Italicized Poems | Examples

Night of Dread

Night of Dread

“Halloween” night – “descending” “gloom” –
  Lost in a forest of “living” “silhouettes”
Tangled branches obscure the skies
In veils of opaque ebony blackness
As phantoms of thick “dread”
Rise
From “open” crypts of “darkness”
Where “walking” echoes chant elegies of doom
 And set a pounding heartbeat’s panic
  As “creepy” creeping ghostly fingers
  Graze the naked neck
To claw at crushed leaves
 That snap like brittle bones
  Under panicked feet
Looking – 
  Frantic searching - 
For escape from this twisted labyrinth
  Of screaming angst,
   Where prowling wraiths with cold lips of frenzy
    And souls lost to the daylight
Breathe from exile, musty breaths
 In fogs on vanishing paths of vertigo
And torpid lethargy
Until ascendent midnight 
Lifts up this vale of fainting frights with moonlight,
Shadows glinting through bare boughs,
For All Hallows Night.

10-25-22
Contest: Halloween 14-30 Lines  - 27 Lines
Sponsor: Emile Pinet
Use ten words as written: creepy, descending, silhouettes, gloom, darkness, living, open, walking, Halloween, dread.
Chosen words italicized.

Celebration

The world celebrates a holiday that's "sentimentally symbolic."
With bombastic, "fantastic fireworks," we greet New Year's Eve. 
Revelers stoked, thoroughly usurped as if by a magical spell.
Abounds the sounds of popping corks of "chilled champagne!"
Toasting auld ang syne and future, good health as we hobnob,
all wearing grins as life begins with hope for a grand new year.
It's a "jubilantly joyous" occasion, an "enthralling extravaganza"
with a tender kiss from a loved one at the stroke of midnight.
The last seconds being counted down "to the tempo of timpani" 
The ceremony peeks and everyone speaks in loud crescendo. 
Resolutions made but not often kept are part of the holiday tradition.



September 8, 2022
The A's Have It Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May
          ~   ~   ~   ~
Bold - Alphabetical words
Quotation marks - alliterations
Italicized - internal rhymes

A Jewel's Passing

So no more shall his traitors hate;
For death's veils have made it late
To slight any soul time has called
To dine and wine in the city of gold.

And his tombstone does eerily stand
Above the grass on the watered land;
Where passers-by might donate a tear
To lament the passing of a jewel dear.

And wayfaring aliens of kindlier blood
May cast a tearful eye above the mud,
To read that fading nineteen-thirty-nine;
His twain names inked in italicized line.

And perhaps see therebelow two-zero-zero-nine,
Saddest hour the grape was thieved from the vine;
And maybe briefly stand still and belatedly mourn,
And sadly concede all must die that erst was born.

His only friends - merry butterflies during the day,
And the crickets who with mournful chirping pray;
Shall some keen vigil keep over his placid bones,
Throughout his rest beneath those tireless stones.

Copyright © Hannington Mumo | Year Posted 2021.

Abandon

Our normal joys of life- now, ostracize;
shared, loving hugs, we're told to disavow.
Fond gatherings of friends and family
in cozy, close-knit groups- we abdicate.

No theaters open to view films or plays;
these gratifying pastimes- forsake now.
Just meeting with a friend for lunch to chat-
a thought we discontinue- disregard.

When leaving home for our essential needs,
near others, we surrender standing close; 
discard the need to inhale full, fresh air-
while covered nose and mouth recycle breath.

So much we took for granted- now reject:
ditch strolling at the malls or galleries-
relinquish ceremonies of all types-
disclaim all sports events, rehabs, and gyms.

Our normal lives, we can't renounce too long-
or else we will forswear all hope itself.
We pray these missing blessings we regain-
no longer need to terminate our joys.


June 15, 2020

Contest: Thesaurus - Abandon or Abandoned 
Sponsor: Dear Heart

Rules: Must use synonyms for the word "abandon" 
or "abandoned," and they are italicized.

Your Ways

~

“Shadows grow so long before my eyes”

In silhouettes of dreams past and present
Deep within my desperate heart,
as I yearn for your love, reaching for my pen,
digging through postage stamps and paperclips

“And they’re moving, across the page”

Producing odd shapes on striped paper,
outlines of shaded emotions and verses
Calling out your name in bold ink 
and rhyming stanzas of affection

“Suddenly the day turns into night”

Twilight steps over the horizon
as tree top edges touch newly glowing stars
Peering through curtains of cosmic lace
and flickering candlelight with soft breezes

“Far away, from the city”

Miles counted by minutes can be
a daunting task if I hesitate, yet footsteps in the dark
follow paths illumined by your eyes,
as my need grows for your love…I just can’t wait

“Baby, I love your ways”

~

Written with a little help from Peter Frampton
Italicized lines from the song “Baby, I love your ways”

Thesaurus

The blaze of Youth 
   leaves behind burnt Antonyms

      of which the mellowing years 
         are secretly desirous,

         but can only gather 
      so many parched Synonyms

   from hindsight there italicized 
in Time's thesaurus!

Dark Debonair Cheers

Despite your proclivity for the dramatic,
your latest love saga limps barren of marrow.
Perhaps your heart’s unfruitful seeds need a harrow,
lest your spent nuance-fields shrivel up traumatic.

You brag and attest that cupid well tends your quest,
leaving raw, arrow-clad women piled as discards.
You secretly fear lust might pulse your heart to shards,
yet with temerity, you divest, then detest.

Wimpy-lame best names your decrepit armature.
You feel sure you have sent many down pain’s vortex.
You think yourself debonair and worldly complex,
but such false cheers just you hear in dark’s aperture.










CayCay Jennings 
November 1, 2018 
written for contest that required the italicized words be used

But If You Try Sometimes

But if you try sometimes...

“I saw her today at the reception”

My eyes filled with changing emotions
In satin gown and fire brand hair
A china doll beyond the display case
Happiness was breathing the air 

“In her glass was a bleeding man”

A shadow of someone on the platform
I could see his face wracked in pain
Scars of here and prior altercations
Acid falling in the guise of rain 

“She was practiced at the art of deception”

Behind that sequined mask she stood hiding
A smile painted in pastel red
Pretending a friendship is more than just golden
Wishing the other were endlessly dead

“Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands”

Pointing fingers dripping in excess waste
Smearing the drapes of lipstick poetry
Planting a seed of doubt deep within
Smirking as she said these words to me

“You can’t always get what you want”

Written with the help of the Rolling Stones classic - "You can't always get what you want" The italicized lines are lyrics from the song.

I'M Ready

I’m ready


“Walking down this rocky road”

Pebbles stare like boulders
Detouring my thoughts
Blocking motions to feel
Curbed by jagged ridges breathing

“Wondering where my life is leading”

Checking the map for intersections
Wanting to find some sense of truth
Written on an overpass
In graffiti spray paint dreams 

“Rolling on to the bitter end”

Following the signs
Watching my sneakers tear
Exposing flesh to the elements
Of wandering longings

“Finding out along the way”

That things don’t last forever
But where the shadows sit
From the lost, the new
Are waiting in the cool shade telling

“What it takes to keep love living”

And I listen, learning which each painful step
Dragging my emotions behind me
In a knapsack of desires
Whispering out of breath

“You should know how it feels, my friend”

It is enlightening, burden lifting
When I finally realized
Someone is waiting at the end of that road
For me because…

“I am ready for love”



**The italicized lines are lyrics from Bad Company’s song “Ready for love”

Fly Away

Fly Away


“Seagull, you fly across the horizon”

Parallel dreams and sifted thoughts
on an amber thread, thin as the beliefs
once found as hope, now falling
beneath sorrowed wings, gliding


“Into the misty morning sun” 

Through hazy eyes and broken hearts,
tarnished memories flow within this dawn
as you fade off in the distance,
soaring ever higher, disappearing into the east 


“Nobody asks you where you are going”

Silence fills the maze that is your mind, leaving you
staring at dead ends and fractured turns,
as the realization that you didn’t matter
forms on clouds of whispering truths…no one cares


“Nobody knows where you're from”

And in the end, you are not sure yourself
from where you once came, a blotted image
on empty shorelines of tangled debris
which you easily have forgotten, as you as well will be


“And you fly away…”


Written with the help of lyrics (italicized lines)from Bad Company's song “Seagull”  One of my faves.

Nothing Lasts Forever

“And when your fears subside and shadows still remain”

Dark places floating in rear view mirror journeys
on empty highways, slick and cold but in the past
Within my hand I hold you, warmth finds the place,
leaving behind the sorrow on leaf covered shoulders

“I know that you can love me when there's no one left to blame”

Taken upon my soul, those incisions of pain, deep
Draped on heavy sighs and forward motions
Cast aside, tossed for loss, rendered useless
and my heart sings for you, come to me for I shall love you
 
“So never mind the darkness we still can find a way”

Shrouded in worry, clouded escapes stood firmly
Together we can draw back these curtains, embroidered blankets,
revealing the next hillside spilling a sunrise
in bright smiles and good memories rejoicing

“'Cause nothin' lasts forever, even cold November rain”


***Italicized lines are lyrics from Guns n Roses "November Rain"

This was inspired by Christy Stover's poem "I can't hear you"

Fault Lines

Somewhere far beyond this faux grin I wear
lies the fault…in all of its lined fashion
Emptiness lingering on a sifted thought,
reaching for anything that resembles what we had

It appears on a thin white stripe, as a banner
of frightening horizontal access…merely a tap required,
and I freeze…wide eyed, glaring amongst holding pattern tears,
scared to death while revealing what waits…

There was a time when this occurrence
was that of a beautiful sunrise, a fresh cup of coffee
and my heart would skip a beat…now it stops, flat line,
daring me to breathe

As I read your words, over and over…and over again,
like a jagged line in the vinyl, spinning slowly,
bouncing back to the beginning, my eyes search,
longing for a phrase, a chance slip in the ink

Dissecting each italicized letter, I find
fonts of beauty delivering curlicue pain while
draping my heart with paragraphs of brocade fabric dreams 
shredded and left out to dry…fading in the sun

Even looking away it still remains, staring back,
spelling out the fault…I see it and I hate it, for
like my faint refection in this lighted screen…
I recognize it…and it is me

Love In the Air

Do you smell the love in the air?
How it smoothly sails through my hairy nostrils and into my mucus-filled lungs?
Do you smell the love in the air?
How it slows my heart down and brings it to a lethal halt?
Do you feel the love in the air?
How it makes my heart move as fast as Museveni's chopper?
Do you see the love in her eyes?
How they shine and flush out all dishonesty from my red eyes?
Do you see italicized love written on her baby face?
How her face is as smooth as the bark of an African guava tree?
Do you feel the love in her breath?
How it warms me up and re-ignites the faded love within the deepest recesses of my heart?
Do you feel the love in the air?
Do you?

A Jewel's Passing

So no more shall his haters hate
For the veil of death has made it late
To hate a soul that time has called
To dine and wine in the city of gold.

And his tombstone will eerily stand
Above the grass on the watered land
Where passers-by will donate a tear
To mourn the passing of a jewel dear.

And wayfaring aliens of kindlier blood
Will cast their eyes above the mud
To read the bold nineteen-thirty-nine
And his two names in an italicized line.

They will see there below two-zero-zero-nine,
 The time the grape was plucked from the vine.
They will briefly standstill and belatedly mourn
And recall that all must die that before was born.

His only friends – the butterflies during the day
And the crickets who with constant chirping pray,
Will keep faithful watch over his desiccated bones 
Throughout his rest beneath the tireless stones.

This Little World of Mine

It was just a little rain
A little wet grass
and a song floating straight to you
I think time moved a little too fast
Then again, it always does
Every word was italicized
Racing through my blood
Call me cheesy
Call me whatever
Call me just because
this little world of mine
Was spinning in love

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