Long Best known Poems

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Premium Member Nevermore Will Raven Return

*Note:  A 60-year annual tradition that involved a mysterious visitor leaving three 
roses at the grave of writer Edgar Allan Poe on the anniversary of his birthday 
ended in January 2010.  Curators of the Poe House and Museum are at a loss to 
explain who left these gifts and why they stopped.  On many occasions people kept 
vigils  near Poe’s grave during this period that began in 1949, but no one ever saw 
someone leaving the roses. In the morning, however, they were always on his 
grave.  Poe is considered the father of the American short story and 
his poem The Raven is one of his best known works.



Once upon a midnight dreary, Poe heard a tapping at his window
     While grieving the loss of his young bride, a maiden “angels named Lenore,”
A radiant teen whose long, black hair in gentle breezes would billow,
     Tapping at the window ceased, but suddenly it was heard at his door

Upon opening it, a Raven flew in repeating, “Nevermore”
     At first he welcomed this odd visitor until Poe whispered, “Lenore”
When he heard his word echo, the strange Raven he began to abhor
     He asked if he’d see his bride again and the bird replied, “Nevermore”

Though Poe died in eighteen forty-nine, a mystery evolved much later
     A century after his death, his grave had an annual visitor
Roses were left on his birthday by someone whose love appeared greater
     Who had left these floral gifts forever stumped the Poe House curator

Perhaps the answer can only be explained by reincarnation
     Did the Raven embody the spirit of Poe’s beloved Lenore
If so, perhaps the Raven returned again in a life rotation
     In human form she visited to lay roses on the earthen floor

And upon her death in two-thousand nine, she took to the skies once more
     A Raven who now joins the flock circling above her late husband’s grave       \/
Could it be her spirit remains with Poe, as it did in life before                         \/ \/ \/
     Bringing him in the afterlife all the roses a poet could crave                     \/ \/ \/ \/

For those who consider this possibility totally absurd
Just consider the fantasies Poe created with the written word



By Carolyn Devonshire
Contest Title: “Among the Dead,” sponsored by Constance LaFrance ~ A Rambling 
Poet ~
Form: Narrative


Gunsynd - the Goondiwindi Grey

He was out of Woodie Wonder by the stallion Sunset Hue, 
A freak thought breeding purists, who would surely end up glue. 
For greys were so unfashionable he'd never get a start, 
But this colt was a fighter with a truly valiant heart. 
 
His origins were New South Wales, but sold up Queensland way, 
'Twas Pippos, Coorey, Bishop and McMicking bought the grey. 
A Goondiwindi syndicate, who gave the colt his name; 
Gunsynd ...  the punter's darling ...  who raced his way to fame. 
 
He'd never be a Peter Pan, a Carbine or Phar Lap, 
No Tullock or a Galilee, but still a gallant chap. 
Bill Whelow was his trainer and John Edmonds rode The Grey, 
Till finally at Eagle Farm this colt was on his way. 
 
It was the Hopeful Stakes that day in nineteen sixty-nine, 
Young Gunsynd flashed from thirteenth place to cross the winner's line. 
His trademark was his courage, his will to want to win 
And how he made the crowds all stand to cheer the grey horse in. 
 
They loved The Grey's performances;  a showman through and through 
And though he never always won they saw him as true blue. 
Before and after races, he would play the press and crowd 
By standing to attention while they clapped and cheered aloud. 
 
With twelve wins to his credit Tommy Smith was now the chap, 
Who trained Gunsynd while Langby won the Epsom Handicap. 
He was the punter's darling, for he never squibbed a race, 
That's why the folk all loved him, for he never did lose face. 
  
The white and purple colours were well known at ev'ry track, 
Australia's best known jockeys sat astride old Gunsynd's back. 
The likes of Olsen, Higgins and young Langby rode The Grey 
And flashed to blist'ring finishes, he raced no other way. 

In over fifty starts Gunsynd had twenty-nine great wins; 
Some eight point five times second placed, but took it on the chin. 
Six thirds and unplaced in ten starts throughout those grand five years, 
His name was up there with the best who'd raced to great careers. 
  
Though sold to stud in New South Wales, Kia Ora down near Scone, 
Queenslanders all adopted him and saw him as their own. 
He'd put old Gundy on the map and right down to this day 
Gunsynd is still remembered as The Goondiwindi Grey.
Form: Ballad

Africa Saves Her Daughter

Africa Kills Her Sun in Ken Saro-Wiwa short story
So far the greatest short story  i've ever read
Where the blackest pen lives
With the blackest ink with the darkest hue
Yet the blackest truth out there even to this day
Of the oppression, dictatorship, killings, fear, corruption and discrimination 
A call for freedom
Africa still living in the shadows of colonialism 

But Africa took an initiative, a positive compass

Mary Muthoni Nyanjiru, an unsung hero
Shot dead during the colonial era for her fight against colonialism 
Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel peace prize
She planted one tree at a time, a voice for the environment, a fighter for women rights
Charity Kaluki Ngilu has played many roles in politics
One of the first kenyan female presidential candidates
I still remember the 1997 elections

Pamela Jelimo and Catherine Ndereba 
Through their marathons, they have paved many seas
I remember those cross country days back in primary school, it was tough 
I applaud you girls

Grace Ogot, East African best known woman author
The mother of Kenyan literature 
Her words had power, and her actions showed it
Captain Irene Koki Mutungi, the first African female dreamliner captain
Flying higher and higher, more girls dreaming higher and higher

Kakenya Ntaiya, among the top 10 CNN heroes of 2013
I've listened to your Ted Talk of "a girl who demanded education"
About how at the age 12 you made a deal with your dad to undergo female circumcision if he would let you go to highschool
And that happened, you even went to college
And then came back and founded a school for young girls

Lupita Nyong'o, it was hard to watch "12 Years a Slave"
Because truth brings out a lot of anger, but at the same time it has to be told
The first Kenyan actress to win an Academy Award.
It nice to see you in magazines but it feels even more nice to know that there is a girl out there in some village
Who now believes it's possible because of you

Africa saved her daughter, and by doing so
It saved all


Sources > coming soon:-)
Form: Epic

At the Edge of the Precipice

I do not know how men many we were
or how we went, what we saw on the way 
nor do I know for what ungodly purport was ours
or what goaded us on into deeper uncharted territory 
despite our tortured souls and aching bodies protesting to refrain .

I vaguely recollect through my befogged mind 
some arcane words like Shoggoth and Mi- go and Dagon,
so much gibberish and blubbering babble of deranged minds
gone at once numb and addled with sights and sounds 
forbidden to man in his wildest dreams and thoughts.

Through crenellated valleys grey misted in their troughs
and crests and covered with slime or ooze as from some
white-wormed denizens from unnamed and should-not-be-named
lairs in regions in deep damp grottoes of infernal charnel mounds
did I and my ill-fated team wander wild-eyed and unkempt.

Do not ask me what we saw when we reached our goal
for what my skulled orbs beheld or what my brain deciphered
I know nor remember not all semblance of sense and sensibilities 
having fled with a volition not my own but driven by transfusions
of thought telepathically imposed from without from the miasma.

I know not whether to thank those who found me in the sorry state
that they did - a blathering caricature of the human form more ape,
nay, an ape has more intellect and dignity, than man- a creature more
fit to dwell in the mire and morass of a cess-pit than tread the same
hallowed soil or breathe the self-same vapors as civilized man.
It was far better still that the group of kindly souls, most rightfully,
had left me to my own contrivances and let me wander in my unknown
quest for unknown and mysterious things best known to myself once 
but now lost to me forever.

I find myself in these padded and strait-jacketedand dreary halls  of Arkham
standing at the edge of the precipice of an insurmountable mountain with
an abyss at the foot, both of interminable depth and dark as the devil's heart.

I have leaped from this vertiginous height perhaps a dozen times to end my misery
but having felt all the terror and thrill of finding absolution, I find myself here again,
and again.
Form: Narrative

The Metropolitan Area

The metropolitan area consists of everything like theaters, museums, restaurants, and a lot of hotels and skyscrapers. But most of all, the cities are filled with public transportation(city buses, subways, trains, taxi cabs, and airports, e.g.) and a lot of luxurious vehicles. Whether anyone is in either New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Tokyo, Toronto, London, or wherever, the city is everybody’s lives. It seems that all metropolitan areas are considered awesome vacation spots, even for tourists. The metropolitan areas from the United States of America and the world each have a lot of famous landmarks, especially those of the Gateway Arch, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, Big Ben, etc. All downtown areas are best known for attracting would-be city folks to go to, and that’s a real fact. Well, frankly, all cities from the United States of America and beyond are harder to get away from, even in the Los Angeles area of Hollywood,California. And imagine my surprise when I found out that Downtown Ft. Worth, Texas, has a movie theater  and a Barnes & Noble book store. Being from the metropolitan area has its awesome advantages, especially when he or she has been influenced by the hip-hop culture and the urban culture. Well, I guess this is just the essence of urban living. The cities also have cooler downtown apartments in the downtown areas, especially in Dallas and in Ft. Worth. Boy, if I were to visit either Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Venice, Italy, London, England, Charlotte, North Carolina, or wherever, I’d stay there for a week or tow; I’d bring back some souvenirs. I wonder if the cities will still be there and there’s going to be more awesome cities in the future, Well, I guess I’ll never know. We’re all very cool for a bunch of city folks. And when he or she is in the city, it's like driving on the city streets, especially when he or she is driving either a Nissan Armada, a Cadillac Escalade EXT, or one of those BMW vehicles. I’m looking forward to residing in one of the metropolitan areas either out of state or another country, if that were to happen, that would be great.
Form: Epic


Marching To the Same Beat

an angel stands under a lonely pine
    showing the way to the lost souls 
                           the ones
who innocently answered the king’s call
     and now 
          flags fly half mast  
for those that no-more stand       
    buried in some far off         
                  foreign land

 the pipes call out to the brave
and the angel tells us 
               never to forget
and
that her spirit lives in so many souls 
the black    
           the young     
                  and inside
                             the bold

 we must never forget our fathers of old
and of their stories they made 
                            and then told 
     stories of mateship 
                     amongst the bold
   mateship that was
                             never lost
                              never sold

so now we all step as one
together  side by side   
together  the strong
               the young
                   and 
                 the old 
 
         metal gleaming 
         worn with   
                      so much
                           pride
  while skywards heads 
        are held 
                   held up high  

 hope sparkle inside youthful eyes
that today’s leaders will never ask them 
to also
           make this ultimate
                                 sacrifice
or that history books never 
 show them as a generation 
            that was bought  
                    and sold

so we sing the lament of grace 
telling us of the will of the brave 
 of honor      
                       courage
              and the ultimate sacrifice
catch phrases 
                  and words used      
     on this cloudy     
                              
                                        Autumn day
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**The above is written about a march on  ANZAC day,   ANZAC day is a day of reflection to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice in war. It`s a day that is  best known to Australian`s and New Zealander`s.
© Markus Jay  Create an image from this poem.

Just a Word

INDIANA’S BEST KNOWN IMAGE                   JUST A WORD
AND                    YET SO POWERFUL, YES, JUST                                   A WORD
SHORT              AND TO THE POINT, BUT TO                       SOME           IT IS A
WARM              AND HEALING WORD, IT                       BRINGS HOPE         AND
PEACE               AND LIGHT UNTO OUR                      WORLD, IT CAN           BE
  SEEN               THE WORLD OVER, IT                  NEVER SEEMS TO             BE
LOST,                IT KNOWS THAT                     IT’S JUST A WORD                YET
THER                IS NO DENYING                  THAT IT IS VITAL                        TO
EVERY               LIFE ON EARTH,      I      AM CERTAIN IT                           WILL
PROVE               TO BE MORE          OF    A NECCESITY                            THAN 
EVEN                 THE VERY            AIR                                             THAT WE
                                                BREATHE,                            WITHOUT THIS
                                               WORD WE                       CAN’T REALLY BE    
                          ALIVE
I AM                CERTAIN OF          THAT, JUST A            WORD, BUT I
KNOW              THAT IT IS           A VITAL PART            OF HUMANITY,
THERE               WOULD          BE NOTHING OF              THE JOY         WE
KNOW                 TODAY         AND ONLY HURT             UPON            A COLD
EARTH, I               CAN          BUT IMAGINE THE                                EVIL IN
A WORLD,              A           HELL, WHERE THIS              WORD          DID NOT
EXIST, I CRY                      FOR THOSE WHO DO           LIVE IN          THIS
WORLD, I AM                   SURE THAT MANY DO             JUST THAT, AND
I PRAY THAT I               WILL NEVER FIND THAT             I INHABIT A
PLACE WHERE I           HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE                 OF THIS
WORD, THIS IS            NOT JUST A WORD.


*Based on Robert Indiana's "Love", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(sculpture)
Form: Concrete

Still Dithering With Hesitation On Brink of Abysmal Precipice I

Infinite pitch black void zoomed,
I vacillated then pitched headlong
(head and knobby knees, over heels)
where skeletons in shuttered closets roomed,
and antithesis of freedom loomed
large (think) cosmic size grand canyon groomed
courtesy the once mighty Mississippi,
now barely a babbling brook in places

espouses, and cloisters unbridled wedded bliss
till after honeymoon, than couple fumed
one accusing the other of infidelity
absolute zero witnessed crime of passion
lifeless bodies in shallow grave entombed
after violent retribution forensic experts
determine homicide after lovely bones exhumed
shotgun marriage from getgo doomed
structured sound of silence boomed.

Against the wishes of slumbering wife,
the following I nonetheless narrated,
to you how she temporarily held
yours truly check (mated),
thus eternal salvation sought
at healing waters of Lake Woebegone
repurposed conscious being
to experience sanguine mood linkedin
attending high school reunion
ridding hypocrisy, modesty,
and travesty initially I hibernated
away from madding crowd
once for all ascending
soul asylum gilded gated

stairway to heaven
consanguinity amidst deceased brethren
impossible mission to discern,
dawdling against inevitable fated
doom, thus I nevertheless equivocated
and bemoaned series of unfortunate events.

Daniel Handler an American writer and musician
best known for his children's series
A Series of Unfortunate Events
and All the Wrong Questions
Lemony Snicket honestly created
salvation blissfully, knowingly belated
and thankfully ameliorated.

At long last doomed existence
finally fancy free and footloose
Earthly afflictions divine creator
severe trials and tribulations let loose
promise body, mind and spirit triage
damn physical, mental, and
spiritual afflictions permanent vamoose
yoked Sisyphean and mephistophelean woe
summoning herculean strength
(mine) to vanquish
courtesy (halloo) gibbet welcome noose
necks stop outer limits analogous cooked goose.
Form: Rhyme

Crapping Out A Masterpiece, Part I

It’s funny to look at creatives,
painters, writers, musicians and such,
look back across their bodies of work,
and laugh at how much of it is luck,
that things they put their whole soul into
now languish deep in obscurity,
while works they did for cash rise above,
the reasons a compete mystery.

For example, Anthony Burgess,
the writer of Clockwork Orange fame,
wrote the book in three weeks for money,
from a half-baked impulse in his brain,
only to see the story snowball,
becoming, by far, his best known work,
even became a famous movie,
the success of it made his brain hurt
to the point he denounced his own book
as he went through the balance of years,
but try to recall his other books
and you will find no memory appears.
Though the man didn’t embrace the work,
the impact of the tale did not cease,
and I think that it is safe to say
poor Burgess crapped out a masterpiece.

You have seen it plenty in music,
like the overperforming B-side,
KISS was known for their raucous rocking,
that is how they’re practically defined,
and yet their greatest commercial hit
was a sappy love ballad called Beth,
a B-side to more pulse-pounding fare,
yet somehow outperforming the rest.
How many songs came about like this?
It’s so many it’s now a cliché,
and all that was well before Youtube,
now it seems like every other day
some amateur you’ve never heard of,
who past efforts just seemed cringeworthy,
just got ten million hits overnight
because they crapped out a masterpiece.

Max Brand writing all of his westerns,
a genre that he helped to define,
thought they were junk, his poems were art,
yet just the westerns have survived time.
The people who made the first Matrix
Have done nothing that impressive since,
to the point that it’s become quite clear
they don’t know what made the first a win.
No matter what the medium is,
it seems not to matter in the least,
set people free and somehow some will
happen to crap out a masterpiece...

CONCLUDES IN PART II.
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member My Imagination Of John Denver Came To Life

John Denver Poetry Contest
Anthony Biaanco


Gathered around a campfire
Folks sing, clap, and dance
Take me home on country roads
Rocky Mountain high
High above an eagle circles
A passing deer pauses
Other critters awaken
To listen to John Denver
... sing 
... of nature and relationships
Where his songs light the fire
And where his heart lights the night
With wholesomeness
... and sentiment and nostalgia
As the night warms on
And more logs are added to the fire
The intimacy grows
A pipe is passed around
Along with a bottle of whisky
As women and men gather closer
To the man, John Denver
Seated in front of the camping fire
... and holding fort to his songs
... with a guitar in his arms
the sunshine on his shoulders
Bespeckled with his blond shaggy hair
Denver fills the air
... leaving on a jet plane
... timeless, down to earth and fun
For this night he played to the crowd
... the Rocky's came alive
His good side, he's the life of the party
Where the exterior of the man is admiring
Denver graced the cover of 40 Albums
Covering four decades
His superlatives include
One of the world’s best-known and admired performers
Songwriter, performer, actor, environmentalist and humanitarian
He also loved poetry (poet laureate), dabbled in aviation and Nasa
However, it would be pretentious to exclude his bad side
... and this is where the passing deer from above sheds a tear
... and perhaps many of his fans
Because behind all that charm is a curse
Denver, according to many accounts on the net, was bad
He was a bad human
A bad drunk, chronic smoker, wife beater, and a bit whacko
Denver died in 1997 in a plane crash, in a plane that he built
Today the Rocky's are full of nature and life
With tall mountain ridges, forests, lakes, and rivers
And well-traveled trails, like the man
Somewhere a motorist is pantomiming one of his songs
... and smiling

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