Week 269 (July 12-19). Poems. Topic: Light In The Dark.

[Ryan]

You have until the 19th of July to post a poem, and July 20 to 22, we’ll vote for which one we thought was best.

Please post directly into the topic and not a link. Please don’t use a poem previously used in this group.

Your poem can be any length.

This week’s topic is: Light In The Dark

The rules are pretty loose. You could write a poem about anything that has to do with the subject but it must relate to the topic somehow.

Have fun!

Thanks to Nadia for suggesting the topic!

[Edward]

Title : Midnight Feast
Poet : Edward Davies

When I try to get some sleep
But feel my stomach start to churn
I clamber from my comfy bed
In search of that for which I yearn

I stumble through the corridor
Walk past the bathroom and the lounge
And wind up in the kitchen where
I search for something I can scrounge

I open up that magic door
That shines a light into the gloom
It holds a virtual smorgasbord
Which can be eaten with a spoon

I dive into what I can find
Leftovers from another meal
Some food that’s past its use by date
(Thank God for stomachs made of steel)

I sleepily begin to eat
To gorge, to masticate, to chew
To devour all that I see
Until all I need is to pooh

And so I leave that darkened room
And gently close that magic door
I’ll wonder in the morning where
All that food went, but now I snore.

[Edward]

Robyn wrote: "Edward wrote: "Title : Midnight Feast
Poet : Edward Davies

When I try to get some sleep
But feel my stomach start to churn
I clamber from my comfy bed
In search of that for which I yearn

I stumbl..."

Thanks Robyn! :-)

[Connie]

A quick one off the cuff....feedback welcome.

The Other Side

When dark corners are illuminated,
needs become wants,
invitations become obligations,
dreams become reality,
questions become answers,
and full feels like empty,
you may look back fondly
on time spent searching
for light in the dark.

Connie D.
July 13, 2015

[Anna]

Hope by Anna Hope is a flickering flame for a life that is surrounded by darkness

It's gentle glow bathes everything in comfort

Giving oxygen when the shadows try to smother

A simple word that can enlighten the darkest of situations

A shining star in a night sky

A ray of hope reflex it's rainbow colors in the middle of despair

Hold on tight to it and it will urge forward and illuminate your steps

Giving you a freedom to look forward to the future

[Anna]

Robyn wrote: "ETA: If I've already posted this, please let me know and I'll take it down.

On a Dark and Silent Planet

Their light is dim for lullabies
to keep the children mollified
when they have to say goodb..."
I really like that very good

[Gretchen]

My Angel
By: Gretchen Guerrettaz
Feedback is AlWAYS welcome



My head was clouded with darkness and despair
Life felt so hopeless I thought I would tear

I was a step away from giving in
Not caring if it was a sin

When I was ready to take that leap
I couldn't move my feet

I saw a light up ahead
so bright I thought I was already dead

I was so stunned I stumbled back
I tried to speak but my voice had cracked

I collapsed on the ground and weeped
Little did I know my guardian angle had saved me

[Ruthie]

Voices
(2015.07.15)

The voices whisper in the night,
When the world is void of light.
Darkness looms from the corners of my mind,
Bringing thoughts of the most cruel kind.
In the morning, everything seems okay;
The sunshine keeps the fears at bay.
But sometimes it slips through the cracks,
Doubts and anxieties all flow back.
The thoughts keep resounding in my head,
Like pounding drums til I see red;
Blocking out all reasons for sanity
And I'm left a puddle of flaws and insecurities.
Day becomes night and with it comes monsters;
The person in the mirror becomes a stranger.
And the voices are back with darker thoughts
Telling me all my efforts are for naught.
So I sit alone in the middle of the night,
Hoping for just a little ray of light.
Waiting for a voice to tell me it'll be okay
And give strength to fight another day.

******
Feedback and comments are welcome.. :)

[Anna]

You guys got my point?

[Angel]

Devout

Darkness is a devout creature
Honoring, honing its craft
Being true to its spiritual path
It never lies
Never gives any illusions of what it’s here to do
It always does its job and does it well
Light on the other hand
Is the creeper
It lies
Weaves its spell
Tells its tales of healing, revealing, grandeur
Illuminates all the sore spots and gaping wounds and puts them on display for others to enjoy the spectacle in all its glory and disarray

Light is not so devout
It’s never there when I need it
But, darkness is always there, even when I don’t want it
It makes me pay for my sins
Light wastes its time trying to make amends for those sins
Darkness interferes, cheers at the squalor, plays it like a double feature makes its dollars and cents count
Darkness is a devout creature
Faithful to the core
I know it will hurt me, make me bleed some more
It has no qualms or scruples
And it doesn’t mind quadrupling the pain
Doesn’t care if it drives me insane
It likes playing games with my head, taking me to its bed and mounting me, defiling me
It’s never finished, never done with me
It can’t be, after all it’s what made me
Light is the liar, it claims to evoke, inspire
But, it’s a joke
Meant to make me choke to death on whatever power it claims to have to set me free

Darkness is a devout creature
It never denies what it is
Has no pride
It just crawls inside
Light pretends to be so special
So powerful but, its afraid to cross the threshold
Darkness has no fear
It always comes near, comes through
Rearing its nature
Staking its claim
Signing its name

It doesn’t revel in fame
Only in pain
Not like the light does
Darkness is a devout creature.

[Julie]

From Julie:

HER NAME WAS LUNA...

They nearly met when younger,
She met him on the 12th of never,
They grew old apart, whatever,
Ships in the night of stars,
Ever fond thoughts from afar,
Luna, light in the dark,
Never grew old in their hearts,
She met him on the 12th of never,
Luna kept him young forever.

[Steven]

I like the love affair. I like the rhyming sequence the sound it makes. It seems to me to have a sadness in the line "They grew old apart."

[Raya]

the sun shone through
it pierced the night of the heart
it tore through the silence of sleep
it burned away fears, clothes, dreams
it twisted pain into determination
it went on shining to some other unlit,
unloved part of the world.

it left an angry, red aftertaste
its absense- a bitter roar of life
and then, after the aftertaste,
a realization:
the heart had beed enflamed
a legacy: the light of its heartbreaking fires
would continue conquering obscurity


-the only way to conquer darkness is to heal it
by Rayana

[Steven]

Very impressive. I like the first three lines and the last line. Very deep topic done superbly. I really enjoyed reading the poem.

[Urvi]

"In The Now"


It was pitch black.

I was biting at my nails again,
Staring at the gleam on my boots.

People were bustling about.
I kept shuffling to and fro, probably in circles.
The butterflies never stopped.

Hardly a few minutes left.
I might throw up.
What If I make a mistake?
God! What am I doing here?
Have I done the right thing?

Maria tapped me on the shoulder mouthing 10 secs.

It is time baby, calm down.
Deep breath. Let go.

5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

I was standing in the screaming light.
Alone.

This.
This moment.
This spotlight.
This guitar.
This stage.
This mic.
This mass.
This light heart.
This smile.
This tear.
This dream.

This is me.
This is where I am meant to be.


~UK?

[Anna]

I really really like your point Uvri

[Urvi]

Anna wrote: "I really really like your point Uvri"


Thanks!!!! :)

[Steven]

Very melodic and carries the reader. I enjoyed the last verse.

[Steven]

Edward wrote: "Robyn wrote: "Edward wrote: "Title : Midnight Feast
Poet : Edward Davies

When I try to get some sleep
But feel my stomach start to churn
I clamber from my comfy bed
In search of that for which I y..."

Ryan wrote: "You have until the 19th of July to post a poem, and July 20 to 22, we’ll vote for which one we thought was best.

Please post directly into the topic and not a link. Please don’t use a poem previou..."

[Steven]

Just Around the Corner

slumbering soundly like
batten down shutters during
wind driven summer downpour.
conscious mind furrowing through grey foggy matter
rallying for self awareness.
becoming half awaken like
storm slowly subsiding after colossal display.
only to find myself stumbling into another world,
another time and place.
the new dazzling world appearing as
precious gem filtering the yellowish sun light, where
no war, no crime, no sickness and no hunger exist.
engaging cities like castles in the air,
architecture arching as though mounted
on wings of stallions
giving chase to the grey sky overhead.
two suns shone over the cities,
the reddish star as close and
menacing as death and the yellowish star like
bucket of wet paint
waiting to spill over.
no sounds of pitter patter feet just stone silent, and
world cold and metallic grey like
gloomy graveyard.
no children and no crying, nothing the race absent
along time and mechanized for over millennia.
waking with a start
apprehending only dream,
went to my grey-yellowish computer console to start writing,
suddenly realizing the mechanization
coming full circle, closing in on our world, our race….
Arresting my thoughts the mirthful
gurgling and laughing of our child in the adjacent room
then only silence like the quietness after
storm filling the night sky.

© 2014 Steven J Jacobson

[Guy]

Nightlight
       by Guy Duperreault (FB&C welcomed)

I am in this hole, again, my hole.
Again. Still.
I have been here a while.
The familiarity is comforting, I aver.
I tell myself that every night,
Faithful to my practice,
The small nightlight is my only witness to sleepless,
affirmative-filled nights.
And yet my positive mantras have not assuaged the reality,
My reality, a reality, this perception of reality, that... What? What?
I am uncomfortable. Discomforted.
I do not sleep in the night.

I am not afraid, anymore, of the darkness I am apparently fond of.
I didn't used to think I was a blackhead, but such is life.
And I practice turning off that small nightlight!
Yes, yes I do!
That was hard at first, but less so now.
Not easy! But then, I have been told—
or maybe read, probably read,
in one of those super upbeat self-help books collecting dust with Sartre and Nietzsche,
that nothing worth having is gotten without effort.
Or is that some things, because,
isn’t effortlessness a shibboleth of enlightenment?
But I probably read that somewhere, too.

The nightlight is off.
The room is dark,
and the dark outside doesn’t allow for any shadows tonight,
to share with me
tonight,
the light that the shadows need to be.
I still my fingers, stop my toes from wiggling.
I unclench my hands, close my eyes.
I smooth the duvet, fluff the pillow, bury my head into it.
I take a breath, struggle to relax my breathing.
The lights inside my eyes and head have an ordered chaos that I find ominous.
I open my eyes.
I flip the covers off of me, twist myself around and put my feet on the cool floor.
I get out of bed and in bare feet and underwear, walk to the nightlight.

I turn it on.


Fushigi alert. I didn’t know this topic until about 90 minutes ago, at which time I began writing this poem. During the writing, I was interrupted and, for reasons I won’t elaborate, turned to the book I am currently reading, called The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit. I continued from my book mark, and read the following:

Psyche’s curiosity gets the best of her and in a moment similar to that slip of the tongue where Rapunzel’s secret love for the Prince is betrayed to the [evil witch] Dame Gothel, Psyche lights a lamp and illuminates the darkness surrounding her daimon-lover. In this paradoxical moment of simultaneous delight and horror Psyche beholds the beautiful winged Eros [who is sleeping in his bed], who she has now betrayed (176).

And, then after posting the poem, and before including this odd fushigi, I visited the ‘Word Association’ thread, and Ryan’s post was bedpost. Sorry, but that makes me laugh.

[Guy]

Thank you Robyn.

[Guy]

Anna wrote: "You guys got my point?"

Yes. Clear and strongly stated. Nice.

[Guy]

Hello everyone. I enjoyed thoroughly, and again, yet another anthology from The WSS! Thank you for entering with such heart and dedication.

:-_

[Steven]

Hi Guy I would be honored to be your friend.