Nature's captured in blue undulations, as swans glide,
at the sunrise of red, against backdrop of colorful sky.
Then the mirror turns so golden, as sun reaches zenith,
Reflecting purple and jade birds, in clouds, enormous.
Sea of striking scenes, of vivid birds, off to foreign land,
of pines, yellow flowers, mountains, or pebbly beaches.
Moonlight visits, strewing pearls on meandering waves;
with pretty, beige stars, winking, at secret bearing night.
Swimmers floating or frolicking, just one day in the life.
Moments trapped within nature's mirror of time, forever.
The sea was a whisper before it was water,
cleaved through the wind.
I stepped into its silver mouth,
waves curling something pressing in
a wistful longing for a past I never knew.
Seagulls traced ethereal designs across the expanse
their wails scattered like fragments.
Somewhere underneath the foam,
the past was fossilized within sedimentary strata
waiting for my hands to delve deep enough to find it.
The tide came in more forcefully
and I thought of to how love in this way
always arriving, always leaving---
sometimes tender, sometimes intense enough
to split the coast in two.
When it ebbed, it left behind more than remnants of a disaster,
it embodied the ideal I sought;
calmed by the steady undulations of the sea,
gleaming in calmness;
as if the tide dredged up
on the verge of being forgotten.
she hung her sari out
on a hilltop clothesline
wisps of colours to the sun
playful lengths of silk
toying with the breeze
flowing swaying dancing
no fanfare no introduction no applause
just the unexpected gift
of an exquisite peaceful moment
of breathtaking beauty
on a sunny april morning
AP: 3rd place 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
Submitted on August 12, 2025 for contest 1403 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 2ND
That
is not known
cannot be known
but pigeons may
appear and may seem
in the evening
as dancing and
not separate from that
which is not known~
And, in the isolation of the sky,
At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make
Ambiguous undulations as they sink,
Downward to darkness, on extended wings.
~Wallace Stevens, Sunday Morning
Pondering the cosmos, I thought I’d look around
until I heard a tiny voice, speaking from the ground
It questioned why I bothered, to gaze so far away
when right beneath my own two feet, a vibrant world’s at play
Hmm, I mused. He’s got a point, I may have overlooked
So, I bent down and what I saw forever had me hooked
The drama of an anthill forming, the undulations of a worm
A cosmos that I’d never known ~ a new world from which to learn
Sea Glass 7-11-24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sea Glass
On strands and shoals, waves of rolling tides,
Neither pro nor biased,
Tumble castoff vessels, emptied of purpose,
Into scattered shards of sharp amber remnants
Piercing tender soles.
Bits of blue and green edges,
Rub up against mica’s pearls,
Refined by fool’s gold -
Brokenness in metamorphosis
By stoic tidal pulses
And lurching tide’s undulations.
Discarded gypsies from bonfire’s passions
Laughter, nostalgia and desolate strolls
Gestating in a matte chrysalis,
Life’s thesaurus honed into shapeless dregs
By gritty fingers rising
From the cold fire of the abyssal plains.
I watched you as you tangled stars in the horizon of my life,
Stirring my imagination in your wake, a comet's tail gone adrift.
It was the overwhelming brilliance of your charm that envelops,
A sweet captivity, a game of pure magic, majestically imperative.
I stood, propped up by dreams, beholding you, an ephemeral wonder,
In a sleep dizzy from what you could do, what you're capable of,
And how I can feel when the undulations of your sounds spring forth,
Each word spoken, each lyric half-drowned in yearning, half in seraphic jest.
The images you've planted within me, the ecstasy of fantasy,
Weave my dreams and bring to me a fragment of Paradise in flight.
You know me, you hum the song of my silent needs,
In your poem, you are the verse that brings comfort to my desires.
I think life sends us temptations as if in a sculpted scene,
To spice up its own epic, to flavor its deliberate dishes.
From the beginning until now, in constant wandering,
You are one of my great temptations and likely will remain untold through the ages.
Within the wistful elegance,
Of a rainbow hour,
She loosens her cream robe,
In the fountains,
Warm and glistening,
Reflection,
Her hips gleam,
Like loving wishes,
In the undulations,
Of its waves,
As she caresses,
The moon,
Deep within her breasts,
Sweet in her being,
Kissed by wanderlust stars,
Her lavendar corset,
And luminous body,
Dresses,
The fountains,
Enchanted waters,
As geese journey,
With her delighted kisses,
To kindred lakes
Reynaldo Casison
Early morning delivers birdsong joys,
as the darkness is swept away by God.
Undulations for my ears, sonorous
and dear, over and over - I ponder
small bodies with feathers, noteworthy songs.
Why does their cadence console us each day
as the sunrise breaks forth with cheeriness?
How awfully sad that the night dwellers sleep!
They douse their ears with flammable liquid.
I weep for soused sufferers who miss out!
I spied the church steeple, with a “caw, caw.”
I bet those crows are there each day to greet
those seeking the inner doors of its peace.
Who notices but I, the poetess?
Who cares at all if crows speak well of us?
All blazing hues throwing ochery golden gowns
Under azure blues with fluffy cotton wool clouds
Temperatures in dip feeling two seasons in meld
Undulations shape shift teasing ones naked eye
Momentary captures seeing wildlife amidst such
Natures many blooms rich giving's Midas touch
Autumnal she is displaying talents of no bounds
Lasting impressions, season's, differences found
Fair-minded whale playground, compass dismisses
Ceylon sapphire zero horizon echo orchestral chamber
Forge rolling bow voyages of uncharted distance
Cut water instant recovery, oily onyx giants' undulations
Gleefully refuse gravity's hard ground insistence
Halloween door creak elaborate speak, torso of paisley
Gyrations ridicule keel knife edge flow resistance
Harried sails flap before collapse with human impatience
Dugongs admonish monolithic ships gritty missions
Adventure crave creatures flank vessels for playful races
Delight in the chase, never capture small victims
Allure fluid, serene serenades resonate clarinet cadence
October 31st
Hastily stretched, crackled urgent ocean edge relents
Ashamed attempt to escape rejoins campaign of mass
Furtive dig below propels conspirator spasm, next next
Murders brash bouys, cranky spa champagne embrace
Swum undulations, bare back mermaid's dips resurface
Her furvour ploughs halobiont plenty scape, nourished
Snapped lobster lavishly celebrates bountiful turquoise
Sway gaze brazen by bobbing safe island encouraged
Crill swirl sweeps dripped lips, sun baked rock decreed
Beacon mound majesty painted daily in sea gull exhalt
Coconut snow flakes sparkle on cockle clamour bleed
Wave blown eroding scales slow exhales evaporate salt
Ripe globes ground reaped glug nectar so gluttonous
Fibres hibernate ivory rich liquors tipsy Secret Benefits
Land languish survivor devours sugar shards sumptuous
Wipes moreish mouth aft treasure trove haemorrhages
Fifth May
Finesse Saves
no stranger to the subtleties of love
not unwise to all combinations
and permutations of the game
yet a stranger ignorant unfledged
to the undulations and meanderings
of a heart that’s broken and impossible to heal
of a heart that’s shattered and barely held together
whose tenderness is the only currency of value
with frailties of life and death hanging in the balance
AP: 3rd place 2022, 3rd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on March 13, 2022 for contest 'A BRIAN STRAND INFORMEL' sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 1ST
The storm is over - no, not last week’s nor’easter - midterms. I hope you survived.
New England seems to be one, big, storm-of-the-month club. Campus is 5 minutes from Long Island Sound and I like to go watch the mesmerizing roil of the ocean when a storm’s rolling in.
The choppy hazel undulations, opaque as enamel, seem to coil-up - then suddenly slap the shoreline breakers as if testing their resolve. The wind whipped salt-water patterns, like folds of linen. The wind and salt water mist in your face feels as sharp and violent as glass shards.
The sun occasionally pierces the clouds like a knife strike only to be healed in moments. The whole scene is beautiful, immense and uncontrollable - like eating cake by the ocean. (song reference).
In life’s dynamic landscape of uncertain undulations,
on the paved pathway across the transient topography,
meandering to the realm of nebulous future obscure,
I follow the faint footprints of fate as I write this to you.
Many surging streams I swim in the storm of distress,
with hopes held close to the heart lest they all drown.
I chase beguiled butterfly desires in the valley of flowers,
on rainbow hue I fly my dreams with you I want to share.
Riding the cadence of rustling leaves in autumn forest,
sunburst dawn’s aura enwraps me with gilded rapture.
In mind’s meadow the dewdrops of love sparkle as pearls,
you’ll see at the end of my journey when I embrace you.
I now find the spent sun set at the golden edge of twilight,
tinting tentative trail to you covered with dust of obscurity.
I hear the wind of time whisper to begin the search for you,
as with the senile rhythm of footsteps I walk the last mile.
September, 21, 2021
Contest : Letter To Your Future Self
Sponsor : Silent One
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