They cut the grid
into the mountain,
breathing a poisonous cloud.
A frantic chaos,
Staking a fortune from
beneath the eucalypt,
pulling hollow bones
they did not heed.
They bet on success,
Assuming the heavy,
damp silence of the bush
was a kind of surrender.
But destiny ignores a frantic hand.
It woke not as a tremor,
but a shift.
A slow drag against the iron.
The ancient roots waking
their weight,
a deep,
fluid groan rising
through fragile ground.
And then—
the inescapable alignment.
The ancient land would seal their fate.
The land sheared
like a severed cord,
swallowing their plans
into the dark earth.
Within the bruised shadows
of the collapse,
the twisted steel rests.
An eerie monument to fortune lost.
the earth does not negotiate with fortune.
It simply folds the chaos down,
and settles back into peace.
To change desired end result
input first needs to be somewhat different
risks calculated for better odds
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Azzure night calls
rush blurry eyes
Pigeons came a calling
Waterloo I curse you
morning came a sneaking
The unaccustomed scratch gilded fear
Suited clad
screeches the acceptable
Strange exiles disowns the Thames
I will defy all of the odds,
To protect you from even the gods.
Dressing Up
David J Walker
Dressed as if the place was packed
Stacked
With men and women dressed from
Racked
Expressions of power and success
Red power tie
Blue blazer
Black oxfords
Black dress
Low cut slow
To the
Silver pearls below
Daring to show
Enough to know
what you are missing
And stilettos if you dare
Draped
And faked
Dressed
But going nowhere
Important
Hiding
Biding time
Siding
With the 401K crowd
Direct deposits
Adding up
While dressing up
The sky's on fire
time to run is now too late
to pray now-- time's up.
The sky has turned black
run for your life now, fireman
too late for you now.
the sky has turned red
fire is over the top
of the trees now, run.
carrying chopped wood
to stack in our supply pile ...
my whole day splintered
OUR WORDS STACKED AS SKYSCRAPERS
THE world is committed to insanity;
our words stacked as skyscrapers
allow ants characters to escape
flooding water
as drowned bodies float
past the windows of office space.
:: 04-25-2019 ::
e.p.robles (c) 2019
Never giving it all
Never losing it all
False wisdom
From the voices of drought
Emptying my heart
With a soul left in parts
All promises
Vain wishes in doubt
But giving it all
New rain started to fall
My eyes opening up
From inside
The clouds pulling back
Showing dreams neatly stacked
Where my will and my spirit
—reside
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2016)
SOULS FALL THROUGH GRACE'S WIDE EYES
STROLE TALL YOU CHASE TIDES WISE
OLE HALLS VIEW ACE'S RIDE RISE
GOALS CRAWL NEW FACE GUIDE GUYS
"WHOLE" ALL TRUE RACES EYED HIGHS
ROLES STALL DUES PACE GLIDE SKIES
Try to create a stacked rhyme;
My new elate! Play whacked chimes
High. Few relate! Days lacked time's
Eyes too. Restate ways facts climb.
Guys, who debate paid back dimes,
Buy dues we hate. Stay! Track crimes
By clues. See fate lay tact primes.
When I go to pay my rent,
In lies, no true, say I spent
Yen. Why so few stay high? Vent
Sins! Cry woes! New ways by, went
Men. Guys show blues play eyes. Cents
Spend! Buy lows who may die. Gents
Win sly dough; Views day skies sent.
Walk a mile in my two shoes.
Stalk days, while men spy through views
Talked. Stay! Aisles thin by new pews.
Balk! Weigh miles, when eyes, who choose
Caulked ways, file sin. Cry blue blues!
Chalk gray smiles, then try to schmooze
Gawks. Pray vile kin die. True dues!
Let some hope dreams reach arms
first,
Yet come cope. Seems each charm
burst
Frets from dopes' schemes. Speech
harms worst.
Debts numb popes. Teams preach
warm thirst;
Wet rum. Roped beams breech
barms! Cursed
Vets hum mopes! Streams leech!
Farms nurse
Pet bums? Nope! Gleams screeched
swarmed hearse!
I love a woman that’s stacked
Not skimpy on her features
She’s nice and plump and cuddly
Wow, here comes one now!
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