Best Overseeing Poems
For The Love Of Poetry Contest
Sponsor: John Lawless
The shadows beneath the stairs is what I believed to be my hell.
There I was, countless nights, too injured to show my
true face. If only I had been loved instead of being damaged.
I sat there. I cried there. I mourned there. I died there.
Lost in maltreatment I thought I could survive that last time.
Broken and made imperfect from his morose doom. How could he think
he would get away with ending his wife’s life? I was born innocent
and I died dirty. Filthy essence of guilt and fear. I dreaded
when the work day was over. I dreaded making the kids hide
in the corner. Now my sweet children are suffering
without a nurturing mother to comfort them the way
they need and deserve. Oh, the revile that scorched me
morning after morning and night after night.
I was ashamed while he was proud….
I was repentant while he was around…
Disconnected a connection for the pleasure of my pain.
Here I am, above the clouds overseeing the actions
of a monster who decimated his supposed soul mate.
My blood was shed while he stood there
haughty and content with the outcome. I thought I loved him
like roses, and needed him like breath. He hated me like
like an inferno and he needed me like pleasurable torment.
If only I could’ve seen the truth behind the destruction
maybe I would’ve survived this tragedy. But no matter what
I am protected now. My children are safe now that
he is behind bars, deserving the punishment of the
consequences of his immoral wrong doings.
The shadows beneath the stairs is what I believed to be my hell.
I sat there. I cried there. I mourned there. I died there.
Date Written: April 6, 2016
On a broad street 'neath spreading sycamores sits a stately dwelling.
Its elegance and surrounding grounds are so very compelling.
Gracious gardens and towering pines enhance its wide expanse,
All girded by a charming, yet sturdy, white iron picket fence.
Gingerbread ornamentation adorns its every eave and gable.
At the rear of the house stands a horse and carriage stable.
In my minds-eye I sit upon its front porch, so very inviting,
To muse upon its past and what made life there so exciting.
I see eloquent ladies and gentlemen arriving for a gala affair,
Happily anticipating the fellowship that awaits them there.
Outside huge flakes of snow waft gently to the earth,
But inside a blazing fire welcomes them to its cozy hearth.
The grandfather clock in the hall intones its sonorous chimes.
For decades it has dwelled there, overseeing happy times.
In the parlor a grand pump organ reposes by yon wall,
If only it could speak, what special memories it might recall!
The house has weathered the ravages of time with exquisite grace,
Providing warmth and comfort, when life moved at a slower pace.
Built to last for generations, built when guild took pride;
There, generations of genteel folk, loved, laughed and cried!
Entry for Nayda Ivette Negron's "Enchanted House" Contest
CAR COURT
Enter, the older heavyweight steel giant,
The bailiff, a 1954 Hudson, reads unhesitant :
On the docket for this morning : guilty by implication - a Trabant,
In close custody with a Cutlass Supreme for supervision.
Next on the docket: a Pinto for likely gas-tank explosion.
Third on the docket: an English-made car (any marque) - body corrosion.
Lawyer for the prosecution, a pretentious character, a gas guzzler SUV
4x4 off-road with winch - for Saturday use on driveway only -
Hangs out with Vettes; and uses NO2 in fuel. Who?Drugs? Not me!
Downbeat guy as the defence counsel , a solid no nonsense Hummer,
A real enviro-bummer,
Klutzy ugly and personality like a mack truck in summer.
Trabant coughed its way to the stand.
Clerk of court Volkswagen, order in hand,
Read the indictment quietly, efficiently, bland.
Prosecution began with noisy opening musical-horn tunelets
The jury, all serious-minded stolid Volvos and Toyota Starlets
Were not impressed. Hummer clumsily interrupted with an objection, “Let’s
Stop, on the grounds of precedent,” but at this point Pinto reversed,
Crushed its trunk and its gas-tank exploded, and worst ,
Hit the the English car : and into flames they both burst.
Cutlass argued with the SUV, which was winched away pending sentence.
Case against the English car dismissed from lack of evidence.
Trabant was deported back to Germany: no import licence
Overseeing all these proceedings : the ever-reliable, I-won’t-budge,
The I-have-a-spotless-reputation, I-hold-no-grudge,
The mechanical virgin, the silent Rolls Royce as judge.
...........................................................................................................
Catching Moon Sighs
From time to time
as clouds pass
— those plumpted puffs —
touring by
…Out
from behind them
a
Night’s lit
Blink!
will occur
for:
T’is our
Moon sighing
at Time’s insistent nudges
to fleet on by
And at which overseeing Venus
winks her sympathies…
(c) s.y. eslinger6/2024
Was not the trip to Calvary enough for you
All the mocking and insults and all that scorn
Just the stripping and all that humiliation alone
Is not that enough for you
What about all 39 of those lashes
Each ripping into the flesh and muscle
One after another after another after another
Wouldn't even one suffice for you
And that heavy cross He was forced to carry
So beaten, tired and thirty Jesus fell three times
Spit upon, laughed at, cursed and jeered
Wouldn't that be enough for anyone
But then his hands and feet being pierced
That crown of thorns upon His Head
And that sword that finally pierced His Side
Who wouldn't say that that is enough for me
The head centurian overseeing Jesus's death
Well, It was enough for him
Saying, surely this was the Son of God
Is not it all enough for you
Dying He destroyed our Death
Rising He restored our life
Lord Jesus coming Glory
1 Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures,
Devotion Poem, Cat Steps
(Written for Jim Eslinger
Carefully I near him. He is curled up...sleek. Eyes
closed, perhaps not asleep. He sees. He will run.
He blends into hallway shadows. The light plays over
his outline. He steps within silence, outside hearing.
His devotion is fully committed to the circle he has
drawn around me: my lap his bed; my heart his
domain, entering whenever with assumption —
which I embrace as true. This dear cat, my leopard
when poised so....Aloof, yet overseeing everything,
including outside, where he travels by looking
through windowpanes. Too, I have caught how he
wears dreams of short escape, his eyes fix on spaces
of voids across the room. He pauses to listen
through doors. He sees around corners. When,
if ever he decides to go off for some while, I hope he
lets me follow. My sight stills on his glowing spots.
———————————————————————————————————————-
(c) sally Young eslinger 2/2021
Today, the local daily papers highlighted a man of honour...
Deserving of his honorific title Datuk bestowed on men of honour...
Given his loud and strident calls for those holding the reins of power....
To better buck up in all matters of governance, to honour pledges while in power..
From relative obscurity, this quiet man has been religiously executing his duties...
As a number 2 man in the high office called the Special Branch, overseeing matters of security...
Given that his beloved nation now staggers under a yoke of suspicion and bad governance....
He is steadfast in his intergrity pledge of topmost quality service to the king and nation...
Loud is his urgings for civil servants to uphold pledges of intergrity and loyalty...
It is obvious his strong conviction is born out of a man of the highest principles...
Befitting the post of the Special Branch deputy director....
Today's interview in The Star provides an insight into his character...
Clearly it shows he is not easily cowed under political pressure..
And most admirably, not seduced by subtle promises from political masters...
Headlined as From Special Branch top cop to enemy of the state...
His candour in this news piece is credit to his character...
He knows where his loyalty lies and he is highly principled...
Admitting that he deliberated well and hard before he launched....
Some very personal and opinionated statements that jeopordised his career.....
When in fact he has merely 1000days more to see the tail end of his career...
What a ignominous exit for the country's top cop because of his stand on integrity...
How many other officers in the goverment dares stand up to uphold such integrity....
This dedicated man daringly calls each spade by its name and no other names will do...
Even as in this complex society we live in, a wrong can be whitewashed with blinded loyalty...
If only there are more politicians and statesman of this datuk's quality...
Our country will not be suffering from escalating racial prejudice...
Or economic ills that is plaguing our posperity and currency...
Are there more men of integrity and high principles..
Are there more such men to help steer this troubled country...?
A lily sits frozen upon a white mountain,
Overseeing the crimson sun.
Overseeing landscapes with striking ginger and emerald,
That even God dreams of such blissful sceneries.
Its Wind blows the Grass,
Into a wave motion, swiftly, and gently moving towards the lily,
Yet such a gentle gesture is unable to sooth away its bitter cold.
When it rains and falls on the ground,
Striking sounds of a piano echo’s throughout its pores.
Leaving a beauty, a masterpiece,
Trapped in a cold glacier, unable to feel,
The sweet rush that you feel,
When you hear and see what the simple things in life has to offer.
There Once Was A Man ...
There once was a man, oh so brave
Who would sleep in a hole, called a grave ...
Well, him being the host
To so many a ghost,
He arranged a big bash, called a rave
In days of Neanderthal knaves
When the men ruled like kings in their caves ...
and not being too keen
About keeping them clean ...
Often took on some wifes, called them slaves
There once was a man with a stave
Overseeing a holy enclave ...
Well, maintaining a grin
While absolving the sin,
He assessed wicked tales and forgave
There once was a monk with a wave
Who desired a head with a shave ...
Well, the barber was such
That she cut back too much
Thereby leaving his globus concave
There once was a man in the nave,
Although pious he could not behave ...
But they paid him no mind,
’Caus his name was maligned,
Being simply a sinner to save
There once was a man quite depraved
A voluptuous life was thus craved ...
Well, continuous sin
Ended doing him in -
On his tombstone they carved ‘Misbehaved’
Sucking the lifeblood out of our nation
Overseeing their dependency creation
Contempt for those who have incentive
Ignoring ideas that are inventive
Assassinating common sense, instilling fear
Listen to the people but refuse to hear
Insisting it is all for our own good
Suppressing achievement as they knew they would
Twisting the truth is what they do so well
Sending our nation to a man made hell.
Quote from the idiot Speaker. “Who needs God when we have the Democrats.”
If we reelect them, then we deserve what we get.
Winter Magic
Pristine crystal flakes silvery white
Journey downwards from the darkness of night
Falling around the golden angel
Adoring her with their wet embrace
Like inside a shaken snow globe
She kneels over her earthly court
Overseeing with Her unconditional love
A lantern she holds in her hands
Glows yellow gold with the moon and stars from above
A beacon in the silent night
Beneath the winter snow
Dreams form as snow silently falls
1/1/2016
We pray for our Mother, the Church upon earth,
And bless, Holy Mary, the land of our birth.
"Mythic"
Overseeing the savages,
the gods watch from their war room above,
pinning their voodoo dolls on the table
Federations of strange angels
about to cut through
the silver lining
into the bloodied
muck of it all
mythic gods of old
spilling a chilling
new meaning
to it all
Halloween arrived
too early before them,
they have seen it all before
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
[Verse 2]
"Shattered fragments of the past
Meet in veins on the stained glass
Like the lifeline in your palm
Red and green reflects the scene
Of a long forgotten dream
There were princes and there were kings
[Pre-Chours]
Now hidden in disguise
Cheap wrappings of lies
Keep your heart alive
With a song from inside
[Verse 3]
Even though we're all alone
We are never on our own
When we're singing, singing
Home, home!"
(excerpt, lyrics of "Israel"/Siouxie & The Banshees, Nov 1980).
Full lyrics of the song, "Israel", in comment boxes below.
A guard overseeing the king’s jail
Mocked the inmates without fail.
He spoke to them rudely
And treated them crudely.
Now the king has his head in a pail.
There once was a man with a stave
Overseeing a holy enclave ...
Well, maintaining a grin
While absolving the sin,
He assessed wicked tales and forgave
"The Well of Bluebird Eggs"
Treasure discovered
at the bottom of
The Well
Lost marbles
become Bluebird eggs
the Ravens crack and collect
Jewels in their serious beaks
their furious flapping wings
fly away like thieves opening new sentences
rapturous poetic recidivists
further upwards they journey
into a cloudless clear avian sky
The shells tossed like confetti
a marriage of blue investment
colours a new sky breaking the yolk
Burnished sun of gold
licks warmly the smile widening on
Kingfisher Blue
reverent and unruffled
overseeing the passion
from celestial view
(LadyLabyrinth / 2022)
“Aladdin Sane”/Bowie
https://youtu.be/bc-E78guBLI
refer "Title"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_Sane