Tonic Poems

Southern Rata Splendour

Southern Rata (is a stunning Kiwi Tree)



Red or scarlet harlots instead...a bucolic frolic..

Tranches spread as if bulbous branches have gorgeously bled..

Overpowering flowering towers glimmer…fanciful fairytale shimmers showering...

Such vim...swim on a whim..sprouting on an outing from their pouting wooden limb....

A delight..refining..shining bright.. defining.. these bizarrely beautifully gnarly trees...

Crimson collage..insisting snarling tendril darlings..timber tentacles twisting…a magical mirage....

Marooned yet cocooned in a festooned lagoon...wouldn't barter anything…

To swoon at the miracle..spectacular boon of Southern Rata ...

Tonic

TONIC

Gin, with its memory of juniper
That imbues a certain sweet tang
But needs a slightly bitter contrast
To be well-rounded on the tongue
Relieved to deliver its full promise

Tonic water, innocently sparkling
Knowing its partnering role so well
Offering quinine as a prophylactic
Originally for Malaria in the Empire
A complement to balance the heat

Ice, as cubes dropped into the glass
Their mission, ever eagerly accepted
A cool aperitif then turned into cold
With just a thin twist of lemon or lime
That clink, somehow a reinforcement

Resolving To the Tonic

Come cover me with taffeta blue
let the shine rub onto you
when joined with cotton the feel becomes joy
in its pure state

I love the touch of man-made materials 
when I speak with my cello silence prevails
when cloth unites with the subtle texture of painted wood
the touch is overwhelming my heart becomes raucous

But then I play my cello silently
it groans in soft delights
the audience wriggles in their seats
heaven itself can’t contain the beauty of the subtle pianissimo

“Hush,” I said to the multitudes, they became quiet
I played a blue cello; a golden muted trumpet accompanied me
we began with a melodic mezzo piano playing with restrained bird calls
softly the bird songs sat above lilting melodious notes

Notes carry one toward into soulful ecstasies
long panoplies of chords flow like water into a placid lake
cellos then come to the fore filling out the symmetry of music
the full composition is luscious manna to the ears and soul

Chaotic chords flow to their beginning 
returning to resolve to the tonic
to peaceful respite like humans require
to final rest

Late Night Sept Tonic

what is u...b...what u r

stans sand

Big Puma Gammez

From the Editers Page... Dear Whoretense
                           What are We Gonna Do
                                    Bought to by
                       Ghemps Magic Tonic for Men


My pen pal of several months
Wishes to marry me.
He seemly thinks
He has found his
Certain someone
Some presumly speaking
Is me.

How do I tell him, I have
several others, who adore
my aquaitance and company.
Though we have shared numerous
Exchanges and dates,( the luxury spas
Of $@$@$-$@$@!) I find only interest
in being elusive of his wanting me. He
told me he was both flutist and bassoonist.
I thought he was a liar to have me impressed,
I found in addition he is both maestro and
conducted to a very well known Song House.
My others find my being with him, both
Invasive and concerning!
Dear Whoretence, what am I gonna do?
 
Sincerely,
Madam Guesser
Sultry Evasive Woman

Gin and Tonic Magic

Was making dinner for my honey, mine.

I realized, alas, I added far too much thyme.

He whispered, “you are thinking way too much of rhyme!”

Quickly I filled us glasses, with ice-cold tonic, gin and lime.

That softened him and he softly whispered,

“Well, I guess after all, it’s no big crime.”

He was my love, so invitingly delicious and ever so sublime.

A peek for you, into my love-life’s, poetic summertime!


                             7/22/2022
                                 ~ 1 ~

The Price

These words I write may not be worth much to you
perhaps a glass of prosecco or cheap chardonnay
bottom shelf bourbon and soda, tonic and Tanqueray
You have no concept of what they cost me
the price that I must pay

Nature's Tonic

The breeze, dank with autumnal chill
Sighs through the lonesome woodland trail
Yet whispers of sweet promise 
Waft gently through the bracing air



27.10.20


An excerpt from my poem 'Romantic encounters with nature'

Liberum Divisa 2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Gregory Barden

Tonic

Someone is waiting, I hope not in vain
for you to greet them with words of acclaim.

They needn't be fancy or charming or grand,
just simple, honest, and easy to understand.

Identify something about them that radiates truth,
--dress, smile, posture, maybe their youth.

Cost to you, as you know, is not one thing,
and think of the joy to a life you will bring.

Eschew that which often makes us sardonic,
and know kindness to others is life's potent tonic.

Gin and Tonic

Alba Girl drank her Gin and Tonic
It was such a lovely drink
But an acquired taste
Only certain cultured people liked it

People like her with different ‘tastes’
Alba Girl liked to travel and draw
She was an artist and a thinker
Always thinking the reason why

And what made a picture better
If it was a landscape pencil sketch
Or portrait of an important person
There were ways to make it better
Changing the perception of the art

A deeper use of shadows
Or more intense colour
Gave vivid impressions

Like on her new series of paintings
Which she would continue
When she returned from her trip to Italy

Till then she deeply thought
And enjoyed her tip
Including her G and T

Granny's Tonic

Oh the daily news got to her
But; she couldn't turn away
It was like watching a train wreck
Though it made her nerves so frayed

Each night she turned the tv on
And her head began to pound
Politics, crime, and taxes
Made her feel like coming unwound

Anxiety kept her up at night
This old world is such a mess
She decided that she must do something
To cure herself of stress

A cup of tea is what she needed
So she headed to Cumberland Gap
In search of the wild blue flower
The Cherokee Skullcap

Now she still watches the news each day
And laughs a bit at the moronic
For it no longer drives her mad
Thanks to her Appalachian tonic

Absolution, a Tonic

The time has come for confession.
It's time for the terrible shocks,
that I'm spreading to Father O'Leary
inside his confessional box.

Father soon gave me the lead,
promising his healing ear,
but I just hope he's prepared
for what he's going to hear.

'Forgive me Father I've sinned,
and sinned in a terrible way, 
so I must beg your forgiveness',
then continued with what I've to say.

"Last night I was powered with lust,
with wont of creating new life.
Father I sinned with five women;
each a fiancé or wife.

The Father ne'er spoke for a minute,
then gave this answer to me,
"Go squeeze the juice of five lemons,
with grapefruit and mix thoroughly".

He said I must drink in one go,
this mixture of sour solution.
That is when I said to Father,
"Is this for my absolution?"
 
"Good heavens no!" Father denied,
"Absolution is out of the race,
 this is what I'd call a tonic,
to get the smile off your face!"

Memory Tonic

He takes a
tea-spoonful
of reddish tonic.
Dried stubbles
sprout within	
his old skull.

Memories froth in the vast past…
His mom applies bitter neem paste
on her nipples like the inaugural
ceremony of denial on the earth.

Silhouette 
of a secret 
sorrow grows
against a wall.
Tear oozes out
of the past.

Memories
froth… A baby
sucking within the
frozen arms, fumes of 
mystery from smoldering 
frankincense near grandma’s
stiff body, remnants of a rape,
infiltrating fingers of a homosexual,
distilled pain from privation…

He loses
his sleep.
Even the 	
sweetest
memory
lands on
loss. Peace
is in the
oblivion.
  
First published in The Literary Hatchet

Gin and Tonic

Beneath a parapet of color rich and bright
the shiny sidewalk beckons me to come 
closer to his revels closer to his warm caress, 
As the rainy afternoon remises light 
two mesic hearts begin to drum 
in keeping with the rhythm of love's guess  
 
The red umbrella shades us from the world 
and keeps the rain at bay while we adhere   
devoted to each other we find spark 
inside an afternoon of dance and swirl 
The old cafe gives witness to our near 
as Benjy marks his loyalty with bark 

The scent of petrichor feels clean and fresh 
as we get lost within our love's embrace 
the clasp undoes and we are winded in  
pressed soft against each other's flesh  
desirously we poise standing face to face, 
he tastes like tonic with a splash of gin. 

November 4, 2018

Another Gin and Tonic Horn Limerick

Another Gin and Tonic Horn Limerick

Must I drink another gin and tonic
To tolerate Trump who is moronic
Jumping from hole to hole like a rabbit
Constantly complaining when cannot have it
Grows on you like a plague that is bubonic.

Jim Horn

• Short Tonic Poems
• Famous Tonic Poems
• Best Tonic Poems
• Read Tonic Poems
• Long Tonic Poems
• Tonic Quotes