Peas of the same pod, nurtured by soil's clutch,
Polarized cotyledons, vying for homely touch.
Like a sunflower sagging toward heliotrope’s light,
The diffident monocot cradles itself in maternal respite.
Enduring the ravages of time, standing tall,
While weary boughs decline, struggling through it all.
The intrepid monocot, shattering glass ceiling,
Vibrating with the moon's velocity, its power healing.
Whispering husk, morphed into a sheltering tree,
Yielded fruits adorned in a mosaic spree.
Lesson learned — feet firm, head strong,
Winds may differ, but our bond lives on.
his miscreant philosophy was easily seen that day
he held his wormwood tea in an irritating way
diffident cousins were totally intimidated by Jim
his duende charm sort of knocked them on their chin
I held great grandma’s zither in my non-musical lap
Jim’s sister trivial complaint about this was a bit of crap
the timbre of this instrument will amaze you, I said.
I said this without hesitation, feeling confident as Ned.
Ned is my gay cousin, who came dressed in red and teal.
He always says the funniest things, at every single meal.
It would be seismic if we relatives could all get along each time.
my grandpa, an erudite writer asked me if I know how to rhyme.
I am unsure why I put myself here, but they are my kin I guess.
Today I am here to honor, my recently deceased cousin Tess.
Aunt Cherie is cavil, complaining about straws that are yellow.
I roll my eyes and smile at my new date, a tolerant good fellow.
My head is aching, it's a skull pounding sensation.
My hands are shaking, from the constant anxious narration.
Trying to breathe deeply, keep this train from leaving the station,
I know this is my own diffident manifestation.
For me anxiety is an expectation;
I stop talking to myself and start to listen,
Let this fear become an infestation, it was all of my own creation.
This is my cowed vocation.
He appeared to be a mere, callow boy,
Beautiful, strange, exotic, enchanting,
But he was, he said, a king, and he'd traveled very far
Over time, and land, and sea in search of me.
His glance was diffident and shy,
But with a trace of ancient sadness
That belied the ageless wisdom in his melancholy eyes.
That magic day he found me
My soul was adrift, feeling lost and alone,
And closed to love I'd never known.
Arm in arm we walked and talked
Of pundits, and poets, and beggars, and kings,
And lots of other worldly things.
Then he turned to me and gently said, this king,
"Here's the gift I came to bring:
The truest thing you'll ever learn,
Allow yourself to love, and you'll be loved in return."
I listened to what he had to say,
Then I unlocked my heart that day
And felt his prophecy come true
As love rushed in and brought me you.
Why do the waves keep on kissing the shoreline
even if the shoreline pushes them everytime?
Why do they keep on coming to shore
like they keep on asking for more?
Their persistence that heaves tall above ground
may remind us of the virtues of true love;
Their surging eagerness that inspires a bleak dove
may remind us that hope is just around.
Though the looming deepness of their gambit
may imply that love could be a trick,
their lasting patience that sways a diffident mind
may remind us that love is blind.
They surge highest amidst the strongest storm
like soldiers that come braver while being torn;
They lay low when the weather is fine
to give true love a shine.
September 23, 2022
A Brian Strand Premiere Choice Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
9-21-22
Contest: I Wandered Lonely as a…Challenge
Sponsor: Natasha Scragg
11-4-22
Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 19
Sponsor: Mark Toney
"I wandered lonely as cloud." Daffodil by William Wordsworth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Wandered Lonely as a Teardrop
I wandered lonely as a teardrop
In a sea of sand,
A tempest in one glistening drop,
Ruthless riptides of demands
Rush through a narrow neck of outlet
Turned upside down in midnight vignettes.
Cold specks of numb and ancient stone
Deaf to remorse of a single sigh
Tumble past my burn scar so alone
That weeps with solitude's clouded eye
No time to stop for struggling strangers
To get involved - a diffident danger.
A writhing sea of rushing crowds
Parts around my stifled sob
Roaring indifference shouted out loud
Guarded pain in my teardrop throbs
The shape of quivering unheard laments
Empathy drown and mercy absent.
My colorless grief weeps without end
In oceans like a shipwrecked nomad
Blocked from the warm fount of a friend
Heartbroken by a lost comrade
One teardrop cries to understand
The maddened surge in a sea of sand.
Disregard that diffident feeling
stand up for yourself
don't be a doormat for people healing
do what makes you excel
stop covering your appeal with the physical
let it shine from the inside
that will present you gorgeous without being quizzical
you'll have nothing to hide
when there's nothing to do
don't do anything
doldrums should never enter your pew
that takes care of everything
always realize you're not strange
even if you're different from your peers
although we may receive a reaction that is estrange
we're all normal when it clears
She was an artist.
Her expertise was flowers and butterflies.
This new art teacher said they had to draw a man.
He had to be anatomical. It had to be indicative of muscles.
What about eyes? She asked. Can I give him green eyes?
Eyes and eyelashes were also fun for her.
No eyes or butterflies! He said sternly.
She kept her mouth shut, wisely not mentioning flowers.
The art teacher was satisfied.
This student was too quick-witted and smart.
He was better with students who were compliant and diffident.
He understood them better.
She knew her Pollyanna attitude irritated people.
But she barely knew him, so that could not be it.
She tried to control herself, but of course, flowers sprung out.
Just like they did in every painting she ever painted.
Their intimacy is gloved,
moments dovetail
in a tea-room.
I color-in implied gestures,
listen
to words unheard.
They enter a confessional space
lips linger over visions,
oracles only they read.
Lipstick on China cups,
the twirled edge of a napkin,
the unclasped mouth of a purse;
pieces arranged on a tablecloth
of magnetic intimations
Then a diffident tilt into humor
they surface
as they settle the bill.
Leaving the café they kiss;
one of them seems to carry
the other's onus of care
sheltering her body from the cold.
I have a brief impulse to follow,
to stay awhile
in their mutual life raft.
Imagine that!
A laconic and diffident High School kid
Who suddenly has a voice whenever he's used
As target practice. He chucks back grenades
Lobbed at him by bullies. And waits no time
Airing his grievances as payback
Bravo, kid, bravo! Rock on, with your bad self!
Date written and posted: 06/18/2019
To you my villanelle I plight my troth
A poem both dignified and full of play
I love your form and elegance ,oh both
In your form I’ll never insert oaths
Neither will I boast of making hay
To you my villanelle I plight my troth
I’ll take you in my boat to the North Coast
From you I expect no reward or pay
I love your form and elegance ,oh both
You are a welcome visitor to host
Though you look both diffident and fey
To you, dear villanelle, I plight my troth
And when my friends come round we’ll drink a toast
To wordsmiths and to poets on their way
We love your form and elegance ,oh both
On my bed at night I gently rest
Knowing that I wander as your guest
To you my villanelle I plight my troth
I love your form and elegance ,oh both
I dubbed a first year my room mate
Upon arrival into our teacher training college
To baptize him. His pride in quick order I did decimate
Taking him at high celerity on a binge
Initiating him into traditional beer
In a nearby shanty compound
Where I got his head into God’s fear
Whereby upon returning the greenhorn couldn’t push anyone around
The special welcome made him the follower
I desired
Having diminished his self-concept and self-esteem lower
Than he aspired but higher than he perspired
I proceeded to indoctrinate him into elocution parlance
As best as I could
Ensuring he possessed a college etiquette lance
That would
Not upstage Special
Whom he soon began to emulate
With artificial
Manners to dissimulate
The nascent confidence he feared might offend me
If he grew overconfident
More than I could agree
If he became less diffident
But he played the good boy
Obedient like a lapdog
Happy to enjoy a bone for a new toy
Like a contented warthog
When my training petered out
Satisfaction smiled
In my bosom without any shadow of doubt that my clout
Tamed the greenhorn who wouldn’t succeed in getting me riled.
In the 80’s I first learned of Assertive Training
My husband thought it would do me some good.
I laughed myself silly
As the teacher explained things.
If someone tries to put you down, you say this.
If a person tries to hurt you, you do that.
Tears were coming out of my eyes now;
I was shaking with stupid laughter.
Clearly uncomfortable.
This room was full of diffident, hesitant, deferring humans.
When they came up front to act out a scenario given by teacher,
You could barely hear them.
Whispery voices
Fervent glances.
Shy, quiet, skittish.
Win-win was our goal.
We were to say and do what we needed
No one received any praise, lots of criticism though.
Teacher clearly did not understand win-win.
I do not work well under these conditions.
We took turns acting out scenarios given by the teacher.
“You’re being aggressive!” the teacher would say to me sternly.
“You are both supposed to win,” she would caution me.
Being a warrior woman, I had trouble disengaging
My foot from her neck.
Before I left.
Concentric ripples form as I skip rocks in the twilight
As I ponder plain spoken words that became recondite
I detect notes of Frangipani as a sultry sylph speaks
I break bread in ancestral lands in awe at the mystique
Soon, a great avian menagerie gathers all around
Mockingbirds mimic the mage's mellifluous sounds
The luscious beauty's words go from pellucid to obscure
I sit diffident yet dissolute while gazing at the demure
The vermilion bird flies around looking for a perch to choose
Withholding its succor until it finds the right muse to infuse
"królowa"
With you my crown is shining loud,
Daze from the starstruck when I stare into your eyes my queen,
I love you when I see the smile of the happiness now,
Got this loud to see the clouds wow I'm ain't coming down,
I'm a dark poet for the past experiences that mold me have you seen,
I know you're diffident allow me to give you confident my queen,
I have so much love that this page won't even be enough to express,
I seen the fear you hide when I hear your heartbeat from the chest,
Down to ride when I wrote the best poem I express for you,
Wish I could tell them now this secret is hard not to tell,
When I'm with you my thoughts just keep pouring out,
królowa kocham cie wish I spoke beautifully,
My queen wanna show you the world I promise you I will,
Give me the time for father an I arguing about how I'll spend it well,
The God's blessings are a gift to you,
I know your unaware but I'll show you.
Related Poems