Occupying Poems | Examples

What hangs in the balance

A moon hanging low amidst the glitter of stars,
my heart's aflutter with dire anticipation.
Together we cast golden coins in a fountain,
the darkness of the night oozing with mystery.

My heart's aflutter with dire anticipation,
the unmistakable scent of love fills the air.
Always the thought of you occupying my mind
till I summon your familiar voice in the night.

Together we cast golden coins in a fountain.
What follows is a future completely unknown
fraught with questions and answers that put us on edge,
and beyond the horizon no news, not a glimpse.

The darkness of the night oozing with mystery,
wishing for the best we will not settle for less.
We hope and we pray as we offer our plans to
a moon hanging low amidst the glitter of stars.



(this form is called Retourne)

AP: 3rd place 2025, Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2025

Afloat

I am simply trying to stay afloat 
In an otherwise sinking land
An escape between past and future 
An island of pain 
Treaded up 
Barefoot in the sand 
Grains of memories stuck in the creases 
Standing is sore 
Walking is sore
On my hands and knees I beg
Relief is all I pray for 
The physical and mental torment 
Occupying a vessel that doesn’t know how to swim 
My head hurts from thinking 
My hands hurt from holding on 
The sun hasn’t risen in a while now 
But the clouds bare a similar resemblance 
To the ache that wants to be unearthed 
Tears and rain, all in the same 
A necessary cleansing so we can grow beyond

What Changed

The world, our world, our nation
The yearning for love world
filling and occupying each memory
passed, and hidden
yet found 
unremorseful towards each.
What has happened to our world?
The proud rock of our nation
formed by love and respect for one another,
the unconditional love once 
given and returned.
What changed our world?
Our blooming world,
turning dry each day yet full
of bloomed and ripe trees.
What happened to peace,
respect,and love?
That was once like god's grace of life.
What changed our world?

My Words

My Words
Miracle Man
1/13/2025

This writers thoughts
are word embryos waiting to be delivered.

Born as a whisper, they’re nourished
by sight, voice, or as ink on a sheet of paper.

Some have long lives, while others stagnate,
having served no purpose beyond occupying
this writer’s time.

Zen mode

souls occupying form
in a state of amnesia
go about their business
conjuring imaginary scripts
propelled by heart’s desires

what then is compassion 
but accepting all as they are
engaging as needed 
yet maintaining distance
from feral vibrations

Unfinished portrait

I walked the winding way down your memories.
We live in the age of perpetual documentation - 
a blessing for the socially inept.
Every abstract gives insight,
but I crave the full portrait,
you in your every shade and hue.
I wish to know you better than breathing,
but I fail even to take notice of where the edges of my posters line up.
And I put them there.
What a shame, what a shame, what a shame.
When will I grow good at being a person?
How could I ever fill in the yawning cracks?
Anhedonia warps my mind and my memories,
but something remembered shines through - 
thoughts of those dear to me,
occupying me from dawn to the witching hour.
At last, rays light the gray horizon.
Maybe I’ve a reason after all.

The Poetic Arts

Terminology:

Crystal booths in a nocturnal snow.
significant downpours of shedding stars.

This said, feel free to scatter, scrabble or mash.
Words are fungible,
many still believe that poetics
do indeed belong to the fungi family,
though some have been classified
as many-limbed Triffids
of the squishy kind.

Now throw moondust at the reader's eyes:

Obscurity is essential, however, first create a window
that opens to reflect the thrower.
Rain down upon the moondust until mud takes shape.
There are no words for this process,
so, make some up.

Flourish:

Without a final flourish the poet is left with a turgid puddle
avoid turgidity at all costs, especially puddles.
Sprays of celebratory tinsel
or globs of gore are always effective.
Reaching for the stars with a palsied hand
will jerk tears out of a slab of concrete
eventually.

Swiftly leave the space you are now occupying,
other's will be impatiently waiting to craft their next masterpiece.

Deconstruct Me

Your pen moves like silk slipping slow 
Across my body expressing a glow
Each word a touch that I can’t resist
Teasing of promises in every twist

I feel the pull from your every phrase
Like fingertips tracing me in secret ways 
Expressions slide upon satin sheets
Coolness at first then building up heat
 
Words linger like a breath upon my skin 
Each word draws me closer pulling me in
Dreaming of places wild and unknown 
As thoughts turn exotic, far from home

Let me dive into your words, let me drown
In the sea of moist thoughts I am bound 
Every sentence as if wrapped upon a vine 
Deeper and deeper, sensual line by line 

Feeling you seep beneath my soft skin
Occupying my thoughts letting me fall in
I want to be lost in a world that you paint
Where logic fades into mystical restraint 

Telling of seas and oceans and sweet air
Riding on sensual thoughts laid bare
Allowing me to mingle within words true 
Showing me a kinda exotic I never knew 

Tempting with words, warm and smooth
Tracing my curves in a rhythmic groove 
I submit to the heat of your untamed soul
As you deconstruct me then make me whole

Lady Hope, harbinger of bliss

When Mr negativity comes and you open the door,
you find his friends along with him occupying your mind.
Mr. Negative, Mr.Despair, Mr Despondency all are thieves
They steal happiness and peace and make you a pauper,
You feel like dying

Always make lady Hope your best friend
she will bring her friends Positivity and Peace along with her
Create an armour in your mind which Mr negative cannot penetrate
You will lead a blissful life.

Lady hope is around us always, easy to spot

Morning Sun brings rays of hope throughout the day
Moon and stars scatters silver streams of hope at night
Ever flowing breeze conveys God's presence and love, caressess us with hope
Rains pour clean water, drenches earth with hope
Ever flowing rivers of hope nourish surrounds
Umpteen seeds within each fruits, pollens in each flower scatter hope everywhere

Forest flourish on their own, breathing out hope every second
Plants emerge from tiled, concrete grounds, their smile says be hopeful

When you look around and you will spot lady Hope everywhere
She conveys the message - Be hopeful! God is there and takes cares.

The Blue Ridge

Not lost, but merely seek,
knowledge and understanding.
Both of the natural world and
my mind’s space and time.

What insignificant thoughts will
push worries away,
occupying that space,
and consuming the time?

On these cloudy rainy days
the melancholy thoughts,
come playing  peacefully, like 
raindrops slowly falling.

The deer appear often at the edge
of the woods, testing things.
Full knowledge of watching eyes,
understanding no threat here.

The damp and green of summer
showers seem endless.
The hard rain satisfying the thirst
of both foliage and beast.

The young black bear scurries
across the road and into the lush,
vanishing into August’s green
and vast wet forest.

As the rain continues to fall,
the wipers moving back n forth,
out the window,
the birds bath and squirrels play.

The radio sings softly,
music from many years past,
no bad news of politics or wars,
rather lyrics for days like these.

From this rainy mountain top
peering down at the 
Shenandoah valley below,
the world seems at peace.
 
This road of life, so similar to
this winding mountain parkway,
which today I travel, 
content yet longing.

Battle Of The Hemispheres

and a switch flicks
who are you he asks
it should be me 
asking who are you
until the switch 
flicks back to . . .

fuddled hours 
gone are the simplest things
a crayon in a box of pens
then that switch 
and it’s who are you
I want to go home

but in truth 
it’s who are you
as now a foreign clarity of sorts
no more mumbling incoherence
no shuffling walk
now it’s clear, sure

and behold 
a different person emerges
occupying my father
secretly all this time
now stepping out
through the non-dominance

and slowly
becoming the dominant part
a battle of the hemispheres
   dementia – an uprising 
   of hidden people
   from somewhere ago

Many Coffees Go Cold - Reality Explained

the things you both see
you all see 
is merely a continuity safeguard 
one of the laws written in to prevent chaos
we can't have multiple lifeforms occupying the same space all seeing and experiencing something different
it just wouldn't work
so we've set impulses to align where and whenever possible
sure as hell easier when you lot are on your own
takes a heap of pressure off the system
that way we suspend everyone else
they're not needed
you don't surely think they're individually living do you
no, just on hold, paused 
until you're no longer on your own
then we have our work cut out again
and many coffees go cold

Who Belongs Where

Who belongs where,
And who owns what?

The answer depends on how far back you go,
And who you talk to,
To justify your view.

It used to be there were places,
That were still open spaces,
We could drive those who we thought unworthy of occupying places,
Anywhere near our faces.

Now there are people in those places,
In those spaces,
Who object to all those new faces,
Coming into their spaces,
Because we do not like their faces. 

But take heart there is a solution for every problem,
And with this one money will not be a problem.
All we need to do is fit those faces into a sports team,
To let off steam,
That gives them and us a reason to celebrate,
With beers by the crate,
Winning combinations that belong together,
And open spaces where all can gather.

Why Injustice Till Now

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" Martin Luther King Jr. 

Why injustice till now? 
Some leaders like 
Martin Luther King Jr 
Felt the real pressure 
of injustice 
And tried 
their best to address it 
In the world
But majority of unjust people 
Continue closing  their ears and 
Did not understand them 
Reason why injustice still a song
In many countries. 
Today some people still occupying 
some  top government posts 
Which they are not qualify for 
And they  can not well  defend 
them
But protected 
by some friends 
or relatives. 
Many qualified 
people are in the streets 
Crying here 
And there.  

Why injustice till now? 
Whenever they get piece jobs , 
They are always  exploited ...
I mean cheap payment.
Injustice still smelling in South Africa and 
few countries where discrimination still
directing minds and thoughts
of some people. 
You can still find some  grade ten directors 
Of some  big companies  while some workers
 are masters.

May 25/2023

The Enemy Within

The enemy within 

There has been a war up North but after some times
the occupying forces surrendered and took the train
back where they came from.
Newspapers and magazines were (for a while) free 
of censors and horrific stories and pictures emerged
which the boy didn’t grasp and soon forgot.
75 years later, the boy, now an old man laid up in
a hospital ward gazing at a white wall remembered
the horrific photos he had seen.
Pictures of sexual deviations, torture and murder
not committed by the foreign occupier but by 
opportunists who thrive in the shadow of wars
Sociopaths for whom other lives do not matter
to enrich themselves and indulge in obscene sex
that cumulate in strangling their unlucky victims.
Sociopathy is not an illness, is for them normal
as they are not humans and therefore lack humanity
love is for them, feelings of scant importance.
They, the sociopaths, are well-educated people 
found in politics, the clerics, armed forces and 
business, where they can exercise power over others
The war in Ukraine is a good example they are
pumping in weapons and refusing any peace negotiation
to the extent of risking a nuclear Armageddon.

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