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Threads: 466
Joined: Nov 2013
Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month.
This year, there are no form requirements, only "tiers" or "rankings" given informally to all participants:
Bronze Tier: Participate at least once.
Silver Tier: Participate all days.
Gold Tier: Participate all days, and have all entries be the same form or have all entries be different forms.
Write a paean, or a poem celebrating any sort of triumph.
Posts: 1,185
Threads: 250
Joined: Nov 2015
Merciful Life
You fear, my love, a death without repose,
and as you dread, live life without relief;
know life is merciful, eased by belief.
For death is ending what you never chose
infirmity, monotony and grief;
you fear, my love, a death without repose
and as you dread, live life without relief.
But life is triumph, while they live, for those
who dance it ever faithfully, though brief,
then shed it as trees loose one twirling leaf.
You fear, my love, a death without repose
and as you dread, live life without relief;
know life is merciful, eased by belief.
[Form: Rondel]
Non-practicing atheist
Posts: 695
Threads: 139
Joined: Jun 2015
Weeds
Dandelions are so adept at spreading seeds;
like miniature sunflowers that transform
into delicate white parachutes.
You don't want them around, but cannot
keep them down. The slightest wind
carries them one yard to another.
I've heard neighbors argue over who
allowed them to take over. Like silent soldiers,
weeds move their front lines over night.
One guy tried every solution, but weeds
can't read. He only gave up after
poisoning half the neighborhood dogs.
Now, no one will talk to him, and his yard
is being over run. He's out there right now,
on his hands and knees, pulling them up,
one by one, and cursing a steady stream-
as if weeds can hear; as if they'd even listen.
Ah, you mighty weeds! You are winning, again.
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Joined: Nov 2013
Reagan and Thatcher, titans drawing
Mammon's carriage to the square
like the lions of Cybele
or the bugs that flap their wings
on Stalin's upper lip,
succeeded by the lovechild of Nergal
and Cythera---a letter fewer at the start
than at the fatal end---at last
walls, towers, long-neglected
bridges falling, nonsense filling
the streams by which shut-ins like us
would have kept connected:
and all this just the carpet for
the palmy beast returning.
Posts: 438
Threads: 374
Joined: Sep 2014
Conquest
Venus, oceanvirgin
stand firm in your waves
light of the morning star
reflecting from the moon
to earth house of men
the sun is on the other side
lay with me till dawn
the hymen of shame immortal in foam
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Threads: 203
Joined: Dec 2017
I won an argument over the internet today
by calling my opponent a gay
Hitler. He had nothing to say
after that. So much for being a climate scientist.
The ability to win at insults is a fine test
of ability. Lithium is bad for the environment,
much more than coal or gas or oil,
and what you think is that heaven sent
metal cobalt, makes African children toil.
What? cobalt's used in oil refineries? Who made
that observation? The Cobalt institute?
What would they know? Who pays their rent?
At any rate, I won the argument.