ICHABOD THE TURTLE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There once was a snapping turtle named Ichabod,
An intrepid soul, his legs lightning rods.
Rabbits, he outpaced, left them confused,
And with his speed, they were not amused.
Oh how all the other turtles did applaud!
“You run like a Greek god!” they said agog.
“Why do you have the running ethic of a slog?”
With a laugh and a sigh,
He'd say, "I’ll tell you why.
I’m just here for the snacks, those delicious frogs.”
Categories:
outpaced, 10th grade, humor,
Form: Limerick
The V12 purred as the fireboat ran
easy outpaced the coastguard man
this time;
last time, bullets blazed
so what;
the price was raised
waiting on the rum line for a good tide
duty-free; it goes stateside.
They can’t catch us
we’re fast and sleek
who’s gonna bother at
30 bucks a week?
seven hundred k I made this year
1920, and running is the gear!
Categories:
outpaced, america,
Form: Rhyme
Stone cracks itself when the immovable
is broken by pain.
Stone trees grow in stone locked caves.
All that is not stone wanders rootless,
yet they abide in that same furnace of time
that has long shaped the stones.
Stone outlives,
unlike we who walk upon it.
On that last day
stone will have outpaced
the bones
of the fastest horse.
Categories:
outpaced, poetry,
Form: Free verse
In times of old,
A tale retold,
Where traders prayed
And blessings sought
To Iroko spirit,
Vows were made,
As fortunes swayed
And lives were weighed.
Fair Oluronbi,
Heart of stone,
Pledged her own child,
A debt to own,
Good fortune smiled,
Her wealth amassed,
Yet fate's cruel hand,
Her joy outpaced.
A vow unkept,
A spirit scorned,
Her child was lost,
Her heart forlorn,
In whispers grim,
The lesson clear,
Be wary still,
Of vows insincere.
Categories:
outpaced, inspiration, inspirational,
Form: Epic
When faced with or confronted by an enemy,
May we not run.
Whether the foe is human or some other entity,
May we not run.
Though our soul may quiver from fear or the
heart may pound from terror; may we not fear.
In spite of the horror we may sense and the
pain of our reality, may we maintain
normality and not fear.
If we run, we will weaken and be outpaced
by our enemy. So, may we not run.
If we run, our enemy will feast on our fear
in anticipation of our defeat. So, may we not run.
Though every natural instinct within us will say,
"Run!", may we not run.
Let our faith rise above our instincts, enabling
us to be still.
In the stillness is where we find a fresh presence
of God. So, may we not run.
112123PS
Categories:
outpaced, fear,
Form: Verse
I can’t see beyond the iridescent glow of lights—
forming this unworldly silhouette around his body.
Yet, I can see him:
the shapes of his every breath,
steadily outpaced by his heart,
which could only hope to match mine—
moving at unsurpassed speeds.
I see his neck;
the steady fluctuations
as beautifully gentle words
dance their way past his caressing lips.
I see slight quivers
in the way he mouths the melodic phrases.
They float through the air.
“Just stop your crying…”
As his hands carefully press its keys,
the piano lets them down:
a quiet submission followed by an unfeigned cry.
Everything seems to have left us together here.
It’s a sign of the times…
my thoughts whisper back.
I lean forward,
close enough to feel every note embrace my chest.
It slows my pulse—now rhythmically beating in suit with his every utterance.
His breath warms the content tears in my eyes,
and as I shut them,
the light hiding away,
I hear only him… as though reborn,
“Welcome to—”
The Final Show
Categories:
outpaced, beauty, boy, happiness, love,
Form: Free verse
city life
bustling, racing,
yet outpaced
by mind
silence beckons
bliss magnetism
suffuses form
07-July-2021
Picture This 2 - 7 Lines Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Joseph May
Picture # 2
(7 lines, with a Total of 14 words only,
in stanzas of 4 and 3 lines or 3 and 4 lines)
Categories:
outpaced, silence,
Form: Verse
That doll, she outpaced any criminal
An honest gunslinger Ms. Annie Hall
She threw us cupcakes and books
We kept our seats by stern looks
She made accountants and the world did sprawl!
10
10
7
7
10
Categories:
outpaced, career, class, cool, humorous,
Form: Limerick
I hope to be forgiven-
for I was not myself
but
I have surmounted;
exceedingly healed
from the wounds
my mind wears
(a gift to myself)
I faced hell head on,
saw sights I wish
were unseen,
with chestnut eyes
glaring into depth
freeing myself from…
the ache of craving
redemption
I outpaced my foes-
speed knows no
bounds when it
comes to regret;
transcending into
pebbled tides I am
at ease,
lost at shore no more
I’m sorry
worry not about me
and
accept my apology-
a mistake made,
forgiven through
empathy,
and
showered in victory
August 4, 2019
Chantelle Anne Cooke
Overcoming Mistakes Poetry Contest
Categories:
outpaced, forgiveness, inspirational,
Form: Verse
Barchans go on droughting in Yagyakarta sods
outpaced here I throw a soliton in gaze-mirage
*
Here we stand on this, the Lee of
Dual Sandhorns { and they
the Phantom Tips of those horns they know what you say -
such fees to demand and how you shall pay no dues!
I’d rather make alive downward facing forms of genesis! I
know, I do know of raining beyond the slip face,
of angles reposed to the honest tenor of our shared Ocean Sky,
where the firmament congeals
to dream postures of
Carretera Interoceanica
where pools in the cool shade of memories that yet are to be
remember of strange filaments, of knees
reclining and worn to urn-dust in their riggings,
reduced to the once-wet bones of Joshua ash and yet!
i r i d e s c e n t s t r e a m s
punch
through
the utmost firmness of form - coalesced
in situ hubrisae,
borne still upon gusts of human wresting,
human heft en masse like all your favorite waves of sound, water and light
slammed by force into prophecies that might
release -
and so unseen
be,
like Zastruga-dew trees
or this home we call Kzynda.
Categories:
outpaced, adventure, art, fantasy, imagination,
Form: Free verse