We never engaged in the pleasure of love-making,
they banned us from giving embraces and kisses:
how belief shaped the naiveness of our minds...
making us fear and keep us from sweet giving!
We longed to tremble, giving a passionate kiss,
we looked around and we saw stern, watchful eyes;
sweetness slipped out of thoughts, turning to bitterness...
they controlled us to impose the strict rules of obstinance!
We never dreamed of ecstasy, always showing a longing
for becoming one soul anchored by nightly loud moans;
we were deprived of sexual thoughts, never drifting
and feeling free from glances: religion bans and kills!
We were lonelier than children reading bed-time stories,
not frolicking romance to incite desire and awareness;
we missed on our youth for their concept of shining grace:
wasn't sex created by God to increase the Human race?
"The Flipside"
We write
our hearts out
we pull
the catch back in
slowly,
they read,
we think,
too fast
swallowed
in the hollowed out
hallowed hearts measured
ounce per ounce
we write
our hearts out
stamping footprints
obstinance turning
ourselves
inside, out
stone washing
ourselves
inside
out
written on
lines
wrung out,
expelled
pegged left
hanging
right
left
without
missives,
no doubt
on the flip side
of eternity
gravity
grounds us
toes
touch the ground
neck and face
upwards
downwards,
still life
breathing
eyes watching,
reading, waiting
the mystery
we believe,
or, we sit still
debating
the earthly
volume
a boulder
pulley drawn
backwards
forwards
backwards
in quarters
we are quartered
like poetry
we are,
washed
in clouds
inside
out,
we are
on the
flipside ;
waiting
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
Watching the clock I'm wary of time,
listening to words that mean nothing to me
If I could do better and take useful notes,
then maybe the lesson I could finally agree
It's no good to be different in Sex Ed,
what if I don't plan to date a man?
They don't talk of subjects I care of at all,
and frankly, I'm not really a fan
My BSF, only 16, calls in a panic,
within herself lies an unwanted child
Told to save herself she didn't know,
her late childhood is now defiled
These problems seem unique,
but don't be obstinance
As our schools only teach us abstinence
I have often seen perfidious faces
wandering through dark hallways
without showing any human resemblance:
ah, is it envy, ah is it jealousy;
or an unquenchable absurdity
that doesn't admit their open obstinance?
Unrestrained hate can turn us into unrecognizable monsters,
and these demons must carry out the plotted massacres
to be satisfied with the vengeful evil inflicted upon the strollers,
no pity is shown while the flesh gurgles with blood and shivers!
What should be the right penalty? Face death, or remain chained?
Before pulling the trigger: are we aware of the consequences?
Each person is responsible for their behavior: it's an ample hatred
never quenched by vengeance to feed its atrocious thoughts!
Unrestrained hatred can turn us into unrecognizable monsters,
who loves others never commits horrible acts of madness;
hey, do you love your neighbors? Hey, do you say, " Good Morning "
to them and wish them joy through the day with a happy feeling?
Winged horses could not get me to do that
She says to me with her nose stuck up.
She can be prissy when she wants to be.
Trixie is in obstinate mode
I try to reason with her
But I am no match
For this particular strand of my imagination
Two seconds later she rides off to the Netherlands
On the back of a white winged horse
I resist giving her a friendly wave
Where do you think she learned obstinance?
Spring is here as well as the weeds,
they are growing profusely all over,
thinking about weeding the front garden,
it means bending down and yanking,
as they scream and are chanting.
Determination is my mood as I pull,
each time I approach them they cringe,
not wanting to be the next victim,
clearing one spot I discover more,
making this project quite a chore.
Some have pretty flowers as a subterfuge,
a deceit so they will last all summer long,
stubborn roots are buried and embedded,
requiring a trowel to dig into their obstinance,
a way to kill overgrown weeds on continuance.
We learn to take our medicine
No matter what the taste
And follow doctor's orders,
Though uncomfortable, post haste.
Yet children have to be convinced,
For if the flavor's vile,
They'll try their best to fight it
Using obstinance and guile.
Perhaps a bit of bribery
Or trickiness might work,
For medical instructions
Aren't ones we ought to shirk.
So we must do what we must do
To get that dosage down,
Despite the knowledge we're the cause
Of grimace, grouse or frown.
In the castle of flesh and bones,
Held by the chains of antagonism,
She dreamt of freedom,
For he was who she was yearning.
On the door stood guard arrogance,
"I'm the best, you can't escape" he said,
She denied and he grew stronger,
What fed him ? Her ignorance.
He was defeated when she said,
"Yes you are",
Who was she ? Modesty.
Now who blocked her way was obstinance,
She begged him as he stood tall,
She wasn't ready to pay penance,
He didn't budge, he was tenacity after all.
Who came to her resque was compliance,
To escape, she had to make the call.
Her last nemisis was "Ego the dragon",
"You shall burn in the fire of humility" he said.
She was baffled as he flew higher,
She then said "what a liar!,
If humility was fire,
You yourself breathe fire".
The battle was now won,
To hold her back there were none,
With clouds she had to run,
Along the everlasting sun.
Always there
You never disappear
Staying close
I feel you when you’re near
I am alone
no matter if you’re there
For few will know
The pain I have to bear
Your reassurances are void
I have seen you without such a ploy
Trust is limited
No reliance in it
I pray that you’re gone
But I know you’ll always reappear
For this heart
Always aches when you’re gone
galing winds
wintry howling obstinance
~ canine ears perked
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Submitted on April 14, 2018 for contest HAIKU, NO TITLES, THEME NATURE sponsored by MICK TALBOT - RANKED 3RD
Poet took a high-falutin' leap of faith,
amidst a big swig of moonbeams
dabbling toes beyond starry galaxies
Milky Way spun in translations
Pluto still looked oddly perplexed,
Big Dipper gave a smart **** grimace
wondering what the hell was
going on 'neath the stratosphere
when human beings can't keep
their heads 'neath ambiguous clouds
feet firmly planted ground level,
delving lofty heaven's bliss
escaping the wrath of hell's fire,
aggrandizing endless poesy that
absorbs sparks of a universal desire
never phasing sun's obstinance,
but, if you believe in poetry
there's no telling where
boundless skies will surrender
...and the man in the moon tilted on his axis in a
backward's spiral and unabashedly winked
This life has become unbearable
Two ships passing in the night
For there is no greater loneliness
Than the loneliness of together
How two people can desecrate
Each other with such brutality
Two lives torn into tatters
Addicted as we, both to pain
It is easy to complain of suffering
To wallow in the agony
Hearts that beat so separate
Never again to beat as one
Dreamed it would be different
Not hollow, empty and dank
Not the life mapped by myself
Never thought I wanted this
There is no end to the bitterness
Those circles spin round and around
Trapped in a life so mundane
Feels there is no way out
There is still a part that hopes
Of a clear sky on a clearer day
To wrestle on with obstinance
Until I allow me to be me again
I’ve already packed
Everything you need
For your trip, Little One.
“Yes,” she said,
“But I’ve never been
To Chicago before,
And I just might need
My old hairbrush
And this book I used to like,
And…” it all went
Into her backpack
I smiled then
And again later
As we walked the long concourse.
Steps faltered
And tears of fatigue flowed
Down my daughter’s face
Until a loving elder brother
Took the unnecessary burden
So we all
Could make our plane.
I shoulder my own
Unwieldy baggage,
And trudge with faltering step,
Tears of frustration
And fatigue
Rolling down my face.
I fail to acknowledge
That Father has sent me
Already fully equipped,
And I’m reluctant to release
My unnecessary burden
To the Brother who
Would carry it for me.
And in my obstinance
I just might miss
My flight!
I aspire for a flight of magnificence
though the words at times reek of innocence.
Yet striving to create a renaissance
in form which will not require penitence.
I boast of overcoming pestilence
in manipulating verbal reticence
to overcome loathing of quiescence,
which in a sense is the essence
of any poem of mental brilliance.
Aspiring to poems that soar in evanescence,
a luminescence of fluorescence in abundance.
The presence of acquiescence a deterrence
to obsolescence of obeisance in appearance.
The absence of pseudo credence and conformance
to the quintessence of acceptance of senescence,
in poetry, assures defiance of decadence,
and a deterrence of annoyance in articulence.
Yet the arrogance of old heads holds coalescence,
the decidence of some form’s discontinuance.
The annoyance and inconvenience of their defiance,
keeps their belligerence in convalescence.
Their exaserbescence akin to adolescence
in nature, they think obstinance is a virtuence.
© Sept 19 2010 Charles Henderson
4 th in John's Free verse contest
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