'll share our minds and when were done we've taught each other lessons
Heal mental wounds no surgery you wont even need stitches
The seeds we plant bear fruit so sweet and now we've found our niches
I see beyond facades of calm when reckless still respected
Lips kissed upon close like lip balm my hearts close like a necklace
Arms intertwined half drunk off wine this time like your love priceless
I'd give my spine long as your mine give life if you were lifeless
Steal you the moon get sentenced soon breakout were never captured
Were so in tune nothing could ruin I'm caught up in your rapture
And this I'll do good health or flu as long as I am breathin
Always be true and real with you Im someone to believe in.
Sha'ntez Jefferson
Categories:
niches, love,
Form:
Free verse
Many tales encase mirrors
both glittering and new,
still the reflections portrayed
may become distorted by a single
crack thus one becomes many.
Light absorbed and then broken
in to an array of colour; many
smiles surround the boundless
room of Mother Nature’s good will.
The purest of white floats across
the bright blue sky,
like magical boats carrying
the very essence of innocence.
Then yet human nature is selfish
thus reflecting a darker side;
we all harbour inner demons that
manifest themselves, like the
sly virus created by man that
leaves a path of destruction
across and within nature’s niches.
But still Mother Nature forgives
for her resilience is beyond the
claws of man; She will remain even
when we are gone for day and night
are locked in an eternal cycle for
ever to be the mirror in to
which we peer in to her world.
Regardless of our selfish nature
She will always be heard whenever
we need teaching from wrong to right;
her voice is always there in the
form of eruptions from her fiery belly,
violent quakes from within her soul
and almighty thunder from within
her powerful lungs creating
tornadoes and hurricanes alike.
Still Mother Nature is forgiving
but our inner demons continue to
shadow the mirror in to her world
thus we are destined to overstep
our limitations and end up trapped
in a whirlpool of denial and false
hope.
Categories:
niches, life, nature, science, mother,
Form:
Free verse
So quietly she trips across the floor,
dragging random flotsam and jetsam
she finds in niches the vacuum can't reach.
With evil intent, she crouches at my feet.
Then BONK! I've been kitten-bombed.
She exults in my reaction
of flying drink and floor-bound french fries.
Then she creeps away again
waiting for her next opportunity
to turn on airplane mode,
shut down the computer without saving
my changes,
and scare me half to death.
Categories:
niches, animal, cat, funny, games,
Form:
Verse
ABC Animal Twist
Adored and diverse, life thrives on earth; each day nature sees new births.
Big and small, abundantly in seas and trees; great beauty breathes.
Chameleons, cats, corn snakes, and coots, survive great threats in life's pursuit.
Delightful dragonflies from dart frogs duck; drake-crakes scoot upon lakes.
Eagles and egrets soar blue skies; an elephant endangered cries.
Fabulous fauna: fairy flies, and deer upon flora feed needs.
Graceful purple gallinules, young goats, and giraffes bring joyful laughs.
Hag-fish, halibut and hammerhead birds…birds? Yes! Nature preserves.
Insects and ibis work their charm; crusty isopods cause alarm.
Jaguars enjoy tasty meals; leftovers are the jackals' appeal.
Kiwi that fruits, kiwi that flies both species in New Zealand resides.
Living world the Creator made; since the beginning, wisdom stayed.
Matchless miracles, wonders, and births together blessed on our earth.
Never alone, no matter where, life exists here, there, everywhere.
Oh how beautiful, artfully wonderful, God-primed blissful place.
Planet earth and outer space together share a glorious race.
Question not; God loves this world. See creations glide, slide, swim, and swirl.
Reverence life; it was made with love; He still watches from up above.
Still breezes and sunshine please; sturgeon, shrimp, salmon, and sardines feed;
Termites, thrashers, terriers and teal find niches that have appeal.
Under God's skies, the umbrella birds fly. Man ponders; God replies.
Venomous snakes make rodents quake; Vultures clean up for good health's sake.
Weeping willows watch wolves whelp; chirping yellow warblers sing to elves.
X-Ray fish known since early days leave modern man looking amazed.
Yosemite toads, yetis, and yaks live on the lands without lack.
Zoology on earth from alligators to zorilla zings!
© Name withheld for the contest
February 24, 2010
Poetic form: ABC
See> ANIMAL HABITAT PICTURES LINKS for my ABC Animal Twist poem It was posted
separately as a list poem. OK I hope. Smiles
Categories:
niches, animals, naturegod, nature, animal,
Form:
ABC
Midst the twilight of wakefulness and sleep
Our minds meander to places shallow and deep.
They visit domains that while awake we won't go
Depicting ourselves when old, feeble, and slow.
But in only a dozen deepening breaths more
We grow wings and over mountain peaks soar.
Our free-roaming minds are rife with surprises
Letting us look behind old friends' disguises.
We learn with shock of a teacher's double life
It cuts to the quick like a long-bladed knife.
We must have envisioned scenes of these kinds
And hidden them away in the niches of our minds.
Only in twilight do they come to the fore
And make our wanton thoughts a wide-open door.
Categories:
niches, dream, psychological,
Form:
Rhyme