Best Today Poems
To my Poetry Soup friends - this was written as a thank
you note for all of your beautiful, uplifting gifts of poetry
and comments. Your words can mean the difference
between a dark day and a light day ~ thank you all
The walls were closing in last night
my covers felt like straitjackets
the darkness crushing fragile hope
I needed wings to soar away.
I rose to find your poem here
it spoke of dreams and butterflies,
of wind and whispers filling sails -
my soul rose with the sun.
A dreaded phone call. Plans today
are torn asunder, raining grief,
the colors I once knew are black -
I need new eyes to see again.
You write of sorrow, yet your tone
is one of dawn and singing birds
and spring's growth resurrecting hope -
my faith in God restored.
An empty home awaits me now
the air is flat. No tune is sung
to open windows of the heart
and let the summer sing its song.
You write of sunsets in their poise
while kissing the horizon slow
I read this and my wounds are healed-
your poem gives me wings.
Your words inspire, this much I know
they open curtains, let in sun,
bring music to the quiet space
they speak of faith in things unseen.
You turn my thoughts from dying leaves
to robins singing from their nests -
I thank you, friend, for all your words,
I needed wings today.
Written 1 April 2022
On cold evenings
Surrounded by friends
Warm and
Safe
I could stay up forever
Taking strength
From the blackness
Talking
Dreaming
Feeling that I could float upward
And walk with the stars
On their lonely journey
Through heaven.
There was a girl
I was with then
Tall
Graceful
And beautiful
When I first saw her
I wanted to feel her softness
Her breathe on my cheek
Her hand
Brushing against my thigh
When I held her close
And even closer
I wanted her
To say she loved me.
Together
Our love
Had a perfect balance
Of
Teasing and challenge
Spontaneity
Courtship
And seduction.
A subtle change
That I never understood
Came about
The closer we became
The more anger
And resentment followed
When she smiled I was envious
When I laughed she was angry
We broke up
We were young
It was my fault
Her fault
Our fault
Or blame it on the times we lived in.
Outside my room
Footsteps echo
In a long and empty hallway
And like an undeliverable letter
A message scrawled
To no one in particular
Haunting visions are
Returned to me
The slenderness of her waist
The way she arched her back
The touch of her hand
The way she kissed
I feel her presence
Yes, I relive all that.
lesson one
i wake up alone
for the first time
the silence is deafening
i want to get up
but every fiber in me
is dead weight
i want to call my mother
and ask her how a widow
gets out of bed in the morning
but i won’t do that to her
i will figure it out
i remember how yesterday
i had to run an errand
and the cool breeze
was a reassuring sensation
against my cheek
it felt much like a caress
so i coax myself to get up
and step out onto my balcony
but my body wants nothing to do with it
and won’t move
finally somehow i am up
yearning for that morning caress
i bundle up
to face the november chill
and there it is
around the corner
a sunkiss meets me
my first of many rendezvous
see you tomorrow sweetheart
i love you
you’re beautiful
Published in my 24-page photo/anthology book ~TODAY I LEARN TO BE A WIDOW~ 2020
Read on air by invitation ~ November 25, 2020 'LATE NIGHT WITH THE MIDNIGHT BOMBER'
AP: 2nd place 2025, 2nd place 2025, 2nd place 2020, Front Page Pick 2021
Submitted on January 6, 2021 for contest BATTLE OF MOST ACCLAIMED 2020 POEMS sponsored by JOHN HAMILTON - RANKED 3RD
POTD - November 18, 2020
My Prayer For Today
7/22/2019
Written: by Miracle Man
Lord, guard my tongue in things I say,
Let your son Jesus be my light today.
Let each of my thoughts rest solely on HIM,
From the brightening hour until growing dim.
Then at such time when I become tempted,
Just render those thoughts, as preemptive.
For I’ve little ability that’s of my own,
And will be accountable for seeds I’ve sown.
AMEN
Selected Poem of The Day On Poetry Soup
July 22, 2019
* Inspired by the Joni Mitchell song - Tin Angel
** My first pantoum
I found someone to love today
Her firefly eyes light up a room
In dreams I heard an angel say
Her sunshine smile makes flowers bloom
Her firefly eyes light up a room
Where shadows scream and devils haunt
Her sunshine smile makes flowers bloom
In beds where weeds would tease and taunt
Where shadows scream and devils haunt
Red blood would drip from steely blade
In beds where weeds would tease and taunt
She'll no more cut nor be afraid
Red blood would drip from steely blade
But that was like, so yesterday
She'll no more cut nor be afraid
I found someone to love today-
ME
Dedicated to every teenage girl who has ever been bullied at school or online
What things does one possess
at journey's end?
What bits and bobs? What trivial tripe?
Please, do tell, what is the hype?
For should I recall anything at all
of trinkets obtained in memory's shawl,
it would be the warmth of a companion's smile;
his hand in mine, while on this earth for a while.
The tickle of a tide brushing against tiny toes,
while the whisper in the wind, tells me all she knows.
Should I gaze at gems, pearls, rubies, emeralds--
Forsake the wisdom of the solid for the beauty of the temporal?
Should I throw caution to the wind, like seeds for the birds,
or stick to what I know - the solemnity of the written word.
Of trinkets obtained in memory's shawl,
be there anything at all worthy of my recall?
Happiness, Peace, Love and Joy -
these remained to be my one and only lot.
These intangible things more valuable by far
than gold and silver ingots.
At journey's end I stopped to ponder,
in the cloudless starlit night,
about the heavens and her wonder;
I was struck by sudden insight:
the lightness of the moon
suspended in air,
and the weight of a mere thought
that put it there.
Visited you today
as the sun set in the horizon…
the orange tinged carnations
were a perfect complement
for the skies
and for you…
orange and blue
always remind me of you
the winds softly blew
and I just sat there
staring at the grass,
well more at your name really…
hardly believing
what I am looking at,
that it’s been seven years
of missing you,
of just putting that reality
at the back of my mind…
But there are days,
such as today
which make me
confront that reality—
I see your smile,
remember your laughter
celebrate your spirit
and your love
Tears, I tell you I have
the most stubborn tears
maybe because they
make it so real for me?
I look around me
and look for that sign
Nope, not there…
I say a prayer
and speak to you
thankful for the life shared
I kiss the date that you were born
and walk away
my reflection on the car window
misty
One last look around,
and then I see it…
a cat, as we drive away…
Skies now streaked purple and pink
**My brother would have been 40 today, May 6…
IF DEATH SHOULD VISIT ME TODAY
Whether young or old and gray
As earthly life is swept away
Please do not mourn, do not be sad
Just think of joy yet to be had.
Set loose from flesh- forever free
To sail a calmer, endless sea
Eternity, my newfound home
Within which I will freely roam
Inside a greater spirit shell
For then my soul will grow and dwell
Upon the peace, I will collect.
But most of all, you must reflect
We'll meet again in time, my dears
In other worlds- in other years
Beyond the light of cosmic ray
Beyond the sight of human clay
IF DEATH SHOULD VISIT ME TODAY
~1st Place~
Premiere Contest: Funeral, Eulogy, or Memorial Service Poem
Sponsor: Team PoetrySoup
Judged: 07/02/2019
~2nd Place~
Contest: Any Sad Poem
Sponsor: Broken Wings
Judged: 11/03/2015
~1st Place~
Premiere Contest: The Last Love Letter
Sponsor: Mystic Rose Rose
September 24, 2014
This is a reversible poem (can be read up or down) that I wrote years ago,
and which will be a part of MY eulogy when I pass, to help my loved-ones
cope with knowing that I will be okay.
Each day dawns laden with secrets.
The morning dews are crystal balls,
each holding a secret trailer of
a fragment of day.
The birds, chirping incessantly,
gossip among themselves about the
delightful things you’ll find at
the weekend market.
In the crevice between the sun's
virginal light and last night's shadows,
an old friend waits for a
scheduled chance encounter,
bearing a gift of forgotten memories.
Fresh brew drips into the carafe of your
old coffee machine, tapping out
a Morse code of the new
thoughts and feelings that will percolate
into your brain in the hours to come.
And the curtains billow with echoes
of the laughs to be laughed.
The day is waiting to confess
its plans for you.
Embrace the miracle of Today's birth;
the beginning of everything.
Incapable of re-living
or pre-living its ownership,
our character bares definition
by the gratitude displayed
for every moment in its presence.
It is renewal,
joyful in its divinity.
May we be strong enough to engage it,
generous enough to share it
and wise enough not to waste its invitations...
Poem Of The Day 06/06/2018
The sun is the sun
It rises we run
When it turns the nighttime to day
It's hot when it's cold
And never grows old
As our time slips quickly away
The sun remains the sun
The wind is the wind
It lays and it spins
And on, occasion will rage
Be it warm, be it chilled
Whether gusty or stilled
It changes from page to page
The wind is still the wind
The seas are the seas
Just water no trees
Yet harboring life below
They rise and they fall
But nothing forestalls
Their predictable to and fro
The seas are the seas
We think we see change
Ordinary looks strange
Perhaps, something new has begun
In the grandest of schemes
We're all chasing dreams
There's nothing new under the sun.
By Daniel Turner
5/7/2021
This is my interpretation of
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 verse 9
...what has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again
there is nothing new under the sun.
Hold on to those moments
Of Spoken words of
Meaningful
Sincere
Love
Tomorrow might never
Become the present
© By Eve Roper
6/22/2015
For centuries, minorities have fought
to gain their human rights. How can it be
that even now so many folks do not
feel safe in “civilized” society?
And one can’t fathom the atrocities
this very minute somewhere going on
affecting innocents in towns and cities!
Great wickedness from day to dusk to dawn!
Laws were established to ensure that we
would have our freedoms each and every day.
I look around me. More and more I see
injustice taking human rights away!
I’m most appalled by censorship and lies
controlling us to feed elitists’ greed
as my so-called “free” government denies
the rights our constitution guaranteed!
The flagrant disregard of human rights
that’s happening today is sickening.
It’s history repeating . . . and the lights
are going out! End times are quickening.
Wake up and see what’s coming! If you don’t,
too soon it will be too late for us all.
Come stand and fight with me, for if you won’t,
we’ll be as slaves, and great shall be our fall.
Dec. 8, 2021
for the 'Human Rights' Poetry Contest of Robert James Liguori
Emotions flooded my very soul as I viewed that Sacred Wall.
Etched for all eternity are hero's names who sacrificed their all.
I sensed that I was on hallowed soil as I knelt on bended knee.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
I offered a silent prayer for each of the names that I caressed.
Tho' their time here was brief, by them we were truly blessed.
They placed national destiny above their own defending liberty.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
They were ordinary Americans who performed extraordinary things,
Such grand and noble acts to ensure that freedom's bell yet rings!
They gave their full measure that humankind might live free.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
What might they have become, I muse, had fate not dealt them so,
A teacher, doctor, a farmer? Alas, we shall never know.
To teach nations The Golden Rule, I suspect would be their plea.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
Tho' grander monuments have been built for those of greater fame,
This simple yet powerful memorial will keep alive the flame,
Of humanity's quest for brotherhood, peace and dignity.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(© All Rights Reserved)
Placed 7th in "The Best Day Of Your Life" Contest
Placed 3d in the "Your Best Poem" Contest" June 2010
Featured Poem Of The Week 2-9 May 2010
lst Place in Security Public Library (Colorado) Poetry Contest - May 2006
Published in Poet Bob Casey's Book, "An Oasis In A Cluttered World" - 2006
Because I do not know of my tomorrow
Yesterday is gone I've forgotten it
I but have today to know I exist
I resist letting my today be wasted on drama
I am out sipping on sunshine
Gliding on life
Dancing in the rain while drinking rain drops
Have my fill on ice cream till I'm well content
Smile because I just love life
Love every unloved one
Give and share
because it makes me feel absolutely wonderful
And when night comes I'm up eating chocolates
while writing poems of my life's adventure
Smile
Akkina R Downing
8-20-17