Over fourteen years ago pop culture told us
We’d only have twelve years to survive
Due to the existential threat of climate change.
Today I see a new prediction
That within two years AI will go rogue
And humanity will be extinct within the decade.
And it reminds me again, people may be wrong,
But you never know, and yet can never go wrong,
To not worry, be happy and live for today.
(8/12/25)
Contest: vibrations from a verso
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Date: 24th July, 2025
Placement: third
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A dark cloak wraps the sky
Draped in deep gloom
Blind to starlight's bright glare
Fear grips each ghost
Running helter skelter
Their time of doom
Lies ahead in the night
Fear at each post!
Today My 'Echo'
Called Me:
Sugar-Plum!
Relatively Un-Provoked!
I Wasn't Sure She
Liked Me! Even....
It Felt Good!
***
We Can't Win.
-Gray Squirrel
06-29-2025
raven of the marsh sounded the alarm
mystic named Marilee listened carefully
first the bull frogs, then the spiders, now this
three signs in three days; mischief was afoot
spirit was in the air, Marilee strived to identify it
A chill pierced her soul; she felt threatened
this was not a spirit guide she knew or a loving ancestor
Clairsentient, she sensed lilac and an ironed linen
an old-fashioned entity, possibly female, but maybe not
you do not know me, the spirit told her
this message entered Marilee’s mind
her neck hairs stood up on edge
the air was heavy; she took a step
the entity followed her
what do you want? She asked
not with words, but in her mind
the lack of answer shook her a bit
the sky was filled with grayscale fuzziness
the woods felt ominous tonight
Marilee walked toward her garden
she had a strong feeling turkey buzzards would be here by morning
an unsettling premonition
Gold on ancient atoll?
Gone be prospector's hope!
Gore, doth coat the brazen bull?
Golem, get the rope?
Best for those politest men?
Better think again.
Bone a-broken, dive in den?
Flicker on the fen...
Torn like life tormented?
Break upon, O wave.
How the gods lamented!
O shroud hung on the grave!
Yellow as a predator's eye?
Dun the desert doubt.
Riddles, rivers, thy reply?
Time will sort it out.
Plight of all the human race?
Leaving like a trace.
O defeated, thy disgrace!
Cholera, catch case!
Syllable, O sylvan!
Each to preserve a life!
Dreams once started, thus began!
Razor's edge or knife!
Wail, O watching widows?
We'd really rather not.
Soul a-sold, what doth ye owes?
Death, be but a thought!
crimson lips
stained with blood of saints
rides the beast
steers the reins
embittered roar portends doom
her end imminent
Spin a Shadorma
Nette Onclaud
6/3/25
** Photo not my creation
Priests of Doom and Gloom:
Fear, the seat of their feigned
power. We, meaning them, know
best: follow us and be saved
or risk eternal pain and suffering~
being forever graved! Yet some, as
I, choose the worship of one word,
Love! Avoiding Dogmatic Mercenaries,
Faux stand-ins, for the one, true,
God, all merciful, unlike the Above.
What creature is this that cometh near
His luggage filled to the brim with fear
Crushing our lives, crushing our beliefs
O whence for me shall bring only griefs
What of the men whom now weep?
What of the woman buried alive in their sleep?
What of the children who once stood brave?
Their minds controlled their souls enslaved
The baneful trumpets sound one by one
Can you hear them or are you numb?
Will you fear the creature of doom?
Come undone?
Or shall you overcome?
Overcome, overcome
Filled to the gunwale are the guns
The creature of the swamp now runs
He runs all things and everyone
The children now walk the plank
All hope sank, hopes sank
The baneful trumpets sound one by one
Can you hear them or are you numb?
Will you fear the creature of doom?
Come undone?
Shall you overcome?
Overcome, overcome
Will you fear the creature of doom?
Will you come undone?
Shall you overcome?
Overcome, shall overcome
Phone screen starts to glow,
"Reply All" sends out the gaffe,
Now, career is done.
©bfa030325
Light
Dawning, brings mankind smiles,
Waiting, Reaper creeps over miles,
Night.
(Antonym poem).
Embracing what is known as the light.
Is by no means an easy plight.
For no one is always in the right.
Just a figure in flight.
With whom did you postpone this thing?
By the hand with the golden ring.
He is King.
Say no to the darkness of doom, while you accept the fight,
that now cares you to the moon.
Death subsides. And life prevails.
With light you win. And darkness sins.
As one on your own, we must all go alone.
To the place we seek, a heavenly deep.
I try not to cry and that may be why.
In the end, we will all find a friend.
And so it must be, for the cards that we.
are dealt.
Thanks for the journey.
Ones prays has been answered.
Or so, it would seem. One cannot be redeemed.
The only flight, to this light.
A light shone in the distance,
As it neared my place in the void
I felt its warmth
I saw its smile
I heard its laugh
The light came closer,
It got too hot
Its smile was too wide
Its laugh had other plans.
Dark energy spreads ink across the universe,
dripping scarlet liquid fated by black magic.
As the wheels spin poets' necromantic verse,
dark energy spreads ink across the universe,
and trumpeting angels’ mighty blasts rehearse.
The baneful sonnets doom driven by tragic.
Dark energy spreads ink across the universe,
dripping scarlet liquid fated by black magic.
Dark energy spreads ink across the universe,
As the wheels spin poets' necromantic verse,
and trumpeting angels’ mighty blasts rehearse.
The baneful sonnets doom driven by tragic,
dripping scarlet liquid fated by black magic.
Disk dim damning polemics prosing perverse.
Drowning in Fear
This feeling of sudden, impending doom
corners me with strong arms.
A deep seated ache of guilt
for what wrong doing, I know not...
begins tearing at my insides
like a sharp toothed rat
with fire looming at its back
and no escape but through the walls of my stomach.
I'm weakened by constant struggle and resistance.
It is a vicious circle. Duty, responsibilities, expectations...
neglected to avoid that fear that hounds me.
Only to make the anxiety greater,
which in turn frightens me into phobia...
unreasonable fears.
These babes of my youth, then easier to command
and forced to overcome,
have grown into strong, cruel men
who laugh at my struggles...
binding me, immobile,
as dark waters flow over my head.
Firming up each knot I manage to loose
and pushing my head under
as they laugh and laugh and laugh.
It’s pretty easy to write hysterical headlines;
News flash; everyone is going to die!
And yet, it’s just as easy to spin it elseways;
News flash; everyone is alive!
But the known is not news
While the possible is, possibly
And the hysterical sells, definitely
Somewhere in our human nature
We are wired to project the worst
As we plan for the best
Flipping the two sided coin
Of hope and fear
Trying to beat the odds
As if we had a chance
As if we lived in a world defined by chance
As if the two sides of the coin
Weren’t always and only
Just the same old coin
(9/26/24)
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