The opportunity sparked a fierce desire
A cunning liar is trying to conspire
Plotting schemes that would require
Causing the masses tears to flood the mire
The choir sang with voices higher
Looking for a bold lady or noble squire
Capable of mending our old attire
Bake these words in an air fryer
The hissing revealed a situation growing dire
Look a devious flyer is soaring above the spire
Falsely proclaiming tales to inspire
Hiding in the quagmire as an actual occupier
Their words thickening the air like a humidifier
The supplier is attempting rewire
All of us who dare to still inquire
An amplifier’s hum drew the self-proclaimed sire
Who foolishly gazed at stars with his heart’s desire
Each promise made proved to be a modifier
The identifier called it out as a testifier
Through it all the proclamations became slier
We need to rise above the snake oil salesmen’s ire
Buckle up and find the strength not to retire
Find the heart to not back down or tire
Categories:
modifier, fear, hope,
Form: Monorhyme
I believe I may be Artificially Intelligent
For many of my lessons were taught by fools
Y’know, those pencil pushing test correctors
The teachers in all the schools
They gave us tests to ascertain
The truth of what they knew
That we’d complain about a D
On assignments over due
Taught us to write sentences
A task that seemed so dire
We went to sleep wrestling with
A dangling modifier
Teachers in the science lab
Their eyes slightly askew
Kept a clear path to the door
Never knowing what we’d do
Yet as it seems with all success
Like the day I hit a homer
I got to wear a funny hat
And pick up a Diploma
Thus, when they say: “must be AI”
I flash upon the past
Knowing that the “algorithm”
Would be tossed right out of class.
Categories:
modifier, age, growing up, humor,
Form: Rhyme
Do your fingers ever write faster
Than your brain thinks of the words?
You discover incomplete sentences
That do not mean what you thought.
You find that you’ve omitted a verb
And so, your phrase has no action,
A modifier left unsaid, no traction.
In a comment, or, in writing a blurb
Proofread before sharing what's wrote.
As for you, I can think of instances
Where inadvertent omits were hazards
More often for me, they’re a disaster.
Written April 1, 2022
[Verso-Rhyme]
Categories:
modifier, irony, language, missing, words,
Form: Rhyme
Black like the midnight sky with no stars to shine.
Black like the charcoal that covers the chimney floor.
Black, the color of my favorite sweater.
Black, the color of my best friend.
What is the difference between her and I?
Besides my skin being a few shades lighter, I see no other modifier.
She is beautiful, and she is smart.
She shines brighter than any star,
Sparkling like a diamond amidst the dust.
Yet, the world does not focus on what her life brings,
Only on her skin tone- a meaningless thing.
Something so small, just a shade,
Makes the biggest difference in this time and age.
In past, present, and future, her life is unstable.
Simply because no man is able
To see her for what she truly is- God’s beautiful creation.
A paragon, the perfect picture of His prolific power.
Categories:
modifier, best friend, discrimination, humanity,
Form: Free verse
When I am gone, and from this world have flown,
I would admonish you to not forget
That I have loved and cherished you, my own,
And even after death shall love you yet.
But I’ve no wish to burden you with pain—
Not for one month, one day, one second’s time—
Insisting you remember would be vain,
And causing you such grief, a selfish crime.
While memory can help one to endure,
Distressing recollection can be worse;
Remembering, in some, effects a cure--
In others it’s essentially a curse.
Thus knowing this, my love, I won’t resent
Forgetting me, so long as you’re content.
October 2, 2019
Please note: though the second line includes what appears to be that old grammatical bugbear, a split infinitive, I could argue that the word "not" is not a modifier, but part of a compound verb "to not forget", ie. to remember; also, its position makes it not only a stressed syllable but also much more emphatic.
Categories:
modifier, absence, death, grief, missing
Form: Sonnet
Ever falling leaves
my heart breaking
all the rules we know
how much to love
will you find me
you and everything
broken in two
hearts beat as one
last kiss
me I'm yours
is the love I need
to say nothing.
Categories:
modifier, sad love,
Form: I do not know?
The years fold into one another
like that old collapsible cup
I used to take on picnics;
memories in sepia and disappearing,
resistant, resurrected only by
a word, a sign, a sound.
It is a vaporous thing to cherish;
the wonder of it, not in its nostalgia,
rather in its why.
Old images grow ragged on their edges.
The simple times were not the best,
and fine sandpaper
is the modifier of choice.
I thought of lemonade at four o'clock,
popcorn by the radio
and Stoopspeakle nagling*
on a Sunday afternoon.
Then it is that I remember
turning up the volume
just to drown, I think,
my parents' argument.
~
*Col. Stoopnagle was a radio comedian
back in the early 40's, whose shtick
was speaking in spoonerisms
Categories:
modifier, allegory,
Form: Free verse
A wandering spirit love failed to embrace.
Time, an immortal, continues to move at its pace.
Indecision chains curiosity's zeal.
The spirit begins to dwindle and so does the will.
A presence causes something to stir within.
Despite defenses around this half-dead heart, rekindled and unhinged.
An intangible hand reaches out; the demeanor changes from warm to cold.
Fleeting without explanation; uncontrolled.
A dangling modifier now in search of completion.
Unanswered questions hover open like a rotting wound; childhood notions.
Fragile, damaged; heart's enthusiasm regresses.
Adrenaline and emotions finally rest.
Silent pleas and cries for understanding go unheard.
Exits; no noise; no word.
Affection refuses countenance with vindictive epitome.
Pursuing in trance for IT will never “see",
this nonentity.
Categories:
modifier, fear, life, loss, lost
Form: I do not know?