Best Tumbles Poems
An ocean tumbles through dreams of you. In depths unknown,
I float above. Oh, how I long to dive beneath your surface,
yet I am timid in matters of love. If brave, I’d have shown
you the whole of my gushing heart, no less than tides of bliss.
Seeking depths unknown, I long to dive beneath your surface.
Searching your eyes, I want for treasures lost on the ocean’s floor.
The sun, like a gold coin, drops, splashing this face of regret. I blush
in secret thoughts of you and turn away from the endless shore.
A swoop from seagulls catches the light of your smile and breaks the hush
of late sky. Turning away from the endless shore of regret, I blush.
My lonely shore may flood, a wish to bathe in the caress of you
granted. I shall break from fear, to brave a rolling river between us.
Down current, I’ll swim until I reach your ocean of sparkling blues.
I would drown in the waves of your uncharted waters. Glorious
would be death in the caress of you, your uncharted waters…glorious.
Written, 1/18/2015,
for Craig Cornish's Manassian Quintain Contest,
Categories:
tumbles, appreciation, longing, love, ocean,
Form:
Rhyme
When the
moon muses
to the
melody of memories,
roaming wisps
of vanilla gently
flow through
space and time.
Your voice
echoes through
scintillating
sheets of
unwavering waves,
like lullabies laced
into silver nightfalls.
Within my
mourning sight,
invisible feathers
form into
clouds appearing
as wings,
swiftly swerving
and reflecting
perfumed “ forget-me-nots.”
A reminder
that you’ll always
be gracing our horizons
from
dusk till dawn.
I’ll savor your
memoirs within
pastel colored pages of
my purple journal.
I’ll recite
your favorite poem,
like
starlight over groves
of
silk and ebony.
Tomorrow before
the sky
tumbles down,
let the
sunflower stillness speak.
When these
tears are unlocked,
rain serenades symphonies
of
sentimental seconds,
lost to the
ticking truth
of fleeting
grains from
sinister silence.
You’ll feel my words
rising and
reaching
the seventh sky,
beyond unwritten
woes and throes,
as you
sway upon a
golden swing
engraved with
diamond dusts
and
daphne dreamcatchers.
Categories:
tumbles, death, deep, heaven,
Form:
Free verse
Can love then, be based
on an index of elements
from which one joyfully tumbles,
or drifts into equations, as we wander
toward a rush of serendipity ...
a metaphysical merging of ardor
writhing in a shared communion
like tuneful whispers in breaths of helium,
unabbreviated oxygen rhapsodies
from unbidden laughter,
invigorating the warmth of co-owned stars
on heaven’s destined oracle?
Love transcends chemical derivatives
of fractals or measurement,
between our atoms, relaxed
in the shuffle of emotional electrons
as we quiver weightless...
the heart’s embrace suspended together
in the affectionate cosmos
of a deep kiss.
-------------
“How on earth can you explain in terms
of chemistry and physics so important
a ...phenomenon as first love? “-- Albert Einstein
------------
Strength Through Adversity Contest: Gregory R Barden
Re-post: 3/25/2019
~ It was a challenge for me to translate in meaningful ways
this abstract concept, 'physics of love,' but somehow
made sense of it by affirming that such is beyond mere science.
Categories:
tumbles, love, science,
Form:
Light Verse
Standing on tippy toes
Top shelf
Reaching
Stretching
Finger tips edging the jar forward
Imagining the taste of chocolate chips on my tongue
Yumm mom's chewy delicious wait till Saturday cookies
Thankful I have grown that extra inch
Thinking she'll never suspect me
The jar
Tips
Topples
Tumbles
Turns
Travels over my head
Lands on the floor
Just as Snoopy comes running through the door
Eating all the cookies except for four
Looks up with his doggy grin
Like he wants some more
I reach down and grab the jar
Surprised that it didn't break
Reaching inside was my second mistake
Mom comes in and says "For goodness sake!
I'm so scared I start to shake.
"Ricky get over here right now"
I drop the jar, she watches it break
Running I try to get away
Up the stairs
Under the bed
If she catches me I'll be dead
At least that's what she said
She lifts the bed skirt
There I am
With my happy face T-shirt
Just within her reach
She grabs me
Pulls me out
Laughs
Gives me a hug
"Don't worry it's OK
I'll make more
Later today."
For John Lawless's Just within reach contest.
Written April 15, 2015
Categories:
tumbles, adventure,
Form:
Rhyme
Long before the whispers
fell down
upon your solemn shoulders
as with new day dew's droplets
dangling so delicate, so free
I heard all about you
what was resting within
your beauty, your vision's quest
speaking thru shimmering light
placed so magnanimously
right in front of me
slight touch, curls to the sight
enfurled in more than mystery
an elegant flow
blinking under seas of blue and green
filling deep into a guise
somewhat larger than you, than me
before there were tumbles and spills
where fingers adjusted heights
where hopes hinged then swung open
passions, that melted upon minds,
sated lips and springtime wishes
there were romantic vignettes
ready to be written, to be read
marked down in time, for futures
not to look past, moments holding hope
where hearts connected
and feeling felt would forever last
Categories:
tumbles, love,
Form:
Romanticism
To release me from hellish nights
let's talk now, Fear...
I leave, yet your shadow follows me;
a darkened grime blowing on my mind
like an uninvited guest from a demonic realm.
The macabre of nights holds no clues
but reflects my image through you:
Realizing this now I oppose
those vicious whispers,
and embed them in the dirge of sand:
When confronted with inner warfare
O Fear, you turn from rage to cowardice;
I walk away, never to come back...
that phantom of rain tumbles as mist shines.
Feeling empowered now, your hunts lose
as my soul claims its final deliverance--
I’m no longer a pawn.
Fear Contest for Debbie Guzzi
Re-submitted 8/30/2017
Categories:
tumbles, courage, fear,
Form:
Didactic
Graffiti frames a tunneled tomb, beneath the city's core
where writings stretch upon the wall in dialects profaned
A hallmark and a tell-tale sign, but somehow, no one sees
Unspoken fears have set apart the lives that mingle here
In every shade the masses grow, and mingle side by side
Day, by day, the same routine, sardines until they die
The writing on the tunneled walls is just a sign to come
that walls have grown to come between the hands of humankind
They board as one, but coldness churns through veins beneath the ground
Habits honed have deafened ears to echoes all around
Distance tumbles through the aisles, small words too frail to say
"How are you, what can I do to help you smile today?"
Too occupied for reaching out to be the other's friend
No glance, no chance to say hello to the stranger by your side
No hands to grasp, no questions asked, just eyes in downward glance,
A phone in hand, whatever land, beyond all human touch
As seasons pass, left in the dust the silence breeds and feeds
more apathy, that beats the heart, as cold and hard as stone..
The sound of silence just rumbles on, until the walls come down
_________________________________________________________
4/27/18
Categories:
tumbles, people, places, society,
Form:
Free verse
Billy don’t lose my number
No ones knows the darkness
Other than one who knows... the darkness
There is no snow
There is no white
Wings are clipped
There is no flight
Answers fly away in the air
Leaving the human heart in despair
Whiskey tumbles down the throat
No more am I the ambitious goat
Broken glass and twisted rope
Dusk invites my... my final cry
Love gave me peace for a while
Then love became ill as death hovered
Over caskets and flowers soon to be
Dancing with my dead thoughts in the open air
How do I say, I really do not care?
Seeking death and pain, a solace I wear
Angels greet those other than me
I, deserving of the dirt, you shall never see
The labyrinth of pain upon the graveyard paths
Many shall walk, yet not a one will be
Any angel that could take me to the sea
Drowning in pain, the knife sets me free
Categories:
tumbles, angst, animal, confusion, depression,
Form:
Free verse
Mister Joe, poet, jangles loose change in his pocket,
Jogging memories and garnering thoughts as he walks.
For Mr. Joe's brain washes, tumbles and dries,
his gems of thoughts in hourly cycles, with riddles, jingles and rhymes.
Each wash-up, extracted, pegged, and hung up to dry,
To taunt and flap jangles for him, his readers and strangers near by.
Mister Joe's charm icons are processed, mulled over, distilled and wrung out for meaning within.
His jangles find meaning in bumps on smooth paper, read as Braille.
His jangles arise from stones skipped over calm smooth waters,
yielding meaning in the creases and ripples created.
His jangles rattle his sleep awake each night, with sky rockets of images and flashes bursting.
His jangles are a empowering, rewarding, revealing, enlightening,
and sometimes troubling and haunting, but can't be undone.
His jangles are his rhyme and reason, his friend and confidant, his mater and aether
His jangles are really what he's all about as a poet,
as a miner and peddler of ideas, and as a prophet and revealer.
Mister Joe's charms jangles the minds of his readers
His words cast nets to trawl up memories and concepts,
lured within the reader's mind with word play and twists.
Seas of dreams and memories are netted, prodded and poked
To yield twinkles, sparkles, hums, grunts, and nods of appreciation and delight.
His jangles finding meaning and echoes with links and associations, never before conceived nor considered.
Mister Joe's catch of memories once jangled, are returned to reader with care
Embellished and enthralled by meaning, relevance, word play and twists.
The reader now has new jangles to add to charm bracelet on wrist, or to jingle with loose change in pocket.
Mister Joe, the poet, and his reader, now walk and dance with jangles, jingling echoes within.
Categories:
tumbles, poetry, poets,
Form:
Free verse
Sweeter than nectar
More succulent than honey dew
Reminiscent of all that I adore
I long for the taste of you
Like a tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer’s day
Or the cool April rain that tumbles down in May
I long for the taste of you
Like providing sustenance that quenches her thirst
After long lonely drought has famished our beloved mother earth
I long for the taste of you
Like springs first showers encouraging flowers to bloom
Cultivating my soil, your nourishment is consumed
I long for the taste of you
Like being drawn to your flame like a moth to a fire
Mesmerized by your flames
It’s a burning desire
I long for the taste of you
Like missing you before your gone and hoping that you’ll stay
Like smelling the sweetness of your skin
Even when your miles away
I long for the taste of you
Like reaching a never ending, peak of ecstasy
Like felling your love deep inside me
I long for the taste of you
Like looking into your eyes as you look back into mine
When we make love it’s always as precious as our first time
Like the calm after the storm when our bodies intertwine.
That’s why
I long for the touch, for the taste
For the your presence
For the essence of you
Categories:
tumbles, fantasy, imagination, love,
Form:
My muse is a sieve
it pans for gold
it’s a strainer
a skimmer
a fat separator
it tumbles boulders
until pebbles are formed
it can chew on a feeling
for days weeks or years
til it spits out a poem
my polished
my crystallized
bits of awe and woe
Categories:
tumbles, me, muse, poetry,
Form:
Free verse
Spring Whimsy
winter packs his trunk
full of icy fleece and flakes ~
going south for spring
spring unpacks her bags
rolls out green hills with poppies ~
mustard carpets glens
vernal daylight sighs
sheds a winter overcoat ~
nature somersaults
sassy daffodils
troubadours of the season ~
in the midst of snow
snowdrops and tulips
mingle with playful raindrops ~
hummingbirds return
spring teases tree buds
tickles robins and the wrens ~
jokes in cheeky fun
loons and larks arrive
mistral songs fill flaxen fields ~
forests swing and sway
coy clouds gather in
flirt with flashing thunderbolts ~
birds watch from warm nests
rain tumbles through skies
plays hide and seek with thunder ~
feisty blue bells stand
waxing springtime moon
paints rose petals platinum ~
neon night aglow
impish morning sun
winks at fields of red clover ~
spring born of whimsy
3-30-22
Contest: A Brian Strand Premiere Choice
Sponsor: Brian Strand
Categories:
tumbles, spring,
Form:
Haiku
Long before the whisper's
falling down --
upon your shoulders
as with dew's droplets
dangling so delicately
I've heard all about it
resting within your beauty
vision's quest --
speaking through the shimmers
right out in front of me
Slight touch curls to sight
enfurled in mystery
elegance flows --
blinking under seas of blue
filling in the guise of you
Before the tumbles
where fingers adjust height
hopes hinge --
passion's melt is spinning
sated lips just beginning
Categories:
tumbles, beautiful, love,
Form:
Free verse
Trapped in this world in this body not mine
I am stranded here on this earth alone
stuck in a shell that is not my own
Small is the world that has taken me in
here in my body, under my skin
Out of this pod, is my heart's pine
Swirling thoughts capsize my brain
they thrash and smash against these walls
until the mass of this body tumbles and falls
Trapped in this world in this evil flesh
where light and darkness have no room to mesh
in this body I sin, again and again
Categories:
tumbles, faith, hope, life, sad,
Form:
My poetic muse is such a fickle thing,
One minute hiding,
from my probing and penetrating mind.
Next leaping up dancing, and singing,
and throwing ideas and words
and phrases at me so fast that
we collide in a heap.
We slowly detangle ourselves.
He apologizes for keeping me in the dark,
but is now ready
to create in a serious way.
He gently tosses words and ideas at me
But they begin to frolic and wrestle,
reminding me of puppies at play.
How can I make sense out of such a jumble?
And yet as they play, a word leaps out of the pile,
tumbles into my brain.
My brain tosses it about for a while
looking for a place to put it
when another word and then a phrase
join in the fun.
My fingers start typing.
Categories:
tumbles, imagination, poetry,
Form:
Free verse