Best Subtlest Poems
Childhood is a ship,
preparing to set sail,
but not all harbors are kind
the ocean a mysterious enigma.
Not all inflictions are visible,
some bruises remain invisible.
Not all trauma can be expressed,
so the past is buried - still breathing.
Ghosts resurface, with subtlest of hints.
When we are born,
we are 'freshly decorated' boats.
Preparing to set sail through unknown waters,
longing to venture to foreign shores.
Yet, what is hidden underneath deep ripples,
is not innocent, like my childhood heart -
powerless, helpless, defenseless.
An anthology of a villain and his victims
Sins of my father,
once plagued my mother's tears.
Her anchor became a burden of heavy fears,
so drought, dehydrated her river bed.
To escape constant waves of rage,
my mind set sail to seek safer shores.
On my boat, I was my own captain.
Steps of thunder,
followed me through turbulent tides,
yet, spirit found courage to row faster -
to this day, I've never known how.
Maybe, I could not let his blood define me.
I watched, in horror, as his terror,
drowned my petrified siblings -
I wonder, why they did not sail away,
were their anchors, consumed with reality?
When words struck like metaphorical daggers,
sirens of the sea, serenaded with songs of sorrow.
But, my soul knew the sun would offer redemption -
finally unchain me from the darkness of adolescence.
Through passages of life,
what was once a boat in troublesome times,
is now a ship, settled on stable seas.
Example for Inflictions contest.
Silent One
8 August 2020
Categories:
subtlest, analogy, childhood, emotions, innocence,
Form:
Free verse
Methinks pilots are such superior mortals
For their ability to make metals fly like fowls,
And soldiers have such an impressive mettle
That makes you salute their daring prowls.
Surgeons are such a precise and thoroughly seasoned breed
That will dumbfound with details of capillaries and veins,
And commanders-in-chief such colossal powers wantonly wield
Till they addict themselves to honor and extend their reigns.
A charismatic preacher will yodel tunes and heal the lame
And win a hefty standing among their peers in a moment;
The teacher is the final light and bearer of the last opinion
And their learned views sail without a single opponent.
But the poet is the chariot of thought that inspires them all.
He’s the silent roar of the Boeing with the pilot in,
He’s the muffled ricocheting of the soldier’s Kalashnikov;
The unspoken overtones of the preacher’s condemnation of sin,
The subtlest incision of the surgeon’s authorized blade
And the president’s solemn inspection of the honor parade.
Categories:
subtlest, art,
Form:
Verse
subtlest we are ~stuff of star
creation of the elements that spawn
densest is the space
between beginningless origins
and endless blurs
thus, cosmogony visible
vehement impassions
blends the invisible
spreading hues of mahogany,
redshifts dust
stripped of mind,
blurred...
manifested into existence
two worlds collide,
rich in lust
Categories:
subtlest, cool, lust, science, space,
Form:
Free verse
To the casual observer, even to herself sometimes,
She appears calm and collected.
But inside, the She-wolf stands on high alert,
Ever watchful, in a fierce state of attention.
Her eyes intensely attuned to the subtlest movements
In the world around her.
Her ears pricked up, listening
For the slightest sign of possible danger.
Her keen nose sniffing out any scent of mal odor,
portending threats to her well being.
Every muscle and fiber of her being ready
To move swiftly at a moments notice.
Don’t let her seemingly serene demeanor fool you.
She is ferocious and poised to pounce, in an instant.
She will attack and bite your head off, before you even know what hit you,
Just to protect herself and the young one inside.
Categories:
subtlest, angst, nature
Form:
Free verse
Anxious in Ancona (1)
His plan, as he’s boarding his baldachined barge
en route for the easterly sea,
(arthritis allowing) is giving it large,
but the pain is as bad as can be:
though Rome is his home, he must go and take charge:
Cortona is cortisone-free.
One thousand four hundred the Christian years
(and then we’ll add sixty-four more):
Pope Pius the Second, that subtlest of seers,
is bound for the Umbrian shore.
He’s even less warlike than Billie Joe Spears,
but wants to be wading through gore.
He’s running a fever, his legs have ballooned,
but he won’t be deflected or swayed.
He’ll not be impugned or dragooned or lampooned:
undampened his rodomontade:
the mention of mercy, mere salt in the wound –
hell-bent on a pious crusade.
The portents are palsied: a bargeman is drowned:
this project is just getting sillier.
“Venetians are keeping us hanging around:
we can hire troops for Tyre in Sicilia.”
The Middle East! Pius wants boots on the ground
(now why does that sound so familiar?)
The ominous omens are gathering thickly,
but no-one could call him a quitter.
He’s scrofulous, suffering, sallow and sickly,
but boyishly buoyant, not bitter.
They land him on sand on the strand of Otricoli,
and lift him aloft in a litter.
Categories:
subtlest,
Form:
Rhyme
Slave Mentality
I had a dog for twelve years, a friendly dog it loved me it was a slave,
had to, in order to be accepted in human society, suppress its instinct.
Nature is a hard place fight for food is endless; canines found it easier
to make a pact with the man; give up their freedom for a can of dog food.
Often, by insecure people, slaves are spoilt allowed to be indoors sleep
on the sofa and made to think they are the masters of the household.
Wrong, dogs are slave to be anything else puzzle them, they want you
to be the leader and as they make you love their fidelity.
Slaves defy their masters in subtlest ways, my dog slept on the sofa when
I had gone to bed. Big corporations are our masters tell us what we like and
dislike; we comply, it is the easiest way not to be critical of the employers
the hand that holds the nine tailed cat. We get our trivial revenge stealing
a little free time when we can. After all democracy on an empty stomach is
not worth fighting for; freedom is our masters’ grand illusion.
Categories:
subtlest, anger, conflict,
Form:
Sonnet
Dawns light slithers in, and it scratches your soul
The days eviceration about to unfold
Your mind all a jumble, your flesh all a quake
And you wonder inside " How much more can I take"
Will you hide behind fortress of opiate walls
Do you muster your strength, do you answer the call
The Beast sallies forth, to gnaw on your bones
And you feel your heart flutter, arythmical tones
The Dragon comes hard plunging straight to the quick
You lie there a quivver, your vessel so sick
Your hands fumble blindly for vitreous pill
Will it's weird grace you health, will it's ire turn and kill
You draw crystal daggar, plunge it deep to the hilt
Its potent elixer no drop to be spilt
The Beast flays you liver, you mouth silent sighs
And your throat, without will, cries the smallest of cries
"Oh my God share your mettle" your prayers rise above
And He comes down and kisses your wounds with his love
The Beast vents it's fury, apoplectic with rage
For you both know it's victim has just turned the page
Still the Beast is not finished, your temple to wreck
And he slides up your back and crawls onto your neck
He pummels your skull, sodomizes your brain
His claws scourge your eyes and they bleed steely pain
His feet rake your gullet, your vomitus vent
You fall to your knees, all lifes oxygen spent
But your lance has struck true, and the toxin well laid
You know that this vile demon soon will be slayed
He howls out in anguish, and hides from your light
He slinks from your presence, flees from your might
You have spit in his eye, pissed and shat in his nest
Castrated the Golgoth, shrugged off his best
So you rise to your height, wipe the bile from your chin
And your lips they invoke the subtlest grin
For the Love of your God, companions and kin
Have made legion your forces, the beast can not win.
Your mind feels the grace that your faith doth supply
And you know to your core THIS MONSTER WILL DIE.
Grace and hope to us all
Walter
Hep C 30+ yrs, 2 wks post 24 wk tx, BMS 790052 eRVR
Categories:
subtlest, angst, faith, health, hope,
Form:
Epic
Moment by moment, as life does unfold
We find mind not fully immersed therein
Assigning meaning to what we behold
Diffusing vibrations grazing our skin
What we call waking, being grossest state
The light of awareness, here too flickers
During sleep, senses rested, we gyrate
Responses both instinctive and weaker
Subtlest state of deep sleep, oblivion
We feel rested but know not what transpired
Steady attention, distant horizon
For ego, it seems, has us all hard wired
Let us begin then, with the waking state
Choosing, if need be, to endlessly wait
17-June-2021
Categories:
subtlest, muse,
Form:
Sonnet
Those souls are of many shades
They walk past me in my dreams,
often with an utter silence, a heavy one,
And, all I do there, is watching those T-Shirts.
T-shirts have the strangest stories of this world
Often in the subtlest way, right on the chests.
One of them used to smoke, one was a poet
And one was a sweet childhood memory,
Left me pondering, for his pal, in the here and now.
And I watched them grow, one by one, as a blooming flower
Where each petal is a hue of gorgeous divine gratitude
Meant only to breathe and to keep the very breathing going on...
I call them friends,
As all colors are a dried space with an uneven texture
Where words hold the unspoken stories,
with traces of Murphy's law
And with a sigh of a lesser prejudice
Of choosing none.
June 25, 2022
Inspired by a Tagore song.
https://youtu.be/3sRLvceliZ0
(This poem is dedicated to my daughter).
Categories:
subtlest, life,
Form:
Free verse
She has her expressions,
He has his smile;
Fate brought them together in one
Fleeting moment in time
To become masters of the art
—in the most hidden of gestures
and the subtlest of acts—
Of silently saying, "I love you,"
Without words.
Unspoken, unheard.
Categories:
subtlest, love,
Form:
Free verse
I peer through mists of coming years,
The present disappears,
The crimson clouds of war blow past—
Utopia—world peace at last.
No famine, plagues or hunger then,
World law among all men,
Complete coerced security,
The subtlest sort of slavery.
Categories:
subtlest, political
Form:
Verse
Listen to the built-in
Meaning-making-murmur.
In the deepest recess
Of your inner being
In the subtlest string
Of the music within
There is a small
There is a still
There a powerful inner voice
Crying out for meaning
The cry is loud enough
To be heard all around
Please, read my eyes
Please, listen to my heart
Please, see the obvious signs
From my slightest sighs
The cry for meaning is boundless
The cry for meaning is timeless
The cry for meaning universal
The cry for meaning is personal
Categories:
subtlest, education, faith, health, inspirational,
Form:
Free verse
Dynamic Re: Flexion Within The Restless Earth
Blame Neptune for unleashing
Indonesian tragic phenomena
just by his innocent wink
merely intended by regular
casual reminder
for Earthlings to think
seriously how (inhabited
linkedin chain of islands,)
yea kinda resembling a slink
key, within the ring of fire,
a large 40,000 km
(25,000 mi) horseshoe shape, -
Yukon also envision
a vague watery rink
encompassing basin of Pacific Ocean,
where e'en the subtlest plink
(no doubt unintentional), thus
absolutely necessary for inhabitants
to catch the latest
drift (albeit continental),
he gave forewarning
just days prior,
possibly relayed after
getting tipsy from overdrink,
hence warning not taken seriously,
where majority resident didst
a practical joke got played,
yet a coterie of attentive people
accoutered in faux mink
(dressed to the nines
fur a gala fete
also taken by surprise,
no one sensed
any sudden high jink
then the cleaners),
and really the entire
population sustained strong kinship
with (what they believed
tubby) reasonable god
(a carry over from Greco
Roman Times font size 12),
hence could never suspect,
he would hoodwink
boy (and girl), whar
they ever wrong, come
Friday, 28 September 2018
at 17:02h military time,
or 7:02 post meridiem
an earthquake measuring 7.4
on Richter magnitude scale
leaving Indonesian island
of Sulawesi in total ruins,
from said rat fink
and additionally webbed,
wide whirling countersink
triggered a massive tsunami
razing humongous chink
essentially wiping off the map
in an eye blink,
whereat his lordship
could not be reached,
thus survivors bethink
sum man tricks brought
water ship down,
ah buoy big boon
dog gull upon his head,
boot nonetheless coon
sitter ably less of Neptune!
Categories:
subtlest, 11th grade, adventure, atheist,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
I peer through mists of coming years,
The present disappears,
The crimson clouds of war blow past—
Utopia—world peace at last.
No famine, plagues or hunger then,
World law among all men,
Complete coerced security,
The subtlest sort of slavery.
Categories:
subtlest, visionary
Form:
What secrets dwell in Poesy's heart, veiled by verse?
Why on the edges of our perception
do they dance? What are life's essence and course,
when blight strikes our hearts with introspection?
What path does the Poet tread, bathed in starlight’s gleam?
What whispers of tomorrow beckon him near?
How do his verses capture life's subtlest themes,
when flickers of comprehension die, then disappear?
The cryptic truths woven within rhythmic lines,
preserve the mysteries time itself shrouds;
Cloaked within the tapestry of the grand design;
draped in the enigma of the passing clouds.
Do words echo the silent rhythm of the poet's soul,
sketched upon the canvas of an endless sky?
Does his dance of metaphors, and rhymes, extol
the mysteries only seen through a poet's eye?
In each silent word, and each echoing phrase,
do we find our mirrored self, quietly unveiled?
Uncoiling the layers through the rhymer's haze,
reveals in time what has remained concealed.
Categories:
subtlest, heart, imagery, inspiration, metaphor,
Form:
Lyric