Best Outshone Poems
the night as black as a newly broken heart
increasingly
the crescent of a single sly smile
outshone the vast stellar firmament
an enigmatic, ephemeral shooting star
subsequently
with a twinkle twinkle in her eyes
counting down to our jovial Jupiter joyride
waxing poetic on a comet's cosmic course
and
life was
Full
inevitably
eclipsed by a brighter constellation
diminishing her gorgeous gibbous glow
our penumbra luminosity reached its nadir
ultimately
her heavenly smile inverted
my waning orb fell from her orbit
i splashed down in a cold, lonesome ocean
the night as black as a newly broken heart
Written 14 Aug 2022
Author's Note: These verses are wrought for a poetess-painter, a fellow poet whose sorrow kindled their first ember; may this little flame, in time, find its way unto her.
—A Quatrain Beneath Eternity—
Upon one leaf, where gravity dreamed slow,
a rain-born orb did tremble under heaven;
her argent quiver made the star-fires flow,
and dawn stood hushed beneath the empyrean;
an ant climbed forth from bark's primeval shrine,
then paused before her—dark against divine.
He drew towards her as the firmament
bent its vast curvature about her sphere;
as though some adamantine gravitation sent
a wandering world where worlds should disappear;
he touched her light—and through his six limbs ran
a shudder older than the breath of man.
He deemed her painter, fashioned out of rain,
with leaf for canvas, sunlight for her dye;
she bore the green world's secret in her vein,
and whole lost heavens trembled in her eye;
their minute orbits crossed beneath the tree—
two infinitudes made briefly one decree.
Then he ascended towards the ancient bough,
she followed that inexorable green descent;
no wound accused the other of the why,
nor did their parting bear resentment;
and time, beyond the jurisdiction of years,
let Earth spend eleven seasons unawares.
He came again. The old light knew his tread;
she had not ceased her pilgrimage through green;
no reckoning rose between the living and dead,
nor any blade of old remembrance keen;
one quill returned above the waiting page—
four living lines outshone an earthly age.
Then came the storm. The leaf became a sea;
the firmament was riven from its throne;
the wind took him beyond all astronomy,
past every star by which the lost are known;
she quaked, and all her little heavens broke—
yet waited for the word he never spoke.
Perhaps he bore one universe to tell;
perhaps her own lay folded in the deep;
perhaps the storm extinguished one farewell
before its syllables had learned to sleep;
she moves still downward through the shaken green—
and somewhere, the fifth line remains unseen.
The moonlit trees
Sway drunkenly against
The kaleidoscopic backdrop.
Their lunar shadows
Stagger merrily
Over the forest floor,
Gaze longingly
At mice and hares and move on.
Soon their tipsiness and incapability
To stay upright will come to
A gruelling hungover end
As the golden chariot of
Apollo returns for another day
To light the way home
For lost leafy souls and
Drunken arboreal oaks.
And Diana’s wit and beauty
Will once again be outshone by
The mothering nutritious glow of the sun.
I HAVE THE INCLINATION
If I have the time, I have the inclination
To commit to paper what I feel for you.
It’s something I have always meant to do,
But, as you often say, I lack imagination.
If I could write a sonnet the William Shakespeare way,
Listing all your many virtues, verse by verse,
Would you take me seriously or think me quite perverse?
Would you laugh if I compared you to a summer’s day?
If I used a metaphor to compliment your figure
And flowery words to illustrate your features,
Or said you were more beautiful than any of God’s creatures,
Would you swoon or quietly turn away and s?
If I said your eyes outshone the stars above you,
Would you think that corny, coming from my pen?
Yes, I’d better stop now and think it through again.
And simply find the time to say, “I love you”.
31st December 2019
If You Have The Time For An Enclosed Poem contest
Sponsor - Tania Kitchin
That day the sun hid its face, too ashamed
to be outshone by the light in your eyes,
the moon and stars were waiting to exhale
the magical mayhem of our romance,
defying ocean’s endless restless tides
and time’s defenseless vulgar mortal jail.
Bright sparks the beat of your enduring heart,
bright sparks mine to answer in the travail
of such joy as life stingily provides~
love is as precious as the finest art
and is the sweetest gale.
Harambe was my gorilla boyfriend;
Harambe's greatness you could not deny;
He was met with a most untimely end;
Harambe was one hell of a big guy;
Harambe outshone the bright shining sun;
Harambe was not you average boy;
The ending of his life was from a gun;
My boy Harambe did not injest soy;
Harambe did not enjoy anime;
He was not like an actor from a show;
Harambe was a true friend who said, "hey";
Harambe stay woke cause he always know;
Harambe the gorilla with the brain;
Harambe knows everyone knows his name.
"Bright Star Rose"
Bright Star shone on the bright side far beyond the dark side
Bright Star let the dark slide between and underneath
the cracks burning in the road well travelled under the Others' soles
and Bright Star’s soul levitated much higher above the ground
from the base of those Other empire state stories' eyes
steadfast in their lofty realms hived in all those lost bodies
united in a bad bad dream
and Bright Star soft falling mask of eremite melting
rose higher and brighter than bright
and kissed the highest hidden brightest star
blazing in the darkest night's dark indigo blue sky
and Bright Star riding the waked forever in a sweet unrest
outshone the singularity of the eclipsed
enraptured and embraced as Love is
in the Hidden's timeless breast
Candide Diderot. ‘24
"In all configurations
The curve is the thing that can go back on itself
Over and over
As the stars turn around each other
And light the way for travelers
Who come along through time
Looking for that one that could bend the path just so
To take us home
And light shines
And light shines
Around the table, where they all sit smiling
Hands with fingers moving as they tell their stories of being lost
Then found
No matter what the place, they saw the face
Of one who showed the way along the road well-traveled..."
"Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art"/John Keats, 1819
"And Light Shines"/David Lynch
"Meditative Rose"/Salvador Dali, 1958
"The Road not Taken"/Robert Frost, 1915.
"Polaris Sigma Octantis"
hypnotised
we look to the heavens
a sky full of hope
to chart a course
home
which one?
where to begin?
in such a dazzling
kaleidoscope
Alpha Ursae Minoris
the bright northern star
intercepts our vision
we are lost in the
grandest theurgy, magnetised,
illuminating steadfast beacon
poles apart
ensconced in darkness
a silent watcher
barely visible to the eye
Sigma Octantis
outshone
almost motionless
waits to be called
some other time
some other Morning
the See
is bedevilled
like a heart has its storms
like a mind has its imagination
the ship must list eventually
swim, sink or
walk on water
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
“The moving Moon went up the sky,
And no where did abide:
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside”
This is written with tons of tongue in cheek
But I loved watching Mickey Mouse each week
He was my favorite star
Outshone Donny Duck by far
A talking mouse ne'er to utter a squeak
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
BOTOX BRIGADE
Oh so numb, I can’t stop myself drooling,
Can’t feel my brows, touch them, one is drooping,
My lips I feel are massively huge and swollen,
I should have realized that this was a bad omen.
My cheeks are sore, injected frequently,
Obsessed by the media talk increasingly,
I dare not put lipstick on, for I’ll look like a clown,
I stare at the mirror in horror, I have no frown.
For boobs I requested a size thirty six
Simply wanted to be one of the chicks,
But the surgeon had extra silicone,
Even the so famous Dolly I outshone!
A nip and a tuck were done on my tummy,
Which I inherited after becoming a mummy,
And after the final touch of a firmer bum
I looked like new, a different me I had become.
I knew I was in fact addicted,
This was to me often predicted,
Developed scars, no recognizable features,
Too late, now one of many Botox cheaters.
AFTER HAVING SEEN A DOUMENTARTY ABOUT OBSESSIVE PLASTIC SURGERY
The harsh winds snarl and bite like fighting dogs.
No pity in this bull-black bitter night.
No stars nor moon can pierce the city fog.
No shelter saves the beggar from his plight.
The winds whip swirling grit and stinging grime.
Mad demons breathe out sour tasting wrath,
And wine red sky now marks the passing time
When, waking widows mourn the hour of death.
Although the sulphurous gusts still groan and howl,
The night begins to fade for dawn's debut
While roaming dogs bare yellow teeth and growl
As smoky shadows slink through trembling dew.
The daybreak chimes, and morning sweetly sings,
Retreating night’s outshone by brighter things.
Once had a friend, Ken Steeles
With the girlies he sure had appeal
Outshone me I agree
Chopped liver was me
But my star possession was concealed
© Jack Ellison 2015
A million stars fall deep in shade,
shade of valley thickened with leaves.
Leaves cradle stars in fiery graves.
Graves tended to by trees that grieve.
Grieve not, they cry from ashen earth.
Earth slows her spin as mourners wane.
Wane of night's stars sprays dust around,
around lightning in summer’s reign.
Reign of night ends come bright sunrise.
Sunrise of dawn takes sovereign throne.
Throne dims at dusk with glowing stars,
stars rise, reborn; dawn’s sun outshone.
Inspired by Nette’s contest (4 Line)
"Rolled Oats"
Age shall not weary
trolls counting strange fruit
golden apples rolled
Lord Laden put to sleep
on an alter Hippomenes
there Atalanta lights a candle
underneath the dry rot
Ovid’s oracle prophecy not far wrong
3 golden apples racing along
Hippomenes
strange addiction was outshone
the race never to be won
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
Tonight the sunset in the south
In its place a peculiar mist
Of lasers and flashing lights arose
Beaming light from nowhere to everywhere
With no cloud in sight, no rain drop fell
No lightning cracks or nightmarish thunder
Only smiles of awe and gladness
Only marvel and crystal, pure happiness
The stars were outshone for once
I needn’t sleep nor dream nor hope this night
These lights mimic every dream ever had come true
Represent every colour I can ever imagine to see with my mind’s eye
Every light to celebrate every new beginning in the spring of life
Tonight I will not think about tomorrow’s uncertainties
Nor brood about all my yesterdays – to be forgotten
This moment has come for once in a lifetime and may never return
I’m not a prophet, and will not waste it on interpreting my dreams
Or wishing upon a shooting star too fast and too far to care
I will use it to unravel what the universe it always trying to hide
End the mystery that has haunted men sailing in boats
Out exploring by the southern nights
Find the beginning and the end of this rainbow
That decided to dance between space and the sphere of my dreams
And light up my life