Crystal ball, thy spirit.
Cast thee a mighty spell.
Vision sacred, let's hear it.
Voice of mine, pell-mell.
Tress and trawler, set thy hooks.
River bed to dredge.
Recipes we learned in books?
Formation, wild wedge.
Coal, control, bell toll, sail, soul.
Down the delta wide.
Wasteland, when you set a goal.
Woe, when you betide.
Chicken farm, thy tender.
Politics, tough thy game.
Doubtless, O defender.
Katabothron, quay, claim.
Current, channel. Atmosphere.
Particles, spread out.
Cloud cover, sere or severe?
Cannibal, red rout!
Trickle, stickleback. Code crack.
Fortresses, thy stack.
Under attack? Dinner pack.
Flak ahead? Shellac.
Yawndrift, yucca, yellow eyes.
Oceanic rift.
Circumspect the council's cries?
Petrify, wood. Gift.
Bank, holding of money.
Tornado, spinning fast.
Clown, well, life is funny.
Mead honey, my good ghast?
Local Knowledge,
Will always give you the edge,
On what bets to hedge,
Where best to plant a hedge,
Where not to dredge.
Ask a local and pay no fee,
Get the best info for free,
Even comes with a cup of tea,
And a garden in full bloom to see.
With local input,
You can increase your output,
With no no time out,
To hear the locals shout,
why were we not told about.
If you want long term profit,
Local knowledge will always be a better fit,
And save the need for a costly refit.
Best of all time for more golf will be a given,
So, why not give in,
Meet with the locals at their local Inn,
Put your original plan in the bin,
Giving logic time to settle in.
,
The scarlet art of the sapphire sky of my halcyon heart
sparkled with sequined glow of the lone moon leaning low.
I tried tempted to touch your topaz sheen tinted unseen,
but you didn’t stay, slowly sauntered away out of my view
from my silky sky I shaped for you with pure joy for sure.
From the dark domain of dismantled dainty rainbow arc
strong storm surged with snapped shards of slashing scorn,
shattered my sublime sky while stowing in dispersed debris pile.
I couldn’t foresee how to dredge the drowned dreams free
from deep despair before destined day to depart came my way.
I shoved the splinters of my shattered soul on the sly,
turned them into a single white rose, residing in my heart close.
When on the run you returned to my garden under sensual sun
its fragrance fine floated with the pure passion of mine divine.
When in your sweet smile the curl of its pristine petals I saw un-furl
I knew the onset spark of the new beginning it’d memorably mark.
Whispers wade along the edge
Souls gather in dark black
Roads are laid in concrete
Paths are long with lack
The wind blows a gale
Water rages up tsunamis
The elite shape the divine
Sages mold matter into origami
Dreams run shadows in corners
Demons dredge up discontent
Memories of meetings gone wrong
Beliefs bobble from what is to what was meant
Oh, the calm comes clawing at catastrophe
The peace pauses palatable plays
Every step stiffens solace
Movement manages the mind's stay
Written by Trudy Schrader on 11-15-2025
Baggy green pledge..be mean one could allege
New depths seen to dredge vent spleen sledge
Obscene lexicon ledge to get that slight edge
What do you know here we go first blow
Folks well blokes pokes jokes at Stokes
Campaigner entertainer a cocky complainer
Yawn..forlorn well worn scorn of Kiwi born
Ropey guff about Bazball stuff being dopey
Out of whack flak attack now back on track
Aussie stacks of hacks on a have a go retainer
Haven’t forgotten when Jonny went Rotten
Lost his cool in that whole Lord’s Baz brawl
When Ben’s mens’ gall did enthrall and appall
So one trite slight after another in a row
In a cruel crow from our oldest coldest foe
They bestow their woe of “average Joe”
Get snooty about the beauty of our Rooty
Get fruity saying our defender’s a pretender
Won’t ever get one booty ton while on Oz duty
Just what you’d predict from a convict offender
You wait mate..till your guest & great contender for
Crest of Test best goes on a big spender bender
My limbs unlax,
stress leaking from my body and
collecting like a basin of a
candle’s freshly melted wax;
One inhale of the plastic casket,
which burns judgingly in my back pocket,
is enough to dredge up the relaxation
my dreary, dramatic life has lacked,
smacking me in my temples
with a dopamine-injected hand.
An inhale, a flurry of smoke,
smolders holes in my lungs
until it constricts and chokes
me, until its disguised benignant nature
reveals its true form;
Stimulants create my deliquesce,
allowing my brain much-needed bliss,
but in a fine, descript disclaimer
written in purposefully disappearing ink, it’s
benevolence whispers addiction.
i took them in
amongst a pile of other glittering monstrosities
the low-pitched liquid consonants
behind the counter thanked me
and i ran for the doors
really went for it
a year went by and they were there
next to Auden and Pam Ayres
Berryman & Betjeman just down the road
what madness i thought on the way home
and two months later i was in bed, in the dark
listening to the large repertory of Carmen
its immortality is assured by the deft harmonies
and perfectly judged orchestration
like my collections in the charity shop
covered in dust
and high levels of vehicular dredge microwaves
waiting for the apocalypse
“Holding on is believing that there's only a past; letting go is knowing that there's another future.” Author unknown.
Make no bones about it. I shall never want you,
Don't waste your love on someone worthless like me.
All is lost like a fat candle lit in bright sunlight,
Wasted as a dewdrop falling in the sea;
It's as pointless as a cold snowflake
Settling on freezing Mount Everest.
I'm deaf and dumb to your spirit,
Perhaps I'm stone blind or have a rock instead of a heart.
Don't blame yourself; my soul is ravished by tempests past
That rage was like a tornado inside me.
I try to dredge the ancient hates.
That left me stubborn and blind,
Swept by the hurricanes of old loves,
An anger whirling like a rushing wind,
I weave a shade dark and benighted
To smother all that's bad.
Alas, the end result is that I cannot love.
I'm just indifferent. Do I make myself clear?
Placed 1
A step too far, brings right of passage to a ledge
Fluttering at cliff walls, pushing life’s brittle edge
A sheer instinctive thrust, with no trust to pledge
Now or never moment, undermines fear’s wedge
A chick leaps off, flailing frail wings fail to fledge
Featherweight of hope meets a ten-pound sledge
Crashing straight down, no safety net to dredge
Next guy flaps like mad, landing softly in a hedge
I'll show you everything I love,
Everything that has built me up.
I'll show you all my safeties
And all the things that have held me.
I know you will keep them
With the most delicate respect.
And anything that is hidden
I will dredge up from the trench
Because we cannot understand each other
Until we've seen each other's wounds.
I want you to know where I come from.
I want you to know the molds that have formed me.
I'll shoot myself with Cupid's d#mn bow.
I know you'll care for the aftermath.
You shot yourself with it first,
And we are each other's disinfectant.
Thank you.
I love you.
I cannot believe my luck.
at last the traffic comes to a halt...
a quarter moon peeps between hilltops
while a lingering ache stings my flesh in hours moist with mid-dusk 's need
for quiet reverie:
I unzip my clothes ready to surrender to the mist and coal of stillness;
all the grains from fluid limbs crawling upon my toes; tingling and penetrating the parts numbed by dredge of toil...
and dying a bit to inhabit this silence,
my being morphs from the brute of noise to a fey of nothingness...you know,
that shedding kind of skin in gradual push- pull of my cocoon, changing the life movement where transformation becomes open, alive...
just then, I crown this moment a fractal
change , like a winged monarch loosening
old shape...a ritual born from my desire
to cross over a streak of limits:
like so, by washing the blisters of a truant day,
there are only two streams waking
my feminine energy...
one is serenity, the other-- symbiosis.
The Empty Man
Saddled with the darkened years
Fogged with broken thoughts
Chasing crooked spirits
Drenched in ethereal fire
Deadened to raging emotions
Sentenced to a deafened silence
Dreading the coming phase
Of fleeting victory and bleeding hearts
Thus, seeping the dredge
Of frothing suffering
He strides along
With the brevity of thoughts
Floating to a hollow future
On the cliff at the Worm’s Head
High above the horns of the bay
I see the surfers ride great waves
With horses’ manes
That ever fail, but never end
In the strong Atlantic surge
In the estuary at Dartmouth
Where the oyster boats dredge
Turning and drifting in slow shadow dance
Great nets of shells are hauled up
And poured out on to the decks
As I plunge upriver
Tacking along the wending Dart
With bent-puzzle oaks on either side
I hear a sudden hush descend
Upon a lonely river hythe
As time and air, smooth and still
Forever glide, like Mayflies
On cold, clear water
In the seaway by the port
With its unmistakable algal aroma
Of the British seashore
I hear the heavy horn of a freighter
That plies its path
And never sinks, yet ever diminishes
Beyond the waves
And far from the pier of the seaside town
Where sandpipers probe
In spiral casts
I hear the penthal call of the curlew
Like silver flourishes on a black cloud
That never moves, but holds dominion
In the cold morning air.
What a curtain Bisbee has
That keeps Mexico subdued
And influences the lands
From which the Sierra was hewn.
What purple folds keep Oaxaca
As a fortress in the sky
Breaking only in Panama
To let a vessel dredge by.
No courier have I on hand
Except the initial breezes that blow
So a whisper I channel into it:
Give to Colombia my hello.
I hope whoever is reading these words,
May they read into your life in some way
Let us go and walk down by the river's edge
Clear our minds of the negative dredges.
First, reach deep, deeper down inside,
Analyze you it's negative vibes
So, turn this negative that is attached to you
Make them positive vibes, so see it through.
Believe in yourself and life today,
Be a kind person, but never walk away
Be this change needed in life
Go forth, rise, and place your mark.
Your mindset sets the stage, so start.
Stop, deep breath, exhale—no stress,
Let us go and walk down by the river's edge
Clear our minds and settle our dredge.
No pressure, closed eyes,
Deep breaths, 'Look Inside.'
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