In a star-crushed night
something rammed the side of my flanks
woke to an impish leak
trying to suckle the life out of me.
Then there was a black water silence.
It's not like bad karma to suddenly drift away,
so beneath my leaking float
the rammer will probably stay.
Early morning was spent bailing and patching
luring the silver shoals of hope within range
bailing and patching
nibbling and napping
obsessing
prodding the sharkness away-
Quiet day
no breeze-not even one little wave
a hot brain day
missing my chatty gull friend today,
maybe I was supposed to be its sacrifice.
Launched the final flare at a fancy yacht mirage
filled with cheap bikinis and plush caviar-
I rolled over the dream breakers, into the yellow morning
Quite late for work.
me
Ever
Blamed,
Belittled
You're nothing
The reason for our woes
Something wrong with you
Failure of the family
Needs help
Pathetic
me
All
Voices
Long silent
Still deafen
Crushing
Small
me
Yet
In the pain
Hides a choice
Different
A path, to listen
A voice
Yes
ME.
Bingo, my most loyal pup,
she popped up whenever my mood was down,
to mop up the grief in my silence
with a gulp of my tears seasoned with brine.
Wherever my feet led, she trotted,
night and day, she trailed my shadow.
Her lids never closed till she heard my snore
and up in a flash at my first morning yawn.
One day she followed me to school—
we both planned it without my Mum's consent,
I walked ahead, she darted in front and back of me—
and everywhere around me with joy.
First time crossing the expressway,
she roamed the yard till the watchman chased her out,
we waved goodbye—her final one—
before a car crushed her on the way back home.
Cyclists outrunning the approaching cyclone
Tour de France quickly captures everyone’s attention
Extra incentive to pedal faster
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Bothersome
The black kitten on my desks bookshelf
In my poetry meditation is small
Only as the poem
Undiscovered
And without
To push the book down
We will not
Only because you stranded me here
All the writing requests
Is simple socks
And travelling coffee's
Yet spectacles bets
Vetting my mystery netting
Tara took me to school
To find her bonnet
Tara Gendron and Kevin
Go to piano
Read Rupi
Rupi
Tic of knock
As sitting drop
In road tin say
Melting kettle lay
Hat and pat
Greatly treasure sap
Long in ago
Settle bets with go
Stepping Foot
The young limb
Clicks out of water
Grasping the dreary weather
Porcupine painful painting it's sun
The mirror of moon
Conquers the files sands
Landing in return of lust
Teaching the fawning shame
Wood plucking a feathers painting
The romance of wind and winter
Iceberg and seal
Feather behind harp
The foot eats the porcelain fingers
Building the painful yawn
Of concerts
The birds chirp invented from a voided life
Alone ousted without sound
Haunting of meaning
The flying fortress is found
To sound is sound and bound by ground
The harpsichord is hidden
In waters snap
The world is not made for dreamers, creatives, artists
those who are guided by emotions and passion
so many how have talent crushed
by the systems instead of nurtured
so few can make it
for there dreams crushed
Though craving their sweet choc chip pieces
I’m boycotting candy by Meeses
I loathe, nay abhor
This global trade war
Trump's tariffs – what a crock of faeces!
I wish I could've been told,
That you're very cold.
I wish you knew,
I'm hurting because of you.
You could have told me to stop,
Maybe I wouldn't have to sob.
We could've tried to cope,
You just took the rope.
You're very selfish, you know,
You could've asked, maybe you wouldn't be below.
I may not love you like before,
Perhaps we could have been more.
You were a masterpiece of art,
The only one who took my heart.
You could've said you were broken inside,
You took my heart and died.
The softness of night, crushed
in morn's vice
having lingered too long
before dawn
Petals falling
from unseeded bud
opened by a midnight sun
sparkling it to love
then vanishing
to return on its course
in candle lights
stolen star to star
unmindful
of ice pellets
tearing at the calyx
teardrops
frozen in the throat
lacerating heart
throbbing to harden
like winter in silence.
February weeps
meet a new face
lights start dancing
in the eyes
glances caressing
two hearts
whispering to each other
sweetness
crushed grape
turns to wine
tinting two goblets
crimson!
Eternal seed
buds new life
flame of God's
everlasting light
running through veins
of two hearts
saying to each other: Yes
I love you
when trees are crushed,
papers forms.
a beacon of knowledge,
but also the end of a lively plant.
...
The windfalls
have been trod and gnawed upon.
A sweet sludge of pith
is spread across a ripe carpet
of cider scented soil.
Here in late autumn,
an amber painted orchard
is the heady mulch of a waning sunlight.
The unburdened branches,
now are open spaces, tunnels,
for the tangy tongues of drinking winds.
Blight tinted apples dwindle
within mossy cups of time,
still deliciously edible
for the ever-hungry earth.
In a game of love, shadows loom,
A crush that turns my heart to gloom.
I walk a path of silent pain,
Where love's sweet whispers turn to rain.
In dreams, your smile lights the way,
But reality brings a disarray.
A crush, a weight upon my chest,
Love's bitter game, a harsh jest.
Your smile, a ray in the dark,
Yet it conceals a painful spark.
In this dance, I'm just a pawn,
Crushed by love that lingers on.
Each beat, a melody of sorrow,
Love's song with a bitter tomorrow.
In your presence, a storm takes flight,
Leaving shattered dreams in the night.
Oh, unreturned, love's bitter taste,
A silent scream, a soul laid to waste.
In shadows deep, my heart does cry,
A wounded love that won't say goodbye.
So here I stand, love's chance denied,
A heart shattered, feelings set aside.
A crush, a storm that won't depart,
Love's painful symphony, crushing my heart.
On the horizon's thin red line is the setting sun
where we walk the shoreline of crushed shells and sand
hand in hand
words are spoken softly, hearts softly beating
Ocean waves curling to shore
seabirds diving into the water, crying out
as ocean breezes envelop our skin all the more
The evening's colors are red and purple
The sunlight fades, and stars appear
as though a curtain is pulled back
revealing a full moon rising that seems so near
Its golden rays splayed across the incoming tide
leaving bursts of light on the tops of waves
before they subside
We turn, our eyes melting together
in a silent understanding
as waves now thin wrap around our feet
welcoming romance, on a moonlit shore
where its glow was landing
Where the sun has set on this night we share
as hearts welcome a starry night above
and our lungs breathe in the salt air
wrapped in the arms of love
What has God in me crushed?
Hunger to have things rushed!
Which words of man God hushed?
Ones that made faces flushed,
Where could God have gains slashed?
In account money stashed!
How has He some men thrashed?
When their speeding cars crashed!
Men whom God never lashed:
Those who had promptly blushed.
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