We walk, hand in hand , we talk ~
cotton candy and caramel apples,
music, rides and fanfare,
sounds of joy and laughter in the air.
Let the festivities commence:
flashing lights and chaos,
screams and giggles,
rides and arcade games.
The carnies are hyped up
with their wiles and guiles
to entice us in all ways.
Summer is not complete 'til
we’ve had our fun at the carnival.
Reality and time warped ~
our youth tangible
within our grasp
under the spell of unbridled
gaiety at the carnival.
The sights and sounds of
youth and joy and memories.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Guiles
Gone miles
Morning sun
Diffidence shun
Golden crown well-spun
Orbit does run
Like war won
In styles
Smiles
18 August 2022
you’re walking on the edge of time
careful not to step outside the lines
you try to stay within the confines of what’s safe
avoiding rain at any cost to not get wet
some day you might decide to take a risk
and show me bluntly how you truly feel
out from behind the guiles and masquerade
do away with the many veils and false charades
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Posted on July 7, 2022
Life on earth is like an ocean or open sea
which its vast body is just hard to watch or view;
Others look at it as a major mystery,
not seeing the colors of nature’s hidden hue.
Many minds try to reach the extent of abyss;
what they find is nothing but deep dark without gleam.
Because the bright glow of light that their eyesights miss
never lets them get out of guiles and lies so dim.
But the one who has the torch held by his own hand
knows well when vile weather wallops the salt water;
trials or sufferings are there to understand
by the heart so strong and so brave; yes, no matter.
Assault of the storm surge wipes all those of the night;
but those with righteousness never give up the fight.
pink
season
tickled pink
silken flowers
Magnolias preen
Sakura gleams
pretty pinks
eye guiles
wink
(2/16/22)
lost in delusion
swept up by
the winds of time
what's left under the veneer
but a lingering longing that haunts
without guiles or prejudice
walking through the desert of my mind
singed past blurry sunsets
over yonder burnt horizons
swoooosh ~
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Posted on September 22, 2021
silence in the night
its chant persists
its melody beckoning
sweet guiles enchanting
AP: 1st place 2021
Posted on September 20, 2021
He bears in hand old guiles,
And tons of wiles he wields
Across breath-mired worlds,
Upon sands of mortal fields.
His chilling senses waning fall,
And eyes darkish with tired sins
Beget thoughts bitterer than gall,
Prowling in malice-hoisted stilts.
With creeds devoid of marrow,
He's exchanged sense for myths;
Seeking to mar glittering faiths
Twice before the roosters crow.
His date with Hades' gallows
Draws nigh with every thrust
Of ill-tipped sword into virtue,
Muting Lord-chastened fellows
Unbowed by lead-heavy woes.
Devoid of old qualms and ruing sigh
Wing your arc for purer stratum high,
Past's mortal morsels I urge forsake
For dainty victuals sage angels take.
As mighty Retribution's brooms sweep
Away avarices that now huddled weep,
Your best plume beyond trite ethers ply
Into loftier climes where finer eagles fly.
Viral cloud your heaven-sent comrade is
If you’ll hit hardest with no goofing miss,
And task your swiftest flappers out of Old
Woods into pristine joys of the New World.
Eternal Kindness her illuminator holds
To undim cumuli's ill-bivouacked folds,
And Divine Treasury total expense pays
Till the last of your wise-wayfaring days.
Soar whilst sagest angels' soirée lasts,
As fierce Retribution's viral cloud casts
Nebulous guiles to outsmart hardy foes,
And Kindness her aiding flickers throws.
Varying tactics to deftest tongues,
I find it a futile taxing of tired lungs;
She hears finer tropes with disdain,
And loves lips that deal daring pain.
For fibs she sworn truths exchanged;
At once dazzled by such fiddly verbs
As paint fabled shades of gilded gold,
And cozy castles agleam in airy hubs.
When I say our love shall solidly dwell
Upon fidelity's firm bed of pure candor,
Smooth-tipped rivals juicier idioms tell
Of better treats and fairy Idylls grander.
To blur by guiles and gimmicks worse
Pledged long kiss on meadows green,
Feisty adversaries yet shameless vow
To garnish her with blues' fairest stars.
She in wind-chasing fantasies shuns
Her sincere love to fall for fizzy puns.
Let me try to go by pioneering heroes' spirit
That motored their antique tides of phrase,
And treat rapt souls to a mild sublime ode,
Forged to rhyme with old sonneteers' pace.
Now where does a tottering novice start
As he pens such a crystalline work of art,
To honor champs in grave's dark repose,
And regale pupil protégés in equal dose?
Let me like Andrew Marvel swiftly pen
Authentic tropes to the best of my ken;
And as Shakespeare debug tart myths,
That wit eschews meekest wordsmiths.
And deal Wordsworth such fitting due
As meets his laudable classical styles;
And for Sidney weave echoing rhapsodies
That tell masked sagas via metered guiles.
I'll like Robert Frost's swiftly twined twists,
Blame melancholia for path-splitting mists.
he knows his alphabet and counts to forty
socially inept a heart that’s free of guiles
his mind confused he sits aloof in his own world
outsiders attach their numerous labels
it’s still a mystery what goes on in that subconscious
there’s a level of corrosion in his young brain
I seldom get to break the seal
and relish in precious moments of lucidity
though far and few between
he’ll contort his body when cuddled
that my touch is not welcomed
it hurts so I want to cry
but sometimes the sun
the moon the stars align
and I see a spark light up his eyes
there’s no happier surprise
that’s when I see God’s signature
on this exquisite work of art
AP: 2nd place 2020
Submitted on August 23, 2019 for contest TEN WORD CHALLENGE 1 sponsored by KAI MICHAEL NEUMANN
Sweet is equally sweet to all mortal tongues,
Choice morsels sate all men's starved pangs;
Brilliant sights of plenty charm every eye right,
And friends against foes for shinier spoils fight.
Why then do many in want of fine things stand;
Or, how come keenest mouths on gravel feed?
What alters those picky looks on life's shelves
That tell the greatest from the blandest breed?
Sheer wishful cravings for tasty bites alone,
Can't tear sumptuous meat from obtuse bone;
Nor can mere oglings turn fate's mulish thread,
That pins all sojourners on the hardened tread.
Life's fortunate farers got loads of apt swag:
Maybe just a weird tooth for plaintive rhyme,
Or a bankrupt itching to benefit others' souls;
Artful ploys to outshine the sly guiles of dime.
Prized strokes of luck eschew the clinical type,
And smile on stony folks immune to their hype.
Does she really
not know
how beautiful
she is
with her
fresh baby skin
her innocent
childish eyes
her hesitant smile
devoid
of pretentious
guiles
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
posted on June 11, 2019
Lovely blossoms of bougainvillea
Under a moonlight serenade
Ostensibly I contemplate the root
Of the affinity drawing me to you
Abiding fighter and bounteous lover
Rendering your essence freely
For the love of the gift
Candid without a care
Asking for less than nothing really
A few drops of water enough for sustenance
You have no scent nothing to call your own
Or to flaunt your offering
Subtle faint understated and low-key
Waiting to be discovered
To be loved and treasured
Simply for what you are
And not for guiles ruses or ploys
Swaying silently you wait as I
In the moonlit summer breeze
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on June 22, 2019 for contest sponsored YOUR CHOICE FLOWER VERSE sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 1ST
and on March 17, 2019 for contest BOUGAINVILLEA sponsored by CRAIG CORNISH
Related Poems