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White Opulence

Days in the desolate plains
of my steady gray moods
have sprawled and engulfed
what I once called
and now barely remember
exuberance.

But walking along suburban alleys
I glance to my left and there it is –
amid brownish green leaves
shimmering with the clouded sun
are muscular white flourishes
which ****** me
back to my Louisiana childhood
and a neighborhood paradise
of blooming trees.

I walk over, bend down,
inhale and feel a near drug-induced high
by the alluring, inviting, tempting
fragrance of a magnolia blossom.
 Jun 2024 Karijinbba
Jeremy Betts
Locked out of every building down the block of trust
Left in my torrential downfall to rust
Knocked off course by a simple gust
A visual SOS is a must
But follow the flair I launch daily at dusk
And stumble across a cold and lonely husk

©2024
The big C
come to get me
like a snake in the grass
crawling quiet and slow
you begin to grow
taking small, sleeping victims
while I sleep
while I dream
but you made the mistake
that snakes often make
you bit off more than you could chew
I knew it was you
there is only one item now
on your menu
fire
I got his ***!
Tonight after an isolating illness,
propelled beyond my darkness,
I walked into a universe of light
where stars are swallowed
into black holes
spreading their energy and light
into and beyond the shame or blight
dragged along by each
stumbling with the baggage of their histories,
then recovering
his balance.
I wish I could attach the image that partially inspired this poem. It is an image of a star or galaxy being swallowed by a black hole or at least that is what it looks like to me. The image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-orange-galaxy-illustration-41951/
 Jun 2024 Karijinbba
John Glenn
Art
 Jun 2024 Karijinbba
John Glenn
Art
You are the woman
with the perplexing smile
The pearl earring
of the golden age
The starry sky
that offers asylum,
The clock that melts
time on tabletops,
The great wave that dissolves
froth and foam
The venus atop the shells
on the waters, and
The charismatic fire
even the seas thirst for
And I will be your artist;
the desires to sketch you
What desires to sketch you
(Read the first line, then every other line that starts with an upper case. Read the second line, then every other line in lower case. Then read all lines as a whole.)
 Jun 2024 Karijinbba
John Glenn
2020
 Jun 2024 Karijinbba
John Glenn
War stirs in the west.
The giants in the east
awaken from slumber,
ready to wager.
Up north and down south
the trees burn
as the households await death
to knock on their doors,
unable to breathe.
Speaking of death,
he has taken the icons
and left us with dictators
to further his bidding.
Money has fallen out of value,
with rather a hefty price
at the cost of human life.
Plagued with adversity,
food is short
and the days are long.
Humanity pays
for all its wrongs.
Everything that's been happening so far this year has affected us in so many different ways. Though no matter how dark it all seems to be, there's always light to find at the end of the tunnel. This darkness too, shall pass.
 Jun 2024 Karijinbba
John Glenn
Let the stars in the sky plummet
on their own
Let the flowers sway
The wind is just the wind
and nothing more
Let the angels sing their songs
and let the devils
shed their snakeskin
Let all the girls and boys
my age be happy
Let the sunshine sliver
across their skies
Let them walk into the sunset with love
ablaze in their eyes
And leave  me free
to wonder why
I do not feel the same
What are you up to these days?
Stop your regrets
sadness, worry, your presets.
Look up. Reform your mind.
Today is a new time
full of possibility
a festival of fertility
plug in to grace
quicken your pace
to the next frontier
put it in high gear
leave the desert of despair
breathe in the brisk fresh air
arise, emerge and begin
to believe again.

Amen.
The present storms have gotten me down, my friends. I needed some fresh advice. And got it. Thanks for reading. I love you.
What is this mania of over the top
self-absorption that appears to be
running amok, this social dementia
annoying egotism, where it seems
everyone is constantly posing and
publicly auditioning for attention.

Cellphones and Social media two
of the abetting culprits, deluding
the populace that constant selfies
a star does make. Get a blog, be a
celebrity, go on TV? Self-promotion
and crass Exhibitionism has become
a vexing preoccupation. Striving for
LIKES and Followers sending and
Trending, seeking the adulations of
strangers out in the cloud that they
will never actually meet.

What happened to modesty, or
self-restraint? Have we all lost
our minds? When did being an
average normal well-adjusted
human become not enough.
When did humility become
undesirably passe? Are we all
truly that insecure?
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