they chain you up
strip you down
the lights never go off—
just the screams shift
to new throats.
the guards play blind,
or worse, they bet
on who breaks first.
some poor bastard
bleeds in the shower
and another one
learns not to cry too loud.
this place doesn’t correct—
it cultivates.
grows men like tumors
full of rage,
their names erased,
but not their pain.
you let them rot
in filth and fire,
then send them home—
like matchsticks
snapped and ready to burn,
now all they want is revenge.
The decadence of one hundred –
maybe one thousand –
hands
and running mouths.
Wynorrific red-yellow cultivates
my brain with torpor;
when
did the ground shake?
Oh solace, it is the only time
I leave the human
eye;
my empyrean wanting.
Something helps not to
desire an awakening;
practice,
when you’ve never asked for one.
The circus doctor’s say,
you have paramnesia.
Lies;
the audience is never fake.
I know, I should know,
I see it every night;
they
all laugh at the makeup.
If I were to remove it,
would they laugh at my
face
too? I don’t want to recall.
This job, sham title, the
whole charade, it comes with a
costume,
red and yellow; it comes with the tent.
grace and gentleness
deep connection to nature
my deer spirit guide
her tranquility
navigates life’s challenges
cultivates my peace
grief
within
cultivates
necrotic seeds
beneath harrowing wastelands battling faith
whispering whimsical tunes of mourning
midst healing rays
of natures
shining
hope
soar
above
star-studded
illusions of
deceiving minds adorned in gilded lies
veiled in halcyon sunsets drizzling tears
free flowing as
ill fated
remnants
burnt
Cozy crimson sky highlighted
Clouds, in corners, gold ignited
Cranes and cuckoos fly exited
Wherefrom is this ringdove?
Compassion in thoughts, words, and deeds
Complying with kind nature's needs
Cosmos cultivates complex seeds...
Is there, midst, a foxglove?
Calmness carves the clandestine cores
Cardinals commence carefree tours
Calcites and corals hug in scores
Cool breeze is on the move
there is no fire in the lavender skies of February
it is as if all that exists with warmth, light and desire
has fled to the future
it is here that the white swans muse and ponder
slowly stirring in hapless meanderings
through a stoic sluggish pond
it is here that I find myself coming to belong
nestled in the cold casket of a wind still winter
spring has shown its face with flowers
soiled, stagnant and sour
nature cultivates somber green to justify the incessant gray
the mossy sludge of rains fallen in my desolate pall
where there are no colors in my empty heart
for I have imprisoned hope and lost the key
somewhere in the dire fog
this catatonia speaks tones of wretched gloom
that paralyzes with foreboding dullness
its ghastly numbness buries the ghosts that haunt
for gray gives my soul a vapid and sullen vacuity
I tread bent and worn in this wasteland
seeking a sojourn with deathly swans
I am empirically lost in the shroud of shielded gray skies
hiding myself in the mists of passionless pain
No bond is permanent
Except the love;
But what love is?
It's too impressive that
Phantasm cultivates sagacious illusions!
© Mahtab Bangalee
Chattogram
01/05/2023
Waltz Wave Form- 1/2/1/2/3/2/1/2/3/4/3/2/1/2/3/2/1/2/1
None
There is
In
My heart
Except me
From birth
To
The death
I’m the truth
Where active soul
Cultivates
Myself
To
Seek and
Know thyself
For the
Love
That is
God
© Mahtab Bangalee
Chattogram
04/03/2023
Songs watered
Given chance to grow
Flourished beyond years
Lingering feeling
It's never over
Floral aroma
Oklahoma
Rooted possibility
Unraveling divinity
Time to synthesize
Oh gentle muse
Release your muffled hum
Sing forbidden hymns
To light the garden
Lyrics hold open wounds
Bleeding butterflies
Leading path
Sing a new sunrise
Monarchs melody
Enriches the soil
Tangled roots gift
Cherished harmony
Delicate petals detach
Rhythmic sways send soul signals
Rehearsed heartbeat cultivates cresendo
Nourishing bountiful harvest
A progression so infectious
Pollinators whistle through walkways
Our meadow,
Deemed choir
Echoes our bloom
Under the scorching blaze of the craving sun
The desiccated life suffering forsaken parched
Searches for a wayside tree of gratification
To provide the satisfying shade of success.
The fulfillment of deep desire of irresistible love
I irresistibly desire from the core of my heart
Subsumes seamlessly the passionate hedonism
That takes me to the ambit of enticing impulse.
Chasing mirage on dwindling dunes of despair
Hope lost of taking life to the illusion of oasis
As sand storm of setback brews in the horizon
I enter the awareness realm to surpass crave.
The insight restrains the demanding dreams
Lest these plunge to languish in life’s abyss
Push the self to the destructive domain of fear
At the disappearing edge of the ebbing hopes.
My mind then develops special skill of courage
Cultivates aspirant ability to evade the urge
Repulsion frees me from the bond of attraction
As I feel aversion sprout from the seed of desire.
________________
September 30, 2022
Contest : Desire And Aversion
Sponsored by : Unseeking Seeker
Life lives in the veins of hope
The hope cultivates the future
Future is the immortal child of the hope
So let's hope to beget the immortality
All shall be very soon
But the soon is not boon
Swooned all, in sudden lost
Re-hope exposes the host
Procrastination!-
The fatal fate of the soon
Time!-
Inexorable goon!
Slowly it baffles all
In the end suits normal
© Mahtab Bangalee
07 February, 2022
Chattogram
Gratitude
Miracle Man
1/10/2022
“Paying it forward” cultivates euphoric feelings,
so if you like your gift’s matched, give it a try!
Donor and recipient, are blessed by these dealings,
gratitude, leaves both on a temporary high.
Bite Size Poem #35' contest
True loves knows
no
deceit
cover-up
skullduggery
tricks
Love does not dominate; it cultivates. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
For: Pick-A-Title, Vol 26 - Poetry Contest
Title chosen: Skullduggery
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Date: October 12, 2021
September Brazil
nation not cultivates love
but exalts the hate
summer scent of roses loosens grips of gloom
floral cups of red charm capture healing,
melt defenses
she inhales a held bouquet
ensnared romantically,
one couple's free fall to love
in a fragrance courting worship
its aroma of lushness
immodest crimson flames, born on long stems
she bypasses thorns, the cutting traces of pain
cultivates blooms
the crisp red blush of summer
that soothes corrosive woe
to soften her restless sway, misgivings
what shimmers in a garden?
scents seductive
enticing her
stirringly brief
an atmospheric wonder
as secrets slide away
For Brian Strand Contest 1097
Poem written - June 20/21
Revised March 26, 2022
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