Sapphic Poetry 10-22-24
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Winter
Winter breathes a fantasy into morning.
Wreaths of icy crystalline drift through gardens.
Snowflakes dance a rhapsody over meadows
Wonderland divine...
Flurries chant their signatures at the daybreak,
Swirling wonder, shimmering crystal magic.
Falling silver serenades sing in plainsong -
Seasonal carols…
Solstice cycle symphonies float like diamonds.
Jewels of the jubilee capture sunlight.
Barren landscapes murmuring transformations -
Miracles abound.
Frazzle dazzled Summer escapades,
a wave of madness hoists a red flag;
Fuchsia allows my brain to defrag,
sunsets melt hues into softer shades;
I can now turn down those hot coals
that my emotions have been tossed on;
Acting impulsive is frowned upon,
or be seen as the Queen of Sinkholes;
Do not panic drifting out to sea
you are still able to swim freestyle;
Poisonous thoughts regurgitate bile
starting dry heaves almost instantly;
Into your stomach they creep upset,
it can feel like a merciless sting;
No need to entertain cowering
before what’s only a baseless threat;
Sinking without a life preserver,
it’s not needed if your mind is strong;
Repeat like a mantra that plainsong,
tumult will become caricature.
John Tavener musician
a flamboyant gentleman
Loved his mass in6 part
based on plainsong cantus art
Moonlight Garden
Across the silent garden moonlight creeps
Full moon wears the blush of an amber kiss
Soft Luna’s face a midnight vigil keeps.
Moon lights drip from boughs in feathery bliss,
A gleaming signature in pearly white,
In nocturnes moon and garden reminisce.
Scents of luminescent ivory light
Splash on night blooming jasmines as they doze
To leave a veil of jewels in starlight
Moonlit rhapsodies nightingales compose,
Lyric enigmas of shadow shimmer
Drawn by moonbeams into moonflower prose.
Crystal clarity on roses glimmers
Lyric silver ribbons weave a plainsong
Moonlight sonata memories linger.
Alabaster angel’s trumpet sweet song
Moon garden lilies chant the evensong.
7-29-22
Contest: Five Stanza Terza Rima
Sponsor: L Milton Hawkins
Rhymes checked by www.rhymezone
Syllables checked by www.howmanysyllables
Friendship Garden
Springtime plants a friendship garden
Daffodils bloom – a smidge of sass -
Conducts chorus exuberant
Nodding snowdrops chant with pansies
Sing plainsong through dark days of cold
Crocus hum the harbinger’s song
In shades of purple, yellow, white
Narcissus join with harmony
As the melody crescendos
Dainty Jonquils add pure descants
Heart lifting joy in blessing songs
Poppy solos sing in crimson
Fiery notes of breathtaking grace
Hyacinths then trill arias
In sweet notes of lavender blue
Spring garden friends sing operas
4-1-22
Contest: Lay Form Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance LaFrance
Thank you Susan Ashley for your inspiration!
Syllables checked with www.howmanysyllables
One sunny springtime morning
I met her on a fair day.
I saw her from a distance
Out strolling on the fair way.
As like the springtime morning
She filled the air with joy...
She was a rose of England
And I a blacksmith's boy.
I heard that she was singing
As I maundered ever near;
The sweetest charming plainsong
Sent softly to my ear.
As like the springtime morning
She filled the air with joy...
She was a rose of England
And I a blacksmith's boy.
She had the rarest countenance,
She had the fairest flowing hair;
She looked the grandest lady,
Ethereal beyond compare.
As like the springtime morning
She filled the air with joy...
She was a rose of England
And I a blacksmith's boy.
She was a rose of this fair land,
The flower of Saint George,
But I my master's vassal,
A servant of the forge.
So, like the springtime morning
She filled my heart with joy...
She, a rose of England
Whilst I, a blacksmith's boy.
In a mire brewed
betwixt puddles of hell and mute dissent
a martyr wades -
weighed down by chains of shame and disdain
alas the thirsting self-absorbed swamp
distills and swills her stewed silence
and swallows the last embers
from her goblet of dreamer’s fire
pursed breaths are pickpocketed by the shallows
in a breathless vertical twist
an escapist is lost in the swirl of a chambered nautilus
distanced and deserted in the dance of descent
stillness belies the waterline’s greed
as a heroine’s salvage is suffocated -
the slick of self-appointed apathy anoints the surface
and a disquieted wind rises to bend the will of reeds
their flutes airing plainsong in forced supplication
yet carelessly cast away like spindrift from broken crests
while storm clouds blindfold wide-eyed skies
stifling any play of sun on water
Susan Ashley
May 1, 2020
~ Third Place ~
Premiere Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 1
Sponsor: Mark Toney
~ Fourth Place ~
Premiere Contest: Spiral
Sponsor: Kai Michael Neumann
bleakness of Autumn
on a cloudy-sunless day
muted colors droop
spirit’s s i l e n t interlude...
…blush of solo-leaf descant
12/1/2017
descant - a melody or counterpoint sung above the plainsong of the tenor
(from Merriam-Webster)
purple gold
payday on Friday
migrants’ plainsong
a wealth of clusters
ripe from the sun's strength
purple gold
Heat waves cavort around your face
transforming it before my eyes
watching in fertile silence...
... through faceless days of scorching torture reeling
into darkness, ballet of countless veils - subtle need, vibrant with passion of
the soil,
and not waiting for dawn
a rooster is a muezzin crowing wordless prayer,
With their humming, plainsong tires, taxis thread the night
and leaves are strumming, plucking off-pitch wails
from air-guitars of searing depths unknown
while you are transformed - within me - though I know not
how,
nor do you, nor do the taxis, leaves, the rooster, the guitars...
... the musky breath of living pirouettes darkly through your hair...
caught short singly
one rainwrote morning in hyannisport
when snows a science
over iceroof and snowfloor beachsand and
eastersundaysun a milton shadow opportunity
opposite sleeping young and russetrocket cool
in ferriswheels of rococo chestnut hair
shortblack pleatedcotton skirt carouseling round creamcoffee legs
swinburne stretched in desert stockings slightly spread
hands lapclasped
nose artdeccoerect eyes razed marble monuments lips
just lips
chinachin touching down on a fire
work whitesilk blouse no ruffles
a plainsong of anti flesh skinquisitive
toes still and borne just like ejaculated popcorn
jacket buttered lemonleather
shoes pumps patented starbust bright
bag royal with umberous umbrella tossed
off about her
cottoncandybreasts roughly rippled by the rucked road to
go tunneling
not traveling
descartes launched in
parting
only a starspangledbanner thought
old Lucy Gray reserected
equated
transcribed for solitude
for nine hours bad road
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