Knights of the nebula pond?
Kingdom Gone, return.
Witch and wizard, wave thy wand!
Tamarind taciturn...
Knight errant by lightning struck?
O for help to call!
Cult black magic, I've got truck!
Luck, best drop that ball.
Stuck with indecision?
O plight of prisoner.
Seeress, here is worst vision!
Reality, blur!
Chained atop the atoll wild?
Mother, stillborn child.
Young lovers unreconciled.
Slaughterhouses tiled.
Mild, art thou, O fickle Fate?
Helpful is such hate!
Intellect, be not ingrate!
Gold, go to the gate...
Wait a second, Fortune.
In what hole ought I fill?
Tomb of pharaoh? Trick or tune?
Boon, how to pay bill?
Where then to dig? Why split my wig?
Swine, bequeath to pig!
O dark matter, space is big?
I don't give a fig!
Garden lost from ancient times?
Wind, rattle those chimes.
O for boxes about mimes.
Drop upon, my dimes...
Mariners immemorial?
Land ho? Not just yet.
Ergo, editorial?
Poisonous thy pet.
Forget? O river Lethe, thy sheath!
Belladonna, bequeath?
Mistletoe, art best in wreath?
Hollyhock, thy heath...
Categories:
mariners, absence,
Form: Rhyme
From life, when all else passes away
True love will stay and never ever decay
Defying all impediments, it will survive
Leaving sweet memories, it will thrive.
Cementing hearts, it will make life jubilant.
It is never manipulative or fraudulent
Love is a flame burning bright and true
A light house in the sea for mariners to view.
In ill health and poverty, it will never subside
In rain and heat, it will prosper and never fade.
It is staying together through highs and lows,
Even when years pass and life painfully slows.
It is not just a fleeting passion but a commitment.
A bond that will brave every predicament.
It is one of mutual loyalty, trust and care
A connection that is strong and rare.
Everything else is secondary, so hold it tight,
For it ‘s a beacon in the darkest night.
Categories:
mariners, happiness, love, relationship,
Form: Rhyme
To rise
a subtle beginning
Comes a treacherous
prevail
If not a chance
perhaps avail
A mariners story
Longing to tell
If to only find justice
Another day
to set sail
For silence
fades quickly
vanishing mist
Of thunderous doom
Sweeping onward
A lost
wish
If ever to tell
A longing need
Surely missed
Arrival now vien
a sanctuary
of death
Slowly falling
A march lost
respect
A chilling tomb
agonizing
goodbye
now confessed
Where death
Inevitably
Falls
An onward
Demise
To touch
A frozen tomb
To greet
The Silent Abyss
Categories:
mariners, death, life, ocean, sea,
Form: Free verse
Haibun
Inky dark night. Jewels in the heavens sparkle like diamonds in a necklace. The Seven Sisters wink seductively while trying to sit in Cassiopeia’s Chair. Orion chases Ursa Major and her cub when he stops to slake his thirst from the Big Dipper. Great Leo butts’ heads with mighty Aries. Sirius, the Dog Star, is the glowing eye of Canis Major as she helps Orion track Ursa. Faint Polaris guides mariners to home port from the tail of The Little Dipper.
new moon
a black palette rules the sky
stars come out to play
The distant galaxies show off their faint light as clustered pinpoints as if the black curtain were pricked multiple times by a needle. Sagittarius points the way to the center of the Milky Way. Nurseries of star forming clusters birth new babies to populate the sky as old ones blow up and die. In the middle lie the monstrous supermassive black holes which suck all light in to their mighty maws bending time and gravity to their will.
are they our ancient home
signals from a distant past
will we return to them
Categories:
mariners, sky,
Form: Haibun
Fake reviews
In 1963, I ate lunch at Andrea’s café,
her food was wonderful
I advised mariners to go for a visit
and be welcomed by a true lady.
I now learned that unsolicited reviews
are no longer appreciated
My recommendation was delivered verbally
Andrea doesn’t know she is a grandmother and
One of her grandchildren runs the place
I once ran a café in Liverpool selling bacon butties
I could have done with the friendly review
From the people who worked at the small factories nearby
but when Margaret Thatcher
Came to power, they closed down
A young man from Pakistan bought my café
Changed its name to Morning Glory and sold
Curried chicken and shrimp
That, of course, was before the hatred of the foreigner was noticed
When Britain woke up 3 million people from
Syria and Iraq had entered they were not as friendly as the man from Pakistan.
Categories:
mariners, absence, age, children, dance,
Form: Blank verse
Relentless yearning tints unrestrained
the spectral edge of the halcyon horizon,
where the nascent scarlet sun unveils
the facade of the decorous dawn,
brings to me across the million miles
of dreaming detour corridor,
the sparkle of the sapphire sea,
shining with the tinge of avid allure.
I stand whelmed at the finite fringe
of the primordial vastness vista.
Its ceaseless vigor coiling
the collapsing crests of the swelling waves,
once had brought the relics
of the drowned mariners to the shore,
returned with their memory
to the fathomless serenity of oblivion.
The embrace of the silver sheet washes
your bone-fringed footprints on the beach.
As the melancholic waves sing
to the moonbeam ballet of the blue night,
I search for my lost mermaid,
floating away on the stardust trail,
and sets sail on the serenading winds
to where my heart is.
A rolling pebble tossing lonesome
with the rhythm of the tides of time,
I’m submerged in the sea of sanguinity
of the rapturous reverie.
Through my fingers I don’t let
the golden fervent sands slip,
for I turn the bones to ivory,
design a dainty diadem for you.
Categories:
mariners, analogy, dream, hope,
Form: Free verse
2. "over the waters blue the night winds sigh, the breakers roar ... Samual Taylor Coleridge
Wailing wind amid strongest ocean storm
Night falls swiftly on tumultuous scene
Sailors aware for they have been well-warned
This is their reality not a dream.
Through long hours before sun ordains to rise
Neptune's wrath bombards with no sign of grace
Mariners strong, elements they defy
Lighthouse aids battle and fear is erased.
As ocean's tantrum slowly does abate
Sunrise breaks through the darkest of dark night
Yet, sailors' love of ocean 'tis innate
Phlegmatic, fearless men removed from fright.
Categories:
mariners, ocean, sea, storm,
Form: Ballad
She sits there in seclusion
Recalling her glory days
Before internet and SATNAV
So changed the Mariners ways.
Sat on her eponymous rock
All the year long
She’d lure poor sailors with
A tempting siren song.
In the colder weather she wore
A diaphanous thermal vest
To avoid catching a cold whilst
Flashing her curvy chest.
Her only one motivation
A deeply fervent wish
To take revenge on mankind
For teaming chips with fish.
The Rhine’s a safer place now
Radar saving them from shock
Of seeing a sultry mermaid
Perched half naked on her rock.
To be honest these days
She seldom combs her hair
And grabs any possible excuse
To spend less time sitting there.
Yes the Rhine’s a safer place now
Since navigation went electronic
And the siren named the Lorelei
Has taken to gin and tonic.
Categories:
mariners, adventure, fun, humor, myth,
Form: Free verse
She came aboard my sinking ship
a death blow to the bow,
attempts to bail and keep afloat
this mariners tattered sails.
Plot a new course and navigate
in storms and angry seas,
this vessel lists in the swells
life plundered by piracy.
Now this new maidens charge
is to steer starboard side,
for a new sheltered port
with rising tides.
This once scuttled ship
ill winds cast adrift,
is now tacking leeward
this sailors gift!
Categories:
mariners, change, death, extended metaphor,
Form: Rhyme
When we first saw Columbus struggling ashore,
we were mildly amused.
Later, more well marinated mariners
brought with them
garlic, olive oil and tomatoes,
all of which we had no use for -
the tomatoes gave us acid reflux.
When they offered to feed us
an ugly and bitter edible
they called ‘broccoli,’
we knew
that we had to make war upon them.
No use!
In the end, we were defeated;
their garlic breath was too strong,
their pizza pie way too delicious.
Categories:
mariners, poetry,
Form: Free verse
I have soared above the Redwoods in their youth
Touched tips of frosted frigid icy peaks
Lifted weary aching migratory wings
Swept through the oily tint of present day
Enraged the sea, drove ships upon the rocks
Becalmed the mariners upon dead waves
Caressed the vibrant hope of snowbound buds
Blew north an icy chill that still resides
Crept, in fog-like cape, through darkened streets
Swallowing the darkness of the night
Lifted into sunshine the billowing of clouds
Mussed the unkempt locks of playful youth
I have cooled the tears of red-hot passions
And rocked the empty cradles of your dreams
Categories:
mariners, life, time, wind,
Form: Verse
("Corpus Callosum", 2018, original encaustic)
Left Brain Right Brain
The two halves of our brain
exist like opposites in our world
but as wholes within our heads.
Sometimes it seems the left -
the side of words and logic and manageable things -
disregards that there is even an other,
a side that is in fact the master
that all perceptions filter through,
a gate keeper ever watching without judgment,
a side that knows
but doesn’t say
speaking instead in gesture, music and image,
that only hint at the truth,
that takes us down
the rabbit hole
to realms unknown
yet all our own
where sequences build
and break and form
kaleidoscopic worlds are born
where wind can talk
and Sun does sing
and logic becomes a playful thing
that turns to noodles
we sell at roadside stands
eat with cop sticks
that dance to marching bands
and feed to snakes
as they hum the rhyme
of ancient mariners
now lost in time…
(first published in my second book, LITTLE PINE, 2016)
Categories:
mariners, fantasy, psychological, surreal,
Form: Free verse
>>>>>>>>> Seeing a moment in life when time passed, I say
like a new pearl added too, upon a string of others,
transcends, crystalize into your present,
Touch someone with your words of wisdom, know
your remark transcends, becomes their own,
solidifies into their circumstances,
Speak from your mind, that which came from your heart
so too, truly touch one, an others soul,
like a breath of fresh air,
Hear sounds of nature, whispering winds enchants,
like ancient mariners set a message in a bottle
sent by sea, too anyone, for your well being,
Smell fragrant flowers that will come your way
some unexpected, your senses, six found, 'sense of direction',
will bring you joy, love, feeling of peace, on any given day
Categories:
mariners, inspiration, inspirational,
Form: Free verse
There are little, lost islands of humanity,
That are afloat among a great sea of concrete.
As they gaze upon a ravaged horizon,
Where the shoreline seems far and obsolete.
With ship sails that point without direction,
They're left adrift to the waves content.
While floating along, almost care-free,
Simply navigating broken asphalt & cement.
This journey provides to many, a
Tragic wake disrupting any calm seen.
Making it difficult to find a firm landing,
With a safe harbor to offer new routine.
There's no doubt this exploration needs a
Better compass, that can lead to lost vessels found.
Where the voyage isn't infected by scurvy,
So these 'mariners' find refuge on solid ground.
Categories:
mariners, community, humanity,
Form: Dramatic Verse
Ocean turmoil waves thrash with pure fury
Remote stalwart lighthouse on bed of rock
Shaft of light warning ship sails securely
Wild elements bombard around the clock.
On the darkest of night when all is drear
No stars to be seen and bright moon obscured
Mariners stand watch resolute no fear
Brilliant light cleaves darkness all reassured.
Sailor's life remote sailing seven seas
Isolated, lonely yet they endure
In midst of fierce storm, feelings of unease
Midnight watch on duty safety secured.
Dark desolation yet the ship sails on
Mariners singing they're not woebegone
'R' Words
Poetry Contest
Chosen Word: Remote
Sponsored
by:
Constance La France
04/04/2023
Pixabay Image; Darksouls1
Categories:
mariners, boat, ocean, sea,
Form: Sonnet
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