retired beautician
arms, elbow deep in shampoo
volunteers daily at the local elder care
residents line up
three doorways deep
down the hall
waiting their turn
at free furbish
she donates time and energy
knowing that she may be
the only outsider
they've seen or heard all week
she chooses her words with caution
none flow slipshod off her tongue
she goes home, strangely satisfied
May 3, 2023
Refining Consciousness
Unseeking Seeker
a refining of the attribute of poor self-esteem
on the part of the residents as well as the beautician
Categories:
strangely, 11th grade, blessing, hair,
Form: Free verse
So eccentric tastes:
Pierogis with some cole slaw;
Fruit in ice cream bowl;
Pepperoni with yogurt.
Gourmet with variety.
Categories:
strangely, food,
Form: Tanka
Circumstances controlling the cauldron
stirred through with malicious content
and yet that is the path that was forced upon you.
That was the path you never chosen,
but there you are.
Its filled with pits that make you simply cry
but no one is there to wipe your tears.
Its filled with traps that enrage the core of your soul,
but yet there is no hammer for you to throw at your rage.
In your mind you hear the voice telling you to press your way through
and you just keep going and going.
Time passes and seasons change
and as you look back you see
your muscles are bigger,
your strength has grown.
Yes, you still cry its just now you can
now your tears seem to help.
You are stronger than you knew,
because you went through hell,
then you grew.
Strangely stronger.
Categories:
strangely, depression, hurt,
Form: Free verse
Strangely, life started from sadness,
there was no road leading to happiness:
only climbing slopes, running out of breath,
being dragged to reach another height...
how could you ignore my helplessness?
Have you rewarded me for my effort,
have you shown appreciation for enduring
pain, and be your pillar of strength?
None of my sacrifices were worthwhile
to a lady who lived for herself and her pride...
never being kind to a guy in search of loving.
Strangely, life started from sadness,
and what could have been Paradise
turned into that existence of joyless
moments without kisses or embraces;
I gave in to your demands failing to realize
how far you could go without feeling remorse.
Have you come to the conclusion
that forcing someone to love you was an illusion?
Where's your guilt, where's your regret?
You shrug your shoulders, I'm mad and upset.
Categories:
strangely, anger, betrayal, conflict, feelings,
Form: Rhyme
Wonder works well
Touching time tells
Wise words will way
Sense sublime say
Bloom bright beauty
Sounds spread softly
Welcome word wealth
Hoard happy health
Sense strangely sound
Gift gracious grounds
Craft clever choice
Prize profound poise
Simple stuff speaks
Pleasure primes peak
Leon Enriquez
17 January 2018
Singapore
Categories:
strangely, allusion,
Form: Alliteration
Words come to mind
As pain breeds find
Mad can be sad
Who can be glad?
Thoughts bleached in mist
Strain seeds odd twist
In a swift swirl
What's with the world?
Sounds in clear pitch
Speak in strange glitch
Raw nerves feel strain
Do you live pain?
Odd as old ways
Strange ploy that stays
Question each mood
Can nudge be good?
Lines parse change here
Rhymes sling old gears
And when you look
Do words now hook?
Quench query *****
Dazzle dance dear
Words in cross-stitch
Who frames odd pitch?
Note strange sublime
Rhymes buzz clear mimes
Why ask why now?
Love knows just how
Leon Enriquez
10 July 2017
Singapore
Categories:
strangely, change,
Form: Couplet
In blood sport
you forget to die, disintegrating
though, cell by cell.
What an ambience-
of human nature ?
You drag the carcass-
of mutations whole life.
Now, selling the virginity
for charity ?
You build a castle-
of mud bricks as a tribute
to undying love-
for the poverty
of the saint, who had jumped
into the river.
Satish Verma
Categories:
strangely, art,
Form: ABC
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
Beautiful face my heart does pound
With hollowed hands and feet to match
And pierced beside, you stand and watch
Oh gracious eyes, that saw me saved
That looked for death to buy a grave
A body blessed forever praised
To never rest from giving grace
How now would I be half as good,
Or maybe half as merciful?
For now our sins can come to go
Since when his blood secured tomorrow
Thou Prince of Peace, my righteousness
He whom my soul would always bless
My advocate at the right hand
And still he sits, he doesn’t stand
My faith and hope and charity
Who’d love me for eternity?
Who catches me before each fall?
And loves me till forevermore
Why now would I say no to thee?
The one whose blood has set me free
Categories:
strangely, christian, me,
Form: Rhyme
.
Footsteps echo in the hollow hallway
around the old cavernous cathedral
making the silence much too deafening.
The tall candle's faintly flickering flame
proves too confined, too feeble to brighten
the indigo darkness all around it.
Tonight, the hard, wooden kneeler torments
my knees, but strangely somehow dignifies,
reassures the core of the core of me.
.
Categories:
strangely, uplifting
Form: Free verse
Damn, that face looks oddly familiar though a bit
Enigmatic too, somehow I cannot seem to nail it
Just where I met her, maybe in school or in some
Arty hangout, or perhaps way back during a prom.
Vaguely recognizable yet, mysteriously intriguing,
Unless she is an outgrowth of my wild imagining.
Categories:
strangely, mystery,
Form: Acrostic
strengthens, burdens me,
this strange familiarity
of every new day.
Categories:
strangely, hope, imagination, introspection,
Form: Senryu
Life is strangely odd, but definitely okay
Darkness and directionless, I’ll find my way
It’s about the journey, not the destination
It’s about the ride there, not the dream vacation
Always stop and smile at where you are
Cherish the now and your travels thus far
Have fun today, don’t wait until tomorrow
And when you’ve reached the end, you’ll have no sorrow.
Categories:
strangely, adventure, life, time,
Form: I do not know?