Best Nights Poems
Summer Nights
Setting sun, the light is fleeting
as this day in June’s retreating;
twinkling stars, the darkness greeting,
welcoming this summer night.
Sparrows in the treetops nesting;
daytime bustles now are resting;
calm of twilight now suggesting
gentle are these summer nights.
Fireflies flicker in the twilight,
amber jewels of summer’s birthright,
drifting in and out of eyesight
on these warming summer nights.
Honeysuckle scent is drifting
through the air as moon is lifting;
silver beams she’s gently gifting
on these lovely summer nights.
Breezes through the treetops prancing,
causing leaves together dancing,
like young lovers’ sweet romancing
on these tempting summer nights.
June’s warm nights are soft as sable,
thus I write this like a fable;
hold these moments while you’re able,
cherish now these summer nights.
One day midst the dying embers
on a day in deep December
thinking back you will remember
how they were, these summer nights.
June 1, 2022
Poem of the Day - June 2, 2022
i am here to let your words make love to me
i am here to bury my face deep in your poetry
to let your haiku
molest my naked body
shake me like a tree
can you read the want in my hips
for your metaphors and similes?
like an African lion in heat i long your letters
how they hug tightly only to entice my desire.
the child in me wants to explore, journey tender the skin
you wear. so don't leave me to play alone in the sandbox.
let me run the body of your work free.
ingest your verse and also grow wings.
you and i flying as one in a mad fancy.
then maybe send in my bed sheets - both single
with your personifications they'll jump rope
and after exercising go for a cup of hope
at the outdoor cafe where poets mingle
i am only here because your couplets are wooing me.
i want to glide - baby oil - body on body - chummy.
not compete but instead
massage your triolets,
fraternize with your sonnets.
your tanka rocks me
mountains baby smooth to climb
it's quite the challenge
one i'm willing to take on
you're the baby smooth i want
i'll ride your majestic rhymes
dream they'll settle for,
this my smiling core,
stay with me at bedtimes.
you - the poetess that defines my nights
i want you to know i climb every evening
towards the peak where your words spike.
i'll never be the poet you are, but
i have my hands and other parts
that could drive you to ecstasy.
.........you'll see it's my specialty.
01~01~2015
Armand
Sponsor: Poet Destroyer A
Contest Name: First poem of 2015
A drop of lonely floats
into a never ending kiss
lost folded notes play
out in a rewind of time
Shifting spells the chorus
foreign answers ring
-- an empty chair
rocking through my mind
Lay down your symphony
where harmony rests a head
pull back the covers slowly
let me listen to what is said
Colour wraps in soulful pace
mellow light dances free
belief waits for the butterfly
as with truth sunsets will be
one fine day they changed places
fireflies lit daytime shadows
while butterflies splashed the night
a shrewd color scheme
bright hues and exotic moon
flittering and fluttering
pure rapture under the stars
midnight was dreaming
the firefly shadows twinkled
above the enraptured blooms
the fervent day seemed to pause
in search of the moon
Golden days and diamond nights
Another rising sun...
new days begun...new days begun
We're basking in love's rays...
in golden days...in golden days
Bridge 1
Spending the best days of our lives
in golden days and diamond nights
Chorus
These are the days for growing old
our yesterdays were bought and sold
Silver days are turning into gold, and
Sapphire skies... slip into... diamond nights
The years they went so fast...
days of glass...days of glass
The sky was painted grey...
days of clay...days of clay
Bridge 2
The hands of time, have been kind,
but sometimes...
the wind blows cold..the wind blows cold
Chorus
These are the days for growing old
our yesterdays were bought and sold
Silver days are turning into gold, and
Sapphire skies... slip into... diamond nights
Another rising sun...
new days begun...new days begun
We're basking in love's rays...
in golden days...in golden days
Bridge 1
Spending the best days of our lives
in golden days and diamond nights
Chorus
These are the days for growing old
our yesterdays were bought and sold
Silver days are turning into gold, and
Sapphire skies... slip into... diamond nights
repeat chorus fade
John Derek Hamilton
March 25,2018
Moonless Nights over South Sudan
heartless Moon, don’t tell me
that you weren’t looking
when soulless soldiers dragged me
from my mama’s terrified arms
in our village in Rubkona County
I know you covered your ears
so you wouldn’t hear
my screams piercing the fetid air
as those butchers dropped their pants
repeatedly ripping my body and soul apart
and I saw you cover your eyes
so blinded that you wouldn’t see
the stark horror reflected in my own eyes
the hot tears scorching my cheeks
sobbing for childhood forever lost
oh Mother Moon, Mother Moon
please cover your face
behind billowy black clouds
so that you can’t see
your daughter’s dejected, dead eyes
cowardly Moon, I forgive you
even after you turned your back on me
filling my days only with your dark side
as I sink deeper into a black hole
with no hope to guide me safely home
but helpless Moon, how can I blame you?
for you’re only a mere observer
powerless to defend me
feeling guilty for abandoning
your innocent children
Moon, you’ve witnessed it all before
the torn and bleeding
the tortured and maimed
all tied tightly to weeping trees
reeking of despair and pain
Moon, will you soon forget
my body dripping with bloody shame?
will anyone even remember me?
am I no one…with no name?
will you, Moon, mourn for me?
like you Moon, I am already ancient
over a millennium it seems
yearning for freedom…
waiting for death…
and I’m only twelve years old
Note: This piece is dedicated to all the women and young girls who have been abducted, raped, and/or killed in the secret rape camps in South Sudan over the past two years. According to a human rights investigator, many of them are held indefinitely, tied up with hundreds of other women in these camps and used as sex slaves. Those women who escape from the sex camps are the lucky ones.
09-29-2015
Contest: Must be Read
Sponsor: Silent One
Placement: 3rd
Relaxing to a rain song serenade
Which breaks the stillness of hot southern nights
Fat bullfrogs harmonize while crickets play
A melting moon drips waxy yellow light
The motion of the porch swing cools your sweat
It's rhythm synchronizes with fireflies
Romantic nights like these remove regrets
Because they seem to somehow hypnotize
And yet to you they may not sound unique
With rain song serenades and melting moon
Our breathless southern nights have a mystique
Tranquility sings such a peaceful tune
If you think southern nights are not your thing
Come spend one with me on my old porch swing
an original poem by Daniel Turner
A foggy Cuervo morning
I crawl out of my bed
Stagger to the bathroom
With a pounding in my head
It’s just another Sunday
Things can’t get much worse
I think i’ll write a poem
Yes, another drunken verse
Tiny glass of 80 proof
What courage you gave me
To dance upon a table
While crooning karaoke
I truly thought that I could sing
I could hear the people cheer
Then I lost my footing
And fell right on my rear
Now falling off of tables
Isn't really all that dumb
Cause I got such a chuckle
Telling everyone to kiss my bum
I kissed a man I didn’t know
You think that’s absurd
Well his wife was rather angry
When I flipped her the big ol bird
When Jose takes control of me
I have no pride or shame
Doesnt really matter much
Cause no one knows my name
I drank until the wee hours
Things were going great
Until that final shot of gold
That sealed my eveings fate
I spent some time talking
On a ice cold porceline phone
If I survive this night
Tomorrow I will atone
Well today is tomorrow
So forgive me for my sin
Never again will I drink tequila
Instead I’m drinking gin
Summer Nights in the South
Green fireflies blink in the quiet of night
and our sleeping old dog heaves a sigh.
Dreaming, she sprints through a youthful blue sky
chasing delicate clouds, cotton-white.
A red-sunset tanager* colors the warm air
from a perch in the majestic oak limbs above
professing by lullaby, sincerely devoted love,
like some sublimely recited evening prayer.
I lay back and smile, through the leaves, at the moon
to the sound of crops rippling in the breeze
thinking how precious are nights such as these
when alone, with the Earth I commune.
*Summer Tanagers (Piranga rubra) are native to the southern U.S. but are not true tanagers. They are actually members of the cardinal family.
08/01/15
Submission for Contest: Nature Poems Only
Hosted by: Shadow Hamilton
The smell of the summer night air
Takes me back to times we shared
You and I dancing beneath the moon
Crickets playing a lovers tune
Trees full with lush green leaves
Whispering poetry to you and me
A view from beneath a Missouri bluff
Talking of passion, love, and lust
Your hand in mine strolling the path
Sitting on the deck and looking back
Picnic tables and barbecue grills
Driving and parking, is this for real?
My memory’s filled with your sweet love
Do you remember that snow white dove?
A kiss goodnight under a star filled sky
Best friends forever, a promise, no lie
It excites me to think that every year
Whether life or memory I return here
We will create magic again I know
On a summer night in the moon’s soft glow
Copyright © 2009 Lena “Lolita” Townsend
*inspired by John Heck’s “Summer Celebration” contest
I love the way you melt into my eyes,
And speak to me in fluency unheard,
That says to me your lust is on the rise,
My body and my mind by you quite stirred.
Impassioned arms, we're craving hot embrace,
And right before our yearning lips do kiss,
Ignited heat of heartbeats face to face,
We linger in this moment of pre-bliss.
You take me o'er the moon my shooting star,
To galaxies and realms our Milky Way,
In velvet nights of endless repertoire,
On astral planes besprinkled with risque.
Exotic dance in swirls of ecstasy,
That whirl us to new heights so breathlessly.
Susan Ashley
November 11, 2017
~ Second Place ~
Contest: Any Poem Won in a Contest in November (not from mine)
Sponsor: Laura Loo
~ Fifth Place ~
Premiere Contest: November 2017
Sponsor: Brian Strand
I wake to the smell
of homebrewed coffee
and fresh toasted bread.
Then, her missing scent
suddenly strikes home…
The recurring dream.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A Tableau Poetry Contest
Hosted by Joseph May
Placed 2nd
20th March 2021
The Tableau poetry form was created by Emily Romano.
It consists of one or more verses, each having six lines.
Each line should have five syllables.
Roving a youthful shadowed ebony heaven
as the earth is still on blissful spring night flight.
I fly through and over the enclosing trees,
boughs', and the susurration fluttering leaves.
I emerge to nesting Nightingales
and their cacophony melodious
of unfilled cries , calling me
to come to appease their needs.
Alighting and dripping down
for a short quick kiss to each one.
I woke to a vision of streaked ,wisps
of timeless gray clouds before the morning.
It's not a silent night, stars glitter and wink
in the dark as they look down on me.
Minstrels outside my bedroom window;
the birds were there somewhere
between the treetops and the cloud bottoms.
There will be no sleeping beauty upon these white linens,
as a result of reverberating sounds of those crying cuties.
7/2/2017
"over the waters blue the night winds sigh, the breakers roar ... Lord Byron
My love, we'll meet at eight as we agreed,
A storm was near, the lighthouse sent its flash.
Would be our lovely tryst that end of day
To mark the start of our great happy love.
By then we hoped would be a night so bright,
The blushing, crimson moon was then so high.
The blue rough seas upon the breaking rocks
And sing to us a euphonious tune.
Together we will wait for stars to rise,
Where mesmerizing fireflies dance in tune,
This may be our last real chance to love
To celebrate midsummer's fun and joy,
In love, we'll hug and kiss and be like one.
Yet you kept not our sweet love rendezvous.
In vain I waited, life began to change.
The wind grew slow in its intensity,
Clouds gathered ominously o'er the place.
The thunder rumbled; lightning was above
Flew here and there above the angry seas.
My love was nowhere in my heart, for now
The storms were raging on the rolling sea
And on the ocean of regret. All's lost!
But then, a crack in clouds appears anew
And she appears all drenched but full of joy.
The night winds blow serene with sighs of warmth.
Our hearts entwine with love and bliss romance,
We will be married soon, our love so true.
Placed 1st
The sky sneers at me through the curtain of clouds
I strain in vain to see if a star is flickering
The night stands stripped of all munificence
As I turn and twist on my bed,
I know for sure insomnia stubbornly
Keeps her reins on my poor self
As I lie sleepless with my torso weighing a ton,
Whispering my anguish onto my pillow
With darts of pain stinging out from my swollen eyes
I know I have lost sense of every passing hour,
But intensely feel every moment….
My ear drums are slit by the sirens of ambulances
Their blinking lights flashing in darkness
And scrawling strange graffiti on the walls
Down in the patio, I hear the swish
Of paper flung by the paper boy
Thank God! The night has ended.
But is it not for another night’s painful litany?
Yet I dream of a bright dawn
At the end of every night of distress!