Best Variegated Poems
O glorious Autumn of melancholic
Gold -
All abouts the brightly lit
Woodlands
Your wonderful artistry behold!
Tinted bronzes,
Darting between awkward firs
Of sobering Evergreen,
Loiter inside mauve havens
Splashed with palest yellows -
And dappled with many differing
Limes
Throughout this variegated Theme;
A myriad of rustling contentment,
Sweetest contrasting charms,
Complimentary...
Softly whispering leafy hues...
Hushed...most elegantly serene.
Bursting into the swelling copses
And invading between the
Dwindling fields:
Auburn, primrose and lilac views -
Abundant with seasons
Celebrations
That so magnificently infuse!
Glowering in simmering sunset,
And spluttering in misty dawn:
Afire with all the orbs oozing
Revelry,
That upon barkened furniture,
To thus gild - and resplendently
Adorn!
Now is the time
That dry tinkling leaves
Give musical resonance
To a breath exhaled from
A breeze...
Fanning the boughs roaring flames
That each out-stretched branch
does eagerly seize,
Fired from the eternal torch
That immortal Ceridwen tirelessly
Sought;
Whilst I hang upon evocative
Memories
That this arresting moment briefly
Caught.
Blazing with a consummate passion
Ignited from a poets grappling
Thoughts:
The Muses to this joyous splendour
Were summarily summoned
And brought;
But as elusive as the enchanting
Notes
From the intoxicating pipes of
Evasive Pan...
So as elusive the words of the
Unwritten verse
That so evade this singular man.
So burn! You gaily painted colours,
Within abandoned restrain,
Your dizzying carousel
A whirling kaleidoscope
Upon an artists ever changing frame.
Soft ochres and dappled browns
Mixed with vivid orange and crimson
Red...
Applied lavishly from the palette
Of Artemis
Over which the vibrant pastes
Are thinly spread.
A riot of pastel shades
All exploding forth -
With the raging power of a
Supernova
Of an immense, dazzling force!
All hail to the almighty:
From the devout to the Divine...
And all hail to the Grandeur
And Majesty -
Of his awe-inspiring design!
Categories:
variegated, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
Spring tantalizingly unfolds vernal, winsome
Blossoms of lilies pristine, undulating to appease
Fawning nectar-dreams adrift on wings of bees
Frolicking tranquility of rustling flowering trees
Refulgent summer, too, unpacks variegated
Revelry on rivers, oceans, flamboyant meadows
As ubiquitously nature paints blooms primrose
On hills and valleys oscillating jubilant shadows
Autumn’s brilliance courts dazzling ebullience
Of mellowed sun scintillating eventide’s ruby glow
Where gamboge leaves of fall amber winds blow
As passions of romance vie moonlit stellar show
Snowfalls titillate, unveiling vehement winter
In eyes of lovers ruminating in blessings of yore
When enticing beats of hearts indulgently implore
Aesthetic glacial memories venerated evermore
July 31, 2021
Placed 1st: Alpha lines poetry contest
Sponsor: Joseph May
Placed 1st: A Brian Strand Rhyme Contest
Categories:
variegated, nature, seasons,
Form:
Rhyme
Jack Frost, Jack Frost, how we feel your icy touch.
The earth lies under your freezing clutch.
You are a sneaking thief coming to steal the russet sun,
And mercilessly take away all our outdoor fun.
Fluffy snowflakes on feathery wings unfurled,
Fall gently and silently over the sleeping world.
First they come slow and then in torrential showers fast,
As if the snowing will never stop, but forever last.
Busy streets and pavements are now lying bare.
People stay indoors. To come out, they hardly dare.
Rodents have gone into hibernation in their ditch.
It seems life altogether has gone out of pitch.
Birds sit with drooping wings in their woody nests.
Within eyeshot, no trace of any roaming beasts.
From nowhere comes the song of a single bird.
On the slopes, one cannot sight the grazing herd.
Inch by inch, foot by foot, snowflakes fall,
Surrounding us on all sides like an oppressive wall.
Tawny roof tops are crusted with flakes of milky snow,
That the sun with golden beams alone can thaw.
From the cobalt sapphire sky’s misty veil,
Fall down the snowflakes like summer hail.
Unpigmented piles get heaped on the ground,
And the Earth lies inundated in a sea of milk churned.
From the seamless sea of ice, strewn with scattered gems,
Aureate, flaxen sunbeams make glittering diadems.
Thus Nature creates variegated scenes, delighting the heart,
Superseding every piece in a museum of man-made art!
Categories:
variegated, environment, seasons, snow,
Form:
Rhyme
That is the path I've chosen,
covered with soft blades of grass
hedged with variegated hostas,
and moonlight filtering
through hanging willow trees.
The winding path tilts slightly uphill,
towards a wooden pergola
that glimmers in the darkness,
a temple built in paradise
for my lovely Marguerite.
I have planned my life's purpose,
I know so clearly the urge to live,
my priceless gift from Cupid
cleansing the humdrum of this life.
The nightingale enlivens the silence,
full moon oozes limpid serenity,
the glow worms twinkle lovingly
like a myriad of faraway stars.
A lonely breeze caresses my face
but cannot quench the thirst
nor quell the boiling of my blood
nor the hunger I feel for her.
I gaze upon her lovely face
Chiaroscuro in the moonbeams
A painting mightier than any Madonna
that emanated from Fra Filippo Lippi
Or an intimate impression by Renoir.
Yet like these famous portraits of old
Our love forever will survive.
Categories:
variegated, love,
Form:
Free verse
I move lightly at sixty,
a little less than the max.
Any faster, and the sunflower shells I spit
blow back in my face,
and any slower and the driver behind
becomes too distressed.
I move lightly at sixty,
homeward through the rural landscape,
past barns and combines,
engine humming, without straining,
secure that I need not be anywhere,
or anything, but myself.
I move lightly at sixty,
through the longer shadows of fall,
short days and warm afternoons,
trees variegated with the leafy
nostalgias of the year past,
and the years before.
I move lightly at sixty,
the old van's engine drones
as I "OM", indistinguishable
one from the other, both well worn,
and oblivious of the
years we show.
I move lightly at sixty,
no longer with a need to lie,
or prevaricate,
in love with every woman I see,
and no longer afraid
to say so.
I move lightly at sixty,
in love with the journey,
rather than the goal.
In love with the moment
rather than the hour and
the need to mark it.
I move lightly at sixty,
bemused by public anger over
a rappers words, knowing they
are far less harmful
than the blood shed
in my time.
I move lightly at sixty,
ready to gear down if necessary,
still able to speed up if needed
to avoid the hazards
of an overactive ego
and libido.
I move lightly at sixty,
content to be alone,
joyful to have company,
regretting neither,
thankful for old friends,
and old loves.
I move lightly at sixty,
finding that not acting,
is as important as the act,
knowing that one can be undone,
and the other, can't.
I move lightly at sixty,
like a comfortable breeze
on a fall day, a thermal for a bird,
uplift for a friend,
a drying wind for a
tearful cheek.
Categories:
variegated, allegory, introspection, life, seasons,
Form:
Free verse
Posting early on a dozing suburban
hill
Mays warming morning rises and
Gently wakes.
The dewy hares move through the
Earthy till,
Small dry twigs the nesting pigeons
take.
Blue-high sky clear as an Ocean
Layers the heat upon red brick
streets;
Roads built over stubbled tracts
Deeply rutted from the ploughs
devotion,
Where once great fields of swaying
wheat.
Covered by neat gardens of square
disproportion
where blackbirds scold and tumble
Between the breeze;
Rushing madly through the tangled,
Variegated fauna,
Dashing around lines of neatly
Planted trees.
Quietly strolling the waking hour
Comes brightly,
Tripping like the splashing, pebble
Washed stream:
Wistfully recalling the woodsman,
Elk, and otter,
As it flows away,
Forever lost in dreams.
Categories:
variegated, may,
Form:
Rhyme
How often I have watched the sun descending into dusk,
and dusk, absorbing sun, exudes bright flavors for the eye.
It's eye candy, often variegated, splendid in its hue.
Those hues, dessert at end of day, sweeten with succulent delight.
What delight in skies of mango, cantaloupe or marmalade,
a marmalade of tangerine with raspberry mixed in!
Sometimes in vanilla skies are Crème brûlée or honeyed gold;
golden dollops of meringue above a lemon ball of sun.
Other times, sun lies concealed by clouds in chocolate skies,
or chocolate with the purple-gray of poi in cotton candy wisps of pink -
pink or bright red cherry heavens, sometimes luscious plum -
that plum reflected in blueberry seas; what treat in watching dusk!
Categories:
variegated, chocolate, nature, sun,
Form:
Verse
Daybreak usually greets me when it ascends each day.
Yawning, I drowsily rise from the comfort of my bed
as the horizon glows with colors in resplendent array.
Dawn announces, "The warmth of Ra is on its way!"
Soon, over land and sea, aureate beams will spread.
Daybreak usually greets me when it ascends each day.
Sunrise shines on foxes in meadows where they play,
illuminating their coppery coats of orange and red
as the horizon glows with colors in resplendent array.
In shallows, sunlight dances with waves as they spray,
creating prisms in nuanced tones of variegated thread.
Daybreak usually greets me when it ascends each day.
It does not matter where I wander or aimlessly stray.
Mornings are idyllic once somber darkness is shed
as the horizon glows with colors in resplendent array.
How I'd dread a cause for the rooster's crowing delay.
What a folly if the moon continued her reign instead.
Daybreak usually greets me when it ascends each day,
as the horizon glows with colors in resplendent array.
August 11, 2022
First Person Villanelle Contest
Sponsored by L Milton Hankins
Categories:
variegated, morning, sun,
Form:
Villanelle
Once,
I saw rainbows,
across the tear washed sky.
Their iridescent gleam
illumining the astral realm
and spilling down into the waters below.
Buds burgeoning on every branch,
Flowers opening their delicate folds,
and summer bees spiraling around,
gathering nectar for frosty days.
Saw radiant smiles gleaming past,
angelic babes’ innocent face,
Men toiling from dawn to dusk
going about their lives’ odyssey,
Speeding vehicles moving down
as ants, in an unbroken chain,
Nature, posing from time to time
in silken green, amber gold
and in dazzling white
Everything fleeted past,
as through the window
of a speeding train.
Neither did they linger long
nor were they daubed bright
in paints variegated,
on my mind's impressionable canvas
to call them back to mind at will.
I lived my life in acute haste.
Colors, shades and myriad scenes
passed me by as common sight
But now with a heavy mist blocking out my sight
and an inexorable darkness
covering me like a shroud,
plunging me, all of a sudden, into a perpetual night
where sun beams never again shall fall,
I realize with a jolt, how much I have missed
and how much more I will miss!
Categories:
variegated, angst, depression, loss, senses,
Form:
Free verse
He speaks for the uprooted.
A man of sorts, a twiggy Buddha.
He who interprets
the conferences of frogs,
the unpublished works
of kestrels and voles.
He’s an advocate for the underbelly
of a microbial heaven, for every kind
of uncouth animalcule.
Ancient is he, yet as fresh as tomorrow,
in green ponds he fishes for sunlight.
He plumps grassy pillows,
quilts nests for the slumbering and slippery,
gardens all dewy meadows.
He speaks for the bulldozed,
the displaced. The native and
the nomadic.
He tracks the sins
of the truculent muckrakers,
the yellow iron caterpillars.
He glides over bogs with the frogs.
Slips between the stringy and tall,
if there are no forested ways
he ambles where the wind ruffles.
He talks to the bears - they tell him
how things are going in the suburbs.
Swimming pools and trash cans,
have still to be negotiated. There must be a treaty.
He is leafy, kits and coyote love him,
Whistle-Pigs chirp like sparrows; blow their noses
to trumpet his approach.
When ducks quack his many sermons
shotguns misfire.
He is a preacher, a teacher to tics and turtles.
He is the bosky bedfellow, not a straw man,
or a hollow man – he is variegated and verdant,
a green man for me and thee
at least for now.
Categories:
variegated, poetry,
Form:
Free verse
magnifica
noblis
so insigne&variegated
a mosaic
simplified
pleasing&lovely
compacta with everlasting
sweetness
of heart shaped love
glowing flugens red umbels
of agape
before
withering away
in a forgotten
wreath
in a sky
out of reach
barren&unfertile
yet
unfading
a tricoleur
to brighten the eyes
ornamental foliage
drifts
upon the breeze
a briza of beauty
a catalyst
for pleasure
so pungent
so delicious
so exquisite
flowering in the mind
a collage
insights of electricity
lively
novel
imaginations
in radical rhythms
embracing
the minimalist
to illuminate
to highlight
the golden threads
of the whole
cosmos
in a celebration
of darkness&light
glistening
with sensitivity
bringing
clarity
a sense of purpose
nimbly
dancing
through
the intricacies
of creativity
Categories:
variegated, imagery,
Form:
Imagism
Hyacinth Hands
Mother, ego-cracker, birthed an embodiment of freedom plaited with slavery
petunia planter, marjoram with Malay curry and rice, yet scarcity her best performance when hunger a primary protagonist
my leap into Sovereignty depended on unraveling karmic bonds binding us through lifetimes, countless ages, sotto scenarios
Piscean, she scaly presented the toughest tests with hyacinth hands, only an embattled Heart would accede to
her non-relinquishing of my spinal cord nerves entwined with hers, she decorated with wondrous wild animal decoupage vases
to despairing detach from plundering pain, each principal pleasure she designed with subtle oomph, unconscious sophistication
my divinity would have back burned in futuristic coliseums had she not been Mother of trialing pegs and variegated embroidery cotton
Categories:
variegated, appreciation, birth, change, character,
Form:
Free verse
Neon skies reflected in God’s palette;
the Divine Artist’s canvas speaks
and I am enamored of its stories.
Jewels of nature painted in colors
of sapphire blue,
emerald green,
ruby red,
carnelian orange,
citrine yellow,
amethyst purples
and lavender-pink stripes,
with periwinkle dots upon the waves
and variegated backdrop of sky.
Onyx and lemon cumuli peek through sun rays;
a late afternoon sunset portrait,
fit for any king’s palace.
A color-coded
spirit kiss,
nature’s bliss,
greets my hazel orbs;
my heart fills
with ecstasy.
Categories:
variegated, art, color, fish, poems,
Form:
Free verse
Written: August 21, 2023
______________________________________________________________
This planet is such a vast variegated palette.
All ethnicities, cultures, and hues have talent.
A canvas filled with many views and dreams.
So gorgeous, humble souls and, now it seems.
In this kaleidoscope of diversity.
White and black blend into the darkness.
Mixed races provide level-thrived adversity.
There are both rich and poor people in stillness.
We're only those who will render this world whole.
Wise guys roam sidewalks, keen to meet raw souls.
Monks and spiritual seekers searching for peace.
All people love and foster rainbow beliefs.
Our earth, birthing cute beings, is a canvas to foresee.
People of various ethnic groups belong to humanity.
Wealthy life phase, adding warmth and awareness.
Wise, savvy, and humble despite race or fairness.
Because love is what we require to survive.
Bridge family tree gaps, penalized for being alive.
To create a world where vibrant colors combine.
The world is a colorful palette of sparkle and fine.
Categories:
variegated, analogy, bereavement, discrimination,
Form:
Rhyme
Family heirlooms
Some collect old art pieces, jewelry or photos.
Others, end tables, organ benches, or beds
If it belonged to Grandma or Grandpa it’s a keeper.
Especially fancy needlework and piecework spreads.
And if it belonged to way-back generations,
Better hide it from inquiring siblings.
Like an antique trunk full of precious junk,
Be ready for some serious quibbling.
An agate marble with variegated colors,
A bone handled knife with Grandpa’s carved notch,
Grandma’s wedding ring many memories bring,
As does Uncle Henry’s gold pocket watch.
Many collectibles and few places to keep them.
We hold on tightly like a determined fanatic.
If embedded memories bring such pleasure to treasures
Why do they inevitably drift to the garage or attic?
Categories:
variegated, family,
Form:
Quatrain