Leavened Poems | Examples

It's Spelled Spelt, Split and Wholesome

We wanted to break bread
that was pure, clean, pristine, 
stark white and wholesome,
with a crisp, but soft, 
light brown crust.

The field was prepared with
thrice washed and cleaned machinery,
and spread with N, P,  K fertilizer
applied overhead.

The soils was filtered to remove
all weeds, sticks and stones,
stubble and rubble,
so it was homogeneous,
with a uniform grain size,

The wheat seed was a proven, 
ancient old world genotype,
with its genome still intact.

The seed was milled to remove
all traces of wheat germ and bran,
then twice bleached to stark white.

The dough was leavened with soda
and baked well-timed, 
in a clean fan-draft oven,
at just the right temperature,
for just the right time.

Behold! There we have it!
Our pure white bread,
wholesome and perfect,
in every way, that we break
for breakfast at break of day.

Neither Presumption Nor Despair

We can’t make
all the bad things
 good
Just knowing
all that didn’t 
should

We can’t wish
what stays real
away
Or lie
to keep the truth
at bay

Yesterday
today
tomorrow yield
The leavened
‘Word’
forever sealed

Ad infinitum
minus
one
Salvation’s 
path
— is zero sum

(Sister Marcella: 8th Grade Religion Class, 1962)

Protagonist of George Harrison

Written: May 5th, 2025, for contest by Brian Strand

Painting by Peter Doig. A concise abstract on Abbey Road and its pivotal moment.   He subsequently produced outstanding music.   His music resembled pleasant dew cascading as melodic notes, like honey smeared on leavened bread.

          ******************
George Harrison

moving toward a liquid abyss
after Abbey Road--
where no sunlight can seep into the hall
surrounding the mirrored pool
he draws the guitar strings
with notched arrows
tipped in flint
striking sparks
like match heads ignited
on concrete sidewalks
during the golden hour
heavy with humid
condensation
coating every surface
with sweet dew
musical notes drip down
like honey spread
on warm yeasty bread



1)www.wikiart.org/en/joaqu-n-sorolla/church-roncal-stairs by

2)www.artgeek.io/exhibitions/5bfdb7a272a1460a46f77fab/5bfdb7a272a1460a46f77faa by T. C. Cannon

3)www.wikiart.org/en/johannes-vermeer/the-milkmaid

Leavened Redemption

Lost in a ditch
on the highway
of life

A change
came upon him
from darkness to light

That dead end
Apostle
arose and broke free

Remanding
his spirit
— at last unto Thee

(1st Book Of Prayers: February, 2025)

DOUGHNUT

Dough kneaded and leavened,
Designed in circular shape.
Dent in the middle
Deep fried or baked
Dipped in sugar syrup and glazed. 
Dutch immigrants’ popular sweet.
Delectable snack, favorite of kids.

Battle Royale

Take me
to Hell
Take me
to Heaven
Bless me
with kindness
Curse me
 as leavened 

Angel within
me
Devil
in waiting
Salvation
unseeded
Damnation
— equating 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2024)

7:20 Pm, Travis Lovitt Patio At the Right Pillar

The heavens can’t admire themselves
The spotted clouds, and the opaque wavered clouds
Like a light glide of a brush.
Our Lord gifted us with round eyes
That reflect the heavens
And a mind to ponder all his leavened world

Those chutes of bark and bugs 
Aren’t impressed by themselves;
Their flat or spiky leaves or truck wide trunk
That I need tools to fell.
The Almighty handed us fingers 
To clench and sift and grip
And the air the flowers leaven

This concrete is flat and hard
I’m used to sitting here and becoming 
Numb, in my rear,
While I spend my time like hard earned cash
To bask in what’s given free

Zeitgeist

A Copernican change - analysts say,
          Or a paradigm shift;
      Progression has gone a long way,
                    With daydreams drift...!

The revolution that had once begun,
          With the wheel long ago;
      Has rolled on with stun, spun, and fun,
                    Now to aglow...!

I could not believe it when I did touch
          The smart touch phone wonder;
      Mystery in it I felt much,
                    Like calm thunder...!

Communication, like spring buds and blooms,
          Fervor-fresh and fragrant;
      Forever new finale fumes,
                    Like a vagrant...!

Computer? Who cares? Wheel? Oh! No! Grown old!
          Enjoy a small apple;
      In the form of tablets, handsets,
                    Till you grapple...!

We go on; Our kids too; like birds and beasts
          In old woods with new trade;
      Our minds leavened by newness-yeasts,
                    Like lilies fade...!!!


25 December 2022 
Writing Challenge - Zip, Zig, Zag, Zing Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France

You Deserve

Hey Gorgeous Being
You deserve to breathe easy
You deserve amazing food
You deserve love
What is Below, is Above

You deserve heaven
Bread that's leavened
Butter, Love, Honey, Fruits
Shade - only from trees
With deep roots
You deserve a Groot
A nice sharp suit!
Warm, Yummy soup
An awesome pair of Boots!

You deserve Gold
Agriculture... Flowers, vegetables fresh from the ground, 
Fruits off the vine, 
Geometry in language, 
528Hz, 888 Hz...

You deserve Love
Pure as your heart
My Gorgeous Being...

And you will get what you deserve

Transformation

Overpowered by the vicissitudes of life,
The soul can be broken down and beaten
Like a sheaf of wheat at the threshing,
Where the chaff is tossed to the winds.
The good salvaged like grains of wheat,
Leavened and turned into sustenance,
Feeds a temporal home for a whole being
Who wanders through the fallow fields,
After the harvest and longs for eternity.

Written October 13, 2022

'twas the Night Before Pesach

~ 'Pesach' is Hebrew for Passover ~

     ‘Twas the night before Pesach
        up and down the street
     Not a speck of grain seen
        no bread or barley to eat

     No spaghetti, no noodles, 
        no pretzels or beer
     No yeast-cakes or dough
        nothing leavened ‘round here

     But for matzo and wine
        you’re in the right place
     Fruit, eggs and potatoes
        our fridge’s out of space…  

     Pesach's been just like this
        over 3,000 years 
     A labor of love ~ 
        for a festival dear

Being Imperfect

I carry the world on my shoulders
but it's heavy, any moment now
like a toy building block it will come
tumbling down  merrily merrily
all just a dream, a joy imperfect.

To be imperfect is my true joy
detached from the dreariness of life
no regrets for visions turning sour
I stand on a stage acting my roles
caring not  if I forget my lines. 

Nothing can tarnish my confidence
blunders shrugged off with irreverence
my deep play a ruminating ride
into casual elegance leavened
with an optimistic wariness.

Like aging, my competence conceals
patches of wrinkles, not to be smoothed
into a sense of mediocrity
not quite belonging to anyone
but myself and I am my own man.


@jjote 063021

Immortal Words

Emblazoned on an unseen yellowed page
In ornate script now hazed by swollen time
The word of poet, master of the senses keen
Tracing fear of death in halting rhyme;
A fearful pen that leavened gracious prose
And grander scenes, and labored in despair
The lumbering, futile spirit to repair.
Immortal words outlast the passioned fear.
Could he not understand the final vote,
Could he not feel that after life had fled
Great men would scan the envisioned words he wrote?

FIRST PLACE WINNER
"All Yours" Contest on Poetry Soup
Sponsored by Brian Strand

My Choice Organic

fixity or flux
in the
 evasion of monotony
a linear turn
    to integrity
in phrasal inflections
scanning language
         in signature verse

internal sounds
     made prominent with
divergent voices
       random shapes
on the
    theatre of the page

circumstance
      leavened by
          understanding
at points of departure
into floods
    of the experimental
in a inherent
         impulse
an antithesis
of the
     ambivalent
dislocated
   by emotion
distracted by
           banalities
sesoned with tradition

a spontaneous
        cycle of seasons
the heritage 
   of life blooms
a sentiment
      of trees
in a rare
    but natural voice
eternally alive
in an annual
  renaissance
     of precedents
where
caution passes by
 style detours in disguise
shameless
   in deceit
sly&aloof
prudence laid aside
a
  transfigured folly
yet
   volatile
& naive
an antecedent
  of
    a
    genteel
       future

Peace

transference

mind field in transit

lost in modern translation -

translucent echoes


bog snorkeling

in trenches of fear

submerged breathless for glory -

mud medals and God


mushroom cloud

trench foot ankle deep

fanfares baptize innocence -

bugles sound defeat


cross fire

rising from ashes

foot marks lost on dead ascent -

sandalwood fragrance


saviour

threshold of demise

guns blaze sweet smell of freedom -

hell gates wide open


objection

lambs to the slaughter

leavened bread chokes redemption -

arms to frontal lobe


white flag

surrender exposed

blood dried on fabric of time –

bleached conscience retrieved


30th January 2020



Originally entered STRAND CHOICE 10, any form, any theme

Contest judged 30st January 2020

• Short Leavened Poems
• Famous Leavened Poems
• Best Leavened Poems
• Read Leavened Poems
• Long Leavened Poems
• Leavened Quotes