Best Strivings Poems
TIME KEEPER
Early morning
Late p.m.
These could be thankful periods of silence
The world drowsy
Or still asleep
And my teeming head hopefully
emptied out
What marvelous devolvings might be refreshed
When one is in a nothing state
The clatter of dreams and strivings finally settled
on the kitchen floor
I would borrow absence from my cat
He sits on the window sill head on paws
serene aggravating!
Yes so apparently empty he I am sure
isn’t aware of the ticking
The tick tick ticking of my large kitchen
clock
To my sensitive awareness like hail stones
on a flat tin roof
Yes! really a clack clack horrible clacking
And my cat?
Hah!
What is time to him?
Zip!
Nada!
This wretched inflicting of time on the eternal
Dave Austin
Categories:
strivings, time,
Form:
Free verse
My Favorite Things comes to mind...
a random assortment, a jumble of words
a quotient of portions, quotidian served
quixotic strivings of the great deca-dense
obscured in meaning, eschewing all sense
visions and nightmares and hallucinations
erudite arguments, odd fascinations
old geezers fondling memories of things
most folk would not to mixed company bring
inchoate ramblings of damaged young minds
bubbled through water and cardboard box wine
audible groans from the web server host
these are the ones make me giggle the most
shouting in vacuums, a riotous void
pontificating, or mildly annoyed
grieving, believing, or weaving a string
virtuous outburst that don’t do a thing
rants about orange man and all his mean tweets
and, yes, “Let’s go, Brandon” to make things complete
guns, poo, abortion, yes, all are discussed
sometimes the thin-skinned bail out in disgust
side by side, posting, the sage and the fool
the wise in their youth and those starting to drool
bleeping our excrement down on the page
somehow it all seems to soften the rage
when the bard shouts
when the muse screams
‘bout covid or Vlad
we’re at a computer
with just poo to fling
and that makes me laugh a tad
Categories:
strivings, humorous, parody,
Form:
Rhyme
O child of stone, outcast, alone,
succumbing to desire.
Inside your chest, you’re sorely pressed,
assailed by a liar.
Do not believe the tales it weaves:
the lost, untethered heart.
Though it deceives, it silent grieves
the time it spends apart.
When realized, it bitter cries
for wounds it did impart,
and scarce conceives, much less receives
the grace of a fresh start.
But when it breaks, all of that ache,
like scales, just falls away.
A flood of tears, to be drawn near,
says what no words can say.
Your Father sates, and yet He waits
for you to freely turn.
Climb in his chair, incline your ear,
and hear what your soul yearns.
Child, fall asleep to rhythms deep:
a heart that fiercely burns.
Ah, to be blessed, and find the rest
your strivings never earned!
Categories:
strivings, father, love,
Form:
Quatrain
Ruffling gold blooms and leaves, hue dimmed by time
A gilded frame holding a slice of life’s history
I’m drawn into the younger man, the vision sublime
Sailing stolidly upstream towards his destiny
A castle in the sky, all ether and phantasm
Drawing him nigh with its ivory flirtation
The possible reap of his boundless enthusiasm
Limited only by blossoming imagination
As he departs, I do wish to share my blessing of age
Hard-won patience and placid perspective
If only to inform him, to act as his sage…
But would it deter him from his futile objective?
A glance as he navigates, back to the angel he calls
Warm reassurance for his doubting mind
Far behind the angel, a modest castle's solid walls
Little does he know, the home he will find
Vainglorious dreams bathe in youthful euphoria
With volcanic demands upon fate and destiny
Unpretentious walls’ comfort to replace phantasmagoria
Brash strivings supplanted by consistent humility
I envy him not, his naive, headstrong trouble
Through pitched battles, my dream castle faded away
So lovely, yet impossible to heal the burst bubble
Such ethereal visions life's truth did betray
5/9/16
For Contest:Within a Gilded Frame
Sponsor: Broken Wings
Inspired by "The Voyage of Life--Youth" One of a series by Thomas Cole.
Categories:
strivings, art, journey, youth, perspective,
Form:
Quatrain
There’s an addict residing deep within me-
Seeking and probing for the seventh si,
In the abode of the Conscious Spirit~
Solmizate a song which on my life writ.
Probing for one single way of rhythm,
My strivings to stay an eternal pilgrim….
Where qualms and turmoil disappear,
A trip of the fealty imbues cohere.
I seek His Chariot my belief cast aside,
There is a Way clear and undisguised.
To keep on with a single mind to reach,
To dream the impossible dream impleach.
Relieve my mind filled with unrest and turmoil,
My tired soul fills with calm of Your Aura moil…
Still my subsistence is bereft in desolation~
I cry to ever be with You in conflation!
Yet I am lonely and I'll always dream,
To reach the unreachable effervescent star~
When I awake with preferences cast aside,
The Way stands clear and undisguised.
When devotion and belief are distinct,
And the mind and faith are interlinked;,
Then it is beyond all libretti, all thoughts fey,
For then, I know there is no yesterday,
Only a Point there is, no tomorrow, no today!
What is, is not, what is, is not is -
Pro tem confines have no place in His;
Where the major is the minor too -
It is here it is here my song joins anew!!
Categories:
strivings, spiritual,
Form:
Canzone
January 3 Scripture Meditations Based on Genesis 6-8
Key Verse - Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
MY GOD, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO FIND GRACE IN YOUR EYES
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a blessing
Despite my carnality of sinfulness’ cursing
Praise be to You for salvation-bracing
Making me Your child with eternal life possessing.
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a privilege
Despite my flesh-strivings of pride’s knowledge
Praise be to You for righteousness-imputation I acknowledge
Making me Your saint with new creation toward heavenly mileage.
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a time of gladness
Despite my selfishness hiding in hypocrisy’s brightness
Praise be to You for Your mercy and forgiveness
Making me Your convert toward transformation along holiness.
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a sure victory
Despite my vain cravings and worldly thoughts’ flurry
Praise be to You for Your sanctification-glory
Making me Your follower who walks with You, proclaiming Your story.
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a proof of Your approval
Despite my failures attributed to enemies hindering my survival
Praise be to You for Your power causing my prayer-filled revival
Making me Your will-abider shut in Your prevailing love-festival.
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a service-motivation
Despite my unfaithfulness brought by fleshly corruption
Praise be to You for Your steadfast compassion
Making me Your steward who complies to Your instruction.
To find grace in Your eyes, Lord, is a desire of my heart
Despite my zeal assuaged, abated and restrained by iniquity’s dart
Praise be to You for wisdom propelling my being from the start
Making me Your worshiper offering sacrifice with sweet savoured part.
January 3, 2022
Categories:
strivings, blessing, christian, faith, god,
Form:
Rhyme
Feelings, my deeper feelings,
Walk me down to two different meanings
Of romance won through uncontrollable strivings
Reminiscing my blooming love in youthful pinnings
When I cried my heart out on sunset evenings
Yearnings surmounting on desirous heartstrings
Nostalgia of the golden era in my early teenings
Listening to Andy and Julie Andrew's singings
Smiles while listening to their musical strummings
Feelings, my deeper feelings
Walk me down to two different meanings
Dreaming and starry nights for future strivings
May 16, 2016
For Gren's Evergreens (GoldenOldies) # 2
* Feelings By Andy Williams
Categories:
strivings, absence, allegory, dream, feelings,
Form:
Romanticism
I’m carbon-based,
Resurrection cornerstone foundation laid
Diamond made
These obsidian eyes
sardius shine ...
agate Illuminating
my igneous bright coal face
With volcanic intensity,
my onyx lips glow
And the chest cavity
pressure beneath
fire paint
these
pulmonary
walls
Sparkling carbuncle candlelight beats,
which wax amethyst faithfully
through the opaque, misty waterfalls
A Morning Star rebirth future
was the burning bush path
I chose to embrace
Forged in the hardest fires,
I was fashioned
with mercy and grace
Mind unbendable ... spirit unbreakable
Thus, I declare: I’m Diamond made
From the naked sunburst moment
understanding first clothed me,
I was emerald told
my birthright as a slave —
Sky-sculpted, unfettered Sapphire tears
that were Diamond made
My first father chain-born,
felt the most pressure
ever
put upon
a clay-skin carbon vessel
My first shipped mother,
iron umbilical link womb held
in a dungeon cargo cell,
taught her children wisely
not to murder rebel
And the pressure to bottle that rage,
blew the doors off the cage
of my bloodline’s collective captive mind
Unlimited cosmic expansion
was our cherubic wings, innervision legacy
A spinning free-thought pulsar, Supernova aorta core,
which turquoise topaz bleed
And the pressure in their veins,
from the plantation struggles and the
abolition strivings,
was peacefully presbyterian passed down to me
Genetic roots pressure burst the oppression pipes,
and let the chrysolyte wind in my beryl lungs
jacinth breathe DNA free
Ruby righteous spirit flow to the firmament
was my ligure liberated destiny
I’m the dove offspring of Love Infinity,
pure carbon-based ...
Double blessing of joy,
that is 24/7 carat cut,
be my jasper posterity legacy
I’m Diamond made —
Resurrection cornerstone foundation laid
Sapphire twin palm pressure
is all these praying, crystal eyes ever did need
Categories:
strivings, identity, spiritual, truth, visionary,
Form:
Bio
I should have said this on that fateful 9th of December
The year 2009 when your breath forsook the corporeal
And went to roam among the gay dancing stars;
And failure to say it has dealt my heart an incurable beal.
I know that late is better than never as they say,
So, may I not therefore carry on with my threnody?
Well, glittering jewels do not usually last as long
As the eventful longevity of the average Kennedy.
And you being the most precious among gems,
Had to lose your glitter and gleam as years wound;
Not a diamond or marble of your time shines anymore,
And trinkets of your age cannot be nowadays found.
Yet, your all-pervasive breath that’s found in everything
Cannot be said to have evaporated on a single unfortunate day;
And unlike other mundane jewels that their sparkle lose for good,
You are a jewel whose glister increases with wear day after day.
The indestructible crystal immune to cracks,
The precious and immortal bracelet that history will wear
And learn how the strivings of a single well-meant soul,
Can imbue the whole world with a faith and hope so rare.
Categories:
strivings, death,
Form:
Verse
Now is the time to be asking the night,
under a cloudless sky lit by the moon,
when in the future will all things be right?
Now is the time to be asking how soon
war will be ended, and there will be peace
under a cloudless sky lit by the moon.
Now is the time to ask strivings to cease;
when, like the breeze, so gentle, scarce moving,
war will be ended, and there will be peace?
Now is the time to pray for improving
relations with nations who are at war.
When? Like the breeze, so gentle, scarce moving,
now is the time to want things as before,
value all lives and all men as brothers,
relations with nations who are at war.
Now, for the sake of loved ones and others,
now is the time to be asking the night,
valuing lives and all men as brothers:
when in the future will all things be right?
----------
for AN ORIGINAL TERZANELLE Poetry Contest
sponsored by L Milton Hankins
written 04/05/2022
Categories:
strivings, peace,
Form:
Terzanelle
Rich dark blanket of night,
Silken wrapper, inducer of sleep,
You sooth the glare of harsh daylight strivings.
Half of the world sinks into rest.
Beyond the soft, tenebrous cloak: infinite brightness.
Into the dense fabric a droll designer deftly fashions
Small snips, eyelets, delicate cuttings,
Wheeling patterns – the geometry of whimsy.
Sprinklings of brilliance,
Sparkling clarity beyond imagining,
Dustings of ancient, newborn glitter,
Stars give a benediction to sleep.
Categories:
strivings, night, sleep, stars,
Form:
Blank verse
Compassion sings in velvet vibrato violin strokes, thrumming upon
an ivory frame suffused in dulcimer tones of need.
Half deaf we echo broken words, sharp jagged phrases, defining
the borders of empathy, binding the reach of the heart.
Compassion lays bittersweet trails on the tongue, late fall berries,
bursting in a celebration of triumph and sorrow.
Half starved, we feast on spoils, too drunk on victory to discern
the salt-sweet retch of blood from the bitter poison of lies.
Compassion streams in surreal ashen hues - the rose tainted
glow of golden wildfire skies. A sanctity of devastation.
Half blind we stumble backward, peering through filtered lenses
at remnants of truth, polarized illusions of light and shadow.
Compassion has a feel to it. Silken swirls, brushing coarse burlap weave,
abraded, fraying strands writhing and twisting to knots.
Yearning for touch, we seethe. Flames of passion spent in bursts, numbing
balms of hatred, clutches of greed, belie the cold of our isolation.
Compassion carries a scent. Ancient and innate, its musk permeates
with an overwhelming fear for the suffering of another.
Senses blurred, anointed, incensed, we shed our stigmata of tenderness,
cowering in the purloined stench of our pernicious sanctimony.
Compassion has a secret seed, bound to the strivings of our soul, nurtured
in endless streams of hope, rooted in the sustenance of courage.
Correlations confound conclusions. Half deaf and blind we crawl, fragile
unadorned. Braving thorns, we guard compassion’s trembling stalk.
©Ilona Rapp 2017 All Rights Reserved
Categories:
strivings, faith, hope, humanity, imagery,
Form:
Free verse
BITTER LEMON.
I want to cut my teeth
On the rind of a bitter lemon
And feel the veins of wintry night
Caught in eddies on the frozen lips.
To follow the paths of the sea
Or to the creatures of sultry nights
Places where agonies kept vigils
In tear stained cheeks after saline.
In the love I embraced
Within my arms some pallid form
But strident heart betrayed its strain
Catching breaths for some ancient storm.
Graces of dead leaves in splits
Half remembered tales of ancient bliss
Some strivings for hankerings of heart
Looking for solace in a venomed start.
Categories:
strivings, passion, philosophy,
Form:
Enclosed Rhyme
CHILDREN PLAY.
The children play in the sunshine
In a nascent dawn born of baited bliss
Three pronged foot webs in the sand
Of creatures hungry in the meddler nights.
The dreams that hold immensity of night
Forms sound- sculpted in zones of skies
Strivings born of the search for unknown
Wandering wind in passing left a message.
Shorn of chains in straining culprits of hill
Robbers of lives constrained by prouder will.
The children play in the moonlight
In nutant nights born of burdened bliss
Three panthers striding across the plains
Casting their shadows under starry hiss.
Categories:
strivings, child, introspection,
Form:
Classicism
Nervous flutters, against reaction
Emoting apathy, of mass inaction
Views: judges deemed pernicious
Evasion of truth, is more precious
Reeking, of dumbed-silent perfidy…
Self-satisfied, connoisseurs...
Acceptance of flat contours...
The strivings - perfunctory
Its contrived soul's victory
Startled mute or the astute?
Failed words/candid pursuit?
In thoughts turning caustic
Evasiveness begets a static
Death's when a brain stops…
(1/27/2021 - '85 Sea Ray 340 Sedan Bridge; DMS)
Categories:
strivings, art,
Form:
Rhyme