The Tower was engineered
by Monsieur Eiffel in Paris
the Wheel was favoured
by Mr. Ferris
Michelangelo in Rome
contributed St. Peter's Basilica dome
Eddystone Lighthouse the first
was constructed by Winstanley and
in St. Paul's Cathedral
Sir Christopher Wren had a hand
the seated Thinker
was carved out by Auguste Rodin
the Taj Mahal (Mumtaz') tomb
commissioned by Shah Jahan
all roads lead to the Colosseum
started by Emperor Vespasian
Borglum executed Mount Rushmore
while Hadrian gave us the Wall
and Ferdinand de Lesseps
secured the Suez Canal
in Byzantine Constantinople
Justinian I built the Hagia Sophia
in Italy Bonanno Pisano began
the (later leaning) Tower of Pisa
the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafre
inspired the Sphinx
but in Scotland who designed
the Musselburgh (golf) Links
follow the poolside shadows
Venus of Delphi
daughter of bitter waves
peek through the peephole
of my glaucous thorax
open your byzantine eyes and
spurn your locomotor ataxia
one glance at our vitreous hands
– a sight for blind sore eyes
one brush of our riveted lips
– gone astray in malformations
one ponderous confession later
– immaterial as a shadow of the lash
let the weeping corpuscles lie
swarm and jostle in the grotto
rattle and blather away our days
I’ll wait for your recriminations
fall asunder under your touch
fastidious in my entomology
let the bouquet glide downstream
the scytheman is still in his kingdom
then we rejoice in endless daze
the lingering beaten with bravura
Star of the Sea, dolorous and Byzantine,
throw your royal blue cloak over me,
She who weeps, La Llorona in Kahlo’s Casa Azul, paint my heart
gold under a prehistoric cobalt blue vault of heaven,
The blue! The blue! I am spellbound by the blue!
Lapis and lavender blues of a shining Limoges Mary
And lotuses on faded old Amarna tiles whisper me tales
binding me to the secrecy of an ethereal blue rose,
Azure tropical waves caress a shore strewn with white coral,
Lady Isis, come into a sea-turtle guided dream;
Sky blue rays and fiery blue flames, walk with me and scribe my
Destiny on your crystalline turquoise tablets in etheric Gothic,
Turn me into pure sapphire light,
I am swooning into the soothing blue of every iris and cornflower,
The strange bird that had been singing all along in my heart --
it is blue
my sea
it belongs to me
and my boat
i float
clarity of sealife
wee bit of strife
this byzantine ocean
crystalline of emotion
sand slips
as hourglass scripts
i love the tug
time’s tender hug
riveting
the boat pivoting
as I change roles
and slip into soles
souls of the long moon
in sway and swoon
what’s underneath
the soulful wreath
victory, how long is life
what portion of me, a wife
a mother, a sister, an other
eventually death will smother
but for now I rock the boat
tip it over and float
I belong to the sea
It belongs to me
Ghost
Gothic
Eidolon,
Sovereign king
Tears begin flowing.
Byzantine abandoned.
The cloaked statue sits and waits.
The tourist lifts her head and sighs.
Phantom’s pain she feels his suffering.
Hand on her forehead nods from side to side.
Labyrinthine journey stirs stark madness.
Intruders’ rash and reckless taunting
Grey-sky midst morning mystifies.
Glowing - white - apparition
Clicks, flashes, from tourists.
Take focus of the
Timeless undead
Cloaked statue
Haunting
Ghost
the light breeze
cooled the morning sun
daytrip Venice
had begun
vantage views
from a vaporetto
inch-by-inch
the skyline began to grow
St Marks cameinto view
etched on a sky so blue
tourist scrambled
from the boat
sensory feelings inside emote
ambling along piazzas wide
campanile renaissance
a city's pride
byzantine palaces bridge of sighs
facias painted
in pastel dyes
gothic churches candles ablaze
carvings to draw the gaze
depicted ceilings vivant tableau
golden bedecked reredos
pizza italiano barolo red wine
relax chat then dine
'neath parasoled
courtyard shade
as gondaliers anchor
to quayside arcade
homward along canal grande
below balconies
overhanging sun-tanned
houses emulsioned terracotta bold
kaleidoscopic memories
made manifold
Standing by the colosseum
Is the time of the last persecution
When the houses of Caesar
call out for revenge
Byzantine highways have lost their sheen
thwarted tall ships fall
and trumpets sound
relics of soldiers roam
you walk to your fate alone
Some
(one)(thing)(where)
seething:sighing:spying
scatteringshatteringsputteringstammering
spiral-
i
n
g
A.
A life.
A lifeless life.
A zero (sum) life.
A Zero Man
submerged in Plutonian dust
sliding on the ice of nullification
slipping onto icy swords
secreting icy words
scrambling in dicey discord
loitering in a byzantine empire
where benighted beasts
beat the drums & run the clocks
(L(d)I(e)F(a)E(t)(h))
it's really
simply insane &/or insanely simple:
there's sense
in nonsense
noise
in silent signals
music
in soundless solitude
(D(l)E(i)A(f)T(e)H)
Absolute Zero
will perform
the last waltz
revealing
>>>>>00000
When I was English I found a few secrets,
Reasons why we held ourselves so high,
Maturity and experience was found in age,
So the look surpassed the phase,
The younger men took to the looks and once said,
You're either forced to be old one day,
Or hold back today on what you do just say,
It was a flawless design of course to contentment,
However they had learned in history as it drew concern to what's missing,
Commanding the masses required pieces no longer learned,
Men who held themselves to standards were vigorously proved to have earned,
There was men that said controlling every aspect of them even within,
Draws respect from people who do not make sense as a reproductive win,
So they did just that,
They redesigned everything inside to match where they are at,
They never let their inner selves make judgment that seemed immoral,
Eating bones of animals that they dreamed of the meat only in total,
It was a religion all on its own,
Control the demons inside or they will disown.
Much serious thought should be given
to the naming of them,
for would we call a Byzantine Emperor
Tiddles, Blackie or Patches,
would we name an Egyptian Pharaoh,
Ginger, Tiger, Tom, or Peanut?
Cat’s are royalty, no less noble
than the Great Charlemagne -
and they know it,
thus it is most essential
that we get the little buggers neutered.
~~~~~~~~~
a nod to T.S. Eliot
I've never twitted on Tweeter
nor am I an Instagrammarian
I've searched on Goggle
but cannot find MyFace on the interweb
I ask "how do I find the North Star?"
and get 4,460,000,000 hits, mostly ads
for an ice cream bar called "The Big Dipper"
so I go make some toast and eat lunch
at least I can work a toaster
Kids think I was born in the Jurassic era
believing my first job was swabbing the deck
on a Byzantine sailing ship
for I speak of phones connected to the wall
and TV sets with 4 channels and cars that got 8 mpg
I don't know url's from www's, or http's from html's
my mobile phone always auttocronects my speeling
and cyber censors block my search for 'penal colonies'
I cannot find the mute button on Zoom
so my belch might make it into the meeting minutes
my internet takes regular coffee breaks
and the only tweeting is the birds outside my window
so I sit at my screen watching dots chase themselves in a circle
trying not to get toast crumbs
on my high tech keyboard
Written 16 Mar 2022
Bosporus
Bosporus 1956, the old tanker where I was a galley boy
had anchored waited for orders to proceed into the black sea.
A rowing boat came alongside they were selling fez
the latest fad among us seamen.
They also sold sweet liqueurs which I drank, got drunk and sick
for the first time in my life; I was 15teen.
In the old days, you had to grow up fast and learn to howl with the dogs.
The winter weather was sunny I was awed by the Byzantine mystic
like a fairytale story. I bought the fez.
The last time I was in Istanbul -30 years later- on a ship where I was a cook.
my fall from officer grade had been painful and political.
in Istanbul going back to the ship I was followed by a back of dogs begging for food raided the galley
they knew I was a generous cook
A magic lump of silver with a Byzantine flower.
Planted on your chest a long time ago.
Awakened by the magic of our 555 kisses,
the silver key became.
Which opens the door to dreams of parallel
lives.
*
Intoxicated, in a crystal boat,
we glide down the green waters of the
mystical river.
You lie on my shoulder and kiss my cheek.
Opium magic voices dripping from juicy lips.
You describe the beauty of our unborn son.
Below is the depth of dreamy water.
*
I stared at the bright emerald tower in the
distance.
Nocturne above Miscatonic castle whispers.
It feeding hope of a trapped past.
And the life of our love without a decade's
sleep.
*
Our hands are tightly knit.
At the doorstep of the Hall of True Love.
Echoes of our steps in consciousness.
As these guardians dragons eat out of your
hand.
*
The sages rushing through the ancient
books.
Around a massive bowl of jade on the
volcanic rock feet.
Inside, our hearts are embraced.
Soaked by magical wine.
--------
the light breeze
cooled the morning sun
daytrip Venice
had begun
vantage views
from a vaporetto
inch-by-inch
the skyline began to grow
St Marks cameinto view
etched on a sky so blue
tourist scrambled
from the boat
sensory feelings inside emote
ambling along piazzas wide
campanile renaissance
a city's pride
byzantine palaces bridge of sighs
facias painted
in pastel dyes
gothic churches candles ablaze
carvings to draw the gaze
depicted ceilings vivant tableau
golden bedecked reredos
pizza italiano barolo red wine
relax chat then dine
'neath parasoled
courtyard shade
as gondaliers anchor
to quayside arcade
homward along canal grande
below balconies
overhanging sun-tanned
houses emulsioned terracotta bold
kaleidoscopic memories
made manifold
Shapes
Square...the boring, the shy type, yet, not at all dumb,
Circle...keep 'in' your chum and keep 'out' the ho-hum,
Rectangle...just a longer square, scrawny, and skeletal,
Oval...flattened circle, straight, or not, sexually pivotal,
Triangle...life: eat, sleep and sex, tiresome instrument,
Heart...the source that pumps blood, passion stimulant,
Octagon...a square want to be well-rounded, stop sign,
Crescent...fertility, Osman dreamt the end of Byzantine,
Cross...Christian symbol, missed greatness o'er stupidy,
Diamond...crystal, brilliant, to keep with much difficulty.
2021 February 21
*2nd Place*
List With A Twist
~~charles messina
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