she was as curvy and convex as a teacher can be
with green eyes that glowed like a Venus moon
Bait for enticement, making students eager for advisement
the males congregated as if she was a new queen to the hive
we females were irritated she had stolen our thunder
With night fall, the tiny scraps of humanity
congregated in the alley with stories of day’s adventures
their laughter creating waves in the silent dark.
Barefoot they wandered through scorching tarmac roads
with soiled clothes and hunger in their bellies.
As the cold winds swept past their bare faces
they slid into sleep’s embrace curling in some dark corner.
Somehow this view left me wonder if they will wake up
with the kiss of dawn to see another day’s fruitless platter
or will they bloom like wild weeds from the stony cracks!
Forgotten faces
We only get one summer to remember,
The rest blurs into a haze.
This one had lasted long, and the girl
I lived across the river, a beautiful little stream
that serenely floated down to meet its doom.
September, still summer though I knocked, a neighbour came, said she had gone abroad, a Dane.
Unseemly haste! I smiled, shrugged my shoulders,
women! And I suffered the longest night.
Daybreak brought a chill; dark clouds congregated it rained.
Years later, I was in a bar in Copenhagen, an older woman with
too much makeup
on her haggard face, but those eyes, a memory stirred.
Her hands shook when pouring beer into my glass,
long nights, she said, and swiftly left, and a younger woman
took her place.
I left too,
outside, I looked up and saw
the curtain on the first-floor move;
those eyes.
I had seen them before but refused to remember.
Leaves of the oak trees congregated in clumps of whispering soldiers
A devilment was afoot; the fey felt this and scurried to the meadow.
Someone was dragging a heavy sack into the darkest shadows.
The night shuddered, recognizing the evilness of the scoundrel.
Perfect place to hide a body, most agreed. Those who were brave to look.
Others hid behind stumps and rocks, hoping the culprit’s thirst was sated.
He has been here before, always leaving flesh that turns to putridness.
Finally whitening and stiffening into a stick-like corpse.
The evil doer did not give the trees or the sack a backward glance.
This was his dumping ground; he felt no reverence for it in the least.
A place to leave the shell of the people he hunted and killed.
Colors once blossomed radiantly
Filling the canvas with life and hope
Brightening even the darkest room
With love and prosperity
The ceiling once stood tall and proud
Even in the face of the worst storms
The walls were a profound comfort
In the deepest of desolation
People once congregated here
Filling the room with laughter
As smiles peppered every face
It was but a sense of community
What once was is no more
For here I remain in a crumbling ruin
With a battered faced
And tattered clothes all alone
For the years have not been kind
When days are long but years are fast
The degradation of health takes time
But one day slaps you fast
I call this the cathedral of lamentation
But really it is the confines of my mind
Once a beautiful escape that is now
A prison in which I can never escape
"canon service"
“We follow the rules here”, he said incorruptibly
like he was untainted as holy water
from the incorruptible font,
he had an upward inflection in his voice
at the end of every punctuated point,
delivered like a canon service
his gun and bullets were larger
apparently...he was high, the pulpit lofty
far above the soaped-up sinners
some of us inside were grinning
too much alter wine
he was probably juiced,
then unctuously he shared his fat sermon
as if to convey to the congregated
a good and proper sluicing,
the service was poetic
no hymns in this church
salvation tamborines
to beat the devils out,
some of us inside were grinning
Candide Diderot. ‘23
canon.
cannon.
We all congregated to see the show at the banks of the River Goo.
The jumping gator was schedule to jump high today, at six and two.
Clapping commenced at one forty-six, as many kids will do.
The gator jumped so many feet in the air, he scared more than a few.
We screamed and cried and wailed, there were at least twenty-two.
I was terrified, I had never seen a jumping gator do what this one could do.
I vowed to never return to the watery banks of the River Goo.
The gator scared the beejeezus out of me, and my two cousins too!
The old crow knows my face and does not like me at all
for in the corn filed I threw rocks at him while shouting Caw! Caw! Caw!
Now in the mornings he is perched high into the trees
watching and waiting for me to get out and leave
Once I am outside and walking down the path
he dive bombs me hoping for a cut or a scratch
I try leaving from the side door but his friends to him warn
cawing twice for him to come and together they swarm
So now I wear a monkey mask and use a walking stick
trying to confuse the crows or give them a whack and hit
At last the old crow died his body on the path
another crow spotted me staring at him and screamed in wrath
A mob of crows flew into the trees and on the branches perched
still and quiet they congregated as if they were in church
Than all at once a chorus thunder of shrill calls
aggravated and scolding tones they warned of a death fall
Suddenly the mob of crows launched and disperse
shaking and quivering the branches left none the worse
So now I can walk freely on the path and go where I need to be
but always sensing the stare of angry crows all watching me.
An active adolescent auld adored
before bipolar behavior began,
articulating anger all abhorred,
became Beelzebub’s best boogeyman.
Called clergy congregated, confident,
discerning deep down, devilish divide;
collectively cajoled - concomitant
deemed demonic delivery denied.
Extinguishing exorcism’s effect,
(for fiendish foe, ferocious, fiercely fought)
escaping existentially erect,
found friars’ faith faint-hearted, fairly fraught.
Gregarious, ghost gracious greeting graunts;
hereupon, his holy harassers haunts.
————-
graunt - an archaic spelling of grant
alliteration using the letters of the rhyme pattern: abab cdcd efef gh - a sonnet's rhyme pattern would end in 'gg', but went with a 'gh' couplet, well, because...
silly, struggled with this one - reminds me a little of the Sons of Sceva mentioned in Chapter 19 of Acts...
Thin petals shine like rubies on a radiant plain,
solar flares are congregated in votive candles.
Vowed to gleam, regardless of the morning rain,
ambiguity was minimized by sunrise anvils.
In the gloom, the mist vanishes, executing a sane.
As the roots expand, the sprouts grow in kind,
we will apply a dome to secure it from rainfall.
We admire them when they finally grow up and bind,
perceiving our trees naked, we bear the sprawl,
returning to the ancient oak, they are to remind.
Oh, Moon, relax as you quietly fade out of sight,
an Arc of vivid sapphire hues, an Airy-haven Edenic.
The stars vowed to keep the night sky bright,
nature, your brushwork is vibrant and scenic.
Venus nodded as the moon flickered at her site.
Written: October 08, 2022
THREE STANZA POEM IN QUINTAIN (SICILIAN) Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: L MILTON HANKINS
WOULD YOU dance a fugue behind
the outhouse / under the hands of beautiful
things that bloom, Oh! upon sacred plains where
shepherds go.
That once i loved Jessica the Nun! Within
her silk nun's habit i saw her pendulous breasts
(i prayed to the cult of Virgins then) and stuck
my tongue within her mouth for penance
: God forgave the lesser angels as they are from
a different order. The rest of them congregated
as horny vampires and ate me while I held their
heads below the Church Steeple.
:: 02.20.2022 ::
Remembering simpler times through photography
When most entertainment was unelectrified,
Before the golden age of complex technology
Little was known of intricate human psychology.
When most entertainment was unelectrified,
Families quickly congregated when someone died
Little was known of intricate human psychology,
Behaving ourselves was considered dignified.
Families quickly congregated when someone died
Much time was spent exploring family genealogy,
Behaving ourselves was considered dignified
Afront of the slightest sort demanded an apology.
Much time was spent exploring family genealogy
Only the most affluent could travel across the pond,
Afront of the slightest sort demanded an apology
Now we travel around the world and even beyond.
Only the most affluent could travel across the pond
Before the golden age of complex technology,
Now we travel around the world and even beyond
Remembering simpler times through photography.
Written January 28, 2022
The Soup is ON...
Each day I find a new way,
to see the world differently,
than before.
It is the mantra of a "poet";
to explore,
to push the boundaries,
of normal life,
and chart...
the very edges...
to the land of imagination.
Treasure, penned upon a map,
gathered in the lines of the last breath...
given and received.
A lover passes...
An enemy dies.
A loved one gets news,
time is short,
but the equation is the same,
and the outcome no different.
Dear ones gather to speak their words,
Artists hover over their colors in the box,
working out the many possibilities,
of a single stroke.
Friends collected, and congregated...
They put up their hearts,
and share their inner peace,
and joy with each other
.
They also fear but hold vigilant,
and know they will be supported,
by those like kind in mind.
No different than a carpenter,
a musician or a fool,
perhaps together,
all in one place.
The story,
unique by the teller,
the venue...
the soup,
eaten in a friendly kitchen
of welcome souls.
Moths, butterflies, monkeys and variegated parrots too
Revered her before her reign of being aloof was through.
They congregated in her ginger hair, until there was no more room.
The monkey perched on her left shoulder,
and parrot shared some doom.
“She’s gotten a position elsewhere; to another island she must go.”
The creatures sighed, each feeling more than a bit of woe.
She had been their protector since 1992.
They had no idea now what to do.
I spent six glorious days at the bottom of the ocean
I had turned mermaid, so needed no special equipment.
The seaweed parted and the kelp sung me a melody.
I was the ultimate siren, letting signals lose that sunk ships.
I was a danger, for sure. The sea did not know what had happened.
The sharks tried to threaten me, but I had a knife in my secret pocket.
I filleted them, and ate them, and threw their fins to the water top.
They congregated like broken oars, swirling in a pathetic circle.
Only six days, and yet, they were marvelous. I was all powerful.
A sorcerer had transmogrified me, and I was grateful for the experience.
I'd always wanted to live in a sea; where I danced with beluga whale.
His name was Charlie after the dance, and he loved it! I loved him too.
You can do so much in six days if it includes living your ultimate dream.
Expecting to be an assertive mermaid my whole life this was Nirvana!
If nothing else, I taught the ocean to respect dainty little mermaids.
Mermaids hugged me bye, I had become their queen in only six days.
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