Best They Poems
They walk amongst us, but in silent ways,
spreading peace and love without any praise.
When thunder roars and lightning strikes in rain
they watch over us, healing bleeding pain.
Yet we do not see their celestial light,
nor do they shed feathers within our sight.
Happy to hide behind unknown faces,
empathy guides them to deprived places.
Heal and soothe, they prevent tears from flowing,
touch our hearts to leave our spirits glowing.
From Sydney to London, Rome to Bombay,
provide moments that take our breath away
Their acts of grace form a ripple effect,
kind gestures that help people to connect.
They told me you cried on the day I died
A sob splintering through a silent dome
Your sorrow a shroud on the catacomb
As I laid where birds no longer replied
Now I watch as you slowly search the beach
For those rare shells edged in liminal blue
I would gift you that impossible hue
To show I was within sight, within reach
Yet I wish you more than what shadows grant
A life in the sun of a springtime glen
Not lost in the gloom of my grave's abyss
Let my legacy be the hope you plant
Blooming with the courage to love again
If you will keep something of me - keep this
Her smiles of valor encase her agony--
her fiery scars pound against her sanity
struggling in twisted ropes of silent screams.
A wounded Athena, she is a woman in chains
staring at her shattered reflections.
Her shades of red, they haven't seen--
tender shrieks buried under forced arms,
blurred visions of screaming tyranny.
A trampled magnolia, she is a woman in chains
rotting in her Carmen of morose ember.
Oh woman! You embrace scars with dignity,
ethereal flow of progeny in your hands,
your banished desires in shriveled ages
survive in spiral cobwebs of festered veins.
Her miserable existence in labyrinths--
she simmers courage in dried paranoia,
a streak of red blood, no longer she'd fear.
A goddess flickering amber lamps of hope
her essence flows through mankind.
Oh woman! Feel the celestial powers
preserved in your gracious bosom,
your afflicted pain nurtures patience
strong enough to bend heavenly tides.
A wounded Athena, a trampled magnolia
A rotting Carmen, a goddess she is..
The woman in chains pours forgiveness
filling oceans from azure exuberance,
her selfless heart of mellowed love
permeates Satan's abode with virtue.
The woman in chains wears sacrifice,
her gossamer veil embraces men's follies,
she carries the elixir of compassion,
ripples of hopes for scarred souls.
Oh woman! They oppress you in madness,
to your sanctity they bow in agitation,
the woman they know, the goddess they don't,
until you dust your timeless wings to fly again.
And when will the tides turn against confident indifference?!
When will humanity cease
To throw cats against curiosity’s silver coated dagger
Another played out song
Another dramatic lyric
Shifting embellished overtones
With deteriorating tact
They spit posthumous awakenings
As divinity laced smiles, wither under a convoluted moon
Shedding retina waterfalls
Misunderstood
Pretentious anger becomes Aphrodite mediocrity
Wisdom, they never “put out”
Crippled tears
Become self-important struts within olive tinted reckonings
Lambasted butterflies
Stirring hornets’ nest
Uninvited
They dream for better days
While double-knotting gang colored bandanas
On eagle’s achromatic foreheads
Another Woody Woodpecker band-aid pulled from condescending hypocrisies
…
And when will the tides turn against pilot light’s mal-intent?
When will the flinty sheep
Stop wondering how these charring, orange fires began
Forgetting the 115 octane gasoline can
They hold quietly in their hands
©Drake J. Eszes
What might you find there
down deep in my soul
Within the darkness
of that expansive hole
Will there be substance
Will there be diamonds or coal
Step down the stairs quickly
at the door pay your toll
If you wish to be a voyeur
there will be plenty to see
Unclothed and oh so gorgeous
beautiful women are plenty
Yet the guilt from these carnal thoughts
makes me feel a strange empty
I long for their pleasure
yet I yearn to be set free
Walk a bit further
see deeper to my core
You have just scratched the surface
do you really want to see more
My soul is a vast ocean
no ceiling and no floor
Liquid and expansive
molton lava shore to shore
There is plenty of love there
tremendous courage it's true
I have known my share of pain
there is much that I've been through
Roads I've traveled are many
dark alleys quite a few
I've found the way to the light
my heart is forged a steel blue
If you travel far enough
you will bathe within light
The darkness a shield
to protect this soul with might
Beyond the locked door
my soul rises like a kite
Only those who have courage
can fly to such great height!
For Frank's Contest
They crumble like confetti,
These little poems I write,
One letter on each tiny scrap,
They blow into the night.
To tickle the toes of a passing star,
And burn with its out-crying,
Ashes to float in the atmosphere,
Over-heating there expiring.
And then they will like angel dust
Fly through space for a million years,
‘Til one day (for they are never gone)
A hand clutches a fist full and holds it dear.
It will rearrange those particles glowing,
In the shape of its futuristic soul,
For there will always be a working bard,
So long as lovers stroll.
A gorge, ravine, the deepest pit
My feelings know that this is it
So deep inside, the body still
As though they quake against my will
What causes one to reach so low
It’s not the end and yet I know
Extremes of life, the ups and downs
The brightest smiles, the saddest frowns
As wishes fly about inside
Searching for a wave to ride
I long to be as one with peace
To quell the stir, to find release
And then, I think, at least I feel
Though life is like a Ferris wheel
I’ll come around again to land
And I will know just where I stand
Be grateful that I’m here to see
The wonder that still is for me
Though tears may fall, they bless the seed
To bring about just what I need
There are moments in time
Where a comment so profound
Is uttered without thought to the potential
Of its ripple effects - future bound.
If we are introduced to such a quote
At precisely the right time,
We feel something open within ourselves.
Such inspiration can feel divine.
If you feel defeated, depleted of joy
And it seems failure awaits.
Remember this wise old Proverb,
"Fall seven times and stand up eight."
A Latin Proverb to follow
To rouse the inner strength you know is yours,
Don't give up like all is lost,
"If the wind will not serve, take the oars."
We mustn't stay down.
We can't stay stranded on a boat.
In life we have to battle
To keep ourselves afloat.
"Life is 10 percent of what happens to me and
90 percent of how I react to it." Charles Swindoll
This inspirational quote empowers us.
It reminds us of our control.
"Nothing is impossible,' Audrey Hepburn said
'The word itself says, "I'm possible!" "
So however huge our climb might feel,
Deep down, we know we're capable!
Christopher Columbus was a person brave,
For he knew not what was in store.
"You can never cross the ocean until you have
The courage to lose sight of the shore."...
Just pondering these very thoughts,
Amongst so many they are few,
Can motivate us if we feel trapped
Or unsure of what to do.
So friends, I finish off my list
With a little quote from me...
"Soldier on with self belief
And you will gain your victory!"
They call to me
These poems
Lost minstrels
Singing in a silent
Wilderness
A sunrise
Gently awakening
A forest
Soft rain
Tickling flowers
Fall winds
Whispering
In the pines
Chipmunks
A moonlight kiss
Remembered
The circles
Of a lazy hawk
The scent
Of her pillow
The angst
Of a sorrow
Recalling a tear
These words
These poems
Calling me
To the keyboard
Enticing me
To write
These poems
Glowing gems that dress the night,
I yearn to know your brightness art
blinking quick, blinking slow
my running thoughts you make them go...
From arid desert to distant worlds,
stars white shimmer a wordless speech:
their wink--a gift of hope to travelers
who dare tread the darkest steep.
In my arms, I have one little star
so mild, so child, my antidote to fear
twinkle in her eyes, my happiest tear
years ebb my star bloom to a big star
I clap loud for my star scintillates from afar
Amidst terrors strike, she, standing still
her Venus light shining in the flight of years.
She soft-hearted despite some limiting steel
My star swim, swim to life's stream
'til pass a tide, she found her hearts' star
One day he said: "she is his dearest"
so eighth of February, they breath their vows
Soon, after a year, my before little star
now cradles her own baby star.
Her eyes so deep, her grin so sweet,
our little star add a touch of treats.
Twinkle, twinkle little stars--
gleam silver above the skies
let your light boogie near or far
on each fair fields that before us lie.
Little lights begin to shine
Tiny heartbeats in the dark
With a glowing hope inside
To shine brighter than the stars
But their possibilities.....
Suddenly come to an end
Echoing in their silent screams
All they could have been
I see a doctor, I see a preacher
A loving nurse...A home school teacher
A little boy rounding third base
That home run smile all over his face
They would change the world we're living in
If only they could be.....
All they could have been
We explain it all away
A thousand reasons for their fall
But they can never be replaced.....
Listen close....and hear the call
'To welcome all the angels
Heaven chose to send....
Let all God's children be
All they could have been
I see a priest...a president
The hands of an artist...a pilot's accent
Mom's joyful tears--graduation day
As her baby girl walks 'cross the stage
Yes, they would change the world we're living in....
If only they could be.....
All they could have been
Just a chance to be....
All they could have been
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Once, a strange structure appeared in a barn yard
difficult not to notice, a scaffold to hang horses
for throwing their masters
Dumb and never protesting they were led up the ramp
built like a stairway to heaven
With never any last minute salvation
No 'Pegasus' wings that sprouted from the withers.
Hooves crossed on the chest each was duly blest
and I wonder if each mistook the noose
for a lasso around its neck.
With one somb're bell a'ringing the hangman pulled the lever
'There are no last minute requests for horses being executed'
Justice done again?
Yet it seems in the equine world
hanging has served as no deterrant.
Inherant in all horses is an urge to
throw their masters.
Give Me Your Best James Tate
Contest Judged: 12/1/2016 12:00:00 AM
Sponsored by: Space Cadet
6th Place
100 in a ROW contest -- 8
Contest Judged: 7/30/2016 8:24:00 PM
Sponsored by: Poet Destroyer A
6th Place
She can't blame the season for her tears
Aloneness was not loneliness in December
When the season passed so quickly in disguise
Of twinkling lights and toasts remembered
As she looks to the yard, there is nothing to see
but an old pepper tree, that tosses it's head
It is losing its leaves in an alien wind,
in a sea of dead grass, where a garden had been
Her house wears a face, weathered thin, from neglect
and a fence that is broken and needing repair
She turns for a moment, to glance, here and there,
a room she has known, filled with colors long dimmed,
where the silence shouts loud, not a question to ask....
but...wishing for something..., a chore, or a task
A family together, is framed on the desk
Maybe they'll come today....
For a mere month or more, a feral cat came her door
then had wandered the floors, neither friend or a foe
But he soon disappeared, on the eve of the storm
She will call just the same.......just in case he can hear
"Here, kitty kitty"....."Here, kitty kitty", but she calls him in vain
While the wind plays the same dirty game...
Tumble weeds roll and bend, her eyes search the wind
She peers through the window,...as she waits for a friend...
a friend never there....always due to arrive
so she stands by the side, of the old telephone
where the old parlor room, knows a long afternoon
A family together, is framed on the desk
Maybe they'll come someday...
___________________________________________________________
Loneliness Contest Entry: Sponsored by Nadya Ivette Negron
Wading through fragmented thoughts
Searching for one last poetic line
To slip around a shattered heart
Then shaped into a perfect bow
Pulsating softly like guitar strings
As they begin to play real slow
Replacing old queasy emotions
With melodic breezes that flow
Through the canyons of mind
Once found in a bottle of whiskey
That has now been left behind
Gliding in Texas two-step rhymes
To the Silver Bullet Band we bid goodnight
Our last dance becomes
A mellow tune that only Seger hums
We dance between the verses of smoothed out lines
That seem to roll endlessly through gifted minds
To be left off the page, until they shine
With featherpen in hand,
I ascribe anew.
On tablet command
my point-of-view,
one for only them to see.
These two objects won't disagree.
I hold them together, as they do me.