Best Suddenly Poems
Upon the slow-flowing river,
Suddenly swans
Scud quickly away.
From round the bend I gracefully glide,
I am the queen of them all.
And quickly my king arrives.
The dance of love begins.
We bob our heads, wings quivering,
Necks entwined.
Unruffled snow-white plumage.
In time my eggs are hatched,
Cygnets are so cute.
How quickly they grow.
Now we are a royal family
Suddenly swans.
Winds were among first to notice
Fragrant air blowing fresh breeze
Stemming from your pristine vicinity
Extolling prospects of your visit,
Announced by the birds in flight
Message circulated far and wide
Into the emerging scenic twilight
Pushing far away the opaque skies,
Cotton clouds then adorned charm
Scattered in ways of scenic art form
In orange hues peeking from blue
Amid aerial vistas painted for you,
Sprinkling rays on mosaic colors
Layers of fabric spun florid display
Anxious for you to take your step
Into this arena of majestic stage,
But all that passion suddenly erased
Prompting egress of darker motifs
When sun plunged below horizon,
Dismayed that you never showed up.
April 12, 2018
Placed first in contest 515 by Brian Strand
For Timothy Lee
My fried anxieties and crisped lonely would unite
in my sleep's repeat nightmares where a roster of
random monsters pursued their viewed vile end of
me. My pulsing terrors urged I run fast but my feet
always turned to absurd concrete, freezing me caught
by monsters queued for fleshy chews.
Then came you with blue eyes sparkling love shades
and a grin that could persuade. In time, you subdued
my frantic bits and wooed me spooned in shared sleep.
In your arms my nightmares soon altered, changing to
tame, chiffon waters where I sat, posed, upon a beautiful
swan who gracefully glided me to happiness beside
wondrous, sister swans.
You, yes - your love, turned my monsters to swans who
fulfill me in dreamy captures as we sleep clasped in love's
depth cast. Nightly, swans sail me thru morns detailed
in dawn’s hue by love’s truth.
Regal swans grace my dream phased sleep because you
love chased me.
Suddenly I was caught
In the whirlwind of you.
Tumbling, tumbling...
My heart beating faster
Flying, soaring the heavens.
The universe in its vastness
Swallowed me.
Your brilliance penetrated
The darkness as a distant star
And I felt myself being pulled
Into orbiting around you
Eternally seeking to be eclipsed
By your grandeur and beauty,
To be warmed by your nearness
And kissed by your light.
© Connie Marcum Wong
That's Why I Love Him Contest
Sponsor Lewis Raynes
*Dedicated to my husband Michael whose
sun sign is in Leo ruled by the sun.
Plain as she can be
She who sat next to me
Freckled with horn rimmed glasses
And late to all her school classes
An outcast, she thought by her peers
Dwelling on her chronic fears
Not wanting to be noticed
As like the beauty and grace of the lotus
Flying under the radar screen
Hoping she would not be seen
Blending into the background
One day she blossomed and was found
Like Cinderella and her glass slipper
Not even a prince could resist her
Suddenly she became a swan
One that others lavishly fawn
Fool that I am an
Incurable Romantic
Rolling in the Deep
suddenly I thought
who am I--
meeting in the mirror,
my sanity tested:
I was not who I am
Suddenly though a lifetime of joy, happiness, tears and devastating sorrow
Suddenly there is calm, suddenly a glimmer of a serene contented peace
The waves of the ocean no longer a tumultuous frightening turbulence
Instead a new placid peaceful calm, so inviting and so enticing
Suddenly one feels that maybe this time, this time all will be well
Maybe this is the moment so longed for, for so many years
A belief suddenly that there is a safe haven a place to at last belong
A place where all dreams and all hopes will not ripped asunder
Instead calm and safety nothing to hide suddenly all pasts forgotten
All fears and doubts and longing and despair all swept away
Like the Ocean breaking over the sand softly sweeping away all fear
A sanctuary at last somewhere to really belong, something that is yours
All one’s dreams and desires suddenly awakened from their sleep
Life to be tasted to its fullest, every moment every hour every day
No doubt the ocean will not be forever smooth, but the hope is there
The hope of a new start a new beginning in safe loving protective arms
That are there to nurture, to care for you and to make you whole again.
When We Woke, Suddenly Thinking We Had Died And Went To Heaven
O' that aroma, jasmine fragrance from her hair
She virgin goddess I an uninformed young lad
Her beauty was so golden nothing else compares
Thought why the hell not , she mine, I sure ain't that bad
And to think that they too are so willing to share
Fate was happy camper that day, she became mine
The guys messed with me dating a college grad
June was hot, not near as my honey on the vine
Now comes our breakup remembrance, so very sad
Early seventies, beauty all over the place
And gals started asking we girl hungry boys out
The ladies dressing so sexy with barbie doll faces
So many clueless to know what sex was about!
All those pretty gals with fantastic killer bods
Quite maddening when a young man first faces it
Knew, knew so damn well we were blessed by the Gods
A miracle so many scored quick, direct hits
To be healthy, strong and eagerly on the prowl
Walking in a newfound paradise, our nightly wins
Each of us screaming, like an echoing wolf's' howl
None of us worrying about right, wrong or sins!
Robert J. Lindley, Rhyme
January 22nd 1974, EDITED 6-11- 2023
Note: I was right in the middle of the hippie revolution
( new sexual revolution) the much, much more free sex coming from the gals. It felt like paradise had came to us. As I look back now, I see my many blunders and how much better I should have acted.
We in the flesh humans are also living proof that it is easy to be hog-wild when the pretty gals cut loose too!
Out of nowhere,an idea
Then image;
Out of this picture,a sentence,
Then a page;
Out of the verse,a sonnet,
Then a rhyme;
Out of this art,a hobby
So sublime
labelled this imagist form 'a tabb' in his honour.
EVOLUTION
by: John Banister Tabb (1845-1909)
Out of the dusk a shadow,
Then, a spark;
Out of the cloud a silence,
Then, a lark;
Out of the heart a rapture,
Then, a pain;
Out of the dead, cold ashes,
Life again.
choleric clouds, suspended
over the leaking lake
the rebellion of a teenage face
cross-eyed, ferocious
bereaved by a split pancake
baffled by life’s inconsistencies
a vortex peeks out of darkness
ready to ripple and run her mascara
suddenly swans, as the sun vanquishes the storm
a rare epiphany twirls in her mind
graceful snow wings dapple the outskirts
of time
playful and daring to proliferate
a smile across the freckled face
she embraces the curvature of a poet’s neck
and spreads her august wings
the wild and homeric transformation
of an ugly duckling
she amazes her friends
4/6/2019
Suddenly Swans Poetry Contest
Sponsor - Maureen McGreavy
suddenly the bird sings, quite suddenly, startling
the stranger-to-the-dawn of day; he thinks the bird
is where the bird shouldn’t be; but knowingly,
with amusement, having quite habitually heard
the bird tweet, as the morning sun stretches its wings,
the wife informs the stranger to the waning dusk,
“oh dear husband, the bird sings from the tree,”
but he must widen the slats of the levolor blinds,
to open his eyes, to the world that exists above
his office in the split level basement. where did he think
the melody resounded from - the deck? no,
the great by and by, the bluest sky, the sun’s rays…
its hazy, at best. the mind needs a rest…startled
Our Tall Duckling (original title)
Our daughter, always through her childhood,
at least a head above any other girl in her class,
stands somewhere offstage now
with long lashes darkened by mascara
and with lips and cheeks painted pink.
She waits with other nervous pre-teens in her group
where I left them - acting silly and softly giggling
as many twelve-year-old girls grouped together are wont to do.
Adorable kindergarten-age girls are now on the stage,
tap-dancing out of sync to the tune of “Stray Cat Strut.”
As their music fades, they prance away, stage-left.
Our Angela, strikingly tall in her white sparkling tutu
and angelic as her name implies, sets foot on the stage
as if leading the flock of other lovely daughters
of other proud parents.
We collectively hold our breath - cameras ready -
as all the young girls converge in the center of the stage,
on ballerina tip-toes and with graceful, fluttering arms,
suddenly swans!
April 12, 2019 Inspired by Maureen McGreavy's Suddenly Swans Contest
What is it that tears the mind
In the witching hours of 4 ‘til Dawn;
Thoughts of horror darting and piercing with pain,
“Jesus help me, Help me through, make me strong”
Panic crackling in the air
“Get behind me, Satan, this is not fair!”
To fight the fight this night for sleep,
Not to spoil the coming day through;
To force happy scenes and memories of yesterdays,
Only to find they are not there, then struggle
Struggle to revive them – to fight – to fight
Sheets are twisted, now here is the dawn,
Sun rays cross the new-mown lawn,
There is coffee waiting, butterflies fly goodbye,
The witching hours now doomed to die.
Aha, I know who banished them away
While in my fear I could not hear
The True Light did answer my plea.
The Lord is My Shepherd and my Peace.
Hush to shore th' swans may hear you
A texture of art , a living never seen
A petal of lily and eyes so bright
Their lashes pick, nostalgia of mind
They pass through th' waves an' slide
And move across th' bridge an' back
How soft their feathers, tiptoe step in
04/04/2019