A new phase
Needs sacrifice
You have to let go
Of who you are
So you can become
Who you want to be
Something goes for something.
You got to let go
Of all that's draining
Endowing what's nourishing
If you want to fly
Give up everything
That weighs you down
Be like the Phoenix
From ashes to a new life.
In a world where love has forgotten its place, lost all meaning, left floundering in the mud—courage has found its nirvanic horizon, its ruby flames rise up in the end~ Poetess
Destroyed, slain,
smashed and driven to the ground~
a brutal odyssey of dispiritedness
of rude awakenings endured
around this, fire kept burning within
intoxicating every vein in my body
when welled up eyes, pools of tears fallen
I was the ocean, the lone firebird that flies over
a lone star ablaze, weightless, free-spirited
and alas, rising from the ashes
in glorious splendor for all to observe and marvel
born outside rose walls, from wind, at night,
from red clay, the flowers and the mud,
weeds and roots they know my name
its not attention I seek, its resonance
smashed and driven to the ground~
ignored, displaced, and all but forgotten
and from this despair, I am the phoenix rising
f r o m t h e a s h e s are the gauze wings,
refined in sapphire gossamer velveteen
walls turn to rubble, no rose-stone left unturned,
left unseen is what most is valued, light sifts thru
I’ve won life’s prize—contentment's invaluable gifts
Poet's Note:
Written for the Skeletons Poetry Contest. This dramatic monologue uses "skeleton of hope" as a metaphor for resilience that appears during grief.
Ash Into Phoenix
You ask why I walk barefoot through this frozen forest?
The broken road cuts me, and dancing fog swirls at my feet.
Every step is heavy and cold.
Demons of sorrow and despair circle me.
I thought grief would bury me in the dark.
Then the skeleton of hope rose from my chest.
He wore a gown of silver, with stars on its glittering seams.
He sat beside me, a golden staff in his hand.
He took my hand and looked into my eyes.
"Hardship burns your old soul," he said.
"From the ash rises a phoenix of hope."
"Grief is fire. Let it light your path."
"In darkness, you can still glow."
He smiled at me, at the person drowning in grief, and said:
"Grief is not a punishment.
It is the polish that strengthens your inner self."
And then I stood, because he was right.
Why would you ever want to stay
the same when you already know
that you're meant to change?
Why refuse to let your flames grow
when you yearn to spread your wins
and want to reach the sky?
Why stay where they don't want you
when you can just create someplace new
and live a life that's uniquely true?
Why give up hope for a better future
when the signals of a brighter horizon
shine forth in every soul that sees you?
uteric fire rises glowing across
sacral waters, delivering
umbilical vibrational luminosity
to crown —-
I am Phoenix from Golden Sun
arriving black vulture feathered
scattering ash you lovingly
sowed …
crimson mirrors my pupils
pierce each cell
penetrating what is to
transmute as Rubicon awaits not
rabid roaring apricot black ____
veined breasts exude milk
for next
i l l u s i o n ~
_________________
GOLD Placement Poem
Allpoetry May 26
Image Contest
The Threads of my being
Are becoming unraveled
As whom “I Was” is only seen in the shadows and patches
I am losing myself but finding myself at the same time.
The threads are unraveling the “sweater” of my being
It is being rolled up in a ball of wool, like so many threads of life, cocooned
Until a new garment is made from the old.
What is this garment
that my mind and my being are weaving?
It is a garment that reaches back in time,
even as it becomes invisible in the present.
This garment is my shield
As I become ever increasingly vulnerable
But never increasing deep
Deeper than I’ve ever been.
It is not about a “meaning of life” journey
It is not Nirvana or Valhalla
It is not an enlightened moment
It is melding in a new way of doing things
Finding new ways of learning and retaining memory.
Even poetry becomes therapeutic
As my garment takes shape
And covers my nakedness.
Meaningful girl redheaded.
Daughter of John and Elaine Grey.
Mind situated
Thoughts, tensions. Mind breaks
Revelations
Tell a communications.
Kinesis
Mind reeling reading
Telekinesis
Student of Charles Xavier
Original X man.
Red headed Marvel Girl
Member of Uncanny X-MEN
Reading your mind
Powerful, Psych blasts
Showcasing immense omega-level
Telepathic and telekinetic abilities
Powerhouse mutant capable of flight,
Energy manipulation, and mental control
Psionic abilities to protect mutant kind associated
With the cosmic "Phoenix Force".
Spirit of the Phoenix
Jean Grey MARVEL GIRL Phoenix
4/19/26
Written by James Edward Lee Sr 2026
Bridging the port
Calming wakes, defined as sport
Not needing any legal court
Only a scoreboard
Pointing which door
An Indianapolis checkered flag
Or hiking Arizona’s crags
Going in zags
Seeing single stags
Boys Fightin Illini windy gusts
Wanting a middle city bust
Girls giving USC, a nice tri
Enjoying a Final Four high
Reaching dunking heights
Friday night
Huskies have in sight
Next day another round
For the Nutmeg town
After dinner
There will be a winner
Due to an early evening rise
From southern gamecock cries
Serving gourmet steaks accompanied with eggs
Worth the beg
Two or three
Spectacle we believe
Are the attempts
Message sent
On the hardwood
By those who are good
Getting two points
Across the arena joint
But do not despair
What is fair
If your academic grades are not there
Since Huskie national championship hopes, are on the air
In an instant
I burst forth again
Like some sort of exotic flower that only blooms once every 5 or 10 years
Born of volcanic balsalt
Bursting upward in a splash of ash
that rains down
Can you hear the tiny bits hitting the rock around me
It's a swoosh sound and then tiny rain
And suddenly here I am again
My stalk is stronger than in the past
My hues are no longer blues
There is light slipping between the veins of me
This is a cosmic born again
Little remains of the girl that I once was
She was so small where I now feel tall
She was so insecure. We're now a mountain stands
Her steps were never sure. Now I stride
I stand upon the peak of that black black mountain that I had to climb
Surveying the valley of glorious color and light below
The battles have made a Titan of me
And a Titan. I'm damn well glad to be
Pesky Clodagh Q
Showing me her lovely little white Audi
Sure haven't I been singing Honey ever since
The saddest song in the world,
Ever,
Although By The Time I Get to Phoenix manages
To push it all the way
Anyhow,
How did they connect,
Clodaghs car and you, my love?
She wrecked the car and
She was sad and
So afraid that I'd be mad
Reminded me of the time you....
I was in my late mums
And she told me you'd...
And was afraid I'd shout at you...
Stupid pesky car Wendy
I
Didn't care in the tiniest slightest bit....
I only cared for you -
Sorry, I had to shake my head to clear the tears -
Sure wasn't that my job,
Isn't that why god gave you to me
Cos I minded you
Isn't it in the very Bible....
silly, pesky Clodagh Q,
Silly ,pesky car...
Silly, pesky song...
And honey I miss you.
What’s in the rhythm
that stirs an aching
Soul? Will her
heart’s bruise finally
appeased at the
scent of every fabric
that blends with the air—
The daunting silhouettes
treading the runway…
Their painted lips—
bespeak much of her
silence,
those shimmering lights
may defy her
fears but
she will rise—
like the Phoenix
from the ash heap.
Her wings kept
ablaze by her
God. With a smile,
soaring into the skies
of freedom and utmost love.
By: Elena Maria Mana-ay Parcon©2026
Phoenix! Scraggled feathers, wild of eye,
Was it time, or did you choose to die?
What the patter in your head
As you built your flaming bed?
Ah, but well the matter known,
For I as well the flames have sown.
Casting well enough aside,
By lesser measures, I too died.
You from ashes rise again:
Perhaps I too, I know not when.
35.
I'm a Phoenix
I'm a Phoenix who melts in demise
From the ashes of my past I shall arise
I shall witness happily
The morning sun's new glory
I shall rise up from my feet
With a courageous heartbeat
I shall spread out my wings wide
And set all hindrances aside
And I shall make them see
That there's a radiant hope in me.
I'm a Phoenix, I'm a Phoenix
You shall see!
-sometime in 12/2009 – 1/2010
(Dumarao & Roxas City)
*a song to inspire self
A soft, subtle, silent breeze of bliss blows,
enlivening nodes, eager to imbibe
elixir so sublime, heart alone knows,
delighting seeing the Phoenix revive.
Moment by moment, all moments entwined,
we watch how bliss ignition does renew,
as rapture peaks, our soul divine aligned,
in surrender feeling blessings accrue.
A bliss blob is implanted at our crown,
which we may take to be the hand of God,
wherefrom stream of love flows, in which we drown,
our presence by this epiphany awed.
If we be still, voids within us will fill,
making easy our soul’s ascent uphill.
Written: December 6, 2025, for contest Sponsored by: Hilo Poet
****************
Oh, Nero, spearhead of the wicked fate,
With insane fire, you lit the Roman gate,
Your lyre produced a wild, melodic grate,
Your greed is burning on your twisted trait,
As the power bursts with your wicked hate,
Flames rise, and all that is left will abate,
In the gloom, a flare of faith on the slate,
A phoenix will rise from dust, may elate,
And Rome shall breathe again, fresh and ornate.
RZ & HMS: 10 syllables per 9 lines
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