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2h · 16
Rainbow Ghazal
It sounded good at first but went too far, their mad confusion.
Now deviants wave flags and shriek. We hear only delusion.

Social justice meets mental illness; a blind date in the street;
Mix and recombine to make a flamingly bad confusion.

These violent clowns could burn it all down and STILL they'd be enraged
As smoke clears on the rubble of their sad confusion.

The worst of all assume they had a monopoly on Progress
But the malevolent misfits only ever had confusion...

Perversity hailed as diversity, victimhood applauded;
Nations subverted and brought to a sad conclusion.

To Weimar, San Francisco, Babylon and Tel Aviv
We could certainly, at this point, make unveiled allusion...
PROMPT #8: try writing your own ghazal
Five to fifteen couplets that are independent from each other but are nonetheless linked abstractly in their theme; and more concretely by their form. And what is that form? In English ghazals, the usual constraints are that:
the lines all have to be of around the same length (though formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed); and
both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.
23h · 127
She's Not a Poem
Art history matters. New Master’s degrees
Lead to dull innovation in poetry. Please
Try to write us a poem where meaning is plain
And no MFA patriarch needs to explain.

a statue carved by Bernini/a plate of eggs painted by Velázquez  

Jane, dear Jane, you’re a porcelain idol.
The time has arrived for your verse to unbridle
Itself and reveal some slight traces of life;
We know you are smart, but that dull butter-knife
Of your poetry, smearing the references ’round
Is like Sylvia Plath/Gertrude Stein/Ezra Pound…

personal pan pizza with unlimited free toppings

Those weird sudden line breaks confuse us, in fact,
And the rarefied dishes you name-drop get cracked
On the floor of your poetry, leaving us shards,
Risking splinters for muses and mystified bards.

my arm breaks off  like the shell/of a freshly-filled cannoli

You deadpan in monotone, stunningly brave,
But your tortuous verses go straight to the grave.
Academic obscurantists murmur and nod
As they lower the corpse of your work in the sod…

carelessly thrown baby/a designer toilet cistern

You ought to re-frame and then tighten your lines,
So replete with Old Masters and euro-trash wines:

(…weirdly-named liqueurs in a Rococo  palais)

Why would you not, then, aspire to coherence,
Dismissing the need for white male interference?
Your verses cry out for some fatherly guidance
To try and make sense of your history of silence.
Jane Yeh’s "Why I Am Not a Sculpture" has a […] sense of playfulness, as she both compares herself to a sculpture and uses a series of rather silly and elaborate similes, along with references to dubious historical “facts.” Today, we challenge you to write a similar kind of self-portrait poem, in which you explain why you are not a particular piece of art (a symphony, a figurine, a ballet, a sonnet)
2d · 39
Minted
Rumors of White Supremacy.
In that row, your column’s number…
Coining new terms in secrecy:
“Boing” (boring minus R) is dumber.

Coiled, then boing like a prompted spring,
Primitive poetic action;
Apes with crayons, coloring;
Hooting in dissatisfaction.

Leaves leave a taste like baseless fears,
Primitive prompts in lyric night.
BOING !  The Jack-in-the-Box appears—
Laughing at your illiberal fright…
I did not have much to work with...
PROMPT #6 :  Find the row with your number.
Then, write a poem describing the taste of the item in Column A,
using the words that appear in that row in Column B and C.
For bonus points, give your poem the title of the word that appears in Column A for your row, but don’t use that word in the poem itself.

Column A:  MINT
Column B:  BOING
Column C:  PRIMITIVE
3d · 28
Yacht Rock
I’m off to Bermuda
While you’re up the creek!
I cruise like old money;
You float like a freak.

As you steer between rocks
In that ****** canoe,
You’re a maritime nuisance
Obstructing the view.

My luxury vessel
Steers clear of the sharks;
You paddle and fulminate,
Studying Marx.

Your dugout is leaking;
I’m greasing the skids.
The dividends pay out
to bankroll my kids.

My profits accrue
While you seethe at your bosses.
You rail at the system—
I minimize losses.

I cruise into port.
Our hotel is reserved…
Your bitter resentment
Means dinner is served.

Departures are blissful;
We glide into harbors
And dine amidst hollyhocks
Under the arbors.

The banquet is served:
An idyllic location—
But you merely murmur
In disapprobation.

So scratch my maid’s Tesla
(or blow up a dealership…)
Rattle your chains
While insulting my captainship.

I’m by the pool—
You can splash in your gutter.
I’ll leave you a tip
For some bread with your butter.
NaPoWriMo PROMPT #5:
https://www.napowrimo.net/day-five-12/
You’re clearly, clearly not a poet, Frank;
More a symptom of modernist sickness.
Inflict no further such rambling thickness
Upon your readers. Here it is point-blank:
Beat-up prose scribblers’ quaint observations
May charm their author—but bore us to tears.
Dull poems age poorly. The passing years
Condemn them as quirky obfuscations.

Your buddy Ashbery: another dud,
Remembered by Department Heads, at best:
Abstract expressions that fall with a thud.
Bury them in a chap-book with the rest
Of the beatnik bards, whose typing careers
Only confirm our worst poetic fears.
NaPoWriMo PROMPT #3:
write a poem
that obliquely explains why you are a poet
and not some other kind of artist –
explain why you are that and not something else!
6d · 37
To a Yogini
You with the Hindu tattoo: Namasté.
I wrote you some verse. There’s no other way.

We met at the Moksha conference last spring—
Just wondered how you had been worshipping.

The God in me greets the Goddess in you:
As sure as one must be followed by two—

Listen, I was thinking: before you buy
The used mantra set from that guru guy,

I meant to ask: How’s your situation?
Still affected by Siddharthafication ?

You all prana-ed up?  You might need to sit,
Just to lower your vibrations a bit . . .

Sure as that there are only two genders,
There’s only one God. We’re all offenders.

Contemplate that. Breathe. Just be here right now.
(Don’t mean to act holier-than-thou,

But the stench of truth is wafting your way
Like a whiff of bloated carcass rotting in an Apple™ sweatshop.)
NaPo WriMo PROMPT #2 :
write a poem that directly addresses someone,
and that includes a made-up word,
an odd/unusual simile, a statement of “fact,”
and something that seems out of place in time.
Mar 14 · 77
The Chattering Class
ConnectHook Mar 14
Deserving all reviling, loathing, and curse;
To be an art critic-- can it get worse?
Imagine appearing before the Lord,
In Christ's own kingdom, God's glory restored:
The One you ignored now judges your soul.
Your life is reviewed, opened like a scroll—
He looks through your motives, your soul, and heart.
Did you have faith?   Well... I wrote about Art.

Perhaps there exists something even worse...
Worse than atheist critics (and my verse):
Scribes who are devoted to Rock and Roll,
Rap, R & B, Pop in part or in whole.
Condemned by their works and their words alone:
The drivel they scribble for Rolling Stone
Must be answered for on the Judgement day
(Which none of them believed in anyway.)
dedicated to Robert Christgau
Mar 10 · 85
Think in Spanish
ConnectHook Mar 10
Promoting silly lies by weakest links,
Global mental illness rattles its chains.
Truth smells refreshing—decadence stinks;
Confused men experience labor pains.
Leftist academics consult their shrinks;
Fabians murmur: “it’s stunning and brave”—
Your Marxist professor, the drag-queen, winks.

South crosses North in a permanent wave;
Gringos enforce it; Hispanic hope sinks.
America clearly has lost the plot;
Abuelita scowls while your tio blinks.
Plebeians still know what elites forgot;
Campesinos mock the deviant kinks—
Morenas are laughing at godless whites.

Sell it to the masses in pastel pinks.
Wrap it up nice with aid and human rights.
Promote it harder. We’ll finish the drinks—

    There IS a right way to pronounce “LatinX"!
No such thing as "LatinX", ask Fulano
ConnectHook Feb 9
Oh chica of New England snows!
Fair tropical Latina rose;
Green palms, of some warm distant clime
Shine from your eyes in wintertime.

Thy childhood in that tropic place,
Hath blessed thee with a dusky grace;
And all your pre-Columbian past
Must winter’s slushy chill outlast.

The rushing cars who make their way
Insult you with a frigid spray;
As from some humble task you wait
To catch the bus and change your fate.

Thy beauty, late transplanted, glows
To melt these white midwinter snows;
And cumbias from some southern zone
Sound from your soul with pulsing tone.

Your Christian heart, in solitude,
Has all our frozen land imbued;
America’s own breadth and length—
With campesina faith and strength.
I wanted to rewrite a favorite poem:

Oh fairest of the rural maids!
Thy birth was in the forest shades;
Green boughs, and glimpses of the sky,
Were all that met thine infant eye.

Thy sports, thy wanderings, when a child,
Were even in the sylvan wild;
And all the beauty of the place
Is in thy heart and on thy face.

The twilight of the trees and rocks
Is in the light shade of thy locks;
Thy step is as the wind, that weaves
Its playful way among the leaves.

Thine eyes are springs, in whose serene
And silent waters heaven is seen;
Their lashes are the herbs that look
On their young figures in the brook.

The forest depths, by foot unpressed,
Are not more sinless than thy breast;
The holy peace, that fills the air
Of those calm solitudes, is there.

                     William Cullen Bryant (1794—1878)
Feb 6 · 78
Realizm
ConnectHook Feb 6
Loud low-info everywhere.

Think I’m racist? I don’t care.

****** psychos causing drama?

Love them as hard as I love your momma.

Zionists out to **** the poor;

Call me a ****. I’ll endure.

Pentagon war-lords making good?

As long as it’s not MY neighborhood…

All our taxes straight to Ukraine?

Truth is lies, but I feel your pain.
☻☺♥
Jan 20 · 83
Inaugural Limerick
ConnectHook Jan 20
Will the Donald kiss Zionist ***
As the crises reach critical mass?
A result that I fear:
It could start a war here.
But I voted for Stein, so I pass...
Best wishes to our new prez
Jan 6 · 257
Satanic Reversals
ConnectHook Jan 6
Paul as an antichrist—
Jesus as dead:
The devil's deceptions
Can mess with your head.

Church as the enemy:
Lucifer's light
Makes Babylon blacker
Than Egypt's own night.

But God is outside us:
Externally true—
An anchor; a reference point
Greater than YOU.
[...] if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.    
(Romans 10:8,9)
Dec 2024 · 246
Two'fer Heifer Haiku
ConnectHook Dec 2024
"MOO" sings the diva,
Lowing, and hitting new lows
Out in her pasture.

The Goddess's voice!
Hearken to Her dulcet tones...
Is She a sick cow?
That weird new style
of bovine R&B
Nov 2024 · 252
Judgement Limerick
ConnectHook Nov 2024
♥✟♥✟♥✟♥✟♥✟♥✟♥

When the Lord resurrects all the dead
And fulfills every word that He said,
Then the Muslims and Jews
Will wake up from their snooze
To appear before Jesus, with dread.
Christ is LORD.
There is no other way to God.
Nov 2024 · 85
Pre-election Limericks
ConnectHook Nov 2024
Out-doing each other, they arm
the Oppressor, increasing the harm.
They kiss Zionist ***…
Neither one gets a pass;
And it’s too late to sound an alarm.

If for either my ballot were cast,
Then my guilt and regret could outlast
The slow death of Beirut,
And bear bitter bad fruit,
Till the Zionist shadow has passed.

What, in truth, does my vote stand to gain
Or prevent Palestinian pain . . .
Such a delicate line.
Should I vote for Jill Stein—
Or just sit this one out and abstain?
I voted for JILL STEIN
against warmonger airhead Karmela H.
And I congratulate big daddy TRUMP on his yuge win.
Just fantastic, I mean, really, really . . .incredible.
Oct 2024 · 83
Goose Steps
ConnectHook Oct 2024
Oh Trump's a ****, you're a ****, I'm a **** too!
Elect the führer/chancellor: the righteous thing to do.
He's got fantastic plans for us, like jobs and close the border.
He'll stop those endless foreign wars. I'm down with Trump's New Order.

Neurotic whiners may despise this dawning glorious day;
They might mistake it for the night and fight it all the way.
Well, let them disembark the train... and call us names again.
We're used to childish temper-tantrums. Christ is King. Amen.

Of course, they may miscount those votes, then stir up revolution.
Or astroturf a civil war (their desperate solution).
But what would you expect from those who can't tell girls from boys...
Or light from dark or truth from lies or music from foul noise?

So let them whine and plot and seethe. They've done this act before.
We racist nazis know their brand. Vote TRUMP. Then vote some more.
And if the minions skew results-- well, God's still on His throne.
The U.S. gets what she deserves when Truth is overthrown.
Big Daddy Trump will give us all free money and candy. YAY !
Oct 2024 · 83
Invitation
ConnectHook Oct 2024
If you love Haiku,
Go to Badhaikudotcom.
You can join the fun.
badhaiku.com
Oct 2024 · 72
Prophetic Interpretation
ConnectHook Oct 2024
I’d rather worship with the dull
Than rise, with fools, in the rapture.
I’ll grab it by the horns—such bull;
And false theology capture!

They claim to have the “living waters";
I’d rather have Christ alone--
Than build with His fake sons and daughters
Who missed the cornerstone.

I’d rather swim with other schools
In different currents, seas and deeps
Than get caught up with fishy fools
And float with charismatic creeps…

I’d rather know some history
And doctrines of God’s sovereign grace,
Than perish in their mystery—
Another Christian basket case.
Shudda bawta honda budda bawta kia shandara bo bo bo etc.
Sep 2024 · 179
Lost Israelites
ConnectHook Sep 2024
I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 
For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

                                                      ­                      Romans 9:1-4 (NKJV)

Will the real House of Israel please arise?
(We know it's NOT that Ashkenazi place
Founded on terror and Zionist lies...)
Still, I'd like to know who's the chosen race.
Are they white? Are they black? Or in-between...
Do they lay claim to a king or a queen?

It sounds delusional; heretical;
Using God's Bible to stake a false claim.
Their standing: purely theoretical
Attempting to cash in on tribal fame—
But Judah and Israel were both dispersed,
And, according to Christ, both houses cursed.

Even if it turns out you're of the tribes,
Would that improve your standing with the Lord?
Does it give you deeper spiritual vibes
To claim you've got clearance to wield His sword?
Fake privilege now yours: to name your foes
As those whom God Almighty would oppose.
https://tinyurl.com/2eev5wby
ConnectHook Sep 2024
Now the rainbow democrats gnash their teeth
And roll their wicked eyes like souls possessed.
Obama and crew, ruling from beneath
Recall the crimes they have not yet confessed.
What they hailed as light now turns to shadow.
(Immigrants eat cats in Colorado . . .)

Heaven mocks hell—it’s contradictory:
Your dank Egyptian darkness is our light!
Your suicidal rage, our victory
Memes poke fun at neurotic left-wing fright.
Your socialistic plans are placed on hold,
While faith increases value more than gold.

Unfit to line the cage of colored fowl
Who twitter on, enraged, in revolution,
White man’s rag, that useless Constitution,
Could save the republic. Let jackals howl . . .
Our founders planned for such an urgency
Now put to trial in an emergency.
Donald McRonald and Karmela Harrison
will SAVE our nation!
Let's get together and sing KUMBAYA.
https://tinyurl.com/4t5386rd
ConnectHook Sep 2024
Führer Drumpf, though still free and unshackled,
Could not conquer Karmela, who cackled.
He was clearly upstaged.
His deplorables raged
While the laughing hyaena got jackaled.

Orange ******, returned from the dead
Barely healed from his wound in the head,
Tossed Karmela the glove
In the spirit of love;
Just tremendous, fantastic --he said.

Zion Don's holy sword was unsheathed.
While Miss Harrison cackled and seethed.
It was quite the debate,
And we all had to wait
Till commercials, then finally breathed.
Aug 2024 · 99
Word of Fake
ConnectHook Aug 2024
False form of Christianity:
American insanity.
Dispensing what’s unorthodox
To their low-information flocks,
Preachers rant from outer space
Extorting tithes, with glowing face.
Exhorting stubborn sheep and goats
To sow that seed in higher notes.
Media-promoted freakshow,
Beamed by satellite. Here below
We observe their bald expansions:
Buying Lear jets, yachts, new mansions . . .
Something in that Tulsa water
Fattens up these calves for slaughter
While they prattle, Okie-style,
Preaching from the Book of Vile.
Empire-building in tailored suits . . .
Its time to judge them by their fruits.
Jul 2024 · 216
Poem for Bharat
ConnectHook Jul 2024
जय् हिन्द्

Inhale her blowing piles of mounting trash
Where fragrant winds of change bear human ash.
Eternal allure of the mystic East;
A six-armed goddess beckons to the feast:
Prasadam, chutney, consecrated dhal
And other dishes from the land of Baal.
Sandalwood incense, sickly-smoldering dhoop:
Exhaust from a rocket powered by **** . . .
INDIA! Soon, earth's next superpower—
To wonder when is to need a shower.

Blue-skinned idols bow in superstition,
Third eyes blinded by this apparition;
Your sacred rivers: filth and pollution
Flowing freely, a ***** solution
To your failed nation's shameful backward plight—
True brain-drain as your best minds flee the night
To seek prosperity in Western light.

And so, you've no excuse for arrogance
Amidst the ruins of your temple-dance.
Britain's structures have all long since crumbled;
Your many idols beg to be tumbled
Into the depths of your deathly rivers,
To lie in the muck while God delivers
Your people from their false life-givers . . .

Can Jesus bless, as you go on this way
Benighted—while the West inhabits day?
Will Christ facilitate development
And lift you from your pit of excrement,
Your multitudes freed from ignorant ways?
Jai Hind! And here's to hope of better days.

I'd call it Eastern Wisdom—but it's not.
Bow down in piles of human dung, Bharat;
Worship your cow, while washing in her ****.
My poem's close has finally come to this,
As I my guru's bovine backside kiss.
Inspired by Youtube vids about the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, as well as public defecation problems in India.
Jul 2024 · 112
American Problems
ConnectHook Jul 2024
Godless patricians wring their hands
In their suburban country manors.
Guilty America changes brands,
plays with pronouns. Rainbow banners
Prideful, float on summer breezes.
Faith grows cold, congeals, and freezes.

Clueless worldlings cluck and scold;
Display their plumage, signal virtue.
Preening fowl are waxing bold.
(Could such flightless creatures hurt you?–
Force you to conform, bow down
before their god—a circus clown?)

Here’s to data-driven tyrants
Professional managerial trash;
Narcissism’s dull aspirants
Human resources: their cash.
Shilling out for ***-confusion,
Corporate wokeness, and delusion.
Jun 2024 · 375
Dyeing Fail
ConnectHook Jun 2024
Leave your hair the way God made it.
Keep it natural. Why try to
Straighten, curl, dye, tint or fade it
As if your Lord were one to lie to—
While you copy that silly look
From someone else's beauty book.

If your tresses, dark by nature
You decide to bleach to gold,
Oh dear vain and fickle creature,
You've believed the lies you're sold.
Low on info, you lost the plot
By not esteeming what you've got.

Cut it any way you please to.
Braid it, if you're so inclined;
But do refrain from paying fees to
Color-tinters fit to blind:
Day-glo green, fake blonde, bright blues
Are strange and nauseating hues.
Music "in a dying fall" .
Shout-out to John Dowland...
Jun 2024 · 130
Basho Crasho
ConnectHook Jun 2024
Haiku is nothing.
It takes no talent to write
And boring to read.
But badhaiku dot com restores the fun
May 2024 · 199
Scrawling Towards Zion
ConnectHook May 2024
I'll write some
Vapid ****.
Check the stats.
Try to
Steer you towards
My serious compositions.
(Road signs).
Note my poor punctuation
May 2024 · 166
Traditional Recipe
ConnectHook May 2024
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed
.
                                                
                           Genesis 12:3

I’ll tell you straight what God is not:
A stench from Babylon’s deep pit—
So foul the angels gag on it.
Bubbling in Judah’s ***:
A nasty and unholy mess
Which poetry and truth confess
To be an anti-Christian plot.
Let Jews be Jews and churches saved;
(Yet most of them still seem depraved.)
Lift up the lid. See what they’ve got
Mixed in with all that steaming gore
And simmering rabbinic lore:
A stew of foul Talmudic rot
Recipe of perverse renown
From some Chaldean bearded clown
Who traded tittles for a jot
Of not-so-learned commentary
Straight from Kosher bestiary.
A pile of vile, and there’s a lot;
Extracting, from Mosaic law
Not gold—but filthy stable straw…
Is THIS what Abraham begot
To be a blessing for the earth?
Or Babylonian trash, not worth
Proverbial Hebrew diddly-squat…
https://worldeventsandthebible.com/talmud-jesus
May 2024 · 151
Dreamcatcher
ConnectHook May 2024
In habit for the chase array’d,
The hunter still the deer pursues,
The hunter and the deer, a shade
!
                   Phillip Freneau

Haunted by desire’s mad melodies,
By faces idealized in reveries;
Memory itself is haunted
By photos never taken.

To visualize is to be taunted
By scenarios that reawaken,
Longing for what has never been,
Yet what the mind has seen.

The haunted are mistaken,
Hunting memories and dreams;
Trying to catch that which vanishes
upon awakening. Doomed to realize
That the hunted bird ever flies.
PROMPT #17:
What are you haunted by,
or what haunts you?
Write a poem responding to this question.
Then change the word haunt to hunt.
May 2024 · 118
Refuse
ConnectHook May 2024
Garbage by the wayside…

What is wrong with this town
this city, this nation?
Who are the ones
that fling/drop/scatter it there?
Are they self-aware?
Do they have worth?

Ugly artifacts stare up at me
from the gutter.

I read ripped labels,
avoiding shattered glass.
Bags blow past.

Spring doesn’t care,
flowering in and through the trash.

Dead animal carcass, pierced
By brilliant green weeds . . .

The Lord is He is to whom we are accountable
and He reigns in sovereign omnipotence.
PROMPT #15:
write a poem in which you closely describe
an object or place,
and then end with a more abstract line
that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do
with that object or place,
but which, of course, really does.
May 2024 · 98
Cave of the Clown
ConnectHook May 2024
As our craft approached the island's coast, the swelling sea grew rough. Every eye on board was wide watching the darkened beach. We rounded the bluff. The nervous crew began to perceive a stench from a yawning chasm in the hill that no night wind, no downpour could quench. The rain ceased. The moon came forth like noontide from behind her veil of cloud, bathing in ghostly light the seaside; and the night sky at last began to allow increasing illumination, no longer overcast. All on board could tell that a foul shadow, something sickly-sour, emanated from entrance of the hillside bower, and closer view of the pit forced even the captain and officers to admit that the hanging cadaver, head still bearing the crown, was the withered and rotting body of the clown. The crowd of sailors strained and jostled to see: in the moonlight, even from a distance, the clown's face in its grimace appeared strangely proud . . .
We knew the members of the first mission were all gone now—no need to excavate the bodies in the cave. The purpose of the hanging corpse, to motivate us to abandon the encounter was successful. We anchored the vessel  near the foot of the looming summit, and prepared to mount her.
PROMPT #13:
Start by creating a “word bank” of ten simple words. They should only have one or two syllables apiece. Five should correspond to each of the five senses (i.e., one word that is a thing you can see, one word that is a type of sound, one word that is a thing you can taste, etc). Three more should be concrete nouns of whatever character you choose (i.e., “bridge,” “sun,” “airplane,” “cat”), and the last two should be verbs. Now, come up with rhymes for each of your ten words. Use your expanded word-bank, with rhymes, as the seeds for your poem. Your effort doesn’t actually have to rhyme in the sense of having each line end with a rhymed word, but try to use as much soundplay in your poem as possible.
rough/bluff
stench/quench
noontide/seaside
last/overcast
sour/bower
pit/admit
clown/crown
crowd/proud
excavate/motivate
encounter/mount her
May 2024 · 238
Taxed and Spent
ConnectHook May 2024
Since the US war-machine needs my taxes
to bomb poor people who live far away,
Since few people in my overweight low-info uncivilization
know or care about that,
Since plebeian culture has permeated
and is now acceptable throughout society,
Since I have no influence or control over these factors
to change the outcomes,
Since God is sovereignly ruling and reigning
over all aspects of everything,
Since our leaders do not care
about the stability or well-being of the masses,
Since polarization intensifies every day
as we become a decadent empire,
Since poetry is the epitome of uselessness
and art is reduced to commodity,
Since pharmaceutical corporations
want to keep people drugged and passive—

Therefore, I will cease to worry about outcomes
that are beyond my ability to change,
and I will pay my taxes, for the time being . . .
PROMPT #14 : write a poem of at least ten lines
in which each line begins with the same word.
This technique of beginning multiple lines with the same word or phrase is called anaphora […]
May 2024 · 180
Alien Admin.
ConnectHook May 2024
The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you,
and you shall come down lower and lower. 
He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him;
he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail
.
                                                          ­   Deuteronomy 28:43

Doctor Prasad, Doctor Prasad
You bow to a freaky six-armed god,
Yet chose to leave your native land
And worship in the U.S.A.

Your Hindu religion is rather odd—
Consider my verse a gentle ****.
Those molten idols creep me out;
I'll poke you in a truthful way.

This newly-discovered Upanishad
With trident (in place of Aaron's rod)
Will show you where you need to go.
And greater light to you relay.

You bow to idols, silly sod...
I'll stomp your arrogance roughshod.
Eat the puja that you offer—
***** rupees to the dollar.

What a ridiculous façade.
You mumble, then politely nod—
Data-driven petty tyrant:
Drink from my verse's fire hydrant.
May 2024 · 110
Brandon the Bold
ConnectHook May 2024
Rim-walker, Foe-slayer, Guardian of the sword—
Beast-breaker, War-bringer: BRANDON of the blade
Who slew the dreaded dragon ‘ere the sun had reached the noon;

Bear-baiter, Snout-smasher, Keeper of the Axe—
World-tamer, Science-truster BRANDON of the gaffe
Who slurred the teleprompter’s truths until the mic was off;

Arms-seller, Drone-striker, Valiant war-pig Puppet—
Tax-raiser, Gender-******, BRANDON of the press
Who stumbled up the White House stairs, starting useless wars;

Let every mead-hall hail the clown
And toast his name throughout the land.
Raise high the horn in dread renown
And bravely feast in BRANDON‘s name!
PROMPT #30
write a poem in which the speaker is identified with,
or compared to, a character from myth or legend
Apr 2024 · 137
Afro-Stuart Succession
ConnectHook Apr 2024
From streetcorner pulpits near and far.
We’re watering wisdom’s seed with fear.
If your melanin’s under par,
Slave-trader heathen, listen here:
God’s own holy unpronounceable name
Now translated for you: Whites Are To Blame.

King JAMES was black. You heard it first
From me—before those Israelites
Began to preach to the accursed
Of Edom (meaning heathen whites).
So, his authorized Bible text is meant
Only for those of true Hebrew descent.

No flaming redhead Scottish king
Was he who bore Azania’s crown
Upon his brow. It’s time to bring
The truth. James Stuart? Dusky brown.
No bagpipes here, nor usquebaugh, nor oats.
Just afro-polyrhythm’s gladsome notes.

Mansa Musa filled his coffers;
Sub-Saharan James grew wealthy;
More than Solomonic offers
Kept King James both wise and healthy.
No puppet monarch for Britannic schemes
But African sage, of vision and dreams.

ELIZABETH, of Albion’s fame,
Was also misperceived for hue.
A white rose, yes. But only in name.
Pure African was she—it’s true!
You’ve been lied to about these royal folks;
High time we rewrite such ethnic jokes.

Don’t believe the Edomite hype.
They want to keep our tribes suppressed--
And Moses is our prototype;
His law we follow, and we’re blessed.
REAL understanding: it’s something you earn.
Once gained, ain’t no trick you cannot discern.

No context needed. History
Is mainly Edomite propaganda.
King JAMES was black. No mystery.
And Edinburgh’s in Uganda.
The first king of Scotland will not be last…
Our exegesis is unsurpassed.
usquebaugh: noun
A compound distilled spirit made in Ireland and Scotland; whisky.
Apr 2024 · 77
Lost Rhythm
ConnectHook Apr 2024
      The ACCUSATION

Your verse has offended the Muses. The blame
Must be laid on your poetry: limping and lame
As it drags itself over the last crippled line;
A dead-end for your readers (but you missed the sign).
Your scrawling has challenged the unwritten code
And it’s far more than meaning your readers are owed…
We need RHYTHM with ORDER and measured RESTRAINT;
More range in your palette might help you to paint
Us a picture where color and nature, enhanced
With the music of syllables leave us entranced.
But instead, all your verbiage has put us to sleep,
For your lines are as shallow as Boredom is deep.


       The ARGUMENT

Rhythm is ORDER and order is key.
It is only through measure that music is free
An offense to the Muses, depressing to hear,
Is a verse without rhythm, insulting the ear.
Lyric STRUCTURE brings LIBERTY. Freedom gives life.
Free verse?  Oxymoron—and morons are rife.
Confessional slop . . . yes it’s free, like a prison;
But MEANING grows clear in the service of reason.


       The JUDGEMENT

Your poetry’s up for the yearly review:
Mostly sighing and dithering. Sorry, it’s true.
Your muses are clueless, so send them all packing.
Your modernist drivel is found to be lacking
In context, coherency, substance and wit.
Upon careful re-reading, the Verdict: it’s ****.
As regarding the rambling verse you call “free”,
A real Muse, unimpressed by your English degree
Would imprison your lines and then throw out the key.
Apr 2024 · 105
Constant Assonance
ConnectHook Apr 2024
adipose asinine America:

beastly yeast in obscene obesity
swell-swigging wig-gagging reflex
exposed midriff ****-lift grifters
wiggle-waddling weight around woo woo town
thick fake fingernail fail
day-glo sick show sale
ghetto-guffaw designer-clawing
wherever wits were wanting
jiggle-giggling juvenile thing in a thong
sing song sung ******* thang sang
pajama-jamming baby-daddy mammy
loudmouth proud plebe crowd
smirk-smoke the joke in cannabis choke
crass fat ***-crack blackjack
queer queen king thing of a
bipolar solar son of a
******* in hyped-up lowlife lockdown
cluelessly curating dimwitted day
descending darkly to dusk.

You GO, girl.
PROMPT 26:
write a poem that involves
alliteration, consonance, and assonance.
Alliteration is the repetition of a particular consonant sound
at the beginning of multiple words.
Consonance is the repetition
of consonant sounds
elsewhere in multiple words,
and assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds.
Apr 2024 · 113
Prompted to Lyric Disgust
ConnectHook Apr 2024
Perfect happiness’ greatest fear?
The Other is deplorable.
Extravagance is insincere;
Proust’s mustache is adorable.

I’m only up to number seven.
Uninspired, its time to bail
If Marcel P. was barred from heaven
His essays were a massive fail.

Marcel Proust, you silly fellow
Prose overwrought, effete and gay,
Puffy mama’s boy marshmallow
You’re Hell’s to toast . . . now roast away.

May virtue’s signalers all thus burn;
This uninspiring questionnaire
Will mainly cause one to discern
That heads are up their derrière.

True verse can never be a list
Of humanistic questions asked.
More fit that some psychologist
Should have their godless soul thus tasked.
PROMPT 25:
write a poem based on the Proust Questionnaire,
a set of questions drawn from Victorian-era parlor games,
and adapted by modern interviewers.
You could choose to answer the whole questionnaire,
and then write a poem based on your answers,
answer just a few, or just write a poem that’s based on the questions.
Apr 2024 · 120
Satanic Redundancy
ConnectHook Apr 2024
On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose . . .

Networking, presenting the numbers
Adjusting the data for benchmarks
Reviewing best practices
Speaking vapid motivational drivel
Accompanied by pastel-toned slideshows
Full of dull corporate graphics—

   On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose . . .

Acting with intention
Staying centered
Celebrating balance and cultivating awareness
Curating selfless acts of charity
(yet still suppressing God at heart)
Being connected in authentic community—

   On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose . . .

Believing in yourself to achieve your goals
Seeking your own inner light to guide you
Recognizing how deserving you are
Working towards what makes you happy
(denying there will be a judgement of your soul)
Creating your own reality—

   On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose . . .
PROMPT 24:
write a poem that begins with a line from another poem, but then goes elsewhere with it.


Lucifer in Starlight

ON a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose.
Tired of his dark dominion swung the fiend
Above the rolling ball in cloud part screened,
Where sinners hugged their spectre of repose.
Poor prey to his hot fit of pride were those.
And now upon his western wing he leaned,
Now his huge bulk o’er Afric’s sands careened,
Now the black planet shadowed Arctic snows.
Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars
With memory of the old revolt from Awe,
He reached a middle height, and at the stars,
Which are the brain of heaven, he looked, and sank.
Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank,
The army of unalterable law.

George Meredith (1828–1909)
Apr 2024 · 97
Wonder Womb-person
ConnectHook Apr 2024
Ready for any feminist feat
In her ****-tube and starry skirt,
Wonder-Woman looks petite
(though probably ought to don a shirt)
In, fact we’d better make her black
Before her foes, unhinged, attack . . .

Go-go boots show off her legs
Muscled for emancipation;
And for bearing wonder-eggs
Through empowered ovulation.
Binary gender’s warrior queen
Bursts forth upon our sexist scene,

And bristling with the strength of ten
Of her not-so wondrous sisters,
She centers red-starred crown, and then
She’s off to fight the truth’s resisters:
Rosie the Riveter’s better half—
An old-school feminist sacred calf.
NaPoWriMo 2024
Prompt #23:
write a poem about, or involving, a superhero
Apr 2024 · 86
Conjugal Musings
ConnectHook Apr 2024
I wish that, philosophically,
I could commune with my dear wife . . .
Instead, we biologically
Against all odds, amidst the strife,
Pursue one therapeutic end
Where pleasures, with relief, descend.

I wish we could discuss the arts—
Talk poetry and invoke the Muse.
In place of that, by fits and starts,
We thrill to what we can’t refuse:
Theory made practice, sweaty, hot…
Conjecture spurned for what we’ve got.
Couldn't take the NaPoWriMo prompt today...
Apr 2024 · 124
Tyrian Murex
ConnectHook Apr 2024
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia,
from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, 
who was a worshiper of God
.        Acts 16:14 [ESV]

I'll say it straight to Alice Walker's face:
Veil for prostitutes and genderqueer beasts—
A color fit for hierophants and priests;
Symbol of both the decadent and base.
A hue unfit for tablecloths at feasts . . .
Scarlet is regal. Blue, too, has its place.
Let Thyatiran Lydia state her case,
But purple celebrates strange swelling yeasts.
No fault in bordering on indigo
As long as chroma stays within the blue.
But mix it up with red? Don't do it. No.
Yet, good contrast to yellow's golden grail . . .
What says the holy humble Murex snail?
Feel me: PURPLE is not the way to go.
Prompt 21:
write a poem that repeats or focuses on a single color.
Apr 2024 · 76
Jerusalem Limericks
ConnectHook Apr 2024
70 A.D.

History comes back to bite us
As we learn of the temple and Titus.
When it's Rome against Jews
There is one side must lose—
Though the outcome may fail to delight us.


135 A.D.

Another rebellion: once more
They attempted to settle the score.
Since “messiah” Bar-Kokhba
(Right up to the Nakba)
The region relapses to war.
PROMPT 20: write a poem that recounts a historical event.
Draw on your memory, encyclopedias, history books, or primary documents.
Apr 2024 · 185
Salmo Amateur
ConnectHook Apr 2024
Parece comedia aburrida
La farsa de mi vida;

La mía no tiene sentido
Casi caso perdido,

Todavía no elaborado,
Desesperado.

Preferiría ser
Una idea antes de nacer;

Así no tendría
Que ver otro día . . .

Ayúdame, oh Creador:
Tú—mi narrador.
PROMPT 18:
write a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be something else, and explains why
Apr 2024 · 87
Language Stamped Out
ConnectHook Apr 2024
******* children can be helped, you say
Your words, not mine; and so I must respond.
Such ideas are phrased differently today;
******* children can be helped, you say—
To use such terms for cognitive delay,
Of this, when young, we schoolyard kids were fond.
******* children can be helped, you say . . .
Your words, not mine. To such I must respond.
PROMPT #15:
take a look at @StampsBot (https://twitter.com/StampsBot),
and become inspired
by the wide, wonderful, and sometimes wacky world of postage stamps.
Apr 2024 · 83
Tall Tale Told
ConnectHook Apr 2024
I’ll tell you-all a tale of Crazy Joe:
How he and his son did a-hunting go
Bidin’ their time till the prey was killed
And every hunter’s dream fulfilled.

Joe saw a dragon in the sky
And loaded his rifle. By and by,
Big Joe shot that Chinese dragon;
Hitched its head to his harvest wagon,
Used its wings to make a plane
Then flew himself to far Ukraine.
He took our taxes, started wars
Raised the prices and settled scores,
Set up bio-labs, armed the thugs
While his son was busy taking drugs.

Joe had barely finished shootin’
When from the North came an angry Putin.
Big Joe whooped that Russian bear
Skinned its fur to line his chair;
Took its claws to scratch his back
Called the whole mess “a cyber-attack”,
Then Joe resolved his son’s affairs
While stumbling down the White House stairs.

Hard-drivin’ Hunter took up art
And painted over that “election” part.
All Joe’s handlers, North to South,
held their breath when he opened his mouth…
Father and son got plenty of press
Down at their Washington address,
After they painted the Whitehouse black
And laughed when we asked for our country back.
Wiser than Solomon was Joe
At taking in the foreign dough,
And cutting deals to line his pockets
Providing bombs and arms and rockets.
Joe talked tough to Israel
And gave those proud Yehudis hell—
But sold them weapons on the sly
While the world wondered why.

Build back better? Come on, man . . .
A Pentagon puppet for their plan.
Big Joe himself: the tallest tale
Administrating massive fail.
PROMPT 12: write a poem that plays with the idea of a “tall tale.”
American tall tales feature larger-than-life characters…
Apr 2024 · 81
Brandon Afloat
ConnectHook Apr 2024
BRANDON cranes his scrawny neck
Sniffing for a business deal;
Sailors gather on the deck
Murmuring with mutinous zeal…

They’re bailing water from the hull,
Throwing ballast off the stern—
Captain BRANDON’s brain, half-full
Of shipping schemes, begins to churn.

Sensing profits in the ocean,
BRANDON observes the cresting swell.
In his faltering mind, a notion
Starts to form, and none can tell . . .

Fearing for their captain’s health,
The dwindling faithful check his pulse.
Sensing oceanic wealth,
His ****** muscles now convulse.

Then, hark—a mermaid’s silvery voice
Appeals to BRANDON from the sea:
Come to me captain; you’re my choice.
I’ll launder money here for free
.

“Man overboard”! the sailors shout
As BRANDON flails upon the waves.
Captain’s handlers harbor doubt—
Yet throw the lifeline. Jesus saves.
"Sewing to Rip"

My monostich unraveled when challenged to have poetic meaning and relevance.

PROMPT #11: write a monostich, which is a one-line poem
Apr 2024 · 101
Weirdly Wise Limericks
ConnectHook Apr 2024
Weird wisdom: attractive to some.
While to others, quite clearly, just dumb.
Mystic truth from the East?
Ask your guru. At least
He will sell you a mantra to hum . . .

Western Buddhists: they talk very Zen;
And they placate our Japanese yen
For satori. (and sake);
It’s fake sukiyaki—
The food they prepare, such wise men…

But the weirdest of all of these sages
Is the fake tantric monk who engages
His female pupils
In sin, with no scruples,
And little regard for their ages.
P R O M P T #6 :
write a poem rooted in “weird wisdom”
Apr 2024 · 171
Queer Fish, Definitely
ConnectHook Apr 2024
Through varied ocean habitats
Queer fish, shimmering, roam the range.
Bewildering diversity
To us, on land, appears quite strange.

From Goby to the great Whale Shark,
Their weight can rise to twenty tons!
Such queer fat whales—one might remark;
(but this offends the skinny ones...)

Some are bloodthirsty; others timid.
They burrow, swim, walk, fly, breathe air...
Do not irritate. Leave them placid
To their submarine affair.

Aquatic warning/parting wish:
Avoid the highly venomous fish.
There are more than 40,000 kinds of fish in the world.
Their habitats range from the profoundest depths of the seas to cold lakes and brooks on mountain timberlines.
They show a bewildering diversity in their ways of life.
The smallest of fish is a Philippine goby, less than a third of an inch long and weighing a fraction of an ounce.
The largest is the whale shark, found in all warm seas. Some individuals exceed twenty tons.
Some fish burrow in the mud, some swim, some walk, some fly, some breathe air.
Some are timid, some bold and bloodthirsty. Some are placid, some easily irritated. Some are highly venomous.
One, found in Australian waters, weighs nearly half a ton and has poison barbs a foot long.
Some of the deadliest are among the most beautifully colored.

PROMPT #4
write a poem in which you take your title or language/ideas from
The Strangest Things in the World. First published in 1958, the book gives shortish descriptions of odd natural phenomena, and is notable for both its author’s turn of phrase and intermittently dubious facts.
Apr 2024 · 105
Surreal Prose and Cons
ConnectHook Apr 2024
The shock of nothing new is so surreal;
Rebellion filters down and fades away
In images that T-shirt merchants steal.
The shock of nothing new is so surreal!
Nor Freud nor Marx can anything reveal,
And Maldoror has nothing more to say.
The shock of nothing new is so surreal—
Rebellion filters down and fades away . . .
NaPoWriMo PROMPT #3:  write a surreal prose poem

Umbrella to sewing machine on dissection table: I salute you, old ocean/Breton scorns Hippies/Semi-automatic writing bursts from deviant posers in suits and ties/Euro-egghead Marxist manifestos/Hughes was right/the New no longer shocks/who reads Lautréamont?/surreal like a permanent collection at the Whitney/Breton scorns anarchists/politically incorrect smoke fills café/Man Ray meets Apollinaire at debutante ball/nightclub for nihilism’s fools/Dada’s brooding child/Artaud screams Van Gogh! as they forcibly administer antipsychotic meds/subconscious dreams of inevitable commodification/expect predictable juxtapositions/Breton scorns punk-rock/revolutionary footnotes to an arts thesis/who even reads Maldoror ?/dregs of surrealism sold as T-shirts/waiting-room posters/hip postcards/neurosis celebrated/cerebrated/fetishized/fades
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