. snake held
. by its tail
. pinched between
. fingers of arm extended
. whips around fangs uncoiled
. striking here biting again
. scything in circles lunging here and there
. flailing like a yellow pac-man gulping at air
. chasing the hand
. that taught it
. to circle
. lying at
. the core
. of the maze
. hungry
. for
. more
Velvety moonlit dreams uncoiled beneath my feet, drifting in a gossamer rush.
Soft ambient currents circled my ears, their tones dissolving the world to a quiet hush.
My reflection stepped out of a mirror, carrying a beacon woven from dusk and breath.
It pressed the light into my chest, where forgotten constellations stirred from ancient Opeth
dream-born knowing
a veil lifting from within~
I woke into myself
There are pearly white flowers
that delicately sway
mimicking tiny dancing butterflies
within the lacy shrubs sector
breeze blown away
blooms of heaven-sent nectar
an attraction, an invitation
A meadow brown butterfly swarms to
its empowering rich white petals
resting, buckled, uncoiled tongue, sucking
scaled wings clasped, it settles
stupefied by scents, it feeds
bewildered by sugary sucrose
ideal prey for a spider’s capture
in its ampullate silk orb web
sticky droplets woven to ensnare
Asclepias incarnata, magnets for pollinators
Ice-ballet swamp milkweeds
amongst igneous rocks banding from foliation
rocks formed from cooled magma
gravy tones, an obsidian correlation
where white flowers string
In a momentums gain,
a brown butterfly takes wing
The dry stem of a lonesome vine of vivacity,
now painfully curled, rooted frozen,
entwining the desiccated verdant veins,
sways chilled in the winter wind of desolation.
The sleeping passion of exuberance,
painting a picture of comatose entity,
impresses none, finds no frame, droops down uncoiled.
Dormant emotions flicker like candle flame in freezing gale,
the crumpled vine suffers cold distress, pain unexpressed.
The original emerald lattice morphs mystically into
a mirror of veracity with ingrained sheen of actuality,
reflecting the real rendering of silhouetted latent essence,
rinsed with the suppressed hues
of distinctive spectral disposition it embodied once.
Metamorphosis creates the transient design,
an alien in its own transformed domain,
completes the contrasting paradigm
of the compulsive shape shift,
waiting for the touch of spring.
Eclipse begs beasts bays: Chaos and Havoc
as the scheming plots a clock, e'er so close.
Ill sprites hover and bobble ... spasmatic
entities let loose their suffering throes.
Screams and wails are a precursor outbreak
of the cavernous peel that the master--
is nigh--and that the hellish host bewake,
yond slithered pets whip, for the taskmaster.
Becalm, bestilled, beware forevermore,
whilst the knell toils its toll and the uncoiled
hast sprung a boy no more behind the door,
third strike's out a poise shadows earth, turmoiled.
Minute passage as minutes flash a fear,
fourth nil toil nexus whence hell domineer.
A giraffe who was new
At the Aberdeen Zoo
Heard a bagpipe askirling one day.
He tracked down the player
And offered to pay her
If she kindly would teach him to play.
He gazed at the piper,
A Hebrides viper,
As she uncoiled and let out a sigh.
Then she hissed, "Listen, dearrie,
I'll answerr yerr querry,
But you're nae gonna like my rreply.
Yerr legr'rr like stilts,
You'd look funny in kilts,
And that just would'na sit well wi' Scots.
We'rre quite snobbish and swell,
And know perrfectly well
That plaid dinna fit well wi' spots!"
In the deaf woods of curious willows
lies stalwart beliefs of days bygone.
Retribution, restitution, resolution
resolve, beginning our journey.
Blinded by bewares of sours ungifted
lost constitutions coagulate.
Lamenting gargoyles grin in reside.
The lost, given to hateful
brawls detonate heaven and earth.
Solemn potentials greet our solice of
batteredin-betweens. Spores of negativity
parade the sovereign coming storm.
Holy mountains of Nosfreatu thoughts
reek of broken lenses of scum
serpents, a continuous path to an
Event Horizon, a culture of patterned
violence to dog days of uncoiled reckoning.
Leviathan pipe dreams of nauseating
Oblivion, casts a universal dark shadow
How many tears to reflection?
Awakened from an afternoon nap, I arose
and peeped out through the veranda window.
My weary eyes suddenly burst wide open in utter
amazement at what was being canvassed before them.
There, sitting on the grass with folded legs was
this cute little hued girl staring into the hedges.
A more focused look revealed another little black
one sitting in familiar pose, staring right back at her.
Both seemed to be just sitting there staring at each other
with tongues sticking out and swerving around their mouths.
Quietly and motionless, I stood there watching them for what
seemed to have been hours but was only for just a few minutes.
Once I clearly realized who the other character was, my heart began
loudly beating like a roaring train. Then, as a cloud passed across the sun,
the other character gently uncoiled, waged its tail, and slowly crawled
off; and turning towards me, the child waved and asked me if all was ok.
Our heart contracts, when thoughts spiral
Ego spawned goals seem foiled
Exhume before fears go viral
Flash point, ego uncoiled
Vigilant and mindful
Let’s make life beautiful
Vibrant, joyous, blissful
When mind reacts
Our heart contracts
20-December-2021
Quietus
DEAD are these fathom of times by change; lies
of not tongue but heart, nay, soul as dead coral made
as now ocean die and her pearls wilt and destroyed
by poison of mankind.
All fades by that terrible hand called Mankind.
As doth suffer the sea-change
uncoiled and spoiled by rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs SCREAM in tumultuous toil
singing, "DING-DONG.
LISTEN! HEAR WORLD -- DEATH!"
:: 09.15.2021 ::
Ceasing vision as a kiss viewing blurred;
I'm blinking fluttering beliefs sentiments;
So a precured glimpse visual perceptions;
~
Grays whites viewed bombarded glimpse of dim mist;
In the drought bronze misted blinded heated dulls;
Now seeing dawns slanted luminosity blanket lulls;
~
Crying blinded drawn breath respired uncoiled;
Blinking sighted hot burnt ambers hazed lonely summer days;
a droughting dust storm hot breath atmosphere kissed at bay;
~
Face is hot not as warm;
Vision block not blurred;
I'm panting caught up in, This dried summer's windstorm;
~
8/2/21~ 2021©
For Imagism Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Emile Pinet
I am being told to let go
By almost everyone I know
Release, let it out, let it be
Plunge into passivity
While I cling to bitter beauty
My bruises bloom a thorny tree
Guarding roses of agony
This pain is mine, it belongs to me
My torment is my blood, it breathes
with every breath, it beats with my heartbeats
Within my tears, it weeps
It shrieks, uncoiled, beneath my skin
Where the sin of suffering begins
It is my fertile fury, my hellish choir
My savage soul, my cathartic fire
It is large and lush and livid
Conquering and vivid
It is too precious, too valuable, to trade away or wallow
in trinkets, or flimsy platitudes, or empty cliches, or hollow
promises of unfulfilling fortresses to follow
Their learned words I dare spurn
For to recover, I must burn
So I will keep it, for I know its worth,
even if their unsolicited, unwarranted, intrusive,
Questioning and questionable, inconclusive
Unadvised advisors do not grant it girth
It is here I find
What I want most
Where rage of kindness blinds
My grieving ghosts.
06/06/20
Entered in 'N/A Rerun 7'
1st Place
From outfield judging eyes await your plight,
though sweat and stupor feign to your ruin.
Now pull up your trousers, cinch your belt tight...
glaring down from mound, pitch straight and proven.
Blurred ball unleashed, pitcher's swift arm uncoiled...
tho' bat be av'rage, the batter may not.
Cauldron-like blood boiled, fever'd swing loyal,
now away to skies, all eyes on prized swat.
Faithfully she watched from merciful stands,
clouds roll away from fancy, fated rush.
His chance to meet life, alone in her hands,
though startled by a bat's powerful crush.
Will you strike true in life's bewilder'g plan,
carried on shoulders of heavenly fans?
I am being told to let go
By almost everyone I know
Release, let it out, let it be
Plunge into passivity
While I howl to bitter beauty
My bruises bloom a thorny tree
Guarding roses of agony
My pain is mine, it belongs to me
This torment is my blood, it breathes
with every breath, it beats with my heartbeats
Within my tears, it weeps
It shrieks, uncoiled, beneath my skin
Where the sin of suffering begins
It is my fertile fury, my hellish choir
My savage soul, my cathartic fire
It is large and lush and livid
Conquering and vivid
It is too precious, too valuable, to trade away or wallow
in trinkets, or flimsy platitudes, or empty cliches, or hollow
promises of unfulfilling fortresses to follow
Their learned words I dare spurn
For to recover, I must burn
So I will keep this, for I know its worth,
even if their unsolicited, unwarranted, intrusive,
Questioning and questionable, inconclusive
Unadvised advisors do not grant it girth
It is in my pain I find
What I wish most
Where rage of kindness blinds
My grieving ghosts.
5/20/18
Long winter nights left me in deep despair,
aroused before the dawn so many times,
in concert with the mantel clock whose chimes
informed and mocked, knowing that I was there.
Consciousness had become too hard to bear,
walls of pain with no lesser ones to climb,
each hour of sleep too short, each one sublime,
my threshold reached, sought refuge in a chair.
The bedspring in the mattress spear-like stood
uncoiled unlike the ranks in which it lay
a twisted Angel sent to do no good
to torture and torment me, and it would
I ordered a new mattress the next day
three months ago missus said that I should.
For contest 'Italian/Petrachan sonnet- Spring', sponsor Craig Cornish
March 14th 2018
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