Best Omen Poems
Scientists say it’s just a mirage,
but sailors claim the ghost ship floats
in air, with stormy seas below.
Again he tries to round Cape Hope.
Captain van der Decken angered God
one savage 18th Century night.
Vowed he’d sail till “Judgment Day,”
to cross the Table Bay, he’d fight.
The Flying Dutchman disappeared
sank deep in foggy, wind-swept sea,
but the captain’s doomed to walk the deck
each night in perpetuity.
His curse prevails in Wagner’s Opera
and Washington Irving’s story;
crews tremble, ghost ship emerges
Dutchman floats in frightening glory.
So many sailors and their ships
still meet demise on starless nights,
when demons steer the Dutchman
and a vengeful God reads last rites.
There once were mermaids hailing from Crete
The Aegean Sea they'd rule so sweet
They'd enchant with their chant
Dull the rant when heard 'can't'
For them not a match was Hercules' fleet
The sea'd get wild and tumultuous
The men unruly rambunctious
With strength superhuman
Hercules 'gainst omen
Down went the men less than virtuous
AP: 2nd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2021
Five thousand pairs of black wings halt
And fell from the cold Arkansas sky
In one district alone the default
In Beebe did the feathered creatures die
And while the flock above them perished there
The fireworks flew all wingless on the eve
Of the coming year, and without reprieve
From the trials and turmoils of life's care
Knew that omen was something more
And wait for the beast on dawn's shore.
Five thousand black birds dead, my friend
A sudden shiver through me send
And I hear like splashing oars, loud
The sea beast swimming in the cloud.
OMEN
O’er wintry land bare trees now sway
On wing above, black birds traverse
Occluded skies of baleful grey
Outspreading wings impart a curse
Omen of darkest consequence
Outcomes perceived by prescient sense
Oppress the spirit, damn the day
VERSE I
she brushed across my shoulders
the bedroom light broke
a breasted scimitar—dancing thoracic throat
what I once outran—now presses my lips
she carried no black-wing omen
yet every breath drew near
purple velvet summons
Murdering me with Cashmere.
PRE-CHORUS I
kiss drawn, the walls slant inward
and rouge, the dark-root took shape—
as if her inborne blackwork
could make the night a colourless drape.
CHORUS I
Murdering me with Cashmere
tugging at my countless heartbeats
stripping me down to bare nerve
Murdering me with Cashmere
touch that lifted a ceiling curve
a birthright that denied me standing
VERSE II
the air lost a beat near her
piano shuttered its strings
her keratin ruled its hidden kingdoms
where songs outlived clipped-wings
one quick brush of softness
could tilt the atmosphere—
an unquestionable sovereign reign
Murdering me with Cashmere.
PRE-CHORUS II
marrow-sapped, my bones bleached white
and oooh, my will to power grew thin
her presence pressed antique velour
against my browning-paper skin
a blue-litracution mocked my manly core
CHORUS II
Murdering me with Cashmere
negating my defenses
melting my deep fear
Murdering me—only Cashmere
mist that would not recede
a spell that outlasted me
BRIDGE
she stood there—the verdict given
queen without a crown
her secrets a crashing thunder
hinged to pin me down
and I—
climbed, she was higher
and her hemlock closed in—too near
I fell into her ghast-lit shadow
Murdered soft by Cashmere.
FINAL CHORUS
Murdering me with Cashmere
kindness with a strangler’s grip
a calm that finished the work
Murdering me in Cashmere
queen in vestment of highness—
Lady Caledonia Blue— cyanotic.
OUTRO
she brushed across my shoulders
the world skipped a breath to grieve
softness that occluded on my lungs and stayed
refused to let me leave
her after-mint lodged in my vertebral mind
thorn in every flowing tear—
the night she claimed my arrhythmic heartbeat
Murdering me with Cashmere.
"Omen"
The throat holds
untold secrets
like a chamber
holds bullets
a silent question mark
wrapped around
the speaking,
changing gears
full throttle
far reaching
like a noose
over sunbeams
the ropes
for net cast
morsel charms
upstroke downstroke
Ariel beckons
the purpose
of lions for love
into his shadowy arms
"hush", he says,
"the Long Night,
I see aflame in your eyes
like a burning bed
is still warm,
wingspan of goose
dreams of a swan
misunderstood albatross
good and bad
omen,
bluebirds forewarned
an alter
covered with blood
awaiting its phoenix
like star of the morn
paradise
found and lost
lost and found
paradise"
forewarned.
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
"Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumin, "
(John Milton, 1675)
"Love; dark sluggish cumulus clouds
pregnant with an impending storm."
morsel.
mortal.
Winter grates as the blackbird roams
through frosted limbs of trees... and shrills;
while moon hides from a brooding night
its call, the threadbare air, refills.
My eyes mirror this drowning hymn
while breaths cry out to agonize.
Deep within a starless backdrop
iced feathers cause anguish to rise.
And ebon wings defrock my mind
embedding stains on bleak frontier;
keeper of omen dares to haunt
as love’s requiem awaits here.
Though wrapping the light from its crawl,
snowflakes drop on my pallid face
till raven foul the morning breaks ;
in dawn’s arms I lose fate’s embrace.
...................
Kelly Deschler's The Raven
9/27/2014
Omen
Its coming soon i fear
I can hear the preacher on the corner screaming
" The end is near! "
If he only knew what ive been feeling
in my bones these many years.
All the signs
All the warnings passed down for ages
Scribed by prophets on sacred pages.
The dreams and visions ive been afraid to share
I dont dare
For it is the death sentence for fools
Once again the dunce in the corner
On the lonely stool
How much further can i be cast away
But i have to say
All the bombs and ensuing holocaust
The volcanoes cataclysmic blast
The approaching comet with a target on
Our back
But the fact remains
People will shrug in disdain
Until their final too late moments
Swallowing their agonizing pain
And the preachers screaming fades away
As his voice evaporates in the nuclear fray
His dreams of heaven blown away.
Its mans last thoughts on judgement
day.
To answer why we threw it all away.
Like the lost sounds of evening bells
The voices of children pealing
The last lie of innocence in papyrus away;
Not the baubled brook in joy;
The rinsing screams soliciting crude customs back,
Spreading phonetic fingers of laughter for aid;
Our tone dead heart hears nothing
But self-cloying honey, leached and leaking
From comb-cells flaccid to the bone.
These times have lost more than silver steeples or steel
Bright hope aspiring to the sun;
We poor Daedalus by sight driven lust
Watch in writhing disgust autumn unwinging us
Shearing golden trees of leaves against the brawny breeze;
What architect built the broken oak?
Our Icarus from heaven is shaken. Trust
Falling - all proven traditions past!
The lives of children in an hour glass
Tell, myths were better than this Midas dream
This poem is an omen and I'll tell you why
It's number one thousand, nine hundred and thirty-five
That's the year I was born
I've weathered life's storms
So twenty more years I'm destined to survive
© Jack Ellison 2015
cold desolate abandon uninhabited snowing
rain slippery icicles spike frostbite
first month of year pillars of ice blind black
black ice bad month first of the year
january gray shade screen canopy
frolicking jamming January boy birthdate omen of ruin
_________________________________________________|
Penned on May 06, 2014!
For Two Haiku (Describing The Month of January) Contest!
Along lush woods that slither on hills between
Evening of Life recalls a town ,so quaint
For joyride cruising new borders, my dream!
Though on sharp ridge, pale oak warns of restraint.
Held by twisted stems coiled on ruined track
Grasses freeze, sad among twigs from the glen
More sad than death, or all deaths can exact
A calling of Time stirring its bleak omen.
In a wham, a daze passes through my head
Scenes of auto crash splinter like ripped gown,
Thrown in a realm farther than black-wired sky
My body sprawled on pools of blood’s seabed.
Succumbing to visions erased by clear light
Pulse rouses to chimes of Amazing Grace;
A gruesome day I won’t relive, despite
Promises of thrills that wait to amaze.
What I Woudn't Want To Relive Contest
Sponsor: Black-Eyed Susan
Mourning doves sigh on ice floe clouds
sand dune crickets pierce red dawn shrouds
bull’s-eye squall deluge from on high
on ice floe clouds mourning doves sigh
Vapour trails omen or a sign
grand stream whirls silver mist divine
blackbirds snatch and claw eggshell pails
omen or a sign vapour trails
Golden oak valley‘s crystal belt
Blue lagoons ripple where hearts melt
campfire hoolies spark woodland folk
valley’s crystal belt golden oak
Withered spot in dim twilight phase
dark moon whispers cloak glow worm rays
damp squid thunder blights skyline plot
in dim twilight phase withered spot
Date written ; June 22nd 2020
Date posted ; July 3rd 2022
Contest Name ; 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 6
Sponsor ; Mark Toney
Have you ever heard a crow caw in the dead of night
Never the thought crossed my mind until such was my plight
In the bright of the light I saw vast more than one
Nary my delight when their numbers sent me shook to stun
Pondered to run but when said and done everyone knows
That you don’t mess around with a murder of crows.
I thought mayhaps I’ve had my fill of bad omen
But my foes superior cousin flew down more than ten
Yet again I comprehend they represent a prophecy
Not sure what this vocal unkindness has to do with me
Still I see the knowledge be in my mind where it’s graven
There is no safe haven, in a conspiracy of ravens.
Swiftly I flee afore a new plague rains down
The worst was yet to arrive to this cursed, sleepy town
I frown to find myself betwixt these predators absurd
My own personal horror movie version of the birds
Swooping and warbling, they sculp a shadow in the skies
Really just a nuisance… a gulp of magpies. :S
For the Magpies that have invaded my backyard tree....
You've won this time........
July 7, 2022
An Omen
Dilapidated
Ravens soars in sapphire skies.
Dreaming of feasting.
© © Dane Smith-Johnsen
April 8, 2010