Hidden deep within the verses
Of what is and what was
Things are not what they appear to be
The forest is alive and things are hidden deep
Life grows and life moves
It breathes
Always just out of reach it seems
You see it, you dream it, but it feels out of your reach
The words elude me
Playing hide and seek
My poem feels like an earthworm
I dream it
But upon surfacing from my dream
It’s gone
I saw the words upon the page of my dream
Then as I wake they fade
Back into the dark, rich soil.
Let them burrow.
Let them feed the roots of what comes next.
For the forest does not truly lose what falls;
It only digests, re-shapes, and waits.
I will close my eyes again tonight,
Trust the blind crawling of the verse,
And wait for the loam to speak.
I reached up into my mind
but she skidded away
she was flirty and flighty with me
what can I say?
Another elusive thought came by
She was lost before I could even try
Three great writing prompts escaped me in the last minute or two.
Do your ideas often do this to you?
Sleep
The sweet rest
Elusive to me
how i wish to find it
the elusive sleep
The stream, a phantom in my hand,
I clench; the liquid's gone, unmanned.
To hold what shifts beyond recall,
Is chasing silence through a wall.
David B Hurlburt Jr.
awareness stream
intuitively intrinsic
channeled
in
tunneled time
navigates
cognitive impulses
rudimentary
ceaseless surge
of
uplifting waves
of acuity
across
timeless threshold
of
reflective perception
opens
floodgates of
bliss
pulse of time
vibrates
in
inner space
infinite
psychic vibrato
resonates precisely
in
halcyon harmony
with intonation
of
eternal transition
from
one articulation
to another
modulated
by edified touch
of
sanctified soul
illumined
life force
invincible
spurns vacuity
pervasive
propels essence
of
existence
through
elusive emptiness
filled fervently
with
resurrected rhapsody
innate
He saw her in a crowded room
And right away his love did bloom
But love is wont to be a two-way street
On lonely highways, two hearts never meet
and so he loves her from afar
she, the luster of his elusive star
Radiant Venus saw no need his heart's desire to heed
Cupid's arrow did not succeed
At long last, he must face the fact
That his heart's desire is in the abstract
Love has orbited too far
Yet he can still wish upon a star
Inspired by the Poem: A Vision Upon The Fairy Queen by Sir Walter Raleigh
The worm of truth shimmers
Wriggles evasively
Hides inexplicably
In among sentences.
Seems to withdraw from
Honest inquiry
Dates of expiry
Desperate pleas.
We wish it Godspeed
As reason it chases
In the strangest of places
Where trust fears to follow.
A worm for a snake
Is an easy mistake.
Here's hoping deception
Won't impede truth's reception!
The autumn leaf curls within tree tops.
Fresh off the frost-lined arm of oak,
vibrant as the sweetest of tangerines.
It passes its crinkly brethren,
trekking through those yet to venture to roots,
gliding by ghosts of the already travelled.
Branches glare with eagle-eyes,
gnarled limbs twisting,
plotting to capture the leaf
with wooden talons and bramble nets.
The vengeful wind,
jaws at the ready,
wishes to shred the traveller in two
with crooked wrenches in all directions.
But the leaf dances around the branches,
and tucks its corners away from the breeze.
It whistles along with a playful tune.
Forever elusive.
Forever free.
Elusive at best her history
A mystery kept under lock and key
~ Who’d dare open that door?
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
elusive-
the futile search
for a better state
for an explanation
better than this~
elusive
seems to capture
the dance of
the searcher~
Today I discovered the sun
Not that the sun was ever invisible
Not that the sun was ever lost
Not that the sun was ever elusive
Not that the sun was ever obscured by an unattainable cost
Today I discovered the sun
When I removed the blinds from my windows
So that the sun could find me
Elopement through the dry heart
One nightfall
Or the flower
I seize
In the pungent processions
Of the winter dew
The lamppost cries for
The enlightenment
In the field of epoch-making poetry
The whispers shout
For a loving verse
With the dawn awakening
The eyes loitering for
A peaceful sleeping
Freedom becomes
Yellow envelope of
Never reaching
©Mahtab Bangalee
9th January, 2025
Another day goes by
I sit rather impatiently awaiting its bright light
Was it circumstance or plainly my tenacious misfortune?
Hundred of times for them, I tried
And each time, I felt my sobs dry
My chest starts to ache as my heart silently breaks
A melodious voice whispers my name
The warmth of the harmony that resonates with me
Steadily I prepare my mind to be
Alas hope awaits me!
No more room to mope
I chase after it, venturing into the kind shadows of the unknown
Deeper and deeper I go, losing my sense of direction back
Finally I'll be accepted.
××××
All my stars have gone dim
And hope has shut his lips it seems
The darkness surrounds me
It's getting so cold
I'm all alone
With no one to hold
The shackles that confine my limbs tug on tighter
Can't cry, can't be happy
Was this the end I dreamed so dearly of?
In my mind, God was but an elusive dream
Unperceived, invisible yet omnipresent
A favourite tale with a feel-good theme
Spread by religion through fear and prayer
I gave little credence to the thought of his existence
Till I found faith after years of denial
In human beings do I seek him
For serving man is serving God
We dream of silence, pure and still,
A space where noise suspends its trill.
Yet in the void, a whisper still, hums,
For silence never ever truly comes.
In quietude, a heartbeat strums,
The pulse of life forever thrums.
Into such stillness, wily wind whistles will creep,
And drips of drops through cracks will seep.
The breaths we take, the sighs we weave,
The quest for silence, they do deceive.
A distant echo, a memory foretold,
Reminds us that silence can’t take hold.
For even when the world’s at rest,
The heart still beats within our chest.
And the mind speaks in words unheard
Mimicking sounds, quelled and deferred.
Even ears when dead and deaf to sounds,
Make it up, when tinnitus abounds.
For quietude can never ever be true.
For its cause is lost in solitude's glue.
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