She was certainly the most beautiful woman I would ever see.
Not appearing to age at all, the young lady's name was Nefertiti.
As my guide, Nef gently took me by the hand.
I saw a beautiful town where anyone else would see just sand.
There were no children in the town, but the adults did not age.
This was a place where the book of time turned no page.
The redolence of orange groves permeated the desert air.
Residents went about their daily business without a care.
I have to return to this place where nobody has to die.
This is a huge task, but it is something I have to try.
based on the novella "Now and Forever, Somewhere a Band is Playing" by the late Ray Bradbury.
Categories:
ray bradbury, adventure, fantasy,
Form: Rhyme
A collection of transistors and wires is all I see.
You are something fabricated by Fantonucci.
I see a vague resemblance of a human being.
However, you are not a person; just a thing.
Programmed to provide love and affection,
but what you give me is all imitation.
I want to send you straight to the scrap heap.
This kind of machine is something I can't keep!
Based on the short story "I Sing the Body Electric" by the late Ray Bradbury
Categories:
ray bradbury, fantasy, science fiction,
Form: Rhyme
"Sunsets are loved because they vanish." - Ray Bradbury
Days like this, I could forget
If they were all to vanish,
Come to an end in a sunset
Black clouds I'd ever banish
If they were all to vanish
As skies of orange and blue,
Black clouds I'd ever banish
If that were so easy to do
As skies of orange and blue
Take place here, now and then,
If that were so easy to do
I'd paint them with my pen
Take place here, now and then
Needed for only a little while,
I'd paint them with my pen
If only I had such style
Needed for only a little while
Come to an end in a sunset,
If only I had such style
Days like this, I could forget.
Categories:
ray bradbury, anger, day, family, life,
Form: Pantoum
……Chicken Salad and Dandeloins……
Alas, corn on the cob, cool drinks, gone!
Our choice summer, sang its last song.
Children had their day in the hot sun.
Sandcastles alone, one by one.
Baseball diamonds bare of loud cheers.
No loud shouts for “cold beer, here”!
Firecrackers, feet dug in sand.
Nor a dance, by our city’s band.
Not one silver kite, will shine on high.
Farewell, soft, endless, summer skies!
Fragrance of our beloved flowers,
We shall smell in chilled, winter’s hours!
10/29/2022
Quatrain A,A,B,B
8 words/line
Addenda~ Leader of Great Books of the Western World said:
“ This reminds me of Thomas Wolfe and Ray Bradbury,”
Categories:
ray bradbury, farewell, fun, imagery, memory,
Form: Quatrain
Sometimes, I wake up from Sweet Death’s dull sleep,
And find, I’ve not been living as I could,
My friends tell me they tire of seeing me weep…
I feel like I’m a boy, not flesh, but wood…
My nose is growing long, they seem to think,
Although I speak, and mean just what I say,
Some tell me that my promises all stink,
Like broccoli that’s been left out all day.
Well, I’M NOT LIKE THAT! And I don’t agree!
“What seems a lie’s a Promise,” bright Ray* said,
“a need, ramshackle, waiting to be born…”
I think he’s right, and even though he’s dead
I’ll take his words, go charging up the stairs,
And make amends, and show, I’m one who Cares!
*’What seems a lie, is a promise, a ramshackle need, waiting to be born…” – Ray Bradbury
Categories:
ray bradbury, courage, faith, hope, love,
Form: Sonnet
I hear that woman crying in her room each night.
Why is she doing that? It gives me a fright.
Her husband calms her down to silence.
What they do each night does not make sense.
This is a couple that I hardly know.
They moved into our boarding house a month ago.
An airplane flew over us up in the air.
The sound of it gave the couple a scare.
It's just advertising the local state fair.
The plane won't be dropping bombs on the populace.
There's no need to fear anything like this.
The husband says the President's name is Westercott.
Everyone else knows that it is not.
I have never seen anything stranger while I've been alive.
In their room was a calendar dated 2035.
There were many clocks around ticking away.
A startling realization suddenly came my way.
These two were refugees from a war in a future day.
Based on the short story "Sometime Before Dawn" by the late Ray Bradbury.
Categories:
ray bradbury, mystery, science fiction,
Form: Rhyme
Murky water left to drink
floating particles of death
Erie presence leaves discontent
As something wicked floats in it.
The bone chilling chilly wind doth blow
off Lake Erie with flurry snow.
Late at night off cold dark shores
Shadows of a floating barge
Clouds of soot from steamers clogged
Pollutes the air with killer smog
when something wicked this way blows.
Perverts creep on angry streets
Children homeless are their prey
desperately at the mercy of
She gets plucked like a sweet ripe plumb
as something wicked this way comes.
There were no herbs, left to purge her
This was strictly death by murder
Blood dripping from their lips/
Every scary thing they fling as;
Vampires odors fumigates,
the evil deeds, their gluttony brings.
They've Desecrated the graves of men;
Though we stand by, we cannot extend,
at least a stick to beat the bush;
Or make loud noises and pretend;
While something evil this way spins.
© Vicki Acquah | Year Posted 2014
Inspired by Ray Bradbury
reposted 2017
Categories:
ray bradbury, abuse, child abuse, death,
Form: Ballad
...inspired by 'Dandelion Wine'
by Ray Bradbury
Green Town, Ohio,
where memories congregate,
sneakers and time machines,
grandmas and cookies;
leaping tall buildings
and smelling the fresh cut grass,
junebugs and crickets compete
as the best; sparklers and firecrackers
fizzle for dominance,
lighting our path through
the warm summer nights;
holding hands, tentative,
feeling the moment,
you can't put a price
on such innocent bliss;
Jimmy and Emily
out by the old oak fence,
sharing those memories,
stealing a kiss.
Categories:
ray bradbury, inspirational,
Form: Verse
Green Town, Ohio
where memories congregate,
granddads as time machines,
grandmas... magicians.
Two children leaping
in Superman sneakers
as if they are flying,
and smelling the fresh cut grass.
Sparklers and firecrackers
sizzle for dominance,
lighting their path through
the warm summer night.
Holding hands, tentative,
feeling the moment,
you can't put a price
on such innocent bliss.
Jimmy and Emily
out by the old oak tree,
making new memories,
stealing a kiss.
© bickerstaffe - all rights reserved
Author Notes
'...a tribute to Ray Bradbury, born in Waukegan, Illinois Aug 22nd 1920. Green Town was the mythical version of his home town and was featured in his novel, 'Dandelion Wine.' He died June 5th, 2012. ...R.I.P
Categories:
ray bradbury, children,
Form: Verse
Green Town, Ohio
where memories congregate,
granddads as time machines,
grandmas... magicians.
Two of them leaping
in Superman sneakers
as if they are flying,
smelling the fresh cut grass.
Sparklers and firecrackers
sizzle for dominance,
lighting their path through
the warm summer night.
Holding hands, tentative,
feeling the moment,
you can't put a price
on such innocent bliss.
Jimmy and Emily
out by the old oak tree,
making new memories,
stealing a kiss.
© bickerstaffe - all rights reserved
Author Notes
'...a tribute to Ray Bradbury, born in Waukegan, Illinois Aug 22nd 1920. Green Town was the mythical version of his home town and was featured in his novel, 'Dandelion Wine.' He died June 5th, 2012. ...R.I.P
Categories:
ray bradbury, children,
Form: Quatrain
1O. Shut your trap to avoid any flap
9. Do not be overly fraught by "conventional thought" (dinosaurism)
8. Know how to deal with Soylent Green People
7. Stuff your ideas and different views-tip toe on the softest of shoes
6. Paperwork and procedure (I know) one can't bumble...doing so will make ya really humble
5. That being said, just go with the herd...bite your tongue people! Don't say a word!
4. Don't think too much-like we did...that special group without computers as a kid
3. If number four applies to you, don't question the almightly computer (as I sometimes do)
2. Clever, innovative, challenging, and problematic...yes, DAMNIT!, sometimes it pays to be
erratic
1. You are not a weirdo, strange, or dumb...just follow the status-quo, and get the **** done
Ironic, yes; I am able to say this over the "net". Contradictory, sure; technology is a
menacing lure. Maybe good 'ol Ray Bradbury was right on the money, and this is all pretty
darn funny. Farenhieght 451, I think your day may come. RIP books and innovation.
Categories:
ray bradbury, addiction, career, computer, education,
Form: Free verse
Tales of Tomorrow, Alfred Hitchcock Presents Science Fiction Theatre, One Step Beyond The Twilight Zone, Way Out, The Outer Limits Night Gallery, Journey To The Unknown Ghost Story- Circle of Fear, Fantasy Island Tales of the Unexpected, Mystery!, Darkroom The Hitchhiker, Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories The Ray Bradbury Theater, Tales from the Crypt, Monsters Among these you probably have a favorite anthology
Categories:
ray bradbury, history, imagination, irony, mystery,
Form: Free verse
Mr. William Finch had a lot to remember.
What was he doing in the attic in late November?
Wondering about his antics was his wife Cora.
William was covered with the scent of sarsaparilla.
He journeyed to a world they left forty years ago.
It was a more cheerful life than the one they had come to know.
All William had to do was let his imagination flow.
Just think about the past, and off he would go.
“That is all nonsense” is what Cora had to say.
Well, Cora could find no trace of her husband today.
Based on the short story “A Scent of Sarsaparilla” by the late Ray Bradbury
Categories:
ray bradbury, adventure, fantasy,
Form: Rhyme
They met a demise so inglorious.
The culpable agent was the Varicella virus.
We were the vectors. It was none other than us.
Chalk up another deed of man that will be infamous.
The virus spread like wisps on the breeze.
It obliterated a civilization that lasted for centuries.
Any graduate from the college of hard knocks
can see these creatures died from chicken pox.
This once great city is now a ghost town.
First contact with humans is what brought them down.
So will you conquerors strut around haughtily with disdain?
I will see that these Martians did not die in vain.
Based on the set of short stories titled “The Martian Chronicles” by the late Ray Bradbury.
Categories:
ray bradbury, science fiction, space,
Form: Rhyme
Nobody could take us on a vicarious journey
like the late science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.
He would place his readers into another time and space.
Words flowed onto the pages with style and grace.
Ray would send us on voyages to the stars.
Readers could walk on the sands of Mars.
We could see the future through a man’s tattoos.
There were numerous scenarios for us to choose.
Children were kept company by a robot grandmother.
That was a short story like no other.
Ray took us to a place where books were banned.
We would often wind up in a fascinating land.
Few have accomplished what Ray has done.
He left the living at the age of ninety-one.
His literary works will always be here to read.
Just open a book and see where it will lead.
RIP June 6, 2012
Categories:
ray bradbury, dedication, science fiction,
Form: Rhyme
Related Poems