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Best Poems Written by Janice Thompson

Below are the all-time best Janice Thompson poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Emery

Emery

Emery had a nose of stone,
An outgrowth of his weighted mind.
Of alabaster was it honed
Into a feature aquiline.
Its heft was such that Emery
Would counterbalance with his jaw
By upward thrust of chin; thus he
Intended to reduce this flaw.
But, oh, his lips contorted and
His limited perception showed
Only a level, skyward span
And never anything below.
Many men were victimized
And many things they valued, too,
Because poor Emery was blind
To that which was not in his view.
The morning of one winter’s day
He walked a promontory ridge.
Poor Emery saw not the way
But fell. It was the last of him.

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Airship

Airship

How far I’ve flown I neither know nor care.
Much as this open deck my plans are bare.
Of star or compass I have nary need,
But follow as these downy cloud tops lead.

The chilly breezes toying through my hair
Cascade across my skin and jacket flare
While on the bottoms of my booted feet
The engine taps an unrelenting beat.

I acquiesce to gentle bob and sway
Beneath balloon and rigging bloated shape.
Awaiting now the nearly risen sun
I scan the vast expanse and see no one.

And yet, I hear a rumbling of some sort
Then luminescing clouds off to my port
Combusting deep with ever brighter tones
Now booming louder, louder, nearer, NO!

Bombastic airship, cannons bursting now,
Ejected straight at me from out its shroud.
A maniac, that pilot, heaving hard
Just missing our collision by one yard

His tortured face, the horror in those eyes,
For near destroying me, so I surmised,
Until I saw his passing stern ablaze.
Then mammoth winged beast in brutal chase

Erupting, fierce and howling, scales agleam.
The hot concussion of its down-spent wing
That final moment as it thrust away
Forced ship and I and all the world to sway.

Then came the screams, the pounding and a moan
As crew and cargo floundered down below
Caught in the violent swinging disarray.
The flaming ship and dragon sped away 

To disappear in yet another cloud.
Our vessel’s motion finally calmed down.
Those lightly injured put the ship aright.
And unspilled rum was quickly spent that night.

Now star and compass were of urgent need.
This damaged vessel and the injuries
Required that we find a ready port
Equipped to lend us aid of every sort.

I searched in haste upending fore and aft
For sextant, compass, and the proper map,
Then finally we found the guiding star
And made for help that wasn’t very far. 

By dawn I bid the floating docks goodbye
With only half a crew and resupply
But, now where'er I travel through the sky
I keep the navigation tools nearby.

Details | Janice Thompson Poem

The Nurture of Nature

Guard well this tender cradle.
In every aspect strive
To nurture as you're able
That you and all may thrive.
 
Be not in haste to gamble
This rich estate away
On promises of ample
Enrichments to be made.
 
No matter how beguiling
Scorn negligence and greed.
This is your bed and bounty
Your very life, indeed.
 
Guard well this tender cradle
For Nature, like a host,
Will set an ample table
For those who prize it most.

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When None Command

When None Command

By surging sea and force of wind
A tattered vessel floundered in
Where coral reef performed the rest
In ripping wide her wooden breast.
From timber scream to cracking mast
Her form dismembered to the last
And on the waves her pieces reached
An aftermath of slumber, beached.
She is a silent reprimand
To those who sail
When none command.

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Jules

Jules

Nibbed pen in hand, he labored on an open page.
In truth, his eyes were focused down upon the moon,
Volcanoes spewing as his capsule glided by.
An interruption shocked him back into his room.

He spied the page before him taking careful note
Before addressing matters that were near at hand.
The noontime meal was ready, calling him away
Still wondering if he and his passengers could land.

No sedentary figure, he had traveled well
And far beyond the borders of his writing desk
To scour oceans deep for all that man could need,
Or delve into strange doings in cavernous depths.

He lived upon an island quite mysterious, 
For eighty days he roamed our orb by land and sea
The very center of the Earth he once explored 
And on a comet he lived, accidentally. 

He even sailed to Africa in his balloon.
An Arctic summer ocean he made manifest.
So many wondrous tales of traveling had he,
And all seen through the pages on his writing desk.

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Desert Dance

Desert Dance

Innocent, these sand dunes wait
Under cloudless, starry skies
Unenlightened of their fate
While moonlight dances and belies.

Silently, upon on a dune,
In silhouetted shapely form 
Baton in hand she taps a cue
To hail a scene long waited for.

Stout winds rise now for the West
The dance begins in pure blue light.
Seizing each blunt element
She pulls at them with all her might.

Soon every star is given rout
Obscured by clouds as black as blight
All must obey to carry out
Her every willful wish tonight.

With purging sheets of pelting rain
In unrelenting feral might
To pummel hard upon the back
Of every single thing in sight.

The thunder growls bombastic songs
To lightnings jagged blades of light
And all have waited oh so long
For such a tumult as this night.

But once exhausted, meek withdrawal,
She leaves the stars their last few hours
Till nothing’s left of force and squall
Except a sea of desert flowers.

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The River

The River

She drapes along the valley like an evening stole
As if let loose to waft from some angelic hand
To move along the meadow in soft curves and folds 
As if mere ornament upon the verdant land.

She undulates in rhythm over beds of stone
And ripples playfully with every touch of breeze
Then having spent her course in movements long and slow
She slips into a wood to hide among the trees.

Would that I too were quite so languidly disposed,
So unencumbered by life’s various terrain
Allowing obstacles to teach me manifold
Without resistance and devoid of all complaint.

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Beguiling Spirits

Beguiling Spirits

I know of their enchantments
The longings they inspire
Of promised inhibitions
And kindling desire.

Constrained by walls which glimmer 
Opaque or dim or clear
Sweet barely muted whispers
Succumb the naked ear.

A hand upon the vessel
The stopper freed at last
A casual undulation
Poured neat into the glass.

Embracing sips then swallows
Well finished is the fight
Enveloped by the liquor 
Of amber, red, or white.

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Tethers

Tethers

I stole upon a lusty wind
To gain the Summer sky.
A slender tail
Sustained me well
As I began to climb.

Uplifted to fantastic heights
Yet higher still I sought
But, lo, my frame
Could nothing gain
No matter how I fought.

For from below the tether bold,
A simple length of string,
Restrains my urge
And every surge
Else I would wander free.

A snap and I am reeling hard,
Convulsively I spin.
Untethered I
Am wielded by
A juggernaut of wind.

Oh would that I were tethered now,
Complicit with the breeze.
It's where I ought
To be and not
Entangled in these trees.

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Autumn

Autumn

Lying in these leaves at dusk
For a little while
Breathing in the heady musk
Autumn makes me smile.

Merrily I’d formed that heap
Though it was a trial
Yellow, orange, hundreds deep
Autumn makes me smile.

Did I slip, or trip and fall
Right into the pile?
No, it wasn’t that at all
Autumn makes me smile.