Tribute to Eileen Manassian
Eileen's last poem was in November of 2025.
I'm worried, concerned, and grieved about her safety.
According to her bio, she was teaching at Middle East University in Beirut, Lebanon.
From her bio: The war in Lebanon...bombs landing all around, nights spent in bomb shelters... has also scarred me to some degree.
I grieve.
Because the air strikes have intensified. And armed conflicts, civil unrest, and terrorism have hit her city.
Eileen has been in the middle of the crossfire, with the US-Iran war compounding the volatility of her life.
I grieve.
I miss the vibrant Eileen, who would bring blossoms to Poetry Soup.
And pray for a happy outcome and reunion.
Note: Since I have already entered a tribute in Constance's contest, this poem here is filed under goodwill.
connie pachecho
7/3/26
S imply stated
T his life's complicated
U ncertainties abound
C aught in volatility
K nowing not what's next
Fire, fire, burning bright,
weaving shadows from the night,
how did mortal man learn to
unlock the secrets within you?
From what darker, distant past
did we emerge, free at last,
once we'd learned to tame then free
thy flaming volatility?
For the magic of your light
gave us ways to fend off night,
steal back daylight, and explore
lands unseen by man before.
Fire, with your powers near,
we outshone our darkest fears
so that, in caves, we could start
making works of timeless art.
What hand or eye or mind was first
moved to quench deeper, inner thirsts;
to–with pigment, coal, or chalk–
imbue their Self upon the rock?
So, with these powers over dark,
one last thought was left to spark,
as we, through art, learned to see
our true immortality.
HAPPENINGS
a time
of turbulencee
great moments
sparkle
reflect
&display
highlighted
in the
idealised images
of depicted
realities
underpinning
a layer
of history
in
the
spectacular
&apocalyptic
emerging
as the
thrilling
allowed art
to explore
in more spontaneous
ways
to capture
the volatility
of a
fleeting moment
by
inspiring
& responding
to the
immediate
sensation
Gems and precious metals are talking about volatility...
Many of the Metals said that they differ only in weight while the Gems claimed that they differ only in their cuts.
Craftsmanship is one criterion in selling one's worth, beauty and prowess of any precious gem or metal other than cut, clarity, weight, color and carat.
A gem asked, "Is volatility only applied on big-time players -- buyers and sellers?"
One precious metal reacted, "No. Everybody here is big time. And we are all here."
Another gem asked, "How do you do the buying and selling here?"
Another precious metal reacted and said, "We raise one open hand and push it forward to sell or a reversed open palm pulling it towards you to buy."
That's how trading in stock market started.
There is but one star,
of which
all creation is an
evolving flicker
A radiance
without and within –
a gleam of our present
humanity~ while a beam
from where we have all
been,
an ember seeking
its greater body
and place to light
we are the many of
the the present day
plus the volatility
yet hidden
within that ever
birthing night
Christ our brilliant
Twin, a place reserved for
us in the vastness of endless
sky, to emulate and share
one star
one beckoning
immortal flair
(entry for Mystic Rose's contest, "The One And Only Star For Me"
We are stronger than we think
Ups and downs of everyday will never go away
What didn’t kill us yesterday
Won’t send us to our grave tomorrow or today
Resiliency develops over time
We are stronger than we think
Even when days seems like a grind
Building strength as pushed to the brink
Resolution a requisite
To wrangle volatility
We are stronger than we think
Formidably overcoming fragility
Standing firm as we find our footing
Throw anything at us including the kitchen sink
But we know we will be able to handle it
Because we are stronger than we think
Fractured Storm
Ghostly gloom born in brooding stillness
Cut to smithereens with shards of energy
Whirlwinds in feral fragments shrillness
Warn of wild catastrophe.
Blinding firebolts erupt to split serenity
Nightfall dodges crackling outbursts released
Platinum tempests burst electricity
Splintered lights race on volatility increased.
Sonic thunder bumpers, let go pent up booms
Rip wide the transitory abyss
Slams closed jagged air as thunder looms
Solitude in ragged sound dismissed
Smashed bits of broken midnight crumble
Air’s torn edges reverberate in harrowing echoes
Drumfire’s waves of serrated sound rumble
Flashing thunderheads shriek in falsettos.
Night watch sees siroccos spiral spin
As raindrops on the dry earth sizzle
Downpours splash in roaring torrents din
Gales at rest – storm remnants sing thin whistles.
12-29-21
Contest: Weather
Sponsor: Angela Tune
N/A - 1-5-22
Contest: Your Second Chance 1st
Sponsor: Sotto Poet
Firebolts can be found in the Merriam- Webster Dictionary
The changing nature, Volatility.
No one knows what'll happen, Uncertainty.
The cofusion of things, Complexity,
and easy to mislead, Ambiguity.
They affect greatly people and society.
Yesterday's success will not assist us,
to ensure tomorrow's success more plus.
The solution should be diversity.
Let's make your environment elastic.
It can grow your mental capacity.
And it's no need to fear other's thinking.
Let's grow your spiritual world fantastic.
It can refresh your pure vitality.
And it's your time to fix human linking.
Fractured Light Fragments
Ghostly gloom, born of foreboding stillness,
Cut to smithereens - shattered shards of energy escape
From the whirlwinds in feral fragments with serrated cutting edges -
Wary night watch warned of sirocco’s spinning untamed spiral catastrophe -
Blinding firebolts erupt splitting open serenity
Nightfall dodges crackling outbursts of released electric voltage flying wild
Splintered slivers of eye piercing shards - ragged air’s racing volatility
Sorcerer of sonic thunder bumpers, releases all pent up booms
Rips wide the momentary abyss of suspended oblivion
Slamming closed jagged air’s fractured ozone.
Smashed bits of broken midnight solitude crumble in the drumfire
Rumble in rushing waves of tattered sound through towering thunderheads,
Torn edges of reverberation echo again -
Flashing shadows stalk tranquility with their slashing thunder.
7-21-21
Contest: Fragmented Spaces
Sponsor: Constance La France
imagine the sun
without light and spreading ashes
imagine the moon
with the light of the fire
and escalating furnace warming
imagine the ocean
without water and shedding the snowflakes
imagine the world
without anything and anyone
imagine the sky
without color and showing rainbow
imagine the space
without emptiness
imagine the galaxy
without centripetal-gravitational power
or with the alien mightiest more than human
imagine the self
without any blood, flesh, intestine, entrails
as the mightiest unseen wind
imagine death as life
and life as death
or life and death are a dream of human thinking
imagine if ancient someone named
the fire as water,
the water as soil,
the soil as wind,
the wind as space
the space as time
the time as endless human thinking
what would be then
nothing, nothingness would be the result
but like present the volatility of mind would kill
the straight forward common sense
I cannot tell you to follow all blindly
but do not imagine all as the criterion of truth
05.03.2020 Chattogram
Early Morning Thoughts
Written: by Miracle Man
2/5/2019
My mind is a cauldron littered with thoughts,
Each lusting to escape to paper.
Winds of change, find my days dancing in volatility.
I'm found probing my mind for patience,
As my days whisper wearily by,
Anxiety/stress has it's foot on my neck.
Because I'm a piece of God's greatest work,
My time spent in prayer is ever wasted.
HE occasionally reminds me,
That the past grants no mulligans,
Over the future, only HE has control,
Which leaves the present for me to deal with.
Awestruck by the beauty of this scenic landscape that God has laid out before me, I am at peace in my thoughts unaware of the raging volatility that lies just below the surface. Like the God who created this beauty, who speaks of love, forgiveness and tranquility, has the mighty fury to create the universe just below the surface. The majesty of this lake and of God, are one in the same, to be admired and respected.
Sleeping Volcano Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Eve Roper
12/28/18
Social Graces;
How can you do a bilateral deal with Russia,
if we let them into the G6,
times up for con trails like you,
someone has to go,
and you are already atmosphere,
we have to make room for fresh air,
besides there's a dead streak forming in you,
in the way you chill the public air,
with truth syrome and pirate jimmies,
the hollow moon is luminati.
Social Values;
The Canadian Dollar seems strong,
times up for a three percent weakling like you,
you're even losing ground to Big Foot,
there isn't even enough volatility for shorts to milk the system,
the fed is getting up close and personal,
"value" stocks won't float in two percent plus growth,
and little money will be spent on low "value" items like coal,
military spending brought down the Soviets,
and it will bring down a three percent communist like you.
The emptiness I feel
In the life I lead
Can’t fill and steal pains that deal
Blows I seldom need
In the air I breathe
In the lungs I possess and the stress
That assails the disbelief I loathe
In the witness I assess
In circumstances whose distances and stances I witness
To circumvent events that prevent the downfall I suspect
Exploits the weakness
In the sorrows that inhabit the prospect
In mistakes for high stakes in the past I made
To sneak justification
Into the stolen grade
I accumulated from the infraction in the mission
I set without prior consideration of the gravity whose motility and propinquity
I didn’t grasp
In the liquidity I invested in the volatility
Whose clasp on the last ditch gasp
Spurs breathlessness in recklessness I kill
As considerations of dark thoughts roams free
To ask me heartbreaks to heal
For reasons I can’t see
But parallax in circumstances I experience
In situations insanities dictate
In the lance dance whose influence and confluence
I hate to regret and serrate
In the hollowness I dislike
As my mind grows cold
While spikes sorrows hike
Stakes, threatening my happiness to withhold.
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