Best Tempest Poems

surrendering
reflective puddles
of rained regrets and sins

I offer my humility
the only gift I can give.


Susan Ashley 
September 2, 2018


~ First Place ~
Premiere Contest: Pithy Pants 
Sponsor: Maureen McGreavy...

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You pull me from the depths of forevers of thought
elegantly twirled, though evidently caught
shaped by the vortex, virtuoso of pain
fluctuating truths from half flailing to half slain

   the mirror of water I'd rather not see
   if I peer in I see...

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They know how to press those buttons,
With just a familiar chosen word or two,
How to enrage one's spirit with a tone,
A glance sharp enough to pierce the skin.
A will that screams, I am better than you,
Stronger, louder...how they deftly dominate.
 
Sometimes a controlled backfire is...

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Upon a glorious night
A burning fire lit upon my unrented spine
Deafened by fleeting sight
I flee the home that never was quite mine

Crushed in garish fight
Within the corridor I dare to flee
Blinded by his might
While all the sad spirits return to me

Oh Tempest, you blow in...

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O daughter of thunder, slayer of dragons (and of men's hearts), why do you hurt me so? For which sin must I reside in this purgatory of despair, this abyss which allows me no peace nor ray of hope? If I were to serenade you...

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The Tempest

Upon enchanted sands of shipbreached shores
Dethroned beggar of a borrowed callow mystery
Heaves a lightning staff into the waves -
Thunderous and raw clandestine secrecy
On luminous swirling ariels sheering the celestial –
Into the curfew of castaway souls as a hoary appeal
Where storm surges loot delirium in...

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Like winds incessant through the night 
and torrents dumped from darkened clouds,
the storm raged on without contrite
my anguish hid ‘neath subtle shrouds.

A storm like this I’ve never seen
in my whole lifetime to be sure
when hot converging airs convene;
‘tis more than one should e’er endure.

But now...

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cataclysmic waves

                                     awaken sailors' nightmares

    ...

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TEMPEST

Twin limestone tors thrust up through valley floor
Like isles or icebergs in a calm flat sea
Deep green save where shear rock can hold no spore
To spawn in fecund niche a vine or tree

Midday and all is calm untroubled, still
In tactile heat, all movement paused, restricted
No...

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Wind, your double essence is well-known.
Whispered summer breezes you exhale;
Then suddenly you turn.  You surge and wail,
Expelling rage, you bluster or you moan.
Your brute relentless nature then is shown
For you become a cyclone, Hound of Hell,
Or show yourself a monsoon, squall, or gale.
Unquelled, a...

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Summer Tempest

Oncoming tempest
Charges the air with ion
Strong wind gusts predicted soon

Torrents of rain fall
Like a river coming down
Flooding sidewalks and sewers

A rainbow appears
Promise sign that seems to say
"The city’s survived the storm."

7/15/16
For" A Perfect Storm"...

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A Storm, A Tempest And A Hope

Remorse hangs like dark and bitter fruit
A tragic voyage far off the right course
Cuts to the mind with an evil root
Blood-lust still in the crying remorse
Defeated
Alone
A shot into this darkened lost world
Future clouded in a racing mist
A boulder into...

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"Helios and The Tempest"



...

full knowing his azures
she watches him rising
he sends sunlight 
to her windows
full knowing the thoughts
non-conditional behind
her shaded jades
what fresh hell is this
spring green now
becomes her dazzling day
he doesn't miss a trick
he sends golden smiles
they're forever in eclipse
when he is the sun
she is...

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I ride the waves of innocence
on the ocean of The Now.
From the depths of dank
a demon stalks my bow.

On deck afraid, alone I stood
quelling fear the best I could.
Furled the jib and reefed the main
what you do when the wind's insane.
Then rising atop a stormy...

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another tower, rising up the skies,
a high terrasse, a night, a starry weather,
a caviar, a bird of paradise
for every towerer, a golden feather
on tux’s sleeve… 
                   ...

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