In this hospital…
That is like a tinderbox.
Our screams do not turn us ablaze-
Neither will sitting stolidly.
But if we try to remember the times before we turned evil…
Then this hospital…
Will become fully inhospitable.
11/11/22
Tinderbox
Edward Ibeh
Categories:
tinderbox, mental illness,
Form: Free verse
Autumn's at the mercy of unscrupulous wildfire
A tornado igniting forest walls with leaves aswirl
Flames of colors rare radiant orange sapphire
On glowing wind-borne embers storm, they twirl
October fires, dubbed the season of the witch
Destroying two hundred thousand acres in route
An unmerciful fate leaving a scarred barren ditch
Fierce arid gusty storms are furnaces in this drought
An exploding tinderbox from hades whence it came
A raging menace, water and powder could not rescind
Cherished homes and lush land now go up in a flame
Engulfing the timbers like matches invoked by wild wind
Be warned all pyro’s, the witches of Witch Creek set on fire,
Their smoke will fill your mouth, to tell what you’ve done prior!
Categories:
tinderbox, fire,
Form: Sonnet
The colors of the season
are flaming orange, russet, gold and red.
From what kindling was
this glorious, bright explosion fed?
Is there some tinderbox
in Mother Nature’s fall collection
from which she ignites the world
with such utter fiery perfection?
Where is the kindling kept?
Mother Nature keeps it close at hand
waiting until autumn
when she sparks beauty’s flames across my land.
It remains her secret,
for Mother Nature has her magic ways.
Enjoy it as she sets
the trees and autumn’s dusks all ablaze.
Oct. 28, 2022
for Edward Ibeh's This Or That, Vol 14 Poetry Contest
Categories:
tinderbox, autumn,
Form: Rhyme
Sept. 11. is a dark and fateful day,
No one wants to live through.
A plane plummeted into the World Trade Center
And in minutes it turned into a tinderbox.
With a flash of light and a thunderous boom,
Billows of smoke darkened the sky.
Crimson flames rose high and danced in the air,
Turning hundreds into mere cinders!
Such atrocities are vicious and repeated
Caused by tempestuous passions and brutish urges
Violence erupts as pressure builds inside
No warning, no alarm siren
Sudden spurt of lava, effacing life, love, and dreams
War drums, grenades, gun shots
Fire spitting dragons of tanks
Sizzling missiles and bombs
Screams, wails, and bloodshed
Pale faced grimace of death!
It’s up to us to decide if we should be agents of peace
Or tinderboxes, highly inflammable!
Milton the blind bard of England sang
“Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war”
Let no man take up arms against another
For when peace dwells within
There shall be peace without!
October- 27.2022
~ Placed Second~
This or That- Vol.14. Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Edward Ibeh
Categories:
tinderbox, death, heartbreak, violence,
Form: Free verse
I flew to him as though he was a sultry flame
and I a fragile moth, in need of warm affection.
I danced around him, this man without a name.
In his eyes I saw desire from my own reflection,
smoldering in me was the beast I could not tame.
I was aware of danger. I'd been burned before,
but offered my tinderbox and opened the latch.
With one ardent kiss the fire in me began to roar.
Passion was ignited with the first strike of a match.
One last time, I firmly promised myself. I swore.
Vows hold no guarantees. They're a simple token.
I felt the sting of my guilty conscience and cringed.
Pledges of love had been torn asunder and broken.
Condemned was I, for my wings had been singed,
and cried in lieu of words too grievous to be spoken.
I cannot deny my fate for sorrow had been earned.
I felt remorse, a scarred creature who remembers
the flaws within me, and the lesson I had learned.
Charred ashes were flying above crimson embers.
In a blazing fire, I watched as my tinderbox burned.
October 26, 2022
This or That, Vol 14 Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Categories:
tinderbox, betrayal,
Form: Rhyme
Tinderbox
Just a little box that holds the matchsticks,
compact box with matches inside
Just a little box that holds the matchsticks
Yet they hold the strike of death!
Yet they fire the final flame;
How could something so inconsequential be to blame?
Just a little box that holds the matchsticks,
Ignite and spark in a trash can at the park,
The spark caught the paper
And made a flame so light,
Until all in the trash can caught up in fire bright.
10/24/2022 This or That Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
Tinderbox
Categories:
tinderbox, fire,
Form: Free verse
Emotions erupt in anger and hate.
Disputes can flame into war, even more.
Intelligence drought, no room for debate.
While a crisis exists from sky to shore
in Earth's struggles we quietly ignore.
We forget they're numbered: majestic trees,
captured by fires and a dry thunder's tease.
Our thoughts were gentled by edens we miss.
Minds became parched, like the greens, by degrees.
Where do thoughts rest in a whirlwind like this?
I thought of some words William Shatner said
~overcome with sadness when touching space,
because the beauty lies with us instead,
Earth is alone~ by light years that we chase.
moving through time with an uncommon grace.
If Shatner's words were but taken to heart--
replacing hate and fear with a fresh start:
kindness displayed by Earth dwellers to all
working together, not stretching apart
we'd save ourselves and this beautiful ball.
October 20, 2022
for "This or That, Vol. 14 Poetry Contest"
by Edward Ibeh
Dizain
howmanysyllables.com=10
A Second Place
Categories:
tinderbox, anger, angst, earth, emotions,
Form: Dizain
Our body is a tinderbox
Yes it is and high time we know
But to feel the flame, first detox
Gentling thought in staid stillness slow
Heart's fire within is love and light
Christ consciousness veiled by ego
To feel full force of bliss delight
Fears and desires, we must let go
Cause of suffering, ignorance
Mistaken that we're body-mind
This erroneous inference
Is why we flounder about blind
From thoughts when we secure release
All that remains is tranquil calm
Rid at last of desire’s disease
We're engulfed by love’s healing balm
Thus not doing but undoing
Is the way to ignite rapture
Thunder that keeps on renewing
Ecstasy mind cannot capture
It's all within, weary hermit
But to feel the flame, first detox
Bliss beats take soul to the summit
Our body is a tinderbox
18-October-2022
This or That, Vol 14 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Categories:
tinderbox, joy, light, love, spiritual,
Form: Quatrain
Treasure hidden in the anxious, shy
by clumsy hands "what ifs" and "aughts",
a tinderbox buried inside
though lightly damped by bleak, dim thoughts.
A breezy optimism gusting through
a little hope and something fresh,
the dryness needed came from you
igniting fires within the flesh.
A passion to step to the edge
a want to speak and to be heard,
a yearning to walk on the ledge
and fledge these Phoenix wings you stirred.
"I believe in you," is all I heard
it struck this Tinderbox in me.
It sparked the fiery wings of flaming birds
and dared me to be the best me that I can be.
Categories:
tinderbox, imagination, inspirational, me,
Form: Rhyme