Best Staving Poems
A lowly blossom, striving to sustain
her beauty in the early morning mist,
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist.
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell,
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail,
antennae primed, and ready for the death knell,
when sparrows poke and peck his coat of mail.
Creatures and plants in the midst of the fray,
searching for sustenance, dying of thirst,
staving off hunger, say, is there a way
for them to be blessed, not feeble and cursed?
predator, prey, both the weakest and strongest,
who will prevail in the fight to live longest?
Categories:
staving, nature,
Form:
Sonnet
Encamped in the local IHOP patio
Doing reconnaissance on the butter pecan syrup
I discern its malicious, aggressive intentions:
To march defiantly down Mt. Stack
And wage a ruthless attack on
Defenseless over-easy eggs
Acting quickly, I wield my fork
Digging trenches in my pancakes
I flank the enemy, staving off
This unprovoked act of aggression
Victory!
Only in that moment do I lift my eyes and notice
A brood of young sparrows
heralding their hunger
The chevron of hang-gliding geese silently
sailing to destinations unknown
Majestic Monarchs flitting
stoically southward
And rival suitors:
An iridescent hummingbird and an industrious bee
Romantically pursuing myrtle blossoms
The canopy of cerulean blue
And all the life within its realm
Resolves my thoughts from war to peace
Note to self:
Don’t forget to look up
Categories:
staving, food,
Form:
Free verse
A lowly blossom, striving to sustain
her beauty in the early morning mist,
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist.
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell,
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail,
antennae primed and ready for the knell,
when sparrows poke and peck his coat of mail.
Creatures and plants in the midst of the fray,
searching for sustenance, dying of thirst,
staving off hunger, say, is there a way
for them to be blessed, not feeble and cursed?
predator, prey, both the strongest and weakest,
who will prevail in the fight to live longest?
Categories:
staving, nature,
Form:
Sonnet
What am I missing?
every day I
bounce in all directions
through the door
off ceilings, walls, floors
rattling around wondering
what am I here for?
husband kissing
off to work
while I stay in
and create a din
of crazy commotion
out of my notions
I'll do this, no that-
no that needs to be done
Utterly distracted, no time for fun
starting a bit of everything
pulling loose too many strings
to tie up by end of day-
I do it daily, anyway
knowing it's madness
staving off sadness
by feeling busy
what's wrong with me?
what am I missing here?
what can't I see?
If I could just stop myself
shove “busy-ness” back on a shelf
and work on clearing
out the mess in my head...
but somehow it's easier
to tackle the laundry
or go scrub the toilet
or make up the bed
Husband asks, are you okay?
do we need to do things
in a different way?
are you happy here?
do you need to work?
after all these years, still
confused by moods and quirks
No, there's no other place
that I'd rather be-
and I'm never bored
with my books and hobbies!
but- with all that said
I just wish I could
do something worthwhile
something really good
something no one else
in the world could do-
Then he smiles and says
...like being you?
Categories:
staving, humanity, identity, inspirational, life,
Form:
Free verse
In time we find light that was not so much a remembrance of character void,
or a psalm of the heterogeneous unlimited focus-
or stance of staving off the news,
in the leeway there is no set mountain,
or even the scuttled movement otherwise that allows the courteous to emote wisely,
topping out of something takes no drawbridge,
sleeping softly is no more calm than a stereo-graph printing interstellar onto a platform,
finally without the fives at nines going awry for our teller to debunk the checks we saw came late,
I hope for the favorite thing to be what doesn't unmake us-
but stays traveling down an endless moon at noon,
delicacy not,
rectitude forward-
yet always in knots,
as we know we speak the language of our derailment of pot.
Categories:
staving, angel, animal, best friend,
Form:
Prose Poetry
A lowly blossom, striving to sustain
her beauty in the early morning mist,
the crocus, craving moisture to maintain
her stoic fight 'gainst winter's iron fist.
A lowly mollusc slithers 'neath his shell,
he slowly weaves, and leaves a silver trail,
antennae primed and ready for the knell,
when sparrows poke and peck his coat of mail.
Creatures and plants in the midst of the fray,
searching for sustenance, dying of thirst,
staving off hunger, say, is there a way
to count ourselves blessed, not feeble and cursed?
Predator, prey, both the fittest, the weakest;
who will prevail? I would bet on the shrewdest!
Categories:
staving, nature, philosophy,
Form:
Sonnet
He stared at the pictures,
faces of the love searchers,
twenty first century wanted posters,
scanning their rewards,
nothing pecuniary ,
preliminary,
maybe,
move on.
“Shall I advertise myself,” he thought,
no one appears sold or bought,
given to the mass,
on a screen of glass,
the physical hidden,
abrogate madness in description,
we are all still strangers,
with keyboards,
watching screens.
Laptop lap dance dreaming,
muscles screaming,
from the primal theatre,
soul said rise,
clearing eyes,
bleary plasma vision clearing,
fresh air endearing,
left behind the digital desert,
went out to speak,
parched vocal chords starved,
thirsting for voice.
No dust on the keyboard,
he moved away in dead skin’s storm,
hunched and wild,
hair hung lank and ragged,
bedraggled wardrobe on blood and bone’s frame,
almost lame he walks,
to the shower stalks,
water staving off the slaughter,
the hot water,
a dream of cascading falls,
at his feet the last days drowned,
washed to the sewer,
where screen days live,
blending easily;
with battered shopping trolleys & ****.
He dressed slowly,
went to his front door,
where the mirror smiled,
I remember you,
you once passed by often,
don’t be a stranger,
I’d rather see you leaving,
twisted contradictions of a mirror’s perspective,
not because you’re ugly,
because you’re beautiful,
and you shouldn’t be here with only me,
he laughed and said goodbye,
fresh air and light,
a missing intoxication,
he drank deeply;
walking to bid the strangers hello...
©David Nickle Read2015
All Rights Reserved By The Author
Categories:
staving, freedom, internet, light, lonely,
Form:
Free verse
Your castle has a moat
to mark for the unawares
the point of danger,
the change of rule.
My fort has a juice box
Your castle has a drawbridge
to allow in only those
who pass the "Hark! Who goes"
test and cause the chains
to move.
My fort has peak roof
for peeking out
and, on occasion
for peeking in.
But only for the Lucky Few
and only in the Lucky Few
moments when all is well,
for a spell.
Your castle has
both balustrade and colonnade,
meurtrière 'n its parapets
for staving off the storms
and againststanding and
withstanding arméd swarms.
My fort has a
pair a pets:
this fluffster at my calf,
snoring and this stuffster
in crook of arm;
well-worn, with eye
missing but stuffed
animals see with squishy bits
inside, not these button eyes.
Your castle has barbican and portcullis.
My fort has a wittle wiccan. Jealous?
Your castle has both crenellation and machicolation.
My fort has an introvert's narration and ceaseless cogitation.
Your castle has walls of
stone, long-charred by dragon
breath. With dents by dint
of Minotaur and Harpy.
My fort is cotton batting,
linen for winnin'
battles with monsters
greater than your gods.
Categories:
staving, fear,
Form:
Free verse
Come with me, to where the river-water
Snakes around and through the rocks,
Lit by the sun,
To where the rushing stream
Cools hot, tired feet
Where all noise is stemmed by the stones.
Join me in this world
Of grey and green and blue
Where the old river sings its tunes;
Its hymns of hidden springs,
Its ballads of the valley,
Its memories of folks old and new,
And I'll tell you of the river-men
In their earthy dress,
Grinding meal and weaving reeds and singing all the while.
Of the hidden tomb,
Where a robber laid his tired mount to rest,
And of the cryptic tracks in the muck, which we'll try to guess.
The birds will entertain us,
With their piping discourse,
And we'll be soothed by the smell of sage on the breeze,
Borne down from the high hills,
Where tenacious climbers labor up steep paths,
Chasing a view spread before them like a living map.
But this struggle is not for us today,
The day is far too clear and warm.
We'll rest by the river , our bodies cooled by boulder and breeze.
We'll pass an afternoon in the garden of God,
Stealing a slice of the halcyon world,
Before the Fallen Star's meddling lies.
We'll lie there, you and I,
Surrounded by the sweetest sounds, the choicest sights,
Time will be irrelevant, and the sun will be our clock.
And as the day ends,
We'll walk arm-in-arm back down the road,
Our warmth staving off the dusky chill,
As we return to the dead land of automata,
The grinding cycle of mammon,
And the vain, callous masses numb to nature's perfection.
So come with me then,
While the summer and our youth last,
Let's be prisoners no more.
Categories:
staving, art, life, nature, places,
Form:
Free verse
They painted masks to hide the lie,
A façade staving off an expectant eye
"It's who we are!" They tell themselves
A repeated prayer one seldom tells
And in the mirrors harsher glare
Are they disgusted standing there?
To play pretend with wine and gin
And faux aristocracy to blindly fit in.
Yet survival now is all they know,
Prosecco, lies and cheap Bordeaux.
There fear lies with the honest face,
Who though returned home is out of place
Adrift in this sea of listless souls
Who scream, "Wine!", "More shots!", And "#squadgoals!"
And under this fog a new day breaks
For morning joggers and their caffeine shakes
Dog walkers, fools, and 'ladies who lunch'
the ladz from the gym with a mortgage to crunch.
Living this high and middle-class life
Get a house with two kids, a dog , and a wife.
Perhaps I'm too harsh
Seeing survival as farce.
Yet resigned to its chosen fate
I don't stay long in my visits of late.
Where once there was a heart and character
Now rings cold and empty laughter.
Again the banker takes control
Though better men have served us all.
I no longer wear my mask,
Why do you? I turn and ask.
Categories:
staving, home, introspection, metaphor, truth,
Form:
Rhyme
With the rising sun I wake
anger has no place in my soul
I will not stoop to simple revenge
violence is not the answer to pain
My children need food
their stavation is my suffering
creating work provide's money
money to feed the staving child
violence create's war
arms and limbs ripped
from the broken lives of people
violence just create's more suffering
I stand against suffering
I stand against pain
create a better world learn to smile
and make company's
Instead of fighting
Instead of creating death
as a world, we should create the work,
create the jobs, to feed our people.
Categories:
staving, business, growing up, hope,
Form:
Narrative
If ten unemployed people formed a group
if ten people saved only ten dollars a week
after the first week they would have
One hundred dollars to invest
One hundred dollars would buy
equipment to wash and dry cars
a start on the road to make work
a start to build better life perks
If ten unemployed people formed a group
after only six weeks they would have
six hundred dollars my friend
enough to buy tools for the road
A lawn mower sharpens the day
perhaps in landscaping they play
If after two years that ten thousand shares
perhaps it's a second hand shop
Investing in you
perhaps it is true
you can build a life
if you care.
Perhaps with stock from Ebay
and from a shed you sell
you can create a future
that better in the end
This idea is quite simple my friends
but builds to make useful new ends
if each working person
was simply to save
It could make a future
for me and for you
Imagine if each working person
saved ten dollars a week as a group
we could build jobs for our future
we could build jobs for our kids
we could build jobs to stop staving
the children are hungry for food
Categories:
staving, business, change,
Form:
Rhyme
I look at the future and worry
as shops shut down
because of the internet
as people lose jobs
because of advancing technology
as companies struggle
with the future loss of income
as countries struggle with lost tax
where will it end
will Governments that don't have money
stop paying benefits
will people without jobs fight to survive
Will the rich, use the weapons of the future
on gangs that steal to survive
will a world that's staving
become a battleground of people
Companies that think only of themselves
keep replacing people with technology
yet with every person that loses a job
that's one less taxpayer to support the country
That's one less consumer
that can afford products
that's one more mouth
dependant on your handout
Granted with advancing technology
you are creating more jobs
but what of the people that can't learn
what of the child, that's disabled
what of the adult
that's intellectually challenged
born to this planet we all have a right to life
our world needs a plan for all people
we need Governments,
that are not, just for the rich
that are not, just for the poor
that think of solutions for everyone
Governments that can think above the chaos
to make plans and solutions for everyone
they say Governments can't run companies
yet perhaps we should try and try again
working people pay tax
working people, keep your country healthy
working people have the money
to buy your companies products
Categories:
staving, inspiration, international,
Form:
Narrative
Sky bent, whispering thrust, loud with bending, the fending friend, Thankful I am, Your reaching arm, staving the blowing barn.
Oh see, the debris flying freely, the smack, then the thrust, damage frothing, day growing dark.
Fear, seconds growing, mind seeking slowly, reaching what can come, lash of the internal whip, rising slowly. Not nearly done.
Wrath, of natures near, scream to awake, the reverence of the stake.
Reminder, of mother earths sphere, the slap of abuse, to shuttle us awake, push of elements, stormy fate, brutal quiver, till we awake.
Categories:
staving, natural disasters, nature, storm,
Form:
Free verse
we once rode together
sipping sherry sweet angel skin
fabled silken locks staving off
dream’s killing wind
no idea of our value
as we lay treachery’s faint skidmark
on the ice fronting
dreamboat market
gyrating dark stars
stunned stone sapphires strewn across howling
midnight meadows
petulant organ grinder was I
churning melodies sublime
all the while counting orgasms like shooting stars
knowing we donned
tresures from afar
Categories:
staving, adventure, allegory, emotions, love,
Form:
Ballade