the air in the skull is stale
not ready yet to be noticed on sight
or seen
as anything but a question mark
submerging in a fish bowl
of watching
reconnoitering
feeling around the margins
where the walls
are as porous as tissue paper
lids crank open
let it come
let it go
it being an ocean
on this small planet
one has to save as much space as possible
40 acres is hard won
easily lost
where did the warm dark oblivion go
said the question mark
the sky in the leaden head is clearing
all but the thinking is shrinking
down
to a spot,
a dabble of words in a pond
a mule brays in ohio
Categories:
reconnoitering, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Mountain band descends from minarets of Waziristan
To stem red tide, bleaching life-force over pristine home spanned
Allah's seal justifying circumcising brand
Taliban units canvas arid strand
Marauding bandits strafe the land
Drones flank, reconnoitering birds scooping up grasshoppers panned
Fertilized soil brimming with contraband
Leased soil plowed by another foreign hand
Supplanting fealty to religion, tribe, and clan
Infidel flower blooms, alongside, habituated poppy dividend doth expand
Categories:
reconnoitering, adventure, education,
Form: Rhyme
Mall, Boutique, Department store treasures to my commercial heart do speak
Must frequent all to earn preferred status and join the frivolous clique
Glitzy curtains, fragrant candles, gaudy clothes through glamorous show windows peak
Sales, promotions, every-day values entreat any time during the week
Checks, petty cash start the extravaganza; plastic cards extend the streak
Nick knacks, valuables, and everything in between must seek
To grand openings, holiday giveaways, early previews, away I sneak
Revelling through posh galleries, gilded show rooms in the presence of chic manequins so sleek
Reconnoitering new fashions, suave styles, designer wears so sheek
Through crowded aisles, up squeaky escalators, into narrow corridors not for the meek
With such dedication, resolve, and passion you dare call me weak
My cabinets are stuffed, my closets are packed, my halls are cluttered; but I'm no freak
Categories:
reconnoitering, people
Form: Rhyme
ROBERT FROST WAS NO HELP TO ME
Three roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel all three
And be one traveler, long I stood
And gazed down each; but take none I could,
For in this trilemma, there was no Frost poem to guide me.
By taking one I was missing a double.
Oh why did he not write a helping hint for me?
Maybe I’m stirring up a lot of trouble,
Just inflating a big hot-air bubble,
But those other two could have set me free.
By taking none, the immobilization of me
And my dithering reconnoitering,
Especially in a dark wood where no one can see,
Brought in the police and judiciary:
And I was locked up for suspicious loitering.
I shall be telling this with immense frustration
Sometime hence no matter what I’m doin’.
The three roads led to utter consternation
And ultimately to penitentiary isolation -
And that has been my ruin.
Entered in Frank Herrera's Contest
The CrossRoads of your Life
Categories:
reconnoitering, funny, parody
Form: Narrative
Shuttered birds flutter from balmy bough
Shedding feathery cloak that winter's chill did endow
Fueling grounded wings with solar beams
Pairing together in reconnoitering teams
Scouting hill and dale, Spring's contraband to glean
Garnishing their bunkers with bristling thigs and thatched screen
Prating loudly in fecund court; feathers carefully preen
In rhapsodic chorus their prancing feet to and fro careen
Dancing in harmony; their mating anthem rings
Matriarch's incubating wings over fertile plaster clings
In due course, waddling, furry chicks from each blanched shell springs
Frugal pilots navigate their sparsely furnished compound
Probing each nook; scouring each mound
Pulse and liquids their drills and talons impound
With nutritious cargo in tow homeward bound
Returning to nursery, satiating each bleating sound
Categories:
reconnoitering, animals, nature
Form: Rhyme
Feelings of despair dredged from the murky dephths of my past
Hoisted through my corroded conscience's porthole
Reconnoitering barge of restitution pushes despondent thoughts through my inner being
Then tows the shame and guilt of my depraved condition to mind's hatch
The murky dross of yesterday's sins seeps deep into my addled psche
The residual guilt oppresses my soul
The brackish bilge of cankerous jealousies trolls through my grieving spirit
My trembling hands grasp the anchor of remorse but slip into the deeper moor of penance
Earlier missteps have my struggling feet sinking ever deeper in the quicksand of hopelessness
The smokestack spews nautious fumes from the froward deeds of my virile youth
My shaky rudder teeters as the raw sewage of past debauchery overwhelms my senses
Sailing my sinking yacht to the edge of sanity and rational existence
Carried along by the unsettling currents of inconstancy and vacillation
Docking in the harbor of reclamation and recompense
Categories:
reconnoitering, allegory, depression,
Form: Free verse
Beckoning forward, then muting purpose with placid expression;
Courting favor, but scorning gratuity with nobler accession.
Reconnoitering all, yet countenancing none in stolid derision;
Regaling commoners, but transcending all menial patronization.
Subtle smile endears, but spurns all gratification;
Distant stare, onerous repression or dark depression?
All encompassing view, mistrusting miser or prating courtesan;
Stoic posture, exalted position or callous condition?
Frugal appearance, an inner recession or outward confession;
Folded arms, trite convention or cultivated abstention?
Enshrouded by cumbersome shadows or serene accommodation;
Transfixed, eternal matron; or transparent, antiquated apparition?
DATE: November 1, 2010
Contest: Why oh Why
Sponsored by Constance~ A rambling poet
by: Stephen Parker
Categories:
reconnoitering, art
Form: I do not know?