Strangled Silence
Strangled Silence
I have a friend in Russia.
We send each other messages.
That say nothing.
His father is a poet.
No news, only greetings are exchanged.
We long to converse freely.
But he lives in fear.
I say nothing of consequence.
To protect him.
Silence stands in our way.
We are afraid to speak openly.
He lives under a dictatorship.
I live with it as ...
Sunday 30th April 2023 10:41 pm
Also by keith jeffries:
Sudden Death | The Agony of Separation | The Voices of Freedom | A Gay Dismissal | A Nocturnal Holocaust | All for a Greater Order | The Six o clock News | The Old England | Poet & Writer | Sincere Souls | The Hermitage of the Soul | Every Day is Good Friday | Palm Sunday |2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 12 NaPoWriMo and closure
Image: Reciting at 1 in 12 Club Bradford on the last day of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), a creative writing project held every April, where particpants attempt to write a poem a day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in America and Canada. There is no limit to the poems write as many as you want, and a subject of your choice.
29.04.23 -194:1...
Sunday 30th April 2023 10:02 pm
Also by Trev the Road Poet:
2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 11 The Journey Home | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 10 Edinburg to Austin | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 9 Edinburg and the RGVIPF | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 8 Midland to Edinburg | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 7 Midland | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 6 Lamesa to Midland | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 5 Lamesa | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 4 Austin to Lamesa | 2023: Trev returns to Texas for National Poetry Month incorporating NaPoWriMo: Part 3 Austin |AGE AND POETRY
As I wend my unhurried English way in the direction of the personal marker of my 80th birthday,
the words of my fellow countryfolk come to mind with increasing relevance and resonance.
The lament from Charles Lamb leads the way:
"Where are they gone, the old familiar faces?"
How readily those words bring to mind family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances who are no
longer with u...
Sunday 30th April 2023 7:14 pm
Also by M.C. Newberry:
ST GEORGE'S DAY 2023 | MORE POINTS TO PONDER |Census
‘How many of you live here?’
The man with the clipboard was asking.
Numbers are not my strong point
And I get a bit tongue-tied.
I reply, in a roundabout way:
‘Well, some, here and there;
Not many now;
Fewer than there used to be.’
‘Is that the best you can do?’
He snapped, looking peeved.
I slope off, inadequate,
Fumblingly imprecise.
Turning round, I see ...
Sunday 30th April 2023 5:22 pm
Also by Stephen Gospage:
Leaving Bangkok | War Habits | Language Lessons | Sloviansk (14 April 2023) | Polite Society | Victims | Law and Order | The Ants | Glory Days | Ventriloquist |A Madness Tale
It always happens, if I'm left alone.
To bouts of madness, I am prone.
Not sure, what or who is to blame.
I'd be ok, if only I heard my name.
I spiral into darkness, out of control.
I doubt my worth, question my role.
Unconcerned, the world watches on.
Tormented voices, I wish be gone.
Twisted visions, have no right to stay.
If they heard my name, they'd go away.
I call it out to ...
Sunday 30th April 2023 5:01 pm
Also by Mike Bartram:
Shadows | The Hill | Yesterday...What I Saw | 34 Years On Never Forgotten | County Road 14/4/23 | The Lonely State | The Springwood Sun | Hangar 34 Liverpool | A Miss Mum Day | Stanley Park Liverpool |Stars
Yesterday
I opened the windows of my room with the night
I let in the stars and slept in their time
I knew their waning
When I awoke
My pillow was flattened with the weight of their time
My mind was present in the immensity of their span
I knew their past now
Today
I curtained the new day in my room with the dawn
I breathed in time and dreamed of the...
Sunday 30th April 2023 4:04 pm
Also by Chris Armstrong:
The Door |Bullies
As we look at our society,
We'll see one that creates most anxiety.
It's one that we should all despise.
It is one which no-one should disguise.
It is a bully - as they bring distress,
Turning good people's minds into a mess.
To destroy confidence is their aim.
Then after that they'll just do the same.
For victims they will always seek,
Searching for those who seem weak.
But for what...
Sunday 30th April 2023 12:47 pm
Also by Stuart Vanner:
Looking back... |Uncivil War
I've just been watching a heart-rendingly sad documentary about the American Civil War, and its aftermath.
It's a disgrace to the memory of the fallen, that some of our politicians deliberately and repeatedly use language which could lead to the repetition of such horrors.
Saturday 29th April 2023 11:40 pm
Silhouette
All alone inside my head
Nothing to remember
Nothing to look forward to
Nothing to be said.
Up early on this grey May day.
My friends are silhouettes
Nothing to remember
Nothing to forget
Nothing to regret.
I am the ghost of myself
Already at 07.13am
As the BBC news comes on
I'm planning to be dead.
I drink my tea shakily -
from the last night's booze -
Sit at my desk in this stra...
Saturday 29th April 2023 11:23 pm
Also by John E Marks:
My brother | Sketches in a minor key | Holy Brokenness | Above the vaulted sky | The pharmacology of shadow | A rainy night in Soho | Charlie Darwin | These missionary times | The wise man knows himself to be a fool | Translating the rain | Ditty | Drinking where the riverbed is dry | Good Friday | CONFESSIONAL | Paul Léon (1893-1942) | When the poet ceases singing | The buzz of the silence | The language of the eyes |Amazing
Amazing
Where have the previous thirteen years ran to?
That day when my wife and I tended our first born
is now some thirteen years away,
where is it those thirteen years are now hiding?
Our Son Wyatt be as tall as a ships mast,
and by knowing his empath, his mast boasts full
sail of seas where only a need for sleep can
interrupt his adv...
Saturday 29th April 2023 10:54 pm
Also by ZTK Space:
The Humbled Never Take; Only Give! | No Stuffing But Leathered | Upon Mussorgsky's Hill | Comme C'est Avec Toi, C'est Avec Moi............. (re-issue (as promised)). |the rich of greatness
a machine is greater than a machine
the greater the inspiration,the greater the admiration
the greater the machine,the greater the inspiration
the greater the body,the greater the machine
the greater the body,the greater the soul
greatness is richer than greatness
greatness is richer than the mind,body,and soul
rich is richer than greatness
rich is richer than inspiration
light is riche...
Saturday 29th April 2023 8:43 pm
Also by godlucifer:
the lens of the universe |MI FIRSTEST POEMS
Mi firstest poems wa’ yonks ago;
I’ve lost ’em (God be thankst!);
Full o’ trite naivety
An’ post-pubescent angst.
Some of them’s political
(I put the world to rights)
I solved starvation on mi own -
Right On! An’ Outta Sight!
I took to wearin’ neckerchiefs
As Byron could ‘ave once;
It din’t impress mi granddad -
It made me look a ponce.
...
Saturday 29th April 2023 3:56 pm
Also by John Coopey:
WE'RE ON THE UP ! | IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR | FATHER AND SON | Tell ‘Em What You’re Gonna Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em and Tell ‘Em You’ve Told ‘Em | STORMY DANIELS | THE DAILY MAIL |Morning Adulation
Settling into the sigh
of the morning quiet,
alone with the air and the hum of home,
peace descends like a soft mist,
a spider-web blanket of light,
an embrace of spirit wrapping
all that is --
of which I am but a whisper of breath.
Gratitude dances on the edges of my heart,
softening the piercings of everyday sorrows.
This life is a gift
'tis true,
but its end...
Saturday 29th April 2023 3:23 pm
Also by Hélène:
Weaving the Threads | The Promised Land | Orbs of Light | Just Be | Ce N'est Que... | Stepping Out | Hands Together | Just Sittin' | Changing Dimensions | What Heals? | Holding On | All Is Light | Sacred Spaces | Conversation with the Sky | Breath | Night Becomes Day | Let's Have Fun |Rocky road to Jesus
She was a ruddy-faced nun, banished to a convent to cure her habit of singing cheeky songs,
where she met Sister Superiorer McPeake, who saw in her a talent for musical theatre,
and turned a blind eye so the novice could sneak out at night to star in the Rocky Horror Show.
But one night, sobbing in the street, because she’d realised that
Christ was her only true love, she gazed at the stars ...
Saturday 29th April 2023 3:19 pm
Also by Kevin Vose:
Football talk kills radio show | Les – the ‘fool’ with the tool | Dirty Dolores | Loather the shifty dog | Padraig and the bushwhacker | Dashitall, we should have listened to him | Going for a song | Oh what a Boer – I’m so brassed of | Little Stan |Beauty in Bass Rock
A shining stone on the horizon.
In a stunning world, it does it’s bit.
You may find it surprising,
This beauty is just shit.
Or guano to be more correct,
Though crap it is to most.
It beckons me to come inspect,
Though I’d rather not get close.
It catches me slumped in blue,
When chuckles are more sparse.
Cheers me to think that such a view
Came from ma...
Saturday 29th April 2023 10:32 am
Dirt Path
Mists lift from the lake
it's found to be a mirror
you find it good to bow your head
for low branches
like crossing a threshold
entering a magic circle
instantly, on the path
I dare say any path
the lord, a handful
appears before you
a robin redbreast
who'll weigh your soul
offer safe passage
just as long as
you know who's boss
Saturday 29th April 2023 8:30 am
Also by Adam Whitworth:
Thoughts Drifting from A Cove | Not For Sale | Not For Sale | The Nameless Religion | Rustic Discovery | Suspended Sentence | ...as long as the birds come to the feeder | A Poet Caught Up In Current Affairs | Answers On A Blank Cheque |The Movies
Your friends go to the movies and don't invite you
And you've never kissed a girl
Never gone to a party
Or drank beer
And you begin to wonder
Why you lie awake
Awash in hopes and dreams
When you could simply disappear
Saturday 29th April 2023 6:42 am
I thank you for not being good enough
You pulled me into your orbit
when I needed your help
and so, I made you my centre
to centre myself
That was my first mistake
I looked inside you
for places where I could hide
I hoped to run from reality
into the delusions of your mind
I was happy to believe you were one of a kind
chuffed upon chuffed that you were mine
and I felt adored
grateful to m...
Friday 28th April 2023 11:54 pm
Self Portrait.
Clare, the girl with gold ringlets and face made from porcelain
A pathetic young thing
Roses for cheeks
Eyes blue from the sky
A heart full of gold
Stories yet to unfold
The abandoned child
Caught up in darkness
The price paid by sin
The unspeakable one
She’s the girl with the curse
Her birthright is madness
She’s the daughter of Ann
She was bo...
Friday 28th April 2023 9:36 pm
Also by Clare:
Dolly Told Me. | Tenter hooks and Telling Looks. | Mirror to my Soul. | Through a Child’s Eyes. | I Want My Forever Back. | Chalk and Cheese | Sunny. | Tick With The Tock | Love | Is It True? |The widows windows
For some years now I have walked past her window,
She is possibly a widow,
Through the pane I witness pain or so would seem the way,
As she sits in the same slumped position each and every day,
Within a room dawned with decoration of the past,
The framed and pictured memories on the shelves are vast,
Something deep within me wants to reach out even more,
To talk to sit to list...
Friday 28th April 2023 9:13 pm
Also by Luke:
The great garden |A Rainy Day
Yesterday it rained like the sky
Held all the sorrows of the world
And had finally released them
Onto the black pavement
How could sorrow be so beautiful?
The raindrops hit the ground and I felt
Like the world exists so that we may view
The beauty that is rain and sky and clouds
I stepped out into the pouring tears
And could feel the water cling to me
Like...
Friday 28th April 2023 6:42 pm
Also by purplemoon:
Springtime | Understanding | Dial Tone |Vagabond.
Now that I'm completely lost I've no more desire to return. Im deeply wrought with guilt that it seems I've forgotten the way home- But home was never a place anyhow, it was merely a state of mind and for now it's somewhere I can no longer find.
Friday 28th April 2023 4:17 pm
Also by Jordyn Elizabeth:
Dad. | Black Widow | Static Sounds. |Public Performance
lonely America
I wanna put my arms around you
before you reach for yours
I wanna kiss you scandalously
I wanna know how your day's been
before you collapse into
your familiar patterns
of hate
and sugar addiction
I’m listening
I’m here
you know how to
touch me
Friday 28th April 2023 11:22 am
Also by Robert C Gaulke:
how amusing | Tedium | Good Readers |Hate Billion
8 Billion
Who will win ?
Murderous mankind
Super species
Sweep all before
Leave a wasteland behind
10 Biblical plagues have nothing on us
A billion locusts , a drop in the ocean.
What will stop us?
War, disease, drought, fire , greed , fear ,?
Natures weapons blunt and useless
Against the tide of filth we call mankind
Scoured and hollowed
Carcasses of th...
Thursday 27th April 2023 11:27 pm
Also by Edbreathe:
Line |Theories from the Micro-Verse (thank you Ann Napolitano)
The scientist, one of a team tending to the Large Collider,
a member of a profession not known for poetry,
takes pages and pages of notes from the latest experiments
studying the accelerated particles of neutrons and protons.
Trying to understand the secrets of the smallest parts
of the natural world, and how they might behave in the air around us.
Within his journal, filled with mathemati...
Thursday 27th April 2023 4:15 pm
Also by Mike McPeek:
Poetry of Light | Three Sentence Love Story | Miss Paula's Poem | Cleaning Up Again | Calligraphy | Clinical |The Madness of the Sheltered Sun
Its size
and its sinews,
a walk-around
of my thoughts.
I'm looking-
seeking,
the oblivion
of the sheltered sun.
Words and image by Thomas Carroll
Thursday 27th April 2023 12:31 pm
Also by Tommy Carroll:
Capitalist Intercourse |Life lessons
Sometimes a simple hello
Is a lesson waiting to happen
Since I'm ignorant about the future
I said a few extra words
You were so beautiful and divine
Delicious like the summer sun
I had to know your name
Hello was not enough
One word changed my world
One word sealed the deal
Shortly, my smile shifted to tears
My worth diminished as well
You’re a test I was desig...
Thursday 27th April 2023 6:07 am
Also by Jaded_Jas:
Lioness | First Place | Skipping Meals | Tissues | Someone New |Nautical Mile
saturday fell silent in the morning,
the tea ran down your shirt,
and seconds on the minute do pass by,
don't hear the sirens calling,
don't be besides crying,
open in the midnight journey of fleeting mesmeray.
Wednesday 26th April 2023 8:56 pm
Also by Alita Moore:
Biscuits and Gravy | Good Mourning |Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, by Claude Lorrain 1648
A thin shaft of majestic sunlight
dances across the harbours contained waves
As if highlighting each crest in gold leaf
Men with muscled arms and sturdier backs
load small boats, transporting large chests of fine silks
Precious stone, spices, and polished gold
Others stand motionless on the fine-marbled quay,
ready to glimpse the regal retinue
Overhead, dawn clouds s...
Wednesday 26th April 2023 7:18 pm
Also by JD Russell:
Love you? Love my dog. | The waiting lists | The Wail of Two Cities | What happens when the sex stops? | Just a few questions before departure |Sinister Psychologist...
Let me peek into your mind
I wonder what delights I'll find?
All manner of things, both sweet & sour
Such tasty morsels to devour!
Love & Grief in all their sorrow
I'll gobble 'em down, like there's no tomorrow!
Your secrets, kept so close to chest
I'll hang to cure 'till at their best!
I cross my heart, I'll never tell
Even at the toll of your death knell!
I'l...
Wednesday 26th April 2023 6:03 pm
Also by Stephen W Atkinson:
Before Eternity | The Memory Of Her |JANE
Gracious as her title
God Blessed the earth with this noble warrior by name
Like oxygen to survive she is vital
Unique lady unlike any other
For Jane we are blessed Bright mother
Her heart dances and sings
Fine cut like a diamond
As golden as her rings
This lady is flamboyant as true as her beauty
She oozes style
Eyes sparkling like stars I see her soul in her smile
She cares and loves
...
Wednesday 26th April 2023 2:40 pm
Also by Sarah Louise mcnee:
UP UP AND AWAY (the spaceship part 2) |Le Petit Parisien, 1952
A small boy running, but not for his life,
as all can see in his fearless smile
and the sense of freedom
that lights his eyes. This is the day
he will always remember,
important only because of an errand
and the small coin he didn’t drop,
holding it up on tiptoes
across the counter of a baker’s shop,
disregarding for once
the glass-fronted shelves of...
Wednesday 26th April 2023 10:29 am
Also by David Cooke:
Le Nu Provençal | The 2CV |Kings and Queens
Kings and queens are all, it seems
We need to keep food on our plate
Kings and queens and Heinz Baked Beans*
And golden carriages of state
Kings and queens are all, it seems
We need to keep us warm and fed
Kings and queens and Heinz Baked Beans
And Tory Warburtons sliced bread**
So, boo to cost of living crisis
Boo to rising staple prices
Hurrah for Charlie and Camilla
Beans on toas...
Wednesday 26th April 2023 7:13 am
Also by Steve White:
Crowdfund the Coronation |The Fisherman
He waits
unlike most
and searches
through the muck
through the dirt and the dust,
the nails and worms
He waits
for a glimpse of success
a meal for his minutes spent
on the water’s edge
a reward
for his tireless toil
He waits
as his bucket fills
alongside his hope
then empties
leaving his spirits all the same
For his catch does not ...
Wednesday 26th April 2023 6:43 am
Also by w3sko:
Just A Man |King's Sins
I would have been a Lion
Preys would have perished
Shaping me into the King.
I would have been a snake
Hunted for mystical beliefs
Hissed to life by holly man.
Now that I am a living man
Ambulating land for survival
What should my sins be?
Tuesday 25th April 2023 10:58 am
Also by Lucas Chihinga:
The Noisy Silence |la petit mort
let me kiss you
below the depths
touched by simmering rays
crashing like waves onto your bronzing skin
on a sunny day
may ravenous fangs
sink into the nape of your neck
holding back the pining force
of seven hundred clamping bear-traps
starving to death for your tomb of life
la petit mort // la petit mort
an afterlife womb
where heaven & hell mix
craving ...
Tuesday 25th April 2023 8:45 am
Also by Rob Cohen:
INTERLUDES ~ pt.1-4 | these mountains echo the last Kalahari bushman song | Alchemy of Love | Pardes Rimonim |A Candlestick
I hold my soul like a candlestick,
Without light, leading me blindly through the darkness,
I stumble and fall
While collecting scars like the medals of a general's jacket,
I ground my base at the bottom of a valley,
As I watch the fires of the world chase through the trees
Glittering the skies with ash, the darkness hides my form.
Although from such treachery, a spark finds t...
Tuesday 25th April 2023 1:18 am
The One you Used to Be
I want you to be
The one you used to be
Bright and fresh
And forever drinking tea
I want you back again
The one you used to be
Bright and bold
I want you back with me
It breaks my heart to see you now
Not the one you used to be
Now your thoughts are dulled with age
I wish I could set you free
I’ll always remember you as you were
The one you use...
Monday 24th April 2023 6:17 pm
Also by Steve Higgins:
The Ghost in My Car |Snow in Spring (A Sonnet)
Snow in Spring
The buds on trees, once ready to bloom,
Are now weighed down in icy despair.
Deserted nests, birds are silenced in doom
Awaiting the spring sun's fair share.
Snow in Spring is a paradox of sorts,
A clash of seasons to nature's surprise.
leaving the path frozen the news reports
As winter's remnants refuse to demise.
The chill in the air, a bitter reminder,
That even i...
Monday 24th April 2023 4:23 pm
Also by Andy N:
3 x more haiku about Change | Three Haiku on Change | 3 x haikus about Lost Socks | Early Spring Sonnet | Haiku in Bloom Part 3 to 8 | Haiku in Bloom 2023 Parts 1 and 2 |Into the woods
Taking a path, I'd seldom trod,
stumbling over rocks and logs,
a clumsy sod.
Wandering lonely, no way through,
exits barred by swollen streams,
and fallen yews.
Plagued by frustration and by doubt,
seeking solutions in a pathless wood,
with no way out.
I looked to the sky to see what to do,
Beseeching heaven, as the woods closed in,
and I didn't have...
Monday 24th April 2023 2:50 pm
Also by John Botterill:
Diminishing Scales | Rites of Passage | The Dare Devil Poet | Passing Thoughts | Wild Strawberries | At Water's Edge |Empty Chairs
Just a second is all it would take for you to leave this table.
It never gets better, seeing the amount of empty chairs grow.
Still, I remain seated at the table, glued to my chair.
Unable to do anything but watch with pain in my heart,
as yet another one leaves me alone here.
But what can I do?
Even an iceberg desperately yearns for warmth,
climbing to the sun, knowing it wi...
Monday 24th April 2023 12:02 pm
Invisible
Its a hard feeling to always be seen but never be heard.
Eveyone knows AJ but no one can tell you Im a third.
I have three favorite colors black white and baby blue.
Ive had a wife, baby moma, one true love, none of them can give you one color too.
Its like Im just an idea to all who claim to know me.
And no one every gives me the chance to show who and what I really could be.
Sunday 23rd April 2023 7:44 pm
Also by Jblaze:
You Should Know |“Gravamen”
Dusty shadows, the complexity of a complaint, the fear of becoming great, but I couldn’t because.., maybe I’ll do it later, familiar words, a nest don’t make the birds, you can’t spot the bullshit when walking high pastures, we are trying to explore this terra damnata, I notice flora watering her plants by her majestic garden, an admirable process, the balance is the gift, make sure your flowers g...
Sunday 23rd April 2023 2:03 pm
MY EX.
Where do you even start? My ex laugh out loud! He's the biggest loser I could ever think of now. Looking back at it.... Almost 40 busing tables cleaning tables to make a dollar no aspirations no desires no dreams, no wants and needs out of life except for what people can do for him versus what he can do for the people? why do you love someone so much? what is it about that person that makes you l...
Sunday 23rd April 2023 10:17 am
My Ticket Out
My Ticket Out
Friendships once delicious
Now turned stale
Intimacy— which was invigorating
Now holding the same energy and delivery
Of a sickly snail
Interests— previously exciting
That are no longer fun
A place that felt like home
Has become a web
Thats overspun
When before
You would have fought to stay
Now you have the compulsion
To escape and...
Sunday 23rd April 2023 9:37 am
Also by Rasa Kabaila:
Covet |Love is a god’s war.
Sunlight, fresh air, and flowers blooming, I’m sitting in the ground of my mind recalling our first glance. You wore gray as my heart; I wore blue as your eyes. I never imagined this would be the ending of me. I’d never thought I would find my Achilles heel in dark times. Eyes that would change how the river flows. I told myself I would be a barren land for evermore, but the light in your smile ma...
Sunday 23rd April 2023 12:27 am
Also by Dilsonn A. Mejía:
Blue Butterfly. | A summer feeling. | How do you forget? |Mr Brian
Mr Brian
According to him
there were only three forces -
push, pull, and as I
put my hand up and told him -
twist. I was sure
there was a fourth one - bend,
but I was too shy to say that.
He knew the art department
would disagree with him
about the third primary colour
being green and not yellow,
but about the colours
of the rainbow, or the spectr...
Saturday 22nd April 2023 3:22 pm
Also by Peter J Donnelly:
Half Way Through March | The Marriott Room | Almond Blossom | Publication |Idleness
How long have you been in me ?
You who loiter and linger
Shattering all my dreams
Awating all the ordeals
Turning my bones weak
Making my spirit bleak
For iam growing lazy
And admiring a life; cozy
Forcing my forfeit to flourish
And my serendipity to vanish
They said idleness is destructive
Want to undo my follies and be construct...
Saturday 22nd April 2023 3:35 am
How I feel now
Expressions of Love: Part II
Title: How I feel now
There was this idea
An idea full of passion
And love
My plan was to do this
To write
Everyday a little letter
Of my love to you
Packaged into a book
And given in a year
How I felt then, is not how I feel now
I thought the words would find me
Yet sometimes days passed
Where not a drop of ink
Could b...
Friday 21st April 2023 6:26 pm
Also by Jason Phillips:
An Expression of Love | In the morning, my eyes open |ROUND-UP
The Flat Earth Society is looking to grow in popularity
Althouigh their ideas you may scoff
Going to the ends of the earth to find supporters
Since membership has fallen off
Friday 21st April 2023 2:51 pm
Also by Short Attention Span Poetry:
NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT |Legacy
Not gold but golden, engraved,
given in love and friendship.
Fifty years of service shared,
it marks the time of my grandfather.
A time of war that briefly took
him from the books he guarded,
shepherded and shared with patrons
of the library he loved.
And I was one he taught
to love those shelves of words,
waiting each week when we would trek
across the t...
Thursday 20th April 2023 8:19 pm
Also by Trevor Alexander:
Bard Times |Serpentiform
Serpentiform
1
amassed a mask of masochism
the masonry a mass of schisms
a nemean mime forever dividing it
self into character-constructing polarities
and the sound of the pendulum swinging is
teeth scraping tarmac amid sweet Satanic
anchors of lavender for an ancient mis
guided ritual for gorgeous reclusion
2
you must respond at all costs, e...
Thursday 20th April 2023 7:13 pm
Also by Kealan Coady:
Misphonia |Please don't go
To be one with God that's the aim
But I never come close to the divine
But I imagine it's like lying next to you
When I close my eyes and imagine are old age together that's me heaven
For it was your light I was searching for when I was in the dark
It was your life I curved when I felt dead
The live my life don't deserted me know
Your life is the one war I be willing to ...
Thursday 20th April 2023 1:03 pm
Also by Keith Byrne:
Fed up | Dream |From a mental health ward room
Blurred faces at the small window
Don't even know how to begin though
They peak for a sneak
From here it seems bleak
Looking and checking 200 times a week
They bang the doors
And shout in the halls
Gone zen flatline
So they're mostly ignored.
Thursday 20th April 2023 8:29 am
Also by Jed:
Stoners lilt | What does Ivor do? | As a sloth | Where would natzis be without their (leather) trousers? | Racing Toff |Catkins
Whilst pink and white cherry take centre stage
we may miss the blossom of less known trees
Like the catkins of weeping willows
that appear like lambs tails in the breeze
Photo credit Dr Amir Khan
Wednesday 19th April 2023 8:20 pm
Also by julie callaghan:
Special Moment | Stunning Sunrise | Magnolia | Dreamy Pastel Displays | First Butterfly | Cherry Blossom |how I've been living life lately
spend too many hours gazing out the window thinking about what was what wasn't what was what wasn't what may be what could be again, say please take me away from here but also how could I ever leave, get lost in a video game, have someone see you, it's not who you want it to be, ponder the parallels of our experiences, laugh like a squeaky wheel, have someone see you, figure it out, have it be who...
Wednesday 19th April 2023 1:06 am
Also by ana web:
I'm only me |Grumpy Old-ish Men
Prompt - why do middle-aged men bitch so much?
Grumpy Old-ish Men
There are many reasons for it
So I’ll mention just a few
Why do we fellas moan so much
Why do we bitch and stew?
Time is the biggest problem;
We’ve got too much somehow
We don’t have to hunt to live
Or mine coal or work the plough
And yet, by contradiction
Time brings a sense of dread
For we’ve likely more behi...
Tuesday 18th April 2023 9:51 pm
Illustrated Poetry by Grant Leonard Aspinall
Tuesday 18th April 2023 9:29 pm
End of a Beginning
Thinking about the times
we spent chatting in the pub,
thinking I might have talked
just a bit too much,
and I'm thinking about
how I blew a chance forever.
Thinking about the time
you could have spent in my heart,
but we never got together
or made a real start,
thinking about the you
I never got to know better, and
even though we could
have...
Tuesday 18th April 2023 3:04 pm
Also by John Gilbert Ellis:
Loft |I watched her eyes
©Leora Rosner
I watched her eyes dance and jitter As her eyelids slowly closed Moving toward an unknown dream Brought on by trees stampeding As they trespassed every open window Their broad leafed invitation Conjuring wings with which to fly Past abbreviated horizons Leaving littered shattered glass Returning to sand Forming beaches Ec...
Tuesday 18th April 2023 2:57 pm
Ne'er Dance
“I don’t dance,”
I told everyone who asked.
“I’m terrible at it.”
So I didn’t.
I sat on the sidelines and watched.
I used to dance.
I didn’t question it when my feet
Would tap of their own accord and my body
Would wiggle around with delight.
“I was young and I was stupid.
It was embarrassing.”
I’m still young and I’m still stupid.
I’m still terribl...
Tuesday 18th April 2023 2:49 am
Also by Elle Shaine:
Peel | Lines |The hoarder
I sincerely feel out of order
My feet actively sweep
In contact with a border
My soul vitally leap
The assuring disorder
The roots running deep
A burden for the hoarder
Mine was put asleep
A burden to harbor
Sunday 16th April 2023 8:40 pm
Done
Freedom...
Doesn't matter what you feel.. Doesn't matter what you do.
Freedom...
Every thought countered.. Every emotion exempt.
Freedom...
Sacrifice...
Alone...
Exclusion...
Light...
Fleeting. Fleeting. Illusion.
XOXO
Death? Freedom?
Guilt!
Unity through contempt, reality is a fake smile!
Sunday 16th April 2023 9:18 am
fingers on the paper (here, a long poem will die)
Saturday 15th April 2023 11:06 pm
Aethereal protégée
Universal consciousness is omnipresent
— living vicariously, we too are one - and the same,
Having the time of our lives
all knowing— enlightened divine sparks
going —Godspeed.
This is a way of life:
Anatomic amino acid building blocks chain letters,
into the complex double helix;
in our initials is a chemical signature—me and my significant other have between us—
this bond, that
she...
Saturday 15th April 2023 3:43 pm
Mental health
A worldwide mental health crisis over us does loom,
A measure of anxiety can prevail even sitting by yourself in a room.
One can try to take one day at a time to sort things out,
But sometimes several days at a time, in attack ,can come about.
Depression is a medical disorder, causes disruption,makes life hell,
Good mental health is a state of well-being when you can function ...
Saturday 15th April 2023 11:01 am
Also by hugh:
The importance of discipline | God bless King Charles 111 | Old and cold !!! | "I love you,your mine." | Thoughts of a lady giving birth |April 2023 Collage Poem: Stand Vigil
The only way to
save this planet
is to call in The Unicorns
goin’ fishing
the bus station
without the garden
roof
we look with others
but think alone
he met himself
coming back and
the unicorn said
“Are you horny?”
arboreal, alliterative
unicorns to buses
tell it like it is,
colouring as you pass
descriptive House of Magi...
Friday 14th April 2023 11:28 am
All of My Parts
I don't know when it happened
That I carved out my own heart
And threw it into the sea
I can only tell you
That I'm sorry
For not being more than I am
I stand before you
A broken man
Lost inside my thoughts
Lost in emotion
Counting grains of sand
Telling stories
Of the universe inside my head
And all the pain I've come to know
And all the hurt...
Thursday 13th April 2023 12:15 pm
Also by Eric Berard:
Balance |Easter 2023
Easter 2023
(pace William Butler Yeats)
We have all met them at close of play
Looming with masked faces
From market stalls on a cold wet day
Running the gauntlet home.
We have passed their frightened eyes
With no polite meaningless words,
Or uttered to their great surprise
Polite meaningless words,
And formed after they had fled
Some subtle gibe or mocking taunt
To laugh with a fri...
Wednesday 12th April 2023 11:47 am
The cure all [ iasis]
Swimming like a siren in the wild sea
Gather shells to listen in closely
books to read nestled under the trees
Balsamic for the array of coloured greens
Songs from Spain to ease the spirit and dance the flame
Born again from fado blaring through the house
I see for the first time the lushness of the land
Passion enlivens where it lives despite
Slow walk toward the blue out...
Wednesday 12th April 2023 2:10 am
Also by Mirabel:
conte de fées [fairy tales] | Eilean Leòdhais | Mirabel’s Labyrinth |LIFE OF A SLAVE
"Listen, son you either fight or run,
life on this land ain't no fun.
Bury the pain and try again", words from
an old black man singing through the rain.
Sweat from the stubbornness and marks from
the wicked, I work from sun up to sun down.
Life on this land my son ain't no fun.
A mulatto from birth, scars from hurt.
Disowned by my father and left to live with a
...Tuesday 11th April 2023 6:37 pm
A Piece of Cloth
A creature is created,
a joy and a blessing to all;
God called her Woman,
Adam named her Eve,
which means she who gives life
Eve was guilty of taking a bite
of the forbidden fruit of the tree of good and evil;
Adam was tempted by her and that was the end of it all,
that was how Original Sin was born
That was the beginning and then came the rest,
a stigma tha...
Tuesday 11th April 2023 3:15 pm
617
617
We will not forget the sacrifice you made,
Nor courage you displayed without complaint or regret,
The loved you left behind with hopes to see them yet,
Your part you bravely played and we will not forget.
We will not forget your will to fight the fight,
Because you knew it right and the fight was not done yet,
The blood you bled in iron skies mingled with your sw...
Tuesday 11th April 2023 12:17 am
Numbered...
Sand on a mandala
blown away, stasis
menaced by momentum,
chased by change,
as Troy's edges
singe already;
such frenzied whimsy
for the student
of surprise, still
ill-apprised
of the sanctity
of a sunrise,
especially when
each and every
sunset has long
ago been numbered...
Tuesday 11th April 2023 12:10 am
Also by Holden Moncrieff:
Indistinct... |Life in Mysterious Chamber
Oh god ! oh god ! I am in the out out for so many days , years
Feeling the pang inside to have a feeling of mysterious darkness
Give me a shot to have a preliminary glimpse
Oh….. Ohh…. It creates lump in heart , don’t know don’t know
How to say be it heaviness , fullness ….. but
It arouses the drive inside me
But god forbids to have such liberty
You need to go to dark alley
...Monday 10th April 2023 10:43 pm
Sitting up, drinking Sprite
dreaming it was wine or gin,
making plans to address my life,
moving between 'if only' and 'had been's'
Sip on my drink - dream dramatic
looking like Caprio, feeling like Butler,
the humble sprite has no mixed spirit,
my dreams lend to the vision of grandeur.
And there I am - all and more than I want
Successful, content at heart,
...Sunday 9th April 2023 3:17 pm
Also by pallavitryingthings:
What are we lonely for? |Will You Not Forget Me, Mother?
When I take a profound sleep
Unable to measure so calm and deep,
Will you not forget me, O mother?
Will you keep loving me then like a shower?
When the sun paints the sky orange
And the patch of clouds sailing savage,
Will you remember, O mother tell me?
I will be taking then honey being a bee,
Like a flower bud with nectar compiled
I hope you won't deny me as ...
Sunday 9th April 2023 11:38 am
Also by Ujjal Mandal:
Vanquisher of Death | Vanquisher of Death |Song of Good Friday
The Lord's my shepherd. I shall rest content.
With all that can delight the hearts of sheep
he spread my table; by the quiet deep
I slept, and woke, and followed where he went,
and for my sake he kept the wolf at bay.
The grass I ate was his, and thus was mine,
his ewe lamb, with the other ninety-nine;
the Lord's my shepherd. Then I ran away.
I thought to find a crown. I found a sham:
n...
Friday 7th April 2023 6:29 pm
Jamie
Everything born is bound to die.
And though now tears fill our eyes,
surely, too, the soul will fly
to a flower
a bird
a child
a cloud...
Take comfort to know
there are other planes of chance.
Think and you will remember
that glance - a glimpse of familiarity,
the easy connection with a stranger.
And so it is we breathe
the same air our parents d...
Thursday 6th April 2023 11:11 pm
Also by William B McGee:
Tyrants of Education | Easter 2018 | CRT | A nod to Rockwell | The Burden |Sometimes The Cleverest People In The World Are Also The Stupidest
McGregor was a genius
But now alas he's dead,
Bedazzled by his brilliance
He quickly lost his head.
He built himself a teleport
And travelled back in time
To when the Earth was entering
It's Mesozoic prime.
And there he saw fantastic sights
Of pre-historic life,
But in his lust for evidence
To take back to his wife,
He proved himself an idiot
Like many of his sex
By p...
Wednesday 5th April 2023 11:52 am
Nearly but Not Quite
Hanging around again waiting
Time is running very slowly
Said we’d meet at eight tonight
Well it’s nearly that but not quite
Trying my hardest to speak to you
Find out all the things you do
Maybe talk and put the world to right
Well nearly, but not quite
What’s the air of mystery about?
If I find out, I definitely won’t shout,
Or cry buckets, well maybe I mi...
Tuesday 4th April 2023 11:25 pm
When I talk about Forgiveness,
I am not talking about you sitting down with an ex or whoever,
and telling them you forgive them for whatever they did to you
so they can feel better, No.
The Forgiveness I Am talking about is done for the Self,
it is an act of Self Love, meant to remove the
burden of Anger/Sorrow from Your Soul.
Done in the privacy of You...
Sunday 2nd April 2023 7:08 pm
DISEQUILIBRIUM
When the road was blocked,
after sudden hailstorm,
the mettle started looking,
for path of different form.
The long lengthy path was chosen,
amidst the ice caped frozen,
thinking twice was not the option,
wheels had to come in motion.
And as the cities passed,
rivers were crossed,
we reached the world,
where nothing was forced.
Unexpected different air,
with ...
Sunday 2nd April 2023 6:31 pm
Bother
With corrupted lungs, I breathe pesticide
If I died today, would you cry?
With a pistol to my head, I won't say goodbye
I'll print pretty pictures with love
I miss them days with you
So best friend thank you for two days of catching up
Now I've got to go wouldn't want to hurt you
With words, I don't approve of her
Every day I see her I swallow my tongue
Because she cheats she lies, an...
Sunday 2nd April 2023 1:05 am
S O U L
Can you taste the dew of the day?
If you can, I bet you could taste your soul.
That dark black hole, or is there a light shining in there?
That moment when you feel like your body is betraying your soul.
What a sacred precious stone
So fragile, so lost
Yet so bitter
I know you are fighting; I can feel it
Those late hours, the scratching of your head,
Bitting of nails, wild thoughts
If on...
Saturday 1st April 2023 2:17 am
Got-Ya
In the days of On The Buses boisterous April the first joking seemed the way to go - - -
Jumping on 192
Grumpy driver bemused
When saying fiver
Spotted bus floor
Scorning Nothing there
Got-Ya April Fool
Few stops further
Stony stern Inspector
Show tickets please
Still giggling said
Here you are
Frosty faced stare
Firmly shaking head
Sorry wrong date
Mus...
Saturday 1st April 2023 1:59 am
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