Best Recent Poems
There are always those who say that you are wrong.
They are the ones who never stray from the herd.
They go to school and learn everything about life from manuals.
They write poems and stories like other poets and writers did.
They get good grades.
They stay out of trouble, but engage in acceptable rowdiness and fun.
They write and give great graduation speeches.
They become middle-managers, mostly.
They fold their socks and underwear.
They stay abreast of the latest trends and movies.
They quote famous quotes like they thought them up.
They attempt to belittle, passive-aggressively, anything out of orthodox thought.
They live their lives like lambs.
They buy big, beautiful things.
They wear shiny wedding-rings.
They drive down drowsy streets.
They form committees.
They bake things shaped like commercials.
They invent rules for writing and art.
And
I
Don't
Follow
Them.
“I'll follow you to the ends of the earth” is a very old line
But recently, they've discovered earth is round, will take a long time
Sounds good on paper
But methinks this caper
Could mean death crossing by dinghy the ocean brine
Indeed Columbus knew
Our planet isn’t flat
When in 1492
He found the missing half!
And behold, the land’s corn
and potatoes — unearthed
Plus green beans galore
that the land sprouted forth.
Wherein squashes of size
And tomatoes emerged,
And with the peppers surprise,
Cuisine took a surge.
At the same time, debuted
Avocados, divine,
Sweet-potato root
And the pineapple find.
Moreover — vanilla,
And the strawberry gem
Plus chocolate, the thriller
— From the Americas, stem.
Plus peanuts in pods
Pecans and cashews . . .
Thus, let us thank G-d
For great recent foods!
We've all seen it
their cloying intensity
to the new cause:
tobacco cessation,
gluten-free digestion,
mindful rumination,
deep cleanse elimination,
erotic poetry,
for the lucky
erotic reality,
alcohol abstinence,
Yahweh's deliverance.
And we can only
smile and nod
knowing
this too will pass.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECENT SUBMISSION
REVISED, RE-READ and RECONSIDERED it but REGRET
To decide not to include it in our issue next.
WISH YOU LUCK IN YOUR FUTURE PURSUITS
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECENT SUBMISSION
The editors are also writers and they too
Receive WORTHY REJECTED poems of their own
AND DON’T LIKE SENDING THEM OUT
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECENT SUBMISSION
We will have to pass on your poems
IN FACT INDEED IMPRESSIVE INPUTS you have
UNWILLINGLY WISH you success elsewhere.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECENT SUBMISSION
The poem is PRETTY UNFIT to our needs for publishing
HOWEVER HORBOR HIGH HOPE for writing
WE APPRECIATE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW IT.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECENT SUBMISSION
To consider our magazine as an outlet
WELL WRITTEN WORTHY WORK, but regret
TO USE THIS PARTICULAR SUBMISSION
====================================
(Oxymoron and Alliteration)
Seventh place winner in
Contest: FREE FOR ALL DO AS YOU PLEASE In honor of Charles Henderson
Thank you for your recent submission
We have reviewed it and decided not
To include it our next issue.
Wish you luck in your future pursuits.
Thank you for your recent submission
The editors are also writers and have
Received numerous rejection notices
And don’t like sending them out.
Thank you for your recent submission
We will have to pass on your poems
Though you have impressive credentials
Wish you success in placing theme elsewhere.
Thank you for your recent submission
They do not meet our publishing needs
You harbor a very great love for writing
We appreciate the opportunity to review it.
Thank you for your recent submission
To consider our magazine as an outlet
For your creative work, but regret
To use this particular submission.
Thank you for your recent submission
Without your hard work the journal would
Be impossible. It’s not an easy task.
Thanks for sharing your writing with us.
+++
**Based on the real experiences in 1997-98
September 8, 2014
Form: Free verse
First Place Win
Contest: Rejection by Regina Riddle
Panchmukhi Ganapati
Five faced Ganapati relates to embodiment of all potencies
They symbolize the five fleshes in the subtle anatomy felt.
The flesh body, the breath or energy body, mental body
Body of upper consciousness and body of Cosmic bliss.
The fifth body being the highest level of Yogic experience.
Thus the five days of celebration is for that five potencies
First day-atonement, amends of misdeeds like Thanksgiving.
Create vibration of love & harmony among family members.
Second day among neighbors, relatives and close friends
Create harmony among business associates on the 3rd day
For arts, culture, music, dance and religion on the 4th day
On last day experience love, tranquility from God Himself.
+++++
Onam Carnival-
Pookalam
A flower carpet
Each house-front
Dinner on
Plaintiff leaf
Caparisoned elephants
Kathakali Dance,
Boat races
Of Karuvatta
Like raised hood
Of a cobra
To rhythms of Drums and cymbals
People throng and cheer
=====================
Pookalam meaning a flower carpet
Kathakali – an Indian Classical Dance of South India
Karuvatta- name of the boat race
+++++
Diwali
happy diwali
crackers yummy food house lit-----
bye bad welcome good
+++++
Date 1-12-13
Dr. Ram Mehta
Sixth place win
Forms: Free verse, Shadorma and Haiku
Contest: Happy Holidays by Debbie Guzzi
I woke my daughter up this morning
She sat up and I said, "Good morning, sugar."
She looked at me and said, "A monkey's uncle."
What's that kid dreaming about, anyway?
Our dishwasher went out
So I told my wife she would just have to wash by hand from now on
She said, "That's fine. You can use your hand from now on, too."
So I bought a new dishwasher
My dog, Zayla, got into a fight with a Shetland pony
And lost horribly
The pony stomped one of Zayla's toenails off
So I tied a hawk feather to her collar
And have been calling her Zayla Three Toes
I named the Shetland pony, Dances With Hooves.
I told my wife I was going to strip down, put on a loin cloth,
and attempt to ride Dances With Hooves
She said, "But what if the neighbors see you?"
I thought about this
And replied, "Then maybe they'll start keeping that darn Shetland pony penned up."
November is sweet, sunshine through bare trees, dry brown and
fungus-free leaves companionably visiting among the dead
as I did yesterday our town's small graveyard military dads who recently
died lie under polished stones embossed with actual photos of
themselves and their wives flowers and plastic totems within a
miniature picket fence overflowing with the emotions love and
grieving of the living
beside or not far from simple wafer-thin old moss-covered stones on
which I could not read the names.
Such peace I realized which may be found around any rock or tree has
escaped me while I pursue my particular happiness and our particular
war,
and such a blessing awaits me, too.
Raise high the chalice for the saddened heart
At the banquet for the king’s coronation;
Sing the ballads of valiant warriors to depart.
They who have returned to guard the rampart.
Salute their bold stance for God and nation;
Raise high the chalice for the saddened heart
More than heroes, our wounded, they fought,
Who returned from battle to condemnation,
Sing the ballads of valiant warriors to depart.
Some never returned from the jungles afar;
Some came home with PTSD, a rabid fixation.
Raise high the chalice for the saddened heart
No parades, no welcoming home to restart
Their new life from inappropriate obligation.
Sing the ballads of valiant warriors to depart
May from families never again be worlds apart,
Never again need be silent cries of oblation.
Raise high the chalice for the saddened heart
Sing the ballads of valiant warriors to depart.
Written February 20, 2021
Submitted to "All Yours" Contest
Judged N/A on February 23, 2021
FIRST PLACE WINNER
Submitted to "NA from a February 2021" Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
March 18, 2021
I just discovered that women who carry some extra weight a bit,
are very fierce and stronger than guys like me who mention it.
Blue cresents pouring down
Yellow beams roll around
Heavenly whispers enter these ears
Screams and cry heard ,we fear
We might be thousand miles far
But still hear the suicide bomb car
Exploding to put millions to death
Someday-it will all end
bursts of blooming life
and peaches ripen so sweet
the sun smiles warmly
I once thought of winter as the grave,
Of all the seasons, it wouldn’t behave.
Always bitter, never would it save,
Grimacing and weeping, though quite brave.
Musings of hearths and blazing fires,
Held my thoughts, my heart’s desires.
Warming my bones from Winter’s satires,
Birds chirping from frosty nests despite kindly lairs.
I always felt the chill of the season’s snows,
All the way into my bones as my blood slows,
Reflecting darkest anguish who’d expose,
Suffering sentiments, my feelings mostly froze.
Thoughts of springtime would silence my soul,
Bringing me stirrings of laughter to console.
Despite the dark days, the nights of burning coal,
My heart was breaking beneath my self-control.
I never realized that even Winter has her beauty,
She isn’t like spring or summer with their booty,
Autumn doesn’t seem as chilling, though so fruity,
Her blankets of snow paint a land so heavy duty.
Beneath her flakes, showering the heart with bliss,
She feels like a light, glistening in shadows, a kiss,
Risking the dance to trembling, happenstance, she’ll miss…
All the wonder found in the plunder when we reminisce.
Thus, as time left me with understanding, I became…
In love with Winter, the bitter chill, the endless flame,
A blazing fire, a warm cup of tea, a feeling that came…
To carry me through this frosty season of joy to proclaim!
Only of recent have I known how clear
It was,
No flower would perish in her grasp.
Why can’t you see this and feel for your
Cause?
Nature, mother, show us to resist and clasp.
Tell me how I can help it, Freedom is
So dear,
I feel it in my happy land, I breathe it nowhere.
I visit the prairies, no such flowers to be found
As here.
I tell you to grab hold of it, you plead me not to dare.
Keep it your toil not to dare you, clever
Man,
Do you want, also, to step out of the way?
Remember me, when you can, every now and
Then,
After the harm you will cause to the light of the day.
Chokri Omri