Best Skullduggery Poems
Over and over there's evidence of the same old story
People giving up their honor when tempted by greed
Seeking fame, fortune and their perception of glory
when they already have much more than they need.
It's a tale of skullduggery about those who are blind
to how they take advantage of those who are weak.
It tells of what it can do to mess with a man's mind,
when it's a lofty position he or she chooses to seek.
Those who are unscrupulous will wallow in the gutter
promising anything, if it's what people want to hear.
They spew lies with every egotistical word they utter,
masked with a smile to make them seem to be sincere.
I know this sounds like another jab at maligned politics,
but this same scenario applies to many walks of life.
Many dupe, misleading others, using a bag of tricks,
but their hypocrisy often results in conflicts and strife.
They fool gullible folks with hope of unreachable dreams
Preying on their concerns, making them believe it's true
but all the while their only goals are dishonest schemes
to take control, no matter who it is they have to screw.
They never shoulder blame for the mistakes they make
always have an excuse for empty promises they've broken.
The naïve will sadly believe them, but it ends in heartache.
Beware knaves who seldom tell the truth with words spoken.
October 14, 2021
Pick-A-Title, Vol 26 Contest Title Chosen: Skullduggery
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Hands shaking, heartbeats racing,
Trembling knees, tears hiding beneath.
A whisper of cold, numbing despair
Silently, desperately creeping in.
Staring on the wall of masks and confusion;
Trying to figure out: why, how, what's wrong?
Left with the uncertainty of guilt and hatred.
The once free-spirited, innocent soul,
Got lost in the fake world she didn't envision.
The supposed flourishing seed of trust,
Withered without a trace of remorse.
Shouting, crying, regretting the path
Should she cut the rope or hold on a single string of hope?
10/26/2021
Skullduggery
Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
cravings, like niggling whispers,
flit on covered tables
skitter on the floorboards
shiver nerves like humming cables
racing up my backbone
trembling spinal pathways
as I dive for pantry's knob
in a glucose fired craze
tearing through the shelving
jumping for the flour
cracking eggs like gunshots
batter stacked like sugar'd towers
but wait! oh, no! there's something wrong
a final crucial piece!
recipe's cruel words laugh off the page
will this torture never cease?!
"...paraffin for stable rounds
synthesize the compound well
melted into pyrex mixing bowls..."
I swear I fell another level in Hell
slashing through the shelving,
(broke the icebox's fragile handle)
finally, with fevered eye,
spot her stash of scented candles
by now I'd reached a fever'd pitch
impatient I just tossed the batter in
staring at the brutish countdown
nervous capered guilty sin
at last my tortured moments
over with these steaming treats
cackling like a madman
at this half-baked pastry feat
but flaccidly they fell off
spatula and spoon
crumbled burnt and formless
I swear I cried out like a loon!
but no set back could stop me
as I snatched up those candle stacks
biting crumbled chocolate pieces
while gnawing chunky scented wax
sated, I sit gluttonous
sprawled out on the floor
burbled aromatic belches
gob of wax sat at my core!
when she came down looking
for a fruity sconce to put next to bed
I shrug and counsel guiltily
we could just touch a match right to my head...
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time—Lincoln
Truth’s a slow lumbering giant
As his fools remain compliant
Lies bite and scurry
To a clueless jury
Nurtured to be spoiled and defiant
"At Skullduggery our aim is to make this fossil history available to everyone"
said the curator of a very prestigious wax museum, built in nineteen forty one
all of our replicas are cast from original pieces obtained from other museums
such as the Paris crystal skull, which is hidden in Paris behind the mausoleum
it was used in the action movie " Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal skull"
I thought of my live Uncle Harrison Ford who is now seventy nine years old
how he dug for diamonds, dug for treasures and he always dug for gold
"the skull here as you can see, is a veritable nerdgasm, a craniophile beauty"
said the curator, as I thought of Georges Cuvier curator at Natural History
he studied Egyptian human skulls, owned a cabinet of skulls of aging glory
Some museums contain hominid skulls, replicas of apes and extinct ancestors
some own dry rattle bones from a distant era belonging to ancient dinosaurs
We at skulldugery aim to reproduce some of the finest looking skulls around
He took me into an old dusty cavern "shush" he whispers "don't make a sound"
"they are very sensitive to noise and they always know, when we're around .
October 14, 2021
Contest Name: Pick-A-Title, Vol 26 ( chose #2) Skullduggery
Sponsor Name: Edward Ibeh
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."
Psalm 19:14
Discretion drives an unpredictable wedge
into sheltered, relaxed, indiscreet lives.
Its thunder designs to whet the cutting edge
of thinking which stays safely in the archives
of routine – same-o grungy words and garbage.
An effective author might sometime contrive
to create a more concrete channel for language
where skillful articulation wants to thrive.
Virtue mixes committment and knowledge
smoothly, so God’s Word (truth) and tact survive.
October 27, 2021
Did time stop to ask
if it broke your gentle heart,
to depart so soon?
Date: 24th October 2021
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Title: Skullduggery
True loves knows
no
deceit
cover-up
skullduggery
tricks
Love does not dominate; it cultivates. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
For: Pick-A-Title, Vol 26 - Poetry Contest
Title chosen: Skullduggery
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Date: October 12, 2021