On a sunny evening the colors changed;
Tossed a penny in the mall’s wishing well
sealed with a such a foreboding kiss;
I didn’t know I was close to the underbelly;
Tossed a penny in the mall’s wishing well
it spun clinking around achingly slow
‘til it landed in the water oddly straight up;
Sealed with such a foreboding kiss
a fantasy can sometimes be four alarm;
This one was mine for it felt like forever;
I didn’t know I was close to the underbelly;
Shopping then I caught a stranger’s eye;
He smiled ‘Do you believe?’ and flashed fangs.
Categories:
underbelly, dark, emotions, feelings,
Form: Other
Like a pack of howling wolves in need of prey,
A wounded urban psyche strains its gnarled voice,
Motherless, fatherless, ice cold pavement waif,
Wee small hours plight
The rocks of his facade dispatched in ghost trains
for those ghoulish oil float gutters to imbibe,
Back street burden stray, schooled in fringe art fables,
Phantom kite chaser
Eerie street lights peer into an aimless soul,
Clouds of pea soup fog engulf his raw foot slink,
Firefly knotted angst or bilious grumble,
Trash can tummy fare
But still he ambles on, inner plagues in charge
as loafers from the underworld gawk and gape,
Pithy, a phased out coin for snow cap straggler,
dead of night orphan.
Date Poem Submitted : 19 th Of July 2020
Title : A Dark Underbelly
Sponsor : Edward Ibeh
Categories:
underbelly, art, care, character, color,
Form: Sapphic stanza
Shadows fill the alley, where they lie in wait
To buy and sell sundries of a wicked kind
needles injected, gun shots fired, witnessed in
flashing neon lights
I equate them to sewer rats, crawling 'round
whose sinister stories would make me shudder
counting their number by red cigarette glows
blurred in veils of smoke
Another cheap wine bottle smashed to the ground
Stiletto heels needing to trade for a fix
Money earned turning tricks; spent on ecstasy
eyes in Zombie mode
I should board my window so I cannot see
the bowels of a city, dark and defiled
Such tragedy permeates the air until
street lamps dim at dawn
Pick-A-Title Vol 19 - 4 Sapphic Stanzas
Title Chosen: A Dark Underbelly
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Posted on July 11th, 2020
Categories:
underbelly, environment, grief,
Form: Sapphic stanza
a dark underbelly cloud sweeps past the trees
as they bow down then snap like minds gone crazy
defenseless on the hills they no longer stand
powerless to the storm
a violent wind screams out in tempered gusts
before the sky lashes out its bottled rage
it slams against the ground, bullets raining down
destruction everywhere
hail the summer storm that took us by surprise
made us see our weakness beneath nature's wrath
as we grab our sticks and stones cursing her name
a rainbow arcs the sky
June 30, 2020
Pick a title Sapphic Stanza
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
#2 A Dark Underbelly
Categories:
underbelly, rainbow, sky, storm, summer,
Form: Sapphic stanza
Skyscrapers, sheathed in glass, stretch to the sky:
and a convoluted maze of asphalt
rivers, connect concrete caves, they flow by.
Patches of green appear like mold on cheese
amidst the neon lights, corruption, and sleaze.
All cities have a dark underbelly
that's overcrowded, noisy, and smelly.
At rush hour, the traffic slows to a crawl:
and those begging to fill their belly
don't find city streets friendly: not at all.
Categories:
underbelly, 10th grade, 9th grade,
Form: Dizain
Unlocking,
the silver knife.
The poetry matters,
when it is dark.
*
Night,
has its own secrets, when,
dew spreads out
the beadings on grass.
*
Blackbuck was ready
to shed the antlers.
Moon was hornless.
Satish Verma
Categories:
underbelly, art,
Form: ABC
The hours grows late and so the night bodes ill,
Another man falls, he did drink his fill.
And what fate do the streets take,
When the night cracks with a dawn break?
The rotten and unwanted fate,
Resented and repelled too late.
When the breath of man became disgrace,
Habitual of a hollow, heathen race.
And the cumbersome unrest of drunken sleep,
With a final sigh the streets does sweep.
Here unbidden wretches mark out their day,
In this sorry place they waste away.
As the city shifts focus from watchful eyes,
Concealing its dirt beneath painted lies.
Without a sound each night exhumed,
Then ritual veneer polished and re-assumed.
Categories:
underbelly, peoplenight, night,
Form: Rhyme
Concrete plane foresight
Polyrhythmic totem stalk
Waterfalls upward
Categories:
underbelly, confusion
Form: Haiku