Best Abetting Poems
In the end, we were there-not there,
two present absentees
sharing an apartment vacated by a relationship
and the worst kind of loneliness -- feeling solitary next to someone --
partners in the crime of abetting mutual misery,
though neither of us can really be linked
to the crime scene, can we?
We’ve got each other’s alibi.
Nature in it’s utmost,
has no wont of haste.
Time has little meaning,
and there is no waste.
One year or a million,
matters not at all,
everything that lives,
eventually will fall.
Ashes turn to ashes,
and dust goes back to dust.
All Flora and Fauna,
are building up the crust.
So death is there abetting,
something else to live.
Everything that breathes,
some day will die to give.
Yet in the few short years,
man on earth has faced.
Through the eyes of greed,
mismanages his waste.
He thinks he’s here forever,
even though the rivers die,
the soil is full of poison,
pollution fills the sky.
The earth will be a sewer,
and won’t support the curse,
that stole the pristine beauty,
that it was meant to nurse.
So nature in its wisdom,
will balance without haste,
and in five million years,
will manage its own waste.
On a shelf above his bed,
Looking like a fountain,
Henry has what has become
A little tissue mountain.
Each tissue gets one wipe or blow
And then it joins the pile,
A mound that had been growing
For much more than just a while.
When asked if I could clean it up,
The answer I keep getting
Is an emphatic No; I guess
I'm aiding and abetting.
It isn't really gross because
There's not a lot of issue
Allowed to make its way upon
Each single 2-ply tissue.
And Henry laughs when I point out
His tissue mountain's growing,
An impish twinkle in his eye
Which he delights in showing.
The sounds of a summer night ring out;
a firefly air ballet performs,
as young eyes embrace the tale;
played out by blinking lights.
summer’s magical;
churning waters
abetting
nighttime
choir.
That's not my elephant, the barman said, when last I went a boozing
Then threw at me a grin filled glance, that was a long way from amusing
You brought him here, you bring him home, your game I’m not abetting
So pack your trunk, get out, your barred, no more drink you’re getting
So sadly I made the long journey home, my poor legs weak as jelly
I could perhaps have caught a cab but they would not take Nellie
Later as we passed a takeaway, the warm smell assailed my senses
I ordered spaghetti and parmesan cheese, Nellie just had lettuce
My door key I could nowhere find, when at last I reached my home
I had no choice but to ring the bell, the wife Ella soon came down
Her words, would cause a crimson blush, on face’s of horse traders
I have not experienced such awful fear since I was in 2nd graders
She insisted that, ‘Nellie’, was but just, a figment of my imagination
And that if I didn’t get off to bed, I’d end up in prone prostration
Now I’ve lost my new best friend, and sweet alcohol fuelled nights
She’s taken from me the will to live. and rewritten the bill of right
4th in Contest, That's Not My Elephant, by Matt Caliri
Shabbos Table True Fable
Our family "Heimish" setting,
Replete with 2 lighted candles letting,
Blessings, my wife's "Emunah" truly abetting.
6 days' worries & scurries set aside, allayed,
2 lights cleansing in noble "Dr. Suess" style displayed,
Candlesticks' "Curved Art", due to years of use arrayed.
Bluma Yehudis's beautiful voice, her simple innocence,
Capturing a crystalline semblance,
Of each of our spiritual en-trance.
2 "Challah Bagels" offered gratefully to "Hashem",
Each one a symbol, "Remembering" & "Guarding" them,
The 24 hours of rest, from creative labors, not physical ones, we stem.
"When wine goes in, truth comes out",
Liquid sunshine savored in moderation, no gout,
And to boot, enhances melodious singing aloud.
Other Yidden heard through our window, grace the night,
Melodies heard so clear, listening is like eyesight,
Each "Niggun" inspiring, not the least bit trite.
Shabbos graces us each with an extra "Neshama",
Meaning Soul, from "Breath", exhaled into each "Guf" by "HaRachaman"
Gifting "Bina", or understanding, & appetite for my wife's "Manna".
In Bina we listen to each other, to Torah "Tools & Dies",
Attending to Hashem's word, true hearing with eyes,
Conversing, not the least, with your loved's ties.
Singing "Shir HaMa'Alos" in unison,
Brings us together as each other's & His chosen ones,
Bonding warmly, embracing each other by voices' tones.
Afternoon naps, enjoying playing Bananagrams,
Invigorating, rejuvenating, noncompetitive lambs,
Sharing dreams, emotions, wits & words, ignoring weekday scrams.
"Davening", or praying, to Hashem for ours & others' welfare,
Ending domestic disputes among us, pointless warfare,
Huge blessings & tiny like "Shalom", health and carfare.
All this in our Shabbos? I barely skimmed...
" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy!"
Unshackle my verse: The People V. Poetry
The judge says,
“Will the defendant please rise”
Intently, I stare into his eyes,
was once the apple, but now despised.
“Poetry, you have been charged with multiple counts of loitering in minds,
Assault with a deadly weapon penning words that give sight to the blind,
Aiding and abetting phrases that freed dark memories which were confined,
Multiple counts of theft of feelings, stealing hearts with emotional lines,
Mass murder charges stemming back years from killing time,
Poetry, do you understand these charges and the nature of your crime?”
“I do your honor. By the way, I love how you rhymed.”
“Don’t get smart with me, poetry.
Now how do you plead?”
“Ha! You did it again,
anyway, I plead guilty as sin.”
“Very well, let us move on to the sentencing.”
“Before we begin sentencing
May I share a few sentences on my day of reckoning?”
“I'll allow it
I can't disavow it”
“Excuse my french but
screw your laws.
Your rules cause people to follow
I cause people to pause
And to think, about how many victims blame me for what happens?
I am only the rescue boat when they are drowning, not the captain
I am the ambulance when lives are a wreck
I’m not the suit and tie, i'm just the crew neck
Underneath it all, that's where I thrive
When voices fail, I won’t deprive
I am the spokesperson for the heart
Public relations for nature and art
You can convict me and lock me away
Throw the book at me, I’ll just eat its words like a buffet,
You can’t pray this gay away
For I am happy as child’s play
So yes I am guilty,
Guilty and proud
I am who I am,
a wordy muse well-endowed”
“Oh and one more thing, your honor
Before you rule and make me a goner
Could I request a cell in isolation, not that it matters
That’s just where I do my best work. It’s kind of a work hazard.”
Written April 11, 2017, for the unshackle my verse contest
Congressional Follies
What’s happening in this world of ours
That use to be ideal
Congress has become a joke
They don’t care what the people feel
Politician's play the power game
Washington’s in disarray
Grown men acting like children
It’s time they went away!
They brought shame upon America
Leading us to the brink
Virtually playing poker
Gambling the other side would blink
Krushchov once predicted
They would conquer from within
Seems like Congress is abetting them
What they’re doing is a sin!
Let’s send GROWN men to congress
Fold the playpen up for good
Remind them who elected them
Make sure it’s understood
No more playing politics
Getting cozy with pay for play
Get America back on track
Or we’ll take their jobs away!
Copyright2011 Beatrice Boyle
(All rights reserved)
I found a photograph today.
Its discovery agitated my emotions
and I caught my breath.
There you were - suspended -
like some ancient fly held
eternally in amber.
Pose, expression, frozen - always.
I found a photograph today.
It awoke a memory long forgotten:
It was a hot sultry day.
We had travelled to our arrival
and we argued, our tempers
shortened by the blistering heat.
My neat linen skirt had creased
- like my mood - and you were rude.
What did you say? I can hear the tone
but the words are gone now and
suddenly unimportant....washed away
down the plughole of insignificance....
Gurgling then gone - lost in the
annals of broken promises and accumulating
hurt which precipitated our goodbye.
I look into your petrified eyes -
eyes that sparkled when I loved you
yet metamorphosed into damming hate at times.
Is your hand touching mine?
I remember when it did - tenderly -
I remember your fingers .... graceful somehow,
artistic, creative, piano playing, painting,
then hitting, hurting - same hands yet tender no more.
Same hands, there in the photograph, no, not touching.
I found a photograph today.
Its discovery rankled my emotions
and I held my breath -
like I did when you frightened me
with your unpredictability.
Your ability to swing from light to dark in an instant.
Yes, I found a photograph today
but its gone now .......
Torn to tatters and thrown into the wind.
Therapeutic in its destruction.
Aiding and abetting reconstruction
of a future without you.
You're gone -
washed away -
gone - down the plughole of insignificance.
Gone in the cleansing of reminiscence.
Gone, gone, gone........
....................... and forgotten.
amphetamines acquaintanceship assuages
agonizing aches also advocates amorousness
assiduously activating admiration
aggressive attacks assault afoul
affable affinity and affectionadumbration
anatomical accidental addiction attested as academic,
although afterward abnegation absolutely arduous,
affianced attired apparently as an anomaly
Ares and Abyssinian Astarte admixture
acquiescence affliction affected adroitly,
and abruptly abends accessible
altruistic alms axed
albeit admonishing, alluding,
and attributing authored
autonomous anonymous adroit arriviste agents
accompanying as accomplished accomplices
accredited ace advertisers
applaud ascendent assaults amidst agonizing appeals
acting all acrimoniously apropos
avowedly ardently, and antagonistically, agitating
appositely advocating ancillary assistance
addict adrift afloat anchors away
along, among, and an alias archenemy -
adorned abominable assassin alters ambition
adroitly, aggressively, absolutely
addict announces asseveration
against avid admonishment
alarmingly annulling authentic affiliation
anew anonymous ability acclaims alignment
aegis actually adversarial abetting attrition appetite
acceleration ascendent after aplenty anesthetization
additionally activating arced analogous arrow
advancing added abdominal and arterial agony
abject ambivalence arrests accomplishments attainable
any artistic avocation absconded
asper auditorial approbation, animadversion
artificial aggrandizement abrogates astuteness
appropriate adjudication affronted
alternative afforded amnesty about acing audioslave
as ambition assumes arriviste affectation
already appalling alacrity awakens amendment
although Awol administration adamant
acrimonious affront agonizingly attributable
announces another afterworld
apparent ailing apparition
ardent allegiance asking anyone appreciable affix
apathy abounds attending apriorism allotment.
Always complains are there against poets
For being petty and writing on trivial things
And rounding their mind on lower middle class issues
When I heard these charges I was too angry
As I was new in this trade and had excessive love
Knowing not too much about this whole business
Days pass and I start getting a bit matured
And slowly and slowly I understand that the charges are
Somewhat right, poetry is not coming out from its limitation
Out of ten eight poems are found rounding
Again and again on the theme of love in the same way
In the same form abetting teenage exploration
Or encouraging adults to go for extramarital affairs
But they never know that adulterous life leads to crime
Families are destroyed all around
Out of hundred seventy murders are committed
For breaking one another’s faith or going in this licentious ways
They are not found to be concerned
With the Federal Reserve Bank, white house or the budgets
Nor are they found to warn people about conspiracies
Hatched by the family of Rothschild
To make the larger section of people slave
Nor are they aware of the Freemasonries
Or the ruling pyramid who want
To start 3rd word war immediately
Or upon few races, who are they want to do genocide?
Poets are such a petty creature
They do not know anything concrete or deep really.
No question mark should precede my time.
No exclamation should startle your thoughts.
No apostrophe should suspend our feelings.A full stop must end the confusion.
Waves crush against the rocks,abetting,retreating from my grip!
How would you possibly grasp water?
The mystery gets worse,when at the horizon the ship's smoke is seen.
Time is,pause,play,slow and the 3D view of the-ship of love-in daylight is like a fading silhouette.
Your not here yet.
Sinking my feet under the wet sand,tuned from the heat of a steady sun.
I reckon,that sunset too is suspending itself.
So! This is how love,pends,when you wait for it at the wrong place?
Where water,earth and mankind converge.
How much longer shall we wait for Love to 'dock.'...
By Carswell E aka the punctuated patient
Don’t display, they will quarantine.
Runaway escape the quarantine.
• Don’t worry, just a few days till it fades.
This will keep your family and society safe.
I don’t believe in social distancing,
Solitude is something I hate!
• A carrier infects all, around.
If we don’t kill it, it will hound.
I am young and strong and immune.
Keeping me in won’t be a boon.
• If virulent patients don’t survive coz of its stepping,
And if Grandpas and grannies die, you would be abetting!
How will I survive, this makes me dread!
Who will give me butter and bread?
• You will get your wage,
There is no reason for such rage.
• Just for few days we are all banned.
The government has your back, together we shall withstand.
What if people die, it’s their own fate!
Better, you get it straight!!
• We are a family and each one is priceless,
Empathise, don’t leave your niceness.
Let’s stand together through this crisis.
LET ME NEVER stoop to disavowing the truth
Neither “looking lovingly” askance at a hurtful lie
NOR OF PEOPLE “sleeping soundly” from an anesthesia
Called purposefully abetting, forgetting to evade the shiv
Of justice wielded with forthright insight, you see,
For without “judicial justness” it is clear our nation
Cannot long endure, much less, I must confess, heal
And continue to be the nation we laud as our country.
FOURTH PLACE WINNER
Written September 6, 2022
Submitted to “The A’s Have It” Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May
[End Word: HEAVENLY
Alphabetical Order: LET ME NEVER and NOR OF PEOPLE
Alliteration: “looking lovingly,” sleeping soundly,” and “judicial justness”
Internal Rhymes: abetting/forgetting; forthright/insight; and less and confess.]
A clumsy encounter
Where words fail
Keeping a distance
With those present
Abetting a slow
Riveting
Demise of dignity