The climb-an excerpt from the book of my mind
Panting panting
unto the the top we came
in triumph gathering breath smiled then laughed proud and loud
bereft of shame
with lips that yearned to meet and kiss the verdurous sway
blessing these hours t'were only once to pass our way
gave we no thought other than to our love shared hearts and souls
desiring that they into freedom we'd lovingly coax to enroll
Some embers...
Thursday 16th May 2024 10:34 pm
Also by leon stolgard:
Life of the dipping bird | Squeaky clean? yeah right! | LIFE IS JUST SLOW MOTION DEATH....................................... |Life story
you dont know what to say, but words just crowd
in lines of hopes mistaken for lost dreams
and moments waiting for another silenced sigh, too hollow,
when judgements do not speak for trials lost
you do know what to say, but words keep fleeting by
as shadows past that hour at midnight,
when waiting turned a dawn too early,
and life just glowed li...
Thursday 16th May 2024 8:22 pm
Socially Perfect
I love my perfect life
With my perfect kids and my perfect wife
And all those perfect times we’ve had
Being the perfect mum and perfect dad
And our perfect home where perfect friends
Adapt perfectly to every trend
Or those perfect days spent at the beach
Who says perfection’s out of reach?
We have perfect times when we go out
With perfect people round about
As our perfect laughter fi...
Thursday 16th May 2024 8:01 pm
Also by R A Porter:
The Last Tango |Under a new Sun
Fortunately, they've gone now, those sad times
from now on, I'll be able
to welcome every happiness there is to be,
and return to the habit of,
helping my heart to feel, as if each new day
was made in Heaven.
Thursday 16th May 2024 5:42 pm
Also by Bethany Sallis:
Spring water Well | Under the Star fandangled Banner | Out of our mortal hands | Mood swing | And then sadly, there was one-less! | Involvement whittling | Eleventh Anniversary of a beloved local self denying Community leader | A worthy praising |Beauty
Today I will see
nothing
but beauty
unfolding,
no matter what arrives
I set my radio dial
to beauty.
What then is beauty?
The unfolding of potential,
the art of possibility,
the color of the wilting rose
in the vase
on the table
left over from Mother's Day,
the hop of the bird
among the thorny weeds
that I started pulling
out from the ground
...Thursday 16th May 2024 5:26 pm
Also by Hélène:
Rising Day | Beautifully Adorned | Listening to a Woman of 103 Years of Age | Thoughts on Water Heaters, Cars, and People | Fun With Words |Nobody's Perfect
None of us are always good,
Yet none of us are always bad.
And while no-one is always happy,
None of us are always sad.
None of us are always right,
Yet none of us are always wrong.
And while no-one is always weak,
None of us are always strong.
None of us always thinks clearly,
Yet no-one's always confused.
And while no-one's always dissatisfied,
No-one's always amused.
None of u...
Thursday 16th May 2024 4:24 pm
All Over Me
The way you gaze at me
Feels like you want to be set free
Your body rubbing against mine
Whether it is half past three or quarter to nine
Our beautiful pink lips locked together
As we finger each other with pleasure
Your hands all over my sexy body
As I pull you closer and drink you like a toddy
Cupping your breasts in my delicate hands
Sucking on them as your body stand...
Thursday 16th May 2024 1:18 pm
Also by Aisha Suleman:
Feelings - Short Poem | Surrender | Make Me Sweat |An orphan's paradise
Hidden within the depths of my heart
Are myriad feelings, wrapped in secrecy
Concealed in layers of wrapping paper
Safeguarded from prying eyes
A yearning, like a child's innocent touch
Longing to connect with the soul
Of the one who birthed me
I wonder, how did she look?
What melody did her voice carry?
Do I bear even a hint of her likeness?
I ache to hold ...
Thursday 16th May 2024 12:29 pm
Also by Ghazala lari:
Divine timing | Invincible force | Fragile dance of relationships | Human intervention in weather conditions of today. |Humility
I'm learning to see myself
through a heart-shaped mirror
In my art&poetry, as a means of authenticity
I often shun the cold hard facts
in favour of something more hot and relaxed
like the burning shame of defeat, a passion
so bright it defies all suffering
yet makes me glad to be alive
Thursday 16th May 2024 12:01 pm
Also by Auracle:
Why so negative? | Exodic Trends | even more beautiful | Nova knows | Common Respiration | Haven't We Punished Ourselves Enough? |Metaphorically: A life
Before, a taught rope, you pulled on life's haul
Feet planted firm though you never stood tall
Mostly, enjoyed the seven deadly sins
though you're struggling now to gain any wins
The absent smile, from the faces of clowns
Our world straight upwards, whilst you're upside down
Lost within, though there is no maze around
One of life's bankrupts, currency unfound
Time...
Thursday 16th May 2024 11:16 am
Also by JD Russell:
Innermost Coast | It doesn't excite me anymore | A better you. |My Father’s Homeland Attacked Ukraine
About love, I want to write
But someone interrupts,
You have to write about a fight
The song you sing corrupts.
My homeland is in the fight,
People dig the ground with the shells.
It's impossible to sleep at night,
All around looks like a dance of hells.
So many pieces of lead are all around!
With whom is Ukraine is at war?
My father's land is tightly bound,
...Thursday 16th May 2024 5:24 am
Also by Larisa Rzhepishevska:
The Melody of Love | Love of the Stars | I’d Like To Thank You For Stealing My Heart | Love of the Stars | I Am Out of Fashion | I Am Out of Fashion | There is Nothing Without Love | His Majesty Accidental Meeting |A Temporary Tenure
A Temporary Tenure
In my youth I viewed the future with confidence,
it would last forever into a distant horizon.
Adulthood, old age and death were remote,
and not worthy of any real consideration.
The world was my oyster as I had freedom and youth,
to play and plan, to dream and ponder.
My needs were provided for by my parents,
I hankered for some things but was gene...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 11:26 pm
Also by keith jeffries:
A Ruined House | A Moral Hub |The Old Grey Walkers
the fates have rolled the dice
and granted me another morning
with these special old friends,
a country walk, around a lake
once a reservoir back in the
days we were but schoolboys,
I watch them ahead of me
moving easily between one another,
like water, first in twos,
now in threes and back to twos
but never only one,
arms often cradle shoulders
as heads mov...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 10:31 pm
Also by Graham Sherwood:
Lightshow | Joan |De Lacy Street Blues
When I woke up this morning
My head was in a mess
My woman she gone and left me
And it's giving me major stress
Breakfast is on the table
But I can't eat a bite
My coffee has gone stone cold
And I'm in the mood for a fight
Hey mister-I'm gonna cuss and shout
Hey brother what's it all about
Hey sister ain't you heard the news
Lord, looks like I been struck down with
De Lacy Street...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 5:06 pm
Also by Tom Doolan:
May |Indelibly framed
Your long ago death
still continues making more and more
undying darkly coloured masterpieces of itself
in the cruelly enforced grieving gallery of my mind
Wednesday 15th May 2024 12:41 pm
Walk the wight
Walking the wight
With all my might
through sights similar to Honiton
which isn't too unlike Hobbiton
Names and faces are carried through the aching 33 miles
With care and thought all the while
Here we reflect and remember
the lost souls of our dark Decembers
We start off four in our fellowship
With hopes of seeing off our hardship
To cross a finish line is ...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 12:05 pm
Also by Wordseffectbrew:
Our songs | Night shift solace | Taming of the shoe |Hot Mess (with audio)
HOT MESS
You made
me feel
I had
to hide
everything about
myself when
I was
much younger,
whilst I
fancied the
hell out
of you
straight man.
Tonight, I
bumped into
you on
way to
queer poetry
night in
London Bridge.
That second,
I became
hot mess.
Pulled on
strings of
your backpack
to stop
you and
say...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 10:51 am
Also by Lee Campbell:
Hot Mess (with audio) | Hot Mess | Compulsion to box | The Bird Feeder | Ignorant | Living the Unimaginable | Olfactory |Reset
Defibrillate these days
arrest the tides and moon
realign their unsynced ways
that harmony might bloom
Jolt the seas and sands
their drifts and timeless flow
reset their lost commands
from those which men impose
Shake clear the dusty canopy
unblock the damage done
reveal our blind insanity
that we might stay the sun
Stabilise o...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 7:46 am
Also by David RL Moore:
The case for exploration | Toad | Vigil | Of what remains | New Prora | Resting Place | Gun in the fridge |Dragonflies Lose Their Glow In Containment
Here is a story I've told many times
To myself and close friends, if only to keep the memory alive.
Although fiction slips in through the gaps,
I try to preserve the truth, keep it well and intact.
Here is a version the cuts to the quick,
And tells the narrative just how it is:
I met a stranger at the corner of my fate,
Somewhere between quantum physics and withering fait...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 3:59 am
Roses Amongst the Brambles.
You never seemed to understand
Never really tried to know
Who I truly am
If you did
You didn’t care
I am not even sure
You were ever there
I filled our home
With fairy lights
And candles ~
Grew roses amongst the brambles
You drew plans
Fit only for
A single man
Said you loved me
Asked me
To read you poetry
And then
Y...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 9:51 pm
Also by Clare:
Icarus was an amateur. |Meritless Words
Words are such a funny thing,
Without actions that align, what value do words bring?
An illusion curated specifically for you,
By someone you wish so deeply would speak things that are true.
Screaming in anger, giving passionate praise, whispers of love, tone dripping in disgrace,
Love and hate simultaneously spewed in your face.
How is one supposed to feel,
Not knowing w...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 9:04 pm
2024: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 5 Midland
Image: Working replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater in Odessa West Texas, used for open mic community events as well as Shakespeare plays and is situated on the campus of Odessa College. Thanks to the diligence and determination of two friends Kat and Bonnie, I was invited to perform there at short notice, I did and the accoustics were great. As well as the theater, the complex also has a replic...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 7:26 pm
Also by Trev the Road Poet:
2024: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 4 Austin to Midland | 2024: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 3 Austin 1 and NaPoRiMo begins | 2024: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 2 The Journey Out |A Solitary Sandpiper's Sentimental Tweet
I smell its aroma
In the vicinity,
And though its
Syllabically new,
I’ve heard about
It’s trauma more
And less about it
Being true.
I’ve foraged for
Many things;
Necessary things,
Vital and odd things,
But never for love.
I remember
Opening my eyes
For the very first time,
Only to see my parents
Not feeling fine.
Sooner or la...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 7:14 pm
Also by Manish:
Catalyst | Don't, Mowgli | A Parched Plant | How? |EDDIE TUPPER
It’s been a source of huge regret
That’s always bothered me
I never had a girlfriend with
An Eddie Tupper “V”.
I’ve loved girls who had long dark hair
And cocker spaniel eyes
But never dated anyone
With Eddie Tupper thighs.
I’ve loved girls who were graduates
Intelligent and wise
I’d swop that in a heartbeat though
For Eddie Tupper thighs.
And fac...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 5:52 pm
Also by John Coopey:
HIGH AND MIGHTY | TUM-TITTY-TUM |Beach landing.
Tuesday 14th May 2024 3:40 pm
Also by RudyardK:
No future. | Good and bad. | Interview. | WB. | may fourth. | im asking you. | Alfred Stieglitz. |Georgia Laurie,you are amazing!! The first person to be given the king’s bravery award medal by King Charles
It all started in 2021,
When Georgia and Melissa went swimming for fun.
In a Mexican lagoon the twins did swim,
But what happened next turned completely grim.
While swimming Melissa suffered a crocodile attack,
Georgia punched the croc multiple times in a fight back.
Dragged her sister to the shore,
From the jaws of the croc she did deplore.
I am in awe of th...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 2:51 pm
Also by hugh:
Are you a pole vaulter? | The power of the sun | A frustrated comedian | “Have a good day,”said my boss | I could see myself doing this job. |WICCA, WITCH, WIZARD
In the middle of the greenwood,
In the centre of what is,
The wise women gather,
They’re lifting the lid
On the meagre remnants
Of the magik that once was:
Wicca, witch and wizard
In the whispering wood.
Found in times of turbulence,
Of movements in the blood.
The devotees of the vacuous,
The frightened and appalled,
Consumers, losers-all
Watch silently as children’s blood
Se...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 11:24 am
Also by John E Marks:
WALKING SOLO | INFANT MORTALITY | The Armenian Genocide 1915 - 1923 | FORGET-ME-NOT | "Beauty awakens the soul to act." Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) | A cloudy day in early May in old England | Radix malorum est cupiditas | The Christie |The Gift
I keep treading on snails
And you see
I really don’t like killing things
Anything
Spiders, flies, insects, and snails
And today
I wondered
What the lesson was
And now I think I know
I need to look
where I’m putting my feet
This may sound obvious
But what I really mean is
I need to be more grounded
In the morning
when I tend to tread on snails
I’...
Monday 13th May 2024 10:23 pm
GFMA Poetry, Spoken Word & Music Night (May 2024)
Monday 13th May 2024 3:57 pm
Dear Natalie
My dearest darling Natalie
I really like your style
Your tenacity defending
This green and pleasant isle
Your hard line on asylum seekers
Coming over here
Our match was made in heaven
That’s obvious, my dear
We’re so alike, dear Natalie
It’s very plain to see
Your votes against equalities
And for Voter ID
Those rights for workers, I agree
Will really have to go
And never mind the m...
Monday 13th May 2024 3:54 pm
Also by Steve White:
UK Local Elections 2024 |Barking dogs seldom bites
In the dead of night, the dogs bark incessantly,
Their voices carrying a message unknown to me,
Perhaps a tale of longing or simply a plea,
Echoing through the streets, disrupting the tranquility.
As the night wears on, their barks grow louder,
A cacophony of sound, a chaotic shroud,
Piercing the stillness, as if possessed by power,
Their calls reverberating in the midnig...
Monday 13th May 2024 2:03 pm
Also by Sunshine:
The house we call home | My study table | The rocking chair | The jug and us | The tree and me |ode to my dog
we match the colours of the universe,
both born from the mouths of wolves,
to lie around, get sick, rage at invasions,
raised by the same two, frightened by their abscence.
he lies on my face and copies my heart beats,
he wails when i wail.
when i look at him i get a strange, sad feeling, i know how it feels to search for people.
people that will come home one day,
bu...
Monday 13th May 2024 12:57 am
Sonder
I wonder what you had for breakfast
Did you wonder about mine?
It's strange, yet interesting
Black coffee, a cigarette and a line
From a poem or a book to keep me in check
To wonder how you are, how you live
It's strange, yet interesting
Such an interesting world we deliver
The perspective and performance
I don't know you, but I'd love to know a sliver
Of what you've ...
Sunday 12th May 2024 8:09 pm
Also by Evan Tyler:
Ant Traps |Desolation of Life’s Despair
I’ve stared into the windows to your soul
Looked into an empty void, a hollow shell
A shroud of misery draped across your heart
Like a harbinger of death prophesizing a toll
Through glazed crystals flicker lights from hell
A shudder of fear arises with a thought to depart
I should flee, taking with me all that I now know
Screams of agony burst through the ashen shroud
While...
Sunday 12th May 2024 7:32 pm
May 2024 Collage Poem: Windows on the World
Gibbons in Fakenham time the trains to Sandy Balls
Dwellers in the summer going somewhere where
the dead watch the living
Dark, dusky silhouettes looming over us
Tight-lipped art revealed thru’
miraculously unbroken spectacles
Pass the chocolate Limes
These are the everyday resurections
the family blessedly released from the collision
the one you th...
Sunday 12th May 2024 12:35 pm
Medusa Poem
Many months
alone
with her own
Venom
in a Sarpedon cave
made to nestle her
Beauty gone;
Head -
a writhing tangle of
Vicious Serpents;
cursed;
unrecognisable
Did she retreat because Shame
became
her only bedfellow?
Perhaps ‘twas more a respite
to protect
the unsuspect
ing
from her projections
lest they be turned to stone
so easily does Shame become Blame
...Sunday 12th May 2024 11:35 am
Mothers
In 1958, Bing Crosby sang “Thank Heaven for little Girls”
They grow up to be pretty girls and beautiful woman
They fall in love and get married
and they became the mothers of the world.
They give birth, they care, they feed, they raise their kids, teach them,
and love them no matter what
They sacrifice, cry, and laugh, never stop giving
We, on the other hand, grow o...
Sunday 12th May 2024 9:21 am
Eurovision 2024
We have become defined by war.
Two years ago, we had the love.
Builders played and danced to our tune,
This fantasy world embraced us:
Plucky sorts, hung out for applause.
Now we are just part of the kitsch.
Since that time – more dead, injured and burned,
But not only that. Deeper marks
Have eaten into Free Ukraine:
The tears of a vanished childhood,
The shame of shr...
Sunday 12th May 2024 7:54 am
Also by Stephen Gospage:
The Old Smoothie | Ballot Box |Auroral Resonance
Solar flares in tempest spent, Earth's veil angrily torn,
Charged plasma dances, skyward flight, in fury born.
Emerald and crimson, a painter's dream, strokes the night,
Aurora's dance, magnetic wraiths, violet light
Transient beauty, fleeting flare for eyes to adore,
In silence held, earth meets sun's magnetic core.
Sunday 12th May 2024 2:50 am
Also by Mike Horsfall:
Spring's Duty ending | Grey Day | A Monster | Beatles Tale | The Lakes | Tide's Afire | Azure Dreams | Always with you | Rushed Holiday | Weaving Lines | I am at a loss to write | Single Father | I AM, (Both sides) | They all come out the Same! |The furniture of the moment
you can sit on top of it
it really looks good
take a picture
send it around the world
you can’t have it
but you can be sure
the good life is out there
waiting for you
I got people coming over
in a little time from now
consider cleaning up
this mess somehow
the furniture of the moment
wants you to sit down
relax yourself on it
a...
Saturday 11th May 2024 2:17 pm
Also by Robert C Gaulke:
Sweetness & Grind | Esoteric | True |ON WATCH
It is not uncommon to be eighty
and never to have seen the aurora borealis
but now, primed by a news and weather alert
I stand to see if it might happen.
A belt of translucent high cloud holds firm
above a street light under a gash of dark trees
but no aurora.
A scent of sleeping blossom has me in thrall
and on the ridge of my kitchen roof
the silky silhouette of ...
Saturday 11th May 2024 11:20 am
Also by ray pool:
SUICIDE BOMBER |HOPE
You knew the stars would smile
The Sun will shine, in your bones:
Ever since the day you were born.
Trapped in your own desires,
you lived in a nightmare of being the best
of what there is.
So you put the strongest armour on
for the fight against everyone, yet no one.
They said "This too shall pass"
"But what if not?" You said.
Now comes the time when the sun shines bright.
But why do...
Friday 10th May 2024 9:19 pm
About Last Night
It's in the quiet I hear you.
My lungs elastic as they draw you in
with each comforting breath.
The memories of the day
expand my peace of mind
and careen my heart into you,
as you slumber next to me,
here in the solitude of our night.
Friday 10th May 2024 3:29 pm
Also by Mike McPeek:
The Opposite of Toil |OPPORTUNIST
You'll have heard about the MP for Dover
Who took the decision to cross over...
And I don't mean the Channel -
Never mentioned in the flannel.
Employed by this opportunist rover!.
.....................................................................
Thursday 9th May 2024 5:19 pm
Also by M.C. Newberry:
MAY RAIN |Project Astral
remote viewing
a program,
telepathic visionaries
— channels
seers…
seen in a screening
recorded and reviewed
Thursday 9th May 2024 7:25 am
Also by Shawn Garcia:
Ghost Writer | Quantum Leap |The Duck That Laid Golden Eggs
Found it by the lake I was trying to cross
Webs slit, wings broken, unable to keep warm
Carried it up to my canoe and rowed away to my dry little farm.
The wife said I'm an idiot to bring another in when all our chicks starve, which is
When I leave it-but the next morning it's made a home in a ditch.
I notice something glisten in the dawning sun as it wrapped its feathers around my le...
Wednesday 8th May 2024 8:04 pm
Loss
Darkened streets lit only by the stars
lie silent as a corpse’s endless sleep.
Adrift upon the air, the subtle scent
of daffodils among the shadowed trees.
There in the night I stand with shuttered eyes,
Imagining their glory in the dawn.
And in this dream, a sudden spectral shade
near stops my heart, for I have recognised
that severed soul whose loss I still will mourn
...
Wednesday 8th May 2024 7:42 pm
Also by Trevor Alexander:
Who Cares |The Crossing
Please say a little prayer for me.
As we’re at the mercy of the sea.
The waves are high, water ice cold.
Side to side this boat has rolled.
Children to parents cling on tight.
Think of them and of their plight.
Our boat is fighting wave after wave.
But I look about and faces are brave.
The winter sky is starless and black.
The point of no return, no turning bac...
Wednesday 8th May 2024 2:30 pm
Also by Mike Bartram:
My Island |Sheila's Moment of Clarity
A candle in the wind a soft breeze A hairnet on the table, a puffed-up fable, a leaning in for a question, a deferential stare, a denial in the night, a getting used to it, a left handed slap, a belch upon a healthy diet. ...
Wednesday 8th May 2024 5:16 am
Also by Brett Maves:
Snack Time | Clara's Dream |
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