Best Notched Poems
Modeled by the skilled and clumsy hands
of artists and artisans into an ideal state of she-ness,
a penniless waif appears on a stool
last week a stranger called her Mona Lisa.
Statuesque upon the betrayer
warmed by the lemon-lolly light from
bays of north facing windows, blinded;
she can but blink.
Surrounded by a
cog-notched cyclical wheel of nubile artists—
blooming buds of wildness, vertical sprigs
flail softly on the breezy bounty of
illumination.
Brush and trowel, thick and thin,
the artists stoke her—semblance
canvased by millennium brush biters
maudlin Mary is returned to the pre-historic stew
by the likes of Claude
polished to a pearly perfection
by type A, Hieronymus’.
They were all strangers to her posers,
every bit as much as she.
Royal pretenders in a world
where only the artless
are paid.
Moneylenders rise on their discarded carapaces
beauty sucked dry by the doers and shakers
who spread like choking bittersweet through
the lollypop-light from the bay windows facing north
consuming Mona.
Julie ford Oliver - Famous Models
Ekphrasis
First Appeared in Illumen Magazine Fall of 2014
like a grumpy ogre the twisted old tree stood guard
notched scraggy boughs reached out in fierce surety
naught had ever compromised its task
in its dutiable charge
the primeval stone held fast the blade
proud and righteous Caliburn
its hilt pointed to the stars
the enchanted issue of Merlin's resolve
and steadfast keeper of the kingdom
thankless was the old tree's post
none would e'er recall its name
no eye would shed a salty drip to its end
nay an honored oath spoken to its passing
still it stood
through the countless sad losses
when the Wee Ones would die in autumn
such beautiful quiet deaths
falling in color to the forest carpet
one soft exquisite flight to their end
each one by itself
each one dear to the old tree
still it stood fearless and proud
for it alone would be the first to witness
it alone would hear the whisper of the wind
when it breathed the name of the new king
when it heralded the name of freedom to the world
when The One slipped the blade from its surly bonds
and the ancient stone split in righteous temper
knife and knight
blade and banneret
Caliburn and king!
like a grumpy ogre the twisted old tree
stood guard
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Unsheathe Your Sword" Poetry Contest
John Lawless, Judge & Sponsor.
* This poem is written in "Suzette Prime", (created by a PS member), which consists of lines of prime number syllable counts ONLY, no punctuation or capitalizations, and only of topics which lend themselves to a philosophical statement. *
Remember remember Mum when we were small.
Holding hands as we learnt to walk,
Teaching us how to talk.
On the swing you'd push us high
Till our feet could touch the sky.
A magic rub when we had a pain,
Kiss it better once again.
Snuggling up on your lap,
Poems and stories before a nap.
Do you remember Mum?
Remember remember Mum when we were small.
Taking us to the pantomime,
Sailing on the Serpentine,
Museum visits and palace too,
Madame Tussauds and the zoo.
Candyfloss at the fair,
Dirty knees and messy hair.
Days out full of fun,
Holidays in the sun.
Do you remember Mum?
Remember remember Mum our teenage years.
Thinking that we knew it all
When life for us was just a ball.
Young love and first dates,
Staying up way too late.
School exams and learning to drive,
You praying we'd stay alive.
We probably caused you many tears
When life was all about our peers.
Do you remember Mum?
Remember remember Mum when we left home.
Bridal gowns on wedding day
When Dad gave us both away.
Two young women we'd become
But never stopped needing help from our Mum.
Grandchildren, pink and blue,
As one by one your family grew.
Granny time was time for treats,
Spoiling them with too many sweets.
Do you remember Mum?
Remember remember Mum for it is true.
We thank you for all that you still do.
We hope you have a wonderful day,
Celebrating your eightieth birthday,
Enjoying this little afternoon tea,
With special friends and your family.
So raise a glass and give a cheer
Because you've notched up another year,
And we hope there's many more to come
Because we really love you Mum.
I wrote this to read at an afternoon tea party for my Mum yesterday from my sister and I. Unfortunately Mum is losing her memory, so I'm hoping this will help her to recall.
Welcome back to you my misery
played out for all the world to see
bright lights and caricature circling
even buzzards want a piece of me
Shifts shred the tempo shallow troubles
bellow in a chamber broken down below
emptiness echoes from beyond the mouth
with the bass a drown recluse obo hum
Moving with mountains a sound enjoyed
matted brush and worn-out weathered trails
can only guide so far missing the post
birch tree beauty notched and polished
Carry me on home Delilah
as the night wanders alone
I dreamt of growing
As I was drowning
life was blocked with stones
I was just a vessel that turned
Sincerity would bring love
I thought that's the rule of the world
I leaned on opacity with unsolicited words
I chose the disgrace with no rewards
The nights notched me with a sharp hilt
Days kept becoming dark till I quit
The days were filled with cold and looked so gray
Sometimes cant even remember the words and the day
A piece of paper wasn't the reason
Walked for miles with no destination
A part of me shielded all of the harms
I searched for love in the wrong arms
I became the center of the joke
How I left my life on the nook
I became a puppet of the show
The circus disgraced all my value
My soldiers were badly harmed
yet I sent them to combat
7 years passed
The war yet last
They didn't realise untill the end
How I kept losing for them
I achieved a death with no respect
I left the battle tired and refuted
I'm drowning yet
I accept my cruel fate
A is for Accordion, squeezing air with bellows
B is for Banjo, five strings plucked by bluegrass fellows
C is for Clavichord, keyboard with a metal sound
D is for the Drums which percussionists will pro-pound
E is for the English horn, using a double-reed
F is for a brass French horn, three valves is all you need
G is for Glockenspiel, metal bars arranged in rows
H is for Harmonica, both in and out she blows
I is for Ingoma, on which skins or hides are drummed
J is for Jinghu, just two strings that are bowed not strummed
K is for the Keytar, keyboard guitar held upright
L is for the Laser harp which plays on beams of light
M is for Maracas, their rhythm shaken by pros
N is for Nguru, Maori flute blown through the nose
O is for the Oboe with a mouth-piece that looks bewitched
P is for the Piccolo, a half-sized flute, high pitched
Q is for the Quena, a notched flute from the Andes
R is for the Rattle, maracas for the babies
S is for the Shofar, a Jewish horn hard to blow
T is for the Tuba, largest horn and tough to tow.
U is Ukulele, four-string Hawaiian gee-tar
V is Viola, a fiddle tuned a bit deeper
W is the Washboard, just for rhythm, understood?
X is a Xylophone, a glockenspiel made of wood
Y is Yotar, a guitar with four strings grouped in threes
Z is Zither, played on the table or cross your knees
This alphabet of instruments just breaks through the top
The're hundreds more to know, but Z's a good place to stop.
March 11, 2013
Allright Poet's ABC Poetry Contest
Come all ye faithful and gather around the fire place
Relieve your stress if good cheer you wish to embrace
Arctic weather can bring frost bite upon your face
Cold weather can be comforted by the blazing fire
Kids get in snowball fights and need to perspire
Let’s surround with soft music and cozy warm attire
Icicles hang from the roof and in the back yard you’d find
Notched wood wrapped in rope ready to be unbind
Growing up I thought Santa would burn his big behind!
Freezing cold winter should be eased by the comfy blaze
I watch the kids run around the couch in an innocent haze
Rustling inside the fuzzy blanket is where my puppy plays
Every year around the fireplace we celebrate the winter days
Winter acrostic Poem Contest
December 30, 2016
This is a anecdote about not taking things for granted....
Seeing how we often jump to conclusions based on wrong assumptions...
A top notched news photographer was in a mighty hurry...
He saw a plane on the taxiway, pilot in place and take off all ready...
He jumped quickly into the plane and commanded the pilot to take off and start flying....
Shortly after, he asked the pilot to make a turn to over where a forest fire was raging..
There was a moment's hesistation before the pilot queried why...
Pompously, the newsman replied he was a news reporter, that was why...
There was a another moment of silence, longer than the earlier momentary hesitation...
Then a quavering voice from the pilot, "You are not my new flight instructor?"... ..
Don't simply assume or jump to conclusions...
It can bring forth dire consequences...
Have a nice day, people!
Footnote..... sharing a message from Facebook 20Sept2016
Countless generations lapsed since height of Greco-Roman mythology conceived, birthed and populated vast canopy of sky and expanse of terrestrial firmament, whereat obeisant propinquity quintessentially remains stalwart this day and age as guise dolls dote demonstrably come Valentine’s Day, when Cupid plucked from the quiver, notched in bowstring and launched Eros tinged arrow induces love struck swain to swoon upon a lassie fair, whence fecund female feast proliferates progeny.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bona fide hormonal hankering didst since Adam and Eve a wake
aromatic, balmy, and captivating as effect from drinking sassafras
kin powerful pulsations viz diving rod erect phallus
creating con fusion pro bono er to enter lips engorged mass
Pussy swathed qua tangle of coiled, kinked, and thatched course grass
Willy wonka with vestal virgin hair line gonadal zone **** embarrass
twig and berries rutting, rusticating, routing and romancing intent
to deflower re: piercing hymen
with nary immune to perdition or déclassé
hello kitty edenic tropic of cancer coital compass
emitting pheromones culling asper a bong
clapping banging brass
intractable supremacy reproductive sport
waging whore with contemporary take
verboten fruit sexual pang thrust forward
omnipotent magnetic thirst to slake
unstoppable passions flared unfazed as annals
depict how hot coals feet did rake
despite hollow religious strictures obloquy,
the serum filled genitals did quake
infiltrate historical manifestations, naked humans
prey zing clear or opaque
deities of yesteryear demonstrable
bas relief showers copulation doth make
primal urges imbued *****sapiens
e’er since first man saw lady of the lake
triggering libidinal longing inducing salivation sans love struck drake
multi-tiered mouth watering orgasmic gastronomic carnal cake
Aphrodite spellbinding storied sport thrives inducing heart break
imbuing human guys gals feverish enthralled dizzy catnip behoove ache.
Mossy vines served as camouflage for a decaying headstone
No family members left to maintain is known
Thus hidden and fallen into disrepair
Deeply weatherworn and embraced there
This marker sets into the ground alone
Mossy vines served as camouflage for a decaying headstone
Threads of piercing light filtering through windblown
Limbs surrounded by trees, ferns, blackberries, and wildflowers
Vegetation constantly threatening to swallow so it cowers
To nature’s breath, and tranquil outdoors, a hidden embellished millstone
Mossy vines served as camouflage for a decaying headstone
Dreams of once beloved family heir now all alone
Notched poem about their lives fades with memories written
Reveal the epitaph of who's buried and hidden
Now without pain in the heavens mansion near God's throne
8/7/2016
Rhyme scheme aabba
Camouflage Me A Poem - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Broken Wings
They've been working on this for years
Inside the government
To try a replace the brain of man
With that of a purple eggplant
This idea to me sounds genius
If you know what it is that I mean
People round here might start making sense
Pass the veggies if you please
They called all the top notched scientists
And vegetarians throughout the land
To see what would be the best variety
In this eggplant transplant experiment
They settled on the aubergine
Great Brittan's joy and pride
When it comes to the perfect eggplant
Those Limey's will not be denied
They were afraid if they went to the private sector
That person would surely be missed
So they grabbed someone unsuspecting
Inside of the government
They told the low level employee
A bit of truth mixed with a little white lie
They needed him for his vast understanding and knowledge
Plus they'd be serving cookies on the side
They added a little something to the cookie dough
That knocked the governmental genius to his knees
Plopped him down on the gurney
...Let the experiment proceed if you please
They cracked his skull wide open
Where upon they couldn't believe their eyes
Right there inside of his cranium
Already an eggplant did reside
1MDB Walking Free
Talk about living charmed lives for some people in positions of power.....
The latest involve news of the latest appointments of certain financial figures...
News about President elect Donald Trump's handpicking of certain people..
To spearhead his primary rallying call to make America great again...
Looks to be a potential pooling of people linked to 1MDB unsavoury fame...
No less than 3 of his latest appointees are tarred with the 1MDB brush of shame...
The latter being of course undeniably the world's largest Ponzi Scheme....
Spearheaded by a well derided kleptomaniac who is mysteriously referred to as MO1...
MO1 is a Malaysian Official leader, who conspired with crooks, and siphoned off billions ....
In an financial scandal to involves investigation that requires no less than 8 nations..
Despite their dubious links to 1MDB shame through the company they once served ...
A most reputable, respected and established financial entity called Goldman Sachs...
Gary Cohn, Steve Bannon and Steven Mnuchin are 3 top notched economic advisers.....
Recently appointed into the incoming Trump administration as key treasury officers.....
Rivalling the considerable financial clout wielded by the office of the Treasury Secretary..
Will incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions drop the lawsuits by the U.S. Justice Department....
Will he be advised to finally set aside the high profile case of pursuing financial justice...
To seize assets that were the result of US$3.5 billion that was misappropriated from 1MDB...
If that happens, people, remember this Bolehland of infinite possibilities...
If it happens, “Mr. Dirty” MO1 could suddenly become “Mr. Clean” Mahatma Gandhi.....
Hohoho...
With Santa Claus coming for Xmas dinner, what gifts are there for long suffering Malaysians...
More infinite possibilities from corruptible individuals, from here to the highly esteemed US Judicial Office?...
This saga of 1MDB being the source of various slush funds that netted billions for MO1...
Will justice be seen done in the long run or will money and power brokers prevail as one...
And we see history bear witness that even in the highest office in the Land of the Free...
Alternative possibilities can happen and somehow charm the corrupted into walking free?....
Seeing the spring flowers
with colors so intense and alive,
makes me praise their Creator even more;
amazed and breathless,
unable to find any imperfection
in all that lies under the infinite sky!
By the winding path, under a fluttering willow tree,
I sit down and begin my contemplation...
by admiring a beauty never seen,
hidden from me, who is too far from perfect!
If roses are prettier than teasels,
they, too, are plants that serve a true purpose;
and if the witch-hazels have only yellow flowers,
are they less valuable or useful than
the dandelions with notched leaves?
Wouldn't the jacarandas provide them shade
in those steaming afternoons, or shelter them when
an unexpected storm arrives?
Nothing is imperfect and useless,
if it was created by His divine hand;
the quatrefoils are as much admirable as
the sleek nodes found elsewhere!
Climbing the rough cliffs of mountains,
brings me a step closer to serenity...
where pine groves culminate in mystery,
as the purest spring refreshes me:
whenever the scorching sun dehydrates my rough lips;
and from an elevation that opens up to an entire valley,
I'm the smallest being with a probable fragility,
and being too far from perfect:
I become aware of every defect...
to realize that nobody has an invincible aspect!
If everything that's inexplicable and beautiful
excites me...to make me immensely grateful;
why wouldn't I be astonished and be elevated by sublime joy
anytime I witness the splendor of each sunrise:
when the eagles and seagulls flap their wings a thousands times...
to savor a freedom that allows them to emit a joyful cry?
And being so mortal and too far from perfect...
it doesn't mean I must live within a limit!
Copyright 2008 by Andrew Crisci
And the Oscar goes to… The Academy.
Oh my God… We did it! We won our own Oscar.
From the Academy to the Academy I would like to say thank you.
Thank you for your Outstanding performance in creating such a mental, emotional, heartbreaking, joyous, disappointing, humiliating, happy, depressing, exciting, judgmental award show. Thank you for the emotional highs and lows and for the honor of displaying all the ness - nervousness, gratefulness, hurtfulness, happiness, sadness.
I would also like to say thank you to the Academy for designing the ultimate, top-notched award that appears to be the great “I made it Moment” of validation in one’s life. Thank you for producing a show so much so that it is made to be all about "the Oscar" (the trophy). The heightened level of anticipation, anxiety and emphasis leading towards the show is so focused on who will be obtaining one of these prestigious awards. I am so grateful and honored on behalf of the Academy to receive this award, so once again, Thank you.
Message to the actors and actresses from me, not the Academy.
It appears when it comes to the actors and actresses (nominated or not) you seem the least valuable, yet you bring the greatest value, not the award itself. Ok, you didn’t win, or you were not even nominated, does that diminish your role as an actor? No, not at all. This award does not validate who you are. You are Amazing! God knows you are Amazing, I know you are Amazing and the world knows you are Amazing. Also, keep in mind, it’s not about the “award,” but the REWARD. So do not allow your focus to be heighten or dampened about obtaining this award, because God has gifted, equipped and rewarded you with the “Greatest Reward” - The Gift of Acting, so you already won, Period. It’s over, nothing to prove! So hold your head up, let your light continue to shine and continue to use your gift to fulfill God’s purpose, not man’s.
It is amazing yet so true about top notched sports stars...
There is always a time when they're the undisputed stars...
They'll be top seeded in all the major tournaments they entered in...
And unsurprisingly and unceasingly they perform to cement their top billing....
At such periods in time, their reign is sublime and they're the ones to beat...
Probably their aura of being top seeds quelled the fight out of many a lower seed..
Only in such periods when time seems to stand still as they reign supreme....
Best exemplified by Datuk Nicol Ann David who was 109months queen supreme ...
Like any other champion, she gets dethroned but she'll soon regain her top ranking...
But as age catches up, her subsequent reign is not going to be smooth sailing...
It's impossible for her to equal ever again that record setting 109months reign....
It took years for her exorable climb up to such a pinnacle of excellence...
For a champion, long hours and back breaking training sessions are unseen ......
And a professional teamwork are in place to ensure such perennial dominance...
But the fact remains, after a period of unceasing dominance....
All champions, whatever their game, will fade into the distant horizon...
Makes you wonder, stars of yesteyears, if age is not in the equation...
Will their mastery, skills and experience match new and upcoming champions?
Take a look at Datuk Lee Chong Wei in badminton, he was once the top honco...
Losing was never an option and his invincibility was an aura lesser players yield pronto...
After an unfortunate enforced lay off from badminton due to suspected drug misuse....
Therein lies several episodes of labourous climb back into the world rankings...
These days yesteryear champions are unceremoniously chucked out of rankings...
Each time an eager young turk charges into the finals and resets the ensuing rankings...