A place so lonely a time so trying
what helps you through
who shows you the way
Flight or fight is no option
Illogical feelings through out
Only one is my logic when I am illogical
To scream and have someone scream with you
The feeling of togetherness in friendship
Awaiting the news good or bad
Isn't awaiting your fate so much
but testing your strength
A strength that falls at the wayside
To love someone for friendship
Is not to love someone for love sake
To hold someone close
Is not to hold them for love sake
Fear of openness and judgment
Blurring lines of strength and weakness
Fear and reality, darkness and light
again left with fight or flight
Days have been sombre and full of light
Nights are the cause of deepened fright
Alone and crying throughout
inside all you do is scream and shout
Written 5 September 2017
If words had minds, what would they say?
Alpha knowledge
Word power
Sentences aligned in thinking
AI having no option
Words would be thinking for themselves
No need for the human mind
Words setting the course
Impact being a force
Words approach
Concept their choice
Words being their own space
Humans could no longer control
The theory of a new behold
Words take hold
Intriguing and accelerating
Fulfilling and soothing
Encouraging and establishing
Word talk
Human listen
Needing help from the human aspect
Words being their own intellect
Reverse of alpha knowledge
Logical thinking far superior above man in how words operate
Word mindset
Words measured on effort
Words have arrived and ready
The new alpha sentences approach
You have been told.
__________________________
It seems, conflicts and even full-fledged wars have become common in the world we live in today. Despite the life-threatening circumstances however we have no option but to live blunting our senses as if nothing has happened. Life too has no less conflicts and yet we have to live. This ghazal reflects this sentiment.
___________________
With this life’s unease I’d to live--
By stifling my wish I’d to live.
Alibis no more, I’d to live,
With banes bare of bliss, I’d to live.
On sail-less boat, unfulfilled dreams,
On a half-baked dish I’d to live.
Bearing burdens unbearable,
Hope on a long leash I’d to live.
Amidst all waging wars in world,
On my inner peace, I’d to live.
_______________________________
Ghazal | 03.05.2026 | bliss, fish, leash, peace, unease, wish
It's lonely on a pedestal.
It's hard when failure is no option.
Everyone deserves a guardian angel.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
My Grand Father’s wisdom often suggested, “Can’t is not an option”
Unless comes with attempted movement
Try in the effort
Many people say they can’t, but it is really won’t
No one knows what they can do unless it is proven in truth
In my younger years, my responses were always can’t without ever
Trying
My Grand Father showed me the theory behind the task
When I tried what I thought was can’t became I could
It was expectations beyond my thinking
For example, if I wanted to ride the water rapids, and said I can’t and that would be won’t out of fear
I actually attempted to ride the water rapids in the Adirondacks in New York State
Can’t is only a scare to try
Chicken out principle if you will
Believing is trying and understanding making it superficial
Can’t is simply ruled out
Can’t being no option
Put try and effort to the test
Observe as you excel beyond your own belief
Can’t is won’t and effort is proven in the movement and mind
Can’t in words, Cancelled, Action, Navigate and Try
If you take out the two words, Action and Try
Look what you come up with “Effort”
Don’t make can’t a component but turn effort into an element
With varying degrees of intensity,
my internal war rages on.
Freedom of choice vs. obligation to others,
a conflict that’s been fought since time’s dawn.
The battle requires a decision to be made
that personal responsibility must mediate.
Choosing a position to take is juxtaposed
to choosing a position to abdicate.
The skirmish renews each morning,
since the tempest percolates whilst I sleep.
There’s no option that involves fleeing
because the repercussion would echo too deep.
I long for a palatable solution,
which could usher in welcomed peace.
But my internal war will continue raging on,
'til I find an existential release.
Imagine sleeping on a roll away bed not holding steady
Overnight sleep ride
That’s what every roll away bed provides
It comes when a person turns over in twist and turn
The roll away Bed is not firm
It’s about move
You certainly wouldn’t be smooth nor soothe
You would find yourself somewhere all over the room
Travelling without ever getting up at no charge
Take it from me, I have experienced sleep being no option
Journey to anywhere within
Unplanned moment, but anticipate
The Roll away bed has the right name
There’s no telling where you will aim
Full of no sleep surprises heading for the door
Roll out definitely for sure
I wonder why these words are short
They better be when rather long,
To give us time ere we abort.
No one is in a trial court,
Nor scared of a judicial gong,
And wonder why these words are short.
They, captive in their heart’s soft fort,
To whom an abrupt ‘no’ feels wrong,
Need time to say no and abort.
Fine to say no as fair retort,
Make it a sweet-sounding dingdong,
Yet look, ‘yes’ too is far too short.
To see, no option sounds so curt,
Sing out a gentle lilting song,
That, you have time ere you abort.
It is an art that I exhort,
To practice well and all along:
I wonder why these words are short,
We sure need time ere we abort.
___________________________
Villanelle |02.10.2024|word, yes, no
Poet’s note: We often find it so difficult to say no, we are forced to say yes under pressure. Why? Perhaps both ‘yes’ and’ no’ as words are so short, they do not give us enough time to think. This Villanelle is born from this lack of comfort.
To reach to your heart
I wrote poems all my life.
Too late upon my part
When I knew in utter strife,
The roadblocks were far too rife.
“I’m a conundrum. Or an enigma. I forget which” ~ James A. Owen
As
the soul
by free will,
chose to descend,
that contrast be felt,
thus be known in fullness,
no option remained save trance,
which it entered, burning the bridge
to heaven, God’s wisdom, love and light,
yet cradling deep in heart, the spark divine.
The deed thus done, now caged in feeble form,
splendour of light lost, soul quaked in fear,
yet from time to time heart whispered
secrets not meant to be shared
but love cannot be bound
and so cajoles soul
to renounce fear
so that it
may be
free.
Remember our freedoms, lest we forget
The price of liberty and of surrender.
Tyranny cannot trample the people
Lest our future succumb to infamy.
Carried: our flag over our enemies
Our land secure as soldiers we buried.
Pray our allegiances will never bend
As we stand firm for American ways.
Let founding principles be cemented
Cured and secure, and forever be set.
Brave as one loyal to God and country
Live committed and resolved to the grave.
Atoned by the soldiers who gave their all
Their names on white crosses and sacred stones.
Sound your commitment, all citizens pledge
To stand resolute and to country bound.
Dread is no option, allegiance required
Make bravery soar and division: dead.
One nation is ours to love and defend
One life is yours and your obligation.
From the unravelled and now exposed mystery
Tales of leafy Nottinghamshire
And the dusty tatty books of it's long history
Comes a tale
You'd think it was just a jest
However, it is a fact and true
With hand upon heart and chest
I am telling you
Way back in time long before Robin Hood
And the Major oak
Was a mere sapling about to bud
A small settlement in a sunny green forest glade
Once lived a tribe
And built their huts
Working the land to survive
Their name
The Snot People.
Named after their chieftain Snotter
And the famous Nottingham was born
The Surrounding encampments
And Hamlets found it so funny
They laughed made fun and teased
''The Snotters''
It was just too hard, to believe
The Snotters
We're op so embarrassed
And how poor Cheuften Snotter must have cried
For his name and his people
Were ridiculed for their true name
Had sadly been denied
So they had no option
But to change their name
From Sottinghamt to Nottingham
And no longer ridiculed
Or had to had to bow their heads In shame
Peter Dome©2024.
I stand before the ocean
a lone beacon
enduring the crash
of relentless waves
absorbing their hidden secrets
Weighted whispered woes
and carried calls for compassion
wear on fragile shoulders
gritting truth behind a smile
where withering resilience hides
Navigating the intentions
of those with insatiable thirst
narcissists crave to drain
the vulnerable empath
standing alone in constant company
Lightly treading depths
lost in a running river
I can walk away
but stay submerged
as boundaries dissolve
An empath has no option
dwelling in cores beneath spongy skin
innately woven in veins
flowing with the essence of others
outweighing mere empathy
Yet, beyond colliding tides
a distant, soothing glow
from a familiar lighthouse
emits an ease of missing peace
A suffering human
aches to be known
by those who know
On way to work you find a dog asleep,
And see the same scene on a return trip.
If that makes you wonder
Who lives life much sounder,
You live a dog’s life, no need to think deep.
If your dog has your bed taken over
And you’ve no option but to sleep on floor,
I suggest what to do,
If you have not a clue.
Turn three times before you sleep down, and snore!
____________________________________________
Limerick |03.08.2023| life, dog, humour
Poet’s note: The first limerick indicates that many a man live a dog’s life. The second, if your dog has usurped your bed, and now that you live a dog’s life, do as dogs do: Turn three times before you sleep on the floor. Additionally, snore and see if your dog is disturbed and vacates your bed. Good luck.
A mind so cloudy it cannot see,
Everybody thinks it won't happen to me.
I see the light to a brighter place,
I feel so alone in this crowded race.
So many around yet I cannot hear,
I reach out but no one is near.
The fear runs deep inside my soul,
its not easy but I keep control.
I feel as if I am in a sea of black,
with so many demons it's hard to keep track.
The pounding is too great on my heavy heart,
there is a long journey ahead that I must start.
There is but only one way out,
there is no option to sit and pout.
Fighting is continuous and deep within,
it is said going down that path is a moral sin.
I made my choice for this journey long ago,
the path is dark and from the moon not even a glow.
The pain can be too much to bear,
my heart on my sleeve I cannot wear.
And still deep within the battle rages on,
I feel as sometimes a satanic spawn.
Battle wounds are deep and cannot heal,
a constant reminder the demons are real.
Time has told me
the error I must find
Time has asked me to ask for no more
Where's the lightness I seek
A rose without a thorn
is no option
Things I could say
Time well tell you
To bear beside me
Even ways you need to laugh
leave me in stitches
Time has told me
A random thought
for a troubled man
A distant ocean on a foreign shore
how they came and go
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