Earthen motte mounds and bailey burg
Sludge strongholds severed for siege
Norman castles cut of stone surge
Vowed vassals, the lords of liege
Round refuge tower of ashlar
Lured strums of Celtic cither
While they tend to tiers of mortar
Howling high waters hither
Gemlike blades grassy shades of green
Sailing seas beckon smartly
Hair to partly pare ployed the teen
Pirate Queen awaits Bartley
Homeland hush weave no words but mum
Forum flouters of gainsay
Dark Lady of Doona they hum
Legend of the Blacksod Bay
Fortress chieftain forges her case
Ní Grace unbowed by Bingham
Royalty rises face to face
Let them lie Ó Máille clan
Lyrate luck of her Irish pride
Aside vassal villeins sought
Herstory harmonized resides,
‘pon castles cloaked earthen motte
Held the dance floor, Hanson Biggily,
Smartly dressed, but bowtie wiggily;
Till, well, his belle,
Lest humor swell,
She removed that bowtie giggily.
Keep learning
To earning
Cum turning
Life changes
What ranges
Exchanges
Of big chance
To seize trance
Longing stance
Ms. Muffet's back, eating different meals,
stepping on spiders with stiletto heels.
No longer eating curds and whey,
forsaking tuffets as a place to stay,
she splits her time on either coast,
dining smartly on avocado toast.
I looked out the window, and I saw a cloud,
as I sat at my desk, and wondered aloud,
"What will I do for this fellow named Bartley?"
My brain is all used up - well, at least partly.
My thinker was once quite good at thinking,
but lately, I notice, it's started to stinking.
I got so nervous, I started to bite
all of my fingernails, both left and right.
I bit them all down to small tiny nubs.
Now how can I write with ten little stubs?
Next, I decided to pull out all my hair,
but on top of my head, I found nothing there.
In order to write, I got an strange inkling,
I needed an electrocardial zinkling,
but zinklings, I found, cost quite a lot,
twenty five cents more than my pockets have got.
I'm sorry my thinker thunked out. I sure am.
It has all the sense of green potatoes and ham.
If only I could have written more smartly.
Well, here is my poem, Benjamin Bartley.
Salute to Quick Draw McGraw
given a fresh new bale of straw
worked as sheriff in the Old West
slightly dimwitted perhaps but always smartly dressed
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
The man in the elevator was smartly dressed
A red carnation was on his breast pocket pressed
I asked him, just jesting, on which floor was the feast
“Thirteen,” he said gravely, forcing a smile at least.
I pressed the button for us because it was clear
He could not reach it though he would stand on a tier
“Must be a huge party,” I said, “enjoy the food,”
And stopped in time from asking, “Would there be some nude?”
We stood in total silence ‘til we heard it “Ding!”
The doors parted fast to a party in full swing.
Someone playing Für Elise stopped and gruffly asked,
“Is it bloody Igor, back with our food at last?”
Star
Shining smartly in the soft night,
Twinkling with an outlying light
All across the shadowy sky,
Radiates beauty to the eye.
Spry Little Elf
A lonesome but spry little elf
Was sad she was still on the shelf.
So she clambered on down.
Headed fast into town
A boyfriend she’d find for herself
The first pub she found had a party
Full of guys both handsome and hearty
She wasn’t a floozy
But she could be choosy
And wanted a guy rather smartly.
She danced with an elf name of Fred.
Who’s good looks went straight to her head
Invited him back
And way down the track
There’s three on the shelf, enough said.
Can you hear the music of the night
Softly it plays its melody,
Whistling a tune so soft and sweet
It is a cure from your remedy.
Frogs and toads lend their throat
To the wind that rushes through the trees,
Softly playing its majors and sharps
Upon leaves, branches and the seas.
Somewhere in the distant wild
A bird chirps in, its harmony
Then foxes paws smartly add
A clawing to the muffled colony.
Song of night with words profound
Unheard by any human ear,
If in harmony with nature are you,
You’ll hear the verses sweetly cheer.
In NYC where cardboard boxes and bums come from
In the comfort of his brown paper home
The smelly old man sleeps on a concrete ground of cold
Snores alone like a train in heat
Unaware of his left eye detaching to leave
A vacancy sign behind the socket is left, not worth reading
An eye rolling down the highway is strange
Pretending to be a traffic signal is suspicious
Blinking green then yellow is clearly disgusting
Disguised in red makes it downright criminal
Obscene and not very nice indeed
Children want to play marbles
The eye is wiser than you think
Seeing everything through a glass darkly
As it rolls away smartly unseen
Marta’s kitchen was exactly the same as I remembered.
I had not been here in at least thirty two years.
It was clean, tidy, and smartly organized as always.
a workable kitchen, with a happy sink, she said.
I had missed her, and her fresh vegetables.
But now you are here, she said with a wink.
“hope floats from purple petals to ebony buds”
- Silent One
In darkness, I dreamt in color,
with eyelids fluttering like butterflies.
I’d thought I’d see sunlight,
before I fell into a trance, but hope
tickled the air and the sandman was there,
not to torture but to divine adventure.
“Purple petals and ebony buds,” like pollen
sticks to the fluttering wings of butterflies.
In cruising altitude, felicity is decked out.
The garden site’s lit up with fairy lights.
Trellis rose blooms, suave in velvet,
like a smartly dressed groom in a new tuxedo.
I float, in my restful state, as a bright butterfly,
better than ever, testing my titillated wings.
In darkness, I dreamt in color.
In sunlight, I awaken to the tease
of a truant dream, a rose plucked
and tenderly tickles my cheek and neck;
silent is the touch of a purple leafwing.
Pull up a chair, and don’t make a move!
We’ve got something we really must prove
‘Bout sides of a right triangle, num’bring three.
You’ve somewhere to be? I won’t hear your plea!
A plus B, squared, as in the picture I drew, (A+B)^2= C^2 + 4AB/2
equals C squared plus 4 times AB over two.
Next, smartly observe that four, two divides, (A+B)^2= C^2 + 2AB
and promptly subtract 2AB from both sides. (A+B)^2–2AB= C^2+2AB-2AB
Expand A plus B, squared; and then simplify. A^2+B^2 +2AB–2AB= C^2
You’ve just used your math to well justify A^2 + B^2 = C^2
and prove what Pythagoras wisely declared -
A squared plus B squared is exactly C squared.
Its the slight waft of rotting flesh
That first hits you
While the smartly dressed
Smiling warden ushers you in,
Through narrow turnstiles
There are rows of enclosures
A maze of them, a maze of the wild
Its like a snapshot of danger
A dangerous predator-laden savanna
Danger enclosed
Lions...
You will hear their shouting matches
Royal majestic roars
Like cage competitions
Even the females join in
While one stares you down
Sizing you up
Like a piece of flesh
(Well come to think of it...)
Some males lie down
Nonchalant
Amidst the noise
The leopard paces in its enclosure
Waiting for its daily ration
While the young buffalo
Grazes nervously,
Its enclosure next to the lions
They have emergency exits
Just in case...
You will spot a Serval cat
A croc, bored
And nervous rare Sokoke cats
Terribly out of place...
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