That other world
is out there, beyond the quiet
I keep bubbled around me,
the noise growing louder along
the flag strewn streets,
banging drums marshaling
the inflamed minds of the masses.
Something has gone wrong.
I no longer feel I belong.
I keep my door closed
and curtains drawn to shut out
the anger from a passing mob,
reinforce the boundaries of my home
with walls of books. They have
marched through and littered
all the lovely places
where I once walked, covered
beauty with garish signs.
Something has gone wrong.
I no longer feel I belong.
Out there, all seems to be
of no worth unless shackled
to a cause. Tribal camps yell
obscenities across the lines
of division and commandeer
their gods to mouth
a sanctioned hate.
Something has gone wrong.
I no longer feel I belong.
And what can I do
but play with a frail voice
and think of what could be
and on dark days,
take hope and defiance
in the gentle arms
of Emily Dickinson's poetry.
Categories:
marshaling, anger, hope, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Spontaneous sulfurous stigmata sinisterly surfacing
Membranous molecules meticulously masterfully marshaling
Tangible tempestuous tears tangling thoughts
Radical revelation revealing ruinous rots
Pious priests patronize punishable penance
Impious illusions intrigue impacting independence
Narcotizing nefarious noxious naves navigate
Prioritizing pains portal pandemic perpetrate
False fixation fumigates fragmental fatal fury
Defaults determine damaged destructive demons dreary
Jan.18.2020
Eight-word challenge 1 2020
Sponsored by: John Hamilton
Placed 3'rd...Thank You
Categories:
marshaling, conflict, psychological, self,
Form: Alliteration
Round up the posse,
get ‘em vetted Oval Office ganksterized
Appoint the piggy snouts,
then send ‘em out
with metal sidearm power
Ancient oppression done got modernized,
old Egypt Memphis is new Phoenix on the rise
OK the corruption,
legalize the blind Corral mice
Roving Jezebel eyes
got sticky trigger fingers unsanitized
Presidential grifter seal approved,
publican tin badges
skimming off the top of the public trough
Bonnies & Clydes wearing white hats,
got the saddlebags holding the stolen dough
And it looks
like they done Bernie Madoff with some mo’
Treating citizens mob gankster rude;
those tax cowpokes
are waving their little flag pistols,
talking like tough leather throat fools
Every national treasure asset
is being pirate privatized
Every sniveling weasel with a lizard tongue
is getting Benedict deputized
And truth is being sold in the stables,
non-disclosure is the filly train to ride
Marshaling a high plains moral drifter
to come bail rescue innocent pleb gunslinger you
Remember, Roman toga outlaws
were duly elected judge, jury and executioner too
Categories:
marshaling, allusion, corruption, political, truth,
Form: Rhyme
Lost in a vacuum of darkness
Hearing beats of a distant drum
A marshaling cadence that hearkened
Together we'll overcome
Advancing I pause to listen
The sonorous pounding increased
It's volume and rhythm did hasten
My lonely anxiety had ceased
I knew nothing now could stop me
Adrenaline numbed all sense of fear
My pace became more lively
As the darkness began to clear
Then suddenly another thumping
I tried to make sense of it all
My nerves were raw and jumping
from within I began to recall
A memory beckoned sweetly
Of days forever gone
Tucked away so neatly
For sake of moving on
Convinced my chance was over
For happiness and love
My world had grown so lonely
Like a hand without it's glove
I, the seedling, springing forth
After I had died
Know the measure of the wealth
Of love when I last tried
Then suddenly the beating
Of the drums began to sync
And all the possibilities
My mind began to think
Here am I, A lonely man
In darkness, 'til the end
Who's heard, the call, to see the light
And shine on me again
with the brilliant and ubertalented Jeannie Minor
an original collaboration with Daniel Turner
Categories:
marshaling, anxiety, blessing,
Form: Rhyme
Lost in a vacuum of darkness
Hearing beats of a distant drum
A marshaling cadence that harkened
Together we'll overcome
Advancing I paused to listen
The sonorous pounding increased
It's volume and rhythm did hasten
My lonely anxiety had ceased
I knew nothing now could stop me
Adrenaline numbed all sense of fear
My pace became more lively
As the darkness began to clear
Then suddenly another thumping
I tried to make sense of it all
My nerves were raw and jumping
From within I began to recall
A memory beckoned sweetly
Of days forever gone
Tucked away so neatly
For sake of moving on
Convinced my chance was over
For happiness and love
My world grew cold and lonely
Like a hand without its glove
I, the seedling, springing forth
After I had died
Know the measure of the wealth
Of love when last I tried
Then suddenly the beating
Of the drums began to sync
Oh, the possibilities
My mind began to think
Here was I, a lonely man
In darkness, Till the end
I've heard the call to see the light
Which shines on me again
- An honored collaboration of
Daniel Turner
& Jeannie Minor
Categories:
marshaling, dark, future, life, light,
Form: Rhyme
I Say Sorry
As the reign of what I feel trails,
Cocooned like a marshaling soldiers war lorry,
The load I carry unfurls is to tranquil sorry,
The modern man-made tears built from onion,
Is the cordial skeletal of me the modern scion,
Deep in my heart the language sorry drills,
To you is a cliche that gnaws to thrills,
As I agree to have made it look irksome,
I enjoyed the life we baked as it was awesome,
I say sorry, as my words crave to reach your heart,
Before they evaporate in the mass of moving air,
I say sorry 'coz sorry liberates us,
From the pain we bairn ourselves in,
Noon darkness that needs care before one,
Sorry is the word, am sorry!
Categories:
marshaling, forgiveness, freedom,
Form: Free verse