The Stumble and Rise
There once lived a colleague called James,
Lean, strolling in crowd without shame,
He tripped on a crack
Fell flat on his back
Then bounced up and said, "It`s a game!"
I stumbled straight down by surprise,
To laughter and widening eyes-
But I jumped to my feet,
Made the misstep a beat
and waltzed as the crowd cheered my rise.
Alone lost in a crowd
bold silence overpowers the roar of traffic
~ the world perseveres without hesitation
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 1st place 2025
for braver hearts that dreamt of me
accept my dearest sympathy
taken in a silent rapture
and not wont to admit capture
by my mouth would raise a scandal
but flamed jowls betray my candle
each face, yours alone in a crowd,
and yet your kiss shall make me proud
Alone in a Crowd
Alone in a crowd at the shore
With sea of faces in my fore,
The roaring silence is so loud
For soft noise I yearn in the crowd;
A heavy lightness sways my mind
As awakened dreams I can find,
Yet bitter sweetness laps my tongue
As loud hollow music is sung.
Fallen leaves knuckled
below eddies float again
swiftly shimmering.
Rain withers with gray
asphalt rising. Curbs cement
puddles running still.
Sunlit raindrops stop
hissing at guttural moans
tickling us for laughs.
I stand all alone in the crowd.
They cheer you, I silently boo.
Would they all cheer if they knew
Of my love/hate feelings for you?
I loved you with all of my heart,
But then my heaven turned to hell.
And still it hurts as I recall
That day your greeting was, “Farewell
Oxymoron poetry contest
Sponsor Nette Onclaud
3rd September 2025
There she was all by her lonesome
Forty-thousand people were there
Sitting in the stands by herself
She got hit with a foul baseball
They carried her on a stretcher
So that they can attend to her
As they approached the exit door
She got hit by another ball
Have you ever been in a crowd,
feeling alone, invisible,
with thoughts an organized big mess.
Been with someone and felt alone,
in a loud deafening silence.
Felt painfully beautiful and,
so perfect yet so imperfect,
utterly alone in the crowd.
Around him is a multitude
of people who appear to be
with partners, friends or family.
Excited smiles display their mood.
He drifts along, solitary.
Among that throng, a ghost is he
whose dead wife’s face he can’t unsee.
Forlornness he cannot bury.
Alone in a crowd, together
with you, can be awfully good.
I am a cheerful pessimist
and so clearly misunderstood.
Eloquent silence, no dull roar
and some festive tranquility;
you are my magic realism-
my comfortable misery.
He, always alone in a crowd
she, always the centre of it;
they always arrived together
then part, he so quick disavowed
she traipsed to the men, in a flit;
he ever held on a tether.
And when they withdrew, he and she
there was no longer two, but three.
Morning, big city location,
a Japanese subway station...
a single gaijin (foreigner)
all by himself, in a corner,
and yet surrounded on all sides...
the wave of humanity rides...
People stare, with mute undertones.
No wonder he feels so alone.
When you reach the youth of old age,
Don't let actions go inactive.
Though life's compact, take space for you.
Repent not; repair, if you can
Face all !But don't deface your smile
Stop blaming but start accepting
Age is a number; keep engaged
Mix up and wipe out loneliness.
Place: 3rd
Striding through the carnival crowd,
a man alone, not seen or heard,
watching folks, boisterous and loud,
I'm happy not saying a word.
Life is a carnival, they say.
In the bustling throng, on my own,
strangely, I'm more than just okay -
I feel comfortable, alone.
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