I’m not one but a whisper -
I’m nothing ‘cept a sham
a pharaoh for the faceless
and the finer freaks, I am
cormorant for the chinamen
rusty wire wraps my throat
regurgitating just the best
to make their pockets bloat
praise indentured servitude
I’m lost sans those demands
my dreams all dipped in dolor
rusty chains that understand
a friend named Ozymandias
old wrecks and wrinkled lips
so set a standard for despair
just shy these sinking ships
though his was of a purpose
with all that fear could fetch
I left my stony trunkless legs
a truth that wrought a wretch
now existence drags me thru
this cold and reddened mud
still, be wary of the pen I hold …
it’s been known … to draw …
some blood.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, February 29, 2024
Categories:
trunkless, analogy, introspection, poems, poetry,
Form: Quatrain
Alligators bleed a passing style.
Shot birds freeze in a look of disbelief.
Leopards fall in wraps and cooling guts.
Snap and clack of traps grind mental teeth
In living bone. Flash and zing of wire
Scald ruts in moving flesh.
Whoosh of nets and sudden crack of guns
Hold down the gelatin that was an eye--
And heaps of trinket feathers and trunkless hides
Are lain on altars for a current god.
Categories:
trunkless, fashion,
Form: Free verse
The Modern Ozymandias
The Shelley poem adapted by Elton Camp
There was a stadium at Pennsylvania State
Where two strong and trunkless legs now stand
Near them, on the ground, a fallen visage lies
Wrinkled brow and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which survive, stamped on these lifeless things
The beady eyes that ever looked the other way
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Joe Paterno, the coach of coaches
Look on my works ye administrators and despair
Nothing of that colossal wreck now remains
The integrity of a university forever damaged
Categories:
trunkless, loss, integrity, , ozymandias,
Form: Blank verse
The Modern Ozymandias
By Elton Camp
Among nations’ leaders, none more powerful than he
Showy medals displayed on his chest for all to see
His facial expression and most particularly his sneer
Caused all who were around him to tremble in fear
His orders he expected that all would quickly obey
Even if it was to murder innocents that he did say
In an unknown and unmarked grave he lies today
And for him too, the desert sands stretch far away
Ozymandias
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
By P. B. Shelley
Categories:
trunkless, death, , ozymandias,
Form: Rhyme