Men of learning mired are in envy,
Those of influence, proud and haughty,
As rest are ignorant,
My poems have gone gaunt,
Untold, unread, old and weary.
___________________
Translation | | poet, poem
Poet’s Note: Bhartruhari was a poet king in central India in the seventh century CE, who when disillusioned in love renounced kingdom and became an ascetic. Neeti Shatakam, a compilation of hundred verses on moral values was written by him along with Shringar Shatakam on romance, and Vairagya Shatakam on dispassion and renunciation. This verse is taken from Neeti Shatakam. It seems, even in these olden times, poetry suffered from the same fate as now--getting old unread.
Boddharah matsara-grastah prabhavah smaya-dushitah |
Abodha-upahatah cha anye jirnam ange subhashitam || 2 || Meter: Anushtup
Categories:
gaunt, poems, poets,
Form: Rhyme
An old gaunt lady
With feeble steps
Walked to the red telephone booth
On the roadside pavement
Every day she dialed a number
And spoke inaudibly into the receiver
As tears streamed down her crinkly face
This continued for an hour
Until she resigned for the day
Hoping for another heartfelt conversation
A baffling mystery unsettled us
Spectators to this daily drama.
Categories:
gaunt, loneliness, mystery, old, red,
Form: Free verse
James Thomas Horn
would be rather gaunt
letters were in a weird font
which would have to haunt
Categories:
gaunt, allegory, analogy,
Form: Haiku
[ ]
Her face gaunt
whiskers from oddly coloured lumps
wrongly pathed teeth
plunge from
well i called it a smile
but not sure
kindness fawns into darkness
within the youngest eyes
coloured cloth hides
her mumbling wizened hair
thick woven sheets of shoop
dyed in their own blood
still think it should be shoop
wrinkles turn to darkened caverns
within her crumpled clothes
Stale held her breath
in lovers arms
Insects lathered themselves
in her pools of gravity
overcomplicated bone nubbins
scratch on see through skin layers
shivers in the summertime
thoughts of seeing the nubbins
pulling into the dark
seen from child's certainty
are draped shoulder too easily
encircled a hearty evil giggle
I stay close
so many ways disappear behind her
and lights from deep within suddenly glimmer
is home so far away
Categories:
gaunt, poetry,
Form: Free verse
A gaunt face
wizened by time,
portrays
a no-nonsense
man of convictions,
poor, yet proud
of his
heritage.
And yet,
beneath that
roughshod look
I glimpse a kind heart
and soul, suggesting he’s
more
human than he seems.
Categories:
gaunt, angst, art, beautiful, feelings,
Form: Verse
there was a tuned time
when wet wits' wiles
pricked pestered passion
fragile fills foiled fracture
there was a drooling decade
when wanky wields waited
on meagre melody, clogged cleavages
hampered hanker humming hymns
there's this mystic metamorphoses
smothered time trails on lanky lips
of tampered technology, squashed syllables
dripping dances etched in gaunt gullibles
this time is a bruised bile
cooked in cauldron of vile vices.
'20:05:20:19:42
Note: of gaunt generation.
Categories:
gaunt, technology,
Form: Sonnet
nocturnal nature nimble
hibernating hampered hurdle
salient acme strained
whooshing wills waned
drooling dainty dirge
pruning punctured perch
sassy spectre surged
leasing lofty lurch
amputated atmosphere pursed
airy ascension hacked
felon fate squashed
trailing taunted trance
porous prayer pulled
gaunt gravity's hood.
'20:05:12:20:08
Note: Of porous prayer.
Categories:
gaunt, faith,
Form: Sonnet
callous clouds hummed
sassy syllables puked
dripping dark dribbles
vying veil trickles
amputated atmosphere bewitched
spooky spell enriched
thrilled trees trailed
crumbling crescendos' wail
rusty rhythm raved
nudging nature nimble
munching meagre mumble
bounty boulevard hurdled
bridged blitzkrieg bruised
grooming gaunt gloom.
'20:04:27:18:21
Note: An imitation of an art of nature the Almighty etched in the earth.
Categories:
gaunt, nature,
Form: Sonnet
bruised bliss puked
vying voluptuous view
lanky lust lurched
veiling hankering verge
dark drips dangled
felon fate fumbled
saucy sight seeped'n
nocturnal spell spree,
callous contraction's creed
moaning mists melted
basked braces belched
smothered syllables rent
gaunt gift grasped
taunted troubled trance.
'20:03:13:16:03
Note: Dedicated to Homer.
Categories:
gaunt, hero,
Form: Sonnet
spooky sleep staggering
with wills wielding
hoisted hands hankering
lurching, fiddling lids
sumptuous state stuttering
eerie end enveloping
Zeus zipping zeals
pricking pulsing peels
moaning mists munching
summoned sundry saps
gaunt gods grasped
pruning punctured pats
"Leave for Earth,
damp desirous death."
19:12:06:07:49
Categories:
gaunt, dark, god,
Form: Sonnet
Countless
gaunt faces
bewildered and pathetic
staring while passing in
droves
Categories:
gaunt, conflict, confusion, humanity, leaving,
Form: Cinquain
Its transparent and I can see right in and deep,
there is nothing of substance,
its an unending creek,
an unusual light illuminates it,
beating the dark,
this is crevice in my soul and heart.
Categories:
gaunt, inspirational, life, philosophy,
Form: Free verse