Written: July 8, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Brian Strand
***Instead of simply describing the visual of Chaggal Birthday Work of Art, this Ekphrasis poem reacts to and interprets the painting's emotional and symbolic significance.
********************
Ekphrasis: The Birthday
Love unfastens
the ordinary.
A room remains a room
until joy bends its own bones,
and suddenly
the body believes
it was always meant
to fly.
Your kiss
is not an ending,
but an axis—
around which walls,
windows,
and waking
quietly revolve.
Gravity grows gentle,
its stern syllables
softened by surrender.
I look,
and the painting
looks back—
teaching me
that devotion
is the only miracle
that leaves the earth
without ever leaving it.
Fight me! Styx wants to say
It comes out as a ‘mew’
They stroke his fur and pet his head
Tickle, fuss and coo
Too soft! He thinks, Where are the claws?
The hard knocks and the teeth?
His friends, the other wampus cats
At least brawl like they have beef
But his clowder mates are holed up too
Hunkering from the hail
What he wouldn’t give right now
To bite another’s tail!
Adrenaline makes his muscles twitch
Pent up frustration writhes
Oh to be outdoors again
Running with his tribe!
Fight me! Styx wants to roar
All six legs set to scrap
He doesn’t want an invitation
To sit purring on a lap
Fight me! Styx insists
And receives a little shove
Yes! Physical contact!
He interprets it as love
Fight me! Fight me! He’s shoved again
He nips, inviting more
He’s rewarded with rough and tumble
And is sent sprawling on the floor
When it comes to good play fighting
The humans don’t quite know how
It’s not the same as wampus wrestling
But it’ll do, for now
279.
The Volcanic Eruption Communication Model
Volcano, the sender
Pyroclastics, the message
From the inner and under
Explodes the great rage!
Space, the medium
Sky, the receiver
Of this mad pandemonium
Towards up, up, up there!
But touched not directly
The target of utterance
And pyros echoed to thee
With unforestalled exuberance!
-11/16/2014
(Dumarao)
*interprets my formulated Communication Model
perception sees beyond reality
interprets to the best of its ability
optimism keeps fire burning in one’s heart
while pessimism gleefully tears everything apart
instead of being boggled with the mundane
romance fills our days with wonder and champagne
a dusting of fantasy does wonders to cast a spell
kicks life up a notch and that’s no bagatelle
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Submitted on July 5, 2025 for contest 1394 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - Honorable Mention
There was a plethora of magical cats in Marla’s magic hat.
She concealed two of them from the regular populace.
The naysayers, doubters, and the ones on the fence.
Knowing they could not handle Turquoise who was outrageous.
Turquoise is a tabby who materialized or rather transmogrified.
Appearing on a Saturday six years ago in June. She watched him do it.
Not only does he speak English, he speaks sailor, his words are blue.
Luckily, he is not fond of children, and hides when they are afoot.
Turquoise has a mini cat named Goofball who sits on his purple hat.
Goofball does not speak to Marla directly; Turquoise interprets.
Sometimes she wonders if he is making the gobbly gook up.
Turquoise acts as her muse, enticing her to do outrageous things.
Thanks to his influence, she has six tattoos, and her hair is two-toned.
She wears vintage steampunk clothes, and she takes no guff off anyone.
Marla was shy and dull before Turquoise arrived in her apartment.
She is outrageously outgoing now, grateful to him for her new journey.
The suffering alien
He just lives in the world. Integrated life, but alien
He feels, experiences, and interprets existence
He discovers human life. In a human body
The alien
To live in this age is a fantastic privilege. Says alien
Rapid development, complex social environment
Look around. Continuous change, genesis
Said the alien
There are so many connections, causes, and effects
Nuanced meanings and invisible connections
There is no end to the existence of life here
Recognised the alien
Alien, alien,
Stranger, stranger
A suffering soul
Comes from far away in the sky
He is enjoying human life
But some parts he doesn’t like
He is a social creature now
But he feels alone. Restless solitude
He needs a better existence
He wants to stay alone
For contemplation
Holy Solitude
Solitude
Alien
He is
A stranger
An alien
Solitude
Christmas is just around the corner
convulsions in the stomach region
Poor elves who create all the toys
and Santa takes the credit
Squeezing me into the bus
to the nearest shopping mall
Puts the body into fight or flight mode
Burn some money
Christmas music in the background
Speakers spewing out the traditional carols
over and over again
My brother needs a padlock
Wrapped in white soft toilet paper
Christmas offering:
An electric nose hair trimmer
... embarrassing
Symbolic gifts
The goal is not to be entertaining,
but the demand is rising
Christmas stress reaches undiscovered heights
Hormones flood the bloodstream
Writhes on the floor with stomach aches
interprets the pain positively
Hear the angels sing messages of peace
with charisma and glimmers in the eyes
December is full of forced cuddling
The stockings are hanging by the fireplace
Chaos with festive cheer
Merry Christmas
Sometimes love as it grows and as it ages,
finds itself in complacency.
The “I Love You’s” become habitual, delivered by rote
One side or another sometimes interprets
this less than demonstrative, expression of feeling
as something lost and not something gained.
I can’t make you feel
what you don’t want to feel
And I can’t make you
want to spend time with me
But I can make you a sandwich
so at least sit down and eat
No, I can’t make you love
all the things I love
I can’t make you want
all the things I want
But I can make the bed
so why not stay and rest
Though I no longer seem to make
you laugh as I once did
And I can’t make you love me
the way it seemed you used to
I can make your house a home
so why not
Which fire is Eternal,
Ignorance always mislead millions of people on earth,
Don't astonish when you find some psychologists, philosophers, scientists worshiping Fire, Animals and Statues.
Which fire is Eternal,
The scripture says," let no one be found among you
who sacrifices his son or daughter in the Fire,
who practises divination
or socercery,
interprets omens,
engages in witchcraft."
Which fire is Eternal,
When people are misleading, they can do things
they don't understand and remain
ignorant of the truth.
Which fire is Eternal,
Jesus Chris said, " I have come to bring Fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already Kindled."
You can think about natural Fire to burn
the World but this metaphoric speech
means the Word of God
which is Fire and Spirit.
Which fire is Eternal,
The Word of God is Fire , Truth and Spirit
The Word of God will live forever
It is the Eternal Fire.
March 02/2023
Written for poetry contest sponsored by Joe Maverick
Theme: Which fire is Eternal
...Third place win
In the Contest...
The mind sees it, the whole being interprets It.
February 19, 2023.
A Ripple To Me 2 Poetry Contest,
JCB Brul.
The heart knows what it wants,
It is inscribed in its walls.
It may wander off so many times,
yet,it yearns for what it desires.
Hidden,yet glaring to the one who
interprets the words unspoken.
The softening of the mind,
is in the whispers of hope.
It is in the beat of the drum,
It is in the plucking of the strings,
The sensation runs deep,
And it is impossible to silence it.
Suppose I tell you all my innermost secrets
Lay my soul bear before you without fear,
Will you respect what confidence merits
Consider the trust I placed in you as dear?
Knowing I have shared with you my hurt
Suppose I tell you all my innermost secrets,
Having come to you for needed comfort
A favored friendship among all my outlets.
Nothing is so sacred as sharing our regrets,
As laying bear our most personal intimacies
Suppose I tell you all my innermost secrets
We have always conversed with such ease.
Will you think me less for unveiling my soul
Not seeking for how your mind interprets,
But wanting our comradeship to be whole
Suppose I tell you all my innermost secrets.
Written June 25, 2022
you are not the body.
he is the operative of the subjective you.
you are the subjective of this body you.
see the way this internal monologue works.
flow of thought.
inner voice.
the cerebral narrator.
interaction with the human organism.
interprets the world using the senses.
commands its organic mechanism.
sadness, apathy or joy is your choice.
prove, approve, disapprove.
you are what you think of the body.
(tomorrow in that operating room, in 2104,
the transplanted brain will explain more.)
He speaks for the uprooted.
A man of sorts, a twiggy Buddha.
He who interprets
the conferences of frogs,
the unpublished works
of kestrels and voles.
He’s an advocate for the underbelly
of a microbial heaven, for every kind
of uncouth animalcule.
Ancient is he, yet as fresh as tomorrow,
in green ponds he fishes for sunlight.
He plumps grassy pillows,
quilts nests for the slumbering and slippery,
gardens all the dewy meadows.
He speaks for the bulldozed,
the displaced. The native and
the nomadic.
He sweeps the muddy tracks
of iron caterpillars.
Bears tell him
of how things are going
in the suburbs,
in swimming pools and trash cans,
There must be a treaty.
Kits and coyote love him,
whistle-Pigs trumpet his approach.
Ducks quack his many sermons,
may shotguns always misfire.
He is a preacher,
a teacher to tic and turtle,
a bosky fellow, not a straw man,
or a hollow but verdant,
a green man for me and thee
harken now to his leafy lingo
for tomorrow he may be only a scarecrow
in a long ravaged field.
Upon the stars in her eyes
The smooth glare upon her face
The spark of magic when she smiles
The suspense in her gaze
The beauty of her juicy cheeks
Such enchanting joy emanates
With a soothing warmness
That can smoothly melt ice
The golden perception of her enchanting smile
Strikes the eye like a ray of sunshine
And just the way she holds her head upon her tough neck
I'm mesmerized by the skill she brings out in attaining such a dignified impression
Amongst all the kindest of blessings
Offered to me by the all mighty universe
The most treasurable is her
Tranquil is definitive of her elegant composure
Tenderness interprets her compassionate character
With a display of magnificence as that of the galaxy
My mind dwells in her enthralling fantasies
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