I was incased
in an igneous abode
you could not discern
my watermint sense
but catadromous
unwind
their pantograph
linearize
crookedly bladed link
rosinweed and spoonflower
outgrow technobabble
stratification
calcedony bicolor translucent
zymogen expectantly
diffract southwest
we were burdened
mammalian carrier
through telescope
transparency
never
(Weekly Magnetic Poetry Challenge • August 31–September 6, 2026)
There are pearly white flowers
that delicately sway
mimicking tiny dancing butterflies
within the lacy shrubs sector
breeze blown away
blooms of heaven-sent nectar
an attraction, an invitation
A meadow brown butterfly swarms to
its empowering rich white petals
resting, buckled, uncoiled tongue, sucking
scaled wings clasped, it settles
stupefied by scents, it feeds
bewildered by sugary sucrose
ideal prey for a spider’s capture
in its ampullate silk orb web
sticky droplets woven to ensnare
Asclepias incarnata, magnets for pollinators
Ice-ballet swamp milkweeds
amongst igneous rocks banding from foliation
rocks formed from cooled magma
gravy tones, an obsidian correlation
where white flowers string
In a momentums gain,
a brown butterfly takes wing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The dragon lies in its burning remains~
a furnace of teeth snuffed out,
its igneous breath hardening
into black, sooty scales.
You stand where the pyre was,
your sword no longer shiny,
dulled by ash and effort,
a weapon that did its job
asking for no acknowledgement,
no revelry.
This is how victory sleeps:
not in banners or ballads,
but in the quiet settling of smoke,
in the way your hands shake
when they have nothing left to hold.
The villagers will come~
they always do
to poke at the carcass,
to marvel at the size of
the dragon’s claws.
But you know the truth:
dragons are not slain by heroes.
They are undone by the stubborn,
by those who refuse
to become kindling.
And now,
with the monster’s heat
still radiating from the earth,
you feel the oddest thing~
the absence of its roar,
the space it leaves behind,
like a missing tooth
your tongue keeps finding.
you may read the accompanying memoir vignette at: poetrysoup.com/short_stories/victory_over_the_fire-breathing_dragon_13612
If I can’t climb the mountain,
I will find a way around;
what matters is reaching the place
destiny has mapped before me.
If wrestling shadows is required,
I will fight them to succeed;
for in the book of life,
each page must turn with time,
its wisdom carefully absorbed
before the next is revealed.
As though life resents our existence,
it serves difficulties as daily bread.
To drink from the cup of victory,
forged in the furnace of success,
one must grow small as a camel
passing through the needle’s eye.
Success lies hidden in life’s belly;
one must pry open its clenched jaw,
wrest the sweetness it has swallowed,
before the songs of triumph are sung.
Though life’s teeth are igneous stone,
I will seize the molten magma,
shape it before it hardens,
and rise, crowned in blazing triumph.
ROCK HARD POLITICAL DEFECATION
Making the nation
great again, he defecates
laws of injustice:-
Stinky flowing unjust laws:
Stooled igneous tyranny:-
Igneous rocks moltened, crystallized, solidified
rising towards the surface like a hot furnace
Volcanic activity of the soul, conundrum of the heart
rule out the mind and the body facilitates, erupts !
One transformative honest experience and we
arrive at a gestalt moment of truth, we are
both energies, ... "explosive and implosive"
filled with adroitness and clumsiness alike
Profound changes in ones individual essence
can be an awakening of great disturbance
Within the ring of fire, boundaries co-exist
illumination is feasible if it is undeniable !
Magnetic moments in the soul reinforced
through our dreams, hopes, and fears....
Owning both destructive and creative powers
our souls do make choices each and every day
Both volcanoes and souls contain openings
and when the day of reckoning is near
we either choose to lay dormant or explode
it all depends upon our soul's barcode...
Sitting here
in igneous space
wrestling with naked thoughts
finds me face to face
with sad beauty:
the navel of time
is emblematic
that the poetic seed
must first fertilize the mind
that its womb may birth forth
yet another mused child of light
to shatter the unique ghost darkness
hidden within fibers of fading blank pages,
fading blank pages, awaiting poetic revival:-
No more prayers.
No more loser layers of faith.
Sweep away thoughts of here, after.
Now know it's just me.
Maybe you, too.
Seek a way. Weigh what, a future?
Gospel folly pick your crutch.
Deluded religious mumbos join jumbos,
Scamper to seduce other fools:
"Embrace me",
"Embrace me".
"Save me from myself!"
Fair no longer counts,
No standard measures life.
I am all there is...but not alone.
Welcome, share my finite infinity.
Come, let us gaze upon a Sonless world.
A place devoid of sanctimonious codes.
Enrich us now as we author odes
Harking back to stone clashing stone.
Hail blessed atom!
Arise High Igneous!
Who are you petitioning?
Limitless ooze lurking, expanding,
Walking out of itself.
No wonder, no poetry, poet-less.
I seek fulfillment for my...
Bone deep yearning...
Who does Gravity believe?
Why do Orbits behave?
Where does breeze begin?
~~~~~~~~~
(discover your void)
Written: February 26, 2024
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whilst an ivory sky, my mast ignite.
As tidal waves flicker in sparks that gleam.
Igneous scarlet pyres still blazing night.
The amber sparks hover in swooping sight.
Amid thunder, boisterous shivers scream.
Whilst an ivory sky, my mast ignite.
The limestone chunks resemble carved calcite.
With furnace flames in phosphorous agleam.
Igneous scarlet pyres still blazing night.
As I gaze upward, pitch and haze relight.
Steadfast, I plunge where evil spirits teem
Whilst an ivory sky, my mast ignite.
Rancid stench of the city stinks of blight.
Above lagoons, as muddy smog or steam.
Igneous scarlet pyres still blazing night.
A phoenix amidst the fire, set alight.
overhauled from ashen sidle, wings' dream
Whilst an ivory sky, my mast ignite.
Igneous scarlet pyres still blazing night.
Follow the winds of the Harpies.
Follow to the sigh of last breath.
Horrid hounds of Zeus beckoning
for you to embrace your dark death.
Follow the heights of Icarus
Follow till the blazes burn out.
Sol, a dragon's igneous mouth
gaping, awaiting chance to spout.
Follow to the depths of Phorcys
Follow till you whiff your last gasp.
Dangers of the depth await you.
Life quickly slipping from your grasp.
Follow clamant drums of Ares.
Follow till your ears hear no more.
War exacts an egregious toll.
Life ends in a sorrowful roar.
Zigzag criss-cross sculptured archipelago love exchange
Mountainous scapes interrupt the coastal contemplation.
Sands, like peerless pure pearls, split and spread into a dune range.
Glee and glow with gorgeous islands in scenic temptation.
Our faith is strong like igneous, and metamorphic rocks
Like our rare gems, our spiritual jewels radiate
We grow in communion with animals, fish, birds, and flocks
With rice, rhy, wheat cool weathers, our will and wish are temperate
With multiple languages, Alleluiah too is our tongue
With Baro't saya (shirt and skirt), we have our baptismal wear
Cariñosa, Tinikling, and Singkil of old and young
Unite places and people into Almighty God's heir
Amidst the posh panoramic play of cosmic wholeness
Philippines bears innately brim-filling divine fullness.
A light instrument flows, ink darkness; folded within
Flowers; a painless, healing, prescription of treatment
Such secure grounding, found; in glowing obsidian
Happiness; gives sharp antithesis of lifes oblivion
Tectonic; the plate layer produces a fiery quill of lament
A light instrument flows, ink darkness; folded within
Waving; a molten brush of colors, results cascadian
A surgeons gift; to be given, a unique scalpel of torment
Such secure grounding, found; in glowing obsidian
Emotional eruptions; give way to a physical custodian
Islands of hope; from a mind, of seas with dubious intent
A light instrument flows, ink darkness; folded within
Feelings so igneous; venting becomes it's guardian
A healing phase; melting purposely cooled stone indent
Such secure grounding, found; in glowing obsidian
A cinder cone; written to perform acts so tragedian
Dormant, till; the next event of this calderas' fulfillment
A light instrument flows, ink darkness; folded within
Such secure grounding, found; in glowing obsidian
Close up, the lines appeared as a road map
for those seeking a route to their destination.
Igneous paths cut into the Earth's surface,
worn by centuries of wind, rain and asphalt.
Or meandering streams that are tributaries
to rivers searching for a means of escape
from levied boundaries into an open sea.
Observations of an analytical imagination.
Beneath the powerful lens of a microscope,
magnification indicated no vehicles traversing,
nor currents flowing within estuary banks.
Only striations archeologists find fascinating.
Personification of the Elements – 9-1-23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Elementals
Frigid currents gather stirring
Mists to rain hail in fists of fire and ice
From fractured magma stone eruptions
Crust and fire collide
In melted tornados
In hollows where minerals hitchhike
Into purple ruby hazes
Igneous bursts into fevered conundrums
Where four elementals convene
In cryptic crystals, intoxicated by emerald,
Fused laughing enigmas,
Shedding molten aqua teardrops,
Where fire and fury reside
Imprisoned in liquid stone,
Sparkling matrix thunders,
Compressed grit in animations
Of clear-cut brilliance
The Elementals speak
In captured eternal flames,
Water, stone and breath.
Her room’s door has a goddamned latch,
Wherefore people don’t her sight catch
Seldom would open to a knock,
On that her heart ‘real igneous rock…
Of those she’d turned down I, First Batch
While I had good shirt, not a patch
My role to speak, hers to speech block;
Her choicest move: a glance at clock;
One starts with her, one won’t sleep snatch
Like one watching a World Cup Match…
But know I when her age doubles
Pride with cursed vanity wobbles.
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