Best Restricts Poems
Hell itself cannot burn any brighter
No faster than stars fuel the sky
I follow them all in search of heaven
But it’s us on Earth feeding that fire
They all fade slowly from existence
Spreading out right under my eyes
Not because they obey a command
In truth, there’s so much space to hide
I watch distance stretching on forever
As human intelligence restricts my mind
Nothing stays in the place it begins
Perceived certainty, or just plain lies
And I’ve many grave misgivings
about rockstars that chose to die
Did they tap into a secret chord
to find it was always background noise
Oh, I curse this whole damn cosmos
for creating such an impenetrable void
It knows nothing of fixed boundaries
Only how to dim despite all our sighs
Unrequited love is shallow,
lacking depth; it cannot float dreams.
And yet, you'll forego happiness
for a lifetime of silent screams.
Both tormentor and destroyer,
doubt devastates your sense of pride.
A heart that craves a love denied
will wilt and slowly die inside.
Unattainable dreams fuel
frustration, anger, and remorse.
And they attack reality;
striking with irrational force.
Truth restricts the expectations
and anticipations of youth.
And yet, you have fallen in love,
acknowledging no other truth.
Feeling lost, nothing seems real,
drowning in tears, you cling to hope.
For rejected hearts often break;
finding they’re unable to cope.
Religion binds us in guilt
Using sins it restricts
Religion with its dogmatic doctrines
Feels the need to control everything
Demands we worship at their feet
Expects supplication and blind belief
Encouraging you part with cash
Like that will bring redemption back
No matter how devoted you may be
It doesn't stop them judging harshly you and me
But the truth is I reside in love
When I converse with my God
In my own space and in my own time
God is omniscient by design
So he hears me no matter where I be
And God always watches over me
Hears my wishes and no my dreams
He is never to busy to visit me
I don't need churches, mosques or temples
And I won't be made to fear or tremble
My God is peaceful, forgiving and gentle
My God is everything that is resembled by love
And by compassion and kindness too
I love my God and he loves me too
And he gave me free will to pick and choose
Just how I live my life
He trusts me to live it right
So I struggle each day
To make my God proud each day
So I worship my God in my own unique way.
Denial will get you no-where, a dead end road
A false belief, hanging on untied string
It keeps you from uplifting and living fully
It prevents genuine care, not the fire burning
It restricts truth and contiuously badgers your soul
When it all caves in, there is no use complaining
- Denial built the bridge that fell -
Heidi Sands
4/12/26
(C)opyright
In a loose-fit pink dress, she crawls through golden fields
The stems’ graceful sway in the breeze such pleasure yields
Muscular degeneration restricts mobility
But the illness did not impair Christina’s sensitivity
From his window overlooking the Olson farm
Wyeth’s heart was touched by this frail woman’s charm
Each strand of hair, each blade of grass carefully stroked
Such wonder in a child’s eyes this intriguing image evoked
Only 10 when introduced to Christina’s World
Questions and, consternation through my mind swirled
“Mommy, why is she crawling through this meadow alone?
“Where is her family? Why don’t they take her home?”
Mom understood well her daughter’s deep frustration
Wyeth’s painting won a home in a new location
Each day as I woke, my innocent eyes delighted
When this image on my bedroom wall was sighted
*Ekphrasis on Christina’s World by American painter Andrew Wyeth
Storms of the soul invade my perception
Yearning for a personal resurrection.
Fragmented emotions dangle from each new face
Leaving me in an empty place.
Fires once ignited grow rapidly dim
Because of the sin that dwells within.
Phantom lovers drift in and out
Claiming to know what love is all about.
`Bruised an rejected
Far from perfected.
Injected with madness
To drown out this sadness.
Lost yesterday’s lead into my tomorrows
While the voice of reason drowns out this sorrow.
Abandoned in a land famished and dry
The absence of water restricts my eyes to cry.
Violent assaults protrude at my mind
Only in sweet silence will my heart ever shine.
All of these voices demand my attention
It’s as if they reserved for me a reputable pension.
Roads of confusion are filled with delusion
Seducing our solders while leaving them colder
How do you get out of web spun for fun?
It’s only by mercy, it’s only by one
Armies of darkness capture each being
Claiming ownership over all that we are seeing
Facetious attempts to keep our men bent
But as they grow closer the angels are sent.
Once on the field they will not relent
There is grace for all those that gladly repent.
Victory smells like a clear spring day
When colors of dismay quickly fade away
Pillars of flames light up the clear night
And the fights you’ve been fighting suddenly grows light
For battles were never meant to be fought on our own
In the mist of all chaos we can hear heavens song.
By: Sabina Nicole
Toys Are Us
By Cody Brandon Turner
Sweating and tired
Heat hovering over my skin
This day has got to stop
The only question I ask is when?
Parched and dehydrated
It’s too much to take
The sun is beating down on me
Like a bully in the sixth grade
My mouth is drying
My skin is getting pale
It’s beginning to drive me crazy
It’s making me want to yell
Damn all this heat
And Damn this dreadful place
All that this place is good for
Is making people hate
Making people hate life
And all it has to offer
This thing people call work
Why do we even bother?
It restricts us from are lives
And chains us like slaves
It’s nothing like when we were kids
When we used to run and play
No responsibilities
No worries, No hate
The only time we were sad
When our parents said we couldn’t play
Laughing and smiling
Without a care in the world
Imagining and dreaming
In our beds we would curl
That time is gone now
Responsibilities are a must
I often look into my closet
And see toys covered with dust
Through all of the years
In my search for my own happiness
My quest to find life’s true joys
Who would have ever thought?
It lay in a box full of toys
Her Longing Heart Seeks Love's Relief
Pretty young lady, my how you steal the show
how many admiring eyes look back at you?
Perhaps a secret admirer is gazing back you know
longing to be in your private booth too.
With that handy fan hiding your shy smiles
you're features are an enticing mystery.
Clever use of your female charms or wiles
denying him such an early discovery.
What of the high stage, you alone dare grace,
could your setting look more like a throne,
or your beauty reveal more of a loving face,
while desiring you, should he walk out alone?
Alas! Society restricts such daring bold acts.
Yet, a longing mind can always find some way,
to defeat the prudish rules society enacts
she's sure there's time to steal away to kiss and play!
Robert J. Lindley, 1- 10-2016
Painting number six
Poem number six, Ekphrasis (rhyme)
Inspired by- the painting
(Theater, by Mary Cassatte 1879)
Debbie Guzzi's 10 for 10 challenge
Ekphrastic: Writing on Art and Art on Writing [this site ACCEPTS reprints] http://www.ekphrastic.net/submissions.html
The fable of the two snakes in the grass
There were two snakes in the grass,
buried in the pit of life,
now bemoaning their past,
with hisses, coils and strikes
she constricts
he restricts
venom spewing out
she thwarts his advances
and he thwarts hers
stubbornness seeding,
in the pot of mystery
In the rock bottom
garden of life,
... there they were
continuously watching their every
movements like lovers
but in this case like adversaries
like snakes in the grass
her eyes would pierce his
his eyes would send chills down her back
on and on,
on and on
these two battled
battling night and day
then one day
and once upon a time
story has it a huge earth quack hit
it hit faith
it hit destiny
it hit the rock bottom garden pit
sending the pair twirling around
twirling around on top of each other
like a washing machine
and when the tremors stopped
the cycle stopped
the pair was still on top of each other
their eyes soften
their coats insulate
the heat felt good
they nudge closer together
sniffing Heaven for once
changing their venom to love
being pregnant with happiness
and soon a nest of little ones, too
so cute
that even the two snakes in the grass are beaming
beaming a new found purpose in life
olive branches of tremors, fate
a fortuitous bounce
connie pachecho
3/16/17
I am the Zimbabwean Trillionaire(inflation)
Oh! Where did they go wrong?
Now i am walking as i like in their country
I have invited my trusted friends,
Billionaire and millionaire
All zeroes everywhere, they are trying to cut me off
What they dont know is,I am here to stay
I am a Zimbabwean Trillionaire, yes I am!
I am valueless, so they say
Disorder is my order
My bestfriend sanctions has secured my stay
I am not going anywhere whether you love me or not
I am the Zimbabwean Trillionaire
Diamonds my worst enemy keeps you all disillusioned
All this dollarisation restricts my walk of freedom
I am the Zimbabwean Trillionaire
I am a Patriot , i am here to stay
Zimbabwe is my home for the time being.
All hope lost, i hear your cries
You hate me and you want me to go
But i am also a Zimbabwean now
No nation will allow me in
I am now Zimbabwean by naturalisation
I am a Zimbabwean trillionaire and I am here to stay.
Tawona M Ranganawa
As the molecules expand in air
from the roots of the cold ground
to the warmer the branches where they bond
then it rain cool upward side
down the trunk to the roots because the underside of the branch bow up with pride
as it provide shade during summer hot tides
then falls the air temp and the constricts
the warmer root where it will be found
during summer chill , the trunk restricts
Moldy feet of clay
Wearing smelly moldy feet of clay,
as purity walks slow away,
the attraction of the pity curse,
a lady solves the verse,
but is she here to play?
Unsent bewitched beguiled I say,
a bird transfixed by serpent gaze,
struggles weakly in the haze,
something in her mind has clicked.
Heart beats fast restricts,
does logic have its say?
A bird in fight she comes about,
in thought the treasures of the doubt,
to test the water hey,
flushed of face she closer comes,
lost in the eyes, is he the one?
Muttering its ok,
surrender rights are done...
Don Johnson
What can I do? I’m helpless
Witches are stuffing my brain with straw
Pernicious thoughts raining spurious angels-
Sons of bloodsheds, their beautiful faces
Wait for a cab sailing to perdition.
My organs are atrophied as head swells
Like a big bug, spreading its wings and ejecting
Bad fumes on the inebriate city malls, and
Levitates between yes and no
Sorry, from today, on principle, I’m your foe
Sorry, I must kill you, my chips dictate so.
I ‘m duped by Macbeth’s witches, I have
Killed Banquo on a barren heath to fulfill their
Prophesies; strange delusions release their
Sperms in my innards to fructify evil plan
To stop the future coming on the earth-face
To stop the riverflow, to stop the human grace.
I am barren, nothing restricts me to kill
Grenades command me, bullets demand dues
Missiles fall like crackers at the wedding
I have sinned, nukes cry wolf, battalions move
I have sinned, birds lose nest, babies mother
I have to shoot the first shadow of my father
I have sinned; I have to blast my twin brother.
What can I do? I’m helpless
Girls are ravaged by squiggling worms
Widowed Cats are seeking hearth
I have sinned, world waits a second birth.
My eyes move towards the hallow
Leaving the thoughts - nearly shallow
I know, your love is axiomatic
But the way you tie the knot
I get strangled in it
I am a free spirit, like the wind
I roam here and there on my own will
I am not that guy whom you can bind
I take charge on my own driving wheel
Altruistic love
Restricts me to be harsh - but
Continuously
You need asseveration
From me, to say, " I love you"
18.04.2018
A hidden world, like a heart's inner word
it cannot be seen, nor can it be heard
everyday of your life, it exists
you try to resist, but it persists
Just as thoughts control one's mind
so too, the will power where one can find
a way to cope, or at least to unwind
from troubles and fears that do so bind
Fear restricts freedom, your mind to explore
it is forcing your happiness into a detour
left is desire to find this calm, and be content
better than suffering, with fear to vent
There is no escape, you feel like your bait
only time now stands, between you and your fate
no respite, whatever you might endeavor to do
knowing those worries, nevertheless, will continue
It plagues your mind, and plagues your soul
hearing inner voices saying, "I told you so"
so once again, withdrawing from that chase
retreating yourself, to your secret hiding place
That place of comfort, and place of security
a location guaranteeing you, your obscurity
time has taught you, you have fine tuned
this is your way, to heal your own wound
Overcoming fear is the only way
it requires patience to wait that day
thinking you can rely, to yourself do you obey
but with time, once again you do go astray
To regain control, of your inner world of fears
you need a friend, with whom to share those tears
someone who has been tested, someone to confide
allowing you to open up, and to no longer hide
A friend who listens, allowing you to mend
on a special someone, whom you've come to depend
that beautiful soul, she alone with her tears
knows that secret, to remove those fears
Your friend for the duration, till the very end
she is not into gossip, nor does she pretend
a bosom soul mate, destroying your world of fears
giving you a listening ear, and her heart that cares