Best Sublimely Poems
Just as days long ago, when decorum resolved,
before composure, and poise,.. were corsages, unknown
Where propriety mattered, and was favored as gold,
high society, has gathered to flavor their tea
There's a trellis, embraced by a rose climbing vine
Places are set, for dining in jade
beneath shadows that stretch under arthritic old trees
While slivers of sunshine, squeeze through the branches
of silver leafed limbs, in magnolia bloomed shade
Tea will be served, by large knuckled hands
at several round tables dressed with Swiss lace designs
Wearing lavender silk is our proper Grand Dame'
who fits her surroundings, as vintage as wine
Voices are lilting like the birds in the trees
Laughter and chatter, mingle with soft, summer breezes
A bouquet of old friends, around a few scattered tables.
Silver coifed hairdos, to make celebration
Crepe myrtle and wrinkles, beneath ashes and maples
Water cress munchies, and triangle creations
Sweet honey-suckle, tucked over the porches.…
Rose petal blossoms, are painted on china
Bridge cards, tumble by Blue Willow dishes
Biscuits from England, crumble sublimely
Large bosoms bouncing, and big floppy hats
Gossip dished up with lemon-sliced frowns
Up in the tree is the neighbor's calico cat
who catches a glance, and a chance to crawl down
Are they ladies of leisure, from a time that is lost?
Or a painting I've seen on the wall from the past?
______________________________
Inspired By the Garden Party Contest
Sponsored By Cyndi McMillan 6/6/14
Summer Nights in the South
Green fireflies blink in the quiet of night
and our sleeping old dog heaves a sigh.
Dreaming, she sprints through a youthful blue sky
chasing delicate clouds, cotton-white.
A red-sunset tanager* colors the warm air
from a perch in the majestic oak limbs above
professing by lullaby, sincerely devoted love,
like some sublimely recited evening prayer.
I lay back and smile, through the leaves, at the moon
to the sound of crops rippling in the breeze
thinking how precious are nights such as these
when alone, with the Earth I commune.
*Summer Tanagers (Piranga rubra) are native to the southern U.S. but are not true tanagers. They are actually members of the cardinal family.
08/01/15
Submission for Contest: Nature Poems Only
Hosted by: Shadow Hamilton
Beholding my eyes, You can see my heart
exposing depth and breadth of love’s essence
I gained from Your compassionate presence
forever to stay; never will depart.
Looking into Your eyes with pure delight
my illumined faith expresses love’s bliss
You keep on granting that I cannot miss
with Your gift of eternal life and light.
My Saviour God Who loves me as I am
You deserve my love, since You first loved* me
esteeming You always is my earnest plea---
while caring for others, Your sheep and lamb.
Your love for me, Lord, is sublimely great
enabling my devotion that's earnest
commitment of gracious and fervent zest
surpassing thrill of romantic joy's weight.**
*1John 4:19 We love him (GOD), because he first loved us.
October 23, 2021
**Last stanza added on January 3, 2022
1st place, "Forever My Love Valentine" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by BJ Legros Kelley; judged on 2/8/2022.
I stubbed my toe ...
(I do this a lot since turning fifty-five,
when everything I picked up to read began going to
arm's length in order to be visible,
and "readers" became a permanent style change -
I see things in the lower part of my
vision through wire-rimmed lenses that ride low
on my nose, and the mid-to-upper
views are naked eye, hence my feet are nearer
to objects than they seem,
and my podiatrical digits pay the price)
... and though this particular piggy-pounding
was as intensely painful and bloody as any of the myriad
bashings that preceded it, and while the air around me
reverberated just as rhythmically as it ever had with
streams of well-placed and frustration-relieving profanity,
and though my fists pounded just as relentlessly against
my thighs in anguish as they ever had before, (the purple/
black damage there to be tended to at a later date), and
while my face grew as contorted and red as was humanly
possible, THIS specific stubbing, was entirely different ...
... for when the aforementioned processes had run their
rather ugly (and noisy) courses, THIS time I smiled,
reached for my sublimely-timed Frozen Blue Margarita,
raised it to the direction of the accident itself, offered
a heartfelt blessing to that marvelous twilight air, and
TOASTED the very object I had stubbed it on ... a tree.
But you see, THIS tree was surrounded by cool, white
quartz sand, was near a lagoon that shimmered with the
colors of a peacock, and was festooned quite wonderfully
and perfectly and tropically, with PALMS ...
... battered toes ... be damned! ;-)
Fall softly, wee one, here ... fall softly
to your repose, drift the dark like a
feather! You are perfection, defined,
utterly and sublimely unique, your
Nascency like no other! Oh, countless
of your kind - yes, only the stars
themselves can avail your plenitude,
yet so exquisitely 'sui generis'! Fiery,
Brilliant, prismatic, birthed in perfectly
chiseled features ... dancing, soaring,
fanciful, true! You wink at me, flirting
coyly, (as others, but you're mine!) ...
I draw closer with every flutter, clouds
parting just enough for the moon to
peek through, as if they know how
beautiful you are, and how shameful
That such as you should die unseen
in the night ... alone. But alas, it is
my love for you that seals your fate,
and this long, dark, immaculate dance -
Your life's embers and intent - comes
gently to rest in my palm, and there,
in the warmth of my glove, you die ...
silently, tenderly, beautifully perfect ...
Snowflake.
~ 2nd Place ~ in the "Strand Choice T, Any Form, Any Theme" Poetry Contest, Brian Strand, Judge & Sponsor.
~ 3rd Place ~ in the "Embers And Snowflakes" Poetry Contest, Anthony Slausen, Judge & Sponsor.
Time moves on forward fast,
Like rapids hurtling unheedingly headlong
Towards a sheer deep cascade,
And plummet down below in a mighty roar
To flow relentlessly towards the infinite sea
Drifting straight into eternal oblivion.
Yet time can ne'er erase all memories,
And special ones will always linger
In the obscure corridors of my mind.
Hence I can never forget my dear,
The night that we first met.
Were not that night the stars conspiring
To throw a luminous light on our love?
Did not the twinkling stars shoot out their ways
In the clear expanse of nightly sky?
There under a lonely carob tree,
Where dry old leaves crackled
Under our woollen spreads,
You smiled graciously at me
And suddenly I knew
How eager was I for a love so true.
We were like two of those gems above,
Shooting their way across the skies.
And fate decreed that those two stars should meet
In an astral collision and fuse into a lasting blast.
Light sparkled above sublimely
An ethereal fireworks display,
That lasted for one long memorable moment,
But the light in our love will last
Until the end of our days.
At day's end a retreating sun banished
Awestruck we witness its closing farewell
Silently the last veil of hue vanished
Our woes amounting to mere bagatelle
Nightfall air transfixed as if by a spell
Overcome with a wave of emotion
Rose sublimely over the citadel
An opalescent moon set in motion
‘Twas a night of magical proportion
Willow trees swaying in the summer breeze
Billowing waves pulsating devotion
Surrendering unperturbed with such ease
A sumptuous spectacle up above
Reflected in a sea of divine love
AP: 3rd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on May 13, 2018 for contest SUMMER LOVE SONNET sponsored by JOHN HAMILTON - RANKED 3RD
regrouping
i take a deep breath
like nothing else matters
owning the moment
basking in its magnificence
relishing in the focus
the intensity of being present
the pulsating rhythm of consciousness
and synchronized openness
making peace with time
letting go of the past
of what’s ahead of what’s next
experiencing life in segments
having sublimely discovered
the secret to stretching time
measuring life in instants
and gaining a feeling of…
if not control at least harmony
as it becomes a way of life
showing me what’s most rewarding
Published in my 24-page photo/anthology ~MINDFULLY~ 2021
AP: 1st place 2021, Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on May 3, 2019 for contest HONORABLE MENTIONS WORTH MENTIONING sponsored by RICHARD LAMOUREUX... For a workaholic with constant time constraints, it is a big step to finally find the power within to slow life down. - RANKED 4TH
Originally submitted on February 8, 2019 for contest MINDFULNESS sponsored by CHANTELLE ANNE COOKE - HONORABLE MENTION
“With sacred status as a forgiven sinner, saved by God with His love, I accept the sacred duty to live for Him.” by the Poet
Sacred indeed is my stewardship* task
Spiritually entrusted by the Lord
Settling me to use granted resources
Sincerely with my best along His grace.
Sacred truly is my servanthood role
Sublimely bestowed with God’s compassion
Strengthening me to reach-out, give and share
Serenely ministering for His sake.
Sacred, too, is my supplication deed
So divine around the Saviour’s friendship
Since communing with the great Almighty
Surely speaks of faith's sanctified status.
Sacred is Christ’s blessing He offers best
Soul of mine does thank and praise Him with zest.
Quatorzain with alliteration
*1Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
April 10, 2023
4th place, "A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE no 1208" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand; judged on 4/16/2023.
Music
is a sweet spring shower for romantics.
For the weary, it is a soothing stream
flowing sublimely through one’s soul.
It is a pond or lake, reflecting joy.
For those in search of thrills,
its waves pound frenetically to lighthouse strobe lights
across an ocean’s roar in the night.
Like water, music takes many different forms.
Find your pleasure; let it wash over you!
For Geraldine Taylor's
the 'Poetry Anthology - Music Theme' Poetry Contest
Leonine, with whispy fur,
So soft it’d make a human purr.
Squinty eyes and button nose,
no stranger to a model’s pose.
Stalks the halls of Sarah’s lair,
a life of ease sublimely fair.
You may think he’s just a cat,
But we all know he’s more than that.
[Written in honor of a friend's Himalayan Persian--I think---a personable cat that I often use as a character in short stories and even a radio script.]
[For anyone interested in the radio show I wrote about Duffy, here is a link: http://sylvannovelust.blogspot.com/2013/12/adventures-of-duffy-dean-unified-story.html]
Poetry Soup Is…
A place to post words and be heard
a platform for prose, a poet’s eatery
A sonneteer’s palace, for the sagacious or the absurd
A silver chalice that pours golden poetry
Rhymed and skillfully quilled
Artful rhythmic compositions, sublimely finished
Inspirational ink spilled,
authentic and unblemished
Poetry Soup Is…
Ramen in a cup
Slurp up noodles of literary lines grand
or footles so clever that never end
by Brian Strand
Sensual scribbles we sup,
Miraculous moving messages
Tasty spiritual nibbles
Share Zen in a bowl
Pho ga is chicken and
miso broth for the soul,
Inspirational Ink that takes
the breath away
Tsunami of wisdom
Confusion, and disarray
Poetry Soup Is…
Sovereign power poets, feud they may
Both mixes are needed, Sweet and Sour
Poe “The Raven” guy and Longfellow to my dismay
We become seeded, behind the pen there’s power,
We allude to epic ballad chowder
Gently add an attitude to an articulate mind
Pink sea salt, red chili powder
With crushed white pepper be kind
Without comparison where would we be?
It was George Harrison, his plagiarism
My Sweet Lord, to another’s tune he’d copy
Poetry Soup Is…
We came aboard this friendship—fleet liner
All that’s needed is a gift of language
And we have a thick savory brothy soup diner
Harmonic words woven together
It takes me a bit longer than most to write
of unrequited love and forevers
Botch it up I might, it’s swim or sink!
For a brain to pick such as mine
I should have used the days wiser
Tells of withered wasted time, I think
I thank my lucky stars
I am a verse improviser
Vanishing vestige of dank cavernous lobes
My lonesome forsaken heart adrift
Under the most alluring midnight crescent moon
Towards a horizon yonder daubed with
A loaded paintbrush of golden luminescence
While levitating melodic whispers
Of charm and sorcery perchance connive
Mingling heavenward to set the stage
For a divine encounter with a goddess
Her wafting cloud ever so sublimely hovers
Peculiarly fine exotic spicy fragrance
Ensnaring my compliant heart
By glorious happenstance
Spellbound and mesmerized
Flutters on the wings of dusk
Reawakening a drowsing lust
Rekindling and resuscitating the passion
To a sublime apogee of celestial folly
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on January 18, 2019 for contest EIGHT WORD CHALLENGE-BARDENESQUE sponsored by JOHN HAMILTON - RANKED 1ST
“Sacrifice”
I believed
I believed in Man
Lucid was my Love
for you
I walked the longest line
for you
I articulated
the message
with my blood
drop by drop
you drank my story
I drank you all up
Through the windows
of my soul
I watched you
from my skies
Did you feel my tears
when I reigned
down o'er you
I guess some did,
others not
I believe
I believe in Man
Here is my hand
take it
Those with courage
come take my hand
I believe
I believe in Man
Those with courage
come take my hand
I walked the longest line
for you
Like Romans laughed
and turned their backs -
Do you think
I’d turn?
I’ll keep walking
towards you -
I won’t turn back
I still impart
my message
to you
Sublimely
amidst the
majority
not the few
I believe
I believe in the
Love and Light
in Man
Those with courage
come take my hand
(LadyLabyrinth/ 2020)
Easter, 12.4.20,
Sydney Australia
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
Rev 1: 1-7
“It is by faith that poetry,
as well as devotion,
soars above this dull earth;
that imagination
breaks through its clouds,
breathes a purer air,
and lives in a softer light”.
“BELIEVE”
I'm fresh as a daisy
and happy as a clam
refreshed and replenished
Enthused is what I am!
It helps I'm off work now
I'm not watching the news
No murders or mayhem
To bring me the blues
Sublimely oblivious
Spells "happy" to the letter
As far as information
Sometimes less is better!