Best Profligate Poems
Comely
Calmly
Slowly
Proudly
Windmills comely, calmly generate
Power slowly proudly profligate
Besotted winged pollinators
roistering barrage drowned
amidst general insectivorous cacophony
indistinct auditory signals communicated
intermingled with bounteous wafting fragrance
midwifed edenic floral pullulation
sensate admixture viz colored spectrum
amidst unrehearsed extemporaneous
orchestral suite bedded lambs
amorous ewe man like bleating songs
nature all aflutter actively socially vociferating
profuse living color rainbow pastiche
teeming soundgarden smorgasbord
cornucopia ignites mordent Utopian aural swath
visual vistas stilling spellbinding
spilling riotous carpeted web
uniting doubting Thomas's existentialism
despite unanswered queries
asper diverse modalities each specie evolved
to survive despite countervailing destructive forces
generating plethora pandemonium ironically
promulgating harmonic exemplary convergence
Highland Manor concourse aflame with new life
parented by instinctive imprimatur anonymous patents
now genetic mapping usurped with untold outcome
analysis bred crispr discovery Earthlings fiddling
glorifies honied indemnity Judeo-Christian kudos
leaves of grass kudzo resistance mutation immunizes
biosphere once prolific differentiation shrinks
becoming monocultural setting virtual stage
catastrophe plus food shortage would become
global debacle predicated, sans virulent
viral and/or bacterial strain renting asunder
tripwire unspooling delicate webbed whirl
already widely compromised more so
since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring
*****sapiens population explosion
pits profligate predilections planet Earth in extremis
dire crisis cavalierly dismissed humans
in hot pursuit racking up superfluous wealth
dirty deeds done dirt cheap - tricking
mother nature, who will unwittingly
spring scrumptious feeding off scrimmage
forcing capitulation or total extinction
meanwhile fostering long tall floral inflorescence
a composite having sessile flowers
apiary abuzz, cuz queen bee
can no longer wax bereft of royal jelly.
The time had come, we were agreed
To discontinue paying rents.
We'd make our plans and then proceed
To buy or build a residence.
i said an older house I'd choose.
A little house and lot would do.
The first of many fights I'd lose,
My wife and daughters wanted new.
Because of our financial state,
A giant mortgage would be tough.
I said we can't be profligate.
Two bedrooms and a bath's enough.
That sound opinion was not shared.
'Twould be the last they'd listen to.
And I was badly unprepared
To face the hell they put me through.
Each girl demanded her own room,
And two for guests my wife required.
(Her parents, harbingers of gloom,
And shiftless brother, who'd been fired.)
A living room with stone fireplace,
A finished den with vast TV,
Cathedral ceilings, (Wasted space!)
And just in case, a nursery.
The house entirely made of brick,
At least three baths and custom doors,
With granite counters, (Now I'm sick!)
A laundry room, and hardwood floors.
Its tubs so large we could bathe whales,
The hugest closets ever made,
New furniture from Bloomingdale's,
And landscaped trees providing shade.
A massive lawn (More I must mow!)
For future pool put underground,
A grill and screened-in patio,
And fence so pets can run around.
* * * * *
We've since moved in and now know how
A home affects a family.
The years have passed. I'm happy now.
We've added daughter number three.
To save on gas, I walk to work.
I carry lunch and no new cars.
My second job is hardware clerk.
I've sold my clubs and quit cigars.
Instead of crabs, we buy sardines.
No more expensive suits or gowns.
In place of steaks, it's franks and beans,
And younger girls wear hand-me-downs.
A lower temp to save on heat,
From pure-bred pets to shelter strays,
No gyms to jog, we have our street,
And no more concerts, trips, or plays.
More years ahead of steady debts,
But we're content to pay the price.
The five of us have no regrets.
We've learned to live with sacrifice.
A dream house we now occupy.
I'm feeling masculine inside.
I'm filled with pride when home I spy.
My family is satisfied.
Our Shame,
"PRESIDENT" & "LEADERS"
Full grown men,
old,
devoid of vision,
Lacking in wisdom,
wicked weaklings
protected by paltry paid gun men
great grandfathers,
unwilling to train Younger Leaders.
Untrained themselves in morals & reputation,
Liars,
Tired & fickle in frame,
feeble. opaque, lacking imagination,
These exalted clowns,
drawn from rickety defeated military,
All but a weak one from the creek.
Gangsters,
Elevated as Presidents,
or Governors and Leaders,
We are Trapped,
fooled by cynosure of degenerate,
immoral men, destinies robbers,
watching the drowning of a once rich Giant.
confined felon,
demented through age
rogues as Presidents, Senators, Governors,
Protected by corrupt Police
and a demystified compromised Army,
Oppressive DSS, Abusive servants of the masses,
robbing the future of unborn kids,
denying all in the midst of Plenty,
shaming us all.
We have no Leaders Yet.
None since 1960.
Profligate band of men,
overtaken by fraud & moral turpitude,
A merry-go-round by failures,
sixty Plus years after Muzungu,
Illiterates still in charge of our destinies,
Despised in Ghana
scorned in Zambia
Overtaken by Ethiopians
locked out by Botswana
Denied by Rwanda
disgraced in Libya
Mocked in South Africa
Bared in sane countries
where corruption is an indelible blot,
incarcerating the guilty away from sane men.
These crooked Old recycled Failures,
Destroyed, ruined and damaged destroying still.
unwilling to retire in their dishonour,
Killing, abusing and incarcerating Young men who dares tyranny.
A former Giant,
Now a Crawling Giant of Africa,
Beggarly borrowing amidst plenty.
Over two hundred million divided mass,
waiting for “godot” .
procrastinating liberty for fear and docility
A country of Countries Ruined by Military men
masquerading as democrats through tyranny
A Cancer in Africa.
Oh how I love the temperate zone!
When all four seasons manifest.
One by one they’ve come and gone;
Rebirth of each now deemed the best.
But just as one becomes too long,
And tired of the wait,
I yearn transition to the next.
Like old familiar friends abate.
Pristine rebirth from yearly rest,
A welcomed change to clean the slate.
The early green breaks through the snow.
Sequence of hues above the ground,
As each, in time, becomes mature
And colored blooms abound.
And even while the flowers drop
Wilted pallet profligate
In clumps upon the ground
The trees begin to foliate
Then offer up their fruit and seeds
And prove they’re worth your wait.
Then mostly greens are left for months
The chlorophyll to harness light
The growth now earnest in its race
For bush and tree in girth and height
As flora taps the energy
Of solar juice in space and time
The yearly growth a welcomed sign
That life is not a static force
But Mother Earth’s dynamic vine.
First autumn creeps, then rushes in.
As life slows down and now the wane
Of foliage yields brilliant hues
In splashes on the mountain tops
Till last leaves fall and color drains
The hardwood trees now bare and bleak
And only evergreens remain
The frozen ground and dormant tree
Announcing winter’s reign
As all life rests and lays in wait
For spring to come again.
Sad that once I immersed myself in bitter feuds
Add them to early years consumed by madding fears,
Clad in times, as well, by lingering angry interludes
Had I not spent a profligate youth in pubs with beers.
Lest one think my whole life was lived entirely in vain
Best consider the times when good values prevailed,
Blest by sunshine, better angels conquered the pain
Rest assured, in life, one could say I have not failed.
FIRST PLACE WINNER
written June 8, 2021
for "Lento - 8 Lines" Poetry Contest
sponsored by Joseph May
The mean temperature for January two thousand and six (thus far)
noticeably above the norm for this time of year
prognosticators foretell various forecasts per this third planet from the star
which inhabitants upon Mother Earth burden of responsibility must bear
billions of people wanton pollutants ratchet up barometric millibar
dialing up greenhouse effect, which serious scenario scientists fear
correlation from profligate offal ways traced from freed genie in the jar
no longer stretch of imagination affects mankind did sear
since day of reckoning whence Prometheus set stage for war
pitting mankind against Gaia messages we fail to hear.
No gas in Nashville,
Palin Posturing,
A nation deceived by identity politics and the pernicious sting of white privilege,
Countries spoiled by profligate consumption,
Chinese writhing under the weight of Mao’s legacy,
The earth mourns the blood spilled by the sport of the hunt,
Drilling, drilling!!
Raping the very dust that birthed us,
Lord Yahweh, Vishnu, Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, and Krishna,
I can see you on your throne, weeping, screaming to your progeny,
Wake up my children, Wake up!!
I’m watching a movie about Oskar Schindler
Who I assumed was just another profligate swindler
A hedonistic man if ever there was one
Great in business but involved with despicable scum
Self serving, self righteous, and all so shiny
Making deals with the Nazi and Stasi so slimy
Both parties would party in plentiful prosperity
Whilst Jews lives were extinguished in eternal enmity
It seems Oskar Schindler was a complicated man
His conscience saw him device a Machiavellian plan
And thus Amon Goth was recruited unwittingly
Oh how the irony fits so felicitously
Goth was a monster in a Nazi uniform
For millions of Jews all hope was forlorn
Ferocious with a rifle fired from high above
Killing contemptible Jews was his only true love
Schindler’s right hand man was a clever little Jew
Itzhak Stern the accountant held it all together like glue
Money man, manipulator,
prisoner, humanitarian
Obviously a deadly threat to the almighty Aryan
Together they devised a devious List
Removing Jews from amongst Amon Goths midst
1000s were deemed necessary for Oskar’s labour
Released with a bribe or the promise of a favour
Escaping certain death at the concentration camp
Because their papers were mercifuly marked with a stamp
Unlike the 6,000,000 other lost Jewish souls
Discarded like trash enmasse in unmarked holes
These men, woman and children led purposeful lives
Their progeny proceeding, propagating to thrive
Greatness was not what Oskar Schindler had attempted
He could not save ONE more, on that he lamented
History must never be allowed to repeat
There may be no other man that achieves such a feat
Profligate, purger with a preservation plan
In Oskar Schindler lies the duality of man
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
~William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act V, Scene I
I weep by a stardust shore where the seraphs sing
Tangerine tears rain despair 'neath a velveteen veil
My melancholic muse, muslin-wrapped in ice-cold caskets
Slain by ruinous romance swirled in absinthe abstractions
Despondent sloughs bespoke the depths of my soul
Saffron scars scream sonnets through metaphorical mists
Oh, how morose melodies paint scabs over pastiche strophe
Pregnant pause, so precious, submerged in lurid lament
But then it whispered, a voice unvarnished by purple plumes
A verse, it bloomed, untainted by thesaurus bleeds
Sculpting off silken scaffolds pasted upon profligate poetry
Leaving a profounder palate for plainer prosody
Fools thought wisdom speak in sequin-laced soliloquy
But wise men abrades from calligraphic charade
Again these men comes to mind,
Paid to say yes and nay,
Lame duck,
Canker, ***** rapscallion minds
Incorrigible,
Political impostors detached from the humdrum of street cries
Maggots in honor
Damp squib temples of legislators
Dishonorable honorable,
Rotund circles of rascals
Fellows fit for the gallows
Clamping on huge figures,
While masses groan in penury and misery
These men,
Myopic spendthrift
Guilty of our nation’s scraggy state
Yet so confused to order the path of the clueless dummy
Who imposed tax on all, by military orders
Ignoring the pleas, and rightful protesters
Turned tyrannical with marching murderer on Lagos Street
Their gains is from the pain of myriads of unemployed
The beggars,
The homeless,
Hungering and the dying,
Yet, these,
Profligate band of quipster
Queasy brains,
Feigning parliamentary proceedings,
Though,
Benighted of procedural skills,
Bootleg insane scoundrels
Go to now, you dunce,
Senators are no thief
Legislators are honorable men
Your reputation!
Mud eaten,
Ask the people, they know so well,
Your inscriptions are carved on the web
The insignia of corrupt men
You pride faded,
Honor, a high price you must pay to regain,
Not with money
You banter and wade it off,
Glory in these,
Your temporal pride,
Your mansions outlive you,
Your coffins called cars
Your billions in Zurich,
Your fears to face the people
And the mockery of Truth
When your time is over,
Time shall mock your reigns of folly,
With sicknesses of nameless brand,
Retrospectively,
Sufferers will call to mind, the avoidable denials,
Their pains, their poverty in your pride against your master- THE PEOPLE,
Welcome to your misery
as the masses will watch you die
rascal of usurps seats of honor, don’t call them fools.
I sit, in torment, striving to succeed in a world that would not have me,
I am the battered women of old, I am the persecuted Jeremiah, I am
schizophrenic soldiers
tormented by their own insight into unseen realms of beauty,
But in the darkness, I sit in the season of Bethel,
And see Jacob’s ladder, Angels descending and ascending on the Son of Man,
Free to roam and explore,
Sheep and Goats together in profligate euphony,
I am a woman, forsaken, who would not stop believing in beauty,
I am a man, in a world that could not understand him,
Raging against the fire of my own fear, to transcend to unseen lightning,
When you see the sign of moon and star,
Know that the Earth’s redemption is at hand,
And imagine.
A glib giant of the river borders
The discerning ears of the ancient Power, we mourn
Where caravans cascade to unseen voices
And the rumbling of avalanche bullets invades our peace
This mind captured it with a piercing eye
From river “Nun”
ere wasting wore garbs of gloom
this savage brandishing of the source of livelihood
Wiwa's blood spills, as the Khaki boys obeyed their paymaster
Profligate bands in union vexed by demons hunt sane men "like partridges"
With arms, murderous Pirates just for greed offers bullets as our prize
Subdued our river for gain never known.
Ruined face-stretching pains like coverless carpet
A reservoir of floods tumbles through the eye gates,
Our rich resources ploughed by strangers,
Where is Royal Dutch Shell? or Schlumberger, where is Chevron, Total
when we are hungry,
when we die, of pollution,
where is Petrobras, Equinor or Agip
when we mourn the damage on our offspring
we are silenced by the tyrants in Aso.
Insipid insanity of blood brothers ignored safety
Our tyrants cared for the gains
and for gains, Wiwa was murdered,
And a Massacre in Odi
Kill them all, says the goggled tyrant,
Take the gains to Zurich, I will spend it tomorrow,
but like Mobutu, he never lived to count the cash
For their greed, we die.
As these Lords watch the drama, smiling at our folly
From the coast of ivory, where children groan in pain for jewels
to war-ravaged Sudan, famished by the same burden
and like Esau, we trade the future for ephemeral
And obliterating while reenacting the trade of yore
unending wars for greed, a blinding greed
Who will save these captives from the taskmasters?
Cocoa harvested in Ghana, Indonesia et al, yet not a chocolate plant
but this coffee is not from Ghana,
the Chocolate bar is sent back at the dollar price
Nigeria is rich with crude
Yet they meander around a refinery from far off climes
Congo is ravaged in war, who supplies the arm?
Oh! for a taste of Freedom
Jequetha’s Storm
Early one morning, Jequetha, sat listening to naughty by nature lyrics.
She knew that it was a special day, for she saw her sign in the night sky.
She was forlorn by the sounds which she heard around her.
Sad sounds of men and women in pain, inflicting wounds self doubt in retaliation.
And the screams of children crying out for the earth.
And she began to pray, “Mama Mary!! Black Mama who guides my steps! I feel a
storm comin’! Make it right Mama!! Make it right!”
And as the tears ran down her face, she knew she had a place in the beginnings
of things.
And her mother came into her room and said, “Baby, you’s gon’ bring the
whirlwind!!”
“Cause there’s mad men who done gone crazy and they believe that troops can
solve the cracks and sores deep within. But you will be a balm, baby!! For
Gilead shines through you. And because of you the world will know of God’s
mercy. For God’s angry, but God’s love too !! God’s love too!”
And Jequetha rose up and ran out into the night stars begging the forces of day
to force the stars to shine brighter, for lighter days are coming.”
Lighter days are coming, for storms are not always the end, but sometimes the
beginning.
Innocent men dying on crosses are nothing new.
Innocent men on rows of death sentences scream out to the cosmos for a
requiem.
And God smiles, for many think they know the one! But they shun the son, who
built the sun.
Fast and Pray, that’s what the angels say.
Cause a storm is comin’!
For sons and daughters shall prophecy and the birds will fly in formations of war
against black widows weaving webs of deceptions.
For all tyrants will know the heat of honest requiem.
And all valleys will be brought high, through the songs of Yoruba angels shouting
Metakayase.
Buddhist Christian prophets rise from the south and come west.
Bipolar warriors heal with profligate abandon.
And University Deans step into the war zone, to bring the scent of victory.
I tell you a storm is coming!!
And it shall be wondrous!!
And it shall change the face of clone armies of greed, feending for the next nut, to
spew relentless jism over single mothers working 3 jobs.
For sons and daughters shall prophecy and the world will know revolution.
No matter unseasonably
blustery March like weather
prevails across my neck of the woods
(Southeastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania)
and across the main body
of these United States of America
particularly original Thirteen Colonies
global warming alive and well
and promises to return
with a vengeance
after station identification.
Find out pertinent ice age accouterments;
gear up as soon as possible
with suitable and necessary arctic trappings
by accessing without delay
https://icetrek.com/equipment-guide.
Researchers used data on Earth's orbit
to find the historical warm
interglacial period that looks
most like the current one
and predicted that the next ice age
would usually begin within 1,500 years.
Now back to regularly scheduled program
donned and trumpeted as poetic blurb.
Incumbent onus warrants immediate action
to stem tide of global warming
or erect breakers to thwart dire crisis,
cuz figurative and literal tsunami
in the offing gathering strength.
Plethora of humans (think overpopulation)
directly linkedin to planet Earth dire strait
re: environmental catastrophe, née debacle
teeters along brink tipping point inevitably
pitching civilization headlong into oblivion
*****sapiens (minus those living off grid)
admirably self sufficient unto themselves,
perhaps ecological intentional community
while yours truly, one guilt ridden wordsmith
laments impacting minimal carbon footprint
(courtesy these thankful little feet size nine+)
nonetheless psychological torment wracks
lovely bones garden variety/generic human
specifically comprising complex edifice me
Matthew Scott Harris riven with loathsome
abomination, constipation, indignation, et al
mustered, tethered, yoked into capitalistic,
commercialistic, consumeristic ditto et alia
versus altruistic holistic, simplistic again re:
call synonymous words regarding contrast
between belching, exhausting, and polluting
(naming three adjectives describing impact
predominantly nsync with prophetic albeit,
profit oriented profligate, profane paradigm
unleashing immense global carbon emissions.