Could I be the river?
Could I be the fire?
Without being consumed
by the vagaries.
Waiting to live a life,
urgently fading away;
Lost in a labyrinth
of the vagaries.
Here lie my words; I had no choice.
Everything was easy, yet I made it worse.
You saw me live through it.
I had no choice; here lie my words.
A most precise parsing
of my amazement at my time.
My meditation
on my vagaries.
Clandestine rendezvous beneath the moon.
Sweet kisses gently swayed by undercover serenades.
Hush the covert fling’s asleep.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
Clandestine rendezvous beneath the moon.
Sweet kisses gentle swayed by undercover serenades.
Hush the covert fling’s asleep.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
"The Vagaries"
You could go all Zen over Me,
I’d listen studiously, then, spit it out
like cherry seeds for integration
the flesh of it all,
"The Past", savoured;
"The Future",
for lame time-wasting
poetic rebels pretending
to be connoisseurs, parlaying -
"The Now", struts irreverently,
dealing its Bolchevistic
cards
and there sits You,
holding the mirror for Me,
expelling Your koans let loose
the sound of One hand clapping,
without the other, but still
you hear it, the sound
Love,
swimming
through the vagaries
Integrity,
Love is
holding Her tight
vagaries
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
With the vagaries of weather,
One wishes one had Bird's feather
For a flight to a safer zone,
Where heat nor cold might crush the bone...
With the storms and ones of weather
Much focus on being together
He ceases who does wealth gather
Men with kids play roles of father
How many of us can storms weather
Without cast glances at Ether?
Who can cold fend off with cow leather
Or would bathe and soap calmly lather?
The vagaries we grope with
The triumph of temptation avails
as the wind claws
Each heart is an ineligible abscess
Twisting lanes
Eternity scatters west
it all goes on paper
searching for a lunar shrine
a secret of scribbling sands
amongst the discounted heart
Judging contests is unpredictable,
I get poems both lovely and quirky;
to disqualify is miserable,
sometimes, finding the contest theme- murky !
First, I evaluate for requirement,
dated, no names on poems and the such;
written creative or in alignment,
and does the poem when read- my heart touch !
Assessing and rating is very hard,
I must check the rules for the form chosen;
oh, which poem will be one, two or third,
does multi wins mean a rule is broken !
Never critical of a poets write;
I want to share not to put out a light !
___________________
April 25, 2021
Poetry/Sonnet/Vagaries in Judging
Copyright Protected, ID 04-1349-548-25
All Rights Reserved, 2021, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, Judge not Lest ... Ye Be
sponsor, John Lawless, Judged 05/29/2021
Second Place
The vagaries are flying today.
Those gossima-winged insubstantial escapees
related by birth to thoughts as yet unformed.
I sense them circling, see their flights
they glitter and dim as fireflies do.
To capture a few I must let go of them,
let them crash land in the mire of mind.
coated in just a little weight
that they might be seen and named,
coerced to speak
as if they belonged to this earth.
My mind wanders here and there,
It has no bounds or limitations,
It keeps on thinking,
Various thoughts,
Sometimes ridiculous and at times,
Crazy and idiotic,
It quells my sleep,
And bothers my peace,
I seek solace in prayer and meditation,
Which gives me temporary ease;
The erratic thoughts come back,
To me, with incessant worries,
Which sap my energies,
And keep me hankering for serenity.
``
The Vagaries Of Memories
And when and why
does one begin to embellish
And exaggerate reality?
To multiply the meaning
And lessen the veracity
of something as ethereal
yet that we ascribe to as real
and claim it...name it
... ‘Memory’...
For how long does it take
for the aging mind to make
Improvements and tweaks
along the way
To change the tone
that time alone should own
The feelings rearranged
Emotions changed
events displaced in time
Until they suit us...just fine
I wonder when and why
And how you and I
Tend to play so loose and free
With what happened in reality
And yet have the gall
And the wherewithal
To still call it
...Memory...
When we are young, time seem so slow.
"Please, hurry up, I want to grow!"
In middle age, it races by.
"I need more time!" is what we cry.
Now we grow old, it drags again.
"When will I have release from pain?"
Am I now destined to remain
in this cold realm that binds me here?
Can I not flee this dark domain
or make reality appear?
Strange illusory vagaries
distort my thoughts and crowd my mind.
Foul evil spreads her vile disease
scorching my eyes to make me blind.
This lurid illusory realm
attempts to now extract my soul.
I cannot let it overwhelm
or lose my mind to its control.
Must I now travel back in time
to change the timeline that exists?
Can I expunge this paradigm
to shake delusions that persist?
I must not let time seal my fate
and keep me here to die this way
but travel to a former date
and put an end to my dismay.
Adrift
upon the vagaries of life.
I have sailed this sea
prayed for a hint of breeze
a whisper of hope
a passing cloud’s shadow
run through the troughs
of crested confusion
withstood the fury
of its nameless demons.
Sailed –
toward an unreachable sunset
growing ever nearer
run full sail at sunrise
fleeing the darkness
sat - becalmed
deafened by the silence
shouted into the emptiness
of doubt.
Mended
tattered canvas,
caulked with dusty rope
aging cracks of voyage
tarred and oiled
split and cracking masts
held pains polished
rudder wheel.
Set sail
into the darkened sky
seeking passage
through the jagged rips
for storms will rage
a failing fury spent
as sailors sail
into a future’s end.
John G. Lawless
10/8/2015
Autumn a loneliness
Winters in regress
Spring forth unto blessings
Summer’s sigh of happiness
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