Tightropes Poems | Examples

hustler

coconut-
man gambling his way
walks tightropes
subjugates
gravity, among the fronds
grabbing water seeds

Victory Is Overrated

They call it a race,
but it feels more like a circus—
tightropes stretched over flames,
clowns tripping over their own pride,
while I, in my worn sneakers,
stroll past their delicate egos.

Let them shout.
Their speed is a gunshot—
all noise, no aim.
I’ve got the calm of a bassline,
the steady rhythm of knowing
that slow doesn’t mean weak.

Victory? It’s a cheap bottle of wine
that tastes the same no matter who pours it.
I don’t need their finish line;
I’ve created my own,
from half-burned regrets
and the bricks they threw.

At a Rock Climbing Party

At a rock climbing party,
It’s cool to observe
Both the kids who are cautious
And those who have nerve.

The daredevils clamber
To get to the top;
Neither ziplines nor tightropes
Will cause them to stop.

They tackle each challenge
With joy and with pluck
And they rarely require
Assistance when stuck.

The wary are watchful,
Proceeding with care
And feel better in knowing
A grown-up is there.

They’ll ascend partway up,
Harness keeping them bound
And then gently let go
‘Til their feet touch the ground.

As a kid, I was prudent
And nowadays I’m,
With a harness or not,
Still unlikely to climb.

Little Lie

I chose to tell my Little Lie
To the world, and to a friend –
Just this once – myself I told –
And never more again

I spoke it nonchalantly
Yet – slowly – did exhale
My breathing thin and shallow 
I struggled to inhale

It dropped into the Lap of Time
As if it there belonged
Perfect as the perfect chord
Within the perfect song – 

At first ‘twas held in high regard
By Universal Sign
By Pundit and by Media
The praise was mine – all Mine!

For days I reveled – Revered! –
By throngs and multitudes
High upon my perch I sat
My claim to fame approved –

Though Grace and Fortune smiled on me
My Inner State – Rebelled –
-- Tightropes pale in mock compare
To Nerves so overwhelmed!

And then the sleight unraveled
‘Twas but a Blue Bird’s call
And then the Little Lie I told
With me – in flames – did fall

Tightropes of the Three Graces

"Tightropes of the Three Graces" 

Tightropes
for hanging clothes
on a line 

each piece 
pegged wooden
held between closed fences

misfortune's breeze lifts
sleeves like covers
pointing the way home

books and their pages
for The Davenport dancers 
all's well that ends well 

scene perfect
imperfect fortunes
throughout their ages

the balancing act
seeking Life’s rhyme
saving fates in stages

odd numbers
are never easy,
never graceful 

the balancing acts, 

tightropes 
of the Graces
saving fates in 3 stages

(LadyLabyrinth / 2022)
mlb, klb, llb







Édouard Bisson , French Pre-Raphaelite
“Die drei Grazien”, 1899 

Hans Baldung, German Renaissance and Mannerism 
“Three Ages of Man”, 1541 -1544
“Three Graces”, 1539 

Sandro Botticelli, Italian Renaissance 
“The Three Graces”, 1485 - 1487

Logos

"Logos" 


always there
walking tightropes
beside me

pre-existent

logos walking
parting 
waves in air

I turn my back 
on eyes that speak
lost knowledge imprint

I turn my back 
on recalcitrant
childhood dreams 

I turn around ; 

you, 
the shadow
still seen 

a ghost 
haunting
persistent

remain

still there,
as if 
in dream 

(LadyLabyrinth / 2022)
klb, mlb
gvlm


“Logos” / Ludovico Einaudi
https://youtu.be/teq60vwY7g0




a pen dipped in blood
as is a robe
so writes a mind
now is unrobed











Logos 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos_(Christianity)

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Logos





Logo 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo

The Greatest Show On Earth Two

The Greatest Show on Earth - Two

Mr. Pik lived alone, across our street
All the kids knew him, dressed up so neat;

Mr. Pik loved the circus – every kind -
Each year, in our mailbox, tickets, we’d find;

Finally the night came and none too soon
Excitement growing by light of the moon

Girls dressed in dresses – shoes – patent leather
Boys in bow ties – no matter the weather.

Families scrunched in old station wagons
Sounding just like an asthmatic dragon;

First came the clowns with red funny noses
Squirting the crowd – water from fake, roses;

Next, the acrobats riding sleek horses,
Purples plumes on their heads – never off course;

Walkers on tightropes leaving us breathless –
Covered our eyes, watching never the less;

Finally the last act – our hearts would seize -
Daring young man on the flying trapeze;

A rollicking, boisterous evening of mirth
Mr. Pik’s gift – the greatest show on earth.

5-10-21
Contest: Rhyming Couplets
Sponsor: Janice Canerdy

Every year our neighbor, Mr. Pik – a widower – would treat the neighborhood to a night at the circus.

Parodies

From your parapet of pity you prophesize and proclaim, 
That the widows of the tailors dug two shallow graves.

To mould the unmoulded into suits a crane, 
who makes such dreams built of rain, served on a the back of your undiscovered pain? 

A topographic phrenology that undulates the benign.. a course of repression not duly prescribe. While consciousness draws closer ticking over time,
we hear of other mumblers, shuffling for their dime.

Their mumbling over and over what's your sure once was mine.
Their mumbling over and over what's yours now must be mine.

So once again willing to put in the time. 
Castaway your wings sink to the sublime.

Indulge in divulgence, balance the the unclean, tightropes are not mere nooses for a canvass set unseen.

Let Sun Go

Beams dripped, from the yellow moon
And we did drown in a frenzied dance,
Not dreaming, that dawn would bloom
And wake us from - our mystic trance. 
 
Owls hailed us, with their wild whoops,
And gloom bloomed, our lusty hopes; 
With hasty steps, we danced with groups 
That measured their steps, on tightropes.

Played Night herons - raspy, croaking calls,
Yet a rooster played, “cock-a-doodle-doo,”
And shadows fainted on - darkened walls,
Alarming us, the trespassing, morning hue. 

To love ... a divine lover stopped the sun,
Yet, my love ... I’m simply a mortal one;
Hence, let him come, for that’s his run,
And faster we can run, and dive in fun. 


*A 1st Place* in the following contest (judged on Oct. 11, 2020)

Sept. 6, 2020
COMPLETELY YOUR CHOICE (24)any form any theme Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Brian Strand

*5th Place* in the following contest (judged on Oct. 10, 2020) 

The night of passion and desire
Contest Sponsor: Faraz Ajmal

Intermission - Flutterby Reveille

"Intermission: Flutterby Reveille"




Impromptu like a moth
pale words flutter out of his 
psychodelic mind

curious funny flutterby…
for a second then, I didn't move, 
deadpan, I said, 

"... try again with some panache, some style" 
incredulously, I smiled,

he's tripping guitar leads 
counting long-tooth years
and numbers between drum beats

here no rest for the wicked, we...
hear pretty worded poets
walk on tip toe 

balancing wet bars 
on bipolar tightropes
shaking up and banging upside down

all the pretty snowglobes

In his land of silent muses
driving as he wrote
Singing “Every Little Breeze Seems to Whisper Louise's”

Pushing the envelope
aside, he writes,
retirement is a caged zoo

he gets high on cryptic puzzles 
and cracking her
Sudoku

(LadyLabyrinth/2019)




Breakfast Reveille:

The Angels, “Take a Long Line”
https://youtu.be/4LdZAK2Rfkg




The Angels, “Rhythm Rude Girl”
https://youtu.be/4bWsbCpCwOg

The Angels, “Rhythm Rude Girl”
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/angels/rhythmrudegirl.html

Dr Goo Goo

Dr. Goo Goo lives in the clouds with God
Follow his instructions to the T when sick
Take two aspirin and call him in the morning
Right now is good.  Never is even better

Fevers come with a cough and a quack
Not all doctors are created equal
Some live under rocks or bridges
Deliver babies when not playing golf

Goo Goo wears a mask at Sunday services
Performs surgery on high wires at circuses
Sports the letter G on white pajamas
As a reminder; Who is God and who is not  

Surgery on tightropes, scalpel between the teeth
Comes easy with his degrees of certain certainty
With expertise he keeps patients in stitches
But do not laugh when asphyxiated

When the doctor falls do not applaud
Audiences should stay in their seats            
For no particular reason
Safety nets and parachutes get lost

Dr. Goo Goo fixes us before we go wrong
Before we return back to ash and dust
From that stuff, primordial goo called humans
Who come with medical and dental plans included

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

The blind and the weary, are up from the trenches
To climb into chaos, they'll walk across tightropes
where no one has noticed the ebb and the sway
Now lost in the fury, they are mixed in the slurry
where mindless distraction has swallowed the day

They scatter their money on things that won't matter
Like hunters, they gather, checking their watches
Shattering silence with small satisfaction
No cause for reflection, and nothing to say

Searching for something.  At what price the glory
While nothing of value, piles high to the rafters
Tumbling downward, into cobwebs and corners 
Cracking the shell of a world that is hollow
leaving behind only yokes that are gray

______________________________________________________



For Contest Sponsored By Silent One "A Poem About A Song"
Based on the Song: "Mad World" 5/24/17

These Mornings

Maple and Cherry Oak
deciduous delight;
a new wardrobe.

Another marriage; 
violent waterways 
racing traffic.

Cremation of
fallen family
lingers onward.

Reincarnated
sweet scent--
Lavender & Lilacs.

Desiring exactly
what we despise
as dreams drown.

Twenty branches above 
percussion solos begin
between wings while

lead singers gather on
electrical tightropes
of music notation.

Trade-winds whisper
as the ocean above
remains motionless.

Until next
December my
dear winter.

Hypnotized

The things I’ve forgotten 
are watering the garden.

I can tell by the way she’s 
walking he’s been talking to her.
just like in a dream, 
where everything’s beautiful, 
And moving too slow. 

All the songs are sad,
and the look in the eye 
says the minds are gone.

In there brilliant disguises
the people roll bye,
painted faces in the hallway,
and the children sparkle like stars..

The struggles are all the same,
and so is the pain.

The clowns play on tightropes,
and the lion tamer gambles with his life.
The lions, elephants, and monkeys go insane.
The freaks are laughing, the crowd is clapping,
                          but they don’t know why?
painted faces in the hallway.

The coward is caged
 in fear  and beautiful.
The soldier is hypnotized,
he does not know he is the coward.

The bombs don’t care,
 they only want to kill.
“ who will they tax,
when there’s no one 
left to kill?

And the look in the eye 
says the minds are gone.

Hypnotized!

Your Endless Lighthouse Beam

I miss you more than sky is blue
     Piercing sunlight from beyond;
Days made old and mind anew
     My weariness like a song:
When up is down too many few
     Tightropes when you’re gone.

Needing you more than oceans deep
     Currents in the flow;
Wide awake or drifting sleep
     Lying in pure snow:
If I should die my soul to keep
     Wherever you may go.

Remember me when I have sailed
     To that far away world of dreams;
Think well of me though I have failed
     From time to time it seems:
While upon my ship I’ll man the rails
     In search of your endless lighthouse beam.

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