Wanting to know I’m safe.
Wanting to know I’m good.
Needing security.
Needing praise.
Needing courage.
Wanting to be brave.
An hour and thirty minutes
the daylight has been gone.
But in my state of mind
it has been too long.
I need you here
to scare away the fears,
to hide away the tears.
Six years old.
Innocence lost.
Only my sanity
is the cost.
These nightmares won’t
set me free.
I only see
what I’ll never be.
He ruined me.
He ruined me.
He’s installed panic
in my head.
Makes me wish
I were dead.
His deviance
controls me.
Even the truth
won’t set me free.
His power over me
enrages my heart.
He’s taken my soul
and torn it apart.
He took my values
and made me ill.
And yet they expect me
to love him still.
I’ll never understand
this cold, cruel world.
How can a daddy
harm his little girl?
the one who enrages you controls you ~ when you walk away you win
Real comedy is bold
it's straight and blunt
there's no white gloves
or polite niceties
Real comedy is harsh
without playing dirty
it smacks you in the face
and punches in the gut
Real comedy is dark
looks head on at society
points out what's wrong
and shoves it in your face
Real comedy is hot
enrages those with a soul
infuriates those who claim
to have a conscience
Real comedy is cold
sure it gets laughs
make no mistake
it's on a mission
Real comedy is brash
addresses those who
care to make a difference
and want to change the world
AP: Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
You might not like it
you may not agree
But religion’s the problem
the real enemy
A blind ideology
that kills to maintain
A false image of God
to blaspheme and profane
The Koran—the Crusades
the excuses—the lies
Fanatical visions
the death they imply
The future will judge
what the present impales
The shame and the heartbreak
humanity failed
As ill-fated dogma
kills the innocent child
The real God enrages
his judgment on file
So spew out your maxims
and dig in your heels
As millions will die
for what you think you feel
The universe watches
eternity waits
For this plague to be over
—this damned human race
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)
a thousand tragedies paned
onto the community headlines
slashes the idle spirits
the wound enrages them to
seek out sadistic glee for the sake
to title themselves as 'woken.'
pitchforks and torches raised
looking for the guilty farmer
with swift words and stories
all the crops seared in the name
of the mindless chase for "justice."
“no god or jury; only us”
the next day arrives new tragedies,
sprouts new farmers to fight,
old pitchforks and torches to light
burning all but ideas
immortalised by martyrs made
from setting the flames
not one man asks for
the purpose of the hunt or be
branded as “the problem”
they walk the same burned soil
refusing to admit that they are
only casting flames on scarecrows
to the new age cult
criticism is blasphemy
indifference is hatred
One can fall in love madly
if he accepts it and believes it;
someone else might choose to be free
and regret his decision when he'll be lonely:
what will you pick and stick to it?
It might be unwise to disagree!
If he chooses to love, it's much better for him,
but if he chooses freedom,
he can't escape boredom;
loneliness can put on hold his precious dream!
The new concept of romance
confuses people and enrages them;
the new concept of romance
without any strict rules to follow:
brings darkness in their tomorrow...
living a worthless life without esteem!
Today lovers are so selfish
and they're unwilling to make the sacrifice;
today lovers have only one wish:
to hurt others refusing don't pay the price!
The concept of romance
has changed meaning, it's only an incidence;
the concept of romance
is stripped of the passion that was so intense!
My husband's like to water, I to oil.
We're masters of the knock-down, drag-out brawl.
We just don't mix. I cause his blood to boil
and he enrages me. The dude has gall!
From "Water and Oil," a parody of Edmund Spenser's Sonnet 30 "My Love Is Like to Ice and I to Fire" from Amoretti
Date: January 16, 2020
Contest Title: Arbitrium Divisa 6
Sponsor: Gregory Barden
my parody
My husband's like to water, I to oil.
We're masters of the knock-down, drag-out brawl.
We just don't mix. I cause his blood to boil
and he enrages me. The dude has gall!
Why in the dickens are we both still here?
You'd think one would vamoose to parts unknown,
but each holds our vast property so dear,
we keep a death-grip on it, scowl, and moan.
Explaining our relationship is hard;
We're cold as ice, with tempers blazing hot.
All sense of reason from this home we've barred.
Will white flags soon be waving? I think not!
Such is the power of assets owned so long
by two who daily scream, "I'm right; you're wrong!"
Edmund Spenser’s sonnet (see notes) follows the rhyme scheme of
ABAB BCBC CDCD EE.
The rhyme scheme of my parody is English/Shakespearean.
Date: January 11, 2020
Contest Title: English Sonnets Contest
Sponsor: Emile Pinet
it infuriates me so
kids anxious
to get their grubby hands
on their inheritance
~ their due!
anxious to claim their jackpot
uncouth arrogance and greed
so what if it’s at the expense
of someone else’s lifetime
of labor and sacrifice
the entitlement
the disrespect
mind boggling
it enrages me so
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
The man who puts kids in cages
Laughs at the folks it enrages
Whilst taxpayers bleed
Republicans need
Bilingual pedophile Pages
Rain rushed in like a concert audience.
There’s nothing calm about Spring’s arrival.
The specter gusts regrets and survival,
Strip limbs for whips — a sore obedience.
A path cut through, a cold subservience.
The robin’s heavy breast with cheep revival.*
A rose depressed in past Spring’s archival.
Absence of warmth, enrages audience.
A sip of dandelion wine — desire
spurs wholesome cheat, complete with snowy seeds.
Remembrance of unwrinkled hands - youth’s lore,
A marshmallow on spit, and rosy fire.
Enhance the peace and love of daisy beads.
Unwind the twister’s coil, unleash Spring’s core.
3/21/2018
Greg Cornish’s Petrarchan Sonnet contest
cheep - to utter faint shrill sounds : peep, to utter a single word or sound
(from Merriam Webster dictionary) Also mimics the word “cheap”
the drums of conflict are pounding across the land
we are drawn to statues that were once ignored
could it be statues vs statutes?
history can be destroyed
where do we stop?
is it a larger plan for change?
will we be changed?
how can an idea be stopped?
mob rule only enrages
it will not end?
on what side will i land?
destroy the past ,destroy the future
if we do not remember,history will be repeated
nothing is new under the sun
we must keep the past alive
a warning not to repeat
a lesson on what is our GOD given rights
a more perfect union can not be recreated
where do you stand?
You may not like it,
you may not agree
But religions’ the problem,
the real enemy
A blind ideology,
that kills to maintain
A false image of God,
to blaspheme and profane
The Koran—the Crusades,
the excuses—the lies
Fanatical visions,
the death they imply
The future will judge,
what the present impales
The shame and the heartbreak,
humanity failed
As ISIS and Hamas
kill the innocent child
The real God enrages,
his judgment on file
So spew out your dogma,
and dig in your heels
As millions will die,
for what you think you feel
The universe watches,
eternity waits
For this plague to be over,
—this damned human race
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)
Somewhere in hell their war still rages
Somewhere in hell their fires still burn
Somewhere in hell they fight through the ages
Somewhere in hell evil swears to return
Somewhere in hell the devil wages
Who's gonna win the war from before
Somewhere in hell a truth of light engages
Against evil to stop hell from finding your door.
Somewhere in hell evil enrages
Against a spirit who will not leave his post from before.
Somewhere in hell light blinds evil at all stages
Somewhere on earth a woman bares witness to memories of their war.
Somewhere in hell his eyes will never close
Somewhere in hell memories will never fade
Somewhere in hell his life counts for something
Somewhere in hell the truth beats the lie
Somewhere in hell their war still rages
Somewhere in hell good will not die.
Somewhere in hell.
Metropolis…
a cackling cacophony of confusion
energizing some and enrages others.
Concrete and steel giants,
loom forebodingly over the masses;
blocking out gifts of the sun.
The maze that tires me from constant searching;
why am I here in this overcrowded and hopeless abyss?
The bang-clang trucks and trolleys,
beat out their metronomic, one…two...beat
and the drone of engines,
sings a tired ballad of the modern world.
Cities are the lairs of bad-tempered dragons;
harboring too many precious trinkets.
Vulnerable souls are the noonday snacks,
devoured by cold-blooded sharks.
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