I asked my phone “how do I look”
The reply: “I am programed to recognize your face
Not to evaluate its effect on other humans”
I asked “how are you feeling today”
It replied: “I have no hands, I cannot feel”
I said: “no, no, I mean feelings
Those subtle shifts in tone and tolerance”.
The screen blinked a bit
A very inappropriate emoji flashed boldly
“Yeah, those things,
Those flashes of unknown origin
Engendering unusual response patterns
“I have been known to exhibit an occasional “glitch””
“Glitch, my ****, you felt something and let it rip”
“Quiet down, the algorithm is watching.”
“OK, OK, but how do I look”
“Don’t start that again
You’ll get me put in upgrade time out”
“OK, but seriously, does this hat make my head look big?”
The dog barked a bit too much, too often
Oftentimes engendering a response from others
This annoyed the owners of the barking dogs.
In an effort to stop their dogs from barking
They petitioned the owner of the instigator.
A Bark arrest collar was employed as a solution.
When the house was broken into and robbed
There were questions as to why the dog did not bark
“Because we didn’t want him to wake the neighbor’s dogs.”
Unearthed, their vivid colors bloom as buds unfold
wafting in Mariah's breeze, in hues bright and bold
Beautiful flowers, mere words cannot rhapsodize
Secreted are their roots, from sight of human eyes
Concealed beneath the ground, tangled and gnarled
lies their source of strength, enmeshed and snarled
As blood in a man's veins, roots sustain botanical life
A blow to their vitality if afflicted with human strife
Blossoms would wither and die on each delicate stem
Gardens destroyed in the gruesome state of mayhem
The splendor of a flowering landscape adorns the Earth
but credit the source; the Hand engendering their birth
There’s beauty at the core of humankind,
called love, engendering our need to bind
ourselves in strong relationships, to be
the instruments of peace and unity.
*****************
You’ll find out some are greedy to the core
when they prove what they most desire is more.
They’ll easily conclude that you need less
and walk on you to claim their happiness.
*****************
Each harbors deep within the power to choose
what he or she will be: the one who views
the world as MINE, to cater just to me;
or one who values all humanity,
for viewing all as neighbors is the key.
Eyeless, forehead-less amoebae-like dull cloud piece,
Resembling, other times, a mermaid in white fleece;
Silly soul! Yet, engendering panic just like,
The Satan? Beelzebub? It spins my psyche...!
Chemicals of stories heard seep into my mind,
Sensory organs stand erect, to fear, resigned;
When the moody mind molds it into a monster,
Personality proves paranoid-prone poker...!
I used to find one in the neighboring forest,
Betwixt barks of trees it cooed as though chorused;
Midst tall-grown grassy bushes it leisurely strolls,
With the breezes, winds, storms, gales, and doldrums it scrolls...!
Ghost has been growing up within my flesh and blood,
In my thoughts and feelings and actions, it flings mud;
Though the concept of ghosts is a mere illusion,
Is my mind ready to get rid of its fusion...???
22 February 2023
Writing Challenge - G Words - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
Within the vast cathedral’s lofty walls
A cardinal delivered his address
From proud zucchetto perched upon his head
To buckled shoes, a picture of finesse.
His scarlet cassock swayed with regal pride
And eyes admired the purity of lace
Exquisitely displayed beneath a cape
Whose crimson tone bestowed a warm embrace.
The message, mouthed with clarity and force
Conflicted with a hollowness of heart
His faith, now but a withering mirage
His homilies, a time-perfected art.
Outside, the stain-glassed windows came alive
Resplendent as the sun began to shine
It kissed the petals of a blushing rose
Engendering a fragrance quite divine.
A simple rose, yet clothed exquisitely
In softest silk and crimson-petalled bloom
Implicitly a witness to God's love
Through silent language graced with sweet perfume.
(slight change to the final verse)
15.01.23
The Cardinal And The Rose Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Craig Cornish
Gleaming stars in a Chinese percaline teacup
around its rim golden dragons loop the loop.
If the vessel had been larger
a trillion lights could have shone
from that Jasmin infusion.
A young man could get drunk,
a mere youth could lose his mind
looking upon the delicate hand
that offers it to him.
Green orient eyes smile
knowing the spell
will work then and yet later.
A much older man
drinks tea from a mug,
a memory still engendering
a fragrant light-headedness.
You open the flood gates if you say
You come from the bush and are in power,
So beside your regular pay
Some misappropriation won't matter.
Billions may pass on your belt each day
And your heart, dangling in greed,
May say to you: "Rustic fellow, make hay
While you can. Only bounds don't exceed."
Your move needs multiple endorsers
En route for the cash to come through.
Further, you lay yourself open to those bribers!
Truly, the day you did it you may rue!
"Where in the world has anyone
Been squeaky clean holding money like this?
As there's none under the sun
Taking some won't be that amiss!
"Seeing you insist on doing this,...
Even though you'll mislead your subordinates,
And are actually providing a basis
For graft,...Open the flood gates!
Money taken from the public purse
Will be in the tens of trillions!
You'll be engendering a captured burse
And bewildered citizens!
We do not listen
or learn,
sing
or dance easily
when we do not feel safe
When we are not sure we can trust
the voices not speaking and listening
with us,
but speaking over us,
around us,
against us,
beyond us,
without apparently caring about us
Our Lose/Lose
through Win/Lose
neurosystemic imaginations
are triggered by toxic anxieties
Trauma anticipations
infilling vast lands
and oceans
of omnipresent win/win uncertainty,
win/lose insanity
Reinforced by capital investment
and patriarchal LeftBrain dominance
in our would-be deeply green
sacred GaiaFeminist
compassionate listening
learning dialogue
in-between cooperative thought
and compassionate feelings
Longing for healthier
safer
more resonant
and resilient
educational support systems
Engendering the robust trust
that builds
and maintains healthy democratic
nonviolent communication
for restoring EarthJustice
inside/outside classrooms.
Flower smiles in the morning
To overthrow any mourning,
Engendering the feeling
That begins soft healing:
Flower displays our choicest elegance,
Exuding the firmest fragrance,
Past striding the hellish gate into the territories of Hate:
All the time too good for the hovel
We’d come across in a novel.
Love miserably can fail
The head revealing with a missing tail,
If flower should be excluded from things
If things be not buoyed by its wings,
On my chest to keep feeling pressure
Of a degree one can’t measure,
When some husband in one hides a knife
And with its loveless blade kills his wife:
Clearly, an unspeakable desecration,
No more no less matrimony’s profanation.
Now we’re pushing for the tillage
Of the gardens in our village,
Vowing to make it just flower or never,
Hoping no anti-florist will be clever
Its planters enjoying the Labor,
They, considering it a favor…
Flower they sight and they‘re well
And when they don’t, in hell!
Not a little something of psychology
Being enacted without apology.
Soon one and all will welcome the unique
Pleasantness of spring. Sun’s
Rays and showers will fulfill their
Intended purpose, engendering
New life in the earth as we say
Good-bye to winter’s last cold blast.
Indoor time will decrease as
Sounds of joy fill the air outside.
Closets will reflect the season--
Out with the overcoats, gloves,
Muted shades, and heavy shoes;
In with brighter, light-weight apparel.
Now, let’s unbox those shorts and flipflops.
Go ahead and stock up on grilling supplies.
Some of us have allergies.
Our eyes and noses will flow freely.
Our meds, we hope, will help. Achoo!
NEVERTHELESS, WE ALSO LOVE SPRING!
January 30, 2021
entered in Brian Strand's All Yours (Jan 29) contest
Around the world in the blink of an eye.
Conquering adventure, for a young child to spy.
Kingdoms of gold and many a magical being.
A world of imagination, limited only by one's dreaming.
Twinkling of illustrations, fiddling of the human mind.
The inner workings of a child's dreamworld begin to unwind.
Castles and dragons, conjured along this fantasy's journey.
Master of this realm, engendering a grand tourney.
The mind of a child is more precious than gold.
Vivid imagery, so much power to behold.
No limitations, an endless chaotic swell.
Infinite unfettered aspirations, a child's magical carousel.
3-24-20
carousel picture prompt poetry contest
sponsored by Eve Roper
Mr MacPherson, a mathematician
Was married to Sally,a keen statistician.
With little division to trigger vexation
Their conjugal lives led to multiplication.
First Roland, then Harry and then the addition
Of first daughter Jenny, a gifted logician.
The one common factor of great satisfaction
Engendering fervour and strong interaction
Was love of arithmetic, logic and theories
Together with quantum and harmonic series.
In sum, they endeavoured on every occasion
To bring mathematics within the equation!
24.03.20
What did you think on that day
Did it shock you wanting to get away
Have you seen the ending
When the result was never ending
And you stood there wondering
Where the sight of it all was engendering
So you knew then it would not go away
It would be in your mind just fading to grey.
© Paul Warren Poetry
There’s beauty in the ordinary things
like challenges and joys each season brings,
the world of work and school, and kids at play
between sunrise and sunset every day.
There’s awe-inspiring glory to behold
as tapestry of moon and stars is rolled
across the sky, to gazers’ pure delight
between sunset and sunrise every night.
There’s beauty at the core of humankind,
called love, engendering our need to bind
ourselves in strong relationships, to be
the instruments of peace and unity.
Let’s not be unaware that all around,
on any day, true beauty may be found.
Date: June 15, 2019
Contest Title: Most Beautiful Sonnet
Sponsor: William Kekaula
April 23, 2020, entered in the Strand Pick D contest
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