Best Smolder Poems
Underneath all the layers
Of tradition
Of religion
Of philosophy
Of reason and understanding
I smolder
In passion's pleasure bed of red
Paroxysms of pleasure
Emanate from my core
Searing the shroud
Flames of fantasy's feast burn
Yearning I yearn and lie in wait
In my ambuscade
with the relish to ravish ravaging
every fiber
Conceived in the throes of passion
My conception is my perception of life
Woven into my being
I’m prisoner to pleasure monomania
Obsession of desire hysteria
My cacoethes: gratification gratified
Thus, I scintillate sparks
Riding on my satin flares
They captivate your stare
You see me
Feeling the heat of sultry flame
You want to play scorch torch game
So your reach out to touch
Mere kindling in my blazing wake
You quake as I slake your florid fantasy awake
Convulsing in temptation’s torment
You combust to lust
Consummating till consumed
Eliciting my passion flower bloom
In opulent oriental room
You swoon
Exertion exhausted
Gratification’s glory gained
Having tasted my reign
Revived, you leave
Yet…
My image I’ve seared
On your flesh and mind
Branded, you’ll find
Your way back to me
Slave to my passion's decree
You’ll come to me
And I retreat
Enshrouded once more
In virgin layers
Of tradition
Of religion
Of philosophy
of reason and understanding
Biding my time
when sensuality sublime
calls me
to bloom in her red flame
~*~*~*~again~*~*~*~
Eileen Manassian
This is a repost that has over a thousand views. Just trying to remind myself of the glory days. I seem to be unable to write at the moment....and poets can be a strange lot. If you don't post...you're forgotten, at least by most. The feeding frenzy is for words..and if you're empty, you are neglected. I'm glad I have friends who visit my older works even when I'm not around. I need to cultivate this spirit in my life because I know what it's like not to be visited....
Underneath all the layers
Of tradition
Of religion
Of philosophy
Of reason and understanding
I smolder
In passion's pleasure bed of red
Paroxysms of pleasure
Emanate from my core
Searing the shroud
Flames of fantasy's feast burn
Yearning I yearn and lie in wait
In my ambuscade
with the relish to ravish ravaging
every fiber
Conceived in the throes of passion
My conception is my perception of life
Woven into my being
I’m prisoner to pleasure monomania
Obsession of desire hysteria
My cacoethes: gratification gratified
Thus, I scintillate sparks
Riding on my satin flares
They captivate your stare
You see me
Feeling the heat of sultry flame
You want to play scorch torch game
So your reach out to touch
Mere kindling in my blazing wake
You quake as I slake your florid fantasy awake
Convulsing in temptation’s torment
You combust to lust
Consummating till consumed
Eliciting my passion flower bloom
In opulent oriental room
You swoon
Exertion exhausted
Gratification’s glory gained
Having tasted my reign
Revived your leave
Yet…
My image I’ve seared
On your flesh and mind
Branded, you’ll find
Your way back to me
Slave to my passion's decree
You’ll come to me
And I retreat
Enshrouded once more
In virgin layers
Of tradition
Of religion
Of philosophy
of reason and understanding
Biding my time
when sensuality sublime
calls me
to bloom in her red flame
Eileen
A fire blazes behind the veil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This veil I wear
is not made of cloth
for no fabric could withstand
the incendiary passion
I command
It's self-imposed
not forced
no man's hand
would dare cover me
yet here I am
swathed in these layers...
folds of security
you see
it's easier
much easier
just to be like the rest
not a subject of discussion
or the brunt of derision
with meanings misconstrued
by the crass and the rude...
thus,
anonymity allures
I finger the veil
its threads: religious doctrine
its dye: denial
its paisley patterns: protocol
culturally appropriate
I stand:
~chaste~
silence simmering
with actions inactive
I stand: quiet, demure, serene
but my thoughts burning, unseen
and behind the veil
I smolder
passion flares through my eyes
the only indication
that I'm alive
I pass you by
another woman
unseen
unknown
unacknowledged
I pass you by
you...frivolous in your freedom
you...unappreciative of accpetance
I pass you by
and yet, inwardly I smile
warmed by inner flames
emanating from my core
I know…so much more
There's potential...
potential this woman has in store
for this I know
when the time has come
when I'm ready
it will fall away
by my own hand
unobtrusively grand
and you will see the sight
the walking, breathing delight
of the unveiled woman
confident
sublime
a woman
calmly, gracefully, purposefully
passing you by....
Eileen Manassian
This is not meant to be offense to anyone from the Islamic faith. The veil has symbolic meaning.
Ironic tears that spill are mocking me
in scathing streaks delighting down my cheeks.
They trace their paths as soft as fingertips
atop sad ivories caressing pain -
but shame me in their scalding disregard
and blame me that they even do exist.
I ache in death knell spiral of regrets,
their embers smolder as they stoke with ire
with flaring pain till nothing’s left but ash -
besmirched by lust reduced to worthless grey.
My life now but an aftertaste of soot;
sweet self-indulgence too much to withstand.
In sunset mood I grow my shadow’s length
in angst I’m reaching out midst twilight guilt,
beseeching in day’s fade Salvation’s light;
forgiveness of my own abandons me.
Oh, burn of sins does choke my soul in smoke
as tattered heart is purged upon the pyre.
Susan Ashley
February 2, 2018
~ First Place ~
Contest: Contest 600, Any Free Verse, Any Theme, Max 20 Lines
Sponsor: Brian Strand
There’s fire in the way your eyes do smolder
with lust your gaze caresses every curve
of my body making you grow bolder
to trill and pluck and tingle every nerve.
Arousing touch awakens my desire
as waves of passion roll like timpani,
ravished by your rapture takes me higher
our movements in sonata symphony.
Your bow - my violin we do unite
on rhythmic notes of ecstasy we fly ~
entwined our heartstrings vibrate through the night
emblazoned love songs burn across the sky.
In Stradivarius intensity
crescendo joins your virtuosity.
Susan Ashley
April 15, 2018
~ Second Place ~
Contest: Your Best Sonnet 2018 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: John Hamilton
~ Tenth Place ~
Premiere Contest: Any Rhyming Poem In April
Sponsor: Laura Loo
There is a solace in his silence, a servant of his solitudes,
As he comforts in compliance, a jester to the multitudes…
He stands alone a neophyte, struggling within his confines,
Actions that do excite, impugnable inhibition when he signs.
Master of the satirical sad, a foreordained flounder of many,
Like a narcotized nomad, wandering wills a penniless plenty…
A calamitous circus in mind, his heart exposed in the limelight,
Dolorous detentions unkind, amidst filling his formidable finite.
A bombarding bombast, with words falling to the desolate deep,
Sailing with a maudlin mast, wearing a facetious frown as to weep…
Layered with lecherous lashes, upon wounding the sacrificial soul,
His anguish turns to ashes, within continuation of his dramatic role.
A buffoon protected by providence, metamorphic minstrel of laugh,
Lacking in canopied confidence, recklessly writing his eternal epitaph…
As he mimes until the morrows, living amongst a false fading reality,
With a smolder to his sorrows, court jesting as a nilpotent nobody.
Feb.28.2020
Repost From May 23, 2019
Clown at the Abyss
Sponsored by: Kai Michael Neumann
Placed 7'th...Thank You
Tongues of solar flare writhe in combat kiss
—flame-throwers unleashed
iron words h a m m e r e d in fire
ferrous words melt-morph into heart-welts
once under skin
hear the fevered air burn with cheers;
c a c k l e s of c r a c k l e s and h -i -s -s -s
bellies of tears full of fire; fire feeds on gasoline tears
fire-eaters’ —bellies full of flames
turn inside-out; fire-breathers shape-shift
from love doves to squawk hawks
bonfire of marital bliss consumed by wildfire
desolation burns holes in lacy i n* t i* m a* c y
ashes
fall
from
s o l o
cigarettes
—nuclear winter in summer
t h r o a t s of songbirds c h a r r e d
. . . silence
follows blaring —w h o o s h— of serpent fire
purification in cremation of all OratiOn sound
liability and liberation
animate to dissipate in snaky smoke of HeLL-wraiths
apathy clouds form they rain on red heat
smother a smolder mother a cease fire
ember-ice; scalds freezes t–h–a–w–s
whets flesh — and wets fire extinguished flower bed
ashes laid down
—passion’s quiet confetti paves a path—
w. a. i. t. s
— s l e e p w a l k s
… d r e a m s
Buildin’ Birds…
Your hands dart and weave
In, out, up.. then hover
Swoop right… then left
As simply as sight
Of a birds dreamy flight
Floating to perch proud on rocky cleft
Subtle magic’s paint
Concept, thought to Action
Life wrought from death
As eloquently as the Master
Reaches out from the hereafter
And grants the unborn gift of breath
Chaos now cornered
Seeks out surge, hands direct
And collar by will
And just as Angels acting
So precise, measured, and exacting
Leave scarce a ripple on waters still
Trumpet Grande Crescendo
Labors love ushered in
A diamond from primal smolder
A new winged gift to grace us
Snatched still in pristine stasis
To soar in the eye of the beholder
(Narrative)
I wrote this poem after peeping through the doorway of my wife Nancy’s workspace as she
crafted her beautiful bird sculptures. I was utterly amazed at the delicate movements she so
gracefully employed to wring creations that seemed to capture a split second of nature so
completely as to cause the beholder the illusion that she had somehow stopped time.
Literally, a hummingbird caught between the beats of its wing for one to marvel at. Of all
Nancy’s creative endeavors I still rank her “Buildin’ Birds” as her paramount artistic
endeavor.
Love songs and empty words curled
Around ideas of what love
Should be, like horns that ram the unsuspecting,
Shaking and shattering bones
And all expectation of the
Normalcy in past, weak coals that don’t smolder.
Life as it should be intrigued
My mind, kindled my spirit, and
Sizzled my heart as he seeped into my pores.
Head-strong and stubborn, he carved
The strict laws into his essence.
He obeyed these principles as religion,
And like a lamb he followed
The world’s ideology of
Perfection deeper into the demise he
Designed himself every time
He bleated for a white ewe,
Not out of his love of crisp snow, but the world’s.
Form:
[Verse 1]
Just give me a chance,
Take my hand, let’s dance.
Girl, look into my eyes—
No need for alibis.
You’re falling, can’t you see?
In this moonlight, just you and me.
[Pre-Chorus]
Put your head on my shoulder,
Let the night pull us closer.
We don’t have to rush at all—
Let the silence say it all.
[Chorus]
Give me a chance, give me a sign,
Tonight could be magic—your heart and mine.
Let your inhibitions go,
Let the rhythm take control.
Give me a chance, take this romance,
This could be the right time—our moonlight dance.
Yeah, give me a chance,
Give me a chance.
[Verse 2]
No need to pretend,
Let your heart transcend.
Every fear, every doubt—
Let the music drown it out.
Girl, we’re writing our song,
Right where we both belong.
[Pre-Chorus]
Put your head on my shoulder,
Let the fire smolder.
One spark is all we need
To let love take the lead.
[Chorus]
Give me a chance, give me a sign,
Tonight could be magic—your heart and mine.
Let your inhibitions go,
Let the rhythm take control.
Give me a chance, take this romance,
This could be the right time—our moonlight dance.
Yeah, give me a chance,
Give me a chance.
[Bridge]
Close your eyes, feel the night,
Everything about this feels so right.
A kiss in the dark, the start of a spark—
Girl, you’ve already got my heart.
[Final Chorus]
Give me a chance, don’t walk away,
This could be forever, starting today.
Let your inhibitions go,
Let your sweet emotions show.
Give me a chance, take this romance,
Let’s write our story—one slow dance.
Yeah, give me a chance,
Moonlight romance—
If you just give me a chance.
Whispers fondling neck and face
in voice promising torment divine
breath caressing each exotic place
bringing sensations along the spine
Hunger drawn from seeking lips
unsated passion kept at length
exploring hands, gentle finger tips
arms holding back sinewy strength
Eyes of desire, how they smolder
looks flaming with tongues of fire
wants and needs, growing bolder
burning torment on blazing pyre
Faint first kiss, scarcely a touch
A beckoning to draw nearer yet
this night when we loved so much
sweet torment we shall not forget
May 8th, 2016
To kiss your eyes with mine, my eyelids lift
And find emotions rise, in flickering trace
Warm and flameless fires smolder with their gift
To capture heartfelt needs from their embrace
We will sigh as our lover's eyes unite
To drift away in a silent tether
Hands held tenderly, as our hearts hold tight
So our dreams and wishes dance together
We'll cross unmeasured distance in-between
And drink from lover's orbs amorous wine
To share a kiss so deep in time serene
Our flame fed souls burn as the eyes entwine
The only sacred space where love concedes
When it melts the eyes with its flaming needs
7/7/17 contest The Eyes have it
From death exudes the acrid breath of Hell
in burning pyres of rosined timbers' blaze.
Return to me where passion's fires dwell
enchanted by the light of your sweet gaze.
I can't endure through life's infernal pain,
without your love, no, nothing can remain,
so burn my soul to soot in hearths of char
and cast each lonely ash to pits of tar.
I know in truth I'm not the one you need.
Emotions smolder deep in fiery night
to have you here just feels so real and right
but if you leave my heart will surely bleed.
You beast, now burn my bones in flames of coal,
your flames of fire will never touch my soul.
04/24/16
"Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself."
(from: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain)
~~~
Should old romantic souls bind their hearts with chains of cynicism?
Should waves of hope and troughs of disappointment
be banished as though an ocean of beating hearts no longer exists?
We are but fading sunlight, common shades of gray.
Convicted of this inescapable reality are we sentenced to forsake pleasurable thoughts which stir pleasurable memories?
Should desire be a vapor we are not allowed to grasp?
Fires still smolder in old minds though touch is desensitized by scars, years, age and distance,
but a heart is forever young.
We may never see the pictures in our minds, but shall we refuse to surrender our visions? At least until death closes the door?
Let us always stare boldly into the fire although we know
passion's flame may blind us.
What else can we do
when words fall in love?
I, the empty man,
The hollow man,
Exist here in the shadows
Of twilight. My senses dead,
Burned out of me along with
The tattered, wasted rags
That were the only remnant
Of my tortured soul.
Like hellfire, the flames
Roared through my Self,
Consuming all there was and
Leaving naught but the acrid
Stench of a being destroyed.
My eyes now stare out from an
Empty shell that once held so
Much life and promise.
A vessel that once was filled with
Hopes and dreams of happiness.
Those are all gone now, replaced
With a fathomless nothingness.
Black is the void that dwells within
Now. It swallows all light and laughter
And echoes back a harsh mockery of
Life. Still the fires smolder, eating away
At the foundation, the supports, moving
Itself toward total collapse. When it does,
I will become the nothingness that I
Contain. Swallowed by the void, with
Nothing left but my anguished screams,
Echoing into oblivion.