Were every breath an incantation,
Every word a prophecy,
Would I fear more this consternation,
Not writing for anxiety?
Were every word a portent, telling,
Every sentence writ, a spell,
Would my mind ever stop this yelling?
Could I my consternation quell?
Such large words to write and scrabble,
Though loquacious I am not.
Cease you, brain! this psychobabble,
My brain thinks an awful lot.
Would I fear to speak a sentence,
Would I fear to write a page
Were every word scrawled so portentous,
Trapping me in my own cage?
Is the poet bound by scripture,
Living by the fate he writes?
No! I’ll open up a fissure,
Jump the gap! I have to fight!
I am not the fates’ keeper,
But I choose for my own heart
That o’er these gaps I’ll be a leaper,
And on life’s stage I’ll play my part.
Were every breath an incantation,
Magic within every word,
Would I fear the divination
When I, my written words, had heard?
Were every word so filled with might
That with each word my power grew,
Would I, then, still fear to write
Lest every single word come true?
Categories:
leaper, angst, anxiety, art, fate,
Form: Rhyme
Painted Horses Leaping
Painted horses leaping, faster and faster
I hold on tightly as my tangled hair is flying
a sweet carnival memory of a childhood summer!
And of painted horses leaping!
The amusement park is twirling and whirling
of this horse ... I alone, am the master
father is holding me to keep me from falling!
Oh, my dappled horse is quite a leaper!
The Merry Go Round is now gently slowing
quiet now are the painted horses leaping!
____________________________
March 25, 2023
Poetry/Rhyme/Painted Horses
Copyright Protected, ID 03-1533-872-25
All Rights Reserved, 2023, Constance La France
Submitted to the Premiere contest, Strand No 1023
Sponsor, Brian Strand, Judged 03/27/2023
Fourth Place
Categories:
leaper, childhood,
Form: Rhyme
Where is the grim leaper? The little boy asked me.
I was surprised about this question from my nephew, Lee.
You mean the grim reaper? I queried him.
No, I mean the grim leaper. His name is Jim.
Let’s follow the corn, I suggested to Lee.
I think I know where the grim Leaper might be.
The Grim Reaper gave a shout and grabbed me right away.
I struggled to get lose but was whisked off by the reaper that day.
Categories:
leaper, halloween,
Form: Rhyme
Pathetic Acts
Stop all the traffic; a million ants are passing by.
Red light, Amber light, waiting on a Green light.
All the windows have their curtains closed inside,
And nobody knows how to feel secure beneath the night sky.
Do a hand-stand, against the man,
So he can hear from the bottom of your soul,
As it refuses to accept his master plan.
Tell him it is time for you to go.
Become a light inside the storm.
Become guidance to those who are torn,
Between loving life and complete apathy.
Falling from the top of a tree.
I am not the leaper that I used to be,
But still here I stand speaking in symmetry.
(C)2020 Aa Harvey. All Rights Reserved.
Categories:
leaper, desire, fear, insect, nature,
Form: I do not know?
Painted horses leaping, faster and faster,
I hold on tightly as my tangled hair is flying;
a sweet carnival memory of a childhood summer.
Painted horses leaping!
The amusement park is twirling and whirling,
of this horse, I alone, am the master;
father is holding me, to keep me from falling.
My dappled horse is quite a leaper!
The Merry Go Round is now gently slowing,
and I kiss my painted horse on his head;
"Can I ride him again, please father?
Painted horses leaping!
_______________________________
August 16, 2013
Poetry/Verse/Painted Horses Leaping
Copyright Protected, ID 13-1234-208-0
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Submitted into Strand Choice A Contest
sponsor, Brian Strand
Honorable Mention
Categories:
leaper, childhood, memory,
Form: Verse
Patch of Earth under a Thatch of Sky
Each man must have a corner
A patch of earth
To call his own
Under a thatch of sky.
As the Homeless
Have their the memories of one,
Crawling back through
A ball broke window of the mind.
And even a leaper
Must have his ledge,
A bit of rock face
To jump from.
As sure as the dead,
Lay claim,
To the plots for graves
That, in the end, receive them.
Categories:
leaper, appreciation,
Form: Free verse
J-umping kangaroo
O-utsmarts hungry predator,
J-ust running away,
I-n this leaper the hind legs
T-ruly become powerful.
Topic: Birthday of Jojit Divine (March 17)
Form: Acrostic Tanka
Categories:
leaper, birthday,
Form: Tanka
Extra day of the calendar
Breaks during the leap year;
Three hundred sixty-five dawns
Let additional morn appear.
A man or a person born
On the twenty-ninth of February
Is called a leaper or a leapling
Whose birthday is intercalary.
When non-leap years come,
Some leaplings do celebrate
On either the first of March
Or February twenty-eighth.
February twenty-ninth is a date
That occurs in four-year pace;
For the Earth does not orbit in precisely
Three hundred sixty-five days.
In the year two thousand twenty,
Whether the sky is blue or gray;
And if the world will still exist,
There'll be another extra day.
Categories:
leaper, life,
Form: Verse
Dear Jack the Reaper
Flipping and fiddling, one might say engrossed by the impression
Formally geared up for the occasion
With eyes lit like clippers
Walking and hands in pockets dipper
Delighted by the label ‘Keeper’
Awaiting for the aftermath
For he is a walking chipper
Grinded, shredded I shed a tear
And for a thought is like
She turn-up when ends meet
That Mona Lisa smile
Stripping to entice mine eyes
Leaper leaping towards mine soul
Dear Lucy the Leaper
(can also be read from bottom up)
Space-Poet
Categories:
leaper, sorrow,
Form: Prose Poetry
A lonely soul lying in the carriage
driving by the Grim Leaper is Pierrot,
the third class theatre performer who pretended to be happy
though he was sad hiding his loneliness behind thickened white makeup.
Pierrot who lying in the plain wood coffin,
not even a stem of flower on it, tears for the first time;
each time the carriage jolts, though it was unthinkable
to those who knew him, tears clearer than early morning dewdrops
roll down his cheeks.
[While he was alive,
tears were the luxury that were
way, way more than he could afford.]
Categories:
leaper, death, sorrow,
Form: Free verse
Had To Be Hung
How could he have been an outcaste?
Must have been somewhere in his past
To be forgotten, not remembered at all
While from God, he will await His call.
Him as he was should God try to take
After all of the hearts he often did break
On so many others himself would force
With misty eyes all found much remorse.
Had to be hung was proper thing to do
Who never had been like me or you
Horse leaper forward as it did lunge
From world, his life we then did expunge.
On his grave marker, what will it wear?
Here lies a killer who never would care
Looked up in sky and saw his soul pause
Name on grave left behind was a lost cause.
James Serious Mysterious Horn
Categories:
leaper, death, sad,
Form: Couplet
Have you ever seen the like of it before
The mad people leaping around the floor
There is no music I can hear
It's all in the head , the mad leaper said
It's all in the head
First thing in the morning
Last thing at night
These leaper's never stop
Are they completely mad, I had to ask
Oh no, came the reply, this what they do
They have got an art's grant don't you know
So leaping mad they must go
Their inspected once a month
Just in case their not leaping high enough
To keep the grant, you have to be tough
It's all sort mad, If not a little sad
In life you have to take good and bad
The good rarely get a grant
But then they don't know how to leap and rant
So leap with me to make a quid
For art is art , or so they say
But to most , art is no good , unless it pays
Categories:
leaper, ireland, irony, judgement, satire,
Form: Free verse
Painted horses leaping, faster and faster,
I hold on tightly as my tangled hair is flying.
A sweet carnival memory of a childhood summer.
Painted horses leaping!
The amusement park is twirling and whirling,
of this horse, I alone, am the master!
Father is holding me, to keep me from falling.
My dappled horse is quite a leaper!
The Merry Go Round is now gently slowing.
"Can I ride it again, please father?
Painted horses leaping!
_______________________________
August 16, 2013
Poetry/Rhyme/Painted Horses Leaping
Copyright Protected, ID 08-499-404-16
All Rights Reserved, 2013, Constance La France
Categories:
leaper, childhood, horse, memory,
Form: Rhyme
They called him Jumper
He preferred Prancer
When he was happy he would prance
Giant circles of joy
And the dizziness
Too many beers and staggers
For 365 days waiting times 4
He would dress himself outlandishly
Feathers and painting his face
He loved the Mamba and espresso
Dancing to the beat and the heat
But February 29th he could leap and pride
Gyrating crazily leaping from space to space
Time warp again
Disco fever
Never tiring
It only happens once every 4 years
Leap frog when he was a child
Monty Python taught him how to leap from tree to tree
He did the Lumberjack
His jeans had done the Hop on Bandstand
He had bell bottom genes
While in South America he did the Anaconda
Bunny Hop with children as he walked
Loved the song Fandango
While hunting his horse taught him the Foxtrot
Auntie Mame be proud
His favorite was Leaping
Once every 4 years
Just bored so I typed nonsense
Categories:
leaper, fantasy, funny, parody,
Form: Free verse
I once met a guy by the name of Mort
By his record he must be very smart
At five, High School complete
College at six; a feat
A leaper; birthdays are four years apart
Submitted by Charles Sides
Categories:
leaper, funny, high school,
Form: Limerick
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