Best Rationalized Poems
He made me ponder my greatest fear
not ghosts nor goblins grinning ear to ear
The one that I really fear most
is the one peering back from the mirror
Is he real or will he just disappear
Will anyone remember he was ever here
That person I present
the one white washed and sanitized
representing the best of me
So I become a dim copy rationalized
Manicured, self fantasized
Will my true self ever be realized
Or am I destined to be compartmentalized
packaged pretty, thoughts pasteurized
Does anyone else worry
what others might discover
A mother wife sister or brother
The dark thoughts that make us shudder
that choke the brain and threaten to smother
If they could see inside would they run for cover
So we protect them and ourselves
keep bits hidden away on shelves
Screaming for release but afraid
what might happen if someone tells
We ain't always pretty, stagnant water smells
Instead bang the gong and ring the bells
If it's inside release it with yells
What will happen if we face our thoughts
Is it really us maybe it's not
Are we just scared boys and girls tied in knots
Trying to push it all down deeper
that stuff we've been taught
Take aim, release those expectations
another life can't be bought
Make the best of the one you've got!
For "What you Fear Most" contest.
Categories:
rationalized, angst, conflict, fear, growth,
Form:
Rhyme
no storyline can thrive to throw off loves balance,
to purposely paint a picture to detour its countenance,
the stroke of the pen changing in every moments release,
unconditional love neverending in beauty with each piece,
to place the heart back in its proper alignment,
in the changing of each moment with loves new assignment,
in the blink of an eye the storyline can change,
the plot, the characters, don't always end up the same way,
what you expected at the end of the story to be,
what you thought you rationalized becomes the opposite of what is seen,
love can thrive in ways past our own understanding,
the pace of his heart, God's happy ending...
Categories:
rationalized, love,
Form:
Rhyme
They stay in the background
stating a useless union still self-centered
powerless, ill-prepared, inept entity of promises,
the verbiage of false hopes with all the dos and donts,
watching, waiting, predicting, and anticipating
another's demise into servitude rationalized
with lie and innuendo, pseudo promises, outright lie,
treaties made never intended to be kept;
an envious and jealous desire of possession
over control, land and people, ever transitory
it never seems to end, forgetful of history's lessons
never once learning the realities of truth;
self-indulgent arrogance and ignorance
internal self-gratification to be more
bound by useless rhetoric and threat
and the human race reverts ever backward;
how long do we watch from distant shores?
as humanity fades into the past aggressions
back to the dust and earth in regression
of time in restart?
Categories:
rationalized, absence, betrayal, corruption,
Form:
Blank verse
Chose a Title; Naïve Faith, Sponsor – Edward Ibeh – 8-27-25
Naïve synonyms: callow, guileless, innocent, pure, genuine, honest, simple, sincere
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naïve Faith
Callow faith walks with wide eyes
In playgrounds littered with stark cunning
When adorned innocence
Seeks to soar where angels fly
Not blinded by fool’s gold
Nor looted by evil’s glittery tinsel
Or minds darkened by drugs of ebony
That plagiarizes honesty
With rationalized temptations
In ravished glamour.
Artless faith, clothed by incorruptible purity,
Shivers when simplicity senses
A wrinkle in infinity -
Guileless belief skirts gullible’s traps
Clothed in a gift of sight.
When beastly motives
Try to sideswipe honesty
With glitz and jewels of paste
Dangling shiny promises with dark underbellies
Naive faith, clothed in discernment,
Sees with candid clarity.
The rose still blooms despite attacks
By mold or mildewed rust
The sun still wakes the dawn
Even when eclipsed
Crowned by a faultless corona
As stars refuse to enter black holes
Faith embraces the innocent.
Categories:
rationalized, faith,
Form:
Free verse
Million Man March
Men of all sides tear the land apart
Marching band drums Bark
Trumpets blare Sparks
Sitting in the back like Rosa Parks
See what's in the front that's Dark
Watching the sharks
The only flag we pledge allegiance to is Unified
Freedom liberty will not be rationalized
Anything less Will not pacify
World wide
Alliance strategize
All lies we magnify
I'm just one of the leaders leading the band
Secret plans
Chairman in chain of command
New secret society
No illuminati
Peace on earth is the philosophy
Beautiful minds full of ideologies
Now I believe in astrology
Feel like the stars guiding me
Truth seekers they don't hide they seek
Lost an found we find the truth an keep
Reach for the stars an take stars for dreams
Then we shoot shooting stars to dreamers to weave
Cause dreamchasers
Its dream killers
Dreamstealers
Jeepers creepers
We the redeemers
With enough power I would overthrow these governments
No democrat
Or republican
Following the footsteps of Harriet Tubman
An Leon Howard Sullivan
The ground cracks while we marching
Turn the bright sky into darkness
With a Blood Moon Sparkling
Lightning startling
Thunder barking
Invasion of aliens martains
We the new beings looking to harvest
Settin the flame I'm the arsenist
Fire in me arsenic
Respect for Earth an Nature
So the Universe has us Favored
Categories:
rationalized, community, encouraging, freedom, international,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
I waited... I surmised
I know I agonized
Of course... I never realized
Springtime was disguised
I pondered... I personalized
I know I criticized
Of course... I never recognized
Spring had improvised
I questioned... I vocalized
I know I dramatized
Of course... I verbalized
Spring had not arrived
I charted... I analyzed
I know I hypothesized
Of course... I never was more surprised
A third Nor'easter materialized
I remember... I fantasized
I know I rationalized
Of course... I never romanticized
That spring would be winterized
April 4, 2018
For Michael Vacek's Spring Monorhyme Contest
Categories:
rationalized, angst, april, conflict, nature,
Form:
Monorhyme
It is not like these restaurants in America
with their sterile atmospheres: slick new furniture,
stylized art, ambient lights, and every angle
rationalized to the judgment of specialized interests.
It is a restaurant filled with details,
inviting customers to take in an experience while eating and drinking,
to converse casually and caress senses
with a collage of décor less convenient.
One side is open to the city,
looking out on multi-story hotels with lush landscaping,
palm frond trees and a pine tree
with spreading branches and a green cloud of needles above any tourists.
Short squat curved posts hold up a wide concrete rail
with two bouquets of flowers on it: one has small yellow blooms
while the other has white daises mixed with tiny red blooms.
A Mediterranean influence can be seen in columns
supporting a large opening onto the street.
It is also present in a mural painted on the wall.
In the mural a tall woman baring her breasts
looks down on an angel reaching out to her,
below them is a rural town and above them two puffy white clouds.
Painted around the kitchen doorway’s edge is a grapevine.
Near the doorway a statue of a nude child blows a horn.
At his feet are a bouquet of daises and some yellow candles.
In the center of the room is a wide wood column,
on which appears a green copper statue of a woman in a long dress,
holding a large round bouquet of live yellow daisies above her head.
There are four groups of people in the restaurant.
Two are near the wall.
Two are in the center of the room.
All sit at round tables draped with white linen trimmed with intricate patterns.
The chairs are curved with no angles.
Two small rams’ heads are carved on the top back pieces of each chair.
Each table has a bouquet of red flowers and a large yellow candle.
Customers drink beer from green bottles and tall clear glasses.
A waiter rushes out with the empties.
A man with a dark complexion, thick hair, and mustache
beams with friendly eyes and expressive hands
talking about things that interest common people.
For him common, in his place of impractical details.
For travelers far away from their bare, stripped, planned environment
his speech has a life that is new, different,
paced with living rather than practiced in haste.
Categories:
rationalized, america, drink, food, imagery,
Form:
Free verse
Twinkly bunch with loaded school bags
Ambition injustice and itching their backs,
Cunning those faces in front of the gate
Heedful pupils well-chosen apparently late.
A fistful primary breeziness
Shared with smiles, tears and silliness,
Together they brawled, together they fiddled
At times they often complained to be differentiated.
Kiddo little minds and parents appeared unjustified
They cried, they blamed and they lazed,
Loaded by books and rat raced tutelage
They pass by a very dignified teen-age.
Out from the custody of cynosure
Together they stepped towards Lyceum liberty,
Few were classed and few remained united
The formers became edified and rests were unidentified.
A masked – small compliments and the evening aloha
The river side sunset appeared to be ambiguous –
A fiesta time boogie and the overnight cockeyed
At times such occasions made them to blab out their twinkly time.
Grown up as buddies and with time they rationalized
Affairs, status and outlook made them more gratified,
Traits made them parted and one cried in solitary
The formers humiliated the frailer and the frailer remained solely.
Lost in their computations, explores and technological justifications
Few carried out degree uprightly and few were abased shamefully,
Bucketed with knowledge, numbers, meetings and self-worth
They neglected those twinkly smiles who were grown up with assorted life.
Few became responsible and few got hold of ménage
Few were invited and rests seemed out of the sight.
Hearsays few get together known to be friendly trinity
Yet there also they lived with different hierarchy.
Left away life they sacrificed the age of assorted life
One who lived with it can now front the barbarous life.
They lost themselves to their twinkly buddies’ mobilization
Upcoming in their lives they will surly come by friendly exoneration.
Dated: 18/01/2010
Categories:
rationalized, friendshiptime, together,
Form:
Narrative
Inner demons tear me apart
Night and day
Today, tomorrow and in the days to come perhaps.
Relentless torment of the soul
Obliterating rational thought
Seeking to show the meanderings and
Peccadilloes of fickle fate
Ennervating desire and drive
Cleverly rationalized by reason
Towards a life of constant strife
Inching steadily to depression
Ornate with self-pity and regret
Notwithstanding the little altruistic acts.
~ 23 Jun 2016~
Contest: Introspection - Acrostic sponsored by John Hamilton
Categories:
rationalized, depression, emotions, wisdom,
Form:
Acrostic
Merely Choices
Millions of hugs and millions of kisses are missing
So too those glorious days for reminiscing
Too many balls and too many dolls never played with
Sixty million laughing voices, silenced as merely choices
We now ride with young Willie McBride
But you will never sit at our graveside
For us there are no white crosses, no names upon a wall
No one’s even heard our voices, we are gone as merely choices
No glory, no honor, no eternal flame
No laughing, no crying, no chance at a game
Our demise rationalized as a right
Since we had not a voice, we were extinguished as merely a choice
But we are a living heavenly chorus
Singing out that you might not ignore us
We were butchered on an alter deemed progress
Sixty million silent voices, sacrificed as merely choices
Categories:
rationalized, abortion, baby, child, culture,
Form:
Free verse
When we start off
one rarely realizes
all the true scientific
downstream consequences
of our original acts
When we hear the key
click in the car's ignition
we know it revs up
the entirety of the
auto industry complex
When we go out
to the grocery and
we pick up dozens
of pretty plastic packages
this vaults the massive
merchandise market forward
When deniers proudly posit
Climate Change is cyclical
and can correct itself
then they claim that only
they see absolute answers
proofs of holy writs and works
just as science seems so
godless in their minds
When each misguided decision
begets further derision
begging rationalized conclusions
bringing on dire resolutions
When denial shrewdly spreads
it tortures the truth
basic beliefs get gleefully tossed
so human is our concern
we truly never do learn
that denial can be final
When intellectual infractions
can't weather weak actions
are actually appalling
to the masses befalling
those who huddle and muddle
trembling in their fears
When plunderers are parading
as species are fading
while insidiously invading
our innocence ever near
When putting denial on trial
cautious whispers little hissings
crossing corridors of debate
truth continually comes too late
a well-hidden worn word
is the one least often heard
hence hard logic gets slurred
woefully ends in the absurd
Categories:
rationalized, change, environment, fear, god,
Form:
Free verse
DOUGD.
Doug.
A pity – a shrug
No good-bye party not even a shake or a hug
Fall for all the system takes
Institutionalized
A programmed criminal – an imprisoned thug
Excuse and rationalized
Convicted lizards – parolee bug
Should have stuck with sprinkling life with your spice
Freedom was not enough – so now pay the price.
A dangerous animal Ant farm of insects
Mindy Joe deserved better than you.
Smart and able to see a lie from what is true.
So which tragic way Doug must go through
Violated parole. - Down in the hole
A tempered sword, A tempered soul.
Friends of far between and few
To succeed or to suck eggs? Which is the goal?
Doug has dug his own little grave,
Within it a cage
Inside is so empty The outside – now gone- is now so. Full.
Categories:
rationalized, sad, sympathy,
Form:
Free verse
Tired of all the takers always finding myself surrounded by losers.
Wondering if there are any givers left in this fictional society
we have built ourselves?
Spending too much time reflecting on the limited sight of minds continuously immersed in dribble, gossip, humdrum activities, fanatical escapades, unnecessary violence, politics, reform, and ideology.
Minds that fail to consider the foundation and that everything in their worlds is based on someone else's idea of what should, or should not be.
Not realizing that society is a fantasy that has stagnated and is,
in essence, a fantasy world.
Not changing perspective to rise above the perceived
instead complaining about the mundane.
Yesterday's fiction is today's reality and tomorrow's history to be dissected, picked apart, rationalized and set aside with no real resolution,
answer or insight.
Maybe I am a fixer in need of fixing,
or maybe that's just your perception of me.
Categories:
rationalized, confusion, fantasy, irony, muse,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
It’s called “Holy War”, “Jihad”,
Murder in the name of God.
Don’t you think that’s odd?
But what is a “Holy War”?
But a contradiction in terms for sure.
Since Caine killed Able,
The cards on the table,
Read “Dead Man’s Hand”.
Blood in the sand,
And blood on the Sun
By fools and tyrants wars are begun,
And not all the killing done,
Is in the name of country and freedom.
It’s the murder of a mother’s son,
The killing of a wife’s husband,
Tearing away of a child’s father or mother…
But God said to love one another,
Not to slay your sister or brother.
Rationalized evil deeds,
Planting foul seeds,
In our innocent young.
Handing children guns,
Taught to shoot the “Unholy Ones”,
Raised on a doctrine of hate,
To sacrifice themselves is their fate.
A “Holy Crusade” for Christianity…?
But there was no Christ in that insanity!
Thousands of years of war,
And what’s it all been for?
There are no real victors or winners,
Just losers, killers, and sinners.
Whether it’s a Holy Crusade for Christ,
Or Jihad in the name of God,
We all must pay the price.
If you kill for religion’s sake you’re a fraud.
Pretending to be doing God’s bidding,
But who do you think you are kidding?
It’s just murder for murder’s sake,
And it’s Satan who your soul will take…
God does not sanction the killing,
Rationalized in his name.
And Christ will not save those who are willing,
To murder innocents doing the same.
Religious zealots commit suicide,
Thinking they’ll still go to Heaven.
But they’re in for a surprising downward ride,
When it’s hell that they will wind up in.
For God is all about peace and love,
Only mankind is capable of hate.
A judgment will come down from above,
And all must accept their eternal fate.
Killing in the name of God or Christ,
Is like rolling snake eyes on the dice.
You can only really lose,
Not only your life, but your soul.
Eternal damnation is the toll.
But if this is the path you choose,
You may live inside a religious ruse,
And let the devil be your muse.
It’s absolute madness on the whole.
You’re flying in the face of God,
And don’t you think it’s a little bit odd,
That He keeps you at His arm’s length,
Though you try with all your strength.
You poor old wretched sod.
Categories:
rationalized, allah, allusion, analogy, god,
Form:
Rhyme
I’ve rationalized my way to that point again.
There seemed to be a good reason to start (using),
And a reason to follow it up, for just a couple days.
“Get it out of my system.” I may say.
I’ll think of some way or another of writing it off when I need to.
But by the final time I am reaching for it, I know the reason I began made no real sense at all.
Categories:
rationalized, confusion, depression, introspection, recovery
Form: