'Tis another sunrise, bright and yellow.
Yet the world that holds me feels so hollow.
My ev'ry breath is but an empty cask.
Yet ev'ry step I take bears a full flask.
Ev'ry thought that I hold makes the ground quake.
Ev'ry conviction makes the wide sky break.
The path I chose remained a cracked tankard.
Yet my journey is a brimming tankard.
All certainty dissolved, and naught remains.
Each thought gives birth to thought in endless chains.
My life is but a bottle with no hole.
I am the sot who wholly lacks control.
Who am I now to stay here, bound in doubt?
To drink, to think—and still to go without?
Touched the sky—
this blue isn't mine.
The sea, the greens,
the grass, the bees,
the mighty trees.
Every color touched one life.
Then why does mine deceive the eye?
Borrowing shades from every passing thing
Could that be why
I sit alone in white light?
The palette holds a thousand colors,
yet none can paint me.
It's always what meets the eye.
The palette never seemed mine.
Escapism
Not possible
Now, and half a
Lifetime over.
Your hauntings
Cannot be eradicated
Until I get what
I want.
Eyes brown,
Watered down.
As you continue
to hide from me.
Tail between
your legs, something
I've seen before.
Mirroring you
is a misguided
priority until
I release you.
I refuse to
Undo this knot
And your tongue
tied and twisted
I continue this
futile quest
for restoration.
Go ahead and be yourself.
Some will call it a midlife crisis.
Hopefully it's just a phase.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Why the shrill yelping?
Must you vocalize so much?
Oh... there’s cactus where?
We are just energy they say,
I don't see it that way,
It cannot be all that matters to Him on this earth He has made,
There is so much more than just energy involved,
Yes, it plays a part, but that can't be all,
We have an all loving God of purpose who made all elements to create,
If we were just energy do you honestly think he would have gone out of His way?,
Putting so much love and detail into everything on this earth,
If it all just boiled down to energy then please tell me what's its worth?,
If in the end... that's all we become?,
It doesn't make sense... when it's only part of it all,
How to cope with shams without unveiling their pretences
As their masks of honesty don’t hide their real faces?
They keep feigning virtue and innocence.
But their humbug can’t gain our credence.
They can easily stab us in the back.
And change everything from white to black.
To push us out of the track
And put us on the rack.
Aims are achieved through conspiracy.
Promises are broken through inconstancy.
All is insincerity, deceit and fallacy.
Shame on fakes, symbols of hypocrisy!
251.
Prayer When Facing a Crisis
Oh Father God, I am facing a crisis
Help me be patient with this
Be with me please
Oh Jesus Christ, I am facing a crisis
Help me overcome this
Be with me please
Oh Holy Spirit, I am facing a crisis
Help me learn from this
Be with me please!
-01/27/2014
(Dumarao)
*My Prayer Poems Collection
A beautiful new world of lifelong learners!
Healthcare for all,
Children reading books,
Lifelong exploration
At university,
Or online!
Healing those in need.
Learning the way! (Whoa!)
We're doing all we can to make life better,
Such as writing Congress a letter.
We strive to do what's honest and right,
Giving kids scholarships to improve their lives!
(Hey!)
Everyone needs free access to learning,
Hardcover books and ebooks for knowing
What we need to do, help each other,
Is provide basic needs.
An educated populace together
In this big, blue, beautiful world! (Whoa!)
Medicine and healthcare for all.
Help your brother: help your sister.
In a world where everyone's learning.
Achieving.
Living.
Loving.
Healthy food feeds bright minds!
Healthy people love learnin'!
Generosity and kindness abound
In the USA! (Whoa!)
(Hey!) (Whoa!)
I wanna go home
I wanna stay at the fanciest spots in Islamabad,
go to the mountain tops of Kashmir,
drive in the dusk of the busy roads in Karachi,
drink from the rivers of Hunza valley,
shop in the bustling markets of Multan,
cross the silk road and visit the grape fields of Jalalabad,
walk up and down the green hills of Jhelum,
run through the rice fields of Sindh.
I wanna go home.
He messed up and created his crisis,
he should have foreseen the outcome.
In his delusion he did not think through
that no one would be around to save him.
AP: 2nd place 2026
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The reindeer folded their hooves in protest
demanding no more rooftop dashes,
no hauling toys in winter’s blustery blast.
Picket signs read: No More Sleigh!
Dasher, his loyal and faithful reindeer servant,
even burned his harness! What should Santa do?
A desperate Santa, opened ZipRecruiter with a click~
Urgent: Sleigh Team, No Flight Experience Okay.
The squirrels showed up with acorn résumés,
gnawing the reins and forgetting the route.
Team Squirrel was speedy, but slightly unkempt,
cheek pouches bulging with ill-gotten tempt.
They zigzagged the skyline, dropping acorns like coal.
Even Santa’s sleigh wobbled left, then right~
At dawn, the squirrels parked crooked on a power line,
cheeks stuffed with stolen candy canes, utterly divine.
Am I writing about me
Am I writing about you
Settled thoughts flee
Restless thoughts askew
Every line I try to claim
Refuses to ring true
Whispers of your name
Blur the lines of who is who
Ink betrays my intent
Revealing what I rue
A heart completely spent
Still trying to break through
She kept walking—until emotions burst.
Weeping, she cried out in a public space,
Where no one cared enough to stop or see
The woman breaking at the corner of the road.
In her sobs, a memory returned:
A voice, a message—
New beginnings,
And a man who stood like a torch of light
In the dim glow of night.
But greed mocked her,
And laughter echoed in that cruel place—
A dungeon of fire.
Still, God sent a kind-hearted rescuer.
She was hungry, tired, and pale,
On the edge of vanishing into the day.
No food, no coin,
Just emptiness and dry hope
Wishing to leave,
To be anywhere else but there.
To connect in the world of paradise
Where in that place could she find?
Where in that place she was betrayed
Where in that place, she begged for kindness.
It's a truth that she will bring
And the hope and courage in her heart that will forever be treasured until she finds a place that she can call "home".
in one dream this poet saw a horrific scene
where i was sitting on top of the house
and yet water had reached that high
submerging everything in its way
in the same dream,
i saw a child getting washed away
while his mother screaming for help, ready to jump
to rescue but is held back by others
this poet tried to jump
but my hands were tied in a chain
as i helplessly watched with tears in my eyes
i saw the child drown to the river bed
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