Best Patterns Poems
Shifting sands beneath me leave soft impressions
Like the gentle etchings upon my pages
It is not my goal to create a pattern
Ever enduring
February 3, 2019
Charming patterns surround us,
whispering in
shadows of our lives.
Born as thoughts, painting our dreams
with landscapes
of greens, purples, reds;
abstract colors bursting onto our canvas.
Patterns chase us through
fields of watercolor wildflowers,
down slopes of wind-blown grasses
of lavender-tipped gold.
We find them in balmy, cotton clouds, wind-carved rocks,
and moss-covered stones
kissed by noisy waters.
They sometimes ride on a butterfly's wings,
often found in new flowers, a child's face,
a leaf turned up, where a ladybug hides.
Charming patterns: mysterious looks they wear,
they cause us to question, to wonder, to imagine.
Both elegant and bold, charming patterns always present
puzzles to unwind,
stretching our minds.
Waking, she inspects the color under her sweater
and sighs that vague orange is still wearing her.
Orange can’t be her friend until it reveals its core.
While white is already a friend, the floating ones
aloofly speak of odd concerns she cannot pattern.
At times, float-whites hear, but never do they listen
or cease insisting that she has dreams, NOT visions.
Blue, green, pink and white all bring truths to her:
if she finds the correct umbrella, she could fly thru
blue-white skies adorned with smeared pink pops
over green’s velvet-thick and lush laid blankets.
When she gains the doors other side, freedom
will lead her to the right, flight-ready umbrella.
Sorting and storing colors keeps her busy all day.
Her favorites - blue, green, pink and white shades,
she tenderly places in see thru plastic jars, all
other colors she discards as too bland hearted.
Daily relief is happily seized by determining
not even a kernel of purple is in her world.
Purple startles, it is pain’s chosen dispersal
that circles and circles until she curls up,
prone atop piles of her own broken pieces.
Occupied with her color heaps, she spies a white-
float fluttering in her doorway at a time too early
for the syringe of colorless assistance
that simplifies her organizational tasks.
She hears white make words but disappears
inside of all pink things with soft plumes.
“Both your parents came to visit with you.
They are waiting inside the purple room.”
Charming Patterns
An eyelet wheel models medieval embroidery
Aromatic, ornamental garden ballet steps for lovers
Strolling in stately patterns of noble estate
Savory’s romance looping through lavender labyrinths
Lost in curves of sweet scented anise dreams
A pavel of peace in pungent fans of feathery dill
Set in soothing circles of demure comfort,
Inside squares of loyal rosemary tied with ribbons of sage
Trimmed with clarion harmony of marjoram’s gailland
And arches of drizzles leap as parsley festivity
Joyfully brushes the fingertips of rows in oregano courants
A center pistel radiates lines of tarragon in devotion
Dotted by French knots of thyme
With rosettes of mint scattered in diamonds about the maze
Virtuous embraces of shy courtly kisses
In basil’s blush of chain stitch purity
And to the almain of lutes and of lyres
To the harp strum, to the chaste flute,
A castle garden dances faithful fidelity
Telling the story of love’s longevity
In charming patterns.
10-6-21
Contest: Charming Patterns
Sponsor: Julia Ward
Embroidery stitches: eyelet wheel, loops, drizzles, pistel, French knot, rosettes, chain stitch
Medieval Instruments: clarion, lute, lyre, flute, harp
Elizabethan Dances: ballet, pavel, gailland, courant, almain
Knot gardens of herbs are based on the intricate embroidery patterns of the Elizabethan age.
Life, in layman’s terms is merely that…life
It is a means to an end, a diversion of daily consequence
A planned out, researched, blueprinted and stamped
happening that all of us, who are still here, live in
Life can be a series of costly calamities
or if you look past the requirements and rules,
a collection of charming patterns
They can be seen everywhere if you open your eyes
in a corn field row meandering through a sunny pasture,
crisscrossing lines in vibrant green that move in the wind
Or something as common as a brick wall, charming patterns
created to secure an area or set boundaries on a backyard garden
Each brick follows the lead of the one placed before it and
offers guidance to the next in line
Though some may not find them as charming as others,
it is all in how you look at them
A gathering of books on a shelf, high to low, wide to narrow
or grandma’s quilt…now you must agree, that can be very charming
To some, life is life and that is all you need to know, but to others
life is a series of charming patterns…finding them is like finding life itself
For it is what it is…make it charming
For the: Charming Patterns Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
I've noticed,
As our economic and politically empowered
too consistently lead with their Right,
All us non-elite women
people of color
LGBTQ
and indigenous people
predictably lean to our Left
To find a space
where we feel safer,
and a sacred place
where we might imagine
our lives actually matter.
(Another childhood poem)
A pamphlet file in green metallic
thrusts through neon antinight
its cornered self, harsh in glare.
Piers of five-tiered fingers --
shelves -- extend beyond,
in series: a formal pattern,
rectangular and angular.
Artificial electric shine reflects
bland or blatant color.
There are books, some in disarray
in order placement on the shelves.
All: solid, relentless, inflexible.
And most were made for use
by patterns much more rigid still.
Life fulfills itself through you,
All the while, seemingly drowning you and saving too.
You believe you are the architect of your destiny,
As you rise through your own tears and sweat,
Life smiles, lends its touch, reshapes your path.
Like the wind under the wings,
flowering and blooming in your name...
It flows and you flow along,
With you and within you, it sings its songs
The farther along life's road I go
I'm losing ground, moving slow
I huff and puff, grunting as though
I'm putting on a one-woman show
Still, it's comforting to know
Our Heavenly Father will bestow
blessings abundant here below
and grant us time to grow
But since the date of my birth
The largest expansion is my girth
Thereby lessening my worth
To other creatures here on earth
Pausing to breathe before falling
into patterns of pain.
Synapses fire with memories
materialized from tissue.
Why pain?
Where IS sorrow in the grey matter
and why does it matter
this pattern to relive pain?
Look at it and let it be
a groove in the layer that folds
under the place that moves a pen.
Stay away from the when of then,
be in the now of a sunny day.
Don't go that old yesterday way.
Yet here in this now it appears.
Right brain, left brain, brain left to cry
and sob within. Who cries? Who sighs?
Laughter swells up to cover
while pain does hover
like a checkerboard
waiting to be crowned.
Smoking chimneys show
Autumn nights are almost here
Spitting logs on fire
Sending patterns in the dark
As I sit relaxed with you.
Penned 30 August 2014
Old man limping
Walking toy poodle;
Patient devotion
~~~~~~~~~
Old master
Kung-fu sessions;
Evening serenade
~~~~~~~~~
Haul of freshness
Seafood and meat;
Home economics
~~~~~~~~~
Bourgainvilleas sparkle
Five colourful hues;
Hot weather blossoms
~~~~~~~~~
Pomegranate tree
Fruiting abundance;
Happy harvest
~~~~~~~~~
Family time flings
Feisty mahjong moves;
A royal flush
~~~~~~~~~
Morning salutation
Music of birdsong;
Tender revelations
~~~~~~~~~
Hear the wind chimes
Familiar echoes;
Songs of long ago
~~~~~~~~~
Home gourmet chef
Whips a magic feast;
Simple works best
~~~~~~~~~
Fruit shoppe maiden
From faraway China;
Service with a smile
~~~~~~~~~
Neighbourhood old lady
Corner newspaper vendor;
Her face tells her story
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
10 February 2015
Singapore
Scattered patterns made by rain
cascade down my window pane
Over glass a teardrop trail
navigates without a sail
I must stand by, helplessly
as they glisten in the light
keeping vigil through the night
in fear they're lost at sea
______________________________________
6/2/18
8 Lines Poetry Contest
Resubmitted for Brian Strand's August Premiere Contest #480
Observe and see
Festive cheer warms;
Spirits set free
~~~~~~~~~
Cherry blossoms
Pink carpet pathway;
Waiting patiently
~~~~~~~~~
Here's to you
Sakura moments;
Sparkling sunshine
~~~~~~~~~
Moon overhead
View from my window;
Tender conversations
~~~~~~~~~
Mahjong games
Relatives chit-chat;
My winning streak
~~~~~~~~~
Touch of magic
Spring wind rustles;
Cheery blossoms fall
~~~~~~~~~
Moonlight stroll
Old arch bridge;
Squeaky wood groans
~~~~~~~~~
Two cats sit
Eerie moon glow;
February interlude
~~~~~~~~~
Business sold
Fortune gained;
Hollow feeling
~~~~~~~~~
Here's to good cheer
Another year;
Grey hairs draw near
~~~~~~~~~
Old footpath short cut
Patient feet chiseled;
Old habits die hard
~~~~~~~~~
Memories unfurl
Grass verge updates;
Poignant moments
~~~~~~~~~
Joy greets sorrow
Sad together;
Melancholia sings
~~~~~~~~~
Elysia calls
Going home again;
Sudden departure
~~~~~~~~~
Photo album
Old era relatives;
Sepia burnout
~~~~~~~~~
Study abroad
Down Under Melbourne;
Kangaroo hop-scotch
~~~~~~~~~
Tinge of sadness
Stop to remember;
Fond times quicken
~~~~~~~~~
Airport terminal
Exquisite dine-in;
One for the road
~~~~~~~~~
Listless here
Holiday moods;
Mahjong punctuation
~~~~~~~~~
Toss of lucky food
Yu Sheng expose;
Fortune smiles
~~~~~~~~~
Words catch up
Meaning and motive;
Juxtapose
~~~~~~~~~
Spring season
Oriental red;
Chinatown tinctures
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
22 February 2015
Singapore
Black birds in the air
Intricate patterns on fence
droppings from above.