Best Saturating Poems
I'm an ashen dove,
fading in zephyr
of wine valleys,
saturating in fog
upon enchanting hills,
draped in
grape-green silk,
where fantasies of forest,
sprout cynthia moon
of a bygone
medieval saga,
amidst heavenly
eventides,
and wailing weeds
prick my shadow,
infusing iced intentions
of the puppet's paradise~
floating in islets
of shackled bones.
My wings are
made of violet wool,
fluffed with
blueberry cotton
and stitched
with the fabric of
amethyst satin,
but as soon as
my tiptoeing feet
touch the
seafoam grass,
it stings my silent
glacial flight,
making me bleed
in chloroform-
dipped letters.
If love was a
rosy matte comet,
I would carve
pastel orchid smiles
amidst kismet-coated
cherry blossoms,
with frozen floral paints
and forgive
beige betrayals
of aqua sirens,
to which the
scents of evermore,
sweetly succumbed.
But maybe,
jasper tinted
jasmine petals,
are sewn with
poisoned thistles
whilst being
dispersed upon
the chambers of
midnight raindrops,
and those
soulful stars
in your eyes are
a mere mirage,
flourishing
false silhouettes of
a perfumed
saudade in
nocturnal negligence.
So, pardon these
bleeding metaphors
that echo sombre
sun's soliloquy in the
hazy kiss of gloom
and follow me
to the teal towers,
where this
fluorescent flesh
slumbers in enfolded
spruce leaves of
sequoia sonnets.
For, when the last petal
falls as poetry,
my soul would be
alive in wistful runes,
mourning in a
doleful decanter,
whilst eyes
would frown
in fragile promises,
wiping diplomatic
dust of dolent delusions
and knitting mists of
manipulations,
carelessly sinking~
to soil of feathered
dandelions.
Where nurtured seeds
of jade reflections,
still haven't ruptured
every pixie dust of hope,
in their life's
dormant decession,
reminisce me
as an ivory moonrise,
fluttering beyond,
dahlia chains of sunshine.
I that have seen such beauty
fallen beneath its gleam
rejected my life’s duty
to wade thus in its stream
Saturating me with love
bathed in moon’s reflection
naught more for me to dream of
drown me your affection
With our true hearts united
stare into love’s abyss
night dreams felt unrequited
are thus found with first kiss
Passion’s torch does scorch the sun
red molten flow in veins
as we two become as one
unbridled, fallen reins
Sacrosanct are our love nights
life’s sweet joys soar with you
without your touch, nothing’s right
next tryst now overdue
Stoke my love and lustful sate
lure me your siren song
wooing whirlwind perfect fate
where pulse and pleasures throng
We shall meet under moonlight
join true hearts in one fire
kiss in love’s sweet depths all night
meld into deep desire
We’ll sail ‘cross life’s open seas
explore each others’ shores
casting caution to the breeze
re-writing romance lores
Love’s paradise we’ll not miss
destiny sends us there
living life with blushing bliss
heaven for us to share
Rapture’s mine, your eyes starshine
your light does kiss my soul
intervention our’s Divine
in ecstasy extol
Robert Lindley and Susan Ashley
(a collaboration)
June 8, 2018
*Providence* - a manifestation of divine care or direction -
Poet’s Note: When my talented friend Robert, found and presented to me his lovely poem fragment, from long ago (the first stanza), and asked if I would be interested in writing a collaborative poem with him, I said ‘Yes’! In the moment of reading his tender words, I was inspired.. and honored and humbled, by his generous and kindhearted offer to finish this poem with him through our creative cooperation. It was my great pleasure and a tremendous poetic experience for me to create and write with Robert, a fine poet of such high caliber who just so happens to be my esteemed friend as well. Robert, you made my first collaboration a pure joy and our friendship and partnership in poetry is cherished.
Oh, how I swoon
in the ruby bliss of your sunset kiss -
your vibrant rays of maturity arouses my fire;
touching me with urgent rapture,
saturating me in sparkles of champagne light, then,
streaming through me in bold shafts of gold.
We embrace
in the broadening bloom of lantana skies -
our burning blend;
your western blaze my prismatic panes
telling biblical stories of love and pain,
bestowing rainbows into depths of dark -
our fervor cast like water-colored sprites
in far-flung illuminations
across dusky medieval arches
enlightening dim granite walls
gracing graceful curves and conscientious columns
in jewel-shades waltzing with your solar pulse.
Our vivacious union reflects our Gothic romance
in mirrored mirages dyeing the staid floor
with painted riches that richly rejoice
in plashes of splashy
orgies of light and glory
the appetite of holy ambiance whet
by warm and cool tones
pregnant with passions of the heart
and imbued with torments and ecstasies
of the soul -
cleaving humanity and divinity
in flaring flair; emerald, sapphire, citrine and garnet,
amid our spellbinding moments
of tantric twilight magic.
Our synergy electrifies
the night-falling quietude of this sacred space
before our enchanted euphoria
begins to wane… and as your dying flame
gives way to the rise of the shy crescent moon
I lose my orgasmic zest
to the evening’s ebon hue.
I didn’t answer, I didn’t need to
How did this happen,
amidst words, phrases,
stones skipped on poetic ponds
Not looking for or expecting
a touch to the heart, a caress,
yet it came
I fell, head first into a joy,
a blissful feeling
I had not felt before
You said the same,
wishes made on coins tossed
had finally come true
Holding hands without touching,
kissing over counted miles
and borderlines of snow
We sang together, harmonies,
lyrics of love from our hearts,
melodic compositions formed of dreams
Picked flowers, daisies, tulips
from the gardens of pure affection
blooming all around us
It seemed no walls,
barriers could hold us back
as we ran towards each other
Then appeared a river, wide, raging
A chasm of worry and fear
was flowing across our paths
Now a deluge of falling tears
filling, overflowing it banks
making footing uneasy, difficult
And we sit on opposite sides
staring at each other, reaching
for something that seems so far out of reach
Dark clouds roll in, threatening
but we stay, standing on the muddy shores
wondering what will become of us in this flooding
“I can’t” you weep facing
deep obstacles, a current too strong,
pulling you in different directions
A drenching downpour of emotions
saturating your decisions with doubt
as you wave goodbye
“Wait” I shout, “I will swim to you!”
But your eyes are too wet
and your heart is a breaking levee
Diving in anyway I am swept away,
pulled under, unable to breathe, choking
watching you fade as you turn away
Hope is gone, fears have overshadowed desires
drowning in what is lost,
trapped in the rapids of disappointment
When a hand grabs me, lifts me, saves me…
I open my eyes on the other side to see,
it is yours
You cradle me in your arms
and I breathe, the most wondrous breath
When suddenly clouds part and the sun
illumines your face as you whisper,
“You truly do love me, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer, I didn’t need to…you knew
Charcoal skies are dappled with overstuffed clouds
spread across it like a down duvet
stuffed with fluffy frozen flakes
that fall to the ground
as puffs of
snow
that gather,
and blot out the sun
behind a curtain of white.
Saturating the heavens above,
charcoal skies are dappled with overstuffed clouds.
A cocooned cacophony of crickets serenades overgrown fields,
drowning out the creaking of rusted cars long since abandoned.
Maroon and sable tents blot the dilapidated ground—
bloated and weathered,
strips of fabric flapping in the harsh elements.
Legends of wraiths wander,
replicating whispers of infected insanity.
Laughter lingers in suspect echoes,
Rippling from pasts reborn in presents: futures to be later replaced by the past.
The smell of burnt sugar crackles with the purr of buttered kerneled corn: invading the nostrils with senses whose stimuli feign belief.
A faint humming of Entry of the Gladiators creeps in loudening crescendos, adding to the cacophony deigning dormancy in the field
Fragmented timelines intersecting by the call of the Barker
Stained cotton candy melts, reconstitutes, melts once more
Saturating replicating stands with insidiously sticky omens
Ghastly sickeningly sweet mori mementos
Resurrecting the dead from preternatural slumber.
Within fractured milliseconds, the cycle of the tormented deceased rise
From the ashes of unburnt airwaves,
Rippling through screaming minutes yet frozen in the midst.
A varicosed bearded woman floats aloft grassy overgrowth
Reanimated tigers lurk and phantasmal elephants howl,
Rings round the air in gaseous hush, like cigars puffed by moustachioed men of game,
Insufflating smoke with striped suits in candied reds and white.
The air rises to the resurrected show,
Cries confused for laughter tickle cochlea of the living.
Come hither, Mister Delicious Sir.
Satiate my craving for saturating kisses.
Read these ready lips like romance fiction.
Practice your best parched desert depiction.
Slurp up this mist smorgasbord to savor
cherry chapstick and cinnamon disk's flavor.
Caress love's breath, pressed against companion lips.
Twist with saliva's textured slides and slips.
Play tongue tag like young ones chasing.
Stencil silent speech, each moment embracing.
Sip freely from the flowing fountain of Venus.
Spin to the rhythm of the heartbeat between us.
Tropical sunshine
streaming down
from a clear blue and white sky
with fleecy white clouds
edged with wisps of mist
like giant grains of popcorn
drifting slowly by
way up in the sky
The sunshine
bathing the sugar cane fields below
with golden sunbeams
saturating the texture
of its long grass-like leaves
with its radiance
enlivening them and
transforming the fields into
an emerald sea
of brilliant green
Tropical breeze
swaying the sugar cane leaves
gently caressing them
making them dance in unison
like the waves of the ocean
The dancing leaves
vibrating in harmony
with each other
create a murmuring sound
that builds in intensity
and reaches a crescendo
like the roar
of the waves of the ocean
setting the leaves
in a wild dance of ecstasy
and then gently subsiding
to the soothing sound
of a gentle breeze
inducing a state
of peacefulness
and tranquillity
At such moments
alone with nature
one can feel a strange unity
with everything around
Unity that is so strong
and overpowering
that one loses consciousness
of one's individual self
one has no consciousness
of time and space
but only of that moment
- the infinite eternal NOW
One's consciousness seems to merge
with a deeper consciousness
of the unity of all things
in nature and the cosmos
One experiences an awareness
of a deeper reality
that is impossible
to describe in words
One makes contact
with one's cosmic roots
in a dimension where
time and space
are irrelevant
It is the synchronisation
of one's consciousness
with the absolute
and ultimate reality
of the cosmos
As a young boy, around nine or ten, I used to love to be in the sugar-cane fields in my native tropical island, Trinidad. I got a natural high, being dazzled by the brilliant sunshine and listening to the sighing of the sugar cane leaves as they swayed in the breeze like the waves of the ocean. I felt that Nature was speaking to me, transporting me to another world where I connected with my cosmic roots, becoming part of the unity of all things.
I tasted summer…
It sure tasted good
I was dying for a sip
Of my iced coffee CHINO
Only in Cyprus…
My drug of choice
Crushed ice with sweetened coffee
OH....YES!
In the evenings
succulent watermelon treats
Eating it all with relish
Even the seeds
what greed!
I tasted summer…
In that first dive into the pool
How cool!
Immersed in liquid delight
Open eyes
I touched the bottom of the pool
Two dolphins painted there
Let me have my way...
I did a handstand
Legs pointed straight up into the air
The water running down my legs
Straight up....I held on
Weightless
Weightless
In my element
My hair flowing around me
As I did my strokes
Diving in and out of the water
A fish…
That's how I got described
by the one who watched,
"Your so agile"
Such exuberance
I thought…OH…this is better...
Better that a sensual high
There was I
Gliding in and out
Water above, below, all around
Carrying me
Splashing around me
loving me
Playing...playing with my hair
Saturating my soul
With giddiness
Muted sound
Below the surface
I swim underwater
The width of the pool
I thrust up for air
Water slides off my body
The sun kisses me
Applauding the feat
I taste summer
It sure tastes good
Salty scent in my hair
My body slathered in sunscreen
Sand clinging to me
The beach
My sensing feasting
On every single thing...
My eyes delighted
A small September crowd
Enjoys the breeze
that creates the waves
I wade into the water
Intake of breath
I squeal
It's refreshingly cold
The water laps at my legs
crawling further and further up
Making me gasp
Finally....
I submerge
I laugh
I dive into the waves
One by one
I play...
I push myself high
My face to the shore
They pound on my back
I take a deep breath and let them roll over me
Enjoying the roughness
That "out of control" feeling
This is greater than me
And then
I lie back
I float
Blue above
White puffs: baby angel breath clouds
I let the sun ravish
The water carries me
I forget everything
My mind blank like the blue sky
There is nothing but the NOW
NOW
And there am I
Tasting summer
Salty and sweet
September treat
And happy
Oh, so, happy, am, I!
Eileen Manassian
From the north he came nimbly in the night
Softly silently bombing blanketing buds
Saturating each single stem
Snowy sneak attack barraging bombarding bark
Wracking white war-like wonder
With relentless wrath and rage
Cardinal calling watching in wonder
Bright crimson claret buried between alabaster boughs
Chipmunk and squirrel shell-shocked
By snowy shrapnel scamper to shelter
Relentless yet irrelevant retreating rush
Futile effort from frosty frothy forces
Spring stands inescapable
Flowers and flakes conflicted
Spring snowflake and spirea stand strong
Bravely bearing banners high
As if to say, try as you may
Your day has passed ‘tis spring at last
Ol’ man winter wanes wails and warns
I shall seize the season someday soon …
Inspired by the 5”- 6” snowfall we have on March 26, 2011
after we had 80 degree weather last week.
Upon rising, awakened by
ripening scent teasing my nose,
trilling my lips and tongue, – my taste buds opening
to bird-like songs as dawn's light breathes new life
and hope into my journey, so begins
a fresh flutter of time, an extending
run of exclamatory chirps and wing-full
stretching –
Muse beckons, yielding to artist'
pen and eye – we are co-authors, exchanging
thoughtful leafs and sun-dipped pages; mingling natures,
swapping poetic voice, reversing positions of artist vs model –
conjuring word-images and interactive, painted-canvases – confounding our seasons of
blossoming and harvest, embracing God's budding voice and fruitful manifestations,
His nectar-ed, figurative language, blending human with Divine senses....
displaying contrasts that stimulate exploratory forming
and transitory shading – clearing and clouding
affects both inside and on my outside, as the clutter of
yesterday, and promise of a spring-like showers soak
crusty sediments with saturating, fertile possibilities;
all taking bows – the theater that of spiritual mastery –
Mystery is
my source, my echo, my chambered growth.
My resources, exploitable enclaves of poetic walls, primed,
awaiting both solid and abstract vibrations, energizing
experimental blurbs, those planned and random into searchable
articulations, grasping, too often vainly, for fantastical alliteration
of sterile, common-place views –
I am deepened and ready to let air
we are each our best audience
my left-hand meeting your right
for a brisk clap of inspiration followed
by riotous applause....
Toward God and His way to assured salvation
…affirming eternal power of regeneration
…asserting priceless redemption
…awakening through miraculous new creation…
His believers are we, trusting Him for our transformation!
Toward God by His Word that resounds His tender mercy
…refreshing souls with divine loving kindness and clemency
…rejuvenating spirits yearning for contentment sufficiency
…rekindling faith’s fervent fervency…
His followers are we, practicing His statutes’ policy!
Toward God Who grants pardon’s blissfulness
…directing us to confess our sinfulness
…demanding the need for worshipful earnestness
…disciplining disobedience through His righteousness...
His converts are we, casting to Him our haughtiness!
Toward God anchoring steadfastness upon His standard
…increasing effectiveness of each faithful steward
…insuring the diligent certainty of labour’s reward
…invigorating hope to keep on marching forward...
His servants are we, ushering the lost to His safeguard!
Toward God while walking along paths of wisdom
…bringing us to wondrousness of heavenly kingdom
…bracing our genuine altruism against selfish martyrdom
…beautifying character with patience midst spiritual boredom…
His seekers are we, triumphing in His truth-propped freedom!
Toward God as He leads us to His heart
…laying His perfect will upon our footsteps against temptation dart
…lightening vision to behold majestic eternity’s rampart
…lifting pursuits, surpassing worldly vanity start…
His learners are we, persevering to fulfill our devotion’s best part!
Toward God, admitting human flaws beseeching strength for rectitude
…satisfying our nourished well-being to exercise attitude of gratitude
…sanctifying conscience by wise admonitions surmounting vain platitude
…saturating us with His peace around prayer solitude…
His children are we, growing by grace for good testimony altitude!
*2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
April 12, 2021
4th place, "Where are we Headed" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Unseeking Seeker; judged on 4/23/2021.
Silently ~ we ~ discover ~ love
Silently
floating on a lily pad
softly atop twilight waters,
drifting a wind swept current
meandering between
pine needle shores
we
gather moon beams,
wishfully gazing upon
reflections of stardust tapestries
saturating cosmic dreams,
as the two of us
discover
whispering ripples flowing,
formed of heartbeat echoes,
tranquil rhythms weaving through
the serenity of the night
in quiet persuasions of
love
Good Night Soupers
Sautéed scallops on the skirts of Italy
Debutantes of a chardonnay shimmy
Mediterranean terraces of broached stars
Gucci wallets moonlighting baroque hearts
Manolo Blahnik legs lavishly luring
High heel sculptures of effusive Etruscan art
Olive ties stirring perfumed Sicilian thighs
Inhaling fragrant glasses of jasmine jet eyes
Rosy secrets saturating burning blotted lips
Fiery fertile plumes of Pompeii's fresco kiss
Vesuvian silence preening suave sable hair
Folded napkins of toasted Venetian affairs
I move amongst the leaves in the evening,
My sunset low and golden encroaches.
Moments mark its rays saturating on
Places made special for its attention.
I can sense it breathing behind the trees,
Greater golden light, I can feel its mind,
As if it has come home by agreement,
Fulfilling its covenant to return.
Generous friend, giver of life – behold!
The ancients worshipped you for good reason,
Countless golden photons, delivered like
Jewels, alighting amongst the shadows.
Bury me in the evening, wrapped in gold,
Like a pharaoh with you I am content.