citronella patch
planted to kill mosquitos....
covered in welts
The scents of summer waft through the air
Warm and tantalising
Nothing compares
Soft perfume of coconut suncream
Smells of the salty sea
Distance aroma of fish and chips
Summer scents drifting free
Tropical fruit refreshing smells
Pineapple, mango, passionfruit
Freshly cut cucumber and salad
Summer scents absolute
Freshly mowed grass
The inviting aroma of a barbecue
Evening fragrance of citronella
Summer scents anew
Come into my chamber
I shall color the music low
chill the wine perfect to taste
and for our light
catch stray moonbeams
flirting through the window
place a candle or two
scented with citronella,
to intoxicate us.
The drumbeat in my heart
pounds impatiently,
my fingers a violin rod,
flex slowly for the opening chords.
A hush falls over my senses.
Maestro, your orchestra is ready,
I am your instruments.
You have the power
to possess and captivate me.
At the wave of your hand
we shall play our very own symphony.
@jjote 05032021
Hola mia bella
My darling Citronella
You’re running off like Cinderella
Leaving behind your red umbrella
Heard you might be lookin’ for a fella
I’m handy and do things by the law
Stay a while share my gourmet paella
And for dessert my love song a capella
Don’t run off my darling mia bella
I love you Citronella
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
She stood by the citronella
staring at its jagged leaves
hoping they would grow and carry her away
Rooted in the ground, eyes drawn into its foliage
the caretaker peered over his cigar at her despair
removing the belt from his waist
his "sword" of fury
she called it his sword
for she did not know war
but she knew pain
the sword of fury thrashed down upon her back
she collapsed forward to the ground like a wounded soldier in battle
her face in the brown dust
blood seeping from her nostrils
igniting the soil with red
the caretaker smirked at her pain
she looked up through tear filled eyes
and saw a callous soul
the citronella plant was more righteous than him
in her desperation
she silently begged that the citronella
could lift her away from this hell.
The earth moaned
under the heat. On the porch
wicks drowned in melted
citronella candles
under limp wind chimes.
Withered vegetation drooped.
Finally –
a grey morning mist
gently
moistened cracked soil. The parched land
lifted
its head,
listened
as the wind chimes began to dance.
The thunderclap
announced the resurrection;
the downpour
was redemption.
August 27, 2018
For contest: Wind chimes
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
sabadilla and citronella
frees the starlight for serene lips
8/21/2018
fireworks of July...
lawn chairs line...the twilight sky
...citronella oil
5/12/2018
Single slippered Cinderella
Yesternight’s ball bella
Angelic voices heard a cappella
Followed by lovely clarabella
The dinner served was paella
With a side of shredded mozzarella
While faking a case of salmonella
Cinderella invited her fella
To follow her into the cella
Lingering aroma of citronella
With a pleasant tinge of canella
No secrets told near mimicking corella
Misplacing both shoe and umbrella
[ Clarabella = instrument much like a flute; Cella = a room in a temple; Corella = a cockatoo ]
AP: 3rd place 2025
Submitted on April 28, 2018 for contest ANY RHYMING POEM IN APRIL sponsored by LAURA LOO - RANKED 4TH
Citronella
Her soul glows like a citronella candle flame at night
She doesn’t warm; just keeps the pests away with her toxic bite
She doesn’t need to beat those boys off with a bat
But she still likes to hit them, hear that crack
That wick’s so bright white they go blind when the see her sight
and look straight past her and see nothing of the poison hiding in her light.
But I’m a different type
I’m crazy as electricity
With me at night you can see
But stick a finger in a socket just to see what happens and I can kill you and burn everything you have – it’ll all be gone as hell
Watch out – I’m not your bedtime story in the light of your one night stand; don’t feel me up like you’re mistaking me for braille;
(That’s a rash, actually, so watch it.)
I don’t have veins, I’m all wired instead
You can kill me with a switch, but I will never be dead!
From gnats and moths and things unseen,
I am protected by a screen.
Mosquitoes land and flit away,
Defeated for another day.
Where once a citronella torch
Repelled some pests, my screened-in porch
Works better for, as you'd surmise,
It's quite a lovely compromise...
I'm not indoors nor am I out.
The breeze dispels each shred of doubt;
Yet insects cannot reach my skin
Or that of others, safe within.
They fling themselves against the mesh
In search of juicy human flesh,
But I'm untouched inside my lair
Unless the screen sustains a tear!
It’s dusk in Texas in May
Keeping the June Bugs at bay
Citronella works in a way
Creepy-crawlies more dense in the day
Reading Kafka but only halfway
Focus not with it today
As the candle attracts other array
Wish they’d get out of the way
Reflecting on what I have done
"Metamorphosis" not accession
Possibly carved out more than a pun
For others to enjoy modest fun
Glad not to have invented the gun
Or to have met Attila the Hun
Had my short day in the sun
Did nothing to force me to run
Still have more than a quarter
And weary of being a boarder
Must get out from the eye of my warder
Honestly don’t wish to court her
My first stint here close to the border
And my stay getting shorter and shorter
Too many creatures for sorter
There I will find a "Castle" of High Order
The moonlight beamed on our whitened teeth as we wrote our names in the methylone stars,
Raspberry pixels leaked out of our cheeks as we covered our lungs in black velvet tar.
The wind blew your hair into an endless twirl as we dissolved our tonsil's confectionery swirl,
Red liquorice gloss dropped from your lips as the lime citronella cracked us like whips.
Analogies blend in the amethyst air as we painted our nerves with azure and cerise,
Rainbows fell from a digital sky as we glared at the sun with kaleidoscope eyes.
We poured all our closets into canals, we fed fake horses inside carousels,
We wolfed down our thoughts with our knives and our forks and washed it all down with
champagne.
Circles and squares drift out of your mouth as I turn to a voiceless skeleton,
Fingernails ran from my candy-coat smile as i breathe beside hollow mannequins.
Horizons slid from out of our sleeves, we're pasting sunsets behind forest trees,
We've cut down the curtains, we've locked all the doors, and now it's time to swallow the keys.
it is circulated deep into the soil
that you’ve wore the dress of paraffin
in the multidimensional wind of the winter
the cash-memo of the recently purchased
gold-bangles
would reside for some time more
then all the pregnant women
would assemble in the river-ghat
to meditate on the paddy-blossoms
all diamonds and clubs
would overcome their insomnia
through this arrangements
the crushing-news of fostering
flows
this dilution is well-known
the river-ripple of the air
after reading the sun
would keep some extension of dahlia
on its palms
in an unwritten evening
the demi-god-birth of the fire-flies
would break
their easy dead bodies
by the instigation of the surges
would ring … and ring… and ring
and spread cheerfulness
the elderly rain-tree comes to spray anti-biotic
on the spoilt top-branch of the young lad
covered with citronella
Beneath the comforter curled, fetal, praying;
within the sacred orange of stucco robed walls,
students of Buddhism huddled kitten like laying;
while sound ricochets rattles down the red tile halls.
Liberty shakes the panes, lights the cobalt sky.
Sirens upon the rubble of imperial dreams, strew refuse, ply.
Primary colored prayer flags wave brazenly as the riots ooze.
Saffron incense mixes with the poison of citronella smoke loose.
The pallets pon planks shake novitiates like dies in a rattle.
Outside, down alleys, through flowered vines; Nepali’s battle.
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