Tag Archives: poem

Balance

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Balance

It is so very easy to trap wonder in a box
and to view the world around you as a sort of pox
festering and viral like a plague about to burst,
to only see the suffering, to just take in the worst.
Our news is geared to tell us the most spectacular ills.
They profit from the awfulness. It’s we who pay the bills.
It’s true we need to know about the evil that men do,
but once the right shoe drops, we need to see the left foot, too.

What beauties lie within our world like pods about to flower?
What are the kindnesses performed hour after hour?
Christmas will have Scrooges and each glory its detractor,
but as we view the acts of man, grace is also a factor.
We need to stem the violence, the cruelty and greed,
but to view the selfless acts of man is just as strong a need.
Listen to wind’s harmonies. Note tall grass’s swaying.
Find the things in life that make living worth the staying.

“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record; while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks of the river.”      ― Will And Ariel Durant

The prompt words today are pod, easy, wonder and Scrooge. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/rdp-thursday-pod/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/20/fowc-with-fandango-easy/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/wonder/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/your-daily-word-prompt-scrooge-December-20-2018/

My Shoes

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My Shoes

My shoes go out without me. They do it all the time,
and do the things I never do. They jog. They hike. They climb.
When I wake up I find them strewn throughout the house—
one flip flop on the counter. High heels beneath my blouse
that’s flung across the table where I don’t remember putting it.
I bet they’ve been out dancing—two-stepping and high-footing it.

When my cowboy boots go riding, I’d like to go along.
I’m pretty sure, however, they think things would go wrong.
Perhaps the horse would throw me or I’d wind up getting lost.
I’m sorry that I bought them, considering the cost!
Other people are the boss of all their clothes and shoes,
but when my shoes and I face off, I am the one to lose.

I could take to going barefoot. This would work while at the beach.
Then when all my shoes are out far beyond my reach,
into the surf I’ll wade and then wander out again,
trapping sand between my toes everywhere I’ve been.
So when my shoes get home at night, they’ll be completely clueless
that I’ve left them out as well by venturing out shoeless!

 

We were asked to write about an ordinary objects For dVerse Poet’s Pub.

Homosapiens and other Misnomers

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Homosapiens and other Misnomers

Man was always venturesome. He wanted to be free
to examine that next hilltop, to sail upon the sea.
Adventure was his target for game or other food.
Always his first priority to feed his growing brood.
But  he fared more poorly in trying to connect
with a brand new culture or with a different sect.

He too often made a target of what might have been a friend.
We have evolved from all of this and warheads are the end
of this long long story, for it has been always so.
Conquering is swift and understanding is too slow.
Though we are Homo sapiens,  both root words are misnomers,
for we aren’t exactly sapient and for sure we aren’t stay-homers!

Words of the day are connect, target, venturesome and sapient. Here are links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/rdp-tuesday-connect/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/11/fowc-with-fandango-target/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/venturesome/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/your-daily-word-prompt-sapient-December-11-2018/

Born Lazy

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Born Lazy

You can have your tennis, your jogging, golf and hiking.
I’d rather spend time coasting while other souls are biking.

You’ll never find my name in the record books of Guinness,
for I don’t excel at basketball or badminton or tennis.

Somehow, nature slighted me when it came to “gameness.”
When asked to participate, I simulate my lameness.

I guess I was born lazy. I simply love my bed.
I pretend not to hear it when the cat yowls to be fed.

When duty calls, I plug my ears and happily roll over.
I find it is more comfortable here in beds of clover.

First Kiss

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jdb photo     


First Kiss

Your kiss is radioactive  and its half-life is too short.
I’d like to have another, but I’m not the tartish sort.
My exhilaration is one that will endure—
a sort of welcome fever for which there is no cure.
I want to tell the world of it. I want to shout and sing,
make friends with all your relatives and let my love take wing.
But confiding in my diary, instead, will be my fate,
at least until you call me for another date!

 

Prompts today are sing, relative, radioactive and exhilaration.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/rdp-sunday-sing/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/02/fowc-with-fandango-relative/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/radioactive/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/your-daily-word-prompt-exhilaration-December-2-2018/

Interloper

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Interloper

How did you find your way into my dreams,
ripping my comfort apart at the seams?
Once I’d escaped to back rooms of my self,
still I found thoughts of you stacked on a shelf
carefully obscured both in front and above
by other less dangerous memories of love.

You walked nonchalantly into the room
that I had just cleared with a cloth and a broom
of other dangers and sadnesses, not
knowing that once again I had been caught.
Now I hide out behind walls at the back
where all of my worst fears reside in a stack.

Cowering here as you stride through the place
that your very presence has turned dark and base.
How could I have loved such a frightening soul?
The box of my heart turned into a bowl
with all of my secrets and weakness revealed—
things that I now know I should have kept sealed.

There you sit quietly, perched on a chair,
one hand on the desk top, one hand on your hair,
writing cruel words—I know about me.
I ease my way over, hoping to see,
but the paper is empty, your ink has turned clear
making impossible all that I fear.

As now I remember that I let you in,
forgetting all else in the charm of your grin.
The joy of your hand as it guided me sure
across the dance floor—all that allure
that kept me involved in the surface of you
avoiding the dangers that later I’d rue.

So even now, so far from your threat,
I find myself struggling, caught in your net.

This is a rewrite of an earlier poem For dVerse Poets Open Link Night

 

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That Brilliance

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That Brilliance

It echoes through the atmosphere,
slipping through shadows
that too often hoard our attention—
the shine of a heart amidst pain,
that pinprick of light
through a chink in the mortar of a brick wall,
that smile in passing,
that squeeze obscured in a handshake.

There is much light in this world,
but sometimes it lies shattered,
at other times is one sure beam that lights up the day—
that one brilliant sword of light
slashing gray clouds.

We are not always aided in our seeking,
yet must be vigilant in our search,
shifting our glance again and again
to where it lies scattered
through the murkiest days.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/11/28/rdp-wednesday-brilliance/

Aphorism

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Aphorism

The fire of camaraderie may warm the howling gale
or make our footsteps lighter while hiking a hard trail.
Although it is not mandatory, still it would avail
sailors to remember, laughter helps to swell the sail.

 

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/11/28/fowc-with-fandango-trail/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/11/28/camaraderie-2/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/11/28/your-daily-word-prompt-mandatory-November-28-2018/
https://dversepoets.com/fire

Kidnapped

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DSCN2318jdbphoto

Kidnapped

 Trapped by my imagination, heading towards a star.
Suddenly, that far horizon isn’t very far.
If I don’t resist it, it is always there for me,
and when I’m with it, I am in the best of company.

 

The prompt words today are trap, imagination and horizon. Here are links:
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/11/24/fowc-with-fandango-trap/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/11/24/imagination/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/11/24/your-daily-word-prompt-horizon-November-24-2018/

Mail Order Bride

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poem

Mail Order Bride

He thought she was a jewel so he bought her a rich setting,
but when it came to housework and cooking and begetting
or doing much of anything except asking for dough,
she didn’t have much value. It turned out she was for show.

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/11/19/rdp-monday-jewel/