INSPIRATION CONFIRMED-:-
seeing
feeling
understanding
integral
conceptions
of BEAUTY AS A YARDSTICK
authentic
integral
displaying
distinguished
motifs
in FIRST & THE FOREMOST
characteristic
vigour
formulated
civil
critiques
TOUCH OF THE MYSTERIOUS-:-
absurdly
anonymous
attributes
realistically
rearranged
as a YARDSTICK
choosing
effect
purely
implicitly
worked
in FASCINATING OPTICAL
superficial
placed
pleasured
iconic
afterthought
The Russian sheep are sleazier,
the Greenland sheep are fatter:
Trump therefore finds it easier
to carry off the latter.
Do nations have existence,
or do they count for nada?
The yardstick – size, or distance,
or the biggest enchilada?
The standard – be the victim spent,
complaisant, even skittish,
suggests that, by your argument,
America’s still British!
Walrus tusks are longer than I thought
Length of a yardstick, new and store bought
Females' tusks are much longer; they serve as teeth
Sharper than a copper dagger in a leather sheaf
what is the way we look at other forms
do we feel God’s presence in each soul
or is gender, colour or age the yardstick
have we imbibed agape love scriptures extol
Trailing clouds of glory do we come
The magical moments of childhood
When we felt at one with the universe
Spinning dizzily with delight
Or with more of horrible and awful
That even to name is sorrowful
Bound helplessly with flu in bed
Unable from the pillow to raise my head
And wishing the world would just go away
Paralysed by the loss of power to move
Maybe it is not so much
The image to which we should cling
Rather that the images should cling
To us
Providing our distinct identities
The yardstick of our recollections
The holding of our first born close
Those bedtime stories where
The kids cling on to every word
Just before into euphoric sleep they drift
When we slip softly from the room
Switching off the bedroom light
With their minds now deep in dreams bright
Choosing one image is far beyond me
I much prefer the whole family tree.
Double standards is a thing
Judge all the judgments you’ve been judging
And you who calls others “unfair”
Will find it hard to bear
That you are perpetrating victims
Whose thoughts clash with your very dreams
Going and coming around is a real event
And in the wake of the latter you term it “different.”
Scampering for whatever grace you could find
Arguing to the farthest beacon of your mind
It’s a hard and large bite to chew
When you yardstick comes back to haunt you
But also sacred law is too a thing
If a cord be a cord don’t accord it to be a string
Going once, going twice will only go under
Let what goes for the goose go for the gander
Speak it in the air
And act so just and fair
K. Muitherero
I am younger in words than Shelly or Wordsworth
not as old as Shakespear's sonnets,
should I care?
I never did read a sonnet, that I could bare
to eat whole.
Those carefully quilted works of yore speak less and less -
so forced, so fed to the very last tooth.
Poetic perfection has a shelf life.
A fresh salad gobbles up itself.
Don't be annoyed, I did not invent the wooden ruler,
or the yardstick that inches along the page.
I go just words; I got words like roots
for tumbleweeds, and dandelions.
Several years ago today
They reckoned me unbefitting for their ears
Per the yardstick of the day
Their percipience was disparaging
But still I rose
By their clairvoyance I was infecund
Plainly no reason to cogitate about me
For they could not glimpse any merit in me
Fate was for me to be unremembered
But still I rose
Like a seed that sprouts and becomes a big tree
I rose
Like a prolific plant that bears great fruits
I rose
Now with relish they can eat my fruits
And realize the mistake that they did
For in spite of all that, I rose.
If I'm to judge my own character,
What do I use as a just yardstick ?
Can I rely on simple reflection,
Or use another gauge, that's just as quick ?
Will this evaluation be considered fair,
If the answer returns with only praise ?
Or does it prove to be detrimental,
Leaving my self-esteem to a foggy haze ?
This introspection is necessary,
And even common among those to care.
Only to realize that others must weigh-in,
For the scales to compare.
Following the first thwack
we deduced that distance was
limited primarily
to unpredictable bursts of anger,
arbitrary chastisement factors.
The rule, all of its dozen commandments
plus the extra uncalibrated ends -
a fixed length, extended sufficiently
to bruise well beyond
its mere twelve inch reach.
Wood or Perspex the fractions stung,
minds began to compute escape
in eighths and sixteenths,
we understood that the rod, the yardstick,
probably the world,
had been measured to the umpteenth
by sadistic inchworms.
MAGNOLIA IN MONGOLIA
Floral gem in a street market
Beautiful by any yardstick
Offered by flower vendor
In crowded street of Ulan Bator
I did a circuit of the market
Searching for another nugget
But only ever saw - one,
With such beauty to stun
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NOTE Often thought of as semi-subtropical flowering plants, magnolias are actually native to central and east Asia, including Mongolia. Ulan Bator is the capital city of Mongolia.
29 August 2021
The blizzard is gaining strength,
the frozen pond is turning white,
trees bend and frightened shallows hide;
I put a yardstick into the freezing snow,
bend forward and measure its length:
ah, it reaches up to my knees, what a stride
to be buried into tons of snow...
while blizzardous winds blow!
I shout, " I don't wish for snow on my birthday,
it'll fall on the sixth of February! " But the weather
is inclement, should I make a plea
with Nature trading my gifts for no snow? Has anybody
ever asked for this and got rejected? I would surely
get mad if she didn't listen or agree,
I might be even trickier than her:
get a snowblower and send it away!
An opportunity comes our way
in as related to the external
We look at it in detached nonchalance
viewing it with cognition spherical
We do not leap to seize our chance
for implications arising from it remain
Positioning ourself at the other end
we review it for potential karmic stain
In the daily game of worldly negotiations
we no longer are the astute negotiator
Throb of love our ever present orientation
we are the humble & surrendered placater
Thus neither giving nor taking as a trade
the yardstick we employ is balance
Allowing right of way to the other
in joyful and empathetic playful parlance
13-September-2020
Y
Yggdrasil
younglings
yobbishly
yohimbine
yammering yardsticks
year-round
yuppifying
yuppifies
yokefellow
yarborough
yellowtail Ypsilanti
yearningly
yellowback
yarmulkas
Yevtushenko
Yellowstone yachtswoman
yellowfin
yellowing
yearlings
yodellers
yearnings
yachtsmen yesterdays
yearbooks
yachtsman
youngberry
yarramans
yellowhead
yeastiest yardstick
yieldingly
youngling
yogyakarta
yoghourts
Yugoslavia yodelling
Youngstown
yarmulkes
yataghans
yawningly
yellowish
youthfully cowardly
yellowness
youngsters
yeastlike
youngness
Yiddish
yardmaster
yuppiedom youngster
Yaroslavl
Yellowknife
yellowcake
Yugoslavian
yuppified
Yorkshire
yellowest
yattering
yellowlegs
yesterdays
yeastiness
ytterbium
yesteryear
yardbirds
YouTubing
yellowwood
yellow-belly
Yucatan
yourselves
yabbering
Y words?
8/11/20
written word by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020 ©
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.