On this most unusual autumn day
I must say goodbye to an old friend,
a gigantic, ancient oak tree in my front yard:
You have shaded my porch for decades
enabling me to sit in my swing
on warm days relaxing, reading, and writing poems.
You have been the home of innumerable squirrels.
Little songbirds have perched on your branches
and serenaded me with their delightful trilling.
Limb by limb, you have been dying for a long time.
Twice, you have had to part with appendages, felled
by saws—at my reluctant bidding, but of necessity.
Some limbs have fallen on their own, in my yard
and even on the road!
Horrendous weather is coming, with ice and high
winds. For others and myself, I fear the huge limbs
on your right side that have been bare for several
years. How they creak when the wind rises!
The tree cutters will be here tomorrow.
Not even a stump will remain at day's end.
From this time forward, I will visualize you
where you once resided. I won't forget you.
Your kinfolk are still here, tall and strong—
as you once were.
May they thrive long after I am gone.
genuine germane gentlemen
hitchhiked a ride with Harry’s hen
implausible imperative imagination
justifying jollity and jubilation
keeping kibitzer’s kinfolk kidney keen
labyrinth of lollapalooza lawfully lean
jovial jackleg lawyer was no jewel
pro-bono sounded good until we met this fool
he had a jaunty way, but jaundiced jibber jabber
We sent him packing and hired Flim Flam, a flibber flabber
F.F. was a jellyfish full of jovial jiggery-pokery
Jocundity justice was now playing with my kinfolk from Muskogee
I'm looking for my brother
Could he be hiding in the kitchen?
Oops ~ methinks I found him
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 3rd place 2025
Back pain comes when I am old,
After a lifetime of being bold.
Can I ever find relief?
Kinfolk give advice beyond belief,
Perhaps they will just shut up
And let me suffer to make me tough~
Instead I lie upon my bed,
Neglecting cobwebs overhead
Wagon John was not just another old cowpoke.
In conversation I heeded most words he spoke.
a wagon his home,
wherever he’d roam.
He died alone on the trail without any kinfolk.
the trombone had never been more appreciated or loved
frog dressed up in his best striped pants, his hands well gloved
took the instrument to the bog and began to play a merry tune
the evening was lightened by the brilliant light of the harvest moon
kinfolk had no idea how talented he was, their relative, Chay
his own mother was stunned at his ability; she met a new son that day
He did not stop at the trombone, he learned to play drums and the strings.
Then he ran off to Arkansas to play with an orchestra, in Hot Springs.
fabulous fabricated forlorn frenzied Franciscan fable
garnered garrulous geese gathered at Gloria’s gable
harboring a hangout for a hunter with Achille’s heel
identifying idiosyncrasies that are less than ideal
juggling jam-packed jokesters without a good joke
Keeping an eye out for kibitzers and kindly kinfolk
like-minded Lilliputian with a lullaby I like
manifesting mystical magic, then throwing down the mike
Sitting on a long deck
At a trailer
In South Georgia
Wind in the Pine Trees
Reading Nathaniel Hawthorne
My stomach is empty
except for
this longing and guilt
A murder of Crows
loudly soar through
Creasing the boughs of the Pines
It is only
Them and I
And
Love that I left
Love that I lost
A hollow serenity settles in
I pull at the Scarlet Letter
Blazing on my chest
Hester exposed
As the Sun sets
A Possum skirts the front yard
Unnoticing me
He is my Kinfolk
An eater of ticks
An old world scavenger
Deceiving the world
Playing dead
Yet
I cannot
The blood on my hands
isn't mine
Believe it or not, they will stick it to you first.
For them, it's light work 'cause they don't have to rehearse.
With so much favorable DNA and proximity,
There is always a classroom nearby for a quick study.
Close! Closer than you think and closer than most
A slow demise can commence at a holiday toast.
Pencils and pads are always handy for the collection of intel.
So be careful about what you reveal or what you tell.
It's sad. Yes, I know. It's very sad, but your challenges or stumbles make them so glad.
The face of schadenfreude, they welcome
A big smile adorns their face whenever there is bedlam.
Glad and happy to see you're not fulfilling your destiny.
This is why they're constantly playing with your energy.
So, words to the wise. Please beware of some kinfolk.
They may look and talk like you, but it is your failure they want to coax.
So if you think the Bible was bad with the Demons within
Think of the parasites in your guts carrying their bad Jinn
All these events of mass shooters killing off all the kinfolk
Some blame medication, water you drink, as even smoke
But if so would not there be as more killers with each day
No these events are random and you are their given prey
As mind controlling, once they are living inside your brain
Tipping us from stable to a person that is Demonic insane
Fed the food to act as the worlds, own ticking time bomb
Cooked, and given so innocently, by our own loving Mom
Just think of probiotics, as the guardian angels in your gut
Regular fasting goes a long way to those Demons to rebut
Those parasites are written within the Bible so read it well
And don’t give them the chance to send your mind to Hell
So before you take what I say with a pinch of that sea salt
Next time you go insane do not blame me it's not my fault
effectual effective effort
fortified Fred’s frenzied format
generating general genealogical gems
heaping habitual happiness
igniting impetus imperturbable inklings
justifying Jerry’s jerky juxtaposition
kindling kindred kinfolk
lamenting Larry’s lollygagging legalities
making melodious melodies
I left my state to study afar.
A church college lured me to go west
where it’s so dry and no fireflies are.
But I was young and followed no star
that could lead me to what would be best.
I left with no really firm goal.
A psychology major I’d thought
to pursue. My apathetic soul
got off that bus. A different role
I took when a new bus I caught!
Off this new bus, I found myself flung
onto a path I had never thought of -
to ESL teaching I then swung.
Also I fell into marriage quite young
and always lived far from kinfolk I love.
What if I had never moved away?
Was my aimlessness part of my fate?
Would I be happier living today
where all through my youth I used to play?
One can’t know what one can’t recreate.
One Merry Christmas Or Another
Will this Christmastime be the best one you’ve had?
Will it be a joy and Feliz Navidad?
Will it be an endurance of familial hell,
Or peace and goodwill and a Joyeux Noël?
Is visiting kinfolk at Yuletide quite risky,
Or thrilling and Felicem Natalem Christi?
Are you certain that your days will be exciting and full;
An unforgettably happy and festive God Jul?
Are your Christmases dismal or times to remember?
Do you try your utmost for a Krismasi Njema?
Or do you prefer to keep everything low,
Instead letting others have a Maligayang Pasko?
Whatever it means to you when comes the day:
A tedious trial or Giáng Sinh Vui Ve?,
I wish you peace wherever you’re goin’,
Happiness, joy and Nadolig Llawen.
CROWN THE KING
Kendrick, king of kinetic kinesis,
Kaleidoscopic knowledge knits keenest.
Kindled by Compton's kinetic flame,
Keen verses vie for victory, acclaim.4
Knightly in kendo of kindred beats,
Keeps a killing calmness under knit sheets.
Kicks, knuckles, knockouts off his notes,
His knavish knacks, knight-errant floats.8
King of the craft, crowned in creative conquest,
Kendrick the keystone, like Kinta Kunte's quest.
The keeper of keys to kingdoms is K.Dot,
Kindhearted kinfolk, Kenny is kinetically hot.¹²
Kendrick's alter ego kits Kung-Fu Kenny,
Kdot's "6:16 in LA" & "Not Like Us" impressed many.
Kendrick's career-spanning series of the same name
Keeps Kung-Fu Kenny kitted-up in the rap game.¹6
Kaleidoscope king, keep kindling the art.
Crown King Kendrick, he who's carved apart.¹8
VICK MANUEL POETRY
{VMP}
FORM: Alliteration
Copyright ©?11th May, 2024.
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