Best Receded Poems
A fitting anthem for
an introvert like me-
Simon & Garfunkel's
scrumptious harmony
of “I Am A Rock”
spoke oodles to me
in its painful poignancy
bouncing buoyantly
on declarations
of independency
needing no one
utterly free
encased in fortress castle
with books and poetry
I was a rock, an island
a party of three
just I, Myself, and Me
Until he came along
and proved me somewhat wrong
as icy waters receded
I found that he was needed
an “island” no more-
I became a sort-of peninsula
with somewhat rocky shores
Yet, sometimes I still hum it
or belt it right out loud
“I Am A Rock”
ever my anthem
away from the peopled crowds!
Categories:
receded, feelings, how i feel,
Form:
Free verse
While gelid breezes of winter, quiver emotions of decaying rays,
And arc of horizon cedes to dusk, evoking grimace of malaise,
Casting shadows tenebrous, shrouding glimmer of a slowing day,
Desperate hope lingers still, in resplendence of autumn’s decay;
Gawking in yonder, where gamboge-orange woodlands fade,
Reminiscing in seasons harkening, realms of love now evade,
Mindful of the broken vows, when grievous calls destiny made,
When forever promises receded, and pledges eternal strayed.
Love now mulls~ if kiss of passion was a subtext of final goodbye?
Was it the last tear of hapless eyes; a bawl of love gone awry?
A silent protest, concealing mindfully, anguish of a forlorn sigh?
Was it the clamor of jilted desires, love enamored chose to decry?
Springs of past summon hope, having risen from wintry throe,
Nights of nightmare cede to dreams in halo of daybreaks aglow,
As candle of love revives hearts, fueled by inspirations of soul,
When whispers of sensuous hints, aspirations of romance cajole.
Desperate hope expounds repentance, vying healing through time,
Unsure if, pleadings in atonement, will redeem future sublime;
Whether love saplings will ever sprout, from ashes of passions bygone,
If dreams forsaken will blossom, in womb of tomorrow’s dawn.
Categories:
receded, hope, inspiration, love,
Form:
Rhyme
Kyoko walks alone in the morning tide,
comforted for a fleeting moment by salty air.
She feels the same sand between her toes
as when she was a barefoot little girl, in a time
she felt safe, when the eyes of her mother protected her
like a suit of armor - before the mighty wall of water,
the “harbor wave”, towered over her village
near Fukushima, washing her happy childhood away.
Her dear mother, her security, her everything
never came home that day.
Many months later, her father, a local fisherman,
has lost his ability to cry, laugh or tell her why.
His silent eyes, cold as frost, are dead
like the poisoned fish he nets every morning.
In many ways, Kyoko lost both of her parents
on that haunting day - forced to grow up long before
the water receded, before the nuclear leak,
before this new, austere existence.
Night deepens the despair. She is loneliest
when darkness invades. She prays for the crickets
return. They no longer sing her to sleep, and the stars
have faded, no longer shining through her open window.
Even the grasshoppers have died…
from restless sleep, night calls her to the mirror
to find her mother’s dark eyes staring back at her –
a curse she hopes will one day become a blessing,
a hope that one day her father will look at her again...
With tomorrow, her greatest burden will return.
She will wake along side the broken-winged butterfly
with her duties in mind. Then, she’ll wear her stoic face
to the marketplace. Father says he will soon lose
his fishing boat. She has heard visitors from the city say
only a fool would eat the fish from nearby waters,
the same fish she fries most every day. No one knows
the global impact, they say. She hears foreign words
like radiation, disease and mutation while she sells
the shiso and wasabi root from their garden stand,
feeling fear she does not fully understand but one day will.
She only knows how to survive today…
For Debbie Guzzi's Global Poetry Contest, 11/19/14
Categories:
receded, environment, loss, natural disasters,
Form:
Narrative
Dawn's rays burst through gray clouds
Though evening's bitterness lingers
She struggles to shake free of tear-stained, satin shrouds
Each morning, so much effort just to rise
But lips part to flash a much-needed smile
When she opens the door and ventures outside
A sparrow had nested in her hanging flowers
High-pitch chirps alert the world life has renewed
And gladly does she acknowledge nature's powers
A wee, brown owl is perched upon the sprawling oak
He's forgotten to take refuge as the night receded
Then a tiny tree frog begins his pond-side croak
She sees his motley, textured body and begins to laugh
For nature's creatures have learned to live carefree
As he does daily, the frog hops to board a lily-pad raft
The tension has eased as nature's chorus serenades
Such joy and harmony their songs evoke
She saunters through the woodland, joins their parade
Her heart is now light; she has mastered their technique
Overcome with gratitude, she skips along the path
Knowing that wallowing in sadness is never unique
For the blues will strike again as night covers the land
And she will face her personal demons once again
But for now she revels in these gifts from nature's hand
And to find relief the next morn, she will simply open a door
Step into the refreshing flow of a passing breeze
And find her way to happiness once more
For Farah Chamma's "My Favorite Things" challenge.
Categories:
receded, animals, happiness, naturenight, night,
Form:
Free verse
It's Monday
The day of the dead leaves and fresh flowers
The dry and wet hours
Like the other days
Of life and death
The desert and the lake
Thousands of the little ponds
The debris waiting for the mansion
Farmers stacking the hay
The trains that run every day
It's Monday
It's raining
As it rained last Friday too
The leaves whisper
With the caterpillars
The rivers playing football
The children of water
The toad is in laughter
The breezes leave rustles in the blades
The larks look on
The flood has robbed a family of life
The relatives weep
The rains stop a little and smile
The window down under my heart
Calls me
It was on a Monday too
Only yesterday as it were
Do you remember?
Your permanent shadow
Arrived on my canvas
The dream painting I am still doing
The rain got jealous
It came down on the shadows heavily
The time got flooded
As the water receded
A little plant raised its head
Got blended with my butter and bread
Moon-flower in the dream
The sunbeams woke me up
Whenever Monday is accompanied
By the rains
The pains of the window
Call me to you
With the windows holding the flowery hues
I look for the brushes
To pick the colour
For the shadows of the rustles
Slowly and softly
The gladioli
_____________________________
February 21, 2018
Rainy Days And Mondays - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One
Categories:
receded, color, memory, pain, rain,
Form:
Free verse
Where do all the pens go
that's what I wanna know
Did we give them to friends
who might keep them (depends)
Maybe burglars stole them
but not jewelry or gem
Or snagged by the goblins
scribbling with impish grins
They might move, we forget
--the final place it set
In a pile of papers
those inky escapers
Did they all take a hike
their pens' union on strike
Joined up with art supplies
--their artistic allies--
Hidden deep in the drawer
wishing to write no more
Check the desk! Check my purse
cuz nothing could be worse...
...than when a pen's needed
but they've all receded--
--to some faraway realm...
of untraceable whelm
(Inspired by Anne Frank's "Ode to my Fountain Pen")
Categories:
receded, confusion, humor, longing, lost,
Form:
Ode
I loved you once like sunrays kissing earth,
like drenching rain that brings with it new birth.
I loved you once like waves that reach for shore,
and then receded to come in strength once more
I loved you once like stars that pulse with light,
held captive to the Milky Way’s delight.
I loved you once like moonbeams touching trees
that dance within the branches as they please
I loved you once like clouds that grace the sky,
enchanting scene that draws a whistful sigh
I loved you once like tender falling snow
embellishing the world in splendid show
I loved you once like angels drawing near
to bring the needed comfort, hope and cheer
I loved you once like flowers dotting land
that blushed in bloom of love in fusion grand
I loved you once, but once a lifetime fills
My life without you is devoid of thrills
I loved you once and earth was paradise
My sheer delight in love defied disguise
I loved you once; I'll love you for all time
You’ll never taste a love as sweet as mine
I loved you once, and once lives on in me
Alas, for you that once is history
Eileen Manassian
Categories:
receded, longing, lost love, romance,
Form:
Rhyme
My hair has receded and my belly grown fat
There’s hair growing in my ears and I don’t like that
My joints ache all the day and I have troubles with peeing
I’m tired all the time and have glasses for seeing
Gravity has taken over putting life in a downward spin
No wonder I enjoy drinking a little wine and gin
Categories:
receded, funny, health, life, hair,
Form:
Rhyme
Christmas, so full of life, and miracles, was found wanting this year.
A young mother sat by her daughter’s hospital bed, racked with tears.
Her daughter was sleeping way too still; her last breaths would soon come.
How could this happen to so beloved a child, she was way, too very, young.
Where was God’s wisdom, in taking a six year old, or her father as taken in war?
Church, friends, family, others, and her, had prayed till they could pray no more.
They’d ask for her: to walk in the sun, and play again, with family to hold her hand.
But her time was gone, like in an hourglass; the sand was almost, completely gone.
The mother was afraid to pray anymore… what could it accomplish any more?
What the disease hadn't taken, the cure had, nothing left, but for her soul, to soar.
But how could she hand her to the angels? Strangers had always frightened her child.
No, she sobbed, she’s way to young! Still she knew: life was never fair… or mild.
Where was God when you need him! Please don’t take her away! Her mind riled!
When suddenly, her daughter opened her eyes, and smiled her little, tired smile.
She whispered: Papa’s here… to hold my hand… He’s taking me… where I can play.
At that the fear receded… as she said she loved her… then watched her fade away.
Perhaps her prayers HAD been answered… She’d had her time with her, after all.
Now her Husband, would take her place… Perhaps it was his turn, to carry on.
Tears would still be shed… It was natural for that to happen, when this befalls.
But she knew her daughter now had everything, including The Great Father’s Love.
There are many types of Christmas magic, but as her time came to a close…
A mother’s love can’t be beat, except by God’s Love, for us all…
Categories:
receded, death, faith, farewell, heartbroken,
Form:
Rhyme
As Marion trod the old familiar path
leading to the river of her childhood,
she viewed the willow tree across the river
and recalled with clarity
the event that changed her life
half a century ago - that memory
which for all her adult life
she‘d managed to suppress . . .
She was being chased by Ellie down the path;
Ellie, the fair haired younger sister
favored by their father
and wearing the golden pendant he had given her
when she’d won a spelling bee.
Yanking the pendant from her sister’s neck,
Marion ran into the river’s icy water,
threatening to throw the pendant in.
Screaming, Ellie followed right behind.
Farther into the river’s center, the two girls moved.
Where the riverbed dipped sharply,
Ellie had caught up.
Suddenly the wind blew violently,
The chain with its beautiful pendant
slipped from Marion’s hand
into the swirling water.
Ellie tottered, falling backwards.
Then the river was carrying
Marion’s little sister to the other side.
Marion called out, but Ellie did not answer.
A strong swimmer, Marion swam
to her sister’s lifeless body
on the opposite bank where a nearby willow stood -
witness to her crime.
Marion now was standing where she once had stood
that fateful day. The river had receded with time,
but its current was still strong.
She stood recalling her parents’ bitter tears
and how she had escaped their wrath
inventing her own version of the truth -
that Ellie had run into the water by herself
when the sudden wind came up
causing her demise.
She felt bad, but in the end,
she became her father’s newfound pride and joy.
Something glittered at the water’s edge.
Marion, now heavy and clumsy with age,
moved closer to see. Could it be after all these years?
Yes, it was the pendant, shining in the river’s sludge!
She stooped to pick it up, but lost her balance,
falling forward toward the slanting floor.
As she struggled, a great gust of wind
moved her out. . .farther and farther to the middle.
Before her head vanished below the water’s surface,
she saw that old willow’s leaves flutter angrily.
She could almost swear she saw the form of Ellie,
fair sweet Ellie, beckoning her from the other side.
For Frank Herrera's POEM ENDING WITH A 'CHILLING TWIST' Poetry Contest
Categories:
receded, mystery,
Form:
Narrative
The bees buzzed as they always did
and storms receded.
Silence hushed itself inside a shell.
Jackrabbits hopped away from hell
still intoxicated.
The village swarmed with threats.
Honest men could no longer
make their way. Poets payed
their debts for being who they were;
blessed, and afraid.
Wives bled, chasing phantoms in the
snow. "Art's no consolation."
Husbands crept along their spikes
of faithlessness. Rabbits left.
High in space their conscience burrows.
He drags along his skinny guest;
terrific, bleeding & uncouth.
Mercy equates with Obesity -
"Let me bulge and burst my longing!
Make me fatter than the fattest Truth."
A woman yelps, "I like a good romantic"
and so she laughs and feigns forget.
"Be like the constant nights of snow."
But when the orchards raze themselves to bone -
he pays attention to her neglect.
Ponies stall. Apollo's thief was
phony. Hope is tall and all his
hollow follies, "Entertain the queen!"
somehow like a burning house afloat
with sediment & gasoline.
_"Is all my life in vain? The puppets
with their masquerading calls -
do they see me, twisting nettle,
knucklecutted at midnight, precious,
unseen like a fete with no stall?"_
"Ah, but you've met in Life's divining mirror
the very ladder of your beauty's fall.
Yet still in abstinence, still in nothingness
along the ridge of this exquisite loneliness -
crawl."
Categories:
receded, love, sadme,
Form:
The weighty hand of Death crushes the core of your being,
sending a shiver, slithering up your spine like a cold chill.
And an empathic moon silently slips away,
as darkness conceals the tears pooling in your eyes.
Your heart is numb; you feel nothing:
there is no anger, no hate, no feeling at all:
just an all-consuming emptiness,
where your heart should be.
Abandoned to your worst nightmare:
life has lost its meaning; it just is.
Death has reduced your heart to a hollowed-out
shell, that's falling apart, piece by piece.
Love receded into memory's maze
of bittersweet moments and forever dreams.
And acid tears burn your cheeks like rivers of fire;
corrosive enough to dissolve hope and tarnish your soul.
Crumbling into a fetal position, you hug your knees
and rhythmically rock back and forth;
teetering on the edge of despair.
Your soulmate died, leaving a gaping hole in your heart:
that time will never be able to fill.
Your breathing is erratic as panic wrestles for control:
but you fight back, slowly regaining your faculties.
Yet, your heart harbors pain,
and the tears spontaneously flow once again.
You can't see how you'll continue your life:
there are no more tomorrows to share, only yesterdays to recall.
And you've never felt so helpless and vulnerable:
a part of you died; now grief consumes the rest.
Categories:
receded, angst, anxiety, betrayal, emotions,
Form:
Free verse
Her face was the oasis i needed to see
the sands of time draining
when i went to drink
She was gone
mirages of love filled me till i came upon the final dune
on the horizon i found abundant seas of water
turned foul with the sins of man
yet i drank nevertheless
filling me with the illusion of fulfillment
only to be depleted
tearing away pieces of my mind
yet i drank nevertheless
visions of an Angel graced me as i slept
She was all too familiar
and yet foreign
the day brought pain
wishing to see my angel
so i drank nevertheless
stumbling about the shoreline
i drank
it never filled my thirst
always fleeting
meaningless gulps graced my throat
smoke billowing from my lungs
i drank nevertheless
the Angel returned in moments of passing
time tortured me with temptations
of Her love in the night
i drank nevertheless
sins corrupting my body
as logs bearing mites
corroding, fragile segments fell away in my trails
i could see her coming
the Angel
She fled as our eyes met
leading me from the water
i tried to follow
i tried to chase
nevertheless all for waste
i drank from the water
telling myself i didn’t need Her
Her beauty welded to my eyes
i couldn't leave the shore
as my feet were stuck in shallow sands of sinking
with no rope to reach for
no help coming
nevertheless
i extended my cupped hand to the now red sea of tempt
and drank
She stopped visiting in my dreams
the songs of Her voice abandoned my ears
alone in despair
i drank nevertheless
the water like a drug
i was now dependent
Life was not the same without this nectar of satan
it ripped out my insides
nevertheless with no stomach to bare it i drank
gulps so large the sea depleted feet at a time
out of reach the water receded
only kissing the tips of my finger with the presence of a full moon
so i suckled my fingers as a babe
nevertheless
till my days fled like the sea
abandoned by the pleasure of sin
all my mind came to was the Angel
and nevertheless She was gone.
Categories:
receded, 11th grade, absence, addiction,
Form:
Free verse
Once upon a memory
A long, long time ago
There was a cup
of sunshine
Buried neath'
A winter's snow
The dark grey clouds
Were threatening
And buried long and deep
The hopes of spring were
Ended, winter days
So fettering
But then one bright brave
Day shown, with message warm
And sweet
Gold flaming rays of sunshine
Touched the day with joy complete
Long winters chill was broken
If but for a little while
And in the cup of sunshine
Sleeping seedling felt a smile
Snow receded into streams
And laughed down brooks of stone
Throughout the valley of despair
Sweet notes of joy were blown
Rapturous song "Awake! Rise up!"
Burst forth its glorious power
Up from the cup of sunshine
Peeked a long and dormant flower
The sky's blue eyes of friendship
Had a rather merry hue
The Sunflower blinked in wonder
Nodding, "I remember you!"
Categories:
receded, blessing, memory, sweet,
Form:
Rhyme
Holding my hand guiding me to a garden of roses,
He whispered , “spiral your way into the synthetics of voices and noises ,
Navigate through the patterns of Braille textures “,
I held his hand , to only feel the drips of his helplessness ,
Smiling softly as I gasped into the spring air ,
The softness of the fresh fragranced petals brushed against my fingers ,
Feeling the senses running through my veins more than he could ever begin to imagine ,,
If only he could see the light in my darkness ,
And hear the voices in my head ,
He would not give me the stares of confusion ,
True that , the mirror seems like nothing but just a word,
waking up to a receded eyesight could be every reason to bleed,
I found my comfort through the silence of colours ,
As my heart cried louder in the quiet stillness of the night,
The harmonies of the wind ,
The warmth of the sun and change of tides ,
Somehow the seasons seems to be more clearer in the shaded shadows,
I felt the pain in his tears trying to blend into the rain,
Indeed he could fool the ones with vision ,
For I am no stranger to the constant battles of dark revisions,
Though I felt his intricate precision ,
I held his chest only to hear his sighs and highs ,
I refused to surrender into the darkness of the blind,
Living in the creation of the world in my own mind
Categories:
receded, deep,
Form:
Free verse