Dusk leans low on the silver lake,
soft ripples quieten the day’s heartache
each fading gleam a vow to make,
night gathering light’s last refrain.
Quieten mind and gentle the senses,
focus animated, poised in the void,
living in the now, not in past tenses,
no longer by stuporous thoughts decoyed,
shining as the Self, pure and unalloyed.
Let this then be the practice we adopt,
living authentically as we ought.
Sat by the jetty overlooking the waters
of Tombia
Waves and ripples as boats drive
pass speedily
Passengers and luggage alike all
disembarking
All by the Tombia waterside in the
riverine Rivers
Free from the hustles and bustles bedevilling
Port Harcourt
The mayhem and chaos in the Oil city all left
behind in the city
Yet such serenity by the waters of Tombia
Piece, quiet and tranquility quieten my
stress
Trying to be patient, but my patience is
running riot
Trying to stay and remain calm by the waters
of Tombia.
Roasted peppered fish and plantains my
consolation.
All by the waterside of Tombia.
Some theorists say
that consciousness pervades
all of creation. I get a sense
they could be right, that at some
profound level, a common awareness
sits at the metaphorical centre of the cosmos
and connects to the human soul.
Mostly I am deaf to its whispers,
drowned in the volume of my own noise
and yet I know it is there when I manage
to quieten the voices within, find a place
where earth, water and sky meet,
somewhere not profaned by greed,
perhaps a secluded beach
or a sacred path deep in a forest where
the soft murmurings of a pebbled creek
becomes a voice for the wider universe.
I would like to think such places
speak to me and that I become a part
of that voice resonating in air, trying to turn
the ordinary, the flawed, into prayer.
Take a deep breath
Sit and slow the pace
Sip a cup of tea
Chill and quieten your mind
Be open and receptive
Poetry is a universe onto its own
Most poems are a doorway to another world
Some will offer wisdom on a plate
Others reach in and play your heartstrings
Some will have rhymes that are divine
Others enchant you with their whimsy
Some will reveal truths that leave you speechless
Others make you work and fill the blanks
Some will trigger vivid memories within
Others flow off your tongue like honey and delight
Some will delve to depths bound to surprise
You’ll discover that poetry truly is a universe onto its own
AP: 3rd place 2025
It’s ok you don’t have to stay.
Don’t worry, I know it’s better this way.
It’s ok you don’t need to care. The darkest times in my life I faced alone, no one was there.
It’s ok what I say means sh#t.
I can talk to myself anyway, I understand there’s no room for me to sit.
It’s ok over fifty years have gone by.
I’m used to feeling like nothing inside.
It’s ok I’ve been laughed at before.
Otherwise the strange little me is so easy to ignore.
It’s ok no one wants to know.
Don’t you feel bad to let go.
it’s ok I’m probably better alone.
I can’t face new faces anymore.
It’s ok don’t think about me.
I’m off to quieten my mind dead free.
Come, come now, let’s quieten mind,
shifting to heart, tranquil and kind.
Thought is the playground of ego,
temptations that are best declined.
Fears and desires here now let go
and all attachments too forgo,
seeking nothing but God alone,
that within our heart, love may grow.
In my mind on my time
I row down the river of dreams
on days the water is calm
and I row in peaceful solitude
sometimes coming to a place
where it babbles wanting to race
then it will carry me or a while
we will drift along the current
then we will come to a spot
where we race along the rapids
being tossed and turned
if lucky the river will quieten
and not be overtaken by flow
every so often we hit white water
it is like riding a roller coaster
our dreams are taken on a ride
we are to awaken and see the danger
that the once calm peaceful river
has become a place of danger
a place where solitude no longer exists
it is time to pick up the paddle
battle the waging currents
loftily encroaching our dreams.
Could you blame the American dream
Plastic coast to coast
A Harlequin pawns himself
Enterprise gone mad
Ply the rebop
The spirit of 1973
Corporate Lawyer loathed to tell the truth
A confident already foretold
Fortitudes' ardour
doomed to quieten itself
I've tried to detangle you
From those numerous questions
Where at times you seek refuge and hide
I've searched near and far, in silence an strife
Sometimes you are so spontaneous
And come to me in urgency
In those do or die situations
And yet you elude me at times
To make me think and ask why?
Yet at times you wake me
And arrive in the dead of night
Sometimes even giving me a fright!
Like a light switched on, without a sound
Something you've said something so profound
Like an arrow you dart, straight from the heart
And quieten those beats, in a loop
They bind and enter my mind
Till I find you sometimes in the middle of what I say
Even at times when my thoughts race through the day
You are sometimes literally, the answer to my prayer in my despair
I seek you in those far away looks as you help me repair!
Not like heaps of sands
resting on barren lands
or herds of animals of all kind
that with ease widely we find
On the surface even a bit
you might not see of it
often you have to dig deeper
to know who is its keeper
For some it is a rare virtue
that’s too good to be true
while some believe in it
as a thing of great grit
A pinch of it can do wonders
and quieten the loud thunders
make storms retract their paths
and let souls forget their wraths
In grim times it might also crumble
but that’s when we need to stay humble
and fill in our hearts a few of its shreds
to embrace its unseeable divine threads
A little faith is all we need
to sow in the sweet seed
and see it come to bloom
in all our moments of gloom
in all our moments of gloom
Let’s allow silence to propel
Magnetism that pervades our form
Know oh hermit, that all is well
Plunge into this benign bliss storm
Doing nothing, quieten mind
Let’s allow silence to propel
Our life pulse, free from ego’s bind
Bids erst fears and desires farewell
We’re in bondage to illusion
Parroting scriptures, we worship
Let’s allow silence to propel
Making love sublime our flagship
Vaporise, that bliss beats may rise
Grace in-pours from our fontanel
We’re living light! What a surprise
Let’s allow silence to propel
13-May-2023
When thoughts quieten, load on heart lightens ~
In silence feel, how our aura brightens
02-May-2023
A chorus
of raw throats
rasp out warnings
then quieten, leaving
an edgy silence twitching
on the lips of a morning
or riding the ticker
moving across the bottom
of a television screen.
Something isn't right.
There's an unease
that seems to be
leaking out of lesions
in the carnage to come,
a slow festering
as if all life was waiting
for a finger
to squeeze the trigger
of a loaded gun.
And yet
good people
go about their lives
as they normally do,
saying their prayers,
helpless, riled or for some,
not wishing to care,
though somewhere,
hidden in a hollow
at the back of a head,
a dark is stirring
from its sleep,
getting ready to rise
from its bed. Elsewhere,
across a nation,
more and more screams
become stuck
in the throats of the dead.
Something isn't right.
Quieten the mind
dile it down a notch
drown those tears
neglect all fears
speak into existence
be as loud as the excuses
fight for justice
fight for peace,
grant your organs sexual liberty.
Dive in blue waters,
oceans sing songs of tranquility.
Dream, your big dreams
Live, purposefully.
18 December 2022
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