Best Retrospective Poems
I could have held you and kept you from falling
I could have been by your side
We had it all, but it wasn't enough
I could have swallowed my pride
There was so much I could have done
There were so many signs
I never took the time to know you
I never read tween the lines
Now that it's over and we've gone our ways
Now that the knot is untied
I still get up in the middle of my dreams
Don't know how often I've cried
There was a time I put you before
All of my plans and my schemes
Then I gave it up selling my soul
Along with all of my dreams
Now I am here, living alone
I never dreamed we would part
You gave me some of my most cherished memories
I gave you a piece of my heart.
Emotion & feelings,active, no
longer passing fads of intervening years.
A latter day passion,now fading from
view along a different path I now stride.
Hastened by love,poignant,as a moth
to a flame to paraphrase a truth.Willing
to take a risk,each aspect leaves its mark
as sunlight upon the mundane.
phrasis from my 2007-9 PS blogs
Hear me recite this phrasis on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
RETROSPECTIVE RELEVANCE
Relentless search for relevance
Reflective selective reassurance
Rationalize elective rehashing
Relentless search for relevance
Regenerating nostalgic recall
Reminiscing connective reclaim
Reconciling corrective record
Relentless search for relevance
Radical projective refusal
Reluctance infective reclusive
Regarding objective regain
Relentless search for relevance
Ramify detective recall
Reason affective release
Recover prospective radar
Relentless search for relevance
Copyright© April2013—Kim van Breda
So little done,the pathos of things,
this nearly man caught in ignorance
on a lonely path where tempo treads
softly,alone.A time out for heartache,
primeval feelings sitting on a volcano
in a bleak mid winter.Living for today
one thing leads to another..out of the blue.
A watershed..to catch this miracle, a
glimpse of the soul..petal by petal
being doubly blessed.
phrasis from my 2007-9 PS blogs
Hear me recite this phrasis on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
Opening my eyes,I dream on..
a beacon of colour,a blaze of words,
flying high from a higher radiance
in light&space,a passionate silence
where reality shows.Simple as
breathing,beyond the material,
and words in season hidden from
view,under the surface,persistent
thoughts,infectious multiplicity as
the glitter of dew.Common place
just words in harmony on a
shifting springboard,butterfly
moments concentrated&alive.
phrasis from my 2007-9 PS blogs
Hear me recite this phrasis on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
Humble stirrings of our spheres,
flowers of inner feelings in a retrospective
of words,made now,for the
moment.From heart to pen,
to heart.Inner & outer thoughts
this capacity to evoke,soul to soul.
Roses from the flush of youth,petal
by petal the unconscious to impart.
Moving images of the intellect,
intangible yet speechless,felt &
seen,said sounds to paraphrase
the resonance of truth.
phrasis from my 2007-9 PS blogs
Hear me recite this phrasis on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro
A visit with my oldest friends
the ones who know me best
A quiet evening
recalling our life together
Our twenties -
A quest to define who we are
Searching for our purpose and place
Hoping to make a difference
In our thirties
Struggling to not lose who we are
Accepting new roles of wife and mother
Doubting we make a difference
In our forties
Beginning to recognize who we are
Disillusioned with career and life
Wondering if we will ever make a difference
Now in our fifties
Embracing the person we have become
Understanding that we will continue to change
Knowing we make a difference every day
Pouring another glass of wine
We become quiet
reflecting on life with my closest friends
me, myself and I
Sparks fly from water.
This cauldron boils forever!
Fire, water does mix.
For "guiding light" contest
All day, upon the bench she sat
a winter face, neath summer hat;
beneath, the source of her complaint
a scribbled sign; beware - wet paint.
simultaneous contrasts earthy perspective accents past pale mists
upon contemplating how to access
a lapsed half century woolworth
didst weigh more'n five and dime
afore i hove up existential ante
bell and clapper journeys
truncated, predicated, conjugated
on abundant buoyant chant
eyelids gently shuttered while seated
in an easy chair, a grant
from anonymously disposed rubbish
to schlep this accoutrement did enduce a pant
cuz, this mid dull ledged papa no spring rooster,
and now easily became ensconced with scant
exertion enveloped within comfortably numb
meditative state tant
a mount to hypnosis, which quickly quietly,
and quintessentially evoked bliss
stirred wordsmith hood succomb
to an altered state, analogous to virtual reality, a hiss
sans, remembrance of things past,
whereby with negligible mental effort wuss
sold magical mindbending arch, whereat a
(rainbow like emulation mode), this miss
sing Whoosh DID NOT require
much cerebral exertion from me
to pry loose avast treasure trove
of locked precious childhood memories
visited by hindsight aye could see
long since stowed away,
yet methought Xmas theme would re
mind this baby boomer prithee
(encased in nearly inpenetrable
thick gauzy cobwebs, and huge...
droning spy ware spiders did flee
thence, with a figurative brush of hand,
a simulacrum curtain pulled back, whence glee
son shone vis a vis, cuz,
an illusory chink of light shed forth where he
upon forgotten one favorite
nursery rhyme lyrics, which faux holographic beam
recollected as if momentarily carried back
to me own ole Virginny hide deem
stood atop raised causeway immersed
Retrospective
By Laura Dee Battle
January 14, 2015
Looking back at the Crimson shades of hell
The days where I couldn't bear to face my own reality
Showroom shines of smiles concealing secrets I would never tell
Not that I could tell them about the catastrophes I couldn't see
I had dreams where I was the man and she was the wife
A nice white picket fence with a green yard in my life
But the harder I tried the more my soul burned inside
My heart swelled with blood that never reached my eyes
I was young and I made my family so proud
But lurking inside was a storm in the white, fluffy clouds
I wanted to die and shut off the agony of being alive
I was a type-cast actor, but my delivery was contrived
Nobody was fooled by my life-long stream of refracted truths
They just didn't know where I began and the lies discontinued
If you were lucky, you saw me as the girl I really was
You saw the care-free way I said things, just because
They tried to ask questions they knew the answers to
They tried to tell me the truth I never even knew
I was so lost in that prison of a hundred thousand lies
Life was just to hard for me to defy the endless sea of judging eyes
It's hard to think that I never stood a chance
It's like I learned all the steps but never how to dance
How could I wage a war with no enemies to fight?
How could I find my way out of the darkness without light?
I'm still not very sure how this will end for me
Some days I just feel like digging a hole six feet deep
I just don't know what to say to you today
Soon I'll find the words to explain my exile where I stay
All apologies, but what else can I say?
The life that I was meant to live just happened yesterday
It's great that you're still here where things are crystal clear
Too many things to fear for me to hold my tears
Reflected is the past in eyes like broken glass
Im looking to the past for memories to hold
I guess my fate was set in motion 30 years ago
I'm told that I am still alive...somehow I didn't die
So maybe I'll just go with the flow
At least this time, I'll do it for me
I only hope it shows...
beef ribs, baked beans, and baby croissants drenched in butter
skewered shrimp, corn on the cob, and a loaded baked potato drenched in butter
baked chicken, bacon shells and cheese, and a taco salad with a dollop of sour cream
for dessert, two scoops of pecan praline ice cream on a freshly made waffle cone
give me about five essential oldies on my mind....let me see.....
....I Want Candy by The Strangeloves....Talk Talk by The Music Machine....
....There Is A Mountain by Donovan....You talk Too Much by Joe Jones....
....If You Wanna Be Happy For The Rest Of Your Life by Jimmy Soul....an
honorable mention here will be Love (Can Make You Happy) by Mercy....
you see, simplicity to me
is like making a wish under the apple tree
the heat in the shade does not matter
if the coolness of the day's feeling makes you yourself feel gladder
even if rain decides to fall,
being totally drenched will not halt your joy at all
for it is the love of yourself within you that takes the lead
and the relaxing rhythm of a natural prosperity that is similar to your noble steed
golden raiment trickling threnody ream
hinged present with distant past,
that temporarily static surreal moment in time stream
the best part of existence, thence I became alive
from dormant state, an anachronistic meme
now, asper the following afore
alluded ditty hie now aim
harmoniously exultant exuding
humming bird of a boy,
whose unspoken name means gift, how came
I to share such minutiae (when original intent
bespoke zeroing to ground zero,
when this ache king hippie merely thought
to elaborate about Christmas excitement then),
which unexpected meandering bore me aloft back
to nursery school days and didst claim
thine parents on that namesake,
which elated mood in tandem with real
or imagined gurgling did frame
that moment reminded vision of particular words
and simple tune sang during along as a game
with make believe friends Harnie and Dinnie,
who would coon sitter this poem lame
joie de vivire, way before existence
teetered and tottered the brink of self shame,
whence psychological snowball effect,
no rhyme nor reason could tame!
Now adieu whilst rickey rockety
quirky one man team
doth recite the words while reveling poignantly
this pastiche long an unraveled seam
row row row your boat gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream.
cover me as i go downtown
where we used to go and
play pinball
so many lifetimes have past
since those magical moments
of feeling older in my era of
childhood youth
if i was a painter with a rare
gift of magic, i would paint the
reason back into life and order
a sprite with a cherry in the
middle
as i think about all the heatwaves,
deluges, and snowstorms that have
come and gone, i think about a time
when 6am to 2pm on saturdays were
the golden time of day
as i close my eyes and get lost in the taste
of this push-up, i think back to a time when
certain cities were safe havens of serene
simplicity
i guess every birthday that passes makes me
miss it all even more....then again, as time makes
time forget time, it seems even more like that
particular time did not even exist....until those
retrospectives creep into my mind and bring back
time machine memories of benevolent bliss
i have prolonged making my wish enough
i guess i will go on and blow out the candles now
praise the Lord for the Gift of another year....