For the Contest: Abandon
Sponsor: Constance La France
Written 20.05.2025
To live with abandon is to spend your soul as if the tab will never come, but it always does – by unknown
When abandon runs dry
He spent money with merry abandon,
Like laughter thrown into the wind.
Tossed akin to confetti in events of fleeting joy.
He kept no tabs, no ledger,
there was no tomorrow.
He moved through life
as a flame burns through paper.
Notes flew from his hands,
the way birds scatter startled by gunshots.
There was no guilt in his pockets.
He opened the tap and shouted the bar.
People called him legend and slapped his back,
till the wind changed and downturn came.
Then the centre of gravity shifted,
the barstools cooled,
the phones stilled,
silence frosted all the beer steins.
He found himself orbiting absence
nobody patted his shoulder,
nobody flipped a coin in his cup,
He had poured himself into the room,
and when the keg ran dry,
all the lychees vanished…
they all abandoned him.
He doesn’t speak of it now,
just nods and smiles with that tired kindness
you only learn after the last music notes.
Love you Joe
Blessed by Jupiter adorned by Saturn,
reckless and just a bit larger than life;
For desire and a little fire we yearn;
So much of the Universe left to learn
cutting through time with a celestial knife;
Blessed by Jupiter adorned by Saturn;
Locked in a galactic waltz at each turn
she’d gladly stay with all that joy so rife;
For desire and a little fire we yearn;
Solar winds can sporadically downturn,
among a supernova there’s no strife;
Blessed by Jupiter adorned by Saturn;
The need for absolute freedom is stern,
led by the sweet rebellion of a fife;
For desire and a little fire we yearn;
Venus armed with a path of no return
amorous blues always chase the good life;
Blessed by Jupiter adorned by Saturn,
for desire and a little fire we yearn.
the milestone attained
a benediction bestowed
so in midst of celebrations
bliss drenched soul presence
recognising ephemerality
pulsates in nonchalance
as during a downturn
watching life unfold
When I go outside and see the homeless, I see one thing,
There are no homeless Hispanics and yet,
There is a Hispanic Panic amongst those who are paranoid
From the abuelitas selling taquitos to artists hawking cartoon portraits, street vendors were hustling long before the pandemic. But they are being forced to adjust even more due to the downturn caused by COVID-19.
Mexican merchants are struggling to keep their
Food Truck small businesses, LA Street Vendor’s, are not pan-handlers
For goodness’ sake, buy KEEP-SAKES!
In an era where more of our workforce is in the informal economy with zero protections and safety nets for emergencies
LA Street Vendor Campaign demonstrates how local solutions
can scale up and reach thousands of precarious workers
across Los Angeles and beyond.
Come now, Spring! You’re such a fickle young thing!
On the wings of newborn feathers, your wiles
up and downturn winds to sudden cold flings
tripping warming skins to tremble a while…
Next come your silken color-filled fancies!
Eyes beckoned, step out to be near such charms…
Yens still, as you march as perfumed dandy,
masking musky breath, that breezes sneezed harm…
And when April comes along, your eye gleams!
Enchantment grows, then fades to slushy mush….
Becoming crystals, shatter in your steam
Oh how she weeps, for diamonds rained to slush!
Rivers gush your youth’s enthusiasm ~
Now, may you calm, ere you deepen chasms ~
(2/7/23)
John Wayne would not entertain
self-doubt or indecision
jumped in again and again
with full blown tunnel vision
pure bravado does not stop
mortality's sure advance
nothing can give assurance
we will have that one last dance
not every situation
is cause to pose scream and shout
will be no acclimation
if we can't find our way out
lies turn into bolder lies
words sole purpose is deceit
no use trying to disguise
sometimes we'll take a backseat
unease growing faster now
leering faces seem stranger
no one going to ask how
words led to this much danger
not an outstanding question
of what might make it alright
flat out wrong situation
when lives are taken for spite
cannot simply turn and run
at this point of no return
too much cannot be undone
to dodge permanent downturn
this world's not all black and white
except in minds which are closed
we've all become wrapped too tight
in myths long ago composed
John Wayne would stick to his guns
in those technicolor dreams
but we're the actual ones
coming apart at the seams
Her voice resonates in my mind,
No other melodious voice I can find,
Her smile is an infectious delight,
It accompanies me from dawn to twilight,
Oh! Sail back to me my beloved,
For to no other I would be involved,
Hasten to come to me,
Let no tempestuous sea be,
I await your return,
The memories of you, I can't downturn,
Let’s rekindle the embers of our love,
Let it come back to us like a dove,
My nights have been on a bed of thorns,
I haven’t had a calm sleep for once,
Bring back the nights I held you in my arms,
Captivate me with your charms,
Let’s build a wall around us,
Our love is not allowed to spin and toss.
July 18, 2022,
Rhyme Rumi Quote Poetry Contest,
Sotto Poet.
A young Souper was feeling the burn
When his poem count took a downturn
First, he wrote a haiku
Then a monoku too
By deleting some carriage returns
Judging by outer appearance
That too with mind interference
Game of desire and aversion
Instinctive ego dalliance
Jaundiced eye birthing delusion
Enmeshes soul in confusion
Here to learn but cannot discern
Path to God realisation
Loving heart soft but ego stern
Fears and desires, soul goals downturn
Thus reborn again and again
How many times will we return
Know that cyclic are joy and pain
Futile pursuits for earthy gain
Stooped stance, head and heart misaligned
Fallen from grace; dark is soul stain
High time ego, to bin consigned
Love enabled, truth is divined
Next step, unity consciousness
We are He, who we seek to find
20-October-2021
Full of wonder and imagination,
beyond beautiful, Earth's a paradise.
But humanity's role is in question,
for we do untold things that make no sense.
Food's plentiful, yet folks face starvation
if they are born in a third-world nation.
As the glaciers melt and the forests burn;
Climate change is fueling disasters.
And yet, global warming's labeled a hoax;
as politicians maintain it's fiction.
Their economy might take a downturn:
and so, they pretend it's of no concern.
Unless we all agree to change our ways,
Gaia will inflict changes upon us.
As seas rise, floods and famine will follow;
pandemics and plagues won't lag far behind.
And displaced migrants will form the next phase
in hastening humanity's end days.
It was just a shadow turned,
some distant memory of which we yearned
and who we were, just children raised and grown
moving to a future unknown;
like everyone who has hopes and dreams
wondering if life could be like movie scenes,
actors on a living stage
bending with the flow of the world's parade;
those years and lessons lived and learned
now seem lost to the changing downturn;
but hope and dreams are ever-present
riding on history's lessons
and for a moment in the windy dark embellished shadows
yesterdays rise from the charred fields and meadows
and all the hopes for tomorrows and todays
always take me back to yesterday.
Requite is unavoidable at times unless necessary
some present and won't expect anything back in return
it's a reputable thing to practice if arbitrary
there are people that don't and expect downturn
My husband wants his money back and will lend it
I don't bestow and clutch things to advocate
we differ on that so we don't let people borrow we quit
I had a neighbor who bartered so I had to alienate
I swear she would bum cigarettes and hand me things
I didn't desire any of it and didn't wish to transfer that
at the same time another friend was doing that strings
she was messed up at the time and closeness was chat
I haven't dealt with any of this so I'm getting it out now
I tend to bottle things inside and procure tense and tight
that's what poetry is to me to express what is anyhow
I feel improved though it's tough putting it on this site
Touch
Only this and the skin
Encasing my entire being
Touch
When I thought of the touch
Much I marveled the splendid concern
Touch
You warned me about the downturn
I crave the slack, standstill significance
Touch
Instead I uncovered the plight
There stood a crash rewrite
The touchy turbulence tinting such a rush
Touch
7/13/20
written words by James Edward Lee Sr.© 2020
He draws long, panting breaths from a Winston
Then blows a slow line of hazy blue smoke from lips
Which have known the defeated downturn of pain
Fear flames up a burning urgency within his chest
He is ardent with yearning for the second chance
A chance to rediscover the intimacy of youthful dreams
Compromising in prayers, he tells me how to cruise
My Thunderbird whizzes past green road signs
And one exit is the one where he buys his Seagram 7
Without a second thought, I announce to him
“The exit is Exit 13” – Is this a harbinger of what is to be
Him and his muse dies from alcoholism at the age of 44!
I miss him
It’s Been So Long
Since life Was Fun
7-28-2016
Occasionally I hit stretches in life,
That appears as one continual storm.
Each morning when the sun comes up,
Is another crisis far from the norm.
I pray while attempting to adapt,
Trying not to breakdown, but just bend;
The phone is continuously ringing,
With problems which we must contend;
We no longer have time for ourselves,
This, for me, has long been a concern.
These little annoyances are taking a toll,
And aging has become life’s downturn.
Tom
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