there are no more shoulds or musts
because I am retired now,
every minute of every day is a choice
I choose to play,
to paint, to cartoon, to enjoy my dogs
I turn into a vegetable in front of a TV set
I stay up all night
sleeping during the day
getting cranky when someone turns on a lawnmower
I am so nonproductive it borders ridiculous
remember the cleaning I was going to do?
I have done no cleaning
when I die the children can burn this house down
I do not care
I am a slug
I have earned the right.
Balloons they float
Across the sky
In rainbow mood
Excessive high
Intruding birds
Like cloudless thoughts
With do's and don'ts
With musts and oughts
Above the trees
Rooted, they cheer
They dream of floating
Far from here
The gusting breeze
Can guide your joy
Away from ground
That can destroy
The brightest hopes
Of friendship's love
Enduring winds
Of push and shove
But bright the sky
If dull the heart
The journey home..
Yet, first depart
From dreamscape fields
From comfort clouds
To launch away
From chains and shrouds
The freedom of
The endless blue
Of eyes and skies
So pure, so true
The pressure seems to build inside,
With the endless tasks and duties,
The heavy weights I must stride,
The perfect grades and tidy room,
All the chores and practices galore,
The heavy yoke of "shoulds" and "musts",
Weigh heavily on this core.
The darkness creeps within me,
The tiredness that seems to never end,
All the hopelessness and sadness,
The thoughts that logic transends.
But I will fight this battle,
I will not give in to fear,
I will find the strength within me,
And know my worth is clear.
I am more than the grades and tasks,
More than what I do and make,
I am loved for who I am,
Not for the paths I take.
So I will lift my weary head,
And stand tall against this tide,
For I have worth that nothing,
Can diminish or deride.
I will fight and I will win,
This long battle within my mind,
For I am more than expectations,
I am love, hope, and kind.
I cast my gaze on other folk,
and sort them out with shoulds and musts.
My problem is a certain bloke;
his comport fills me with disgust.
Reflecting on him, all I see:
myself, just staring back at me.
—————
for the Bite Size Contest no.60 Poetry Contest
sponsored by Line Gauthier
written on 02/01/23
What dark and cooler distant sun
Dusk nor dawn do not disturb
The Tenacious audacious sparkling night
No startling light Except the moon
Beaming at the True loved stars of
His dreaming Gleaming starlit
Twilight life
Everything of the twilight dusk
Inspires a poet to create poetic
Verse and verbs with perfect words
A list of worldly worthy words of
Poetic musts when dark is dusk
And dawn is new
Optimism pranced up and down in hip hugger bellbottoms
Joy resonated from those who wanted peace not war
Gratitude basked from the corners of those who had not been drafted
It was 1969, and we were in our youth, full of confidence.
Emotions ran high; the Viet Nam grayscales were ruining our news.
We decided to buck the old ways, and begin anew, accepting everyone
We did not adhere to the absolute musts of the fifties or sixties.
We wore love beads and Nehru jackets, and smoked pot in cities.
In our hand-embroidered blue jeans which had not been washed for days,
We hitch-hiked to the promised land of California, or to New York City.
We were full of idealistic ideas and ideals. We were the youth.
We knew more than we had ever known in 1969.
~ Practicing for an address
at our local senior center ~
I stand before you today
with no magic words to say
They complain: We're older, slower; our ceiling's lower
Instead of glistening, at times we glower
Yet like fine wine that's aged just right
we have experience, knowledge and insight
that more than makes up for loss of speed
'coz sure and steady wins the race, indeed
So, whatever you do, wherever you go
just strut the stuff that smart folks know
Honesty, integrity, reliability -- they're the musts
that combined with punctuality win people's trust
Employ those relationship skills that have helped you thrive
Go have the time of your life ~ You're mature and alive
Inspired by Line Gauthier's Poetry As Legacy Contest
Not an Entry
and it dawns on me
while straightness
aims for conformity
it seems to clutter
people's brains
with madeup rules of
shoulds and musts
that snowball
spitefully into
rampant
venomous
chaos
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Posted on July 13, 2020
Back of the church
in the dusty pews
in a passing whisper
God said "OOPS"...
I'm sure he said it
with no "amen"
then I heard God say
"OOPS" again.
I sit in the back
near the too heavy door
cuz when I sleep
I tend to snore
'neath the fire and brimstone
of a "God" based fear
that's when I felt Him
drawing near
edging closer
through the dust
the lonely savior
of shalt nots and musts.
He whispered coldly
At the too thick books
"They left out the parts
where God said "OOPS".
John G. Lawless
3/22/2020
Some men's the brain, packed on the rest
Some are down, others on top
Every moment dancing, drinking to the best
Think what can turn, coupled soup to drop
Some men's brain, with their posited tune
Like black pigmy pigs, raising for the fall
Out of the docket stew, few for the hewn
And ready for the leagues, to need and stall
Some men's brain, in the nutshell heads
Shaking at Kayamba tunes, they play and dance
Any but not strain, the rain for thy mades
At last the cucumber, for morning mouth bounce
Some men's brain, justice for the musts
The piling exerting pressure, leisure for solution
Any time for the chain, trailing as the locusts
At last the coughs, itches pitching of pollution
At last no brains, dull pains in the chain
Anything no the Cains, from Spanish cranes
At last the bow leg, unseen full stain
The reason for stain, now in the manes
In the stillness of morning
I can truly cherish
each sacred moment
as I am all too well aware
that it won’t last much longer
the phone will ring
everyone will soon rise
the musts and wants awaken
tugging for attention at my skirt
come midday I’ll crave
Just one tiny second to myself
A place where I can sneak away
But right this minute
Let me bask in this instant of perfection
While it’s in my hand
And hold this breath of silence
That sways in the morning air as
The sun rises in all its glorious splendor
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on March 10, 2020 for contest STRAND CHOICE C sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 3RD
Originally posted on October 30, 2018
Life bustling all around me
As fast and unhinged as I once was
Seems crazy that I was caught up
Entranced within the walls
Of that fanatical maze
Sold on the idea
More is better and faster is smarter
That’s a pace for the young
Going nowhere fast
I wouldn’t switch my age
With just about anyone
Finally living and appreciating
Every precious moment
Remembering life is about options
Not being bullied
By should and musts
I’d be damned if
I let you cheat me
Of my last few days
However many
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on February 26, 2018 for contest YOUR BEST FREE VERSE IN 2018 sponsored by JOHN HAMILTON
Lithesome lines of rapturous rhymes and torrid truths,
Written with piteous pleas and tantalized tease;
Left to others' wits to be interpretive sleuths
Of our loves, lusts, confessional musts and envies.
Rhythm ripping or cadence caressing penned words,
Weeping a caustic choice or singing a heart's rejoice;
Gathered in silken sentiments or stampeding herds
Inkwell of traipsing thoughts etched in poetic voice.
Susan Ashley
October 16, 2017
*'The Love Letter' - Painting by Samuel Luke Fildes*
There abated consumed lust
Dusting the shelf
Off from molding musk
Due to LOVELESS rust
Lovingly I trust do fuss
With heart felt musts
Relinquish all to love
Do send loving tidings
This one day
Come this way come to
Stay falling far for the
LANGUAGE OF POETRY
Postman' s bin bring SONG
In mailbox din
There be a word a name and such
Poems bring smooth MELLOW
Velvet days
Poems bring trustingly aromatic ways
Daisies when dew point peaks
Poems bring what poets muse
Is what poets speak of song
Consumes song of lives lived
By loving lust in beautifying
Surname mine abandoned rhyme
Dry as Potter's field
Tell me your consummation REVEAL
What you will affirmation with hands
Of steel
Where you live leaves wrestle at the
Base of trees lust for life reprieve
Alive and grieve
truth Bails, lies Bills
the Purest speech from the Heart is a cry
Prudent leaving lengthens 'Life is Short'
Life has MUSTs to be done.
Don't fail to do or else,
Life will fail you suddenly sadly
nothing is Right everything can be Wrong,
whiles nothing is Wrong everything can be Right
the noisy bleating goat disturbs the village
at the expense of a glad soup pot ready to boil
Fear of Death denies know one of a Good night Sleep
big EYES aren’t clear sight
only Distance can tell how clustered the Stars are
not an Eye
the Blind see further in the dark than the Sighted
the Limbs of a cripple
tells nothing of his Height of Insight
Power of imagination
makes you Stand whiles sound in bed
Thinking your Shadow stands by side in the dark,
is your mind
Want to see your Mind, without the cuts and stitches?
Stand in-front of a Mirror,
what you see is not Self but Mind
©Kofi Asokwa-Nkansah
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