Written: May 31, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Sara Kendrick
Quote: "Longevity is not just the accumulation of shadows, but the slow, relentless design of light—where the soul learns to admire the skies." By Poet
8th place contest winner
Years of silence drift in shadow’s hold,
yet life’s glow cuts a furrow bold.
Ascetic patience mollifies time’s tide,
stringent suns succumb, shadows subside.
From a thick nucleus of recall, lyric streams,
etiology carved in incarnate dreams.
Furious storms rage, but sagacious roots remain,
visceral awe gleams through longevity’s pain.
A lingering oracle, sanctuary of grace,
fading walls surrender a sobbing face.
Even barren sand yields to mettle’s rule,
velvet dusk relieves the waning fuel.
And yet the human heart, steadfast and wide,
bears its banner forth—unswayed stride.
continuity
of
thought
intuition
integrated
with
harmony
expressed
in
heightened
sensitivity
impetus
of
the
innocent
symbolized
senuous
yet
natural
stringent
shifts
encoded
idiosyncratic
&ambiguous
embodying
reality
we imprison ourselves for years
staying in jobs we no longer care to do
worse yet, some of us stay in jobs we never liked
we abide by rules we do not believe in
wanting to keep the peace
or keep these banal jobs
the most stringent prison guard we will ever have
is our self
I'm scary summer visit once a year
with fierce countenance I always appear
Dry up all sources by sucking water
Day by day shoot up hotter and hotter
My infant days warm, cosy, and cheerful
when days pass by, I turn into fearful
My aura haunts even after sunsets
And the suffocative weather upsets
Burst opening the charcoal doors of night
Emerge with the gleam of chandelier light
Like a vicious dragon, I diffuse fire
None dares to encounter my severe ire
My scorching and charring hot weather chokes,
Squeezes, suffocates and perspires the folks
End to end whipping waves sprawled and enclosed
Everywhere stringent curfew terms imposed
Panicked birds stop singing and hide in trees
Tired cattle stay in shades of trees and wheeze
People gulp to quench their enormous thirst
Scared veterans shut up indoors coerced
Light and simple cotton clothes people drape
Lemons and melons to beat and escape
offering a fun they gather at pools
Enjoying ice-creams children bunk their schools
Place : 1 st
NA poetry contest
Sponsor: Ink Empress
3rd Place.
The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you ~ Rumi
To me, you were
my youth.
The remainder of my childhood dreams,
the obscure smiles of benign warmth
the gentle whispers to a tear so meek
the flower bed veiling a breathing corpse.
And I had seen cruel strife
Trees of shade being cut off
Sipping the blues drained of life,
I bore the scars of alabaster loss.
And I was told miracles exist
but people who get them don’t prevail
you lifted me so, I insist
painted my days, thawed my scalding maze
Stringent change left my cries muffled
I was just running, regretting the passing days
But you changed how I saw the world
let me pause, if not stop my ways
You made the skies live
you gave rain meaning.
You made winds breathe
you gave me meaning.
And I-
Loved.
We were very excited since the day
is nice for a trip to the zoo and play.
The petting Zoo was the first place we saw
and got to hold and touch the rabbit's paw.
All the tame animals came through
and we heard the lion's roar and cows' moo.
The train monkeys, baboons, and chimpanzees
banana junkies were in the few trees.
The zoo trainer was stringent, but gentle,
a loud voice, but never did go mental.
A cold stare that could stun a wasp to mind
and held a stick if they stepped out of line.
Standing close beside us, was a giraffe
stretching out its long pink tongue with a laugh.
Popcorn it wanted that we were holding;
so much fun the day was still unfolding.
5/12/2023
Writing Challenge - 'Z' Words Poetry Contest 2. Zoo
Sponsored by: Constance La France
It was a dangerous liaison
We’d meet in no mans land
Engage in one quick tango
Then I’d quickly kiss her hand
And each of us would slip
Through our respective door
Back to the dim lit screens
On our control room floor
Monitoring those planets
Constantly looking for
Those few first stage beings
That had discarded war
Watching for the signs
Few and far between
That another species qualified
For the galactic centre scene
So many nearly made it
Almost passed the stringent test
We had to be so certain
For we only took the best
There was a feeling of such loss
When a promising observation
Would irrevocably slide towards
Their path to self extermination
A deep sense of grief
And tension would rise
Until the scenes became
Too painful for our eyes
At times we’d want to intervene
When success came so very close
That was the time when
The watching hurt the most
It was a dangerous liaison
We’d meet in no mans land
Engage in one quick tango
Then I’d quickly kiss her hand
And our tensions and our sadness
Would slowly ease away
And our search would continue for
The next achieved Salvation Day
Zafar is very stringent about line and is not ready to change. He wants that one Lakeer (Line) which he will never step out of no matter how many logical explanations you provide.line which is found between the legs of girls and women...
Note.female genitals...
Blackberry briar bounds the river: a curb
o’er the levee’s curve; a thorny imbroglio
under which twitters sing in broody milieu
Naught but the resilient do venture within
daunting vine bent in asperity, weathered
Little flyers fluff the brusque in a love filial
In wee caresses, stringent opens soft eyes
Silken white, touched in palest pink, winks
Sweet, sweet, they tweet, for a juicy bliss…
(8/7/2022)
Usain Bolt is a phenomenon.
It used to be: "Stockily Built,"
"Shooting like the ball from a canon"
And seriousness up to the hilt!
Along came Usain like a bolt!
Not with the tight and stringent run
But with the elegance of a colt
Directly from the sound of the gun.
He executes the knees-up style,
His chest's at maximum capacity.
And is held out all the while
While the legs speak agility.
He monopolizes not this style of running
But engages all departments to their limits.
He sees that all engines are firing
And ultimately deserves all plaudits!
What distract me from my oblagations are
not of trust but of worldly want and desire.
Than what is spoken as Godlydistracts those
of there obligation and duty to God.
My love of my wife has been
made sacred by marriage, and those who wish
to distract me from such obligastion
are forieng and strange
and are then wicked and vain!
This spoke Saffra to the woman
who wished him to
make music for the people
and not make music which honored God!
Djokovic, the reigning champ’s
In Melbourne, set to play
If the Australian government
Decides that it’s okay.
In seeking an exemption
Since he’s not had the vaccine,
He’s earned the wrath of many
Who’ve been forced to quarantine.
To me, it’s very obvious
That stringent rules are set
For everyone to follow;
Those who don’t may pose a threat.
So send him back; he’s made a choice,
The consequences clear.
Perhaps Novaxx (as he’s been called)
Will wise up by next year.
Oh yes, I am resolved.
Resolved to heal and not to wound,
to listen more than answer back,
to be more balm than stringent sound
to friend, or foe when they attack.
Ah yes, I am resolved,
to think myself not more exalted,
more worthy of a higher place,
no guile beside my name reported,
no hiding of my truest face.
Steadfast, sure, is this resolve,
to not befriend this hostile world,
to turn and bend and be conformed.
To rather burnish tarnished gold,
redeem, renew and be transformed.
Yes, oh yes, I am resolved.
For me there is no turning back,
a steadfast rock in every hour.
But oh, this power I surely lack.
To will, to do, and not fall back
Lies only in my Lord's great power.
It was a compulsive decision
critical in its form
difficult to understand
while exacting some of the truth.
my exhausting mid
became hard to comprehend.
Thoughts pressed and developed
I strictly forbid to except
I became stringent
stress turned burdensome
I was living a tough life.
Troublesome I became
trying to achieve the impossible
mornings became nagging
nights were wearing.
Waking up felt irritating
clamorous
but imperative
I fussed about everything
in a grievous situation like this
I tried to be domineering
appealing
but I became repetitive
oppressive
always complaining
and nothing was important.
I saw, indeed, aside a Sisyphus – stone
A lonely old little daisy standing alone
Fading and dying and nearly decaying
Closer to the brink of its grave bending
In her heart seemed a caterpillar, hanging
Suffering its final stage of pupating
Chrysalis cocooning grasping rasping
Jumping, humping and its fluid-pumping
Fast, haste, rapid, relentless, impatient
Fluent, steady, stringent, persistent
The start of its life, it appeared
Could, rather, be its utter end
It really did not want to die
Rather, it yearned to survive
This was the great reason why
Its undergoing tensions high
All these difficulties struggles and strives
Pains and agonies and agitations
Struggling, striving, senile suffering
Death, resurrection and life-giving
It emerged into a beautiful butterfly
And flew away above in the colorful sky
What a meticulous metamorphosis!
Birth-death-resurrection life-synthesis!
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