Best Reclaimed Poems
Reclaimed Recycled
Discarded in a rubbish skip
Mid broken bottles rags and bone
T'was destined for the council tip
And so I claimed it for my own
I took it home that rusty shield
I rubbed it down, and found the shine
of tempered steel its glow revealed
So glad I found and made it mine.
For I could see beyond the rust
an ancient craftsman's hands had wrought
A thing of beauty and I trust
A lesson learned a lesson taught
For those who gaze and gaze some more
With fresh creative minds at play
Will surely know what's gone before
May shine again another day.
Margaret Foster 20th August 2014
Upon the forest floor lie
trees of yesteryear forced by
changing seasons long past gleaned
comforter of summers greened.
Nature doesn't bow to restraints
devours walls with an embrace.
Grace solace with no complaints,
stretched tight among time and space.
5/28/2018
Wildfires of fall bring us whirlwinds of flame.
Black-scape throughout, life’s survival or death?
Spring blooms of dogwood. Renewal sustained.
Santana stampedes, she’s wicked, untamed,
through canyons of ages. We hold our breath.
Wildfires of fall bring us whirlwinds of flame.
Now Dante’s hellhound of Hades renamed!
Desiccation abounds where there were fresh
spring blooms of dogwood. Renewal sustained.
What brought this on us, is someone to blame?
Nature or mishap? A crazed soul's arrest?
Wildfires of fall bring us whirlwinds of flame.
Now charred, disfigured but memory maintains
the clear hills of May, June sparrows, content.
Spring blooms of dogwood, renewal sustained.
Flora in peril, all creatures the same!
Twixt ashes or mudslides? These losses attest!
Wildfires of fall bring us whirlwinds of flame.
Spring blooms of dogwood, renewal sustained.
Lured with
Laced saturated oils of crystal and sand
Covered in roses
Black silk curtains filled the womb as they flowed and danced
Following the rhythm
As he spun at his web
She laid down her wings
as the music softened
Her dress followed
She was in tranced, as he too began to unfold
Leaving nothing but her desirous naked soul
The trap is set. Oppressor is taking in by all.
Through his sexual divinity, and her loving oasis, combines the gift of ultimate destination.
Of what is certain of the power that he holds in his hands.
Knotted and planned,
Oppressor was hers,
The Crown Is snatched from the throne, The Cocoon is set ablaze, Leaving Butterfly on top, at long last.
(Oppressor)
The oppressor lays down his verses
"To you I am king, the only one you need"
Let us share the power, that lays beneath,
Rare beauty, you mustn't test what's meant to be,
I hold the key. To your destiny.
(Butterfly)
My wings are not to be clipped, nor belong to you
The power you seek inside of where the fire grows
Is nothing compared to an Undying Rose
(Butterfly)
To be wrapped in his arms,
(Oppressor)
To be the god of her worth
(Butterfly)
Pressed against his body
(Oppressor)
Beauty all consuming
(Butterfly)
He's eyes say he is evil,
That's all they see,
His words, and vision are grim with scheme,
Power is what he wants, he's done it to all,
Mine is stronger than his will ever be.
I'll show you divinity, and rob you of your wicked tactics and spells,
Leaving nothing but of a rotting shell.
In me search for understanding I came to know not what I sought.
My past and present tribulations amount to nothing in the end.
Blinded I was.
But now I can see.
It was only misplaced, and now reclaimed.
She's done sitting back
and taking his abuse:
the physical,
the verbal,
the mental
the psychological;
Today is the day it all stops, period.
Oh, you better believe it....
She's done putting up
with all his gaslighting.
It's not all her in head.
She's been done wrong.
She's done being caged in
by fear of standing up
for herself.
She's done
with this-too-shall-pass dismissals.
She's done keeping quiet
so she creates no ripples.
She's done believing
her voice holds no weight.
She's done!
She's done!
She's done!
Stick a fork in her, she's through.
Yep, enough is enough!
He will be held accountable.
She's taking back
her POWER,
at last.
I didn’t know it at the time,
but my misspent youth was planned
The training ground for what I’d write,
then hard to understand
The many schools, the teachers chides,
expulsions my reward
Postgraduate work for future truth,
all voices untoward
The risks were high, survival mined,
Shangi-La, a vagrant’s room
My pen disclaimed, all actions shamed,
flat broke one afternoon
From the diner’s window I heard the song
that turned my life around
As Gregg Allman sang ‘Melissa,’
my true destiny was found
And today I harbor no regrets,
there’s no one left to blame
As I write the words for me hard one
—my sinful past reclaimed
(Strafford Pennsylvania: July, 2019)
‘Thank You, Gregg—I Miss You’
Reaching for the universe
fate extends a hand
Shortcut to Andromeda
route at its command
The speed of light exceeded
all flashes turn inside
To burn and bend eternal
where life no longer dies
Each star laid out before me
whose orbits spin and weave
Their presence all revealing
what black holes can’t retrieve
Inside there are no limits
or borders to constrain
The words forever calling
in voices—time reclaimed
(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)
I meet with three faces
that come in the night
In dreams that preplace,
masks of darkness and light
Their voices once spoken,
remain in my head
Until words are then written,
pitting joy against dread
These triplets were born
in a harrowing storm
Only quieting down,
if new offspring are born
And then able to sleep,
once each orphan is named
Their breath I still feel,
—in the twilight reclaimed
(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)
My soul ancient,
but my spirit new
The past a contrivance,
the future untrue
My thoughts reborn,
all feelings renamed
To christen this moment,
—its present reclaimed
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)
Escape in a Poem,
—freedom unchained
Words now alive,
seven sirens renamed
Brevity conquers,
all urge to refrain
As magic unfolds,
—the present reclaimed
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)
Man is predestined
to destroy his world
Consciously damning
‘free choice’ unfurled
An apex predator
upon himself
No rhyme or reason
or logic dealt
Self-destruction
his stock in trade
His nature foreign
to all else made
Killing his brothers
killing his sons
Shakespeare prescient
of what’s to come
Time irreverent
he never learns
What sets him free
his folly spurns
The clock is running
the hour late
His words now toxic
and filled with hate
And when it’s over
but one thing changed
A new world order
—with life reclaimed
(Bryn Mawr College: June, 2023)
trees
upon
forest floor lie
underneath decaying
from yesteryear changing seasons
long past gleaned comforter of summers green
solace in soundlessness hollow,
nature's
home
6/22/2021
Crossing Montana for the first time…
everything was changed
My heart no longer my own
—my spirit there reclaimed
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)
Alone with my thoughts,
together in this moment
The light cast off its shadow
—all prophecy reclaimed
(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)