Best Summarily Poems
O glorious Autumn of melancholic
Gold -
All abouts the brightly lit
Woodlands
Your wonderful artistry behold!
Tinted bronzes,
Darting between awkward firs
Of sobering Evergreen,
Loiter inside mauve havens
Splashed with palest yellows -
And dappled with many differing
Limes
Throughout this variegated Theme;
A myriad of rustling contentment,
Sweetest contrasting charms,
Complimentary...
Softly whispering leafy hues...
Hushed...most elegantly serene.
Bursting into the swelling copses
And invading between the
Dwindling fields:
Auburn, primrose and lilac views -
Abundant with seasons
Celebrations
That so magnificently infuse!
Glowering in simmering sunset,
And spluttering in misty dawn:
Afire with all the orbs oozing
Revelry,
That upon barkened furniture,
To thus gild - and resplendently
Adorn!
Now is the time
That dry tinkling leaves
Give musical resonance
To a breath exhaled from
A breeze...
Fanning the boughs roaring flames
That each out-stretched branch
does eagerly seize,
Fired from the eternal torch
That immortal Ceridwen tirelessly
Sought;
Whilst I hang upon evocative
Memories
That this arresting moment briefly
Caught.
Blazing with a consummate passion
Ignited from a poets grappling
Thoughts:
The Muses to this joyous splendour
Were summarily summoned
And brought;
But as elusive as the enchanting
Notes
From the intoxicating pipes of
Evasive Pan...
So as elusive the words of the
Unwritten verse
That so evade this singular man.
So burn! You gaily painted colours,
Within abandoned restrain,
Your dizzying carousel
A whirling kaleidoscope
Upon an artists ever changing frame.
Soft ochres and dappled browns
Mixed with vivid orange and crimson
Red...
Applied lavishly from the palette
Of Artemis
Over which the vibrant pastes
Are thinly spread.
A riot of pastel shades
All exploding forth -
With the raging power of a
Supernova
Of an immense, dazzling force!
All hail to the almighty:
From the devout to the Divine...
And all hail to the Grandeur
And Majesty -
Of his awe-inspiring design!
Oh moon, so full, so dearly
bright, You are the light
of lovers; misty glow of night,
Dimmer than sun, his subordinate
reflection, yet remains he jealous
despite; for even death, cannot silence
love’s forever brilliance, vows
trans-versing ages--the grave a
mere cycling phase…each new face
a hopeful countenance—and all
passing through such shadows
are coated, in-spite of the daze,
with a gleaming, rapturous
glaze….
Oh Moon, your insight, unlike
all others—though depressed
in curfews of darkness--appealing
dread silence I call through the
thickness, while treading deep
echoes of night—where does a
heart sail when one beat cruelly
sunk--leaving the other, fond memory,
but little choice than to float
their dreams one alone...?
Till the fog once again lifted, and
awakened by her lips, love’s promise;
is not life so preciously gifted, to
we unworthy yet treasured by God?
Only you, Moon, see clearly our
heartaches; and the matchless pain
when summarily parted--our seasons
so like your own, cold and warmth,
dim halos and beaming glows--as
onto occasions light simmers...to again
lustrously grow. For humans--our
hearts free symphonies a-flutter—soul’s
mortal vehicle the spirit only intimately
knows; let no sadness sow doubt to
drown us, affirming for love
that love eternally flows….
Mute
but immutable.
Unmoving, unmoveable;
timeless, yet tireless.
Solitary stalwart sentinel
surveils undulating horizon.
Aberrant, achromatic clouds
pock-mark the skies, as distant
rumblings herald his adversary's
latest gambit in their age-old conflict.
The wrath of a thousand crashing,
clashing, thrashing fists batter
against the beleaguered sentry.
Ceaselessly, remorselessly,
the maelstrom assails him.
But the foundations are firm and
noble gatekeeper stands steadfast.
Single-minded of purpose, placid
custodian morphs into combatant as
his luminous, voluminous blade carves
luminescent arcs through chthonic cloak.
Tenebrous tendrils wither and dissipate,
impotent under intense lambent onslaught.
His victory is only fleeting, as vanquished
foes are summarily supplanted by more of
their ilk in a seemingly continual surge.
Again and again, over and over, tormentor
presses the attack, exploiting any weakness.
Over and over, again and again, valiant warden
repels the barrage and despatches his enemies.
And so the pattern repeats endlessly, unabated,
as these eternal opponents jostle for position
in a perpetual cycle of aggression and defence.
Until eventually, finally, ultimately, the stale-mate
is broken; when Tempest's tantrum is tamed and
Blizzard's battalions have been banished, all is calm.
Tranquillity is able to reassert herself and order has
finally been restored; at least for the foreseeable future.
Obligations fulfilled, the triumphant Guardian can now rest.
Until the need arises again, until he's called upon once more,
he will wait patiently, watch diligently, in unflagging vigilance.
Forever resolute, a beacon of sanctuary, a symbol of hope, his is a
thankless task, but the Protector of Mariners will always be needed.
-----------------------------------
(C) John C Michaels, 27 July 2017
For Eve Roper's "Lighthouse" Contest.
(1st Place)
I invented something quite peculiar
Last night
In my lucid dream
My neo commanded my allo-cortex
To prepare allusions to be downloaded
Upon returning to my physical presence
Caught in middle-sleep, guardians of satan
Were mocking the death and resurrection
Of Jesus Christ, shouting and laughingly
Pronouncing God The Father and Jesus
The Son as "the two lunatics"
Every direction I faced, the 'alien race'
Of towering blondes blocked my escape
Knowing I had lucidly dreamt a downloadable
File to be recovered once awake, I summarily
Accomplished this by attaching a small device
To the frontal-lobe side of my skull and
Activated the sensory-absorbing module
Instantly slipping back into my lucid dream
Allowing edits to be re-programmed
I was able to disrupt the satanic bonds
Holding me captive and cast out the
Demons that possessed me
Declaring the Lord Jesus Christ as my
Savior and Ruler of the Light that shall
Set man free!
Once again returning to my physical realm
I was even more determined to
Spread
His
Love
Upon
The World!
04.16.22
Should it happen that someday they're seeking struggling bards,
To compose witty verse for Hallmark Thanksgiving cards,
I think that I should like to summarily submit,
The following mots for consideration, TO WIT:
(1) Savor the oyster dressing, giblet gravy and thigh,
The sweet pertaters, green bean casserole and punkin pie.
Hope you have a goodly supply of sodium bicarbonate,
To counter the wrenching effects of all that grub you ate!
(2) To Grandma's house, hordes of kith and kin will repair,
For a delectable repast (after Grandpa ends his interminable prayer!)
May naught but love and fellowship dwell amongst you there,
As His bountiful harvest each of you gratefully share!
(3) The Thanksgiving meal is over, men folk watch ball teams battle,
While the women folk sit about the table engaged in idle prattle.
Mom's thoughts are elsewhere on how to deal with left over turkey;
She's a genius at creating soups and potpies, even turkey jerky!
(4) A Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.
Relish this time together and have a ball!
And may all with thankful hearts ever lift,
Praise to Him, the Giver of every good gift!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
Amazingly, Alice assaulted an antelope
Because Bobby’s beavers became bold,
Considering cantilevered canines
Deliberately devastating donor’s doled.
Evelyn entirely excited electric eels
Failing forlornly from forward fencing,
Gaining ground gathering genuine gold
Her happiness heralded high financing.
I indicated initially incapable innocents
Justifying joyous juxtaposition jousting
Keeping kind Kenneth’s kindreds knit
Losing language like legally lost lusting.
Maybe minding manners means more
Neither newness nor novel necessary,
Occasionally opening old occlusions
Promises perfectly positioned pituitary.
Quite questionable quicky quirks
Rage rampantly removing regulations,
Summarily startling some supervisors
Touching their tempermental trepidations.
Until unusual undertakings understood
Veritable vigilantes visited volunteers,
Wildly waiting where we wandered
X-citedly X-iting X-istential X-ospheres
Yonder youthful yaks yielded...yikes!
Zebras zigzagged zestfully ziggurat-likes.
Hello Friends... I suffer from Severe Bi-Polar Disorder and this submission was inspired by
actual events that occured during one of my especially critical manic episodes. Be sure and
read Part 2 to complete the poem and leave your comments on the Part 2 submission. Thank
you for allowing me to share my pain for pain shared is pain diminished
Me, Myself, and I...
“There are things that concern us,”
Consensed my “Selves” in earnest
““We” fear that “I” have succumbed to delusion”
“And after careful deliberation
It is with much hesitation
That we choose to delineate upon this confusion”
“Fact is your intuition
Is riddled with superstition
And your judgment leaves much to be desired”
“So you leave us no recourse
Don’t push us to use force”
It is then that the “I” was summarily fired
I exclaimed “By whose authority?” Response, “Rule of majority”
“The “Myself” and the “Me,” (forthwith the “We”), are experts in our field”
“And with much technique and time
And some forays into the sublime
The nature of your malady will be revealed”
“So to keep yourself from having a fit
Step back and just calm down a bit”
“We,” they said, “certainly have this under control”
“We swear this won’t hurt at all”
Then I felt my inhibitions fall
Still I said a prayer to God that He keep my soul
You know, fact is I do feel off axis
As evidenced by such parapraxis
As this prose that I, (or is it “Us”), seek to pen
And with my mind feeling numb
I finally chose to succumb
And allow the “Me” and the “Myself” to begin
And then came questions in a flurry
Answer, answer and please do hurry
Not one moment of respite did they give
They pushed and they prodded
With every “T” crossed and “I” dotted
My mind felt like it had gone through a sieve
And all this psycho-analysis
Is causing my mind paralysis
The questions, can you stop with the questions please
“Yes, oh yes indeed
I do believe we have what we need
To make an attempt to identify your unknown neuroses”
Temporary InSlamity
Two a.m , still awake, gettin’ leg-shakes
Gaggin’, burnin’ on my mis-slam-stakes
Tryin’ to win some judge judy’s hot damn
Thank-you-ma’am for hosting this con-slam-test
As I sling slam sludge like hogs in a hookup ham-fest
Just a small-time soul slammin’ junkie motha
Hopin’ this funky slam betta than at least one otha!
Didn’t know when I started tho…
Twenty-five crappy lines could sentence me
To prison time for petty poetic crimes bro... or should I say brotha….
Cause this fussed-over cussed-over rhymin’ over-doses
Ain’t no Gun and Roses, hell it ain’t even close-es
More like prosetry psychosis
Induced by late-night deep hypnosis
Where am I??? maaannnn.. time to be poppin’ some more no-sleep no-dozes
Hope the Judge J. rules summarily
That I suffered temporary in-slam-ity illiterarily
Or had an unnecessary ca-slam-ity vocabularily
And no matter which way judge rolls, just so she knows
I didn’t write this slam ma’am… this slam is writing me (very eerily…)
So Judge Judy of poetic tort, appealing to your phoenetic court
Don’t abort this sham of a slam to the sordid slammer
Order it posted where it can be toasted on glam slam site Instagrammar
Cause tryin’ me, fryin’ me over crimey slammism
Means death of ode age in poetical prison…
© 2014 all rights reserved
I once traveled around the U. S. on a Greyhound bus,
My wife thought I was crazy, but she made little fuss,
It was, by far, the most awesome adventure I ever took
Three changes of clothes, lots of grit, and a puzzle book,
In Atlanta, my small suitcase was temporarily lost
I forced myself into the luggage corral, despite the cost,
I luckily found it before we left for Memphis, and then
Decided I’d never ever check my luggage on the trip again.
A friend met me in Memphis, and I spent the night,
After two days solid on the bus, I suppose I was a sight,
A hot shower and change of clothes, boy, was I set
For the long trip to Phoenix, again, where I was met
By friends I hadn’t seen since my St. Louis days,
I spent the night with them, then went on my way,
Arriving in San Diego, California a day or two later,
I caught a Greyhound going up the west coast, terrific
The most beautiful iconic route along the coastal Pacific.
I stopped off in Oakland to get a night of rest, and
Having no more friends along the way, the land
Up to Spokane was more of the same, but I digress,
For after Oakland I had no good places to undress.
Starting across the northern part of the country
I knew I was beginning to smell a little bit funky.
No one cared to sit beside me, I had plenty of room
I did my best in the stations’ restrooms to groom.
Across Montana, Idaho, and through Dakota, I go
A layover in Minneapolis, then on to Chicago,
Where the time on my ticket summarily expired.
When I approached the desk, they wanted to know
If I was the guy traveling around the country, so,
I told them, yes, and they said go on home “on us,”
So, I headed home to Virginia on the Greyhound bus.
Chicago to Indianapolis to Knoxville, I did my best
When my wife picked me up, I’d finally get some rest.
She had me sit as far away as I could get in the car,
Because I smelled like sardines left in an open jar!
The experiences I had I won’t forget as long as I live
I wouldn’t trade the adventure for anything you’d give
The stories I have to tell are far too many to share,
I’ll just say travel the U.S.A.; if you can, if you dare.
Written December 10, 2022
A sliver of bright light
seeps into the darkness
Echo of voices reverberate inside my head
I'm in limbo,
I can't move
Am I alive, am I dead?
I don't feel any pain,
I don't feel much of anything
But there's a sense of dread foreshadowing me,
an unease that I can't seem to shake free
I want to scream,
but I'm disoriented thoroughly
My eyes move, that's all, nothing else
So I glance around,
I see white lab coats, and black body bags on metal slabs
An antiseptic smell permeates the air,
masking the scent that death lives here
The voices are slowly becoming clear,
and what I'm hearing brings horror to my ear
They're talking very dispassionately about dispatching me,
how there's no need to contact next of kin, given I'm government property
I give a silent scream: somebody help me please!
My lips can't move though,
I'm paralyzed completely
What happened to me, how did I get in this predicament?
Memory is foggy, with only one mental flash coming in and out
A battlefield with sounds of gunfire and bombs,
I must be a soldier no doubt
But those cold, rational voices intrude on me again,
and I get more terrified by what they're saying
They say they want to remove my cybernetic limbs,
download the memory in my positronic brain
Place it in a new prototype version, then scrap the remains
Burn all the evidence,
incinerate any signs of their illegal activity
I want to scream I'm alive
Listen, listen to me!
I sense movement, wheels rolling swiftly
Now I'm descending into a dark place,
towards a room aglow, with a sign above it that says:
Ye who enter, abandon all hope
I let out one last silent scream
My eyes widen as I approach the flames, but I can feel no heat
I hear my inner voice intone a final notation ...
RCN unit #0247895
has been summarily sentenced to a premature cremation
Should perchance someday Hallmark is seeking struggling bards,
To concoct witty verse for their annual Thanksgiving cards,
I think that I should like to summarily submit,
The following mots for their consideration, TO WIT:
(1) Savor the oyster dressing, giblet gravy and thigh,
The sweet pertaters, green bean casserole and punkin pie.
Hope you have a goodly supply of sodium bicarbonate,
To counter the wrenching effects of all that grub you ate!
(2) To Grandma's house, hordes of kith and kin will repair,
For delicious vittles, (if Grandpa ever ends his interminable prayer!)
May naught but love and fellowship dwell amongst you there,
As His bountiful harvest each of you cheerfully share!
(3) The Thanksgiving meal is over, the guys watch teams battle,
While women sit about the table engaged in idle prattle!
Mom's thoughts are elsewhere on how to deal with leftover turkey.
She's a genius at creating stews and soups, even turkey jerky!
(4) A Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!
Relish this time together and have a ball!
And may all with thankful hearts ever lift,
Thanks to Him, the Giver of all good gifts!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(c) All Rights Reserved
~THE USA NATION~
Observe, the very last of boys and girls.
Teachers decide now if they might be birds?
Educators, these, are also high above you.
Parents’ rights are summarily eschewed!
The once proud Red,White and Blue nation.
Now but a raging transgender sensation!
5/3/2023
As rains and the torrentialest of snows plummet,
Filling all the skies and the area interstitial to earth and sky
With a frenzy of flying flakes;
As gusty winds doth blow and toss the flakes this way and that;
As torrents true amid the most rending species of gale
Dash themselves bitterly and self-destructively
Against this crude roof,
It is of my hodiernal solitariness,
My aloneness and lonesomeness,
My singleness, and plural,
Romantic stationariness that I must needs
And peradventure speak:
Yet, firstly, permit us all to sit still and our selves
Stationary, silent and still; and silence that intruding music
So ominous yet banal, tinny and slight:
Lighthearted 'tis it, as well:
That which plainly portends our overwhelming destruction,
And that of all our cogitation, cognition, concentration
And composition, with its overmuch resonant yet tinniest
Intrusiveness.
So allow to be it thus and summarily silenced-
Now, that's better.
A man can listen to himself think again;
He can form cognitive thought and appreciation thereof.
Therefor, that music silenced and my concentrative powers
Revived: As a blade at the whetstone, resharpened:
I can keep on with the prosody and poesy of my plight,
But...
That dreary August Sunday morning
Peace like a river in Ozubulu was flowing
Merchants of death wielding the tools of their trade were lurking
To strangle peace Of the day just dawning
Vengeance was the mission
Anger from business gone awry the vision
But missing the ultimate prey
They pounced on worshipers assembled to pray
And they died!
Victims of a society in search of lost values
And they were massacred!
Martyrs of a society in a hypocritical quagmire
And they were slaughtered!
Like lambs on the altar of mammon
And they were brutally sent forth!
Unwilling partakers in man's depravity
And they were summarily dispatched!
Innocent victims of disobedience to God's injunction
Give to Cesar what belongs to him and to God His due
But they did not die in vain!
Their demise showed us whom we are
A nation in need of redemption
They gave their lives so that we can live!
.
My life, my apprehension
(1) Quietly, into this life, I came in creeping
The life my mother gave me, 74 years ago,
As a John Doe, while the whole world was sleeping,
Doing good deeds to the society, & becoming a precious soul.
(2) While I was young, to become a Doctor, I had learned,
For the society, I worked hard, with the knowledge I have earned
Treating patients, old and sick, operations were also a fun,
Whosoever heard me, may share the merits that I got in return.
(3) With wife and children, running my business
In my midlife years, I had enjoyed deceptively
Living happily like a celebrity, playing and saving my riches,
Spending valuable time, & getting old unexpectedly.
(4) It was natural that we were all recycled
Into the wheel of Sansara, we all lived and died
From dust to dust and ash to ash, Christianity’s teaching unrivaled,
Impermanence is the law of nature even Buddha could not shied
(5) So short is our life expectancy, by turning left and right
Unexpectedly getting ill, & unknowingly getting old
Anandathuriya wrote about the pleasures in life,
Its duration was like a bubble, coming out of the ocean floor
(6) Inevitably, our life will end getting sick & old, steady and slow
Do not bury, do not entomb, cremate my remains till it blends
My death wishes, to my family that I told
Summarily, with no exceptions, all in one day, till the end
(7) Even God entered Nirvana; for us mortals, leave alone,
Do not weep, and do not moan and groan
As we came in all alone, we go out in one’s own
Journey is hard… walk your path, you must be tough
Passing the abyss, stride till you strike the beaches of the bliss,
It’s the longest of all voyages that end all the creeds,
It is called the “Life’s Sansara Journey” indeed.
Dr Ko Ko Thein
Salt Lake City, Utah. U.S.A