the first glimmers of morning
are reflected on the lake in Jaipur
temple dancers-devadasi
in a tangle of hands and long-haired shadows
welcome the new day like cobras...
while women on the shore (blow after blow)
are pounding their laundry –
they want to punish life…
LIFE which is neither bad nor good
just flows like water…
I'm a gnarly pine tree. Twisted! Stunted!
A melody-filled flute once, I'm mute now!
With nightmares of winter, I am haunted.
Twigs with dry leaves I see in every bough.
My floral gardens are grazed by cattle.
Cobras crawl into my wrecked house debris.
Why do I seem to lose my inner battle?
Why, often, from myself do I try to flee?
I still see tall mountains in the distance.
The Milky Way shines in all its brightness.
Souls undergo a renewed existence.
Nature seems to tend toward boundlessness.
My movements are moments of reflection
As my pilgrimage is towards perfection...
Alphabetic yellows but you would melt my hairs should haze
The dim contour leasing the pounding in my breast
Would a war by all fragile ward fragility to lick your smoke at the corners
Of your mouth to which then French and frenzy make an ocean wider
Green, green is the blackest grass of long twisting cobras told unknown
Gallant as a child holding on to frays of reeds and a bite of snow
Nothing contained in the deaf phlegm of white light
The skill of work in the hot bloods of the thickness imagined
Weaving in the wives room and again to the lantern
To rub the brass and alleviate the dead petals in conquest by the fresh
The very tongue rials twisted as wires chill the season
Unlikely arrivals of the two by shy flaunt
Then veering is the roads aghast by ghastly refuse
Some do become lovers neath the sun ware the moon
But do others weigh the scale of surmise
I saw the rattle snakes, cobras and anacondas
slithering in-between my toes but not of them bit but off of my flesh or bite me at all
the field of Green was greener then I thought It would be more fresher and safe
then I thought I would be.
I saw fresh fruit dangling of trees off like crystal diamond chandeliers in ball rooms of fancy mansions and restaurants
Big, glossy fruits, luring me in to take a taste
Mangoes, coconuts, apples and oranges with tangerines too
watering in my mouth for the burning desire to eat them all
I opened my mouth with hunger, wondering in my drifting thoughts where I would go next
I know I was free and the snakes vanished, what now?
I will have a caged hoatzin for sure
Hilarious that he’ll smell like manure
A tube of hummingbird acrobats
Barn swallows and wrens to amuse my cats
Komodo dragon with his friend mr gecko
Their cave so large, there might be an echo
Saltwater crocodiles and black cobras too
I am building my own personal zoo
A grizzly bear just awakened from his dream
A couple of deer captured as they drank from a stream
I will make their environments friendly and warm
When the honey bees hear, to us they will swarm.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my enemy gave to me
Twelve upset tummies gurgling
Eleven spoiled milk cartons curdling
Ten missed opportunities to achieve
Nine judges who refused my reprieve
Eight frustrations and barriers
Seven Covid-19 carriers
Six casseroles with a bad smell
Five empty packs of Pall Mall
Four creepy sashes
Three worn out lashes
Two cobras who attacked me,
And a grizzly bear in a honey tree.
you cannot be a snake, mommy said
so I slithered under the dresser
proving that I could
what kind of snake would you be? daddy asked
he likes to humor me,
he is better at this than mommy
I am a cobra, I said, with a hiss
a slithering, sloppy, sneaky, snarling cobra
I added the alliteration so I could exaggerate their s sounds.
my grandmother said “let her be a snake”.
“A cobra,” I corrected her.
she is okay with being corrected.
“I do not like it,” said Mommy.
that made it even more exciting and fun.
Cobras like to consternate, confuse and confound.
I slithered away seeking a tasty mouse.
thrilled with my new role.
The paths of my mission would be rows of roses, I thought.
To my shock, in tipsy turvy twists and turns, I got tossed
Didn't I desire to know the known to know the unknown?
Each wish of mine, like worn-out shoes of a nomad, got torn.
The moon of joy in my gains should have been at the zenith.
Struggles, like palms, tall-grow. Bliss, like dried grass, peeps from beneath.
Like iron-rods in saline waters getting eroded
The weakness of my will, like pumpkin buds, is unfolded.
Virtues, as fallen scaffoldings, are disintegrated.
Absurdity, like the blood red moon, is reiterated.
My vigour, before my puniness, like a dewdrop, fades.
Apprehension and anxiety, like gems, I adorn.
Pessimism lifts its head like boom-slang cobras from burrows.
Coffins and graves compose knells. The deceased have no repose.
Death and decay have become the blessed norm of the day.
Despair and disappointment, like thorns, pierce through every way.
Self-confidence is erased like mud paths during monsoons.
Will the Times, like the rainbow chromas, bring multihued boons?
Quote:""One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." - Louis Armstrong
In my mind, depths transcend,
Music weaves, divine blend,
Sorrow, hope, intertwined,
depths transcend, In my mind.
Melodies seal, vibrant retreat,
Pain subsides, miseries fleet,
Resonating unique feels,
Vibrant retreat, melodies seal.
Music’s power, crystal clear, tears cascade,
Glass shatters, sound's brigade,
Cobras tamed, deer draw near,
Tears cascade, Music’s power, crystal clear
Uniting souls, music’s grace, solace found,
Love in notes, words unbound.
Waves serenade, love's space,
Solace found, Uniting souls, music’s grace.
Indonesia Pearl, queen of the Pink Rose Frogs
Intimidated all the rest of us including barnyard hogs.
She had a trusty spear and a poison blow gun too.
She would annihilate armies of others, before she was through.
She was a stealthy fighter, and marvelous at camouflage.
She would be upon you before you could flinch, scream or dodge.
She hung out in the Amazon, scaring cobras and alligators too.
She had a ruthless streak, there was nothing she would never do.
Indonesia Pearl, queen of the Pink Rose Frogs
Intimidated all the rest of us including barnyard hogs.
She had a trusty spear and a poison blow gun too.
She would annihilate armies of others, before she was through.
She was a stealthy fighter, and marvelous at camouflage.
She would be upon you before you could flinch, scream or dodge.
She hung out in the Amazon, scaring cobras and alligators too.
She had a ruthless streak, there was nothing she would never do.
heat hurls haunt heartbeats
parched earth's cracked mouth is in plea ---
cobras on frog-hunt
Fear, anxiety, and agony fill my heart.
Monsters, ghosts, beasts, and vampires occupy the scene.
Through terrifying events, minds get torn apart.
Blood-spattered sanguinary battle games are seen
Why should such heart-attacking, drastic dreams arise?
Don't God and his angels protect me in my sleep?
Why should I witness murder, bloodshed, and loud cries?
Why should, on my bed, scorpions and cobras creep?
As nature has, for everything, an objective
My nightmares occur for a set reason as well.
As a treatment, psychically renovative
Hasn't Nightmare got its curing catharsis spell?
Though, as with an unexpected death, unrest spreads,
Some warning, like a knell, rings within my shrine's core.
'Beware!', a sign alerts me to liable threats.
With conscious footsteps, my existence, I restore...
African watering hole is a spiritually sacred spot
there is an understood truce when the animals appear
ancestral ancient spirits keep watch and peace
over cranes, zebras, tigers, gulls and giraffes
tigers, tigers, cobras and mosquitoes are welcome
none would dare tear apart an animal here or give them malaria
father lion is watching as is mother ape and brother python
African watering hole is a spiritually sacred spot
Across great plains, in rich soil valleys,
beneath beautiful pastel painted skies,
sunflowers dance like amber cobras.
On graceful stems they sway to refrains
of morning's song, a rhapsody on the wind.
12/4/2022
Bitesize Poem No56 Poetry
A Line Gauthier sponsored contest
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