Poetry competition CLOSED 30th April 2024 5:12pm
A public vote has been requested
2024 Official DUP NaPoWriMo Challenge
22 of 30
Unfulfilled.
Here,
The moments carved out amongst the eve.
The chippings of a flying dusk leave,
Exposing,
The interlocked lines of silhouettes on the page.
A blanket of bare bones amassing,
Gathering,
In the drawing cover of night.
I back fill the shallow graves,
To feed the soil,
Gift,
The soil,
It’s spoils.
In the cool shadows mist,
Echoes of those missed moments brought,
Cling to the hills,
Speaking of those fallen proponents,
Never given life to live.
Felled before they stood,
In the battles and the struggles,
In the toil,
Took by labored breath.
As the day heaved,
And cleft them from my chest.
Here,
I lay them down to rest,
To rise when ready from the blotted pages,
Of my scattered thoughts.
To fulfill the unfulfilled quests of their echoes.
Unfulfilled.
Here,
The moments carved out amongst the eve.
The chippings of a flying dusk leave,
Exposing,
The interlocked lines of silhouettes on the page.
A blanket of bare bones amassing,
Gathering,
In the drawing cover of night.
I back fill the shallow graves,
To feed the soil,
Gift,
The soil,
It’s spoils.
In the cool shadows mist,
Echoes of those missed moments brought,
Cling to the hills,
Speaking of those fallen proponents,
Never given life to live.
Felled before they stood,
In the battles and the struggles,
In the toil,
Took by labored breath.
As the day heaved,
And cleft them from my chest.
Here,
I lay them down to rest,
To rise when ready from the blotted pages,
Of my scattered thoughts.
To fulfill the unfulfilled quests of their echoes.
22/30
Ode to JBO
Thank you, good and faithful servant—
you got us from A to B, to C, to Z and beyond,
and always brought us home again safely.
I'm sorry for the times I've complained
about having a car older than my marriage
(although, now approaching my silver wedding anniversary,
that's some going!).
I plan to nurse you along for the rest of your days,
take care of you, the way you have taken care of us.
So many memories!
So many things we like about you,
but the best of all,
your registration plate: JBO.
In my mind, it stood for an anagram of
Rebuff Jog Gust;
Turf Befogs Jug;
Buff Gorges Jut.
You will be missed!
Ode to JBO
Thank you, good and faithful servant—
you got us from A to B, to C, to Z and beyond,
and always brought us home again safely.
I'm sorry for the times I've complained
about having a car older than my marriage
(although, now approaching my silver wedding anniversary,
that's some going!).
I plan to nurse you along for the rest of your days,
take care of you, the way you have taken care of us.
So many memories!
So many things we like about you,
but the best of all,
your registration plate: JBO.
In my mind, it stood for an anagram of
Rebuff Jog Gust;
Turf Befogs Jug;
Buff Gorges Jut.
You will be missed!
22/30
Believe in Yourself
The ultimate responsibility for our actions
Reactions
And growth
Is within ourselves
Life will throw many challenges our way
And so we have to rely on our skills and experience
On all the things we have learned
It will give us the tools to have more confidence
Even as we tread on those difficult paths
We all have intuition
And sometimes it can be hard to believe
When listening to that inner voice
But if you filter out the noise
We should be able to trust our judgements
Rooted in logic, reason and morals
When we believe in ourselves
We develop stronger personal integrity
Not easily persuaded by outside factors
Or giving into pressure
But by staying true to our core values
85 Unique
122 Total
Believe in Yourself
The ultimate responsibility for our actions
Reactions
And growth
Is within ourselves
Life will throw many challenges our way
And so we have to rely on our skills and experience
On all the things we have learned
It will give us the tools to have more confidence
Even as we tread on those difficult paths
We all have intuition
And sometimes it can be hard to believe
When listening to that inner voice
But if you filter out the noise
We should be able to trust our judgements
Rooted in logic, reason and morals
When we believe in ourselves
We develop stronger personal integrity
Not easily persuaded by outside factors
Or giving into pressure
But by staying true to our core values
85 Unique
122 Total
22/30
Homage to Modern Minstrel Philosophers - Taylor Raised
In the dresser mirror
I comb my long, dark brown hair, parted down the middle, while listening to my
favorite AM station.
When from the speaker
sounds the voice
that would play
a leading role
in my salvation
his music fit my soul
like a well-worn work glove
made supple by life experience.
You see, though young in age,
he had well and truly
been through the wringer
and came out a sage.
He sang, in that moment, about the aloof, itinerant “Walking Man” who never stops to lay down roots.
Even to my young,
primary school brain
I could realize the
mastery in his poetry,
the truth in his storytelling.
His guitar playing
with solace, filled my aching heart.
His lyrics enlivened
my senses
transporting me
to an autumnal farm scene
I could see leaves turning,
hear the geese flocking,
smell the hay in the barn stowed,
and feel that frosty pumpkin.
Some 50 years hence
his music comforts
like a cherished baby blanket.
Calms when tense.
Elucidates the beauty
of life, love, family, nature, and sweet music.
Asuages the pangs
of loneliness, grief, and longing.
One can never go wrong
with the wise decision
of choosing James
as your musician
physician.
Unique word count: 145
Homage to Modern Minstrel Philosophers - Taylor Raised
In the dresser mirror
I comb my long, dark brown hair, parted down the middle, while listening to my
favorite AM station.
When from the speaker
sounds the voice
that would play
a leading role
in my salvation
his music fit my soul
like a well-worn work glove
made supple by life experience.
You see, though young in age,
he had well and truly
been through the wringer
and came out a sage.
He sang, in that moment, about the aloof, itinerant “Walking Man” who never stops to lay down roots.
Even to my young,
primary school brain
I could realize the
mastery in his poetry,
the truth in his storytelling.
His guitar playing
with solace, filled my aching heart.
His lyrics enlivened
my senses
transporting me
to an autumnal farm scene
I could see leaves turning,
hear the geese flocking,
smell the hay in the barn stowed,
and feel that frosty pumpkin.
Some 50 years hence
his music comforts
like a cherished baby blanket.
Calms when tense.
Elucidates the beauty
of life, love, family, nature, and sweet music.
Asuages the pangs
of loneliness, grief, and longing.
One can never go wrong
with the wise decision
of choosing James
as your musician
physician.
Unique word count: 145
22/30
The Unweakening IV
Somehow belief came alive, and faith
the empty kind that trusts everything
I realized the true nature of reality,
it is created by what we envision
To never become weakened is this
to never arrive at fortitude with its
clamps and sharpenings and severings
to stay attached to safety is to be stunted
The webs we weave are to trap ourselvea
so we can escape the entrapment
and to do this by surviving it all
that is the magic and the way..
The unweakening of the heart..
59 uw
The Unweakening IV
Somehow belief came alive, and faith
the empty kind that trusts everything
I realized the true nature of reality,
it is created by what we envision
To never become weakened is this
to never arrive at fortitude with its
clamps and sharpenings and severings
to stay attached to safety is to be stunted
The webs we weave are to trap ourselvea
so we can escape the entrapment
and to do this by surviving it all
that is the magic and the way..
The unweakening of the heart..
59 uw
22/30
Windy
and just like that I'm free to go
my past sins erased
evolving in the energy
I'm reminded to focus my mind
pressure points will be tested
and instead of blind puppy love
we have grown into understanding
you a manipulating pervert
and me a jealous witch
but both of entertain our kind side
showing how much we've grown
only indulging our darkness to arouse
without the spice of life in all its varied forms
you would be bored
manifesting peace I say a spell
recognizing my own strengths I relent
not forcing you to see me
but I know you do
we share in a craving
lusting power you covet control
me, I'm off the chain, I manifest
where the wind blows
Windy
and just like that I'm free to go
my past sins erased
evolving in the energy
I'm reminded to focus my mind
pressure points will be tested
and instead of blind puppy love
we have grown into understanding
you a manipulating pervert
and me a jealous witch
but both of entertain our kind side
showing how much we've grown
only indulging our darkness to arouse
without the spice of life in all its varied forms
you would be bored
manifesting peace I say a spell
recognizing my own strengths I relent
not forcing you to see me
but I know you do
we share in a craving
lusting power you covet control
me, I'm off the chain, I manifest
where the wind blows
22/30
Haven/of/Whirlwinds/&/Darkness
Haven of whirlwinds and darkness
Cove of covert magical poetical operations
Seas - Breeze - Methodologies of waves
Pearlescent lunar in sonar linguistics
Mind a vicious pen/point of knife points
Stone setting lanterns ablaze with mazes
Paradisiacal mercurial shadows
God of dark night of soul
Dark knight of the darkest inkiest night/s
Pen dripping right with the dark/est ink
Of
The darkest
Night
***
Allow me to bring you
Down
Into revelations
Of a:
Gothic underground
Skulls upon the sticks
Vast castle up the spiraling mountain
Boudoir entrusted
With
Ruby dust
Dust
Of
Rubies
Pearls swirling in swirl
Where
I
Set
Your heart: Awhirl
Piquing senses in peaks speaking: Sensual
O Allow
Me
To make a home of the tomes of you
Haven/of/Whirlwinds/&/Darkness
Haven of whirlwinds and darkness
Cove of covert magical poetical operations
Seas - Breeze - Methodologies of waves
Pearlescent lunar in sonar linguistics
Mind a vicious pen/point of knife points
Stone setting lanterns ablaze with mazes
Paradisiacal mercurial shadows
God of dark night of soul
Dark knight of the darkest inkiest night/s
Pen dripping right with the dark/est ink
Of
The darkest
Night
***
Allow me to bring you
Down
Into revelations
Of a:
Gothic underground
Skulls upon the sticks
Vast castle up the spiraling mountain
Boudoir entrusted
With
Ruby dust
Dust
Of
Rubies
Pearls swirling in swirl
Where
I
Set
Your heart: Awhirl
Piquing senses in peaks speaking: Sensual
O Allow
Me
To make a home of the tomes of you
#22
Sanatorium
Florescent tube lights lead the way down such lonely halls
Listen, along hushed anxious mumbles, echoing these walls
Their greenish dronings merely soften a shadow's firm grip
Trails in asbestos tile, slates etched by trauma's deep chips
Time whispers me in aside, upon decades, feelings of truth
A dark nostalgia or subtle ageless grief, it can not soothe
Morbid satisfaction, like night cigarettes, bids me to stay
These haunted halls, lonesome, mournfully push me away
Sanatorium
Florescent tube lights lead the way down such lonely halls
Listen, along hushed anxious mumbles, echoing these walls
Their greenish dronings merely soften a shadow's firm grip
Trails in asbestos tile, slates etched by trauma's deep chips
Time whispers me in aside, upon decades, feelings of truth
A dark nostalgia or subtle ageless grief, it can not soothe
Morbid satisfaction, like night cigarettes, bids me to stay
These haunted halls, lonesome, mournfully push me away
22 of 30
Theme 3: Attitudes of Life
april song 22—all my daring
in case you think i’m reckless or carefree,
let me redeem your grim ignominy:
‘tis all my daring keeps my faith alive,
and by my ceaseless struggles, i survive.
no stream has been too rough for me to cross,
nor any gain outclassed by any loss.
how pitiful the bird that folds the wing,
sulking inside his cage, when he could sing!
shall he not still regale his fleeting life,
than fall a hapless victim to his strife?
tho’ morning boasts its light and night its shade,
night-blindness need not all our hopes invade.
© cab♫
UWC 80
22/30
MONARCHY
The ground is littered
With the bodies of fallen comrades
But I can’t think of them
As I pursue one goal at a time
First a humble inch, a foot
My kingdom for a yard
To the base of the fortress
The slow climb
And eventually
The warmth of my constituency
Where I can survive
Perhaps through the next storm
My life is short
But my legacy will be regal
(51 uw)
MONARCHY
The ground is littered
With the bodies of fallen comrades
But I can’t think of them
As I pursue one goal at a time
First a humble inch, a foot
My kingdom for a yard
To the base of the fortress
The slow climb
And eventually
The warmth of my constituency
Where I can survive
Perhaps through the next storm
My life is short
But my legacy will be regal
(51 uw)
23/30
Invisible Voices
Beginning from the ending
What do you see
Fate predetermined
Of God or my humanity
If love does not insist on its own way
The sovereign constrains self to give free will
Choosing between the darkness or the light of an eternal day
Capable we are of evil for the sake of something real
Authenticating love unbound to programmed affection
Salvation or damnation, acceptance or rejection
Self fulfilling prophecy takes shape in the form of what we believe
Whether we rise or plummet
The hope or anchor of the ways we have or have not been deceived
As to fall or climb, the valley or the summit
Despite what’s known before hand we still are here to make our choices
As we live to understand the ways we walk as we yield to invisible voices
Footsteps forged in patterns of the wreckage or the will to redeem
What is life but what we make of it, are we living a nightmare or living the dream…
Invisible Voices
Beginning from the ending
What do you see
Fate predetermined
Of God or my humanity
If love does not insist on its own way
The sovereign constrains self to give free will
Choosing between the darkness or the light of an eternal day
Capable we are of evil for the sake of something real
Authenticating love unbound to programmed affection
Salvation or damnation, acceptance or rejection
Self fulfilling prophecy takes shape in the form of what we believe
Whether we rise or plummet
The hope or anchor of the ways we have or have not been deceived
As to fall or climb, the valley or the summit
Despite what’s known before hand we still are here to make our choices
As we live to understand the ways we walk as we yield to invisible voices
Footsteps forged in patterns of the wreckage or the will to redeem
What is life but what we make of it, are we living a nightmare or living the dream…
22/30
Gaia
She pricks the wanderer with her thorns that decorate red rose stems
She draws circles in the sand, wearing a beaten black dress
Just as shapeshifters do, she flutters off
Springing to a grassy field of diluted green
So defaced and fruitless, devoid of vibrancy, dead remains under steel and concrete
Oceans sink in an attempt to reveal the gates of Atlantis
Not for us, but to set those captives free
Glaciers part, crying as they crack and melt together
She can’t hold them anymore
She can’t stop the sea and its collapse
Slowed by waves of relentless heat
No striking dress to wear, they’ve been stolen by polluter hands
She is naked, hiding her face from the sun
Seeking solace from the moon and it’s heavenly stars
Free to be stripped bare
Who could stand the sight of day in the wake of death and decay?
The night grows long, time is short
She puts on her black dress, soon to be but thread and dust
And only to shield her scars from this violent earth.
Gaia
She pricks the wanderer with her thorns that decorate red rose stems
She draws circles in the sand, wearing a beaten black dress
Just as shapeshifters do, she flutters off
Springing to a grassy field of diluted green
So defaced and fruitless, devoid of vibrancy, dead remains under steel and concrete
Oceans sink in an attempt to reveal the gates of Atlantis
Not for us, but to set those captives free
Glaciers part, crying as they crack and melt together
She can’t hold them anymore
She can’t stop the sea and its collapse
Slowed by waves of relentless heat
No striking dress to wear, they’ve been stolen by polluter hands
She is naked, hiding her face from the sun
Seeking solace from the moon and it’s heavenly stars
Free to be stripped bare
Who could stand the sight of day in the wake of death and decay?
The night grows long, time is short
She puts on her black dress, soon to be but thread and dust
And only to shield her scars from this violent earth.
23 of 30
ignition is just a spark
I wonder how many times I reached for the fire
already knowing I was going to get burnt
it's not something I ever acknowledged
...in the moment
like a child with a fistful of candy
I only knew I wanted it
never mind the pain that would be waiting
indulging my longing
...if only to feel alive
because what makes blood pump stronger than love...or passion
always understanding...of course...
though they might come in tandem
...they're not one & the same
but did it register before I leapt into the flame
craving that fullness imagined
by being needed...
...more addictive even than that...wanted
punch drunk on what I believed it to be
regardless what my instincts told me
that nagging little whisper
on the back side of acceptance
this isn't what you think...
flashfire will burn down without oxygen
& who's going to feed it
once the first blast consumes
nothing wrong in meeting one's needs
but call it what it is...
...honestly...
is it love...
...or just...
...chasing lust
ignition is just a spark
I wonder how many times I reached for the fire
already knowing I was going to get burnt
it's not something I ever acknowledged
...in the moment
like a child with a fistful of candy
I only knew I wanted it
never mind the pain that would be waiting
indulging my longing
...if only to feel alive
because what makes blood pump stronger than love...or passion
always understanding...of course...
though they might come in tandem
...they're not one & the same
but did it register before I leapt into the flame
craving that fullness imagined
by being needed...
...more addictive even than that...wanted
punch drunk on what I believed it to be
regardless what my instincts told me
that nagging little whisper
on the back side of acceptance
this isn't what you think...
flashfire will burn down without oxygen
& who's going to feed it
once the first blast consumes
nothing wrong in meeting one's needs
but call it what it is...
...honestly...
is it love...
...or just...
...chasing lust
23/30
Dark Whispers
don't start
making plans
or leave just yet
you know
the reasons
why not
stop look listen
those dark
whispers have known
all these secrets
they never stay
undercover long
remember
that caged voice
is gonna escape
one day will come
when obeying
becomes natural
simply breathe
let it happen
we're talking
about freedom
freeing shackles
through submission
knowing
has been
torture itself
excuses
are running
out
Unique Words 67
Dark Whispers
don't start
making plans
or leave just yet
you know
the reasons
why not
stop look listen
those dark
whispers have known
all these secrets
they never stay
undercover long
remember
that caged voice
is gonna escape
one day will come
when obeying
becomes natural
simply breathe
let it happen
we're talking
about freedom
freeing shackles
through submission
knowing
has been
torture itself
excuses
are running
out
Unique Words 67
