Her desires are thrown out onto the table
They slide off, pouring onto the floor
Because there are so many of them
Her desires are unruly and jovial
They cannot be tamed, and they laugh at her.
She is their victim and she knows it.
What she wants is what she wants.
She likes everything.
She especially wants what others have.
Her desires border on jealousy.
the green haired ogre woman was not frightening to me
I had heard rumors, but always find out for myself, you see
Many gossips are viciously mean, and their stories border on a lie.
She was a delightful ogre, who introduced me to her dragon, Sly.
We had a fine day and shared a chocolate cake and apricot tea.
If you want to know about her, don’t ask. Just head over and see.
I looked at my Mom in her 60’s and mused
I have 30 more years that’s unused
Before those wrinkles start to show
In this smooth face gazing from the mirror
Smug in my sureness
Yet also showing my immatureness.
I looked at my mom in her 70’s and again
Believing I had 20 more years in my brain
Even though I now see a wrinkle or two
Brushing it aside was my error
Time did not wait for me
Then she was suddenly eight three.
This time I only had years ten
Before I would considered myself old
But when did all those wrinkles descend
And dreams border on terror?
Then I remembered my soul’s true direction
Age and death are just a preview
Beyond the vail we live in blissful perfection
Where everyone’s soul is once again new.
©?Deborah M Kelly 2023
It wasn't easy to see you
As the enemy.
A lot of love replays
In my memory.
I live in the valley of
The Damned.
You ran off with a
One-legged man.
What happened?
Not easy to explain.
I border on the land
Of the insane.
A comfort zone of
Disagreeing.
I didn't see it until
You were fleeing.
Outside things are alive,
Inside I'm dying.
How ed-up,
I stopped trying.
Love destroys the
Mind and soul.
I will never again,
Get to feel whole.
Memories etched
In time.
Forever seared across
My mind.
You were my something
To believe in.
You were the Yang to
My Yin.
I felt every second
Since you're gone.
My music a depressing
Sad country song.
I can't even walk because
Of my hip.
As I rock back and forth,
In a vice-like grip.
Turbo1904 ?
Some are born into a house
With no love.
Some learn quickly how to
Push when they shove.
Some are born with a
Silver spoon in hand.
Some live off the
Fat of the land.
Some are emotionally stunted,
A tormented soul.
Some can buy their way
Out of the hole.
Some are physically
Abused.
Some are permanently
Bruised.
Some survive
Sexual assault.
We all know who
Is at fault.
Some never get
A fair shake.
Some are nuttier
Then a fruitcake.
Some can process and
Move forward.
Some can stay
Forever tortured.
Some learn to deal
With the pain.
Some border on
The insane.
Some are lucky they
Grow and bloom.
Some feel the
Presence of doom.
Turbo1904?
Impressed by its color I went to chase it,
Taking small steps towards the direction it flew.
Those white stripes on its wings seem to reflect the sun rays,
The yellow border on its body was the color of sun itself.
Wandering after some time, it sat on a blossom,
Without being noticed, I caught its wings between my fingers.
The color I admired most, now slowly started to wane,
In no time, a part of its color was on my finger, and it flew away.
Blaming myself for that act, I asked my dad why it happened?
Lifting me in his arms he said, "This is all the work of nature.
When we try to know someone and get close to them,
They are bound to show their true hue."
I held the hands that were lifting me, there was no color dwindling from him,
Maybe I was too naive to notice, he was his true self in front of me.
Hej and Shej made everyone cry, and they did not care.
It was fun for them; for they were a mean god and goddess.
The sun observed their meanness during the day.
The moon rolled his eyes at their evening antics.
You are the best! Hej said to Shej.
Not, it is you! Shej said, giving him the high five.
You made more people cry today than I have irritated in a week.
Their antics were beginning to border on cruelty.
Let’s appeal to the Goddess of the Hemisphere, the sun said.
The moon agreed, and so they did.
The Goddess of the Hemisphere took their notes and shook her head.
I do not want them to disappear completely. Let me think on it.
The next day the sun appeared and the moon said
Before I go, I have to show you something.
God Hej and Goddess Shej turned to stone forever
Never bothering anyone again thanks to Goddess of the Hemisphere.
There was an eagerly keen schoolboy,
Who when used the Greek term ‘hoi polloi’,
His teacher, a pedant--
A kind of stinging ant,
Corrected it to ‘the hoi polloi’;
Sir, my apology,
Ain't it tautology?
No, use grammar, boys as would a toy!
___________________________________________
In Greek, hoi polloi means ‘the people’. Thus, hoi is the article ‘the’, and when we say ‘the hoi polloi’ which is the way the expression is used in English, there doubtless is tautology. But usage determines grammar, not the other way around. Further, when we say ‘eagerly keen’, there too is some tautology as well. Further, the word pedant comes from French and Italian, and perhaps from Greek ‘pais’, whose teacher is called pedagogue. Pedant earlier meant only a teacher, but later on acquired its today’s meaning: one who lays excessive stress upon trifling details of knowledge.
My fellow poets might have sometimes faced comments that border on being pedantic.
______________________________________________________
Ways of words |04.06.2020|
Topic: humour, school, boy, teacher, apology, tautology
There lies before my eyes a soaring mountain,
For certain at the top there is a view,
A sight I’ve seen before the falling curtain,
Of chapter and of life that I once knew.
Perhaps I long to see a new horizon,
So far beyond the looming pile and peak,
And yet it seems to border on delusion,
As truth of lassitude begins to speak.
What heart and strength that bore me ever forward,
Reminds me still of ceaseless strain to bear,
That I could earn a future unencumbered,
No longer to endure or to repair.
And so as every step engraves behind me,
Another page of epic on my soul,
And every wall ahead that falls before me,
Assumes its place as saga on the scroll,
Pray stars above would guide towards the summit,
A life far past the edge of spread too thin,
And gentle wind would echo to the sonnet,
“Dulcius ex asperis” from within.
Hold out arms, hands and fingertips,
spread shoulders…shake loose.
If you’re not clouded by flesh
you’ll feel it - your verge shifts,
sometimes an inch,
sometimes a million miles.
A bright brim begins to look at the stars
as if they were your own eyes looking back.
You might even shoot inward
into your own glitzy center.
Maybe Her tulle skirt,
and sparkly, silver, magnetic panties
will draw you into Her cosmic Ferris wheel.
All this is just over the tip of a reach, the brink
of a fingernail, where you ride the milky cosmos
seeding worlds with the art of your mind.
Let yourself border on the fringe,
the hem, the flossy slip of Her short sassy skirt -
shimmy a while.
Elderly men have been known
to dance a step or two right there
at the glitter-edge of life,
as they fall for the same girl.
again, and again.
Diabolique!
It's so tragic, in poetry!
There is no safe place to be.
Knives come at you with your
poetry, if political.
I do understand people
now border on the hysterical.
Anyone on the right, in danger
of poetic execution.
Unjustifiably, diabolical!
But as in life, poetry is just
personal expression.
I wish it were not considered
a dance, so evil, one needs to
rush, find a priest and go to
confession.
I want to be accepted as me.
Crazy, but I want to be honored
more than any animal or tree.
I will not hedge on this, freedom
of all expression,
Requires depth, not just a hug and
a kiss.
It's integrity, lies in the freedom to be.
Freedom for all .....trumps imagery.
June 27, 2019
10am PST
All of our passions
border on sin
The reasoning gray,
the line often thin
All of our joy
dances freely between
That Angel above us
—and a Devil unseen
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
She danced with Josiah as the band played Mariah
And the children did hide and go seek
The fireflies were dancing the young folks romancing
And the moon now and then took a peek
When love seemed forever and troubles came never
She smiled at the happiness she had
She looked into blue eyes and didn't see through lies
That would border on driving her mad
Then came that one season he left with no reason
And shattered her dreams and her heart
No one could count tears that she shed through the years
While she struggled to find a new start
And then it was over she had forgotten that rover
As a new love shone bright in her eyes
Yes, time still heals the scars that it seals
While a smile greets a brand new sunrise
4-11-2018
a ghazal
She needs a separation, you can understand,
it involves subjugation, you can understand.
Her boss at work chooses only female colleagues,
some may be a temptation, you can understand.
On break, his frequent jokes border on harassment,
it is only flirtation, you can understand.
Often we see him out in public with his wife
in pleasant conversation you can understand.
But when he’s at work, he’s much too touchy-feely;
it’s not imagination, you can understand.
Quitting her job, she proceeds on to better things;
though he’s the aggravation, you can understand.
Relief is coming to her senses, she proclaims
her self-emancipation, you can understand.
All of our passions,
border on sin
The reasoning gray,
the line often thin
All of our joy,
dances freely between
That Angel above
—and a Devil unseen
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
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