Long Gunmetal Poems

Long Gunmetal Poems. Below are the most popular long Gunmetal by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Gunmetal poems by poem length and keyword.


Premium Member Out of the Badlands

Deep in the Badlands, are canyons that claim
many a man, who rides without name
He's hiding or runnin', from somethun' he's done
Outcast, or outlaw....without any fame
but keeping a lookout for someone to come

A hawk circles low, on a brown afternoon,
like a curious vagrant, in the land of the sun.
On the trail in the Badlands, while the afternoon sighs,
 are two saddled horses, two men, and their packs.

Cowpokes done riding, with the sun at their backs.
with pall of white clouds driftin' over their heads,
from a rift in the cottonwoods, that frame the canyon's ledge

The riders have paused, under gunmetal skies, 
searching the canyon, for a place to bed down
to un-halter their horses, before the stars fill the night
To stare at a fire, with meager a bite
and a place to find shelter, and rest up for the fight

They will drink in illusion, as the horses refresh,
as they prance through deep waters, on the next summer's day
They are thirsty for rest, wipe the sweat off their brows
Will be back by the sunrise.....when they're back on the trail
Keeping a watch, from the canyon below, 
But moving along, as the tumbleweeds roll

.


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Cowboys In The Badlands Contest: Sponsored By Isaiah Zerbst
9/20/14


Prism of the Left Eye

Twin eyes, twin perspectives
Pick your poison; they're both too hard to explain
The cloudy sphere raining down once again
While it's earthen brother quakes uncontrollably

Ten years passed as ten years started
A growling eclipse blots the sun and spreads disease
It goes by many names, many forms
As it eternally revolves far beyond my reach

The boy died in a snowstorm so long ago, it seems
Crippled from birth, stillborn, but didn't know it
As he took those shaky steps towards a dim white light
Collapsing with a crooked smile

She stepped out into the sun
Its flaming rays warming, not burning
Perhaps the first and last time Winter spurned the child
A more jealous lover than you'd expect

Through fear of failure was failure born
A butterfly's flap that would rend the very mountains
Expecting a sapling to bear the weight of a treehouse
It bends, it breaks

He lived to see his wildest dreams come true
Invincible behind his suit of armor
Light refracting brilliantly on that prism
Casting the darkest shadow behind him

Even in darkest shadow
Did the tiniest embers dance in the sky
Through foul black winds
Did a flame of hope still burn

And so they stood as the monarch of a kingdom of plague
As the world outside lay rotting, so they thrived
"Nothing remains static," the snow whispered unto them once again
Kings are oft hard of hearing

Twilight burned beautifully far from civilization
As the setting sun cast brilliant shades of scarlet and violet
Sickness and death continued unabated
As the world was told to simply ignore what they saw

Lead may be sweet, but gunmetal is bitter
Salvaging wreckage from a charred castle
The sun's rays were harsh, even in shadow
What else was there to do but wait it out?

And so they looked salvation in its prismatic eyes
Hiding from one and jabbing the other
Left there on their own
Without a rainbow in the dark

It's a dazzling high number to experience
For the one who thought they'd be dead at 15
Yet here they lay, twice that and half formed
Too scared to live, yet too proud to die
© Derek Chos  Create an image from this poem.

Rather Than Crank Up the Heat

Rather than crank up the heat...

and ratchet up global warming
like bubbling vegetable stew
with tsk... tsk... heard
courtesy Greta Thunberg,
who would utter "how dare you..."

I bundle with layers to stave off cold
energy efficiency drilled courtesy
me late mother conserving
nonrenewable resources she extolled
now ewe best heed following suggestion
wool worth 3d printing than wearing
a sheep doubled over
along dotted line to fold

cuz expending (fossil fuel)
leaving carbon footprint
would immediately being lectured
by ecology conscious eldest daughter,
(a University of Pennsylvania
biomedical engineering alumna)
who would mildly scold.

Myself and thee missus holed up
here within Highland Manor Apartments
(unit B44 in case you wanna drop me a line)
we're here moost every cold December day
sipping warm cup

of our favorite beverage
exotic coffee latte brew
suits this muttering pup
actually yours truly
a doggone ole
long haired pencil necked geezer.

He can be found moost any given warm Green Day
shuffling along boulevard of broken dreams
overhead skies colored rosy gunmetal gray
occasional huff fro zen cloud slashing solar ray
heating inside cozy nook,
though outside temperature brisk,

nevertheless for winter quite balmy
while I sit here heavily clad,
hence yours truly quite toasty within
perfect weather for wedding,
especially one hashtagged December/May.

After dusk i.e. established misnomer known as sunset
occurs 4:36 Post Meridiem heavens quickly turn jet
black today - Thursday, December 10, 2020 (EST)
whereby darkness lulls one into sleepiness, I bet
dollars to donuts impossible mission
to keep eyelids opened, particularly if sleep debt
necessary to pay the sandman,

who knows maybe you gotta get get
comfortably numb vis a vis temporarily unconscious
state, whereby dreaming of a white Christmas
analogous to eventual Elysian Fields,
where divine creator
conjuring Nirvana and/or
a place called Willoughby 
if a believer, said Almighty eventually met.
Form: Rhyme

Iron Rain

The sky turned from dewy drab to gunmetal.
Pewter raindrops slipped down the window like mercury.

I went out onto the covered deck to smoke a cigar and sky gaze.
Iron winged grey geese had shed their metallic plumage,
ferrous sheets of sleet crashed into a low leaden haze.

Easy to imagine infinitesimal steel dioramas turning
within each particle of soaking spindrift.

I thought of space junk, not ours, but an alien detritus
drifting in from a thousand galaxies,
hundreds of space craft abandoned and defunct
all slipping, unmoored into fragments
falling and smelted small within times rendering forge.

Evidence of dead-end hopes and far explorations.
I watch this riven wreckage rolling in
apprehend through clouds of cigar smoke
its last landfall on our far flung world
as a dissolved ore in a backwash of rain.

Premium Member Picture Perfect

I fondle the brush strokes of a brown afternoon,
inviting me along, to the land of down under.
I will take a small journey, under gunmetal skies, 
through country as rough as the crackled veneer.

On the trail of the outback, while the afternoon sighs,
there are three saddled horses, two men, and their packs.
Roustabouts are riding, with the sun at their backs.
A pall of white petals drift over their heads,
from a rift in the cottonwoods, that frame the river’s bed.

I will drink in illusion, as the horses refresh,
as they prance through deep waters, 
on that calm, summer's day.
I am thirsty, and eager, to reach out and touch,
and to ride in the outback, beneath silver skies,
on the one extra horse, that lingers nearby...


________________________________________________________________


Based on the Painting  "A  Lil' Bit of Aus..."


_________________________________________________
Form: Ekphrasis


Premium Member The Withdrawing Room

Huddled together in this abstemious grey chamber
no windows or means of escape walls closing in
trapped where the un-sanctified transactions are made 


Daunting without exit the silent screams go unheard 
ashen skin with darting eyes never looking up
forever too frightened of seeing the truth reflected back 

In the unholy grail in visions of comrades within this un-sacred act of ransom 
the collective voice of the masked chorus urging them on wards 
then the integrated tragedy of hidden fears and secrets

A living sacrifice under this bargain where no one wins or gains
without boundaries of mortal limits there exists in this gunmetal airless demise 
unfettered woefulness and vainglory vie for victory 

The innocent victim's now the pawn's forgotten as pride twists obscurities 
severing the umbilical cord drowning breaths of existence
the sterile smell of unfinished lives permeating into the coal and ice


Tiny little footprints always remain's inside the womb's silenced facts 
the living water of life breaks no longer flows through the natural cord
leaving a chorus of continuous phantom's chanting in mendacious unity  

Opening the door of perdition where the tactical glare of a butchers knife 
held under a ghostly specter of a child that might have been treasured 
a face imagined but never seen and names never uttered 

A tortured remembrance of a pardon held precious beauty once
soon the vapour of shame burns off in an emptiness that still remains
glazes over a ruby rare passion 

Where fear & the constant loathing cannot fathom the uncertainties 
this future brings forth in the immenseness of what might have been 
not touching the soul properly 

The unborn yet to speak?
silenced unadorned gone forever jewel's 
always held within prayers of the faithful loving grace


a co written piece by Donna Loughman and Liam McDaid

On the Other Side of 27

I've made promises to survive before
To those I'd never see again
To those who couldn't keep it themselves
To those who don't know I exist

And here I am on the other side of 27
Having known the taste of gunmetal
Having felt the sting of overdose
Having gravity's cold embrace weigh me down

And it's nothing special
There was no celebration, no confetti
No one to play me off as the credits rolled
Things didn't get any easier

And yet, here I am.

Is it something to be proud of?
Was it simply being too lazy to die?
Less a desire to live and more a fear to die?
What was it that pushed me forward?

Love? Don't be silly.
Desire? I was willing to lose it all at points.
Pride? I understand it means nothing.
Pretentiousness? I haven't done enough to merit joining that club.

Half a year later, I don't have an answer.
A path forward perhaps, but no answer.

A lifetime ago, people danced to my tune
And I built a profession based on those skills
A decade later and that city's in ruins
With nothing behind me but salt and ash

With a Porcupine's Curse, I can't take the easy way
I don't want them even if they wanted me
I chose solitude assuming I wouldn't have to live with it long
But what choice do I have but to commit now?

28 is a higher number than I expected to experience
But so was 27.
22.
16.

But hit with the long plague, 60 seems like a dazzlingly high cap
With a wounded heart from the jump? Maybe 50's optimistic.
And in the womb I'll build for myself
I'll be stillborn when they find me again

Join the club? Sorry, I've gotta get home and do nothing all night again
And thus did 27 pass despite their best efforts
Come 29, I'll be an unstoppable god beset by nonbelievers
With a dead universe behind me and a handful of soil to my name.
© Derek Chos  Create an image from this poem.

Desperate Message Never Sent To Kim Jong Un

Oh please for the sake (and sock e) 
of brethren deemed friendly, i be
see-ch ye with genuine humility 
to desist launching nuclear missiles. 
This American bloke put his lock, 
stock and barrel of gunmetal faith 
in mister Dennis Rodman to serve 
as a figurative lightning rod against 
any aggressive actions that would 
set in motion the end of civilization. 
Not only would the majority of homo 
sapiens (yes, some clusters of earth-
linked yahoos might still remain a 
live) suffer a nasty, short and brutish 
death, but also other flora and fauna 
could be equally annihilated. Under
stand able, those grievances against 
sanctions against the populace of north 
Koreans (who most likely experience 
unfair hardship) fuels resentment against 
the hegemony of western powers. Many 
of these societies authoritatively bran
dish their devout pledge for concurrence 
with democratic principles. Any endemic 
protestations declaiming objection to 
the American way affect an immediate 
alarm. Imposition of so called "puppet" 
regimes get forcibly installed those 
countries leaders who run counter to 
capitalistic productivity. This one anon
a muss citizen of those fifty states also 
takes umbrage how might of american 
to predominate and demand that other 
nations follow suit solely based on what 
agrees with those like minded in power 
sans the brotherhood/sisterhood of vast 
swaths of the global population. No 
great expectations (by dickens) to affect 
passionate sentiments per those pea
poles somewhat hermetically sealed 
off and separated (viz - by the demilitarized 
zone) from the billions of other human 
beings. Thy sole missive from one older 
mwm dreads locked linkedin catastrophic 
chain reaction of events once atomic war
fare triggered by the disgruntlement over 
some differences in outlook could possibly 
resolved via "active listening" and access 
to exchange a word of reconciliation. As 
one flawed chap prone to his own bouts 
of anger, he attests that more positive plea
sing results can prevails with the treat of 
world war three diffused in a manner that 
plays less havoc once unleashing of weapons 
of mass destruction occurs!
Form:

Thralldom Etched In *****Sapiens Mine Dna

Thralldom etched in *****sapiens (mine) DNA

Though your true blue stated civilian
never enlisted nor impressed,
nonetheless I own an opinion
originally embarked on poetic quest
to express purposelessness,

when soldiers rest
at peace i.e. eternally,
many attired courtesy
smart uniform strong with zest.

Psyche steeped, macerated, brewed
as token scapegoat, cue
trumpets Don to toot
courtesy more'n one
nasty shortish brute

weasley chastened me
round mulberry bush
said monkeys chased scaredy
cat me... point moot
regarding... rung me

ragged standing astute
adjacent Thomas Jonathan
"Stonewall" Jackson
(Confederate general during
American Civil War),

his own troops accidentally
fired on him during
Battle of Chancellorsville
in Virginia doth not compute
"friendly fire" unleashed during

one among many hot pursuit
part and parcel of wars,
since time immemorial
gung ho practiced soldier and/or
scared cat neophyte unwittingly shoot

pellets traveling speed of
sound bullet out - gunmetal chute
ordinarily pardoned distinct mistake
versus homicide statute
nonetheless...about

thee (rhetorical question), wherefore
art thou purpose to war,
those slain now paid tribute
since major hostilities of
World War I formally

ended at 11th hour of 11th
day of 11th month of 1918
yet... I question military conflicts
battle hymns constitute
legacy e'er since Homo

sapiens stood erect,
many soldiers of misfortune,
sons of destitute
versus wealthy heirs accepted perception
that war was "a rich man's war

and a poor man's fight"
countless generations ago
deserters fate would mean execute
"the bastard," even second decade
into twenty first century

once sworn in at basic training,
getting discharged (vodka luck), but absolute
zero tolerance quitting before
duty commitment desertion flagrant violation,
no easy task leaving service minus
tribunal meeting severe to prosecute,

thus joining military unlike
accepting any other job
punishment greater than Das boot,
yet patriotism, née jingoism
not ideal, viz conflict resolution,
verstehen, or did this wordsmith convolute?

Fantasmagoria I

A silent figure stands on the edge of a cliff,
the wind is sharp, winter is in its heart.

Its thoughts are lost 
in the sterile Point of Finality,
the hollow point of all…

The harshness of an indiscriminate sun.

Wind pierces the tumbling absent rhythm of clouds,
ruffles its black raven's cloak, like wings, fluttering.

Emerald eyes stare focused far 
and wide the mind drifts into the distance…

Down below the long jagged rocks, 
fathomless water turns churns darkly and disturbed. 

Glancing along the razored edge 
of the horizon, the figure beholds a rusted hulk, 
a mechanical beast.

That once dug into this ephemeral earth, 
a pale blue orb in the distance of black space. 

A white, hot sphere burns cold 
behind gunmetal clouds 
along and on horizon wire…

Over waters turning, churning the surface 
thoughts ponder the depth of Emerald Eyes narrow. 

As the somber sky reflects 
nothing but this figure upon stone… 

As waves lap, crest, 
come to rest where storms are born. 

A figure stands alone…

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