PERSEPHONE
The rivers on the rise
Fires sweeping through the trees
You gather up the strings
Loose, your memories
letters under sweaters
All the useless things
Bind them all together
That meant so much to me
Laying out your tarot
Spinning in the air
A flower on the gallows
By letting down your hair
Melting in a forge
A lock without a key
Hecate with her torch
To your Persephone
Waiting out your limbo
To leave without a trace
Searching for that window
Stepping into space
Diana with her arrow
Her hounds of hurt and love
One to wound with words
One to lick the cuts
Talking over coffee
Leading to affairs
Writing me that letter
And stepping off the chair
Hecate aided Demeter by searching for Persephone through the night with her torches, later becoming Persephone's companion in the underworld.
Young mother, did you know?
Flowers will wither in concrete and cold.
Don't fool yourself.
Did you ever see a petal bloom in a bottle or syringe?
From outside the embrace of the son.
Or the glade of free will?
Has anything ever flowered from a crack house latrine?
From the mouth of puking guns or fatherless streams.
Young mother, don't twist the sky
your garden is in flames.
Don't let them pearl your mind.
Gather up your yearlings before they catch fire.
Nothing will grow in concrete and cold.
Young mother, did you know?
Date: 19th August 2026
Autumnal whispers swirl in the breeze
As its gentle arrival hugs the trees
Still offering warmth in the glow of daylight
Changing leaves into rustic colourful delight.
Autumns breath gradually grows cold
To prepare the earth for winters hold.
Autumn breathes opportunity to animal kind
To gather up every morsel they can find
So that they can stay safe, fed and warm
Tucked in, cozy, away from winters storm.
Even with the knowledge of what is to follow,
Autumns breath soothes pre-winter sorrow.
Autumns breath reminds us that seasons end.
The harsh, dark, colder times won't last, my friend.
Ms. geologist
whisking roughened stones
far away from my soul
Divining for the slimmest vein of gold.
Sifting through layers of bending time
but finding only my pulsing fault lines.
My branch wasn't steady enough
for you to perch upon.
Like all the rest, you crashed into the invisible wall.
I gather up the thousand stones, misplaced.
Setting them back into their proper lane.
While patching the fault line of disgrace.
Ms. geologist is still digging back in time.
For a pyrite heart and a pair of amber eyes.
Missed geologist.
Life scars . . . are the roadmap of my soul,
though, under the midnight glow of violet:
there is still lots of pretty stardust that falls;
so, I gather up in my hands __ that stardust.
My life is now weather-stained with years,
and my dreams are like birds drifting away;
singing a melody ~ that floats in the wind,
to inspire they sing just for me __ it seems.
Pages of my life read like a ravaged garden,
and still- still I find beauty in each new day;
writing poetic words like stardust ~ pouring,
that hang dripping from branches in nature.
And each morn' I set out for my true north,
my hair a flowing sail in the ocean's wind;
it seems endless . . . under the sun and stars,
as the delicate stardust falls and follows me.
Oh, life is a journey of rapture, bitter and sweet,
it is like a fragile flower opening in dawns light;
like the birds singing ~~ a serenade just for us,
till we become that stardust falling from the sky.
Society punctured into strands of hell
The fracturing of innocence for a living dark spell
A mourning of youth wishing hard for new life from a well
A generation of abused who could not speak up and tell
The air is ablaze with the military lights of fire
While international talks seem to delay and retire
The people are caught in a catastrophic quagmire
From the helm comes the truth that was told by a liar
Magnitudes of humanitarian aid will be of great need
As the warnings of wise ones have not been paid heed
And the formations of new life are being starved at the seed
All for the agenda of man’s unconquerable greed
There’s a look of solemn despair in the old man’s blue eyes
As the generations of youth bellow out frightened cried
And the broken and poor meet the rich man’s demise
While we wait in the background with anxiety riddled sighs
So gather up your hope and your courage for the brave to stand
And take strength from those who have the presence of mind to command
While the missiles hit targets upon sea and land
The fate of humanity is now gravely at hand
Copyright Elizabeth Moroz 2026
Fingering verse until it bleeds
until it turned us cold and silent
lays rust over the soul
for ornament is a parasite to the senses.
We must slit our wrists, shatter the shell
'Gather up our breath from the lung of hell
Slash every gilded facade
drink the salty ocean
like the rest of the pod.
Gates open, lift the veil.
Grey: the space between us.
Gentle is your presence.
Glassy, your reflection.
Gather up, beside me.
Guide me with subtle signs.
Guarding me on my path.
*'Ghouls and Ghosts' Poetry Contest
*Sponsored by: Joseph May
*Entered on: 9/25/25
I saw him posing on his perch
While exploring Blackpool merch.
"The Snack Thief" is how he's locally known
Wide eyed, plump and holding his own.
He loves chips, ice cream cones and bread...
So keep an eye out over head!
He'll hover, then suddenly down he'll swoop
To gather up a hearty scoop.
Or he'll seem to dawdle by your side
But snatch your snack when you watch the tide.
He's very intelligent and with it sneaky.
But he is endearing, cute and cheeky.
Its advisable for tourists to feast inside
Where naughty seagulls don't reside.
Steven Seagull now lives with me
So he can't cause chaos near the sea!
Sometimes we're sacrificed to rooms void of light.
To the caw of the crow and the scent of the night.
Silk of the mind, breached by snakes -chains of cold.
Moment by moment they peck away at the soul.
Roses and razor blades strewn on the ground.
Gifts have been given to help figure it all out.
There are hordes of dark forces willing to devour you.
Only a few angels commissioned to buffer the blue.
Blessed light poking through blackening veins.
Cherish the warmth like drought does a cool rain.
Take your sledgehammer soul, shatter the shroud.
It may take a few blows, but it'll surely come down.
Gather up the roses; leave the razors behind.
Pay homage to angels-step gently into the light.
Harvest the sweet honey from the silenced hive
Embracing the grace of birdsong and shine on.
Already the morning
is full of momentum
and is beginning to crash through
the defences, leaving pieces
scattered behind.
There are always broken
things left in the wake of time.
Take that Mickey Mouse clock
for example
with the snapped spring
and missing hand, the toy truck
with the bent and rusted out
trailer, the football
with its perished bladder.
You would gather up
all the broken toys
and put them in a box
in the vague hope that one day
they could be fixed.
They never were.
A life always leaves
a long trail of debris behind
until there is nothing left
to fall off, break or perish.
When life brings us what it brings us
We must never ignore the option of UP
Look up
Get up
Stand up
Sit up
Climb up
Lift up
Firm up
Rise up
Step up
Rouse up
Stir up
Move up
Scale up
Gather up
Regardless of what life brings us
Recovery follows when we explore the option of UP
Poseidon’s spear slashed out from the angry waves
A tumultuous monsoon began to gather up the sea
The faerie folk went into hiding
When they saw army of sea cupids
Tripping through the sand
In a pair of Aussie thongs,
Boogie board in hand
Singing Aussie songs.
Davo’s got the beer.
Out of kiddies reach
What a day we’re gonna to have
It’s Christmas on the beach.
Oh, Christmas time, Christmas time
Christmas by the shore
A good old Aussie Christmas.
It’s Christmas time once more
The sun is very hot.
There is no shade around
so we gather up our stuff
And move to higher ground.
We settle neath the trees.
In a folding metal chair
Plenty shade, but there’s no breeze
But really, we don’t care
Oh Christmas time, Christmas time
All the family’s here
To celebrate our Christmas
Like we do every year
Davo came by car.
With Marie John and Jane
Granny from afar
She came by aeroplane
Joe lives up the street.
He brought his wife and kids
And even in this awesome heat,
They wouldn’t miss for quids
Oh, Christmas time, Christmas time
Christmas without snow
We love our Aussie Christmas.
It really is a show
Oh, Christmas time Christmas time
Christmas is a ball
We love our Aussie Christmas
Here’s Joy to one and all.
Go and gather up the known affiliates.
We're gonna build a village of idiots.
We gotta make sure this gets crazy.
"Getting out of hand" to me is just lazy.
Had our fill of tastless "pain et cirque".
Contorting dough into a shape won't work.
Hunting down cerebral stimuli.
We got the time to kill but it won't die.
Gonna paint this town the bloodiest of red.
A thin veneer of all the living dead.
Choking to death on the lives they've led.
Infected by the many lies wide-spread.
Blunt force persuasion you beg us to stop.
As we eyeball the pyramidal top.
It's "for the greater good" just "flattening the curve".
Please you must excuse our unabated verve.
Treating us like pets you got a whole lotta nerve.
We're the only cure you will ever deserve.
We got the hunger and we're coming for a taste
Won't be over until you resemble paste.
So we're disposable? now look who's a waste.
Editing the gene pool til your bloodlines erased.
Illuminati, elimination.
Very soon to be a not so Freemason.
More than welcoming your depopulation.
No political parties bring celebration.
The "ruling class" now holding no dominion.
Truly free no longer an unwilling minion.
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