Mumbling Poems

Autumn Zephyrs tsf

Wind blows
Fall's leaves
around.
Tumbling
without
mumbling
a sound.

The tree
then grieves
its loss.
Watching
them tossed
upon
the ground.

Autumn
zephyrs
bluster
as leaves
fluster,
wither
and die.

Nature's
last call
sends them
twirling.
swirling
alone...
goodbye.

Carbon dating

I'd been sleeping poorly what with my agonies
needed an early morning nap but
at a ratatatat on the front door I jerked awake and
obediently open up, a respectable couple not
this time trying to get me to switch my energy supplier or
join the young communists but
'We're from The Sun'
asking me if I had any thoughts on the 'Love Island House'

Excuse me what

She mentioned a house number and I blearily
glanced across the road at
the house recently painted in blue and pink
mumbling, I really don't care about it
'Could we use your name'
but I'm not deranged enough to give them that, and

It turns out it wasn't the house opposite but further along
beyond my eyeline,
I'd seen it tarted up with lights
seems it's been called out by a disgruntled neighbour
"The house is lit up like a building from Las Vegas"
and The Sun was frothing at the thought
of a Love Island related story and bothered me
Lee Holloway Towers in his fretful slumbers

Not my problem baby and
I will never sleep again

Voracious Appetite

Around the kitchen
I was bumbling
with pots and pans
see me fumbling
for something yummy
with an empty tummy
it was rumbling
took a long hard look
and now I'm mumbling
as there's not a lot to cook
but bread crusts crumbling
long past their sell-by date
it's ever-so humbling
but there's no point at all
this late in grumbling
about standing the heat
or beating a retreat
but better yet than
simply stumbling
out of the frying pan
and into the fire tumbling

What Stones in Rivers Remember

Stones remember,
the first cold plunge 
in ice-melt currents
hurling the sense of fear.

They remember
each bump, each grind,
each sudden collision,
that carved their surface
to soft compliance,
yielding to the drag.

They remember
the murmuring bobble,
as gentler waters
tumbled them together,
stone on stone mumbling
in the cobbled bed.

They remember
the drought years -
sun cracking their dried backs,
leaving flakes and crack lines,
on once-smooth sides.

They remember
the roaring flood -
how it tore them loose,
spun them helpless downstream,
to settle again
in some strange, swirling eddy.

They remember 
this when lifted,
when held in the warmth of hand,
that their surface, shape and feel,
reveals the legacy,
of every touch, gentle or jarring,
of every bruise, bash and bump,
the river has used to shape them thus.

The Ghost She Left Behind

The world got caught under her breath
They could never hear her precious mumbling, only realized when she left

One second she was there
One second she was floating in timeless air

In a wisp of whimsical space
She would show her elegant face

A polaroid of a perfect smile
Commanding regretful tears and remembrance of all the distant years

Her blood was on the hands of many, 
No one predicted the coming tragedy

Her life not quite a blissful blur
But rather a silent stab of sadness

She left no note or collective clues 
That might have calmed you

No lying lyrics that provoked pointless pity in 
Some that might have said torturing her was comedy

She only left a small reminder to anyone who could find her

And that is this…

“Dying is easy my friend, living is harder.”

HOLYPOOPADOODLEZISSBAMBOO

How many ways can we write about love
Without words we've already used
Could invent some new ones but most of you people
Would be lost and really confused

So we stick with same old time honoured phrases
Safe that our message gets through
Sure like to shock you with some uppity words
Invent a real new word or two

Something like, “I love you profusely”
Nah, that doesn't do it for me
How about, “love you like a kick in the face”
To some it means, “I love thee!”

Maybe too violent for the average filly
Perhaps, “I love you like chocolate pudding”
Don't be shy, but no naughty stuff
And refrain from pussyfooting

So here's what I suggest the new word should be
Holypoopadoodlezissbamboo
“Kinda long!” I can hear you guys mumbling
So maybe just the old “I love you!”

Diffused Sham

When you came
I kissed the thunder
under the over-bridge
of Tiger passing plaza

The tea smoked the pains of
mumbling slogans of the passersby
 
On the neck of the naked sky
the toxic lips of white clouds
dappled the bloodshed napkins

No room for memory to reap 
the chain in the yellow book 
to recall the stolen verses of trunks

By the cadence of borrowed emotion 
now everything is the bubbles of dew

© Mahtab Bangalee/Feb'25

Still Starts When It's Cold

she walks into the room
the same way she has for 40 years—
half-asleep mumbling about the price of eggs
but crap, she still makes my heart stop. 

you’re the last busted payphone 
that somehow still dials home. 
you’re the only damn thing 
that still makes sense
in a world full of unpaid bills and 
broken air conditioners. 

your heart’s a busted radiator
still kicking out heat when I need it most. 

The cigarette burn on our old kitchen counter—
scarred in, not going anywhere. 

hell, you’re a rusted-out truck that
still starts when the whole damn world’s frozen over.

we aren’t perfect but we lasted. 
and that’s better than any damn valentine poem.

Delusion

Never knew senses could deceive until now,
seeing a bright I scurry .
Nirvana makes my imagination go mere gesture.
where I lay unaware of raucous voice ,
Is this the locus?

A dear face I recognize,
charming as allure itself .
I believed as we cross paths again,
wonder gets my most reflecting how u did.

My dear, embrace me as first-ever.
Must I realize my sureness taking over,
as my prime fancy fulfills.
Shall we never be alone anew, strangled?
I shall yield to the choice you deem fit.

If you harmonize ,
let's reborn in heartbound household,
let's fly to the moon playing with stellas,
gazing on how it pours on distant barras.

Pretty, fill me with fine,
tipple from my within.
Leave us singing forevermore,
hands clasped vowing never again.

Then dawn on me from coma,
the mumbling voices ne'er fading.
As I realize my stifle ill-fated,
Finds me dolorously endeavoring.
All the faith washes away ,
my precious wait for me a bit longer,
I lost.

Nature's Hoax

When your better
half becomes less
than such,
committed but not
in love anymore
not so much
when the star
of your show
becomes a rerun
same old episode
no new lines
no new fun
when your morning
star, once ever
so bright
is shielded by
clouds of gloom
dark as night
words that once
produced a twinkle
in her eyes
are reduced to
mumbling verse
often despised
summon strength equity
amassed over
the good years
pray ye
understanding
beyond the tears
know this and
believe it for
ever tried
and true
through it all
the Lord is
in it with you
may patience be
a husband's
unyielding cause
when his wife
falls victim to
men-o-pause

Cartoon Landmine

A monster of cookies and a man of spiders
Lie in a stilted plastic embrace
On the floor of my shower
Waiting for my sleepy naked foot
Like a soapy cartoon landmine
In the semi darkness
Where I don’t expect to face my mortality
By way of a crushed skull
From a forgotten toy
Regardless of how well it would fit
With the rest of the story
These aren’t the assassins
That I once thought that I would face
Although I do revile the blue one’s
Wanton destruction of innocent pastries
I had conceived of my enemies
In grander terms
Back when my super powers
Were just in front of me
And I was the small naked hero
Narrating the struggle for the world
In the shampoo rain while my father
Far above and far away
Presumably kept score and kept mumbling
Something about something
And the bruises
On his feet

Winter’s Rumbling

glistening, gently tumbling
washing hearts pure, humbling
resounding lights, mumbling
glitter alive, flakes fumbling
snow glowing bright, as I’m stumbling
through the wonderful, grumbling
so each flake sails, escapes – bumbling
glistening, gently tumbling…

on the edge of the winter’s rumbling

Deep Dust

apocalyptic deity
wrestling with time bombs 
shouting in malicious mud
***FLAMING!Screaming!PIERCING***
bulletsdronesmissiles
!!!(((midnight --> noon)))!!!
!!!!X|\/|X!!!!
c!Ha*O!s erupts
symbols collapse
cacophony creates incessant 
glow
TOTAL MeLtDoWn:
world collapses...viral pixels 
raging loss
mumbling>rumbling>tumbling
careening through clueless catastrophes

The Gong has been struck
the orders gagged
a creepy mission ordered
(by gruesome gods)

Mike India
Sierra Sierra
India Oscar
November
Charlie Romeo
Echo Echo
Papa

It falls apart. We used up our nine lives. Words are worthless.

a phone display collects dust
sibilates hollow words & disconnection: 
Redial / New call / Forward / Transfer / Exit


it's all so
futile 
?*******?

it's only

d
e
e
p

dust

The Rain

The rain is coming
But they have gone
Leaving the things in a mess .

They returned
Mumbling in the scattering showers
On the crowded way.

Yet,the gates closed
From inside by a few reached earlier
Somewhere kept ajar.

There,they are waiting
For the darkness to set in.

The rain is coming
All are waiting for it
Like a crow pheasant 

By the way,
They wish to keep the land,
The land,so dear !

March 27,2013

Cheep!

I speak to you of wonderful trees
and of butterflies and bees...Cheep!

Who let this bird into my poem?
Catch him, and to the door, let's show 'im...Cheep!

Until we control the situation, 
I cannot continue my recitation...Cheep!

Nervous twitching, restless mumbling,
an audience to a performance humbling...Cheep!

All because the poet forgot one word.
He said bee and butterfly, but not bird...Cheep!

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