my eyes glean a shape
in the lurid dark
I go for it through the cold
edge of night
my fingers touch mist
a memory flickers
unreliable as an old film
did the window face east or west
I cannot quite place the shadow
the mirror shows a face I know
the lines etched with years
yet the eyes peering back
hold a question I cannot answer
I reach for the tangible cup
its ceramic warmth steadying
a brief anchor in the soft drifts
I watch the dust motes dance
in a beam that isn't there
or maybe it is everywhere
we build lovely castles
of brick and glass
and then the walls begin to breathe
slowly
imperceptibly
turning to watercolour
perhaps reality is just
a shape we hold
in the mind
for duration of the breath
and when that breath eases out,
what structure remains
is only the echo
of believing.
brotherhood of man living in harmony ~ why can't it be?
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Some people write of
things they know...
feeling more daring,
I prefer to explore:
start with a glimpse,
or chase a shadow,
a sliver of light
from a strange door
left ajar, on a path
I obscurely saw –
Some people write
while I more dream,
imprinting pages
with a glint and a
gleam – in pursuit
of some ever
illusive beam....
Oh, where have you traveled, my illusive muse?
I do not see you in the shadows; yet I’ve paid my dues.
Alert and alive, I am ready to pen the poem of my life.
But words are not coming muse. You cause me great strife.
Apology accepted, ready to forgive, my heart is open.
I am waiting for enthusiasm; muse, your ideas are dope’n.
Oh, where are you, my mysterious excited maestro self?
I am your puppet, your minion, your fairy, your elf.
Here I sit, not having any ideas at all of what to do.
Do I write words of passion, humor, or something blue?
I need my inspiration, muse. I truly need you!
Without your presence, there is nothing I can do.
Endless tunnels lead me, to dim corners of strange dimensions
Floating with waves to infinity, loops curling me to shores
I lose the stories seen, in witty rituals of my mind.
May 23, 2020
Let the Pens Flow - Sijo Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Jenish Somadas
~Winner: First Place
BRIAN'S select D,any form,any theme Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Brian Strand
~Winner: Third Place
Waiting, waiting, waiting, is this the thing to do?
Patience, patience, patience, am I the one for you?
Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming, is this how you are too?
Caution, caution, caution, am I afraid? Are you?
When it’s time to meet, will I move my feet?
If it’s up to you, will you walk on through?
I feel that I know you, do you know me too?
How is it we’ll greet, will our hearts skip a beat?
Illusive Shutterbug
She works behind a camera
and sees what others can't see.
She turns ordinary into mystical
and fiction into reality.
She doesn't just see with her eyes,
she sees with her heart and soul.
She makes magic with light and moon beams,
she makes things once broken, whole.
She's a mythological creature
that never appears in a shot,
unless another creature stands in
and takes the shutterbug's spot!
you fade into
the distance
out of reach
an illusion
dissipating
with the breeze
into the night
a specter
an hallucination
vanishing
leaving me forever
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on December 16, 2018 for contest LATE DECEMBER 2018 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 1ST
Happiness races like the cheerful deer
Can’t be kept forever in the inept frame
Drifts always like illusive mirage farther
Can’t be reached for the thirst to tame.
I've walked up and down these city streets
Left my prints along the beach
Searching for that which I need
But seldom is it within reach
Every nook and cranny in my home
Climbed high the mountain top alone
Never sure of where it's gone
The illusive poem
Day and night I will not rest
This poem to find I've made my quest
I've laid it out at my behest
There's nothing needed more than this
I've called up everyone I know
Rang the Vatican in Rome
I will not stop my on the go
Until I find this poem
I've trudged the jungles of the South
More places than I dare to count
And still have yet to figure out
How all this came about
I'll keep on with my keeping on
Never bowing to the loss of hope
Because deep inside one day I know
I will find this poem
I've looked up among the blinking stars
Telescoped Venus and Mars
Held up signs to passing cars
But failed to look deep in the heart
You'd have thought I would have known
The one place I failed to go
That's where it was all along
The illusive poem
First I went all thru Canada
Searching thru icy lakes and ponds
Verdant green woods and valleys
Looking for the illusive moose.
Then on to Alaska to try again
Searching brush and waterways
I saw an abundance of life
But not a moose found on my stay.
Once I actually heard his call
His loud voice was saying to me
“I will stay well hidden from you
For I am shy, don’t you see.”
So, now all I have is a picture
Pasted on my computer screen
To remind me of my travels and
That darned moose hiding from me.
Most Illusive
Can thin spaces be created by a Priest
Closer to God and distance not increased
And about some things I must be blunt
Still trying to decide what I need and want.
What if for while longer I have to wait
For standup comedian to be a candidate
Which I really on occasion often heard
In Republicans existing in every word.
Listen very closely and are liable to hear
Their thinking reality is no where near
Are even starting a show of their own
And is called, "How to gripe and moan."
Hilary often has been beyond compare
Until there was the Benghazi affair
On computer had been webmaster
Republicans turned into a disaster.
On and on and on could go and go
After a while you will eventually know
Much credit Republican s we must give
About any subject are the most illusive.
Guess what? My back is all worn out
from patting it so much so I did decide
to write this poem. Can you blame me?
James Thomas Horn
Retired Veteran and Poet
RiverSea Plantation
Bolivia, NC
I’ve never seen a unicorn,
I do not know their source.
I know PD has seen them
Because she says she loves them.
I think she fears someone would come
To take her pets by force,
So she protects her unicorns
By telling no one of them.
When Noah built his sturdy ark
On that momentous day,
Somehow he missed the unicorns
Not knowing he’d messed up.
But God with his all-seeing eye
Watched as he sailed away
And put two on a mountain top
With drink and food for sup.
They stayed there for a thousand years
In perfect sweet content
Without caring they’d been left behind
They kicked their heels and played
Without thought of loss or danger
When all the others went.
But food grew scarce and they must move
To a land of heavy shade.
If you should see a unicorn
Be careful where you blab it.
Remember he is in God’s care
And there are folks who’s hope would be
To get a cage and grab it.
Convinced some money could be made
From the unicorn you see.
Only friends of unicorns allowed.
Keep their secret, make PD proud.
By: Joyce Johnson
For Pd on her October 7th birthday. Happy Birthday dear friend. Love, Joyce
Wafting on winds many miles from home.
Hovering together splashes of black and white.
A Zebra Longwing colony home from the day’s roam,
Oh, how happy I was to see that old familiar sight.
Monarchs and Viceroys dash back and forth.
But Zebra Longwings roost after each days dance.
How did they get here so far north?
Eggs or chrysalises traveled by hurricane, perchance.
The pungent scent of lantana, there nourishment lies.
A delicious yellow and orange feast; oh sight.
The sweet nectar would fill the visiting butterflies.
Thickets and trees were explored, too, with delight.
Gathering at night, hovering, unlike other types.
That nostalgic moment felt so good inside.
Remembering long ago chasing illusive stripes.
Years had passed but butterfly kisses still abide.
© April 11, 2011
Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen
Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest: A Butterfly's Trail Of Kisses
Sponsored by: Gail Doyle
I fell~ asleep
It was easy to fall*
I slipped~ into a dream
When I couldn't get a grip*
. *** .
I hate WHAT you did to me..
Inside are things you can't see..
WHAT!
Do you want me to PRETEND a smile?
I think I'll stay in my slumber of denial..
Like a pack of candy,
you where excited to open me up!
After a while you kept your mouth shut.
This Love Label came with NO WARNING sign.
WHAT happen to cloud nine?
Secretly you ended this.
With one broken KISS!
In the back of my mind when I close my eyes..
My thoughts are still searching for that one surprise..
A piece of puzzle in the making,
The piece that will clear up my skies...
I can't live my life in peace...
Knowing my heart was filled up with your disease...
Like a dreamer you made me fall into deep...
Now I'm lost in a realm of sleep..
This dream has not expired,
I'm overdue when it comes to counting sheep..
This is only a bad dream?
Wake me up!
Hear me scream!
WHAT! I'm not screaming?
Come on, I got to be dreaming!
WHAT!
Do you mean this isn't a dream?
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