Best Reducing Poems
Nestling in my realm, as you host a daydream,
Reveling in breeze of my splendor evergreen,
I welcome you to my domain of rhythmic trills
Where roam the blue jays, robins, and crossbills
Feeding on berries, frolicking with hatchlings,
Singing gaily, serenading benevolent sanctuary
Amid bears’ huff, growl, and foxes’ feral-howl
Sheltered amicably from dry heat and rainfall;
Where trees reduce pollution, boost air quality,
Emit oxygen you breathe, by photosynthesis,
Bear flowers, fruits, nurturing your well-being
Temper climate cheerily, swaying with winds,
Hold soil in place, reducing runoff to streams
Protecting elixir of life in rivers and tributaries;
While you find balance in sanctity and peace,
Enlightened by whispers rustling in harmony,
That warn of deforestation ruining ecosystem,
And callousness that torches wildlife and trees;
Yet, I rise from ashes sprouting earth’s tranquility
For I am the forest of goodwill and sublimity,
Adorning every season, standing for you firmly,
Hosting you as you rejoice in salutary daydream.
May 22, 2022
Poem of the day on May 24, 2022
Placed 1st: Wisdom From Trees Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Anoucheka Gangabissoon
What does courage mean to me?
Well it isn't being fear free.
It's being brave and staying strong,
Facing all my problems, head on.
It's conquering hardships, being bold,
Reducing worries out of my control.
When I have to make a choice,
I listen to my inner voice.
I'll never lose my moral sight,
Courage will always choose what's right.
I give my opinion, speak my mind,
Try hard not to be unkind.
Apologise for a misdeed.
Courage will help me to succeed.
I don't have to follow the crowd,
Courage helps me to feel proud.
Negative thoughts I can ignore,
I take my emotions from my core.
Courage provides faith in my life,
It guides me through the storms and strife.
With courage, I face the unknown,
With God I'll never walk alone.
So be courageous in your skin,
Find your strength from deep within.
International Earth day prompts us not to forget
that the world we inhabit is under great threat
Blue oceans are being choked by plastic pollution
reduce, reuse and recycle is the simple solution
The balance of nature has been upset by man
species close to extinction, poachers strike if they can
If we don’t act quickly these rare breeds we’ll lose
their only protection is in nature reserves or zoos
Felling the rain forest is an issue we must combat
deforestation is destroying animal’s natural habitat
The effects of global warming on earth is far reaching
reducing fossil fuels is what we should be preaching
Educating both young and old is the key to success
we must act together to try to sort out earth’s mess
2/17/19
High upon the highest heights
I see the most tremulous sight
A small girl, fair and tranquil
Smiling strangely, sitting still
Beneath a sobbing willow tree
She recites a verse upon her knee
She sings a rhythmic hymn
Not of death, nothing grim
But prays that life will return
Even for those who are doomed to burn
The girl is a woman now
Beneath the tree and upon the cloud
She whispers, “I am watching you”
Why then are you so blue?
A single tear of sadness and joy
Rejuvenate the quirky earthly boy
Who sits down beneath the blooming tree
Listening to her silent voice attentively
She reminds him she was once young too
That she also was a misty shade of blue
But when the boy grows into man
He has come to ignore the fair woman
Who watches him still from above
Burning and swelling with disdainful love
The ways of the world have sweltered his heart
And time has torn his soul apart
Thus he has lost all innocence and light
Battling his sinful lust—an endless plight!
I watch as he feeds on others’ pains and fears
Reducing the vigilant woman to tears
The prayer of the innocent has been ignored
Life has died and hellfire stored
Into the hearts of the impotent
In blue, fires of haze their heart is sent
Toiling in misery and lament
Savaged and severed by our regret
The heavenly woman grows old and frail
And the man still treads the sinful trail
As the rotting tree withers into dust
Can I revive it? –I must!
Low as low can possibly be
I watch myself condescendingly
A tombstone, gray and hell-bent
Frowning knowingly in bewilderment
Above the dust that once was a tree
She cries out a verse anxiously
Faintly she whispers the undying hymn
Not of happiness, nothing of whim
And prays that life will come to end
For those that break instead of bend
a
Heart. Heart
Is beating. Is beating
Sending hope and promises.....
pumping ideals and ideas
reducing life's stresses.
ready to look for love
to accept to take..
for always..
xxxxxx.
Human ingenuity leapfrogs beyond ordinary
Buoying upon wings of intellectual curiosity
Sustaining innovation, creative imagination,
Breaking barriers once thought impenetrable,
Daring to conquer the arduous, unknown~
Resistant to understanding, inert to inquiry.
Unfathomable is force of scientific curiosity
That opened doors to discoveries, inventions:
Telescopes that explore the origin of universe,
Space flights landing on Moon and Mars,
Defying gravity, exceeding the speed of sound;
Telephones, electricity, computers, automobiles,
Untold preventive medicines, therapeutics,
Vaccines holding in check reign of pandemics,
Treatments for diseases, cure for hepatitis,
Nuclear fusion searching new source of energy
Reducing emissions to sustain life on earth.
Curiosity is the flame of wisdom, inspiration,
Lifeline for mortality pursuing life and liberty;
Promise of yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
For explicating phenomena less understood,
For guiding aspirations of cognitive intellect,
For directing journey on roads not traversed.
January 8, 2023
Placed 1st: This or That, Vol 15 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Look at the 1st quarter moon of the 7th
Day of the 7th month in the naked sky.
There! The two stars Vega and Altair
Blinded by love like Yaksha & his beloved
In the Bard Kalidas’s epic poem Meghdootam.
Vega neglecting her weaving and
Altair allowed the cows to stray.
So did lovelorn Yaksha in his duties to Kubera.
Dereliction in each case infuriated the kings.
Vega and Altair separated by the Milky Way
And Yaksha from Alkapuri in the Himalayas to Ramgiri.
Yaksha expurgated by separation for a year.
Vega succeeded in arousing the sympathy
Was allowed to meet Altair once in a year
Provided no rain on the eve of seventh
To unite in the milky way-Scorpion region
On the bank of Amanogawa river.
Prospero proved wiser expiating Ferdinand
By his log bearing as ‘trials of thy love’.
Reducing Miranda as ‘rich gift’ or ‘acquisition’
Forever as compensation to Ferdinand’s pains?
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Sixth Placement
For contest : your best poem
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Explanations of foreign words in the poem:
Japanese “Tana” means a shelf in English and “bata” is a transformation of “hata” which
means a loom
"weaving with the loom (bata) placed on the shelf (tana)",
One popular Tanabata custom is to write one's wishes on a piece of paper, and hang that
piece of paper on a specially erected bamboo tree, in the hope that the wishes become true.
According to a Chinese legend, the two stars Altair and Vega,
Yakshas : name of the Kubera’s servant
Meghdootam: Megh (rainy clouds and Dootam means messenger)An epic poem written in
Sanskrit in the year 400 A.D. by the great Indian Bard Kalidas – meaning cloud messenger
Ramgiri ; a hill near Nagpur in Central India
Alka: the name of the city in Himalayan region also known as Alkapuri
Kubera: the God of Wealth in the Hindu mythology
the Amanogawa (River of Heaven),
Prospero, Ferdinand and Miranda- the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Insisting one might was well be dead
Feasting upon dark emotional words
This is how the young have been led
Magnetic this compass for the birds
Signal sent be that of infrared
Drawing them all in by the herds
This be part of their pseudoscience
By misusing the cognitive science
Words are like weapons with bullets of lead
That pierce through your soul when angry and said.
When someone shoots his mouth off like a loose cannon,
You can’t help but get hurt as the mortar is landin’.
The thing about these wounds to the soul,
There’s no bleeding to stop from invisible holes.
Though, on the surface, there are no wounds to tend,
The damage is often deeper and harder to mend.
Masked by pride, courage or good old denial,
Make no mistake, this pain maims and defiles,
Reducing the toughest man’s heart to that of a child's.
So the next time you’re angry, don’t be absurd.
Lay down your weapons of hollow point words.
There is a better way to accomplish your goals
Without doing battle and wounding other's souls.
In the beginning there was a lonely word but soon after
there was no room at the meagre hostel for the saviour
Sanguine hopes flash-flooded the sanctuary of hearts
sacrificial blood of Christ awaited to be spilt in vain
Spelt out the message of rusty nails corroding on cross
bones mounted the flesh ready for vanishing memories
Lest we forget Christmas it amounts to summits of wrappers
luxurious gifts opulent indigestion after a vainglorious feast
Reindeer and global delivery services occlude the notion that
taking stock is not about counting presents but reducing the cost
Jesus flashes from i-pads I this and I that please give me more
extra goods additional abundance mince pies and stuffing
Belching and flatulent Tim reaches for his heartburn medication
tastes uppers and downers sniffs white powder on bank cards
His wife smears the makeup she grabbed from under the tree
her new perfume a bountiful offering of disguised scented myrrh
No sense for frank frankinsence as she sniffs expensive fragrances
from benefaction bottle’s decadence and reduces benediction to myth
Gift wrap explodes from the fireplace in the mix of unopened packets
just after Father Christmas has made a lucky escape from the scene
Arson of gluttony self-inflicted suffering self-immolation of sorts
sorts out this unholy communion followed by smouldering mourning
The insurance company refuses to pay as they insist that the couple
had backed the wrong course of action in vile contempt of true faith
They however donate a beautiful bible of careful calligraphy
with gilded ornamentation bound in leather and lather of time
There are no walls standing for wailing when Tim and his spouse
and it remains to be seen whether they might find a mangled manger
To resume business as usual or take refuge in meaning and truth
when the word in the beginning had become a sorry blank canvas
18th November 2018
Contest Christmas Mourning
Sponsor P.S. AWTRY
Another COVID Holiday
in an ever increasing
rate of replanting
the seed was spreading
through the population
a seed so small
as to be microscopic
should remain insignificant
no outward effect dramatic
though COVID’s social influence
global impact near atmospheric
I eagerly wade into holidays
mandated to reduce pollination
vacation disappointingly domestic
unloading washing machine tanglematic
hanging clothes almost robotic
reducing risky situation
we look now
to the years as they’re turning
our mutual recent history
undesired to be re-enduring
we hope upon new calendar
with optimistic collective yearning
for a year of blank pages
devoid of COVID’s social manipulation
HAPPY 2022
may it be kind to us
A woman’s love is soft
Rounded…smooth
Soft like her body
A blanket of gentleness
Her softness covers
The edges of a man’s soul
Making him feel warm
Whole
Nurtured
Fed
A soft pillow for his head
Her breasts
Soft
So so s o f t…
Her arms
Dreamy clouds of comfort
Around his shoulders
His angular frame
Covered
His roughness softened
Gentle, soothing
The love of a woman
Reducing him
To the child in the man
In need of love....
The knowledge that she’s there
An added softness to his rugged world
Of madness
A woman’s love
Is a soft embedding
Of his hard strength
Lost in the warm depths
Of her soft
Soft
Love
A woman’s love...
A man’s soft salvation
Eileen Manassian Ghali
Inspired by the poem by Richard D Steal (WOMAN)
"Thou art That" (Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 of the Sama Veda)
You wanna know what’s something you are not?
It is that easy. Take a piece of paper,
divide it into two parts with a pen,
entitle the left side as “I”, the right
one – “It” and then think twice about who
you are. A mate? A son? A spouse? A father?
Etcetera. Write down them on the left
and think again. What’s It? A pen? A paper?
The writing table you are sitting at?
The house you’re living in? Write down
them all on the right side and then cross out
the features which are neither You nor It.
Is “I” of you entirely determined
by features “man”, “taxpayer”, “citizen”?
Cross features out. Cross out everything
that’s not the real Itness which includes
all sets of Its throughout the universe,
reducing both lists until just “I”
and “It” remain. Read the result aloud...
Hm, I am It. The rest is I am not.
01.08.2019
Something I Am Not Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: craig cornish
Hm, unchain me from my pit of poverty
My pit of impure pity and messed-up misery – let it go! Misery, let me go! You
won’t let me light up with delight though
Ohhh, living this lie with or without you, you see?
Change me inside out, oh Lord…I can’t afford to pay up my debt, reducing me
to tears of woe…you never loved me, you know?
I’m recovering from the love flu
I’m recovering from losing you
I’m recovering from the departure of us two
I’m recovering from this blasted rue
CHORUS:
I will squander my time now and forever
(Are you an evil, fallen angel?)
Until I meet you eye to eye again
Our departure came to soon…our future’s a blur
(sarcasm: Oh you must be a sweet, beautiful angel –)
Come on & get out of the lion’s den!
Release me…I need to let go…
Believe in me…reflect on me…
Release me…let me go with the flow
Let me grow and see…the light at the end of the tunnel
There’s other fish in the sea…
V.3:
Face the truth…you made me fall victim to your pain
Look through my pane…
Look through my pane of my past
You’re running so fast – let me keep pace, so we can beat this race together at
last!
I’m recovering from the love flu
I’m recovering from losing you
I AM recovering from the departure of us two
I AM recovering being reduced to the tears…oh wait, I’m no longer absorbing
rue…I had no clue this would happen to me out of the blue…God knew what
I’ve gone through and He found my other shoe that I lost…now, I’m placing my
feet in His shoes, meaning I AM officially a part of His crew!!
~!@#$%^&*()_+=-)(*&^%$#@#@!~
Oh, Trust,
You are the blessed cornerstone of every
Relationship.
You are the durable rock of
Dependence.
You are the unshakable groundwork
Of reliance.
For that reason
Only upon your unyielding foundations we
Should build any edifice:
Of care
Of partnership
Of friendship, and
Of love,
So as
No earthquake of doubt,
No storm of distrust,
No thunderbolt of suspicion-
No matter how powerful they might be-
Would ever succeed in reducing it,
To RUINS!
© Demetrios Trifiatis
04 June 2021