Best Rebel Yell Poems
Do you ever write….just to write
Just to let your heart explode
Into a kaleidoscope of word colors
Embellishing the page of someone's life?
Does everything have to be a contest?
Guided by a theme
You forget the dream
Of your own magnificent thoughts?
Do you ever write…just to write
To release that fantasy
That prowls around in that gilded cage
Not sage
Not tamed
But that wildness that you keep
hidden inside
oh so unbridled
savage!!
Let it go free
unleash it for me
Write!
Write and break the bars of norms and forms
Of expected rules and lines
Rhymes and syllable straight jacket crimes
Oh…do you ever write
to let that madness free?
Do you ever write…just so you can breathe
To let go of pain so deep
the scream that tears across the page
Primal rage
At all who did you wrong
Killed and butchered your song
Eating you alive
Demon cries
clothed in sheep words by others
Not you
Let it be heard
That rebel yell
From internal hell
"cleanse me!"
Let your tears drop on the page
spent of rage
Knowing I will feel
empathy symphony of kindred souls
Write
For YOU
Write
For ME
Write
For what will be
No contest consternation
Just…
an disrobing of "spirit's clad in veils"
a naked camaraderie
we are both the same
What a shame
To twist and turn
And dress to please
Someone whose
taste may be stale
Who knows not how to tease
PLEASE
Just
Write
For you
Write
For me
And that contest
for NOW
Just
LET IT BE!
I want to see
Your naked soul!
Eileen Manassian
The quotation is from Christopher Cranch's poem, Gnosis...I will share an
excerpt of this amazing poem...
Gnosis
THOUGHT is deeper than all speech,
Feeling deeper than all thought:
Souls to souls never can teach
What unto themselves was taught.
We are spirits clad in veils;
Man by man was never seen;
All our deep communing fails
To remove the shadowy screen.
Heart to heart was never known;
Mind with mind did never meet;
We are columns left alone
Of a temple once complete.
Like the stars that gem the sky,
Far apart though seeming near,
In our light we scattered lie;
All is thus but starlight here.
Christopher Cranch
So...let's disrobe and undress...without rules...Let's confess. Let our light
shine...not scattered but whole...body and soul.
The screen door slams behind me
As I rush out into the blinding sunlight
Wondering where my big brother is hiding
I better get to the pool before he finds me
And throws me into the ice cold water
That flows daily into the pool
From the cold mountain streams
Of the Elbrus Mountains
I have my pretty pink flowered bathing suit on
My second skin
I smile as I remember someone calling me a dolphin
When she saw me swimming in the water
Now I can’t wait to get in again
I feel the prickly yellowing grass beneath my feet
As I run toward the weeping willow….
My favorite tree in the whole compound
First phase of the run complete
I head toward the ancient mulberry tree
How I hate the squishiness under my toes
As I trample them in this patch of green
Where the grass is protected by the mighty branches
Of this gracious tree that provides us
An abundance of luscious fruit
We gather every summer in big bed sheets
As people up in the branches
Shake the tree
I’m on my final leg
Almost there
A rebel yell
And my brother swoops down on me
From behind the tree
I scream as I try to get away
But he sweeps me up in his arms
And runs the last few feet to the pool
I shriek at the top of my lungs
Which will probably bring my uncle out yelling
Awakened from his afternoon nap
I want to go into the pool gradually
By degrees…
To get my body used to the icy coldness
And so I beg to be released
We are there
At the edge of the pool
One sweeping motion
And water splashes up in rainbow sprays
As I sink below
Down into the icy depth at the deep end
Thinking this time my heart will stop
This time I will turn into a block of ice
And sink to the bottom
I will drown
A lifetime later
I break the surface and see him smiling down at me
The one who taught me how to swim
My strong older brother
Who would rescue me in a heartbeat
If need be...
I smile up at him
As I break into a smooth swim to the other side
Happy that he didn't let me play the fool
Standing at the edge of the pool
Waiting to come down the steps
By degrees
Waiting
To get lost
Into this liquid paradise
Of azure blue...
Eileen Manassian Ghali
He rode the wind on mighty steed
He drove it fast to gain more speed
To win maiden in noble deed
As he galloped in the night…
He found his damsel in distress
With dragon claws clutching her dress
Disheveled hair and heart astress
As he galloped within sight…
One swift leap and he came aground
His rebel yell a mighty sound
Courage to fight in her he found
As he strode into her plight…
She gazed at eyes of azure blue
A depth of love she never knew
For handsome knight so brave and true
As she held on with her might…
He sunk he sword in to the hilt
Dragon heart blood to ground was spilt
Caught the damsel about to wilt
As his valor set things right…
In his strong arms she found her place
She gazed into his angel face
Between their bodies not a space
As the night was tinged with light…
He bowed his head to plant a kiss
A song of love, no dragon hiss
Her world now filled with utter bliss
As to heaven they took flight….
For Isaiah Zerbest Medaeval contest
August 3, 2013
Redemption Knight
He rode the wind on mighty steed
He drove it fast to gain more speed
To win the maiden: noble deed
As he galloped in the night…
He found his damsel in distress
With dragon claws clutching her dress
Disheveled hair and heart astress
As he galloped within sight…
One swift leap and he came aground
His rebel yell a mighty sound
Courage to fight in her he found
As he strode into her plight…
She gazed at eyes of azure blue
A depth of love she never knew
For handsome knight so brave and true
As she held on with her might…
He sunk he sword in to the hilt
Dragon heart blood to ground was spilt
Caught the damsel about to wilt
As his valor set things right…
In his strong arms she found her place
She gazed into his angel face
Between their bodies not a space
As the night was tinged with light…
He bowed his head to plant a kiss
A song of love, no dragon hiss
Her world now filled with utter bliss
As to heaven they took flight….
For Isaiah Zerbest Medaeval contest
August 3, 2013
2nd place win
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Knights are Dead
The knights in shining armor have all died
the damsels in distress are left...distressed
what once was chivalry and manly pride
by silence in the fight is now expressed
Where are the men who knew the right from wrong
who'd come to save a weaker one from pain
perhaps they have forgotten to be strong
their pleasure and their peace they want to gain
And so they leave the wounded in the field
Endeavoring to find what brings delight
forgotten are the ones they were to shield
They leave them there to suffer through the night
You were a knight, but that you are no more
those days are gone, they only live in lore
Eileen Manassian
'Round about eight o'clock each evening the massive iron gates are closed.
The moon's mellow glow shines upon spectral scenes that are now exposed!
Phantoms that by day lie peacefully in their graves now freely roam,
Reliving mortal dramas when the earthly stage was their home!
I've never witnessed such things but I've heard from reliable sources,
That nigh midnight a spectral hearse travels about drawn by ebon horses!
Six ghostly pallbearers march behind the hearse chanting a mournful dirge,
As they escort the macabre procession and at a gloomy crpyt converge!
A specter desperado is seen dodging 'mongst the moss-covered stones,
Chased by a sheriff, his moldy funereal shroud flapping about his bones!
"Crazy Bob" Womack who discovered gold up around Cripple Creek,
Sits on his stone guzzling booze and gazing wistfully t'ward Pikes Peak!
Pat Brady, Roy Rogers' old sidekick, races about in his jeep, "Nellybelle!"
Rebel soldiers scramble from their graves and loose a fearsome Rebel Yell!
A gorgeous young wraith clad in white wafts to and fro seeking her lover,
Adding to this eerie scene, perched in ancient oaks, owls hoot and hover!
Ghostly apparitions peer from windows of the haunted chapel on the grounds.
Grinning skeletons rise from musty tombs rattling about making their rounds!
Helen Hunt Jackson, author of "Romana" resides here in her special nook.
She leans against her stone observing all, perhaps researching another book!
This is getting crazy
Fire burning everywhere
All because of Late
We fight for our right
Don’t be held down
Let’s riot!
Be you, no one else
Fight for your right
The fight will burn into the night
Let’s rebel, let’s riot!
Anarchy is our rebel yell
We’ve been turned down
Pushed around
Stared at
Let’s burn this mother down
The Rejects will rule now
Screw your rules
Let’s start a Revolution
Glass shatters
Put up your fists
RIOT!
Fight for your right to be you!
I said, "Son, you look too young
To wear that uniform.
You ought to be home with your ma,
There, by the fireside warm.
"That bugle hanging 'round your neck,
You sure can blow it fine,
But you'd be home, singing in the choir
Were you a boy of mine."
The bugle boy's blue eyes flashed fire;
His freckled face blushed red.
He slowly shuffled his booted feet
And cleared his throat, and said,
"I guess I'm older than I look.
I'm kind o' thin and lean,
But I'm not "son" by a damn long site!
I'm goin' on fifteen.
"My ma, she died when I was born;
The Rebs, they killed my pa,
On a battle field called Prairie Grove,
Out west, in Arkansas.
"One brother died at Chancellorsville.
He got in a cannon's way.
Another was lost at Gettysburg,
In Pickett's Charge, they say.
"Well, that leaves only two of us--
Just me and brother Phil.
He's with the troops on the forward line,
In the woods, just down the hill.
"They don't let me tote a rifle;
Guess I don't shoot so well.
But I can sound a bugle call
That'd send a charge through hell."
The bugler's story ended there.
No time for more to tell,
For, the midday quiet was shattered
By that awful rebel yell.
The cold air rang with musket fire
And cannon, from both sides.
Soon the sparkling snow was crimson stained
Where the fallen bled and died.
The blue line held; the Rebel thrust
Was slowly turned away.
Now the boy was told to sound the charge
In the fading light of day.
The blackness of the winter night
Brought fighting to an end.
The moaning of departing souls
Mounted up the wailing wind.
The bury detail found the boy,
On their grim, morning beat,
The bugle grasped in his frozen hand,
He had never blown retreat.
"Why, sonny, you look peaceful there
In that blue uniform.
I guess you're home, now, with your ma,
There, by the fireside warm."
Form:
You can move on
You can see the light of day
But you've left me behind
Behind in this endless night
You can be strong
Invincible
Indomitable
A cherished hero
Unaffected….
But you've left me defenseless
Weak
Paralyzed by fear
You can go about
Your daily life
Taking the whole world in your stride
Yet you’ve left me in my room
A prisoner in these four walls
Afraid of a world
I can’t understand
Unable to reach out
You can bind up your wounds
Stanch the flow
And continue with the fight for life
Undeterred
The taste of victory in your mouth
Your rebel yell
Sounding a warning
A swashbuckling warrior
And I lie in the trenches
Watching the flow
Of my life
Ebbing away
Waiting to be rescued
Wondering if I will make it
To another day
You and Me
Two different people
From two different worlds
Yet part of the human race
In need of grace
Remember me….
When you turn your face to the sun
And feel the breeze on your face
Remember me...
Alone in my room
Closed in by the gloom
Tears drenching me
Hurts haunting me
Remember me….
And say a prayer…
Say a prayer
For me.
Eileen Manassian Ghali
You cower at my rebel yell
Envisioning hot flames of hell
I’ll cast on you a wicked spell
Before your plea for life I quell
My rebel yell, hot flames of hell
You tremble at my vicious might
As you are plunged into the night
Hope's angel now robbed from your sight
With none to save you from your plight
Into the night, robbed from your sight
Your faithlessness my heart did break
Your torture kept me nights awake
And now revenge will make you quake
I pierce your heart with jagged stake
With jagged stake, my heart did break
Eileen Manassian Ghali
PS....I'm LONGING to come up with a new form that would bear my name! That would be the ultimate poetic ecstasy for me. I'm so impressed with the Swap Quatrain, Suzette Prime, Questionku, Constanza....Some by people that I actually KNOW. It's such a thrill!
Anyway....here is something that I tried today. Tell me what you think. It is a poem made up of three stanzas. They are quatrain's but have a fifth line added. The fifth line of the first stanza takes the ending of the first two lines and combines them....the fifth line of the second stanza the endings of lines 2 and 3...and the last line of the last stanza has the ending lines of the fourth line, and the goes back to the ending of the first line. The object is to come full circle and reverse the events in the quatrain. In this case...I'm seeking revenge, and then the last line makes it plain that I'm the true sufferer. It must use a rhyme scheme. Please leave comments on what you think of this....It's pretty basic and elementary....but....It's MINE! ;)
Form:
The Watcher
The Watcher
When the seventeen men neared the end of the bridge only one remained in
sight all the others were lost in the shadow from the moonlight. He was dressed
in tattered cloth; homespun gray, and eaten by the moth of strang decay
“No livery”, He cried “no making strides in death” “my life has ended on this
bridge?”
There is a plaque in place to mark this day it says on
The Plaque
Friday June 13, 1864 PFC Dreardon Age 14 was marking time in a prisoner
exchange at BENTON creek when he was shot by Federal Forces. The miniball
penetrated his left sleeve and took off his arm. He bled to death.
His body was torn and bleeding so forlorn the tatters of his homespun sleeve
stayed hung upon his stump of arm there.
War is something no one cares for Mr. Sherman.
MOFW 1964, June 13 Commerative
The watcher was on the water making footprints on the surface when the Federal
Forces under Sherwood marched into the History. He seldom interferes with
history but makes the markers seem to be the truth. He saw the miniball tear off
the soldiers sleeve the man had been a prisoner just released this crime is not
unpunished the man that pulled the trigger is lying in the river at the Watchers
feet. The Watcher broke his prime directive and almost gleefully erected the
YANKEE soldier in the mud.
A Watcher is no more A Watcher for when he acted he lost his power over water
and he stands upon the battlements no longer but He is tearless in his vigil of
the bridge.
Every Friday on the 13th of the Month of JUNE of every year that has its ending in
a FOUR, he gives a shudder of relief certain that his judgment has not been
ignored.
The rebel soldier gives a rebel yell and leaves the bridge.
The Yankee minion that has shot him just turns over once and lies back in the
mud. For this is judgment.
The Watcher roars.
“There is…another…Skywalker”
Though she’s not a Jedi Knight
The force is strong in her
She fights darkness with the light
A woman unafraid of danger
Princess Leia is her name
The kingdom is at stake
She’s out to win this game
She has wit, charm and beauty
A treat for Jabba the Hut
She kills that slimy sick beast
Will not sink down into smut
She wins the heart of Solo
Handsome rebel on the run
He brings to life her feelings
For his smile rivals the sun
She fears her evil father
But her brother knows how to save
For he is a Jedi knight
The force in him makes him brave
Star Wars is NOT a movie
That you view on some grand screen
It is not merely fiction
Thought up in someone’s daydream
There IS a mighty battle
That is fought out every day
The good tries to win the fight
The bad tries to have full sway
The “FORCE” is ever present
To give strength to overcome
Sure victory is in sight
Won by the only true SON
We all can be Skywalkers
Every day we can decide
To join forces with the good
And to shun the evil side
So, be brave and strong of heart
The saber is yours today
Go in with a rebel yell
FIGHT in the galactic play!
For Star Wars Contest
By Poet Destroyer
August 20, 2013
Resonation
no-one at first heard the tumult
the question to the arts,
take that
scythe rip that canvas crack that bronze
bust that marble
shatter it to shards
I heard the howl of a suffering soul
most recent in the line of bards…
no-one at first heard the cries
or played those tarot cards…
the prophecy was grim
gate-keepers of the holy shroud
did not acknowledge him
critics dismissed
professors critiqued
but she's' burst forth from the psyche and that collective conscience we all have though not ready for her resonated the soul
turning topsy turvy upside down blasted from with in
you old masters--
keepers of the kingdom blasted by a rebel yell
most foul
the Howl she barks a new tune with with syntax and symbols unacceptable
to all but a loon
we know it now we look out the horizon from the rim
She's here she's born
he bellowed the boon
And she anew will return again
I heard it once the howl of the suffering soul…
By Kevin Robey
August 8, 2014
If I could just live for one day
No matter what you do
No matter what you say
If I could spend all that time
Just making it count
Just callin it mine
I wouldn't be so obtuse
I would make it ok
I'd untie my noose
If you could simply understand me
Forget how I look
Cut through what you see
This wouldn't be so sad
If you knew what I was
And how it's cost all I've ever had
If you could know how it felt
To lie every day
To feel my skin melt
Maybe you wouldn't be so unfair
When you stare at my nails
When you laugh at my hair
How do you think you would feel
If I told you who you were?
If I told you what was real?
How could you even understand?
What this all means to me
The empty past i see
All I want is to have a place
Where you love me for me
Where you forget about my face
So if you have to criticize
I don't want your hand
I don't want your advice
And if you want a guide
I'll show you my soul
I'll take you inside
And if you really wanna know
What this all means
I'll just take it slow
Cause I want you to know
I want you to know...
As the moon rises over the mountains
Signaling the dusk of a new night
There goes another star in flight
Might we capture it all at this moment
On a blue moonlit night,
Everything with you seems to fit so tight
Our future together is ever so bright
Our love pure as the sunlight
when dawn gives way to a new day
Our feelings secure like a magnet to metal
Taken back on so many levels
Where I find my love crying out like a rebel yell
Deep down inside
You know how our hearts fell from the sky
When we connected your eyes to mine
Living the ultimate high
Refusing to let these tender moments pass us by
Oh how I wish it always stays like this
I could just reminisce
About our first kiss as it defines the reason why
A love like ours lives to testify
When it collides with this amazing ride
I hope it will always pacify
Our love that lays so deep inside
Which gives all of this that special twist
That makes our love impossible to resist
If I ever had a to-do list
Then know you have covered my every wish
You are every mans perfect dish
I have everything in you
That makes me feel shiny and new
Like the wind blew I found what I have in you
The woman that makes all of my dreams come true
musty clothes strewn about
a dusty room
full of hot black bodies in dirty underwear
exhausted from a day of
surviving
the sound of late night traffic filters in through
the rusty screens in the broken windows
periodically interrupted by the rebel yell
of lost teens and homeless men
my descriptions are painfully inadequate
even though i have been there
painfully inadequate
even though i have lived there
gnarled fingers
rolling top papers
into poor mans cigarettes
the porch creaks when you
walk across
it's peeling planks
notifying occupants of intruders
poor mans alarm
i want to move
but it follows me
from one hole to another
with it's smells of degradation
and it's hopes of redemption