THE BITTER BITTEN PITH
SOON DRIPS FROM BITTER LIPS
THE BITTEN BITTER WIND
SOON SINKS THE BITTEN SHIPS
There once was a mother so "grand,"
who failed to see harm in her hand-
my cries turned to scars,
while she played all the paths,
of a queen with no soul, just demand.
She missed every sign, feigned disgust,
While I drowned in betrayal and dust.
Now BPD's my name,
and PTSD's the same,
and "normal"? That's just non-
negotiable, I must!
She said, "I was there every day!"
Conveniently blind in her way.
My truth? Just a myth-
Unless served with her pith.
So here I rebuild-well, hurray!
A limerick, absurd, just like she-
A joke wrapped in trauma and plea.
But I laugh (biting, sharp),
While I heal in the dark:
"Thanks, mum. Guest identity's free?"
For Nette Onclaud's Eight By Eight Poetry Contest
Written: Aug. 2, 2026
Folded in fog of muted white
a drifting veil within our sight.
The willow breathes a muffled myth
to dust the dusk with autumn pith.
It blurs the chalky bone of mounds
and hems the sky in shadowed shrouds.
It steals the wholly shape of sounds,
then leaves the soul in dew-tranced shrills.
sole am i
meat locker are we
apeiron births god
pith distills self
self distills pith
god births apeiron
we are locker meat
i am sole
already dead am i
nihil gestates genesis
corpse digests worm
bone ensouls flesh
flesh ensouls bone
worm digests corpse
genesis gestates nihil
i am dead already
damned am i
yesterday flays tomorrow
flesh exuvial are we
pitiless is time
time is pitiless
we are exuvial flesh
tomorrow flays yesterday
i am damned
alone am i
nothing begets thought
clay invents god
dust unbegotten are we
we are unbegotten dust
god invents clay
thought begets nothing
i am alone
nihil kills nihil
Nihil Kills
Indulging in a flirting spree
Succubi demons within me!
I self- admire all daylong,
Humbly hum a seductive song,
To me my gorgeous bits belong!
As I gaze on me from above,
I blush with glee at my true love:
My biceps worthy of Greek myth,
My charming smile - the perfect pith,
No one I’d rather coddle with!
I believe beauty lies within!
It’s one-on-one, therefore win win!
I shall confess if you insist -
I’m an intrinsic narcissist,
I bet on me, you get the gist.
As over my visage I drool -
Head over heels! Dead in the pool.
Arthur Conan Doyle believed
the bright fae might not be myth,
maybe the Cottingley hoaxers
muddled his rational pith!
Perhaps if he'd gone to Ireland,
in groves of the Hawthorne tree
where troops of faeries romp wildly
weaving their magic to see.
Then he could think logically,
like a Victorian sage~
simple answers are often best:
believe, respect, always praise.
Benevolent tricksters, people
of the mounds parading forth
for good or ill, depends on your
deft-thinking and gifts of torte
I beleive pam? has run out of beach.' Lost the thread.. Is full of over reach.' She tried some gutter humor.' And now is almost pleading the fifth.' The sight is truly horrendus this gal is sucking on the very
Pith.' Its down to the bone..There is no more room, i can see a cell door in my sight it looms.) It'll slam;
With a bang! at a short
Length..Of time? or even more soon '
I wouldent cover; your dime '
He said "put me in jail"
I want to go to gaol
I am homeless
And harmattan makes me ail
I don't think of many troubles
Than others of me out there of miserables
Harmattan will soon be gone
But that doesn't fill the gap
At present has made lips chap
Don't be so gape
Such is its effect woebegone
But still have got to hold my brawn
Help me
Harbour me
Trace to peace
For humanity's grace
You are our friends
Don't treat me a stranger in disguise
I sought for safety
But am in disdain
Discovering my properties are missing
I thought I was welcome with alacrity
While asleep thirsty
Your acts bind people's adverse chain
There is a popular myth
That the word
Originated as an acronym for 'ship high in transit'
A supposed nautical phrase pith
But its origin is untrue to be a truth
More older past ages to treat
There are trustworthy officers
Many then have service zeal
They all aim the world heal
Far away from the abusers
But while they abused their lagacies
Make atrocities enjoy no justifiable appeal
tangled
ensnared by doubt
trussed in hesitation
we add layered complexity
baffling
plain truth
simplicity
when clarity takes hold
it peels away layers to reach
the pith
Awe & shock bowlers in the dock our warlock & glock “the judge”
Rapscallion and stallion wrangling with dangling golden medallion
Facing the pacing battalion on our latest sinking Caribbean galleon
Our burly oracle with each follicle so curly a rock that won't budge
In that 90’s dungeon Robin our classy curmudgeon brassy bludgeon
Truncheon fine dining on a hurly burly Courtenay & Curtly luncheon
Calms alarms and qualms delivers us from harm with stoic heroic psalms
Call to arms more like baobabs than palms those offside charms “the Judge”
Speedsters scary & lairy others wary prime time for our hairy chest fairy
Robin our pace Pontiff willow ace not a whiff or a riff or sniff of what if
Believers in his jobbing levers will go biff in any tiff that's the pith of Smith
Not just a county squire but quite possibly the ultimate Hampshire Sire
Calling card hit it so hard earned the fable label of both BATman & Robin
Hall of fame name can’t smudge hats doff to a complete one off “the Judge”
i spend all my days with someone
who doesn't care about me in the slightest
and hurts my feelings in the worst ways
but i can't let go of her
nothing would ever be the same
everyone says it'd be
for the better in some ways
but that's not how i feel
if i let you go,
i'm letting part of me go
and i can't let some of me go
without all of me going
so i keep you around to keep myself
i don't even want to keep mysef
i don't think you care to keep me either
but part of me still wants to believe
you'll have the same love for me you once felt
even if it was never real
i will peel myself open and open again
so you can get a taste of my fruit inside
and spit me right back out
only to come back for more
you never liked how i tasted
you just liked watching me peel open
showing you the most vulnerable part of me
you liked peeling my pith away
all of me wasn't good enough for you
you could only accept certain parts of me
and even though i changed to please you
i'm still not good enough
so i'll stitch my peel back up
until you're ready to try me again
I accepted being the third wheel
But now the fifth?
It's like I'm made out of steel
I became a myth
Still can't believe it's real
I can feel everything in my pith
I wake up everyday
Hoping it won't ever be the same
I want to stay
At the same time, I want to erase my name
Feel like I have to pay
Cuz' I am to blame
That îs the way
To slowly burn in the flame
I can no longer speak
I talk with my yes
I feel weak
Oh, what inside lies
Thought I was unique
But someone who continuously dies
Îs just a freak
That would never reach the skies
A total wreak
Even thought it tries
A strange autumn this, with its closed fisted,
hollow fruitfulness.
Ashen drapes shroud listless maples, a sky
reluctant to color its face.
A hostile pestilence has worn out
the pith of those who still survive.
War has beat itself upon our shores,
and the dragons of earth and sky
have allied themselves
to the hidden worms.
The unripe fall far too soon.
Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
A loyalty we're blessed to win,
Always there like a second skin.
Come rain or shine, true love lingers,
They're as useful as our fingers,
Their presence soothes each weary heart,
And makes all worries soon depart.
They're warm blankets in harsh weather,
Their fondness binds us together,
Their words can guard us through all storms,
With trust and guidance that transforms.
Within our heart their love's the pith,
A truth beyond mere mortal myth,
A joy that never fades or flees,
A peace that pleases, not teases.
peel me an orange
sweet reward beneath the pith~
life's like an orange
ContestA fruity haiku
Sponsored by: Tania Kitchin
Contest Judged: June 13th, 2025 4:54:00 PM
Placement: Third
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