Best Swished Poems
The full fallow moon was hung low in July
As white stars and fireflies lit the night sky,
A sight to behold was the feline bold'
Drawing sighs from the violin, his arms did enfold
He played on the breeze to the harvest to come
As An orchestra of crickets rasped to each thrum.'
He raised now the tempo and thought
Of a dish and a spoon that had shone
In delighted dedication....As off they did run!
And so he made ‘paws' quaffing wine from a tun,
Then throwing the fiddle up tight to his chin
He forgot about thinking in pursuit of more din!
The cow swished her tail to the music he made
As the dog danced the polka, through a small garden maze
He played till the pearly dawn light did show
Then the crickets fell silent; and the bird calls did grow!
He slept where he fell, to bother no more...
As a ship makes its way to the safest of shores.’
As he turns in his slumber, as she rolls o'er the waves
He would hold no regrets ‘till the ending of days.'
©Joe Maverick 12-10-13
Categories:
swished, friendship,
Form:
Rhyme
Quietness upon the face,
Silence and loneliness,
Land before time,
Before living things existed,
Sadness as my waters ran through the earth,
Was my voice the only thing to be heard?
As I swelled and ebbed,
Swished back and forth,
Was I alone as I sadly moved?
Was my story over before it started?
I ran through the earth looking for life,
Through the mountains to the highest peaks,
Over the desolation through the land,
Congregated every teardrop into large seas
My tears filled every part of the earth
Sadness as my heart became an open ocean,
I realized that I had great power,
A gushing force as I quickly moved,
I was unstoppable and determined,
As my adventures of roaming became exciting,
The earth began to drink of my waters,
A great light shining down,
Began pulling me up towards the skies,
Something very dramatic happening,
Breathtaking!
As I hung around in great clusters of clouds,
Looking down upon the earth,
Beauty astounding and thrilling,
Until a great crash of thunder,
Crashed through splitting bursting into
Millions of tiny droplets,
I fell to the earth,
With exhilarating freshness,
Hitting the ground at great speeds,
Continued flowing on my journey,
Into the rivers then back home to my sea,
As I looked up to the sky
Great colors burst into a rainbow,
Life began creating,
Smaller than the eye could see,
As surely then up to the tallest trees,
Earth drank of my rivers
As the poetry in the river ran free.
01/05/2016
Categories:
swished, poems,
Form:
Personification
I relate this story from my room in the Quiet Vale Giggling Academy
A reader might find my story hard to believe
BUT!
At one time in my life –
As a matter of fact quite recently –
I had just finished Dr. Doolittle’s great study
‘Talk to the Animals”
And after several months of following Doolittle’s observations
Found I could actually understand animal talk
Which was really just grunts growls and bodily motions –
Tail switches
Chop-licking
Lurches
Farts
Things such as that
Quite by accident
While walking in the woods one day
I happened on a scene
A robin told me was ‘animal court’
Resided over by Judge Grump
At once I noticed a huge lion
Seated on a stump
His heavy tail thumping the back of the stump
“When Grump thumps the stump court will come to order
And when Grump thumps the stump all better listen!” sang the robin
There were a number of spectators -
Squirrels
Possums
Raccoons
Deer
Birds
All chattering at once
So that Grump had to thump the stump many times
Growling horrendously till they stopped chattering
There was no jury
No lawyers
Just this marvelously striped tiger
Tail down
Standing in front of Grump seated on his stump
I assumed the tiger was the defendant
The lion judge began with a thump of the stump
“You are accused of eating your best friend
Is that correct?”
The tiger swished his tail
“Yes”
“A dachshund named Stretch
Is that correct?”
The tiger swished his tail
“Yes’
“Sad” the lion judge continued
“You were reported to have done everything together –
Touched noses
Sniffed out-holes
Even wrestled together
Such fine friends
What could have caused such an action on your part?”
At this point the attending group began chattering vigorously
The lion judge Grump thumped the stump
Thumped
And thumped
As thumping the stump wasn’t loud enough he growled
Finally the crowd quieted
“How could you do such a thing to your friend Stretch
I’m stumped.”
The tiger looked around
Eyes blazing
Jowls dripping
Gorgeous stripes undulating blazing in the sun
Tail swishing in manner of reply
“I was hungry” he said
“Case dismissed!” said Grump
With a thump of the stump!
Categories:
swished, animals, funnytiger,
Form:
OH VINCENT
Oh Vincent, can we ever know what torments plagued you;
what demons fought you; what images raped your senses?
It was no accident that you sent blinding blasts of brightness
swirling, like hurled saucers to splatter upon your night sky canvases.
There you found your voice feathered
with mixed hues of unrelenting colors
swished in among tired out bristles.
Unconstrained, they brought to life
the frenzied haunting façade of your crazed visions.
Oh Vincent, you have tried to paint pictures of God,
broken frames holding thoughts alive within a broken soul,
You felt other’s deep sorrows and you placed
your mournful tears upon empty spaces,
and rendered images of a faceted life,
conceived from a passionate heart.
Oh Vincent, you created holy existences
upon folios of painted scenes
the glory of dreams carefully uncovered
and laid bare to once again transcend life
as permanent shapes and shadows.
Evocative images were lured into sensory miracles
of what you wanted to offer, and of all you had to offer
You told your stories in ways only you could express.
But, oh Vincent, I ask you, was it really ever enough?
CAK 2-20-2014
Categories:
swished, character, conflict, emotions, passion,
Form:
Light Verse
Tranquil twilight tuned in a mellifluous brevity,
Silver stars appeared, twinkling, forming constellations bright,
And nightingales sang to honour our memorable night,
As we lay serene. the fine sand willing our destiny.
Blessed indeed were we to find such a peaceful sandy cove
I looked into her eyes and saw how they reflected stars.
No doubt as years roll, the view still will be in my memoirs,
Indeed, it was just our fortune to find that treasured trove.
Lovingly, a soft kiss was like a rimming nightly breeze,
The palm trees swished to the cool brisk zephyr murmuring low,
While the cacophony of cicadas gave us their show,
That flowed gently o'er silvery waves of calm coral seas.
The quiet moon shone bright as it ascended in the sky
We jumped into the sea surrounded with coral glowing
The moonlight glistened as fish swam in shoals over-flowing.
Alas it was time to leave as we uttered a deep sigh.
Up we climbed our small yacht and went to have our well-earned rest,
The gentle soft waves rocked us to a deep refreshing sleep,
Unaware of bright coral or tropical fish beneath,
We had our wonderful honeymoon the ultimate best.
10 May 2021
Writing Prompt - Calm - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
Placed 1
14 syllables per line
Categories:
swished, happiness, love,
Form:
Enclosed Rhyme
"I am sending you a gift of poetry, dear heart." This one really reached out to me in its simple
and uncluttered use of a sunrise to show God's handiwork. I thought that since your work was
in Haiku, I would try to do a free verse version relating the thought of God painting His
morning canvas. I hope you are okay with this.
Inspired by the poem: "Heavenly Sunrise" by Constance~A Rambling Poet~
For: "I Am Sending You A Gift Of Poetry, Dear Heart" Contest
Free Verse Poem Written by: Dan Cwiak
The Master takes his brush to palette~
Effortlessly is the day's canvas dotted with color.
Golden Horizon swished from the brush~
Darkened only by the earth tones of morning.
An Orange Ball creeps o'er the distance~
Shades of red and yellow stir the burnt umber awake.
Fine lines drawn for this morning~
No mistaking the Hand of God at work!
Categories:
swished, allegory, inspirational, life, naturegod,
Form:
Free verse
As dark clouds dashed and clashed in the sky
Thunder began to boom and rumble
Sensing an impending rain, frogs started croaking
Cows stopped cuddling and began to moo
Soon pitter- pat came down the raindrops.
landed on roof tops with a heavy thud
they broke and cracked into tiny droplets
gurgled and gushed through canals and drains.
And joined the brooks that babbled,
merging with waterfalls that whooshed.
Along with the rain, came the roaring wind
as it passed, the bells clanged
windchimes whispered, wires on poles whistled
doors slammed shut and windows creaked
grasses swished and leaves rustled.
Birds fell silent and stopped tweeting
When the pouring rain came to a sudden halt,
The rattle was over with everything falling silent.
Categories:
swished, nature, rain, wind,
Form:
Free verse
We had started preparing dinner,
but when I told her they were grazing out back,
she wanted to go see them for herself. I folded the dishtowel
and put dinner on hold.
I suggested we take scraps
Lettuce leaves, carrot tops, apple cores, …scraps from the counter
The three horses were clustered under the trees,
munching tall grass, not far from the house
Only barbwire, the swing set, and their indifference between us
We tossed pieces of lettuce over the fence, and called out their names
At first they pretended not to notice us,
but finally one pony swished his tail, and slowly, sidled closer
My grandchild held out the apple, with a hesitant hand
At first she was afraid, of losing a finger perhaps,
or her quivering thumb
But, I told her to flatten her palm, hold the apple like a gift
The pony devoured the apple, and continued to nuzzle her hand
Barbwire is no restraint…. And love has no constraints
Sometimes amounting to nothing more than
an open heart, and open hand and an apple core
Categories:
swished, life,
Form:
Free verse
My fly cast got caught on my fly.
The hook hurt so bad I did cry.
While now in much pain
it started to rain.
What more could go wrong, my oh my?
My fly cast was still on my fly.
The zipper went zap on the sly!
It swished me around.
I fell to the ground.
But amazingly I was still dry!
The boat sunk so now I got wet.
Much like getting deeper in dept.
It took little glue,
to fix this boo boo.
But I haven't seen daylight yet!
For John Freeman's "Limerick's about Fishing" contest.
Categories:
swished, funny
Form:
Limerick
"Beyond lychgate lies future death" she says,
cucumbered eyes slid back under cauliflower sky,
brimming smithereens of harkening demons.
Been in saddle some time since torchlight began,
a child's silent castle ago. Chaos-times cut alleyways
through rose-lettered circles, reads trashy maid.
The journey fell sword north along shield path.
Peninsula late to temple-crawling fiend
and settle princess patter dust. Like trick glass
the moon palace emanates, a chain works
its crystal door. A shore of bane swims world-sick
with fire-wing ticks abreast, dragon-headed air:
happens to be, as the world burns...
Spring chickens looked at first
grasshopper leaves, blossoms.
Empty saddles of burnt Autumns
sit with moccasin thirst.
One ruby night ago, vampire night,
made movie set by tail light.
Wrench of fog came loose and fell.
Eye of moon too close, well...
Winged skeletal open sheet,
sanguine collar of his neat.
Began by serving up the meat.
Legs he tossed, and arms and feet.
A rise and shine ago, luster of sight,
out of scene the farmer goes.
Steel machine cranks horizon bright.
Scroll up the title i suppose.
Barn stall features dingy leather
where lasting gleam slips by candle.
Recall adventure, mural by weather.
Motion eye attached to handle.
Scoot across encrusted bucket,
folded over the eating depth.
Put filthy Kraken atop it,
swished around the damn mess.
Brave journal follows company
down the water-taped steps
to where there isn't any.
Sealed flame lights diver's quest.
A cave away, keys of hassle,
swim to shore with hopes unravel.
Brute force thunders far within.
Exact the sword to have them send.
Enter bar stool and order takeout.
Hostess charm enhanced the make out.
Her fuel adds flames to very fabric.
Her fists were fiery, action: magic.
Out of dust broom closet knelt good
ole nuke we ended up sneaking places:
peaceful village of the caring hood,
small reaches, to parking spaces.
Twisted hair in castle braids,
scoundrel bristles painting raids.
Countdown pistol official use,
punching bag for ogre face.
Categories:
swished, adventure, fantasy, fate, hero,
Form:
Lyric
"You are so lovely," said the clouds to the volcano.
"Thank you," the volcano acknowledging clouds' greeting.
"All the people are looking at you each day and taking pictures, videos of you!" swished the clouds.
"I don't feel captivating all the time. I am often sad because I'm the only one standing here alone," the volcano responded.
"I praise you for your simplicity," said the clouds.
The volcano said, "I am more delighted by your creation."
"Why?" asked the clouds.
"Because you are free!" puffed the volcano.
"You're right. I always move around, encircling the world... but I want to try staying in one place, to know how it feels like being on the ground like you!"
"You may not like it," said the volcano. "Though I'm still grateful for being so alive everyday. People perceived us that we will always be the same -- who we are and what we are. Even if we swap positions, it is up to us how we look at ourselves..."
"Now, I realized why we are both blessed," said the clouds.
"Yes. And the people are our spectators who are more blessed for seeing us and having us."
Categories:
swished, appreciation, beauty, blessing, creation,
Form:
Prose
Splish! Splash!
Went the little goldfish.
As she flipped,
and she flopped,
right out of her dish.
Hiss-s-s-s!
Hiss-s-s-s!
across the room,
came a threatening sound.
And she wished,
oh, she wished,
she was back in her dish!
The house cat pranced
and swished his tail,
as he played with his squeaky toy,
and his playmate, little Dale.
Then the cat paused.
He sniffed the air.
He leaped for joy.
He smelled a live fish,
and not a rubber toy!
With a happy prance,
on cat feet that danced,
across the room,
he quickly advanced.
But the boy heard
the wish! The wish!
of his little gold fish.
And he flipped,
and he flopped
her back in her dish.
Lucky Fish!
Lucky Fish!
With a wish!
Categories:
swished, cat, fish, humor,
Form:
Rhyme
-
My braces are pinching me and I remove them but really I only want to get closer
The harder grasses prickling our arms but why does she complain so little
The sun beats down and the clagg is to swished away from exposed flesh
Her focus is love or lust or me for now at least
The wood wasp announces its arrival and stands still in the air and looks
Too early for distraction he thinks and gone in a split second.
The summer sun beats down and hums as far as the eye can see
She arches her back a little and peels her long auburn hair behind her ear and smiles
Anticipation pent up amoungst the tall waving ears of meadow grass and poppy
She asks is this grass tall enough beside the river bank
The river chuckles and laps and quacks with ever notes of time going by
Again can anyone see us she says. Don't worry there's no one for miles.
She stiffens and recoils in a fractional notice and my torrent ebbs some what
I sit up on the tartan rug. Look there is no one my love and I stoke her ankle
I turned my head to the river bank opposite to an anxious man sitting up too
The tall waving grass as if supporting the lone head of this man this courting spoiler
My torrent disappears down. A drive becomes my angered disappointment contained
My beauty in lace white and of steady eagerness then abates with my news
I told you. I told you. And her heart shows me no sad disappointment no loss
Gathering our selves and bits of grass dart away past cocks of meadowed hay
Categories:
swished, loveme, love, me, river,
Form:
I passed by Old Man Banksia, a wonderfully gnarled tree,
While trekking through the Jamison, a bushland pedigree,
I saw the broad leaf of the Geebung, with its yelow frill,
The distant sounds of Katoomba Falls with its water spill.
Suddenly excitement grew, new noise, a whipping sound,
Its shrilled call pierced the air, the unbelievable was found,
A lyrebird with all its beauty, elusiveness personified,
Stood before me tail flared,my mouth was open wide.
It was clawing in the leaf litter, with insects being found,
Its ornate, opaque tail swished on to the ground,
It hopped around in the mulch, paused then moved on,
I was waiting in anticipation for another whipping song.
My encounter was a brief one, for as soon as I got near,
It decided to fossick elsewhere without the risk of fear,
But I had seen this ancient animal with vocal chords unique,
The world's greatest mimic, its repertoire so complete.
Categories:
swished, beauty, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
KITCHEN KISSES KINDLED
Why
Sigh I
What did I ever do,
to you?
The “you” as in the one who held me as softly as any cushion ever fashioned
The “you” as in the you who had me so thrillingly and thoroughly impassioned
The “you” who said you would be my “you” until the sky poured blackened rain
The “you” who swore that you would weave a way to wish away my every pain
The “you” who swished on by me at the oven in the kitchen where we kissed
The “you” who assured me that upon our happiness God himself would insist
The “you” who fancied that split-level yellow house at the end of a dead end street
A cull de sac where our children, a fantasy and a fairy would so heavenly meet
A home we would create with visions of childhood and youthfulness born anew
But why,
sigh I
what did I ever do
to you?
Because you see
With naked certainty I know what you did to me
© 2013...copyright PHREEPOETREE…..~free cee!~
Categories:
swished, angst, me, me,
Form:
Free verse