Picture Poetry Contest (...continued...)

[Pendragon]

I declare Nick the winner for his delightfully used alliteration. Congrads !

Next picture please, Nick!

[NickAdams]

Thank you and without further delay:

[Pendragon]

Baghdad Bolthole

It’s dark down here in the rubble—
The wind hisses like a serpent through ruined walls
We had no quarrel with the enemy,
We were simply in the line of fire
Most of our processions burned on the death pyres of the war
Yet we have hope, which for the moment is personified
In this old piano, slightly out of tune
Our lives are like that, slightly out of tune to a world
That calls us “collateral damage”
In conflict that knows but one Lord and Master—
Grim Reaper, what hath thou wrought…

Pendragon
© Sunday, November 22, 2009

[NickAdams]

Anymore?

[tailor STATELY]

a modern knight's tour

war black and white stares
duty death fear remorse hate
find peace where you may

© tailor STATELY 12/3/2009

[NickAdams]

And then there were two.

[Dark Muse]

Dark Days

Memories of you
of what you have been through
of what once you were
haunt me
for the pain
that you took away
from those smoke-filled
blood and fear days.

Always between us
this part of you
forever beyond my reach,
however much I strive
I cannot reconstruct
the ruins in your mind
now filled with bad dreams.

But you may feel me close
my voice in your ear
my presence
surrounding you
to try and ease away
the echoes of gunshot
that ring true
with the skull-grins
and dead eyes
mocking
through the sleepless nights.

May my love
burn like a candle flame
through that darkness
of your past
which flash like photographs
that will never fade away,
but I will never cease
with sweet kisses
and words of comfort
gentle touches
to quiet those
screams.

[MGK]

Very inspiring picture! made me think of the film "the pianist"

The youth blanky glances
through where once was a wall,
seated before the object
of the peace, before the fall.

Clad in uniform martial
and dedicated, in cause;
the youth plays piano,
for once, without a pause.

His comrades stop their banter,
the rubble stoops to hear;
what could be mankinds only
possible escape from fear.

Has it been but a day?
Or far more than a year?
However old the youth may grow
to here he shall always be near.

And as the rifle is slung
over each willing shoulder,
the youth touches a last note
that he might hear, should he become older.

[alakungfu]

Aerie and fairie and fluffee and floss,
The future in essence belongs to us.
We sift and discover it,
Part ways to deliver it,
And circumnavigate that which we have dislodged.
Ode to the resilient,
Ode to the wise,
We spend our life retaining
The rote they have dispensed
And narry a regret have they despaired.
My horse for a future
I decry to the stars!
What is their's is my right,
I'll assert solemnly
To the knaves within the range that I'll smite,
And I'll pilfer the peasants
And sequester the virtuous
For want of an edict
That they would mine accost!
All for this a glorious captive audience,
And the tribute shall follow.
The horseless troops back to the citadel,
Supported in the hearts
Of the prostrate multitude
Who partake of their rigorous rewards,
The common lists of spoils.

[NickAdams]

That's enough to set a deadline: Dec 13

[DanielBenoit]

Very inspiring picture! made me think of the film "the pianist"

Oh definitley

I suppose I'll join in.



Century Rolls

Keys in tune, century rolls through the cities like
The Gestapo tanks through Moscow.
Like Siberia in the cold, dead snow;
Christmas, was that time of year
In which Lenin was God and
God stood in Red Square

1919
Century rolls.

like ghettos of Stalingrad
these pieces and blocks of memory;
like stars in the sky, you were
so small you could hardly breathe.
These fumes of spring's rite.
Rachmaninoff, the piano is out of tune
Out of place, In memory.

[MGK]

the deadline has come and gone .. new picture please!

[NickAdams]

I will announce the winner this evening.

[NickAdams]

MGK

I enjoyed both the narrative and rhythm of the poem, which I found to be quite similar to The Night Before Christmas, but it was the final stanza that won me over. The use of "willing" was particularly interesting.

Pendragon:
Your opening line made this first-person poem hauntingly immediate.

tailor STATELY
Short but effective. The lack of punctuation gives the impression of words thrown together, but a closer look highlights the process of "A Modern Knight's Tour".

Dark Muse
Very interesting. It reads very personal. You definitely used the image as an inspiration, but made it a backstory of the the person addressed in the poem. Very nice take.

alakungfu
Your poem went clear over my pumpkin.

DanielBenoit
I enjoyed many of the lines:
"Christmas, was that time of year
In which Lenin was God and
God stood in Red Square"

" ... you were
so small you could hardly breathe."

"Rachmaninoff, the piano is out of tune"

But, I found the similes too spoken word for my taste.

[DanielBenoit]

Yay, congratdulations MDK! The rhythm is curious, a bit like a lulliby to me, but a very nice juxtaposition as it reflects the image in which there is brief comfort in a time of chaos.