In what galaxy does a heart
not learn lessons the hard way?
It’s in the nature of all creatures.
The school of life welcomes its students.
Some will breeze on by and
not learn much of anything.
The ones that embark implicitly
on that lush wild river of discovery
will be amazed when they unleash their potential.
Everyone is given the same amount of hours,
precious time to squander or exploit;
checks and balances accrued in bank book.
Here on earth promises are delivered,
bruises fade and broken bones are mended,
fear eclipsed and IOU's paid and erased.
Everyone carries about their baggage:
the outcome of their experience,
the detailed records in their head.
We each have our predestined portfolio,
an agenda or checklist of things to learn,
be they tender or wickedly cold and harsh.
It would be ridiculous to expect that life is fair:
it’s a lottery we are allotted numbers,
some are lucky while others feel their curse.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
PRAISING ANCHORED INVESTED POETIC TIME
(Apropos Of My Brilliant Poetry Extended Family)
Sitting there with quiet waves
Of a full wrinkling oceanic mind,
Smooth pensive allegorical thoughts
Flow to a self waiting thirsty anchoring
To buoy and deeply deposit and bank
Until their pregnant birthing interest
Has accrued and their pen established:-
Meanwhile, be blessed assured, that time
Invested in these waving words, quietly flowing
To soon wet the shores of welcoming desired minds,
Has not been an evaporated waste of watering time:-
No, what has accrued, is deemed to be
The impregnated frothing inspirations from
The wise watered-waving womb of our mind’s
Flowing poetic ocean of awareness, peace, and love:-
So, come on now–sailing poets–anchor up!
Set sails and get swelling awareness streaming!
Those here on distant shores are anxiously
Awaiting our fueling, frothing inspiration:-
At night, death's dark whisper resounds
Chasing dreams, with bloody sweat unbound
Awakened by fear, his heart does pound
Beholding death's spirit, all around
By day, sleep flees, a rare reprieve
For he has slain it, with restless grief
A little slumber, a shout of doom
Forever haunted, a troubled tomb
Through "Baba Gbonka's" dark, deceitful gate
He sought wealth's shortcut, a fatal weight
Riches accrued, but health did flee
Mansions built, yet comfortless, he'll be
Luxury furniture, a hollow pride
Restricted to a mat, where he must reside
Strangers receive his charitable hand
But relatives, a forbidden land
Conditioned to spend, with daily strife
No peace, until his target meets life
Marriage yes, but children, a denied bliss
What's affluence without peace, but an empty kiss?
Who shall inherit all his earthly gain?
To what account, when his soul's laid to rest in pain?
The scripture says, "Godliness with contentment's the gain"
A truth he forgot, in wealth's vain, hallow reign
Battered and bruised,
By the way I've abused,
This body that i used.
Feeling the effects of my mood,
Directly related to my attitude.
I'm losing altitude,
Calling out to you,
Knowing you come through,
I grab onto Gratitude.
Changing my latitude,
Thankful to collude,
Enhance my mental aptitude,
Rise above the solitude,
While in servitude to the multitude,
Of substances i have abused.
I'm becoming confused,
My mind unglued,
Clinging to gratitude,
I brighten my mood.
Thankful for lessons accrued,
Thankful for interests,
I was able to pursue,
Thankful for this journey,
I have renewed,
A new life viewed,
Through an Attitude of Gratitude.
What price must we pay,
To simply be?
The toll for existence,
Incurs a fee.
Each breath we take,
Each step we make,
Extracts a cost,
A price we must pay.
We pay for food, water,
For all resources consumed,
For heat, power, light,
For each a debt is accrued.
We were born completely free,
But, when we opened ours eyes.
It was the toll of debt,
We saw in the skies.
Why does it have to be?
In the material world,
Its entropy's fee, we must fight
To stave off decay.
For as heterotrophs
We must consume the structure
Of plants and animals
To maintain our structure.
Oh, to be a plant
To live cost-free,
As an autotroph
Bathing free, in the sunlight.
The cost living
Is the price we all pay,
The toll to exist,
Our destiny.
A tall, chain wire fence
surrounds the perimeter
of the power station, casting
its evening shadow over a wide
bank of grass leading down
to the river. Sometimes I sit there
just to listen to the sound
of the wind make music through
the wires.
It is a soft, melancholy music
that carries a certain sorrow.
Uncoupled from a name,
it seems a composite
of the sadness accrued
in the wordless wells of the soul
that finds voice here.
It has a strange attraction,
an addictive beauty
which keeps me coming back
though each note strums
a nerve giving a little hurt.
At times I can almost hear
human voices weaved
into the music, a tone
echoing out of places
made restless with longing.
It is the music that lovers make
and gently plays at the center
of all good art, sad prisoners
of time, composed by the heart
to mourn when what is loved
and what is beautiful in this life
passes from us,
and let go.
My heart is shaped like a love heart
With different compartments inside
The largest compartment being LOVE
Centre stage and always my guide
KINDNESS is another compartment
For of acts of kindness bestowed
Valued and forever remembered
Accrued along my life’s road
HUMOUR has a compartment
I consider it my hearts fuel
Laughter, fun and good times
For entry is the golden rule
MEMORIES sweet and precious
Has a compartment of its own
Abundant with optimal happiness
Mine and mine alone
SADNESS unfortunately is a compartment
Containing disappointment, loss and bereft
Yet in there is also appreciation
For having had the gift of the ones who have left
Down the bottom of my love shaped heart
Is MINDFUL the smallest compartment in there
Containing hurt and wrong doings
An ongoing reminder to be aware
And no, when I heard your name I did no longer shake with my legs and watched myself if my hair was made right.
If I had the right clothes on, shoes, make up.
Did I say too much? Less? ,,Mhm..was he maybe uncomfortable when I smiled at him? But it's a *kindly gesture*", ...
If I should wave at you or not, talk with you or not, gift you or not, celebrate you or-
These questions accrued after you vanished my love in the process, in the understandment.
No lover would ask this question but just do, let their instinct guide.
And No, I did no longer got excited when you looked at me.
No, I did no longer feel good when you complimented me, understood, beutiful.
No, it did not give me love, nor confidence, it made me now uncomfortable.
Now I look at you with annoyance.
By your ink on this parchment, my thoughts tattooed
I'm drawn to this bouquet; I am left so madly.
Fields of blazing stars, lying randomly, strewed
Happiest are these thoughts deliberately construed.
Winter taking them from my core destroys me, sadly.
By your ink on this parchment, my thoughts tattooed
Purple pillars of violently swaying happiness imbue
So I harvest them as fast as I can, enjoying them gladly.
Fields of blazing stars, lying randomly, strewed
After such a long time between blossoms, histories accrued.
I waited patiently for their replacement, so very badly.
By your ink on this parchment, my thoughts tattooed
I felt the truest of forlorn, nearly left lifelessly blued.
Springtime rain brought them back to my welcoming hands, comradely.
Fields of blazing stars, lying randomly, strewed
Once I found eyes on them, new happiness did exude.
Replenishing their hearts energy regrown in me
By your ink on this parchment, my thoughts tattooed
Fields of blazing stars, lying randomly, strewed
In lives past, a silent rue,
Whispers dance, déjà vu.
Familiar paths, memories accrued,
Time's echo is a mystic brew.
Past and present entwined, anew.
May we be blessed to acknowledge all the wonders in our life
that have, for us, thus far accrued…
and to begin each day with a word of thanks…
and thoughts of gratitude.
Today I’m thankful when in the forest wherever I may go
how I’m reminded of the words of Henry David Thoreau
In the forest from out of nowhere his words come to me with ease
“When I take a walk into the woods,”he said,
I come out taller than the trees.”
May we be blessed to acknowledge all the wonders in our life
that have, for us, thus far accrued…
and to begin each day with a word of thanks…
and thoughts of gratitude.
Today I’m thankful for adventures…
for the Creators who designed them
and for also designing in us
the ability to find them
May we be blessed to acknowledge all the wonders in our life
that have, for us, thus far accrued…
and to begin each day with a word of thanks…
and thoughts of gratitude.
Today I’m thankful for the alphabet
it’s influence is immense…
without it…these words you’re reading
would not make any sense
May we be blessed to acknowledge all the wonders in our life
that have, for us, thus far accrued…
and to begin each day with a word of thanks…
and thoughts of gratitude.
Today I’m thankful for each single leaf…
because
as the falling leaves paint the ground
in a colorful quilted motif…
I am struck by this wonderfully profound
and simply basic belief
that all this beauty would not be possible…
without each single leaf.
May we be blessed to acknowledge all the wonders in our life
that have, for us, thus far accrued…
and to begin each day with a word of thanks…
and thoughts of gratitude.
Today I’m thankful for the moon
and how it reminds me of this Indigenous people’s prayer:
Let us know peace
For as long as the moon shall rise
For as long as the rivers shall flow
For as long as the sun shall shine
For as long as the grass shall grow
Let us know peace.
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