I recall the rural life of the butterfly
Extravagantly —that proud floating mass of wings.
Her wings flutter from sea to coast so eloquently,
Yet silent with the muteness of frightened breeze.
They are banners with buntings of newness — striped,
Spotted, arched, dotted.
Her flamboyant life history, reading it backwards,
Is an exhibition of time and cosseted patience....
The winged one, aged and tried, schleps to the stirs of a narcoleptic pupa,
Hanging on the banisters of a dear larva who's egged on to
Run the full circle and announce the mating time and a most
Fragile conception.
Write! Anything. Be a dream writer
Write poeticly. Be about a spree! Take
Vacation from mundane. Be
Astounding! Astonish YOURSELF!
HAVE WORD WEALTH! I am LONELY
COME AND SEE. Visit me! Be just
Like me! This me. Keep company
With me. WRITE with me
PROLIFICALLY! These
Poetics here is JUST THE BEGINNING
OF THE SPINNING! come! Be like me!
WHO Can hide from WORDS? We use
Them often everytime we speak we
Write we seek.... we answer we dream.
Luxury and experience poverty! Heeey
Be a poetic ROMANCER Commander!
Even STAND UP FOR POETRY! DREAM
Your poetic dreams! One verse one
Word at a time. Multiple words with
A rhyme or a line. Reach extravagantly
Be extreme! Write dreams! Think
Poetry in the seams. BE A SOMEBODY!
Write everything Out there over everywhere.
Write Those far thoughts and memories
On the minds of Gods! Think hard
Think things eternally allways Write
What has not been written. Take your
Craft seriously. IT IS TABOO TO DO
LESS! Well now YOU HAVE ALL MY
BEST!
Living in doubt when I should be faithful
I’m walking God’s route if you were wondering about me
What am I talking about? You wonder? Wow, I’m grateful
I have God’s light like an ember in a fire, burning extravagantly
You’re the darkness above
I’m the light below my wings at wing
I’m a soaring, gloomy dove
I’m the night when nightingales sing
What lies above
Must fall down
I’m Cinderella without her white glove
I’m a little kid in the swimming pool who’s about to drown
Or like a kid’s kite that is caught by lightning and its gravity-bound
Nigeria is on the precipice
A country in dire need of redemption
Blessed extravagantly by providence
But ravaged ignorantly by
Leadership failure
Built on faulty foundation of
Impunity, corruption and nepotism
Which has engendered overtime
Inequality of crass proportion
As insignificant few
Swim in obscene opulence
While embarrassingly majority
Wallow in criminal poverty
Arise you men of good will
Silence is no longer golden
Arise wrestle our country back
From the spirit of live and let die
Arise my compatriots to the clarion call
To rescue God’s masterpiece
From total annihilation
Stand up and be counted
Together let us overcome
Inspiration reaches out and grabs him before breakfast
He lives colors and patterns the way the rest of us breathe
Misunderstood and misused, he worries not about it.
This life means nothing; he survives on his own planet far away.
Keen imagination provides him with people, events, reasons to live.
We stayed away, for he is a bit mad, isn't he?
Anyway, he has no need of conversation or ordinary.
His mind is extravagantly unique, he is satisfied.
His paintings hold his interest. They hold him captive.
He is more obsessive compulsive than bumblebees.
He will be found some day lying among his cherished canvases
With a hardened paint brush in his non-yielding stiffened hand.
We will spend no time in here, for it will feel like a violation.
His sanctuary, his world, his nirvana, his art studio.
We will leave it undisturbed until he reincarnates as a better artist.
REBIRTH
glories
of
a cultural flowering
a revival
once barren
in a
traumatic fragmented
schism
a comeback
an
elaborate
creative perspective
on crossed
horizons
this discovery
&mastery reinvigorated
immediate
in maturity
with small measure
yet simultaneous
possibilities
of patronage arise
extravagantly
grandiose & complex
to proclaim & emphasise
a lifestyle
well made
in symbols
anecdotes
on a small scale
genre scenes
a relative calm
of elegance
simple
satisfying
longings
REBIRTH
glories
of
a cultural flowering
a revival
once barren
in a
traumatic fragmented
schism
a comeback
an
elaborate
creative perspective
on crossed
horizons
this discovery
&mastery reinvigorated
immediate
in maturity
with small measure
yet simultaneous
possibilities
of patronage arise
extravagantly
grandiose & complex
to proclaim & emphasise
a lifestyle
well made
in symbols
anecdotes
on a small scale
genre scenes
a relative calm
of elegance
simple
satisfying
longings
THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE without grammatical symbols the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and respond thus making the form a two way interplay and often a unique interpretation by the enigma so derived
X marks the spot
Where a young child had stood,
Enjoying his friends’ company as only
A young child could.
X marks the spot
Where the child lay dying,
Medics there to save his life,
Desperately trying.
X marks the spot,
From which the crowd was kept,
The child’s mother who broke through
And uncontrollably wept.
X marks the spot
Where the ambulance came,
The police taking measurements,
Photographing the stain.
X marks the spot
Where the piles of flowers were left,
Where the moving tributes were made
From those now bereft.
X marks the spot
Where the funeral procession slowed,
Where a community’s grief
In rivers now flowed.
X marks the spot
Where the young child was struck
By a man on a mobile
In charge of a truck.
X marks the spot
Where a quick call was made,
The cost of this phone call
Extravagantly paid.
X marks the spot
Where a young child had stood,
Enjoying his friends company as only
A young child could.
X marks the spot
Where the child laid dying,
Medics there to save his life,
Desperately trying.
X marks the spot,
From which the crowd were kept,
The child’s mother who broke through
And uncontrollably wept.
X marks the spot
Where the ambulance came
The police taking measurements
Photographing the stain.
X marks the spot
Where the piles of flowers were left,
Where the moving tributes were made
From those now bereft.
X marks the spot
Where the funeral procession slowed
Where a community’s grief
In rivers now flowed.
X marks the spot
Where the young child was struck
By a man on a mobile
In charge of a truck.
X marks the spot
Where a quick call was made
The cost of this phone call,
Extravagantly paid.
Fatherhood holds great pivotal power:
To lift or let down, bringing laughter or frowns.
Your words have potency, proven by deeds.
Do what you promise and plant for renown.
Be the hero, the parent your children need.
Be more than you dreamed that a father could be.
Be a fulcrum of joy, praise extravagantly!
Fatherhood bears a life-changing might:
To give worth or debase, esteem or erase.
Your words are harpoons, or pillows of grace.
Listen intently, be still, SEE their face.
Be the dad that your children love to embrace.
Be more than you dreamed that a father could be.
Be a fulcrum of grace, give extravagantly!
Fatherhood sets generational ties:
To move up or down, the family tides.
Your words are their seeds of self-worth or shame.
Invest your best to build grooms and brides.
Be the man that shows them the worth of your name.
Be more than you dreamed that a father could be.
Be a fulcrum of life, love extravagantly!
Africa my continent
I remember you today as always
The cradle of civilization
The land of great and revered warriors
Endowed extravagantly with all God’s natural resources
Africa my continent
The land of great promise
Africa of Achebe’s Things fall Apart, I salute you.
Rise up and take your destiny in your own hands
The abundance of wealth in your bowels
Should be a blessing to your poverty-stricken children
Africa you must stop disappointing God
Africa my continent
It is time to purge your off-springs of notorious acronyms
Which have become their lot
The poverty capital of the world
The corruption infested countries
The third world countries
The least developed countries
Developing countries
-hole countries
Emerging economies
Underdeveloped countries
Arise Africa and shine for your star has risen!
Celestial gifts these memories we’ve stored
Slow walks on wave-caressed and sun-warmed sand
As crimson, umber, mauve cascades are poured
Extravagantly all across the land -
An art show best encountered hand in hand.
The wife of Louis, lavish Marie Antoinette
Extravagantly led the country into debt.
Designed to marry Austria with France,
She led the hapless king a merry dance.
Poor harvests afflicted the farms,
The peasants were all up in arms.
They stormed the Bastille
With militant zeal,
Which triggered off royal alarms.
Although her youthful beauty had been widely prized,
She ended life decapitated and despised.
And that is why you often hear it said,
That avarice can make you lose your head.
16.09.19
'Clerimerick Couplets (Hybrid Form) Poetry Contest' sponsored by Mark Toney
A secret life! What would it be
were I to choose this life for me?
Would I drive a great car?
Be the wife of a star?
Could I live extravagantly?
How could anyone live that way
and not give the secret away?
So I guess I’d retire
to some beach I’d acquire,
living easy where palm trees sway.
Jan. 28, 2019 for Caren Krutsinger's If I Had a Secret Life Poetry Contest
I once found myself sitting on a Moon,
Funny thing is, it was barely around noon,
It was so surreal, it became a moment I did not want to end soon.
Even though the Sun was shining fiercely bright,
I was being illuminated by a different source of light.
The glow was extravagantly different,
But it was a site nothing less than magnificent.
At first my eyes didn’t want to believe,
But then I remembered, it’s all about how your life, you perceive,
So it became very real, as my heart reminded me, of what the mind can achieve.
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