A leviathan tower
engulfs the skyline
grey and brooding.
One watery morn
green robed ghosts
convened with mortals
to obfuscate and inveigle
a white soul
in sanitised halls
where consent is captured;
no ransom demanded.
A poetry form called Yalto____
buds pop 'pon
star magnolia
early
bloomer, ready
to show first white blooms.
a dove cooed
early
in the morn
confused
by weather
that's spring-like
and seems here, my friend.
well, winter hasn't left
no!
ten weeks of cold still
It always begins with a huge heart/
To be used over and over/
Stomped out like a forest fire/
That someone you trust and loved started it/
Screaming, running around/
Raging in your mind/
When they pick up your heart/
And tear it to pieces/
To bash against the wall/
Without a chance at life/
Behind the sight of your eyes/
All you see is cold, heartless humans/
Acting like a friend/
Only to turn around/
And spread rumors/
Laugh behind your back/
Like you're a circus freak/
Being abused in all ways/
Because you tried to have a heart/
Towards others and they only use you/
Slowly ripping the soul away/
Becoming a ruthless beast/
Learning to give no one a chance/
To use you as a mat/
Being a cold piece of work/
The so called... Soulless/
Every day you go to work
And hop into your vehicle
Not a thought or say a word
About if the job is meaningful
You sacrifice a lot of time
And try to be agreeable
Often sold on common goals
It all sounds so believable
Any goal that is your own
Should not include your brothers
Because his goals you may not know
And are hard to go discover
Upper hands are gained
Not by ones that tell the other
Because what is not explained
Sustains impressions that you're under
There’s no council without wise old,
Nor old that vouch dharma nor virtue,
No virtue, truth would not uphold,
Nor truth free from fraudulent hue!
______________________
Translation |20.10.2024|assembly, old, virtue, truth, trickery
Poet’s note: Sanskrit has thousands of verses of wisdom called Subhashhitam. This verse is taken from Mahabharata, Sabha Parva. Draupadi was molested in the royal court despite the presence of wise old people like Bheeshma, Drona, Vidur, and Kripacharya. They were all talking about dharma while allowing such a thing to happen. (What Draupadi said is valid; what Duryodhan argued is also not invalid…) The transliteration of the Sanskrit verse follows:
Na saa sabhaa yatra na santi vriddhaah,
vriddhah na te ye na vadanti dharmam |
Dharmah na vai yatra cha na asti satyam,
satyam na tat yat chhala na anu-viddhyam ||
When the control is in your hand,
you should know when to stop and when to use,
no matter what it is: words or weapons.
Otherwise, it will destroy the controller:
like, someone is stabbing the holder's back
by bending the holder's hand.
Like, the truth you had said
thinking the listener is your friend,
but later found that
they were the people
who had defamed you by spreading that.
Are people worth trusting?
Doesn't a knife cause you less pain than treachery?
We must win the war,
Energy still raw;
With foes wipe the flour;
Not for us a sore…
To lose is a flaw,
End up in some jaw,
Long opened bad door;
Death would try its gnaw…
In battles the fore
As eagles to soar
Like lions to roar
Where gun fire is core…
Now, speech is a bore
Some speeches strength tore
Cow horns that folks gone
We all know Death sure…
But seek not life more,
Man picks what’s in store,
This counsel a lore,
Your boat row with oar,
Change of mind worse whore…
To remain member
These remember.
Halloween is here!
But have no fear!
This is my guide so you survive.
Beware the graveyards full of ghosts and ghouls.
The graveyard is where you will see zombies feasting.
Stay in the light, form large groups, don't be fools.
Beware the alleys vampires hang about usually toff.
One look in their eyes and… boo! You're paralyzed.
Carry holy water, garlic and a cross, it fights them off.
Beware the skies alien abductions!
Butt probes, clench cheeks, hopefully you stay breathing.
This one's unavoidable good luck, maybe try some ruction?
Beware they pull you in with sweet smells, and words, it’s bewitchery.
It's diabolical, witches plans with humans hypnotized.
Show some cautionary there's lots of trickery.
Halloween is here!
But have no fear!
Follow this guide and you will survive.
(A. Bonds)
10-29-20
words used, alien, blood, cautionary, vampires, trickery, abduction, paralyzed, Halloween, feasting, diabolical
In the full moon’s mystic frame an alien wolf in silhouette howls,
in the diabolical stillness a tall figure in black cloak comes out
through the spiked rusty gate of the castle perched on smoky hill.
Arms stretched wide he wafts in the air like a hooded black bird,
like the Count used to do in Transylvania, as the age-old story goes.
When the moon hovers over the canopy of the starless slate sky,
I see paralyzed, the dark figure standing in shade outside my door,
cold blue gleam of the Halloween night feasting on the ashen face.
Fearing abduction I find myself clasped in his arms of trickery,
with cautionary eyes glaring, and fangs piercing gory lips pressed
on my jugular vein, in hoarse voice he says “your blood I will sip,
you’ll be one of my vampires, in the castle of Dracula you’ll live”.
October 23, 2020
Contest : Halloween Challenge
Sponsor : Emile Pinet
Fat or skinny
Short or long
There is no way to go wrong
When their put inside your buns
It becomes a lot of fun
They can squirt stuff from inside
They are moist and sometimes dry
Plumping up when they get hot
They are loved a very lot
You will find women and men
With these in their mouths and then
They will swallow every bit
Of this treats deliciousness
This meaty and tasty treat
Measured in inches and feet
Is enjoyed by one and all
Some are big and others small
This treat that I am speaking of
Is the world famous hot dog
Shame on all your dirty minds
Thinking all my written lines
Were about mens private parts
Laughing I fooled lots and lots
Under ghostly moon--
Bloody skeletons hang
Opening coffins
witches brew maggots in cauldrons
at the end of hooded dance
Shrieks from bleak alleys
Ruffle cobweb hairs
Medusa hunts for flesh
a shortening of pulses
mingles with children’s sweats
Pumpkin lanterns
expand knifed fangs
Loot bags ripping
from cracked windows of trickery
Halloween’s beat mounting, run!
*alternating 3- and 2-lines, traditional rengay
For Rusell Sivey's The Ultimate Halloween Contest
by nette onclaud
I found out
All that money is
Not needed
Cash doesn’t
Cure pain, sadness, and sorrow
And can’t buy pure love
Russell Sivey
i witnessed your trickery
but could you see mine?
it still seems a mystery
perfectly timed
i guess when it hits you
as matter of fact
that lesson wont miss you
to surely react
SHORTEST DAY TRICKERY
Again December 23 is almost here
Frost’s darkest evening of the year,
Ok. But what really bugs me
Is that it is the date when we
Are actually closer to the sun
By three million miles - no I’m not making fun.
It’s like going to a supermarket where
It advertises mega-bargains in hardware -
Twenty-five percent off everything,
And then finding that we are paying
Three times the normal price in the western hemisphere.
Seems to me there’s a con trick here.
We’re being ripped off, short-changed somehow.
Getting a steer, having paid for a cow
Getting the short end of the stick
Like being victim of some card trick
I mean who would buy a heater that
Got colder as you moved your chair closer?
Instead of Shortest Day it should be renamed
Shortest End of the Stick Day.
three wicked moons ago, we flew to a halloween get-away
on the beach island frilled with dangling bouquets.” no
costumes , please”, the invitation loudly read.. so off i went,
the brood still washing their heads… in simple sundress, my eyes
kept singing la-la-la. the hall was empty, freaky lights went off. in a flick,
witches were brewing black, fangy cats... a lady gaga
spiking screams, then came a judas hanging on a centipede tree,
by the false door, tattooed skeletons dancing squeaky reggae.
suffocating in a terrorized room, i hollered,” where’s my family!!”
what a viciously naughty night! they were all dressed in
ghostly ghoul and goblin witchery, tickling my almost bare body
just behind me… oh well, it’s october’s time to slay the night
and i was the pawn, the surprised victim, crackling with nervous delight
( for paula swanson's halloween of years past)
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.