You see it coming through an opaque mirror,
first signs and last winks, a monstrous revealing
the marks of a construction worker with no blueprint
one who realizes that the edifice is crumbling
from within, the pearl rubbed raw shedding its
chalky dust. At last, you see a built-in purpose,
the apparent form
together with its transpiring apparition,
the grand design arriving in one revelation.
There are no monsters or angels, the brute was always
a shallow sketch of a dilapidation that had to be
drawn before your sight until you saw
hidden beneath the scaffolding of perception,
the beautiful unformed Creator
looking clearly through
your own eyes.
A high mountain looms outside my window,
Its summit calls for me to climb;
But when I think of how much time
I must grant to reach that goal sublime,
I told the mount, "I'm afraid I must decline."
It called to me again the other day,
Said I could get there, if only I'd try;
But then I considered the work I'd need to apply
How many steps I had to take to touch the sky,
I curled in my bed and began to cry
So it spoke to me one final time
While I lie on the ground, wasting away
"See what you've done! You've let the dream decay!
And what for? To engage in frivolous play?"
Without excuse, I have no words to say
Such is the epitome of contradictions
Bigger dreams begat procrastination
And too great an ambition kills motivation
And in the desire to reach perfection
I found instead the chains of dilapidation
JUSTIFICATION
Oh, what a distressing frustrating situation,
I’ve suddenly lost all my poetic imagination,
Nothing tickles me pink, no stimulation,
I want to create a poem of deep inspiration,
Which will meet everyone’s expectation,
But my thoughts are edging towards nullification,
I want to scream out loud, a slow dilapidation,
I’m reaching an uncomfortable exasperation,
My muse, has succumbed to misinformation,
Intimidation, and deviant calculation,
Goodness gracious,
Heard word she wants my poetic elimination.
Someone is knocking at my door, to my jubilation,
There stands a muse, I welcome with elation,
She is well known for helping those
Experiencing mortification,
Such a refreshing sight, she must after
Careful deliberation,
Give one month’s notification,
Looking forward to her presence,
Such a welcome application,
She will help me with my recuperation.
Behold, a rhyme is forming, what scintillation,
Delivering both articulation and jollification,
My previous muse jumped from poet to poet,
Everyone realized, fickle her motivation,
But my new muse and I realized justification,
We Popped a bottle of champagne in celebration.
With purpose her steps project pearlescent elegance
Finely cut fabric falls from her waist, embellishes
Weightless momentum, legs timed as ballroom
bustle musical march beside busy suburban thrum
Range Rover overgrown zebras meander, hands free
Inhabit hair salon adjacent spots, to emerge panthers
Claws comb plumb neat pelt on gym angular shoulders
Watched white teeth greet crimped cappuccino domes
From rotting fence, cluttered sunroom mottled streets
Feral hedges blend shed dilapidation with neighbours
Pearl recalls the rural run-down houses, howling low hope
Chimneys emitting messages to status never received
Mauve smoke drifts to city monotonous nonchalance
Eleventh level sky view squares share trove of eventide
Tang in coveted ticket operas from atop lavish lifestyle
High rise residents' glinted sun sets show mirrors only
20th March 2021
Written for Contest : Eight Word Bard
Sponsor : John Hamilton
Words of necessary inclusion are:
pearlescent, thrum, plumb, crimped,
feral, howling, eventide, tang
==============================
Where did the Lone Star go ?
Was she served as a meal on the tables of corruption or buried alive by her assassins
In the pits of devastation ?
Where did the Lone Star go ?
Did she run from our politicians who pay musicians to make known their plights, their new tacticians or Was she used as government officials’s salaries till all that was left of her was a broken administration?
Where did the Lone Star go?
Was she left untidy like a broken kitchen sink till her shiny nature got lost to rust or was she killed in the fourteen years civil unrest which led to our state of dilapidation ?
Show me
Where did the Lone Star go?
Did she follow Susannah Lewis to the grave for fear of being tortured by her own daughters or she was tired of being the first sign of Africa’s freedom when her state was a sure sign of contradiction?
Where did the Lone Star go ?
Was she buried in the cash box of our rulers or lost in the money containers of our nation which led to her hospitalization ?
Oh ! How I wish to know
Where did the Lone Star go
so I would bring her back home
Announcing a new dawn for her, a restoration
Standing guard a once majestic neighborhood
Sawn apart from natures living wood
Dusted grey by ages blowing by
Dilapidation falls, the cities cry
By malfeasance where once a palace stood
Against the wild desires to render dark
Wrought by charge, another face demands the final dollar
Disgraced by greed misplaced, a disposition now unsteady
So like us the bleeding out
No respect to spare a face
Grief our legacy to failed belief
Lonely sentinels in a stricken place
coloured flecks
on the front door-
peeling away
of memories...
love’s dilapidation
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Writing Challenge 3, August 2019- Five Lines- Poetry Contest
Hosted by Dear Heart - Wiishkobi Ode
Placed 3rd
Posted 23rd August 2019
Adorn the sky with stars
Paint the sea with clouds
Perchance the festering of emotions
And lingering divisions
Divinity is born from thought
Altruism is the father
Compassion is likely the mother
But fear is the result
Ancient ways delay
Civic progression over time
And a dilapidation of human morality
Constructed of misconstrued ideals
The great sea separates
Divided by mighty continents
Populated with critters
Eventually by humanity
The greatest truth
Is forged by a foundation of lies
Law codes are a house of cards
Fragile at best
Ancient ways are here to stay
Nostalgia is the blind God
Change is the sacrificed martyr
Parade a paradox of love and hate
One small pig, a puffin, and a large portion of lettuce in a cart. Absconding from a field with 240 baboons, ten mice with microphones, and a very large beetle. They went to visit a bird high in a tree. Nesting. Nearby was a lake. They enjoyed a swim and a boat ride across the waters. Then a radio signal arrived from the mountain. It said that the party was now over. All over was a silence. Then the trees began beating their branches. Echoing across the valleys like earthquakes in audiovisual waves. Sound not a speaker. Cancelled not this day. And so forth the groups of growth persisted in their watery games. Stopping only to feast. Upon large leaves and cheeses. Planting paintings pinning pops. Hahahaha bakery of whales in aprons eating. Hahahaha tasting tissues. Xxxx dilapidation z
The cradle of despair.
The ever-winter air.
Is anybody there,
Beneath this dreadful moon
Evoking thirst for tears?
I'm screaming - no one hears.
I breathe the same old fear
That I'll be dying soon.
My soul strays and hovers,
My heart is under covers,
My lonely secret lovers -
The clouds and the sea -
Can grant me no salvation
Within my heart's temptation.
In this dilapidation
I see no way to flee.
Hidden spirits motherland,
destructions chosen horror.
Decayed barren grounds,
ravaged territories dilapidation.
Debris leftover magnetic fields,
crawls nuclear poisons contamination.
Ruins
graphics
stand
strongly
obscure.
Yelling at hallucinations with grimaces
He confronts shadows in public places
And donning wooden face, tosses
Between manic depressive psychosis
Dialogues incoherent, logic weird
But bizarre visions surpass Dali and Picasso
Or in self-inflicted agony invoke Dante's Inferno
Symbolize residual junk--life collecting junks
Acting never so dramatic
soliloquy never so erratic
Sudden threats daze strangers
Or his suffering of pity stirs
But obsessed by suspicion of thought insertion
He keeps blaming others for his own action
Withdrawing himself from society
He lives in a ***** world of reverie
Meeting him gives a feeling of having visited
The dilapidation of an erstwhile grand mansion
(for George Ehusani)
When minority
Threatens majority;
Self-solidarity
Divorces reality,
These in a community
Depict dilapidation of the society
And decadence of integrity
Of humanity
In every country!
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