He grinned broadly from the corner
a percussive serrated smile,
cadaverous lips displaying
a rakish scarecrow style.
His emaciated figure chattered
suspended precariously from a hook;
I was completely startled
by his penetrating look.
His wink was disconcerting,
those vacant eyes held wide;
I wouldn’t call him cheeky
though he displayed a gangly pride.
One arm extended slightly
as if inviting my embrace;
it might feel a little morbid
held against that hollow face.
Gothic trends might call him charming
though his apparel seems unique,
one would only see it hanging
in a nudist colony boutique.
One dance was all he wanted
waltzing the orthopedic floor,
that physician’s skeletal dummy
I just couldn’t make myself ignore.
July 31, 2026
Skeletons Poetry Contest
Seth Pina, Sponsor
Written: July 30th, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Seth Pina
*********
Your very skeleton
is not spun from cotton and polyester.
No, it is not carved from wood,
nor forged from metal or steel.
Its substance is—nerve endings,
tissue, and blood—
circulatory systems,
bound,
but not from woven fabric.
A lethal lotus languishes,
lamenting in its limbo,
crouched on bended knee.
A curved carcass, prostrate
beneath time’s passing wheel.
Its chalk-white bones
measure the slow decay,
where darkness lingers
in the hollow space within.
Cyborg of a cyber-skeleton.
Coiled with a steel-stitch
sprocket of subjugation.
Its spinal cord, bound in circuitry,
hums with sorrow.
A crestfallen cranium,
a heavy, hollowed
moon-orb weighed down
by the gravity of grief
in synthesized solitude.
Amidst this woeful wheel,
supplications of skinless steel
fuse forgotten fragility and fortitude
into a fatalistic future.
For you were neither tool nor tree,
but a tight-furled tapestry of flesh—
a weeping engine, bound in bone,
where the wild pulse fights the gear,
and slowly fades to rust.
Skeletons Poetry Contest.
Sponsor by Seth Pina
All our grandparents were deceased;
As were also both our mom and dad.
I don't know why I wanted to know,
nor what I would do if there were
coverups or secrecies in our family.
Is there any SKELETONS in our family closet?
That was the question to my oldest sister.
At first, she did not understand the question.
Immoralities, misbehaviors, unthinkable things?
Unsavory, mean spirited, and things unspoken?
Family secrets hidden from most everyone?
Dark deeds done behind closed doors?
It has been 28 years since I asked the question.
I have not seen or heard anything to the contrary.
My sister was genuine, and I knew she would be true.
I could feel the sincerity in her voice when she said,
I know of no SKELETONS in our family.
Contest: Moon
Sponsor: Seth Pina
Date: July 9th 2026
In the wonder of the night
The Moon's a glowing pearl
Bidding all sweet dreams and to rest well
As in our beds we curl.
In those restless hours
We gaze up out of the window
And marvel at the glorious Moon
And its happy glow.
This pearl rests itself upon
A vast black satin sky.
To realise this beauty is alone
Almost makes one cry.
Yet there it is and there it shines.
It features in so many stories.
The Moon, the wonder of the night
Beguiles with its glory.
Written: June 30th, 2026 for a contest sponsored by Seth Pina
Underneath a veil of midnight choke,
A peaceful recluse is drifting loose.
Hungry roots in ghostly boots,
As blood-red clay morphs to gray
The winter cries from weeping skies,
Heavy prayers distilled tears.
A gleam in moonlight, a dream in sight,
The stars have bled where breath is dead.
Its sinewed trunk is deeply sunk,
Through ruined soil where shadows coil.
Raw winds can snap a broken jaw,
As trees run deep to hide a sleep.
Most sorrow a faded ghost now,
Reach out and touch a dead shore.
Underneath this clay of black decay,
Lost bones will scream and sigh.
A dying pulse makes night convulse,
Where fading sparks collapse to dark.
A requiem blows low with icy glow,
As blood seeping scars mock the stars.
Confess your sins where spoil begins,
For wood can hold the bitter cold.
Its trapped voice leaves no choice,
When winter’s wind proclaims it sinned.
Haiku Poetry Contest
Seth Pina
lake-side swans splish splash
white sails drifting on mirrors
a boy sees double
“My dear,” I murmured
and pulled her into my arms.
lifting her off her feet…
She sizzled with insatiable desires,
Her lissome body melting
against mine like molten lava.
Lightening slashed across the sky
and the world trembled!
I have waited for you, My Love
through time
through dreams
through brief windows of time…
that’s as much a torture as a pleasure.
Come to me now.
I pulled her into my arms
and this time the kiss was ravenous,
Possessive;
When she pressed her body to mine,
I deepened the kiss…
and filled myself with her.
Her head spun
She reveled in the giddiness,
No one ever wanted her
Not like this,
Had ever touched her like this,
Needed her this badly.
Hot desire fired her blood
and made logic, reason, sanity
laughable things…
She had magic;
What did she need of reason?
~Prompt: Romanticism
~Sponsor: Seth Pina
Thunderous silence
echoes in my scolded ears
heavy lies the mood
Winner 5th place: X&Y by Seth Pina (3/29/26)
My life changed
My world changed
My soul gained a new insight
I found within me a new man
I have reached a new haven
Now within me lies my god.
Now I am free,
with the black Excalibur
I have severed all old ties,
I have no dealings with my past woes
I have forgotten my past love
I stowed away those soulful melodies
reminding me of the days of yore,
I have no creed, no religion,
My past transgressions forgotten
from where only anger,
pain and heartache beckon.
I have a new dream
I have a new way of thinking
A new way of doing things
I tread a new path
aspiring for a new destination
where yesterday is forgotten
where tomorrow holds new promises,
My destiny lies ahead…
Oh! anxious voices from the past
do not beckon me,
I’m OK
Pray, do not summon me back.
~Contest: Broken Heart
~Sponsor: Seth Pina.
166.
Ihipna 9
-Pagsubok sa Binata-
57 Ngayong nalampasan na ang mga kaaway
Susubukin kung pag-ibig gaano katibay
58 Una ay sa binata
May pagsubok na nakahanda
59 Kailangan niyang awitan
Ng madamdamin ang kasintahan
60 Siya'y nagdala ng plawta
Pinatugtog ng mga bibig niya
61 Ang ikalawa naman
Ay kargahin si Pina ng matagalan
62 Umabot sa sampung oras
Diwata ay nagilalas
63 Sa gayong mga paraan
Nakuna na niya ang kasintahan.
-07/11/2012
*Gintong Lupa Series
164.
Ihipna 8
-Tulong ni Amihan-
50 Sa mga sandaling iyon
Diwata ng hangin pumaroon
51 Upang saklolohan
Ang ginugulong magkasintahan
52 Kapangyarihan ng hangin itinaboy
Ang higanteng mukhang baboy
53 Na siyang nagpagulung-gulong
Pababa hanggang ‘di na dumaluhong
54 Oh anong ginhawa
Nang halimaw mapuksa na
55 At sa pag-ihip ng hangin kay Pina
Nawala narin mga pantal niya
56 Wagas na pasasalamat
Ang kay Amihan ipinantapat.
-07/10/2012
*Gintong Lupa Series
163.
Ihipna 7
-Halimaw ng Kanluran-
43 Samantalang si Pina
Nakatali narin pala
44 Sa isang binata na malaki
May lahing halimaw kasi
45 Iyon ay lingid sa kaalaman
Ng dalagang kasintahan
46 Kaya isang araw nang mapagtanto
Ng binata ang itinatago
47 Na lihim ni Pina
Tungkol sa ka-irog niya
48 Nagwala ang halimaw
Kay Ihib bumulahaw
49 Agad itong sumugod
Nang pagtatagpo'y napanood.
-07/10/2012
*Gintong Lupa Series
162.
Ihipna 6
-Mangkukulam ng Silangan-
36 Subalit ang binata
Ikakasal na pala
37 Sa babaeng taga-Silangan
Lugar na kanyang tinitirahan
38 Ang hindi lang niya alam
Dalaga'y isang mangkukulam
39 Kaya isang araw nang malaman
Na sa iba ang puso nakalaan
40 Hinanap ang karibal na babae
At kinulam ire
41 Katakut-takot na mga pantal
Ang kay Pina bumalabal
42 Mahal parin siya ni Ihib gayunpaman
Maging anuman ang kaanyuan.
-07/07/2012
*Gintong Lupa Series
160.
Ihipna 4
-Pagtatagpo-
22 Isang araw na itinadhana
Nagtagpo si Ihib at si Pina
23 Nang sila'y pumaroon
Sa dalisdis ng bundok na iyon
24 Ang binata'y sa silangan
Ang dalaga'y sa kanluran
25 Inihanda ng lalaki ang bato
Inihasa ng babae ang palaso
26 Sabay nilang pinalipad
Sa inakalang ibong napadpad
27 At pagbulusok ng saranggola
Sa kinabagsakan nito'y dali-dali sila
28 Iyon ang unang pagkikita
Nina Ihib at Pina.
-07/08/2012
*Gintong Lupa Series
159.
Ihipna 3
-Pana ni Pina-
15 Ang dalagang si Pina
Maliksi't abenturosa
16 Mahilig magtungo
Sa bundok pinakaulo
17 Tanging pana ang tangan
Mga palaso kasamahan
18 Sa ibon iduduro
Makabasag-bungo
19 Dali-daling sasaluhin
Ang ibong kukunin
20 Kaytibay na goma
Nakakapit sa narra
21 Ang pana ni Pina ay iyon
Dala niya saanman pumaroon.
-07/08/2012
*Gintong Lupa Series
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