Best Poems Written by Luann Pfost

Below are the all-time best Luann Pfost poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Farewell To My Dog

silence when i open the door
silence when i close it again
no one to make a noisy fuss
no one to welcome me in
no one barks at the mailman
no one brings the little ball
no one chomps the squeaky toy 
but love still comes to memories call

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2014


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Quote the Raven Nevermore

When the Parakeet increased his squawking
with the noise box ceaseless talking
far louder than the muted city roar.
Then I pondered that curious poem about the lost Lenore
About that bedeviled man and the raven Nevermore
How I envy Poe his quiet midnight
when he could hear a tapping however light
through the window pane or was it a chamber door
when quoth that famous raven Nevermore
I agree oh raven, Nevermore!
Nevermore what power lies in that word
I'm trading my parakeet for a silent gallows bird
that knows only that single solitary noun or did he mean it as a verb?
Nevermore the nightly noises that disturb
television gunfights, cabs screeching off the curb
neighbors who are seldom seen but always overheard
The raven sought a bust of Pallas
as a quiet place to perch
They took me to the rest home 
between the firehouse and that bell ringing city church
so to the end of this as must all tales
for now I contemplate Poe's  bells, Bells, BELLS!

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2014

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Not Lost , Not Forever

in honor of David J. Bredesen

Three days after your arrival in Vietnam you were gone
but you are not lost to us, not forever 

Your parents who grieved so stand by your side now.
together you wait for the rest of us.
and you are not lost to us, not forever

our children who never knew you are asking us about you
about what happened and why and how we felt 
as we tell of you and the family I think they feel for a moment as we did then
 and you are not lost to us or them not forever.

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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Desert Oasis a Coachella Valley Trilogy

Oasis at noon

What a wonderous quiet place it is
the heart of a palm oasis
skirted trees stand guard about
keeping dusty heat without
holding shaded cool within

a small breeze sneaks past a frond
dancing in ripples across the pond
am I intruder, am I part
I wander and wonder in my heart.
as I penetrate deeper in.

Oasis at sunset

Guardian against sunset
the ancient palm stands
resting in drifting sands

Beneath whispering fronds
cicadas begin to sing
brown bats take wing

Firey clouds, cooling breeze
evening deepens, night decends
Oasis awakens, day ends

Oasis at Dawn

Darkling shadows intertwine
With the sprinklings of the moon
Every night paints a new design
That smooths across like puddled wine
Evaporating just as soon

With pallette of rainbowed hue
The sun splashes the eastern sky
Painting over the shadow's blue
Which however remains in view
Absorbing the more brilliant dye

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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Spaced Dutchman

Vacuum of space surrounds his hold
as he leaves the fair Cappellan
Darkness without and bitter cold
he seeks the far Magellan
How far he travels in search of gold
wrinkles line his star tanned face
Shouting I AM the adventurer bold
no echos resound in space
Silence answers he is  alone
darkness whispers its tragedy
the tanned faced turns to bone
an endless voyage on an endless sea.

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013


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Dry Lake Tolvanera

Dust Devil swirls up
Waltzing wildly within air
Blocking sun with sand

The sand remembers
Waters of ancient time
Dancing in the tide

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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Brutus Iulius Trois Page 08

Brutus Iulius Trois page 08 

Suddenly stillness all sounds silenced  the last pirate slain.
From the bowels of the Tireme came cheers that grew louder
From men newly freed from their enslavement  to the Thracian oars
Phyrgians, Scythians, Mysians and  Lycians
all hittite clansmen,  kinsmen and allies of the Trojan tribes
also were heard loud laudations from the surviving Phoenicians
with softer lamentations for those they had lost.
The Phoenician Teresh, the purple merchant of Tyre
swore blood brotherhood to Brutus 
binding the Trojans to the Sea people in perpetuity
giving his twelfth son Tursha to squire the Trojan
Tursha terrified in the sea battle had hidden in the hold
praying to Mercury the patron of merchants
Brutus renamed the boy Turonus and proclaimed him a Trojan
Brutus sent this new nephew to tend to Imogen
In the sad sea green eyes of this foster child
Imogen saw echos of her own recent woes 
comforting him she found comfort herself. 

When the Trojan siege had ended by trickery
When the city was sacked and the Palladium taken
The Greeks left a land salted with blood and bone
The Greeks left a desolated city  with defiled temples 
The Greeks left cursed with their own profane deeds.
The Greeks left the Trojan traitor Antenor king with nothing to rule

To abate the Greek curses caused by Locrian Ajax's vile deeds
The Pythia at Delphi declared a  thousand years of atonement  
with two Locrian priestesses sent as sacrifices to Troy
sent  to serve Minerva's temple in Troy, bearing the Ajaxian curse.
As the oracle demanded Diomedes returned the Palladium to Aeneas
Then did all Greek suffering cease, Ulysees returned home.
Hesione's son Teucer founded a new Salamis in Cyprus.

When Antenor rebuilt Troy's walls, Neptune shook them down
sending waves that washed away fields, salting the gardens again.
 Apollo  plagued Antenor with mice which ate the harvest to the seed.
Scamander's golden spring lambs, sickened and died 
Afraid of what Minerva would do if they killed the Locrian Scapegoats
Antenor and his sons soon abandoned Troy to the Phyrgians
They sailed off seeking shelter far from this thrice cursed homeland

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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Brutus Iulius Trois Page 07

Brutust Iulius Trois Page 07
Brutus called his captains into conference
we are done with creeping along the shorelines 
prepare now to sail out across the Aegean
the winds are with us and Troy awaits! 
Imogen seeing Hesione, ceased weeping
Hesione, were you happy with your lot?
was Telamon a better fate than Neptune's dragon.
So you are returned home having reclaimed your veil
So Priam is again Podarces and the serpentine Cetus awaits.

With the dawn the Trojan fleet finally sailed out.
Guardian dolphins leaping alongside in sunrise
Sped on by Aeolus, the windy son of Neptune
For Neptune had been placated by Brutus
by his offerings and by his vows

happy to be headed  homeward the Trojans sang
composing happy ballads about Brutus 
his triumphal return of  the Trojans to Troy 
of the golden lives he was leading them to
so the sunny days of the crossing passed

The fleet of Brutus sailed past the foggy isle of Tenedos in the last hours of night.
gliding over Neptunes's golden palace, the Aegean glowing with Salacia's lights
raced they toward the ness, the headlands of the Helespont
Suddenly from the fog came,  Alarms, cries, clamor, the clash of iron
Sol's opening eyes revealed a Thracian pirate attacking a Phoencian
Tossing bodies overboard feeding the lesser cetus the sharks of the sea.
With his own battle cry Brutus took what was to hand and threw it. 
as Nauta the helmsman steered into the fight
Tossed like a weapon Hesoine's amphora burst upon the Thracians
spearing them with shards as her black ashes coated the sea
clogging the gills of the lesser cetus who dived deep
deep and away from all of the disturbance.

As the ships came together the Trojans boarded the Thracian trireme
swords slashing stabbing slicing as they bloodily slayed the pirates 
Imogen left behind looked away looked down upon the water 
only she saw Hesoine's ashes transform into a sea dog
a great grey seal that swam to the beach of Cynossema
finding shelter beneath the shadow of Hecuba's empty tomb.

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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Brutus Iulius Trois Page 01

*readers  think of this epic as classic Latin badly translated into English.

Brutus Iulius Trois  page 1

Only the oldest among us all
can truthfully tell the tale
of the way the world was
after noble Troy fell
Priam's kingdom  scattered to dust and ashes
escaped had Aeneas cousin to Priam 
westward fled guided by Venus
weary of wandering finding sweet rest
in the lands of Latinus, ruler of Alba Longa
Princess Lavinia warmly welcomed the widower 
gifting Aeneas her dowry, the ancient Dardanian Shore
If he but challenge Turnus her suitor
Duke Turnus who desired land more than a wife.

After Aeneas the Trojan took Turnus in battle
he settled his  sons in his ancestors home 
Cruesa's surviving son, sad eyed Ascanius 
Known as Iulius Trois,   The hairy serpent of  Troy
And Lavinia's sole spawn  Silvanus  Dardanus 
 Heir of the all the Arsian woodlands 
So great was the bond between  brothers 
Ascanius named a son Silvanus Trois 
and Silvanus a daughter Julia Dardanus
both bastard born by lords rights with bond women
acknowledged still for so few were family 
for the sake of the lineage none could be left
exposed to the elements, abandoned orphans of fate. 

On Silvanus's ninth day his name day
two bright stars fell, flaming 
Ascanius sent for the soothsayer Merlinius
A seventh son of veiled Despoina
came he to prognosticate and predict 
the meaning of fates portents 
solely to Ascanius spoke Merlinius
spoke he first of fell and faraway times
When Hercules stepped on Troy sacking it
Troy was destroyed but not the Trojans
When Paris chose Venus, his prize was Troy's curse
So again broken and burned was beloved Troy
The survivors scattered, Aeneas settled here
Troy was destroyed but not the Trojans

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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Grandma's Tales

I remember Grandma telling tales
in her ancient secret voice
of shining knights and spouting whales
and how Grandpa made his choice

Many times her tired eyes would dim
then burst forth with a special glow
as if they sang a happy hymn
to some treasured scene of long ago

Her face alive with laughter
she enfolds me in loving arms
this memory I will keep long after
I've forgotten her other magic charms

Copyright © Luann Pfost | Year Posted 2013

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