When you’re down in the dumps
And life’s giving you lumps,
It’s so nice to have lunch with a friend;
For occasional slumps,
Like a log’s many bumps,
Make it hard with a smile to pretend
All is dandy and fine.
Sometimes problems combine
With the natural ways that you cope
And your pal throws a line,
Which you take as a sign
That you’re not at the end of your rope.
So you sit and you eat,
Which itself is a treat,
And compare what’s been driving you nuts.
Though you do not compete,
Each admits to defeat
By not climbing up out of your ruts.
Still, a heaviness lifts,
One of friendship’s best gifts,
(Which can also take place on the phone).
Though the stuff that resists
Cheering up still exists,
You, at least, feel a lot less alone.
In the midst of daunting artistic slumps
Staying despite how tirelessly tried,
May inspiration strike you abruptly
Like an archer nails a precise bullseye.
May your work’s blueprint suddenly reveal,
And may you gain bold determination.
May all the pieces bond majestically,
Achieving your creative perfection.
Perhaps, one day, in the midst of blankness,
Your work shall strike the right strings of the heart,
Inspiring further beautiful works,
And thus you shall live on through other arts.
May this poem motivate and inspire
To cultivate our soul’s artistic fires.
This quest for God, and His peace
Journeying life through
By all accounts does not involve
Steersmen, ships or stars
Hydra of myth bars.
Love's one word, to whom this close
Slumps, for lack of, by
All that's needed to, genie-like
Free whose wish-granting
Bottled your heart in.
Tangerine tan man masterplan such chumps
Plumps to rain down bombs on Iranian clumps
Logic stumps as facts and pacts again dumps
Throat lumps as fossil fool fuel prices jumps
Getting trumped and thumped at the pumps
Oil barons gloat gazumps.. economy slumps
No cargo due to embargo everything flumps
Even a MAGA fan is now down in the dumps
Grumps got the hump with Mar a Lago frumps
Thicker than Forrest Gump deadlier than mumps
Eyes lose their way
in the neon and the numbers.
Departing, arriving,
mid-flight fright,
rushing between
one panic station to the next.
In-transit tremors of doubt.
Flight departure gate changes,
Delayed – no, confirmed - leaving now!
Sometimes he just wants a name tag,
a label like for a child -
to be led safely through
the turmoil of his own
insecure nervous system.
For a moment he slumps
among strangers,
double checks boarding passes
with other flustered passengers.
He steadies his racing mind,
tries to imagine
calmly passing through
baggage-collect with no hitches,
his suit is not crumpled,
he arrives breathing normally,
a calm well-seasoned traveler
who walks confidently
out of his own
discombobulated chaos.
It is no dance, sensual.
Plays around, hip to hip
With romantic love, too forceful.
Nigh whose pretence does rip!
Innocent-shaped as clothed.
Hangs poised which theme upon
Of love, as highly descriptive.
Till slumps its woeful 'swan'.
Medieval times
A time of splendour
With gallant Knights
Ladies so slender
Jousting tournaments
The ladies all squeal
Exploding of hoofs
The clash of steel
Enter the Black Knight
To a round of jeers
The White Knight enters
To resounding cheers
First pass no foul
They try it once more
The Knight in White
Slumps to the floor
They carry him off
And tend to his wounds
A Blue Knight appears
The ladies all swoon
The maidens favourite
Known far and wide
Lord Richard of Leeds
His lance by his side
They ready for battle
Shields are in place
Masks of armour
Covering their face
Towards each other
They gallop full speed
Lances held high
The snorting of steeds
The Black Knight falls
The hero wins out
Blue Knight celebrates
Victory in the joust
Approaching the King
Horse and rider bow
The people go wild
Allegiance they vow
Medieval times
Hail to the King
Jousting tournaments
What glory they bring
Sisyphus’ Silence
I sit, a silent, carved-out zone,
A soul entrapped, unlit, unwhole,
The majority’s tide grinds flesh to bone,
While others’ feelings wallow, roll
In mud that clings, a river’s drone.
Sisyphus slumps at mountain’s base,
Scowls at the stone, then dares a smile,
“Nevermore” hums through empty space,
The gods, once loud, now mute, exiled.
Medieval times
A time of splendour
With gallant Knights
Ladies so slender
Jousting tournaments
The ladies all squeal
Exploding of hoofs
The clash of steel
Enter the Black Knight
To a round of jeers
The White Knight enters
To resounding cheers
First pass no foul
They try it once more
The Knight in White
Slumps to the floor
They carry him off
And tend to his wounds
A Blue Knight appears
The ladies all swoon
The maidens favourite
Known far and wide
Lord Richard of Leeds
His lance by his side
They ready for battle
Shields are in place
Masks of armour
Covering their face
Towards each other
They gallop full speed
Lances held high
The snorting of steeds
The Black Knight falls
The hero wins out
Blue Knight celebrates
Victory in the joust
Approaching the King
Horse and rider bow
The people go wild
Allegiance they vow
Medieval times
Hail to the King
Jousting tournaments
What glory they bring
Brit's spy guy from Ian Fleming
Is Bond who goes chaos stemming!
When the web of life slumps
See how quickly he jumps
Sadly to die like a lemming
atop
a garden wall
striped marmalade throw
feline
lazy time
under sunshine
interlaced visions
a weaving
paws dangle in indolent ease
reach
underlay deep
whiskers sense sparrows
muscles tense in their plush
carpet shag
then
drowsy textile head slumps
sun-drying kitty-mat
basking
2 textured images twilled
to fade together forever
later
cat-rug carried away ~
sun settles in a deckchair
Written on 30th October, 2024 for the contest: Holiday Humor- Limerick Set
by Tania Kitchin. Contest Judged:
17th November, 2024
Placement: 2nd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Halloween cat finally brought home,
Cuteness on display like models in Rome,
Even it shines so nice,
Like jewels of good price.
Fun smiles when it's allowed to freely roam.
Two cat buddies thought they had a new friend,
This big-eyed stranger toy cat could not bend,
Having a sway motion,
With no emotion.
To all their cat plays its mood could not blend.
Its curious hosts never saw its jumps,
Like a drunkard its walk is full of slumps,
So smittened so bad,
To make it feel sad,
But when it got shattered they both felt trumped.
While my head slumps low, on both crouching knees,
my meek soul doesn't know, rhyme nor reason seize,
on both crouching knees, while my head slumps low,
rhyme nor reason seize, my meek soul doesn't know.
There'd be a stake-knife, that choice heightened soul,
dreams larger-than-life completes source cores whole,
that choice heightened soul, there'd be a stake-knife,
completes source cores whole, dreams larger-than-life.
Disclosures concede strength raised benchmarks high,
stay the course, succeed, proud guides, worth third-eye,
strength raised benchmarks high, disclosures concede,
proud guides, worth third-eye, stay the course, succeed.
No man's land--command, rare form sights take charge,
performed cash-in-hand, zoomed measures discharge,
rare form sights take charge, no man's land--command,
zoomed measures discharge, performed cash-in-hand.
each sleight is the haunt
of some evicted ghost.
grieving me a life of greater pain;
I see pieces of people passing,
drifting into the footsteps
of another's future.
I feel the rough sandpaper surface
of the concrete bridge
as I prepare to jump.
For a moment my heart slumps.
It takes the smallest of memories
to interrupt a courage.
I thought each flower finer
in a different way,
if there’s a word for that,
I cannot say.
Far more acute
than any thing precise,
far more astute
than scholarly advice.
Is there a right kind of poetry?
In a room far away
behind a desk in an office,
someone else decides.
Slide, barrel, firing
My life expiring
Carve peace into a bullet so its the last thing on my mind
'Cause what remains in the sky is our stars misaligned
The shrapnel from the meplat dissects my insides
My emotional integrity, treat like it was Alcides
I submit to you my mag of hatred
You load your gun and leave me berated
The echoes of metallic disparage on the concrete
Discard the magazine, rest it on my grave and replete
Disengage the safety, make your grip pirouette
In my mind you're already dead, your ballade des
Your body slumps, no longer recepts, self-sabotaged
The thoughts of us never escaped your mind, constantly collaged
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