Best Rankings Poems
All heads are bowed in Soup Creek today
The town’s elder statesman has passed on his way
A gentleman true whose tongue wasn’t forked
To whom people listened whenever he talked
But when others spoke he would cheer or applaud
Whatever their nation, whomever their Lord
His words rarely barbed and only when apt
And usually only when friends were attacked
The name of this man, held so high in the rankings
None other than L (call me Milt) Milton Hankins
A man of belief with a deep ingrained faith
Who found time aplenty for each stray and waif
It’s quiet today in the town of Soup Creek
There’s a humungous chasm… so to speak
It’s like something’s missing for one and for all
It’s like someone’s stolen the church and town hall
Soup Creek, a town with its spirit ripped out
But Milton left town as a man in no doubt
That Soup Creek would thrive on his foundations laid
His legacy being the friends that he’d made
A sage and a mentor whose work here is done
A scribe with adventures, brand new, just begun
I dreamed in the night that a light lit his land
And his good lady wife said, “Milt, take my hand.”
So many people complain when they lose
To gain better rankings, judges they schmooze
And if they don’t place, their egos are bruised
They even use blogs simply to recuse
To some extent, these attacks may amuse
But their true intent is to light a fuse
Comments from favor seekers surely ooze
Superlatives they always overuse
They don’t know how to give honest reviews
“Luv” is a word they quite often misuse
Seeking to have their poems perused
But tell them the truth and they’ll sing the blues
It’s a game of getting comments and views
If you don’t play, they will transfuse
Words of anger from an inadequate muse
She is faithful to poetry
( Yours and mine)
In the rankings
She has not sold her mind
When readers disappear
As I get near
Or their comments do
Year after year
Valsa George is there
Reading, encouraging
Not fretting, fearing
Ranking in a universe
Of billions of suns
Like our little star, so strong
Maybe in another lifetime
There will be no classifications or
generalizations, nor discriminations.
Stereotypical consultations of
people with no limitations of racial
inclinations.
Shall external images forever
dominate?
With eliminating of faces who do
not pass on rankings.
God-forsaken souls trapped in
bodies with boundaries.
Bodies trapped in bordered
countries.
Why all these restrictions and secret
encriptions leading our lives as
fiction?
Will money forever define our
positions?
Situations now rely on taxation and
all other government operations.
Water, housing and education are
more complications.
Should politicians and officials be
making such conditions?
When will crime come to a stop?
As society live with their own
possessions fearsomely and
indelinquents carry on fiercely.
Fraudulent activities continue and
surprisingly the "supposed-to-be-
behind-bars" live freely.
How do the innocent live as
prisoners and criminals feel a full
force of Uhuru?
Perhaps in another lifetime will
there be no indications of such
implications.
Money, appearance and crime will
be nothing more than a waste of
time.
But not in this life, maybe in
another life time!
Dear Poetry Soup: I was wondering what formula you use to choose Best Poets
Here, including Best New Poets and Best Poets in last 2 weeks. In other words what
is the criteria you use that determines these rankings? I'm sure that many new members
who post here would also like to know what procedure is used for their knowledge so they
can proceed accordingly.
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Robert William Gruhn
Trade tired trust
Ripe remains rust
Aim apt align
Pure pleasure pines
Troubles toss treat
Reach random rest
Asking attests
Pause plunders pit
Teach treatment tales
Rest rowdy rail
Ask approves ale
Paint placards pale
Thrill tales telling
Ride rich rankings
Apply apt aid
Playthings ply paid
Tribe teachings test
Ripe ramblings rest
Amend artwork
Plenty prompts perks
Trip takes true times
Rouse remote rhymes
After aids abstract
Ploy provides pact
Trouble times trap
Rich readings rap
Amuse attend
Play plus pretend
Leon Enriquez
15 May 2014
Singapore
Google, Amazon, Yahoo and Bing
Search engines with algorithms that swing
Keywords, rankings each tell their own unique tale
of failure or success, with every new sale
Twitter, Google and Facebook matter
Social networking to increase relevant chatter
The Internet is a world of its own
Clicking on links, a habit now grown
Website owners pay for impressions
Others make video sessions
Promotion and advertising are in the lead
Interesting news delivered as a feed
Whatever the topic be it books or crooks
The Internet delivers all of these, disguised beneath good looks
Sex, drugs, pedophiles
Lunatics searching for juveniles
Harmful beings are on the loose
Bullies are trying to tighten the noose!
ANGELS
Giant winged man found in many various religion;
Zoroastrianism, angels depicted benevolent celestial beings;
Angels, angels my thologies in Abrahamic religions;
Angels, angels whom do you believe what you are seeing;
Angels
Who act as intermediaries between God and Heaven;
Other roles of angels protecting and guiding human beings;
Carrying out God's tasks religions, angels within Abrahamic;
Angels, angels ahh!, yes I do believe in them;
Are often organized into hierarchies;
Angels, angels given specific names or titles like these;
Such rankings vary between sects in each religions;
Such as Gabriel, Micheal or "Destroying angel" flees
"Angel" expanded to various notions of spirits;
Angels figures found in other religious traditions;
Angels closed to God and man close so near it;
Angels theological study of angels is known as "angelology" conditions;
Angels who were expelled from Heaven are referred to as fallen angels;
Angels In fine art depicted as having shapes of human extraordinary beauty;
Angels, angel they are often identified using the symbols
Language of men angels bilingual;
Of bird wings, halos and light;
Alas these are the angels of God and Christ;
8/05/18
©2018
For New Rhyming Poems On Angels Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Emile Pinet
It was the time when art was king,
Of artists whose praises we all sing.
Great minds there were in the Renaissance,
Through eons , unsurpassed, with little advance.
Greatness was embodied in the works of art,
In Lorenzo's gardens did Michelangelo start.
But great there was one of Mona Lisa fame,
Master painter, inventor - Leonardo his name.
Contemporaries for sure, one really wonders
Of the two, whose work steals the thunders.
David, the Pieta, Sistine Chapel, and more
Everlasting they are through ages sure.
But then there's the Lisa, Last Supper, inventions galore.
On their ingenuity and genius, the world lays great store.
Can genius be bestowed in multiple men?
Can peace and tranquility be shared even then?
Can two kings sit and reign on one throne?
Or squabble and fight like two dogs with one bone?
And so, these men of unparallel fame
Were set by chance a mischievous game.
Asked they were to adorn the Council Hall
With paintings to settle rankings once and for all.
With gusto did the two set about
A Battle each to prove their clout.
Leonardo chose the battle of Anghiari;
Battle of Cascina was Michelangelo's quarry.
Great was the strife between the two,
Each strove hard for the other to outdo.
Of the rivalry ,I heard, - the worst of all,
Art was the victim - and the two took a fall.
Relates the great chronicler Vasari,Giorgio,
That the nadir of art was seen in the Palazzo Vecchio
As each of the greats thought little of their craft
But dallied and diddled, till the populace all laughed.
The Cascina on naked bathing soldiers was based
On the banks of the Arno it was placed.
But the scene that was rendered was so ludicrous
That his work, sadly, bordered on the ridiculous.
Leonardo's Anghiari was a shade grim
But his chances to greatness was very slim.
He used oils from Pliny the Elder's recipe
But soon these flaked , were smudgy, and drippy.
Be that as it may
To Art's great dismay
What should have been great works
Were diminished by Rivalry's quirks.
Vasari painted over these objets de art
And replaced these with his own from the start.
Now conservators do scan, to see if they can,
Which of the two, Leonardo or Michelangelo, was
The painter of the elusive Magnum Opus.
~18 Jun 2016~
No - I won't write for rankings or show
No - this doesn't have an eloquent flow
No - I don't like your pale, shoddy poetry
No - thanks, it's like cheap dime store toiletry
No - I won't play this sad, lame game
No - It's not a colossal pity or shame
No - Please don't cast your vote for me
No - This is not grand - I'm sure you'll agree
This was the worst ship disaster, with the greatest loss of life at sea
A German ship that was overloaded, with over 10,600 war refugees
Sank on the 30 January 1945 by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic sea
By Soviet Naval Officer, Captain Alexander Marinesko, who died 1963
Stranger than be; he was actually facing a court martial due to drink
So did this up his rankings, when as the Wilhelm Gustloff he did sink
Not so, by Oct 1945 the same year he was dishonourably discharged
After being lower from a Captain to a Lieutenant so was not life hard
No message gave that it carried refugees as it crossed the Baltic Sea
No war crime committed, carrying soldiers from the German military
The first torpedo hit the bow, as putting crew members out of action
Next hit a drained swim pool that held 373 ladies with a bad reaction
Third hit the engine rooms for Wilhelm Gustloff there is now no hope
With all of this the ship starting to portside, as began to rapidly slope
The ship carried on it four Captains, it was Friedrich Petersen's choice
To sail the ship with its navigation lights on, as the others gave voice
it was to miss a German mine sweeper convoy, coming head on in fog
This grubby weather made the rescue work of the survivors, hard flog
Though; it should be mentioned all four Captains survived the sinking
No information was found as to why, that is left, to your own thinking
Be 44 minutes after, the Wilhelm Gustloff ship was dangerously listing
Another six minutes, the ship sank bow up, her metal soul unresisting
Out of all the unlucky 10.600 passengers only 1,252 of them survived
Most lost to the very icy cold waters of the Baltic Sea, none as revived
Alas, of the 9,400 victims who died, 5,000 of them were, but, children
All those refugees wishing for a new life, they were hoping on building
After the war was over, the Soviets, returned to strip her, as in looted
Signs of hand-made damage, and detonators scarring her undisputed
Not one bit of evidence of human life on that ship was found to remain
Hiding the evidence of their blame, did though, not lessen their shame
In the aftermath of any competition, be it sports or otherwise...
We will see a gamut of emotions in the mass of humanity in sight..
There will be riotous screams of joy and jubilation, laughter and smiles galore..
Fist pumps and high fives, happy faces all around at the victorious camp.....
We readily quip, to the victor the spoils of a victory most deserving...
To the losers we empathise and wish them better luck next time...
To be fair, all players deserve recognition for there was none who participated just to lose...
So if we downplay any successes, it is not doing justice by the best efforts of our children...
Every junior player, we can safely assume, he/she has done the best possible...
Look at the blood, sweat and tears each time they train and play their hearts out...
Those who achieve personal bests and better their rankings, congratulations!
Those who falter, train and work harder, gear up and go for the next competition...
2016 Motor City Open Champion
It has to happened, this day has to come...
When a low ranking player defied the odds as they come..
In a place called the Motor City, showcasing a world squash tournament...
All the the world's best men squash players are gathered in numbers...
Ranked a modest 22 in the world ,there was Ali Farag from Egypt ..
Aged 23, he is a another young squash player from the Land Of The Pyramids..
Last year he was a 88th in world rankings, was knocked out in the 1st round..
Having won 3 PSA tournaments prior to Motor City, now he was a different man...
Ranked 7th in this Motor City Tournament, Ali Farag had a daunting path indeed...
For in the second round, there was the world number one , Mohd El Shorbagy...
Facing a young man stout in heart and full of confidence, Shorbagy was rattled...
The young turk, an upstart by his standards, was of the same high standard..
Shorbagy took the first, a close one it was, only to trailed in the next 2 games...
Shorbagy as world number one, he gave a mighty effort and won the 4th game..
Going into the final 5th game, no quarter was given, none were asked...
Point for point, they fought, probed each other's game as they rallied till the last...
The young Ali Farag, he showed the mettle of a champion to knock out his rival..
A final 12-10 win, and he has created the biggest upset win of this tournament....
Next round was the semifinals, world no.9 Mathieu Castagnet, a Frenchman ...
Ali Farag fought and rallied hard, emerging a 3-1 winner after a long 78 minutes..
When the finals next came along, highly experienced Nick Matthew was The Man...
As world no.3 squash superstar, Nick was just as eager to be a winner,...
Youth versus experience, a young upstart going up against the 35 year old Nick....
It was an engrossing match of top quality squash that lasted all but 50 minutes...
For when the chips were down and curtains about to fell, the youthful Ali Farag..
He presevered and showed his class, bedazzling Nick Matthew 3-1 in 50 minutes..
So it has come to past, the youngest ever champion there in Motor City Open...
Ali Farag from Egypt, he took out 3 top-10 players to emerge 2016 champion!!!!
WOW !!!
Sir where may I drive you
With your finery and trappings
To the world renowned palace
So high in the rankings
And what do you do there
For you plainly are princely
I order activity
Of circuits and machinery
Now leave me to working
While you do drive me
I know where you hail from
Of your far away kingdom
How could you know it
A mere village hackney
The tales of your queen
Are known in our country
Does the queen tell you kindly
That you're a fine scholar
Have you known a lord
To praise you a driver
I sing my own praises
To myself softly
What wisdom I have
That is enough for me
Tell me now of the princess
For whom shall she marry
I know not who warrants
There are too many vying
Name the three manners
That rise above others
Philosophy bravery
I can't name another
Here is the palace
The trip has passed quickly
I hope to drive you
Again if you need me
I will sing your praises
And I'll sing them loudly
What wisdom you have
That is enough for me
It is amazing yet so true about top notched sports stars...
There is always a time when they're the undisputed stars...
They'll be top seeded in all the major tournaments they entered in...
And unsurprisingly and unceasingly they perform to cement their top billing....
At such periods in time, their reign is sublime and they're the ones to beat...
Probably their aura of being top seeds quelled the fight out of many a lower seed..
Only in such periods when time seems to stand still as they reign supreme....
Best exemplified by Datuk Nicol Ann David who was 109months queen supreme ...
Like any other champion, she gets dethroned but she'll soon regain her top ranking...
But as age catches up, her subsequent reign is not going to be smooth sailing...
It's impossible for her to equal ever again that record setting 109months reign....
It took years for her exorable climb up to such a pinnacle of excellence...
For a champion, long hours and back breaking training sessions are unseen ......
And a professional teamwork are in place to ensure such perennial dominance...
But the fact remains, after a period of unceasing dominance....
All champions, whatever their game, will fade into the distant horizon...
Makes you wonder, stars of yesteyears, if age is not in the equation...
Will their mastery, skills and experience match new and upcoming champions?
Take a look at Datuk Lee Chong Wei in badminton, he was once the top honco...
Losing was never an option and his invincibility was an aura lesser players yield pronto...
After an unfortunate enforced lay off from badminton due to suspected drug misuse....
Therein lies several episodes of labourous climb back into the world rankings...
These days yesteryear champions are unceremoniously chucked out of rankings...
Each time an eager young turk charges into the finals and resets the ensuing rankings...